Page 82 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“I love you,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I love you, Cade.”

I swayed backward.

Kalann rolled his eyes skyward in extreme annoyance and pulled on the scale again. That time, Samantha blacked out.

“You’re going to pay for that,” I moaned. “With your life. I swear it. You will pay.”

“No, you’re going to pay,” Kalann said dryly. “A lot of money. In fact, you—”

There was a thud, and then suddenly, Lincoln came sailing through the open door. Before anyone could react, a blur followed him in. Kalann shouted and tried to back away before realizing his mistake. Lunging forward, he went for the scale, but the attacker got to him first.

Through the haze of pain, I saw the pair exchange blows rapidly.

Reed started to go to his boss’s aide.

Fuck that.

I kicked out at his feet, tripping him. Reed fell and then bounced to his feet with a vicious snarl, coming at me in a rage. By then I’d managed to get to my feet. The aftereffects of the pain were still there, but I couldn’t let them affect me. Not then. Not when she was so close to being mine again.

Reed lunged, and I went to meet him.

The unexpected move caught him by surprise. He’d expected me to move away, and so I was inside his guard before he could react. Snapping an elbow up, I smashed it across his jaw. Reed’s head flew back, shards of teeth flying everywhere.

I followed with a headbutt to the bridge of his nose as he reeled away. His fist lashed out, clobbering me in the temple. Staggering, I went to one knee to recover. As I did, Reed sent a kick at my head, but I saw it coming and rolled back and under it.

Then he tried to stomp on me. His kick was so hard it went through the floor as I rolled away. Elsewhere, Kalann shouted and backed away from his attacker, who was systematically dismantling him.

Sam sat back in her chair, her face still slack as she recovered from the ordeal.

Seeing her like that renewed my fury, and I went at Reed with a purpose. I broke an arm as he swung wildly. Whirling around behind him, I dislocated the same shoulder. Then I stomped downward on his knee. Something tore loudly, and Reed’s face went white with agony.

“You shouldn’t have touched my mate,” I snarled as he fell to one knee, staring up at me, realizing what was coming. “She’s mine.”

Then I broke his neck.

Almost at the same time, Kalann staggered backward as a dragon-scale dagger appeared in his chest. Blood poured from the deadly wound.

I watched his death throes for a moment, then shook it off and went to Sam’s side.

“Hey,” I said, the bonds securing her snapping easily as I freed the one thing that meant more to me than all the gold in the world. “I’m here, Sam. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“Hi,” she said weakly but with a smile. “You came for me.”

“Of course I did,” I said, stroking her face before lifting her free of the chair. “I love you. I’ll always come for you. No matter where you are. No matter the cost.”

She smiled, taking a slow, deep breath as she recovered some strength. “I love you, too, Cade. I didn’t know I did. But when I was here, the first thing I thought about? You. The thing I longed for the most? To see you again. I didn’t expect you to dominate my thoughts that way. But you did. You do. You’ve come to mean so much to me. It’s so fast, I was scared. I’m still scared. But there’s something good here, Cade. Something really good, and I don’t want to miss out on it. I want it. I want you.”

“You have me,” I rumbled. “For now. And forever. I am yours.”

We stared into one another’s eyes.

In the background, Kalann slowly slumped to the floor as his life faded. Then, and only then, did his attacker turn around and finally face me.

“Damon,” I said in surprise as the blue-eyed shifter nodded in greeting. “I thought …”

“I know you did,” the Sovereign’s Shadow said solemnly. “But I recently met someone. A human, like her. I know how they can be. What they can come to mean to us. I couldn’t let you go it alone.”

“Thank you,” I said softly.

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