Page 18 of Fated for his Flame

Both Sandrah and Ellen, twin sisters from my mother’s side, looked bored already. Their eyes continued to dart between me and my father with almost eager anticipation.

They think I’m going to challenge him at last.

The rumblings had been increasing the past few years as my father’s unwillingness to change slowly stifled the growth of our family, allowing rivals to begin to catch up. As the eldest son, his position was mine to inherit … if I challenged him for it.

I hadn’t. Not yet. He was my father, and a part of me was still attached to that loyalty. Even if I was beginning to doubt his worthiness.

Now was not the time for that, however, because I wasn’t sure how any of them were going to react to the news. Instead, I stayed silent. Better to let him make a fool of himself than to risk doing the same.

“My son has betrayed us.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s a bit overdramatic, don’t you think?”

Azarel stabbed a finger at me. “You brought home a human and are claiming her as a mate.”

Hearing him put it in those terms drove that point home. She was there as my mate. A woman I would be with for the rest of my life. I’d known her for hours, and now, I was defending her to everyone as if she had my undying loyalty. I barely knew her. That was insane.

But I couldn’t deny the reaction of my dragon. I didn’t understand it yet, but the beast in me had never acted that way. Never been so active, so insistent and demanding about a particular person.

“Is this true?” Annabelle asked, her eyes zeroing in on me. “Is this the same one you had outside?”

“It’s true, yes,” I said, sweeping my gaze around the room, gauging them. My aunt seemed the only supporter of my father, which was normal. “The sovereign suggested I take part in the choosing ceremony. She knows I hadn’t found a suitable match, despite trying everything else.”

Casseel snorted, and I met his eyes in agreement. The only thing that had been tried was my father marching an endless parade of acceptable dragon women in front of me. Only the ones he chose. I’d never been allowed to look myself. Azarel couldn’t risk his son finding his mate in someone who was ‘below’ us.

How ironic my dragon is choosing a human now.

“You didn’t try anything!” my father shouted into the silence that followed, his already big chest puffing up as he went on a diatribe about humans, my lack of willingness to choose a mate, and more.

I waited for him to run out of steam as his descriptions grew crasser by the second.

“Are you done yet?” I asked calmly after several minutes.

A longer stream of cursing followed. I waited it out calmly, wondering if maybe I’d made a mistake. Not with Chloe. That still remained to be seen. Rather, by not challenging my father. He was ruining our house and throwing away its power. Perhaps soon …

“How about now?” I growled, cutting him off.

His jaw snapped shut, and he glared at me stonily, the signature storm cloud gray-blue eyes of our bloodline getting ready for a thunderous second round.

“Your whore is not welcome in my house,” he said, his voice like two boulders grinding against one another.

“One,” I snapped, drawing up to my full height, “she is not my whore. Second, if that is the case, then I am not welcome in your house.”

In a flash, he was inches away from me, eyes wide, full of what he saw as righteous fury. It had been years since I was afraid of my father, however, and I didn’t even flinch. He wasn’t weak at all. Among his peers, he was still a force to be reckoned with. But I was in peak shape and had just spent eight months fighting and training furiously. It would not be a contest.

He knew that, and I knew it, but to back down now would be to lose face. To admit he was wrong. So, it left us at an impasse. I glared down at him, matching his look as only a son can.

For a moment, I thought he might concede because of that. But he didn’t.

“I will not support anything to do with a human,” he said tightly. “Nor will any of us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your proposal, the one you wish me to take before the Council,” he said. “The governorship you want to create for yourself, it will never happen. Not while she’s sinking her hooks into your mind.”

“That again?” I snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you this proposal is for our family. Not me. I don’t give a shit if I get the position. But it must go to our family. If it goes to any of our rivals, it will give them a major leg up on us. Perhaps enough to shove us aside as the strongest. And you’re willing to toss that away because some ‘weakling human’ is apparently able to control me? Is that all you’ve got?”

I should’ve stopped one sentence earlier. Challenging my father to do more was not smart, not when he was in one of his moods.

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