Page 23 of Fated for his Flame

“You’re living among dragons now. We’re different, Chloe,” I said, resting a hand on her shoulder, careful not to touch any skin.

“I guess,” she said, nodding in agreement.

“We’ll start with clothing, then everyone’s favorite: tutoring.”

“On what?”

“Dragon society. There’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Like?”

“Like everything,” I said with a smile. “Come on. Let’s get going. We can talk on the way to the clothing store.”

We went out the front door instead of the roof. My apartment was in the center of the city, and flying was unnecessary. While Chloe gawked at everything around her, including the flying dragons overhead, I educated her on my people. The sovereign and Council. The three main factions in the Council. The various minor power blocs. The old families, such as my own.

She seemed to not be listening, her attention focused on everything else, but the first time I quizzed her, she repeated everything back, proving me wrong. She finished with a smile that said she’d been waiting for just that to show me. I smiled back. On the inside, my dragon was roaring with pride and joy. It liked her. She was sharp, quick on her feet, and not afraid to give as good as she caught.

In my beast’s eyes, she was the perfect catch.

“Here,” I said, hurrying up the trio of stairs and grabbing the door to our first destination, pulling it open and gesturing for her to enter.

“Why, thank you,” she said with a gracious nod of her head, following me up the stairs at her own pace before—

“Move it,” a voice snarled from inside the store as someone came out, nearly bowling Chloe over as she moved deftly to the side to get out of the way. “Don’t you know your betters when you see them?”

Chloe stammered, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion. My dragon exploded in anger as I held the door open, hidden by its opaqueness from the speaker. But that didn’t mean I didn’t recognize their voice.

There was a snort of surprise as my fingers tightened on the door handle.

“A human? Here? Who said you could set your filthy feet on our island, you pathetic piece of—”

“I did,” I growled, stepping around the door, my dragon and I united in our fury.

Chapter Twelve

Chloe

The bearded asshole spun as Silas revealed himself, the single braid of hair whipping around and nearly catching me in the face. I ducked out of the way, managing to avoid everything but a slight glancing blow on my chin.

“Silas!” the asshole exclaimed.

I watched as his body language changed. He stiffened in surprise, then dropped much of the puffed-out macho attitude he’d been throwing in my direction.

“Hello, Mattias.” Silas’ snarled reply was a physical thing, slamming into the smaller dragon-man and threatening to drive him back a half step.

I slid to the side just in case, but it didn’t happen. Whoever the jerk was, he was made of slightly sterner stuff than that.

“Listen, Silas, I didn’t know she was with you. I—”

“And how would you when your first instinct was to run her over because you thought she was beneath you? Is that how we treat our people?” Silas continued in the same harsh tone.

“She’s not one of us,” Mattias spat.

Silas loomed closer. “You didn’t know that at first. I was right here. Don’t pretend like I didn’t hear the entire thing. That’s not the way we treat our own, Mattias. You might be new to this, but there are rules that are to be followed, and that is one of them.”

Mattias bristled so fiercely I could see it from behind, the swelling of his chest as he inhaled, the slight tilt of his neck. He was furious.

“No,” Silas said simply. “Just don’t. If you utter one word, I will see to it you realize just how precarious your position is.”

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