Page 51 of Burned

I shift my attention to my meal, afraid to say what I hardly admit to myself. Could I tell him?

“Lord, you can trust me.”

“I know. It’s not a matter of trust.”

“What is it then?”

“I’ll admit I’m hesitant to voice my deepest fears.”

Alrick reaches across the table and puts his hand over mine. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

As I focus on his eyes, something in them unlocks the words. “I’ve often feared that fate has passed me by. My brothers have each found their one true love, but I’ve never even come close.”

“How do you know that?”

“We just know. Like I explained before, it’s innate. When we meet the one…” My words test my own intentions not to divulge what I’ve done to us.

He squeezes my hand. “Tell me.”

The desire to tell him is stronger than my self-preservation, and even as I try to choke the words down, my dragon quickly overrides me.

Gods, help me.

ALRICK

“Lord. Please.”

The look on his face has me desperate to hear what he’s holding back. I don’t know how I know, but it’s clear it has something to do with me.

He nods, setting his fork down and clasping his hands together tightly. “I told you about my brothers and their mates. A fated mate is a soul out there in this vast world intended just for us. Someone we will love above all others for the rest of our very long lives.”

His explanation swirls in my chest, spreading a pleasant warmth. It feels so different from the first discussion we had about mates. How…?

“My brothers have found theirs. All of them, from Nico to Valentino. It’s only me left… unmated.”

I’m aware of how he hesitated on the last word.Unmated. “Does it usually happen at a certain age?”

“No. We’re never aware in advance that it will happen, only when it does.”

“How do you know? You said it’s innate, but what does that mean exactly?”

“Our dragon knows, often before the man does. It’s an instinct that drives us to that person.”

Lord’s emotions are absolute chaos right now, swinging from wistfulness to anger to something that feels a lot like guilt.

“You want one? A mate?” I remember his confession in the bathtub earlier about how he always dreamed of having a mate. Jealousy swirls in my gut.

He returns to eating, dragging out the pause before looking up at me. It’s the dragon gazing at me, and my stomach flutters in response.

“I haven’t allowed it for so long that I’d convinced myself it wasn’t important to me anymore. My brothers’ happiness was all that mattered. I figured fate had a reason for skipping me. One I would learn in due time.”

“What do you believe now?”

The air between us suddenly smells smoky as Lord releases a hazy breath. His brow creases as his jaw ticks. He focuses on cutting his steak until I reach across the table and put my hand over his, drawing his eyes to me.

“Talk to me, Lord.”

His eyes flicker between his own and the dragon until he finally offers a curt nod. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

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