Page 6 of Not a Tribute

“Let me explain,” he says. He lifts me from the bed beforeshifting his body to rest against the headboard and settling my nude form on his lap. “You’re my fated mate. It’s the bond I spoke of earlier that is helping you to heal.”

Shock courses through me before uncontrollable laughter shakes my frame. He watches me with a soft look in his gaze until my laughter peeters out.

“First, fated mates is a story mothers make up to let their little female daughters feel better about the shitty hand life has dealt them,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Second, even if it was a possibility, and I still say it isn’t, my luck doesn’t work that way.”

“Luck?” Liam asks with a frown.

“If it wasn’t for my shitty luck, I wouldn’t have any at all,” I reply sarcastically. “Nothing good ever happens to me. So this is impossible.”

He nods, a thoughtful look on his face. Flipping me off his lap, he pins me to the bed, hovering above me.

“There are three things that make me sure you are my fated mate, Seline,” he says. “My dragon has never bowed for anyone, no female can orgasm without her fated mate, and I have never, never knotted inside any female.”

A shiver of anticipation works its way through my body as he rubs his covered cock against my sex. “You’re being serious?” I ask, my voice husky.

“More than you know,” he says before licking down my neck. “My dragon has already claimed you, my mark rests on your shoulder for everyone to see.”

Through the haze of lust, his words shake me to the core. “We can’t be fated mates.”

Sadness burns through me, chasing away the last of my arousal. This is the best thing to happen to me and can be ripped away from me in the same instant.

“I can smell your sadness,” he murmurs, running his nose along my neck. “Tell me what is wrong and how I can fix it.”

Sighing, I say the words that will break my heart. “We can’t be fully mated until my dragon can claim you. And there hasn’t been a female dragon in over five hundred years.”

****

Liam

I hear the words, but I know in my heart, as does my dragon, that she is meant to be ours. Forever. We have already claimed her and even if she can never claim us back, it won’t fucking matter. We are keeping Seline. Forever.

Mine.

“Regardless, you are mine.” The finality of my words ring out through the bedroom we now share whether she likes it or not.

“Excuse me,” she gasps, struggling beneath me.

“Don’t fight me on this, Seline. You knew there was a possibility you would end up claimed the moment you volunteered to be part of the annual hunt.”

“If you say I volunteered one more time, I will stab you in your sleep,” she hisses with a glare that would flay a lesser man.

She is a feisty little thing. I always thought if I ever chose a female of my own I would select someone soft and demure, but I find that I like her fire. She will keep me on my toes.

“You keep saying you didn’t want to be there,” I reply, shifting off her so we can have an actual conversation like adults. “It’s against the law to force a female to participate in the hunt.”

“Yes, well, so is abusing a female. And tell me you didn’t see my wounds when you found me in the forest,” she counters. She pulls the covers to her chest and hides her body from my view once more, something I instantly hate. “Besides, virgins are not allowed to offer themselves up as tribute. The experience is too harsh for someone without experience.”

I want to grab the blanket from her and tell her never to hide from me, but this discussion may be easier if she is covered. My dragon is irate, rampaging in the corners of my mind at the words she has spoken. Could it be true? Are there Alphas out there with so little respect for another person that they would do this?

“Who is your father?” I ask.

“Why?” she counters, fear in her gaze, the scent tainting the entire room immediately.

“Because he hurt you and I need to know whose head I am going to rip off.”

“You believe me?” she asks, shocked.

“Why would I not? I can smell the fear you have for him the moment he is mentioned. And even if he didn’t send you to the hunt against your will, he still hurt and scared you. And I won’t have someone treating my mate as anything less than a queen.”

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