Page 25 of Kidnapped Plus-Size Mate

Now that I’ve confirmed that he isn’t here on official Council business, I know it’s just something personal.

I’m just not sure what he wants.

Is he trying to find proof that I’m making a wrong move to ruin my reputation with the Council?

Suddenly, my heart races, and that unfamiliar knot in the pit of my belly returns with greater strength.

“It’s nothing, Draco. I’m just making sure.”

“Is everything okay out there?”

“Yes,”I reply, then cease the mental connection as an overwhelming sense of panic rises inside my being. My inner dragon’s ears perk up in attention; I can feel it happening inside me.

Something is wrong.

If Rakon wasn’t sent by the Council, then what does he want here? Suddenly, my ears buzz with a distant choir of ringing beats that alert me of some kind of danger on the horizon.

Danger at the hands of the Fire Force’s Beta.

The only dragon shifter who hates me for supposedly stealing his girlfriend in Dragon School. He hadn’t forgotten about the fight that broke out when I stepped between him and the she-dragon who didn’t want to go to the dance with him.

He was practically dragging her by the arm into the hall. She turned to me with tears in her eyes, and I couldn’t stand idly by while Rakon was forcing her to dance with him.

That’s when I knew we couldn’t be friends anymore. I decided on the spot to end our friendship and instead save the female dragon. I wasn’t interested in her, but I couldn’t watch him try to overpower her that way only because he’s a male.

No harm should come to any female—not human, nor dragon. So, I stepped between them, and a fight ensued. Rakon was enraged that I thwarted his plans, but the she-dragon was spared.

That’s all that mattered back then.

I should have known that he’d come back for revenge. He tried with Kairo the night of the Dragon Ball and failed when I refused to let him dance with her. I should have known hewas revisiting old wounds by interrupting our dance, repeating the night of the dance at the Dragon Council’s School for Young Dragons.

Now, he’s trying to come between Camilla and me.

I won’t let it happen.

As my inner dragon stirs with intense feelings of its innate protective nature, I rush out of the room and down the corridor in search of my mate.

I find Camilla on her tour in the alley lined by marble sculptures. Marching through the group without apologizing for the interruption, she stands stunned as I approach her.

“We need to go,” I whisper firmly, taking her hand.

“Wh-what’s going on?” she stares at me perplexed, her eyes widening as I lead her out of earshot of the group.

Once we’re safely behind a wall, I turn to her, lifting both her hands into mine. My intuition is yelling at me at the moment, the buzzing in my ears almost deafening.

“We need to get out of here, Camilla,” I warn as I stare into her eyes while she frowns at me.

“Why? What’s going on?”

I shake my head when bile rises to the surface. “I can’t explain right now. But that man…”

She gasps as recognition passes through her eyes. “Am I in danger?”

“I think so,” I reply warily, taking her hand and deftly leading her down the flight of stairs beside the elevator. She has no choice but to follow me with how tightly my fingers are wound around her wrist.

“Wait!” she calls out from behind. “How do I know I can trust you?”

When we reach the landing, I spin her to face me and grip her shoulders, the panic turning lethal now as I glare into her eyes with determination.

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