Page 51 of Aria's Ascension

“You can’t shoot him.”

“Not with you standing in my way. That is correct.” he agreed, nodding like she made a good point. “But, if you would take only asmallstep to the side, I could shoot him with ease,” he explained, as if she was blocking his shot by accident.

“For fuck’s sake,” she grumbled.

Shaking her head, she gave him her back and turned to face the dragon.

A snarl and two sets of approaching footsteps told her her mates were done waiting for her to go to them. The fact that they weren’t running told her they knew as well as she did that he’d hurt her on accident.

But, accident or not, her men weren’t the forgiving type, not when it came to her anyway.

Tirox’s angry mutter to Kix had her rolling her eyes as she cautiously approached the dragon. He was still standing frozen, but at the scuff of her feet he slowly turned his head to face her.

“Unreasonable female! I was only going to shoot him a little! I was not even going to kill him… completely.”

A commiserating-sounding pat and Kix’s consoling voice answered, “You know how protective she gets. I would have let you shoot him. Further, I believehewould have let you shoot him.”

At that, her brow furrowed. “Is he right? Were you going to let him shoot you?”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. She could see it on his face. Kix was right.

Sighing deeply, she rubbed her forehead and pursed her lips. She couldn’t decide if she was more angry, exasperated, or sad at the knowledge that he was willing to die for something as inconsequential as scratching her. And to think, she’d thought her barbarian’s honor code was harsh.

Dating aliens is hard fucking work. Worth it, but damned if they don’t find creative ways to make me want to shake some sense into them.

“I’m alright, you know,” she assured quietly.

Still nothing. He held himself rigid, as though worried if he so much as twitched he’d accidentally hurt her again.

Fuck.

The last thing she wanted was to leave him, especially like that, but with two angry mates closing in behind her, and his self-castigation bordering on suicidal, she didn’t see that she had any other choice, not if she wanted the option of trying again later.

As stubborn as she was, her men could be worse, and if they thought they were protecting her? There’d be no reasoning with them. Hell, if she pushed them too far just then, she wouldn’t put it past them to find some way of collapsing the tunnel so she couldn’t return.

Knowing she only had seconds before her men reached them, she made a decision and clasped his wrist. He immediately tried to jerk away, but she held on. When he realized she wasn’t going to let go unless he pried her off, he sucked in a short breath and went still again.

Flipping his hand over, she set her last throwing star and the extra healing ring in his palm. She reached for his other hand and traced his fingers over first one, then the other.

“Use the star to break the chain and the ring to heal yourself.”

She very quickly told him how to operate both, just in case he wasn’t familiar with them. With her men rapidly approaching, she slowly released his hands, letting her fingers trail over his.

“If you want to find me, just follow your nose. We’re in the tunnel to your right when you enter the main cavern. We could use your help to get out of here and… I’d like to get to know you.”

The words felt entirely inadequate, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. With a final sigh, she turned away to intercept her men, but hesitated long enough to add, “I hope you come.”

After ushering her two angry mates, still angling for a little revenge, to the entrance, she set down a few of their food and water pouches then glanced back.

An idea hit her. Purposefully speaking loudly enough for him to hear, she announced, “Let’s go find the other prisoners. See what they know.”

Her men immediately opened their mouths to object, but she managed to stave them off until they were out of earshot of the dragon.

They’d just reached the main cavern when a faintboomreached her ears.

A smile curled her lips. She’d known he wouldn’t be able to stay behind if he thought she was headed into a potentially dangerous situation, not after his reaction to a little scratch.

Overprotective men. So predictable.

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