Page 86 of Dragon's Honor

The stab of irritation immediately followed by guilt annoyed him. He wasn’t used to not compartmentalizing his emotions. Since the death of his parents, he had exactly one mission on his mind. It had been pretty simple. Find Tristian and kill him. Make sure that all those that followed him were locked up and the key thrown away.

Now even the simplest of truths weren’t true anymore.

He was still saddled with a mate, who he hadn’t asked for. Her timing couldn’t be more wrong. He couldn’t keep his head clear with her around. She was nothing but a distraction.

“That’s what I thought.” She turned on her heel and stormed away.

Ash stayed on the couch instead of going after her. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t need a mate. He wanted her, but she was merely a distraction.

The longer he sat there the more it ate at him. She was already in his head messing with his priorities.

He pushed himself up and stormed through his own house looking for the little minx. He wasn’t about to give up. He knew he should’ve just let it well enough alone, but he couldn’t.

He found her packing in his bedroom.

He’d yet to spread her out on his bed. He wanted her scent in his sheets.

But instead she was getting ready to leave.

“You can’t go. Not with Grey out there.”

“You left me for months with him out there. He knew exactly who I was that night in the club. He wanted to make sure I got drugged up on Dragon Fire. You screwed him up that night. He wasn’t expecting me to be mated to a dragon. You think it was fate that I was mated to the dragon he was trying to destroy? You think that’s what this is?” She held up her wrist with the tourmaline.

“Sawyer…”

“I’m going back to sit with Olivia. Gavin will tell me when it’s all over.”

“Don’t leave.”

Finley’s eyes met his and it was the first time he saw the tears there.

His dragon pushed along his chest. He wanted his mate.

“Admit it, Ash. Your life was better before I came along.”

He growled at that. “Better? Before you came along…” Life was worse? Life made sense? Life was just something to get through?

“Just say it. You’ll feel so much better.”

Ash moved toward her. She stepped back but ended up sitting on the bed. He advanced until he was standing between her spread thighs. She leaned back, her hands supporting her from behind. He dropped so his hands were by her hips, his face right in hers.

“Before you came along, I was sure I wanted to die.”

He froze. Everything inside of him froze. Was that true? He’d been ready to put his life on the line for all of it just so his siblings and clan could live in peace.

“And now?” she breathed.

“You screwed up my plan to be a martyr. Now I want to figure out how to be the king the Tourmaline Clan deserves. I want to be the man my mate deserves.”

She blinked at him and then she pushed up and her mouth met his.

Ash felt a wave of relief as she kissed him. Kissing he knew how to deal with.

He gently pulled her shirt up, revealing her skin inch by inch, not wanting to break their kiss even for a moment to pull the fabric off. But he wanted her naked beneath him more.

Finley seemed just as hungry for his lips as he was for hers, and she kissed him again as soon as her shirt was over her head, not even bothering to look at where it landed. Her fingers worked the last of the buttons on his shirt before she reached up and shoved it over his shoulders, stripping him as quickly as he was stripping her.

Before he started in on her pants, his hands slid under her ass, gripping the soft globes as he lifted her, scooting them across the surface of his bed like stones skipping across water, not wanting to leave her in one place for too long until he could lay her down on the pillows.

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