Page 40 of Dragon Unhinged

Peter plucks a flower from one of the bushes in the garden. He cups my chin, and I yank out of his reach. He smirks like he’s enjoying a game and grabs my wrist with lightning speed movement and yanks me toward him. I slam into his chest with my hand out and pushing at his solid torso trying to keep him at bay. I’m done being the doting little princess for my father. I don’t want to be near this guy, not anymore. He holds my head in his hand, his eyes trained on mine, capturing my attention. He tucks the flower he plucked behind my ear.

I want to turn away from him, look away, run away, but I can’t. I just stare back up at him. Waiting. I don’t know exactly what I’m expecting, so I wait for him to speak.

Finally, as his thumb strokes my cheek, he says, “When your father asks, you’re entirely smitten with me, and you want to see me again in a couple weeks.”

His words feel like ice water, tracing their way down my spine, and I want to refuse. I want to break free from his grip, from his gaze. The frigid command buries itself into my brain like a shard of glass slowly sinking in.

I can’t find my voice. My whole body feels like I’ve turned to stone in this garden. The ice of his command melts into my mind and then he releases me.

I take a couple frantic steps backwards, my wobbly legs losing their footing, the stupid heels I’m wearing causing extra stability issues, I nearly wipe out, just barely catching myself before falling backward into a bush.

My lungs burn and I let out a gasp and then immediately suck air back in, like I forgot to breathe the entire time he held me.

“Now then, let’s go inside and you can sneak off like you’ve wanted to all night.” He follows me as I try and escape back to the house. “You know what they did to your dragon, right?”

I pause and turn back to him. “What did they do to him?” It’s the first time I’ve confirmed anything he’s said, but I don’t care.

“No matter. You’ll go upstairs when I leave, take a hot shower, scrub all that makeup off your face, and by the time you go down to your dragon, you’ll have forgotten all about any concerns you had about me. You’ll forget there was any reason you might’ve felt fear tonight.”

There’s that icy feeling crawling down my spine again. It feels like I won’t ever get warm, and suddenly a hot shower feels like exactly what I need.

As he leads me back into the house, back to the parlor where my father awaits, I’m certain there’s something very wrong, something I’ve forgotten, something I should remember.

“Ah, here’s the lovely young couple.” Mrs. Lee claps her hands together, smiling widely.

“We should go now, Mama. I think we’ve imposed on the Shirakitas long enough tonight.” Peter kisses my cheek.

Even though I hate it, even though I want to push him away, I feel my cheeks start to flush. “Thank you for the walk, Peter.”

As soon as they step outside and the door clicks shut, Papa’s eyes turn to me, searching for any sign that I might’ve embarrassed the family name. “Well?”

“I like him, Papa. I’d really like to see him again soon. Maybe in a couple weeks?” I smile, and my face feels at odds with everything else in my head. Like someone else has control of my facial muscles.

His eyes narrow to slits. “You really like him?”

“So much. He’s…” I sigh. An actual, wistful sigh. “I think he could be the one.”

What am I saying? What is wrong with me?

I lean against the banister and bite my lower lip, staring at the door like I want Peter to come back. Like the words coming out of my mouth are truth.

“I’ll set something up. Maybe the two of you should take a car, go out to a proper restaurant next time.”

“Thank you, Papa.” I almost feel like I want to hug him, and I know that can’t be real. I know better than to think we would ever embrace.

Instead, I head upstairs and go straight to the shower, turning it on as hot as I can stand.

Chapter

Seventeen

DECLAN

My body is still twitching.

The shock-stick had to have been turned up as high as it could go, to completely incapacitate me like this. Though with the magic it’s imbued with, it’s always rough when they use it on us.

Since I started regaining even a little bit of control, I’ve been trying to break through, to reach out to Brianna. I need to make sure she’s okay. I have to make sure she knows that I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.

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