Page 44 of Dragon Unhinged

“You are my mate. I know it, as strongly as I know I need air to breathe. But we cannot act on the bond more than we have.” Declan sighs, closing his eyes as he presses his forehead to mine. “I cannot complete our bond. I can’t claim you. Not while I wear these cuffs. Not when I can’t guarantee we’ll be together.”

I frown at him, even though his eyes are still closed, and he can’t see my expression. I don’t have to ask why he’s concerned we won’t be together, but I don’t know how to tell him that I don’t care if he can’t promise forever. So, instead, I wait.

“Dragons—shifters in general—don’t enter into relationships cavalierly. When we mate, we mate for life. This isn’t just about some words spoken in a ceremony, and it’s not something that can be undone. If I claim you, if I mark you with my bite, if I tie us together, and then I die…” He trails off, his voice hitching.

“If you die, I die?”

He nods slightly, hardly noticeable except that our foreheads are still pressed together. “I won’t do that to you. I won’t claim you until I know that I won’t be forced to fight. I won’t claim you until I know that we can be together for longer than the next few hours at a time.” Declan pulls back again, rolling us so that I’m sprawled over his chest, so that he can look up at me. “It’s not guaranteed that a mate will die if their partner does, but even ifyou survived, it would be a life filled with an emptiness, or so I’ve been told. I hope never to find out. And with the way other human mates have been treated, with the way dragons are being treated in the human world, I cannot condemn you to death, or a fate even worse.”

“Not even if I ask for it?”

He shakes his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. “I ache to claim you. Every time we’re together, it gets worse. My dragon knows you’re ours. I hate that you’re not wearing my mark, that you’re not protected by my heartstone, that you’re not a fierce dragon in your own right.”

“A dragon in my own right?”

“That’s the other reason I won’t claim you. You’ll most likely turn into an obsidian dragon.”

“An obsidian dragon? Why wouldn’t I be a tourmaline like you?”

“Not really sure how all the magic works but human mates become obsidian dragons. The last thing I want is for you to be more of a prisoner to your father. If you changed and he found out…I would never forgive myself if you ended up cuffed and imprisoned down here with me. What if he made me fight you? No. I won’t do it. No matter how many times you ask.”

The stern and defiant feelings rushing through me as he speaks are overwhelming, but it makes a lot of sense, as much as I hate to say it.

“I know you’re my home, my heart, my everything, but if I claim you, if I give in to that urge, you’d be in so much more danger than you are, just knowing me. I would kill even the most vicious opponents to keep you safe, regardless of if I’ve claimed you, but I couldn’t risk losing you to even a chance of death.”

“Declan, we’re going to get you out of this. We’re going to find a way to free you of these cuffs, free you of this spell and the runes on your back, and we’re going to make a life that letsus both spread our wings.” I snuggle into him, holding him as tightly as I can.

“What does our future look like, princess?”

“If I can have anything, I’d probably pick a house somewhere that’s mostly windows. No thick, oppressive walls. We’d lounge for days in a big comfy bed and have food delivered until we have to go back to the real world. We’ll go on adventures and if I get to be a dragon then I want to fly everywhere we go. To be free like that…to be with you and be free like that would be everything.”

I can’t mention that the idea of losing him, of not ever getting to fully be his, hurts so much more than knowing that I could die too if he ended up losing one of these damned fights. I can’t tell him that I’d rather die than have to marry someone else. I can’t tell him that even though we’ve only known each other for such a short time, I can’t imagine a life without him in it.

“I like that you already think like a dragon. My brother, Ash, and his mate live in a three-story home right on the beach in Miami, with huge balconies and verandahs to take flight from. They take the concept of indoor-outdoor living to new heights.” He lets out a low rumble, and it takes me a second to realize the sound is a chuckle.

“Is that what you’d want? A house on the water somewhere?”

He cups my chin and pulls my gaze up to meet his. “I don’t care where we live. We could live in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in the middle of New York City, with neighbors closing in all around, and it would be home, because you would be here.” He gestures vaguely over my shoulder. “This cell feels like home, because your smile warms the cold concrete. I have the means to give you anything and everything we could need, but you, Brianna, are the only person who has made me feel like I can actually have a home among these humans.”

I scoot up to kiss him, softly, just a brush of my lips. “I feel very much the same. You’re the first person I feel like I can be completely myself with. Not who my father wants me to be.”

Declan gives me a heartbreakingly warm smile, and it makes me want to cry.

How in the hell could my father ever look at Declan, at any of these shifters, and think they deserve to die just for existing and not being human? Declan has more humanity than I’ve ever seen from my father.

“Brianna?” Declan’s tone is soft, almost a whisper, but his furrowed brow looks more like he’s trying to hold something back.

“Yes?” I sit up, pressing my palms to his chest as I straddle his lap.

“I know nothing happened between you and the vampire, but my dragon can still smell his scent on you.” He frowns. “And it’s making the beast irrational. I don’t want to force you into anything, and I don’t ever want you to think that the only reason I want you down here would be to have sex, but…”

I grin playfully at him. “But you want to fuck me now? Leave your scent all over me?” I lean down, gripping the hem of my tank top. “It’s hard to ignore your cock pressing into me, Declan. All you had to do was ask.”

Flinging my shirt off, I press myself to his chest again, letting go of my worries, my concerns over how I’m going to free him, my fears over what Peter Lee or someone else in his family might want from me. My lips seek out his, and a moan slips out as his tongue invades my mouth, sending a jolt of need straight to my core.

I can’t believe how fucking lucky I am to have a dragon, to have a man, as passionate, as skilled, as Declan.

His hand tangles in my hair, tugging roughly as he keeps teasing me with his tongue. I can’t stop my hips from rocking into his, grinding down on his hard, thick length.

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