Page 49 of Dragon Unhinged

Zimo pulls up to the school before Declan answers, and it just puts all sorts of fears into my mind.

“Remember. Outside of the library at six, or you’re going to have to deal with Father.”

I grab my backpack and give him a non-committal nod before heading toward my first class.

Then, I hear Declan’s laugh.

Brianna, dragons don’t adhere to the gender norms of humans. If you’re afraid that being mated to me means you’ll be required to be nothing more than a housewife, I have no doubt that when you meet my brothers and my sister, all those fears will disappear. Mother made sure all of us knew how to cook, how to tend to a household. And if you find my cooking subpar…His voice disappears from my head for a moment, but I feel him, as acutely as I do when he’s deep inside me.The legends about dragons and their treasure hoards aren’t off the mark. I have every ability to take care of your needs, Brianna. You’ll be my princess, not my servant.

I settle into my usual seat in the lecture hall before responding to him.What if I want to take care of myself?

Then I’ll teach you what I know, and we’ll find people to teach you anything else you could possibly want to know.

It’s silly, really, but just knowing that Declan doesn’t just see me as a spoiled princess, someone incapable of taking care of my own needs, just makes me want him more.

Before the teacher steps up to the podium to drone on about antiquated foreign policy, I send off a quick text to Ellie, asking her to meet me in the library later today.

I need someone to talk to, someone to share all the crazy things that have been going on in my mind. Someone I can really trust.

It’s a good thing the professor doesn’t pay much attention to the class, and that he doesn’t really care if any of us are engaged either, because Declan spends the next hour sending me vivid imagery of things that I really don’t want to have to take care of on my own. Things I’m more than happy to let the horny dragon handle on my behalf.

Chapter

Twenty-One

DECLAN

It takes most of the day to focus enough on the runes etched into the cuffs to draw out any of them in any amount of accuracy.

My mind keeps wandering to Brianna. What she’s up to? Who she’s with? If that fucking vampire is anywhere lurking in the shadows near her, watching her, waiting for his chance to taste her.

I can’t let him bite her. I can’t stomach the idea of her going through what Ash’s mate did, getting possessed, getting controlled by a fucking bloodsucker. Or worse, what Kash’s mate, Athena, went through becoming a hybrid of a dragon and a vampire.

She doesn’t have my heartstone. She doesn’t have my claiming mark. Nothing protects her from Grey and his minions. Nothing I can do would stop him from draining her. Or worse.

You’re practically shouting, Dragon. Do you want the humans to come down and electrocute you again? Or drug you? It’s loud enough in your head, I’m surprised your mate’s father doesn’t hear as clearly as she might.

Just what I need. A nosy bear.

Shut it, Kayden. You’re just irritated they haven’t let you out to fight in a while.

It’s a low blow, and one I didn’t exactly mean to project on him. The wounds he sustained in his last fight still aren’t healing right, and if his flesh doesn’t stitch itself together soon, he might remain permanently scarred with the deep gash cutting through his back.

He doesn’t mean it, Bear. Declan’s at risk of the craze, even with his mate close by. You should claim her. With the way the two of you fuck, I’m surprised you haven’t already.Ewan’s voice has lost some of its playfulness in the last few weeks, even though he still tries to play the jester every time we’re getting prepared to face down another opponent.Swear this delay doesn’t have to do with your heartstone?

I sigh, irritated that these two are as close to friends as I’ve had outside of my brothers in a long time. As dragons we were so isolated. So many, especially the Elders, thinking that dragons are better than the other shifters or species. It’s all preposterous.

I see far more of Brianna than I do of either Kayden or Ewan.I want her to wear it, to see it glow with the love she has for me, but it’s more complicated than that. I won’t curse her to an early grave, because of her father.

Trying to focus on the runes on my cuff, I turn my thoughts inward, away from the prying minds of the other two.

Keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself that your dragon isn’t going mad at the fact that your mark isn’t on her. That hers hasn’t branded you. Your dragon doesn’t have the patience you do.

Fuck Ewan and his insights.How would you know? Do wolves even mate for life, or is it just the first bitch in heat you come across on a full moon who warms your den?

Another low blow. Maybe Ewan’s right. Maybe I am getting too close to the craze. Maybe I am losing who I am, because I haven’t claimed her. It all feels so hopeless.

At least you have a chance to claim a mate. With this wound, I may never leave this cell again. At least not alive.Kayden sounds entirely defeated, exhausted by our situation, and I can’t blame him. The only reason I feel even a fraction better off than he is, is because I have Brianna to look forward to. If she stopped coming to see me, if I didn’t know in my every breath that she’s mine, I don’t know that I’d be able to see the point in going on.

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