Page 27 of Brutal Dragon King

I’ll only end up chastising myself.

Without waiting for my brothers—especially Kaidën—to try and convince me to stay for the party, I notice them occupied with a group of strippers as the redhead goes over to whisper in Kaidën’s ear, and I bolt for the elevator door. Once inside, I tap my foot impatiently, wanting to use this intoxicated state to shift into dragon form and see what the creature has to say about these feelings.

When I’m outside King Kaidën’s castle, I waste no time invoking my dragon, who’s less intoxicated than my human. I flap my wings with a thunderous clap that takes me above the clouds and soar forward toward the mountainous region of The Spine.

The tall, sky-searching mountain peaks welcome me into my kingdom, the palace grounds beckoning me forward while my dragon remains tight-lipped and unwilling to reveal its deepest, darkest fantasies. I already know what it craves the most—and she’s there, in the palace, most probably hiding out in the bedroom I ordered her to stay in after our kiss yesterday.

When I shift back to human form just in front of the palace entrance, my feet wobble slightly, still dazed from all theliquor I've consumed. I brace myself on a pillar, taking a few deep breaths to steady myself.

It doesn't help.

Braving the lingering effects of the booze, I enter the palace, the sound of the doors squeaking on their hinges, calling the attention of the nearby servants.

“Your Majesty…” The two who'd appeared from the hallway came rushing forward, bowing their heads.

I dismiss them with a wave. “Leave me.”

They make no sound as they hurry away, disappearing behind me to tend to the door. When it shuts, the gentle thud spurs my steps as I proceed down the hall toward the right wing of the butterfly staircase.

I could use the elevator, but I'm hoping that I'll be less drunk by the time I reach my bed chambers on foot.

Maybe then my mind will be clear enough to decide that the human isn't worth my endless thoughts, or counting the steps that take me toward my quarters, where she's separated from my bedroom by a single door.

What is going on with me? Why am I turning crazed, palms tingling with the need to feel her in my grasp? My lips tremble as the memory of that kiss comes rolling back in waves of desperate carnal desire.

This is insanity! This is completely absurd!

When I reach the landing on my private floor, palms sweaty as I grip the balustrade, I point my sharp vision at the door that leads to the guest bedroom.

Althea’s room, and despite my tipsy situation, my heightened senses can pick up the sound of her breathing behindthat door. It’s almost as if I can hear the thud of her heartbeat like a predator anticipating its prey.

What I fail to anticipate is the opening of that door, and seeing her face emerge from behind it.

Her startled gasp is what should alert me as a hunter, but instead, it keeps me frozen on the spot, meeting widening hazel eyes that are as round as large as a deer caught in the headlights.

“Althea…”my inner dragon whispers, my human heart involuntarily skipping a beat when I hear its voice while staring at her face.

I feel the effects of the liquor subsiding quickly, but I'm drunk on Althea's presence right now. Stepping forward on feet that hardly feel like my own, I approach the human who doesn’t make a single move.

Not even to bow for her king when he stands before her, towering over her stout figure as she holds my gaze. An accusatory glint flashes through her eyes, but it’s not defiance I see igniting the tiny green specks littered in the hazel depths.

Marvelous… Is my first instinctual thought, marveling at the human whose full lips part ever-so-slightly.

“You did not bow…” I remark, voice lower than usual.

She must have noticed because a frown flits passed her face quickly before she returns to a neutral expression, this time her lips pressed into a firm line.

“I did not,” she says flatly.

I take a step forward, hoping that the closer proximity will remind her of what happened yesterday when she defied my order. Even if I didn’t verbally order her to bow this time, surely she remembered that I could have my way with her if I wanted to. All she had to do was try me.

Noticing the way her chest rises and falls unsteadily, a cocksure smirk grows on my lips.

She remembers.

She will bow this time.

But the smirk is wiped off my face when she folds her arms across her chest instead of dropping her head in submission. The movement seems to shield her chest so that I can no longer hear her heartbeat or sense its vibration.

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