Page 53 of Dragon Rivals of New York

“Don’t you die on me, fucker.” I check the water temperature. “I was just starting to like you. And I haven’t fucked you yet. You’d like that, right? So don’t you dare die.”

Sora gives a watery laugh. “Yeah, you still owe me a few experiences.” She drops her voice to a whisper and leans close to his ear, but I still hear her as she says, “I really want to watch you take Kyro’s giant cock in your ass.”

Jethro’s lips twitch. But he doesn’t open his eyes.

“Aren’t dragons supposed to heal really fast or something?” Sora’s voice cracks.

“We do, but…” Please, goddess above, don’t take him too.

The thought of losing Jethro when I’m just getting to know him, maybe even care about him… I can’t bear it. He needs to live. But I’m helpless. All I can do is wait.

Sora starts to hum an old hymn. I don’t know the words, butthe sound is soothing. It doesn’t stop my heart racing, my mind spinning, but it makes it easier to focus. I hold her hand. She holds Jethro’s. We wait.

I drain the tub and refill it with fresh water.

And then, finally, finally, he opens his eyes and looks at us. He smiles at Sora. “I’m okay, lovely.”

“Oh, thank god,” she gasps before flinging herself over him, drawing back immediately when she seems to realize she could hurt him.

Jethro’s gaze shifts to me, and his smile widens. “You like me.”

“Fuck,” I curse, then kiss him. “Don’t ever fucking do that again!”

“What? Protect our mate? I’m always going to do that.”

“No. Almost die!” I growl before kissing him again. “Thank you for protecting our mate. But don’t ever almost die again.”

“Not before you fuck me.”

The laugh that breaks out of me does little to relieve the tension I feel. “Not even after that.”

When I kiss him again, he kisses me back, more adamantly this time. Thank the goddess. After we break apart, he pulls Sora to him, kissing the tears from her cheeks. “I’m okay, lovely.I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“W-what was that? I mean, who were they and why did they…”

“It was the Ruby Diamond Horde,” Jethro says. He’s had more interactions with them than I have, since the Gold Horde does more trading. It makes sense that he would recognize them.

“But what do they want?” Sora asks.

I look up at the ceiling, huffing out a breath. “They probably want to keep our hordes from joining.”

"But why?" Sora asks.

"Power," I reply. "The largest horde controls the dragon council, and this could tip the power away from them. Maybe not right away, but in the near future."

“Do you think they’ve taken the Silver Temple, too?” Sora grabs my hand, her worry evident in her tight grip.

“Only one way to find out.” Jethro starts to get out of the bath, but I stop him with a palm to the chest.

“You’re not going anywhere until you’re healed.”

He smirks. “Watch out, Ky. You’re halfway to loving me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I get up and leave the room, needingto collect my thoughts. I’ll get him some water and give them a moment alone, so he can reassure our mate he’s alright.

Seeing Jethro hurt like that made me realize how much I care about the jackass. It would be so easy to fall in love with him and his playful smiles, his teasing flirtations, the way he takes care of the people he loves, his loyalty to his horde, and his king. He’s infuriatingly lovable.

I sigh and go into the kitchen. My phone is on the counter where I left it before we went to the temple. Midas is right next door, but I don’t want to leave my mates for long. So I send a text to both him and Adrianna, letting them know what happened. They’ll be angry that we tried to mate without the hordes, but we’ll deal with that later. Right now, we have bigger problems.

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