Page 33 of Pierce

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Pierce

Tell her more. Tell her she’s ours. Tell her there’s no way she’ll ever leave because she belongs to us.

I wanted to. I needed to. Every fiber of my being told me to. But I couldn’t. Not just because my family stared at me like they were waiting for me to make an ass out of myself, but because the sight of her in my t-shirt and nothing else set my pulse racing fast enough to make it almost impossible to speak.

Take her. Take her now. Take her until she forgets there’s a world outside of ours. Until she can no longer take a breath without smelling us on her skin.

Lust burned deep in my core, threatening to engulf me if I didn’t give in to it.

She didn’t give me or the dragon the chance to let the desire consume us.

She glared at me. “You must be on something. Or there’s some strange chemical pumping through whatever ventilation system you have set up here. Right? Is that it?”

I frowned, looking over her shoulder to where Smoke and Fence stood by the couch.

They both shrugged.

“No…?” I replied. “That’s the situation. You’re not leaving. I’ve already told you this. I’m sorry you didn’t remember or didn’t believe me when I said it, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“You’re insane! You honestly think I’m going to stay here just because you tell me I have to?” She looked at Alina. “Hello? A little help here?”

“I don’t know what to say. I mean, I don’t want to stay here, either…”

I noticed the way Smoke winced when she said it.

“So why are we still here? We don’t have to be. We don’t want to be.” Jasmine turned to me, hands on her hips. “What, are you going to turn into dragons and block the way?”

“Would you like us to?” I snarled.

“Hold on, hold on.” Smoke dropped his controller and came to my side. “Relax. You two can work this out.”

“No, no, let him speak for himself,” Jasmine countered. “He can hardly help but sound like a roaring, raging creep.”

“I can roar a lot louder,” I growled through clenched teeth.

“I know you can. I’ve already heard that, remember?”

“All I did was save your life!”

“And then you almost killed me! And now, you won’t let me leave! What was the point of saving me for this? If this is all there will ever be, why didn’t you just let me die?”

Her chest rose and fell in time with her fast, shallow breath. When she was angry, the color in her cheeks almost matched the color of her hair, and her skin warmed up, which only made her scent stronger.

I didn’t know if I should throw her off the nearest cliff or throw her to the floor and take her the way the dragon demanded.

Alina slid an arm around her shoulders. “You’re just upset.”

“Don’t tell me how I feel, damn it. I know how I feel, and I’m not just upset. I’m fucking pissed off, and I have no control over my life, and this is bullshit. All of this is bullshit!” Tears filled her eyes. Her chin trembled.

Even though I was sure she would throw a right hook if I so much as touched her, I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and tell her it would be all right.

She didn’t have to feel hopeless. Life could be good for us—no, it would be good. I would make it good.

“You’ll understand in time.” What a complete jackass thing to say. The worst thing I could’ve said.

Even the dragon groaned in disgust.

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