Page 34 of Pierce

“In time?” Her voice was barely a whisper. A dangerous whisper, at that. “In time? How much time do you expect me to give you, Pierce?”

“The rest of your life. Nothing less than that. And the sooner you get used to it, the better.” With that, I walked off.

I left her standing there before I said or did anything I would regret later.

In the moment? Hell, yes, I wanted to put her in her place.

The dragon wanted the same thing. How dare she not want to be my mate? She had no idea the honor which came along with such a position. She knew nothing about our long history, about the royal blood which flowed through our veins.

“Pierce! Wait, please!” Alina followed me through the tunnel, catching up once we reached the kitchen. “That could’ve gone a lot better.”

“Oh, do you think so, Alina?”

She frowned, and I immediately felt sorry for snapping.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I wanted to apologize for my sister.”

“Do you ever get tired of taking care of her?”

Her mouth opened, then snapped shut. Lines appeared between her eyebrows. “Honestly?”

“Yes.”

“No. I don’t.” She shrugged. “I love her, and she’s worth it.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“What? That I love her, or that she’s worth it?” She grinned. “I mean, you took care of her. Didn’t you? You risked everything to bring her here, and you didn’t have to. Nobody was holding a gun to your head, were they?”

“Nobody’s ever done that, and nobody would ever be allowed to get away with it.”

“You know what I’m saying, Pierce. You took a chance—a massive chance. One which could’ve meant destruction for your family. You knew that at the time, but you did it anyway. What does that tell you?”

“That I’m just as insane as your sister says I am.”

“Come on. You know what I’m saying. There’s something special about my sister, and you feel it just as strongly as I do. Just for a different reason than I do.”

“Does she have this effect on everybody she meets?” I couldn’t believe it, but I half-hoped she would say yes.

No matter what my damned dragon wanted, the girl wasn’t worth half the trouble I had been through because of her. Knowing she was one of the fae gave me hope that she’d put a spell or charm on me. Something which would explain the pull I felt toward her and get me off the hook.

“No. She doesn’t. Just on the people who love her.”

“I don’t love her.”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”

“How could I love her? I don’t know her.”

“I saw the way you held her when I performed the healing. How gentle you were. You care, at the very least. You care deeply. I’m sure it has something to do with the dragon side of you—I don’t know anything about that, of course,” she added, speaking so fast her words ran together.

“Are you sure you don’t know anything about that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She blushed, just the way she had when she was looking at Smoke. “And stop changing the subject, please.”

“Fine, fine. The subject is your sister. I’m not sure what you want me to do about it. She can’t leave. There’s nothing I can do about that. It’s bad enough you want to go.”

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