Page 13 of Draco

Not by my claws. Not at my whim. Only at her own. She wanted control over her life, or her death if it came to that.

“Besides,” she continued, “What if you’re actually one of the bad guys?”

Her accusation stung, just like her internal thought earlier that I was the bad guy in her story. I didn’t see myself as the bad guy, but she sure as hell did.

“If you were out to kill me, then the first thing you’d do is make me trust you. Then you’d off me. Less struggle, less worry.” She lifted both shoulders, then crossed her arms.

I shifted. “If I wanted to kill you I’d have done it while you slept. I’d have done it the first time I caught you.” I stepped closer to her, but she stood her ground. “Look around you, princess. There’s no one to hear you scream. Why would I give a fuck whether you trusted me if my only intent was to kill you?”

She glanced around, her whole scent shifting to a hot, damp smell that tickled my senses and sent confused signals thumping through my veins to every nerve ending. Goosebumps stood up on my arms as her big blue eyes returned to mine, wide and excited.

No one would hear me scream. He could do whatever he wanted.

Her thought came to me as strongly as if she’d screamed it and with it, a flood arousal that lit the flame of my own lust. This woman was hot and cold, and it was giving me whiplash. I found it difficult enough to control these urges but with her continuing to blindside me with odd bursts of desire.

I gritted my teeth even as my cock stirred. I wasn’t going to fall for her or fuck her. I guess I should have made that just as clear to myself in the beginning when I’d said I wouldn’t fall for her either. I wasn’t going to pull a Stryker. No falling for and sleeping with a ward.

“How about a compromise?” I asked, struggling to ignore everything but the current problem at hand. Her inability to walk.

Everything else I could rage about later. A cold shower might help cool me off, or a dip in the same pool she’d swam in.

“What kind of compromise?” She seemed wary still, even with that primal hunger rushing through her and radiating out to me in her scent, thoughts, and stance. The damp smell of her hit me like a hammer, and every muscle in my body snapped taut as I held myself back.

Fuck, I wanted to answer her questions about the kind of lover I’d be. Not with words. With actions.

“I’ll shift, and you could ride me.”

She arched an eyebrow, her excitement spiking. Her whole body was ready for me, humming with need and thirsting for my touch. I wouldn’t give in. I’d fight against that with all of myself. She wasn’t mine to touch, and that would be breaking all the rules.

“Ride you?” A smile played at the corners of her lips, and she studied me as if searching for some double meaning to my words that she’d never find.

I gritted my teeth, hating the comparison I was about to draw. “Like a horse.”

Surprise lit her features. “Literally? Ride you?”

Done with this whole conversation, I nodded and shifted. I walked right up to her. She studied me a moment, then reached out a hand to touch me. Her soft fingertips smoothed over my face and up between my eyes. I let her touch, but still stayed on guard in case she tried something cute like blinding me by sticking her fingers in my eyes to get away.

Her mind, though, stayed locked on how beautiful she thought my coloring was, how interesting she found me, and how nervous she still was about riding me or being carried by me at all. I caught that she’d never ridden horses and didn’t particularly like them, so my go-to had actually hurt my case. She’d always been too afraid to fall and that hadn’t changed.

“I’ve always been afraid of horses,” she said, her eyes locking on mine as she spoke. “I know it sounds stupid, but I’m pretty sure you can’t talk like this, so you also can’t laugh at me.”

I didn’t move, and she walked to my side, her hands trailing over me in a way that tickled and woke up the nerves in my body. Her touch, so intimate and caressing, only enflamed the desire she’d been unknowingly stoking in me.

“They’re too wild and unpredictable. I’d had a childhood friend that was thrown from her horse. It broke her back and left her paralyzed from the waist down.” She ran a hand down my back and over my side. “And that ruined me. I know you’re not wild and unpredictable, but I don’t trust that I wouldn’t fall.

I shifted to my human form, and her hands landed on my shoulders. She snatched them back, her face going red.

“I wouldn’t let you fall.” I took her chin in my fingers and tilted her head, so she was looking at me. “I’ll keep you safe.” My voice seemed to affect her. She inhaled, her ribs expanding, and her eyes darted back and forth between mine.

Before she could argue, I shifted back. I wasn’t going to force her to do anything, but I did want to remind her that my duty was to her safety.

She seemed to remember that I was also a man under my dragonhide and she stopped rubbing over me. She put a hand on my back and took a step, nearly falling as the pain overwhelmed her. A soft little squeak escaped her lips, and she clung to me.

But even as she nearly toppled over, she gritted her teeth and clung to me for support, walking forward through sheer force of will and working through the pain. I stayed at her side, letting her lean on me, as I helped support her weight.

Every limp nearly took her out, and she had to stop after about five steps and take a few deep breaths. As she regained her composure, I struggled to do the same. Something about this woman made her so unlike any I’d protected before.

After her breather, she gathered up her courage and continued forward, limping heavily every time she tried to put weight on her hurt ankle. Her arm hooked over my back, and she clung to me, letting me support some of her weight as she moved.

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