Page 138 of Centaur Bolt

“We need that location,” the big Dragon rumbled.

At that moment, I couldn’t care less about Isobel’s hideaway. I had to run to catch up to Marcus. He strode at a tremendous pace down the hall.

“Wait!” I said.

He stopped and turned on me. Black scales had appeared around his eyes and along his cheeks. “Tell me you didn’t fuck that Dragon.”

Figures he’d get the word right this time. My mouth opened, and closed again. His eyes turned the color of ink. Then he spun, and continued on.

I grabbed the only thing I could think of. “He saved me.”

Well, he had. I’d saved him, too, but dammit, Marcus knew part of this story.

It did stop him. He turned back to me. “You fucked him.”

His focus seemed unwavering. I struggled to explain the unexplainable—it’s fateddidn’t seem a viable argument to pursue.

“When I Jumped back, it brought the Dragon out in me,” I said. “And I was in full cycle. So yes, I fucked him. He hauled me into the sky, and then we fucked while we fell. It broke the cycle. So I suppose you think you could have helped me with that?”

White light flashed across his eyes, and his face was changing shape. “I have wings.”

“Well, the next time I turn into a Dragona on cycle, you can fly with me instead. Oh, wait. According to you, you’d be just as likely to tear me into pieces. Or am I wrong?”

His mouth straightened. “I will get control.”

“Do you have it now?”

A pause, before he admitted. “No.” He stared at me. “So if you hadn’t been on cycle, you wouldn’t have had sex with him?”

I may not have been completely honest with him—neither of us was ready for what marked my shoulder beneath the cloak—but I also wasn’t about to let that slide. I stepped in close to him. “The cycle may have driven me, but this was my choice, Marcus.”

He stiffened. “Then, if you have made your choice—”

My temper flared. “How can I chose you, when all you do is run?”

“I bolt because I don’t want you to get hurt!”

Same answer as before. Suddenly, I was gloriously, furiously angry, and from the depths of me emerged my darkest suspicion. “Is that the real reason?” I asked, again. “Do you deny there is something between us?”

“We don’t know that,” His eyes were flashing white as though lightning lived inside him.

Dammit, I wanted him to face this. Needed him to, if we were to have any chance at all. “You told me once that what we shared were living dreams. Well, everything I’ve been told says that onlymatescan do that.”

He swayed from one foot to the other.

“Is that true?” I pressed.

“So I’ve heard,” he conceded. His voice had gone impossibly deep, and the air behind him was almost glowing. “So you aren’t attracted to him now that you are human?”

I took a deep breath. Time for some hard truths. “I had dreams with Havoc, too.”

“You’ve dreamed with him?” His jaw spasmed, as though the bone itself moved.

“Before I even knew he existed,” I confessed. “Which means he and I have a connection, too.”

Marcus backed a step, and I went with him, reaching out to touch his arm. “Multiple mates are not uncommon across the realms,” I argued. “It is the only explanation—”

He gave me no warning. He stepped swiftly into my space, grabbed me with one big hand, and then pushed his face into my neck and inhaled. A split second later, he yanked the cloak aside. And stared in horror at the clear teeth marks on my shoulder.

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