Page 30 of The Emerald Dragon Prince
Something was wrong.
“You have no idea how happy it makes me to have you back,” Nazeing sighed, pressing himself against me. “I have waitedso long for this moment.”
In the blink of an eye, the jarring feeling that something was wrong vanished and a smile spread across my face. “I have missed you as well, my darling,” I said, tightening my arms around him. “My world hasn’t felt complete without you.”
No, that was wrong. My life was perfectly fine. It was wonderful, even. I’d found my fated mate and we would soon have a family and a beautiful life together.
But Nazeing was my mate. I was certain of it.
I was certain of it the way I would be if someone wrote something on a slip of paper and pasted it directly into my brain. It was as if I was reading from a script for some romantic play I’d been cast in.
“Come, my alpha,” Nazeing said, stepping back slightly, though he still gazed up at me with hungry adoration. “You look tired. A good rest will do both of us a world of good.”
“Yes,” I said, partly because I felt compelled to and partly because I was so, so tired. “A rest will do us good.”
I took Nazeing’s hand like a child wishing to be led and walked with him to one of the sofas that stood against the wall of the Great Hall, near a window that looked out into one of the cloistered gardens. The evening sunlight poured down into the room, making patterns on the floor. Those patterns were so fascinating that I couldn’t help but stare for a moment.
Something wasn’t right. My soul felt…bulky. It was like there was something buried deep within it, a large coil of thick rope that had been wound up and shoved into the back of a closet. I knew that rope was important, but I couldn’t quite reach it.
“Now,” Nazeing said, shaking me out of my odd contemplation. “Let me just dispose of that lot and the twoof us can enjoy the alone time we have been missing out on.”
“Anything you want, my love,” I said, again feeling like the words were pushed out of me before I examined whether I should be saying them at all.
Nazeing laughed for a moment, then grasped my face in his hands and kissed me. I wanted to pull him close and just sit there kissing him forever. He pulled away, though, and turned to hurry back to the center of the room, where my brothers stood uselessly.
My brothers?
I blinked and tried to focus my thoughts on them, but my eyes kept slipping past them to watch Nazeing. It took more will than I thought I had to pay attention to the way my brothers just stood where they were, blinking and looking around, like they were sheep in a pasture, waiting for a shepherd to gather them up.
That was exactly what Nazeing did.
“Come along, you wretched dragons,” he said, his face twisted in a sneer even though his words came out as if he were speaking to children. “Let’s get you lot out of the way.”
I watched in passive silence, my heart telling me how much I loved my omega and how brave and clever he was as he herded my brothers to one side of the vast Great Hall. There were multiple doors and hallways that led off of the Great Hall, but Nazeing opened a door that led to what appeared to be a storage closet. He pushed my brothers inside, though none of them put up so much as a hint of resistance, then shut the door behind them. He waved his hand over the lock, I heard a click, and that seemed to be the end of that.
With a happy chuckle, Nazeing spun as if he were dancing,then practically skipped across the room to flop onto the sofa with me. “Now where were we?” he asked, his eyes full of fire as he raked me with a ravenous look. “Oh yes,” he said, pushing himself up so he could straddle my lap. “I remember.”
The next thing I knew, my omega was in my arms again, his mouth slanted over mine and his body rubbing against me. It was wonderful, blissful, arousing, and…and wrong.
I wanted my omega. The urge to keep him safe welled up within me, stronger than any bliss or desire. I needed to protect my mate at all costs. Somehow, I knew his life was in danger, even if that didn’t match the way Nazeing groaned and ran his fingers through my hair, all while kissing me to the point where I couldn’t breathe.
Why did I feel like I needed to protect and defend my mate when he was clearly enjoying himself?
“Darling,” I said between kisses, running my hands up Nazeing’s sides then down his back to grip his backside. “Perhaps we should?—”
I wasn’t entirely certain what I was going to say, since the thought that had preceded my words instantly vanished from my brain. It didn’t matter, though. The sound of footsteps approaching the Great Hall, many footsteps, shook both me and Nazeing out of our loving stupor.
Nazeing pulled back from kissing me and let out an irritated breath as Freslik entered the room followed closely by his Chief of Guards, Rottum, and about two dozen other soldiers. All of them looked worse for wear, but from what I’d seen earlier, they were probably the best and healthiest of Freslik’s army.
“What is the meaning of this?” Freslik demanded when he spotted me and Nazeing on the sofa.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Nazeing said, pullingback so he could stand and face Freslik. “You’ve interrupted me.”
“This is my castle,” Freslik said with a scowl. “You are here by my leave.”
Nazeing took a step forward and I immediately rose to shadow him as he approached Freslik. Protect my omega. That was what instinct told me. I had to protect my omega at all costs.
So why did I keep looking around as if to find my omega when he was standing directly in front of me?
