Page 20 of A Witch and Her Dragon
“Stop what?” I finally force myself to say. To my credit, my voice doesn’t tremble the way my insides are right now.
“Just...stop. You don’t have to treat me like a child, don’t have to come running for every little thing.”
The rain falls around us, slowly soaking Alina’s hair so it sticks to her flushed sandy-brown cheeks.
My eyes narrow slightly as rivulets of rain run down my cheeks and drip from my chin. “You screamed. Of course I came running.”
“It was just Lyra’s rat. She startled me is all.” Alina waves a hand, then uses it to brush the wet hair from her cheeks.
“Protecting you is my duty,” I say, clutching the cloak in my hand as the rain soaks us both. “It’s the entire reason I’m here.Youare the reason I’m here. And you constantly fighting that fact is doing neither of us any good.”
“Yes, but—” Alina bites her lip, and I have to try very hard not to react to it. She has no idea what such a subtle gesture does to me. “But I want to benormalwhile I’m here.” Some of the anger has gone from her voice, and she glances down toward her feet. “I’ve been the princess mywhole life. Here, I just want to be another student. And that’s hard when I’m the only one being accompanied by a bodyguard.”
Thunder rumbles again, closer this time. I need to get her out of the rain. She could catch a cold being out in the weather like this.
I draw in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
“I understand,” I say.
Alina’s pale eyes flash up to meet mine. One of her sky-blue brows arches in the corner, like she doesn’t really believe me. “You do?”
“Of course.” I flex my jaw, trying not to show Alina how unhinged her close proximity makes me. Even now, my chain burns, biting into my flesh as it forces my dragon down. “But that doesn’t change what I’m here to do. I still have to protect you, regardless of how either of us feels about it.”
“Protect me? From what?” She lets out a short laugh, but it’s not one of her real laughs; those sound like magic, while this one just sounds cold. “No one here wants to hurt me.”
“You don’t know that.”
She narrows her eyes at me, then bites her lip again. I tear my gaze away, trying to distract myself. Instead of looking at her, I watch the plants in the raised beds thrash in the wind as it batters the garden.
“Fine,” she concedes. “I don’tknowthat. But I know I need some space. I can’t have you breathing down my neck all the time; it’s driving me crazy.” She reaches up again, this time to wipe rainwater off her forehead. “Grandfatherdoesn’t need to know exactly how many feet you stand from me at all times. If we’re stuck together, a little distance might help us get through this.” The anger in her eyes flickers and softens. “Please?”
At first, I think to tell her no, like I have every time she’s asked in the past. But the look in her eyes stills the words on my tongue.
She wants to be normal for once in her life, and I get that.
I know how it feels to be the outcast, the odd one out. I know how it feels to lie awake at night wondering what it would be like to have a friend, even just one. My father taught me to stay away from the other children lest I accidentally shift and harm them. I thought he was being unnecessarily cautious and ruining my life with his incessant worries.
Until I saw what he did to my mother.
Giving Alina some space could be good for me too. I’d like to be able to sleep at night without dreaming of wrapping my claws around her and branding her with my mark, without wondering what it would feel like to rest my weight between her thighs and taste her mouth with mine.
Just thethoughtof it sends my cock hardening in my trousers, and I quickly shift the cloak in my hand to hide what’s happening to me.
This is so unprofessional.
“Okay,” I say slowly. And it’s impossible not to see the joy it brings to Alina’s eyes. I quickly add, “But I’ll still be there at all times. I’ll just try to... back off a bit.”
Now her joy shifts into a smile. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to imagine anythingexceptmy teeth sinking into her flesh, marking her as mine. My cock is still hard.
Fuck.
“Thank you, Raelan. Truly.”
And now she’s using my name. Again. I really wish she’d stop doing that. It’s more powerful than any spell she could cast over me.
I nod once, clenching my teeth so hard my jaw aches.
Alina takes a step closer to me, and I take a step back.
