Page 68 of A Witch and Her Dragon
“Resist what?” I whisper.
A brief silence passes between us. We exchange a breath.
Raelan’s fingers curl around my cheek, and then he whispers, “Claiming you.”
I hold my breath.
Claiming me?
“What...” I whisper, blinking up at him. “What does that mean?”
Now his other hand comes up, and together, his hands cradle my face, tipping my head back so the candlelight hits my eyes. His face looks pained as he says, “It means you’re my fated mate, Alina.”
Those words,fated mate, echo through my mind, thrumming with the beat of my heart.
At the most basic level, I know how shifters work—as a member of the royal family, it’s expected that I have an awareness of the many different types of people who live in our kingdom—but I never even considered the possibility that a mate connection could form between us.
A princess and her guard.
A witch and her dragon.
“I’m your... mate?” It tastes like a forbidden secret as I whisper the words into the space between my lips and Raelan’s.
His pupils fully contract. They pull into dark slits, and for a moment, his fingers tighten about my face, and I’m sure he’s going to kiss me.
But then he pushes away from me, stepping back until he’s against the closed door. His chest rises and falls with rapid breaths, and he nods quickly, the movement sharp. Beneath the collar of his tunic, his chain glows. “Yes.”
I’m struggling to understand, to wrap my mind around what this means. “H-how long have you known?”
Raelan swallows hard, his throat bobbing with the movement. His eyes are still inhuman, reptilian. “Since you turned fifteen.”
I draw a breath.
Three years, almost four. He’s known all this time, yet he’s only now telling me.
“Does anyone know?” I ask.
“My mother.”
“You never told my grandfather?”
A muscle in his jaw feathers. “Not until recently. I feared he’d have me removed from the castle, sent away from my family. I couldn’t risk it.”
I open my mouth, wanting to express my anger and frustration at him for having kept such a secret from me—from all of us—for all these years. But Raelan’s face is twisted into a mask of hurt, and it steals the heated words right from my tongue.
Instead, I say, “What does this mean? For us?”
Slowly, his expression morphs, a mask rising up to hide what he’s truly feeling. I know him well enough now that I can see how it settles into place, as if each day for him is a masquerade ball, yet another waltz to dance through, hoping he doesn’t miss any steps.
“Nothing,” he says. “We can’t allow it to mean anything.”
Now that I have a better understanding, an inkling of what’s truly going on beneath Raelan’s cold exterior, I’m not brought to anger quite so quickly.
“You’re afraid,” I say. “Is that why you’re running away? So you don’t have to face this? Don’t have to feel this pull between us?” I take a step toward him. “Because I feel it too. My magicwantsyou, Raelan. I don’t know if it’s the bond, but it’s... unlike anything I’ve ever felt.”
At my words, more snowflakes fall around us silently, melting as soon as they land on the desk or the floor.
“You’re young yet.” Raelan’s voice is cold and hard. He’s trying to push me away. “You’ll find someone else. Someone better. Someone who’s not a danger to you.”
