Page 20 of Bound to the Dragon
I wait for the last of my pack members to leave before I utter a single word to Madison, mostly because I’m thinking of what to say to her. I study her pretty side profile for a long moment, taking in the fine bone structure of her high cheekbones, the curve of her full lips. If she weren’t such a pain in the ass, I bet she would be an amazing kisser.
“I can handle my pack,” I tell her. “You didn’t need to say anything on my behalf.”
She flips her raven tresses over her shoulder and faces me. “Is that your way of saying thank you?”
A reluctant smile tugs at my lips. “Yes.”
Her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. “Oh.” She clears her throat lightly, equally surprised by my answer. “Well, I am the Luna. It’s my duty and oath to stand by you. They shouldn’t be talking about you behind your back. That’s how dissent starts. It’s happened in other packs. It…”
She stops and frowns as if she were going to say more, but thought better of it. “You need to monitor your grumblers. You know what happened with Willow Grove. Things could have been a lot worse there.”
I turn down the urge to remind her of her place after the way she had just stepped up for me. It’s hard to tell the difference given the way things started between us, but with the earnestness in her voice, I believe she’s trying to be helpful, even if she’s going about it all wrong. For the first time, I realize that maybe we aren’t so different, after all. Is it possible that we’re after the same goals?
A single strand of black hair falls over her perfect cheekbone, and I have to physically hold myself back from touching her. Her head lifts abruptly, her chocolate gaze locking onto mine, and my heart erupts into abnormal thuds inside my chest. A flood of headiness overtakes me, followed by a sweeping sense of confusion. Her pupils constrict, those luscious full lips parting as a full exhale touches my face. Her scent consumes me, every detail of her face, hair, and smell overstimulating me as the throb of my chest intensifies. I’m suddenly electrified, drawn to her like we’re connected by an invisible string. Madison takes a step toward me, her own pupils enlarging in tandem, lips parting, and I swear I hear the thud of her heart matching mine as if it’s inside my own chest.
What is going on?
The question is far away, like someone else is asking it from the sky, in a voice not my own. But when Madison’s hand rises to touch her chest, the gesture tells me everything I need toknow. My gaze rakes over every inch of her skin, and a headiness sweeps through me, the euphoria overwhelming.
“Oh, shit!” I choke, throwing my hands up as if that will somehow fend off the inevitable wheels already in motion. The pull of my body to hers is already overpowering, like my legs are made of lead weights as I try to back away and add distance between us. But it’s futile. The mate bond is snapping in place faster by the second, and there’s nothing either of us can do to counter it.
“No!” Madison’s voice is a croak. “How?”
Our denials aren’t going to change what it is. I turn my back and struggle to breathe normally, but it’s more difficult than it sounds when the fated mate bond is cosmic and interfering.
“Do you know what the chances of this are?” Madison is almost hyperventilating.
She doesn’t need to cite statistics to me. They’re infinitesimal. It’s extremely rare to find one’s fated mate in the first place, but to find one in these circumstances? An arranged mating? The gods are mocking us.
“Did you have something to do with this?”
I whip my head around and scowl at her. “How would I have anything to do with this? Do I look like I can go around making fated mate bonds? Why would I even want to be mated to you?”
That came out harsher than I intended, and a gleam of hurt veils Madison’s eyes, but it’s gone just as quickly.
“The timing is awfully suspect, isn’t it?”
I grimace. “I’m not jumping for joy over this, either, Madison.”
She has drawn closer to me, clearly inadvertently, but I don’t move away. Her spicy scent is making me feral. I want to take her right there on the ground of the front room and not care who walks in. She licks her lips, her eyes pleading with me—no, daring me—to do it. She’s right here, in my arm’s reach…
No. No, I’m not going down this road with her. She is my mate. We will need heirs, but this is and always has been a business arrangement, nothing more.
I can’t even have her sleeping in my room now, or I’ll never get anything done. We’ll have to make a schedule or something… I can’t think clearly when she’s so close to me, and all I can think about is bending her over and fucking her senseless.
Dammit, this is going to fuck everything up!
“I should go.” Madison spins around, but I can see how much effort it takes for her to make that simple movement, and I don’t try to stop her, as much as I want to seize her by the waist and pull her back against my throbbing cock.
I close my eyes, allowing her to leave before I do something I’ll regret.
By the time I open my eyes, Madison is gone, but the intensity of our bond remains long after she leaves. It’s here now, and it’s not going anywhere, no matter how far she goes, but especially when she’s under the same roof. Her scent lingers all around me, driving me crazy, and I have to resist the unbearable desire to race after her and finish what is starting inside me.
I collapse on the sofa, willing my raging hard-on to subside when Vigo finds me. I move my leg, so he doesn’t notice the massive bulge. The Beta sniffs the air with his sensitive cougar nose.
“It smells weird in here.”
I almost laugh out loud.
