Page 105 of Destined By Dragonblood
“Had Dolyn wanted to harm me, he’d have given me more than a bruised cheek that night we first met.”
Vanni had a point.
“He could have burst my body into flames for touching what he saw as his.”
“I am his,” I reminded my alpha.
Vanni’s smirk appeared again, lessening the intensity of his stare. “You’re also mine, and while I’m willing to share, I’m also the only one allowed to dole out punishment and pain. If he ever touches you, causes you pain outside the bedroom in any way…”
“He won’t.”
“How can you be sure?” Vanni echoed my question.
“I can feel it.” I pressed my palm against my chest. “Here.”
Vanni’s gaze dropped to my hand and back to my eyes.
“Seems you’ve bonded more with him than I have. I can’t tell what the fuck he’s gonna do—just get slammed with his emotional reactions.”
I squeezed his fingers and glanced toward the hallway Dolyn must have disappeared into. “Then let’s go lay it all out on the table. Talk it out. Fuck it out. Do whatever it takes to make him fully ours so there won’t be any question about his thoughts or feelings, like Primrose said.”
Vanni dipped his head and started toward the hallway calling out to me, taking a quick sip of his coffee before setting it on the counter. I did the same. “You really believe this isn’t some parallel universe, do you?”
“Yes, and I know you do too, otherwise, you wouldn’t have left your club and building in Manhattan without a backward glance.”
He frowned. “That’s something else we have to figure out.”
“What?”
“Packing up all our shit and getting it over here where it belongs.”
Belongs, the voice in me echoed, and I’d never been surer of anything in my life. If only we could make Dolyn realize the same.
Chapter 30
Vanni
The cavern home had a strange effect on me. Like a shot of espresso and a handful of little blue pills, energy and the need to fuck had me on edge and hard in the old jeans I’d borrowed from Dolyn’s bureau.
Everything in this cavernous place was outdated, some things in a state of disrepair, but not a single cell in my body wished to return to the luxury of my life before meeting Dolyn. The rock walls and ceilings, the scent of fire as though pulling from deep within the mountain, made me feel as though I’d found the home I’d always hoped for.
Home.
I nodded at the voice and instinctively led Ashley deeper into branching caves toward our missing mate, the slight hiss of the lantern and our breathing the only sounds. Claustrophobia used to be an issue for me, but nothing about Dolyn’s lair caused me lightheadedness or led me to the verge of passing out. Rather, the lack of breath and headiness affecting me came from levels of lust I’d never considered possible.
I needed to prove my worth to Dolyn, even though I didn’t truly feel I had to, and I had no fucking clue how to go about doing it. The man was a dragon shifter for fuck’s sake, far superior to any living creature. It was no wonder he fought the need to bond, to submit to an almost all-human alpha.
Couldn’t blame the man, or dragon, rather, but it fucking hurt to be shunned, thought of as less than. Not enough. His stance brought back that shit from my past I’d been trying to forget about now that I’d found something ten times better.
Ashley squeezed my hand as though knowing what bothered me. She, unlike Dolyn, was perfect. In every goddamn way.
Soft and submissive, a bit of sass and caring. Considerate and modest, a diamond amidst piles of coal, a treasure I would love forever.
Love.
I considered the word I never expected to say or feel for another woman, but the voice within me spoke truth. I loved Ashley—I also loved Dolyn—and I needed to show them. All I could do was to offer them what they desired, give them the power over my actions, and pray the results led to their complete submission.
While manipulation would have worked to get me what I wanted, my mates’ happiness and fulfillment would always come first to me.
