Page 54 of Destined By Dragonblood
Goddamned fucking voice in my head sounded as far from human as possible. But was it residual shit from Dolyn…or had he somehow implanted a beast inside me?
I needed a drink.
Chapter 16
Dolyn
As alpha, I should have sensed both of my mate’s emotions once we came into contact all at once. Father had assured me of that truth.
The lack of Vanni and Ashley’s thoughts and feelings, the missing beginnings of our bond upon touching, raised alarms in the back of my mind, causing my dragon to chuckle. Perhaps it would take more time, or maybe acceptance was needed on both of their parts before the sharing began.
But Vanni had seen the vision I had, the one put into my human brain from my other half. It’d only been a few heartbeats that I’d been aware of him. While I hadn’t appreciated the false imaginings of a weak inner beast, I comforted myself in having felt my beta.
Vanni would submit and be mine.
Eventually.
I moved back onto his office chair, Ashley still curled up tight against me. We hadn’t spoken a word since our mate had stormed off—fleeing from the questions that probably plagued his mind he wouldn’t have answers to until I set him straight.
Regardless of his minuscule amount of Blood Born DNA, after having touched him, I now at least felt the draw, the lure of it, pulsing through his body—same as Ashley’s.
Eventually, he would believe we were destined by dragonblood. He would offer himself to me. But I was no sadist and wouldn’t be able to gift him the pain and pleasure he would long for as my beta. Ashley had already submitted herself to him, so how could I change their dynamic to set things right as Father had always assured me awaited?
Maybe our triad could be different.
My beast lay curled in delight, for once keeping silent over my musings of our destiny. He gloried in having our female in our arms where no one could harm her.
She trusts.
I couldn’t yet feel her emotions, but I believed my instincts. Her relaxing against me rather than pulling away assured me my inner beast spoke truth.
How our relationship would play out as the days passed, I wasn’t sure. But hope rested in my chest that Vanni would prove satisfying in our giving each other mutual pleasure. He might not have enough dragonblood in his veins to fulfill the requirements Father had always insisted I stand firm on, but the sex would be earth-shattering.
And with our tender female’s vulnerability and the empathetic nature she seemed to possess, I wouldn’t have to emotionally connect with Vanni, same as Father had refused to do with Papa due to his lesser lineage.
Elijah had looked at Jon with more emotion than he’d ever shown me, but Elijah still considered himself an alpha. Not that the human male mate of his would ever dominate a royal Blood Born. Theirs was a match I would never understand. I would focus on what Father had assured me of. While my role model throughout my earlier years hadn’t always been kind or understanding, I’d had no better examples of an alpha in my life to follow.
My inner dragon huffed a snort strong enough that my human body jostled our female.
Ashley sighed heavily, shuddering against me.
I continued to caress my fingertips over her cheek, wishing to experience more of her inner workings but glorying in the warmth that moved between us like a lazy river on a summer day. “How are you feeling, my female?” I asked, closing my eyes and nuzzling my nose into her soft hair again.
“Half-okay, half-freaked-out.” She rested against me, her fingers lying lightly on my chest. Her sweet breath rose to make my mouth water with the need to taste. “I’m sitting on the lap of a man I hardly know and I’m not even the slightest bit scared. But some of the shit you’ve said, Dolyn…I’m concerned.”
More than anything, I wished to be bonded so I might hear her thoughts. “You believe I’m insane, but I’ve spoken nothing but truth to you this day.” I made an assumption for which she needed assurance.
“I’m sure you believe you have.” She pulled back to focus on my face, causing my hand to fall from her satiny skin.
My beast mourned the loss, and I bit my tongue to keep from whimpering like someone with a weaker nature.
“Until tonight, I hadn’t allowed a man to touch me in twelve years.”
My brow furrowed, head cocking to the side. Not that I would complain, but how had such a beautiful woman escaped notice for a decade? Her statement suggested she’d been intimate before that time, but surely she’d experienced attraction since? “Would you explain why?”
A shuddering breath, and she climbed off my lap, leaving me bereft. She stood before me, and my heart seized as I peered at her, trying to read through the purple-blue of her eyes and deep into her soul. I wished for the full bond between us, one I’d been promised would allow feelings to emanate with clarity and allow me to know her—communicate in the way she needed to understand without having to speak a word.
“I was raped when I was sixteen,” she whispered.
