Page 12 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
Was it?
I shut down that thought immediately, trying to bury it in memories of Noa. My mate. This was not at all going according to plan, and I needed to get myself back under control. Full control. No more idle thoughts of wondering what Madison might sound like while I tongue-fucked her into oblivion.
ENOUGH!
I shouted the thought mentally as my mind wandered even while telling it not to wander.
I should’ve just walked out of the damn palace instead of going back for her. Things would be so much easier.
“Well, thank you,” Madison said when I didn’t reply. “So, what, uh, what now then?”
My stomach betrayed my answer, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in hours.
“Food,” I said bluntly. “I guess we’ll try to figure out what to do next after that. I think better with a full stomach.”
I crossed the living room, heading to the kitchen at the rear of my apartment.
“Figure it out?” Madison echoed. “What’s to figure out? I’m your prisoner. That seems pretty ‘figured out’ to me.”
“No, you aren’t,” I said dismissively.
“I’m not? So, I don’t have to do what you want?”
I waved at her, opening the fridge. “There’s the door. Have fun. Go explore or whatever you want to do.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Me?” I saw the plastic tub I wanted and pulled it out, tossing it on the counter along with some fresh bread. “I’m going to make some sandwiches with leftover steak slices from last night. Then I’m going to eat them and be much happier.”
Madison sighed loudly. She did not, I noted, head for the door.
“What now?”
“I’m a food hostage,” she pouted.
I glanced over at her, careful not to meet her eyes. I couldn’t afford a repeat of the battlefield. Her cheeks were dimpled as she smiled at her comment. A joke, then.
For a moment, grateful for the thawing of tensions between us, I let my guard down and smiled back at her.
A moment was all it took.
Our eyes locked before I could process what was happening, and the world slid to a halt. A big, gaping hole waited for me. The abyss at the center of swirling circles of sunset-tinted ocean waters, the whirlpools sucking me in before I could stop it.
Down I fell. Toward the center of this woman. Thishuman. She swallowed my world like the first day I’d laid eyes on her in my dragon form. I tried to fight the current. To assume controlof myself, but it was no use. My dragon bellowed triumphantly, steering usintothe storm. Not away from it.
This wasn’t right. I knew it wasn’t.
I had a mate. Her scale was on my chest.
Fighting the rising tide, I brought my hand up. Everything happened in slow motion as if I were stuck in molasses. Eventually, however, I managed to brush my fingertips against the deep blue scale adhered to my breastbone.
The link between Madison and I vanished, and my body abruptly returned to my control. I spun wildly as muscles obeyed commands I’d never stopped giving, and I bashed my face off the fridge, dropping the tub of steak leftovers onto my big toe.
“Sonofabitch!” I howled, grabbing my face as pain lanced out from where my nose had made contact with the cold metal. “Damn it.”
Warmth spilled into my hand, and I brought it back to see red smeared across my palm.
“Unbelievable,” I growled, snatching a paper towel and jamming it up both nostrils.
