Page 32 of Galadon
“Let’s start with mead,” Lorcan suggested.
I shook my head. If I was going to drink—a thing I rarely did because it weakened my control—then I would do it right. “No, I want alefire.”
The male shifter grinned. “Are you trying to compete with Rayna and see if you can handle more than her?”
“I ain’t never seen a woman drink like she did and still walk straight,” the waitress said with a glint in her eyes. “She spent half that time cursing the entire male gender and may have mentioned a name…Galadon, I think.”
“That would be him,” Lorcan said, pointing at me.
I glared at him.
The waitress looked me up and down, seemingly less daunted than before. “No wonder she was upset. Getting rejected by you would upset any woman, if I’m being blunt.”
Apparently, she wasn’t as scared of me as most others. It happened now and then.
“It’s none of your concern,” I replied, done with their ridiculous conversation. All I wanted to do was drink and forget the slayer, not discuss her at length.
“Fair enough.” The woman took a step back at my expression. “I’ll be back with your drinks in a minute.”
“Must you frighten everyone?” Lorcan asked, sighing. “She was doing fine until you spoke to her in your threatening voice.”
“Avoid speaking of the slayer, and I promise to relax,” I said, giving him a challenging look.
“Very well. That’s a deal.”
The waitress came back with our drinks, and I finished mine in less than a minute, handing it back to her for more. Lightness filled my head. I was going to drink until I forgot my own name and all my problems. It couldn’t hurt to do it this once while my land was protected and I had no other obligations.
We finished two more within an hour before slowing down.
“So, I’ve wanted to ask you for some time,” Lorcan said, swaying a little in his seat. “Is it true that females have visited your territory to try sleeping with the infamous lone shifter?”
I chuckled and took another gulp of my drink, hardly feeling the burn of it going down my throat at this point. “Yes. Over a dozen from your toriq and many others from among the pure dragons have tried, but I turned most of them away.”
“How did you choose?” he asked, lifting a brow.
I gave him a crooked smile. “If I was in a foul mood—which, to be fair, is often—then I usually scared them off with a boisterous roar. Sometimes, they were appealing enough, and I was in the mood, so I granted them entry. One of yours stayed for about a month before I caught her tampering with the herbs I use to prevent conception, so I had to send her away.”
At any other time, it would have shocked me that I was admitting these things to him. I never talked about myself or my past if I could help it. A lot of alefire apparently loosened my tongue. It probably didn’t help that I rarely drank since it affected my ability to protect my territory.
“What?” Lorcan’s eyes rounded, and he leaned forward. “Who was it from our toriq? When was this?”
I leaned forward, vision swaying.
“Felienne. It was about two centuries ago.”
The male shifter laughed. “She’s always sought more power. Years ago, before Aidan and Bailey became full mates, Felienne tried to tempt him, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with her. He was already growing feelings for the slayer by then, I suspect.”
I winced at the wordslayer, though he hadn’t brought up the one I forbade.
He caught it and gave me an apologetic look. We drained our mugs again, gesturing for more as we did so. The next wouldbe our fifth, but I doubted even that would be enough to rid myself of thoughts I wished to avoid.
“What about the others? Who else was granted the rare permission to visit your bed?” Lorcan asked, wisely shifting the conversation back to safe ground. For as much alefire as we’d had, he still managed conversation reasonably well.
“Felienne was the only shifter I agreed to bed. The other three were pure dragon females who showed up now and then when the mood struck them. They expected nothing from me except pleasure, which suited me perfectly.”
Lorcan’s eyes rounded. “You mean to tell me you’ve only bedded one female in human form? I mean, I do it as a dragon now and then, but I prefer it in this body.”
He gestured down at himself.
