Page 18 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
“But why not take in a human? They still exist out there, right? Beyond the pack’s borders. Give them a choice, and, not to get radical, wages? There must be hundreds wanting a job like this. Food. Shelter.”
“But not you?” He arched a brow.
“I’m not a human.” I might not be able to connect with my wolf, I might not even have one, but I wasn’t human. My mom was a shifter. I was, at the very least, half shifter.
“No. And if you were, you’d have run away screaming the moment you saw my dragon. Their kind has a mortal terror of mine, with good cause. Or you’d have got bored in a few years, and wanted to leave. And then I’d have had to kill you.”
“Well,” I said, crossing my arms, “that’s a shitty severance package.”
He grunted in my general direction in what might have been amusement. Probably wasn’t, though.
“I mean, you do realize the severance part isn’t meant to be literal, right?”
“Do you wish to find out?” he rumbled, getting to his feet.
“Very much not.”
“Perhaps you would like to continue with your work, then? Though I suspect it may be a little more productive if there was actually some water in your bucket.”
Busted. I picked up my bucket and cloth and shot him a sheepish smile. “Yeah, good idea. I’ll do that.”
I hurried from the room, feeling his eyes boring into my back the entire way.
Chapter 11
Rook
I had noclue why I’d told her about Alina. I’d meant to simply chase her out of this room before she could damage anything, or wash away the last traces of the woman who’d shared my home for thirty years.
Alina had been as different from Kaylee as it was possible to be. She’d been meek when she arrived, taking months to come out of her shell and realize I had no interest in tormenting her, or forcing her to share my bed. The ‘offering a virgin to appease the dragon’ myth the humans had started centuries ago had a lot to answer for. Then again, those weren’t myths for most of my kind. Alina, like those before her, had been shocked and relieved to discover I wasn’t some sex crazed beast waiting to pounce and rut her against her will.
It would be nice if we ruttedsomeone, my dragon griped, but we both knew it wasn’t going to happen. I had no interest in taking a mate, and no interest in rutting someone purely to pass the time. Alina had come to see that, and she’d found a solace in her work here, taking pride in her cooking and in making the house gleam more than any dragon’s fangs. It had broken her heart to watch dust and grime winning the battle she’d fought for most of her life, and I suspect that had pained her more than the disease eating away at her. Once she became bed-bound, I’d made it a point to keep this room clean—much to her amusement—and had done ever since.
But I didn’t want to think about that right now.
I got to my feet with a sigh, and smoothed the bed sheet out behind me. The truth was, I’d been lonely since Alina had passed, and yes, I’d grieved my friend. But I’d been lonely for a long time before we’d become friends, and it hadn’t killed me. That was what made getting close to the staff so dangerous. Their lives were short, while mine would go on for near-countless years—a ‘blessing’ of my particular species—and building friendships with mortals gave me feelings I had no business feeling.
Like happiness?
Feel happy right now, do you, beast?I snapped as I slipped out of the door, pulling it softly shut behind me. I drew in a breath of the clean air, devoid of the lingering scent of Alina’s death, and shook my head.
You should not keep torturing yourself.
He wasn’t wrong. If Gaheris’s intel was good, there might soon be a whole hoard of dragons waiting to do that for me.
We must prepare for the inevitable battle.
I wasn’t so sure about the inevitable part—if there was a way to avoid a war, then I intended to take it. My existence here might not be perfect, but it was peaceful, and that was close enough. Just because I’d live a naturally long life didn’t mean it couldn’t be cut short by a well-place blade or fang, and Uther’s warriors were experts at finding their mark. I’d sooner not face them in battle, nor have them tearing apart my home.
Or a certain shifter within it?
Kaylee’s life is neither here nor there. She’snotthe reason I don’t want to fight.
If you say so.
I raked my hand through my hair. My dragon was right: I didn’t want to witness a death in my home so soon after the last. But he wanted to read more into it than what it was: a simple desire for a peaceful existence. I’d seen enough death—hell, caused enough death—during in the war to last me a lifetime, I had no need of more of it here in my own sanctuary. What I didn’t understand was whyhewas so obsessed with her. I knew it wasn’t because he shared my war weariness.
She is different.
