Page 56 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
You treated our mate like a common slave. Your judgement is impaired.
I grunted at that, and flew faster. It made me uncomfortable to consider the way I’d treated Kaylee, and no amount of attempting to make amends had eased the pressure in my chest. I didn’t know how to make it cease, or even lessen—nor was I sure I deserved it.
You should bring her a deer.
We alreadybroughtherthree.
Yes, but not today. Our mate likes deer.
It seemed to be true, but I was quite sure she would prefer the delivery I’d arranged yesterday. Her hoarding preferences, it transpired, ran similar to mine. I looked forward to seeing her face when she discovered my gift…and then I looked forward to watching her face as she enjoyed my gift. And after that, I looked forward to watching her face as I pleasured her on my knees, worshipping the only creature I would ever prostrate myself before.
The thought made me wish I could fly straight there, and lay eyes on my divine mate. But no. There was one other thing my mate desired almost as much as I was certain she would desire my gift: answers. And, annoyingly, there was only one place I could think of where she might find those answers.
I had suspected she may have a dragon half hiding within her when she recounted her nightmares to me, the dark shape chasing her reminding me of the shadow that had lurked in my subconscious before I’d come of age and shifted for the first time.
Our mate has shifted much younger than most dragons,my beast said, his voice swelling with pride. It was true. Our kind of dragons didn’t claim our power at such young ages as wolves, but then, we didn’t die so quickly, either. That my impending death had brought on my mate’s shift only underscored how unequal we truly were. I could live a thousand lives and never be worthy of her.
We should tell her that.
I groaned inwardly.I’d rather bring her another deer.
My dragon had been full of ‘helpful’ ideas on how to woo our mate, most of which were horrific. I’d been around Kaylee enough to have scented her arousal on several very specific occasions, all of which centered around the appearance of my dominant side. And I’d felt the way her body reacted when I was deep inside her, showing her my strength.
Females enjoy being told they’re important,my dragon argued.
When did you become the expert? You’ve known even less than me. Why would females be any different from males?
Perhaps we should challenge her to a fight, then,my dragon bit out with what I knew was sarcasm, but…
No!His shout deafened me from inside my own head.
She was magnificent in battle with Uther,I reasoned.She must enjoy fighting and bloodshed.
I think she would prefer the deer.
I think she’ll prefer what we’reactuallygoing to do.
He fell silent. We were in agreement. It was time to find those answers she craved.
Chapter 29
Kaylee
We should catchour mate a deer.
The voice in my head had been growing ever more insistent, and right now I was about ready to wish it away and go back to my old life.
Liar.
Alright, yeah, that was fair—nothingon this earth could ever make me want back to go to the way I’d been. Weak. Helpless. Standing there with my hands bound, watching Uther’s army about to destroy Rook…
Never again.
We were in agreement about that. I would destroy anyone who so much aslookedat him the wrong way. Because now I could. I wasn’t the scared little null anymore. I was the first female dragon shifter in this territory in over a hundred years. The thought was still a little overwhelming—there was so much about our world I didn’t know. Ihadplanned to do some research, but before Rook had gone away on his ‘business trip’ he’d made me agree to stay out of the library. I never would have agreed, but he’d seemed genuinely concerned about something in there upsetting me—as ifbookscould do that, or at least, not in a way I didn’t enjoy—and I wasn’t used to people being concerned about me. Also, he'd brought out several of the romances I’d been looking at in there to keep me occupied while he was away. I’d been tempted to rush through them all in an afternoon, but there was only a small selection in the library, andI wanted to savor each one, taking my time over each and every perfect sentence.
Which would have been much easier if I didn’t have a dragon inside my head making suggestions about slaughtering a herd of deer, or hunting down a dozen wild boar—whatever the fuck one of those was—or anything else equally unpleasant.
But if we—
