I missed the days before I knew the softer and possessive sides of Theo. The bliss of ignorance was far preferable to the knowledge that made me yearn to see the softer parts of him at all times. It was so much easier to fear being his wife when I thought him a cold-hearted brute. Before I knew he would protect me and cradle me to his chest possessively when I called out for him. The tender way he held my hand and fixed my wounds. How he’d opened up and shown me the wounds his father had left behind and the immense weight he felt from taking on his birthright as king. The way he suffered the burden silently, giving me only the briefest glimpses into his struggles.
“It appears your friends have made the trek to my castle to demand your return,” he breathed out, focusing back on my face. “They said they aren’t leaving, no matter the danger to them that Lucius has warned them of.”
That was high on the list of things I never expected to come from his mouth. “Which friends?”
“Tillie, Mira, and…Brenson,” he answered, the last name showing the first bit of fire within Theo that I’d seen in weeks. Perhaps he wasn’t as unaffected as I thought.
I cleared my throat at the tension building with the mere mention of my friend. “Will Lucius be able to protect them until we’re back? I worry about Tillie and Mira being there, just as we feared for my safety as an unmated human.”
Theo’s eyes narrowed and he averted his gaze, opening his mouth and closing it.
“What?” I demanded, sensing he wasn’t telling me everything.
His jaw clenched and the veins on his forearms bulged as his hands clenched. “I will tell you this, but you have to promise to not freak out.”
My heart all but jumped into my throat. “You can’t start with that! It immediately makes people freak out, Theo!”
His eyes rolled before he sighed heavily. “Don’t be so dramatic. Your precious Brenson is fine. It just seems that Lucius has taken an interest in Tillie, in a similar manner as my dragon feels to you. Now, can we continue with our training? We need to leave within the next few days. It cannot wait any longer.”
Without waiting for my response, he rid himself of his tunic, causing me to narrow my eyes. If he thought he was going to distract me with his body, or stop me from thinking of Brenson and my friends in general…Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong, but two could play that game if it got me the answers I wanted. Surely I could catch him off guard and prod him until he cracked. It was clear he didn’t give a shit to give me answers as we stood now.
I stripped off my vest and tunic, leaving me in only my black brassiere and trousers. Instantly, he stiffened, his eyes falling to my breasts as my skin pebbled with the brisk chill of the cave, despite our fire. He seemed to snap out of a trance and demanded, “What is the meaning of this?”
“You think you’re the only one who can play that game?” I questioned, stepping closer to him, enjoying the way he took a step back. “Or are you too riled up with jealousy that Brenson is here to rescue me from you to even remember what my question was, about Lucius protecting them?”
His nostrils flared, his eyes sparking with glittering blue magic before he took slow, calculated steps forward to closethe distance between us. My body seemed to come alive a “You don’t know how dangerous the game you’re playing right now is, wench.”
Yet I did. I knew exactly where teasing and taunting him went, if from nothing else than at the very least from my display of pleasuring myself in the hot springs. Was I trying to get the same rise out of him now? Already, I was pleased at the renewed use of my nickname. My brain wasn’t working on logic, deciding to shut off entirely and give in to the emotions spurring me on instead.
My hand lifted to trail a finger down his chest as I stared up at him from beneath my lashes. “Are you thinking of how Brenson will ravish me after so much time apart? The way his mouth will devour mine.” I trailed my hand lower, drawing to a slow stop just above his trousers. “How his hands will travel down my body just like this.”
He trembled beneath my touch, but I wasn’t sure if it was from barely restrained anger, or desire. Perhaps both, which was exactly how I’d been existing recently.
Suddenly the cave spun as my feet were knocked from underneath me. I attempted to throw my hands out to break my fall, but thick arms wrapped around me just before my head could hit the floor. A large hand cupped the back of my head tenderly. Theo’s body pressed atop mine as his head dropped close to my ear. “You may think you can win by distracting me, but that only works if you aren’t as equally distracted and have a clear mind.”
I bucked my hips, attempting to move him from me, but I knew how this went. It was futile, given his size and weight. Instead, I switched my efforts to banging my fist into where his kidneys would be if his anatomy was similar to ours in this form. He grunted and snarled at me. “Stop that. I’m notmoving until we figure this the fuck out. Right now, wench. This ridiculousness has dragged on for far too long.”
He lowered my head to the ground right before he lifted his upper body to snatch my wrists in his grip. His weight shifted into his hips, driving down into me, and I squirmed at the feel of his hardness pressing against me. At the very least, it seemed we were on the same page about not actually being disgusted by the other.
“Figure what out, Theo?” I snapped, letting all of the emotions out that I’d been suppressing for weeks. Fury rose within my chest as I continued, “That I’m a complete idiot and can’t get over this draw to you, no matter how many times you make it clear you don’t want me? That you’ll leave me as soon as this curse is broken without a second thought, and I’ll be left thinking about you because I can’t get you out of my stupid head!”
At some point in my rant, my anger had joined forces with the anxiety I felt about never seeing him again. It wasn’t rational. None of my feelings for him were. The worst part was that my last admission was tinged with my true emotion: grief.
I was already grieving being shipped back off to my home, with no chance to speak on what I wanted. All I wanted was to have a fucking chance to choose my own future.
My hands were jerked above my head suddenly, pinning them there in one of his large hands as he bent back over me. Our chests brushed against each other as he asked, “Do you want to stay at my side, at the end of this?”
The question threw me completely off-guard, and suddenly I felt completely naked beneath him. As if he was forcing my soul to the surface, bearing it to him merely for his own viewing pleasure. The question burned as hotly as my anger, as my attraction.
“I…I,” I stammered, averting my gaze to the side, unable to hold the intensity of his stare with how close he was to my lips. My body squirmed as an overwhelming need to escape him overcame me. I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I didn’t want to give him a chance to reject me once more.
His free hand came up to grip my jaw, harshly enough to tilt my head back, forcing me to look into his searching eyes. “No. I’m giving you the chance now, to tell me whatyouwant. I should have before, but I thought I was doing the right thing. The odds of a drackya finding their mate were already lower than you think, even before the curse. So what do you think the odds are of you being mine, when I demanded your hand in marriage before even meeting you?”
The thought of him finding someone else had my lips thinning and my breaths quickening in my chest. My lips fell open, but I found that I couldn’t summon the words he wanted.
“Tell me, wench. What are the odds?”
“None!” I yelled, tired of this question. “The odds are against it.”
