Page 48 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

Randi held his gaze. Every family had their secrets, but how bad could his be? “Try me.”

“Not yet,” he said.

Frustration flickered but didn’t break out into anger. She could see his struggle and didn’t want to push. Instead, she moved to him and kissed him gently. “Chance, you can tell me anything.”

He hesitated then met her eyes again. “I need to know you understand what you’re choosing.”

“I do.”

“No,” he replied quietly. “You understand part of it.”

“Then I’ll learn the rest on the way.”

“You’re much more stubborn than I thought,” he muttered.

“I’ve been told that before.”

He studied her one last time, then shook his head. “Fine, but you stay close. You listen when I tell you something isn’t safe. And if things go sideways, you don’t argue. You move.”

Randi held his gaze, then gave a small nod. It wasn’t a good plan, even she knew that. She also knew that Sven and Bryn probably wouldn’t agree with her.

Chance pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “You don’t even know what you’re agreeing to,” he repeated, although now with less argument.

Randi’s resolve softened as she relished in his strength. “I know what I feel.”

He stiffened instantly and pulled back. He searched her face as though the answer might be written there more clearly than in her words. “What does that mean?”

She hesitated, but only briefly. “It means that from the first day I met you, that day at the ribbon cutting, before I knew anything about who you were or any of this, I felt something.”

Chance waited.

“I didn’t have a name for it,” she continued, “and I tried to ignore it, because my life was already complicated enough, but it didn’t go away. And now I’m pretty sure it’s not something I’m supposed to ignore.”

He let out a quiet breath and his gaze dropped briefly before returning to hers with more certainty. “In my world, there’s a term for that.”

Randi tilted her head slightly, waiting.

“Fated mates,” he added. “But I think soul mate sounds closer.”

The silence that followed felt like something settling into place.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “That sounds right.”

“There’s something else.”

Randi didn’t interrupt even as her pulse quickened.

He held her gaze for a long moment. “I have a secret.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, eyeing him. He nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked nervous which was unsettling enough. Chance didn’t do nervous. He did steady.

She waited. He didn’t continue.

Randi let out a short breath. “You’re not about to tell me you’re secretly married, are you? Because I feel like that would’ve come up by now.”

His mouth twitched in almost a smile. “No. Not that.”

“Okay, good. Because that would’ve been a whole thing.”