Page 35 of Bad Blood Alpha

“Yeah? Well, he might have been an okay guardian, but he sucked as a sorcerer,” Flynn said. “Judging by those hellhounds and what you told me about your magical ‘come kill me’ flares, it’s not keeping anyone from detecting you.”

“Not since I turned twenty-one. It used to, though.”

“Could it be making the other problem worse? The seizures?”

“Maybe.”

“And he doesn’t remove it because…”

She went silent, and he finished his own sentence. “He’s dead.”

Kira nodded. She’d never admitted to anyone how terrified she’d been when Markus died. Dragons lived for centuries, but he was old—much older than he’d let her know. She’d only found that out afterward, when she was going through his papers.

She’d thought he’d always be there for her. That they’d find a way to undo the original binding together, and she’d be fine.

Flynn had gone very quiet. Kira said, “Flynn, I know I can’t ask you to bond to me. Not even the beginnings of it. You have another life now, and people who are depending on you. I get that. And there’s a chance—well, I don’t know what all that magic would do to you if we released it without any other dragons to give it to.”

His fingers moved in her hair, and he still didn’t say anything. She expected him to pull away any moment, to go back upstairs, now that the seizure was over and she was okay.

Now that he knew she’d come here for something impossible.

But he didn’t. He just said quietly, “I never thought I would have a mate, you know? My supposed true mate was gone, and I’m not really made for all that soft, mushy shit, anyway.”

She turned, propping herself on one elbow. “Why not? There had to be women in your life before now.”

That got a crooked grin from him. “I’m sure as hell not a virgin, sweetheart.”

She knew the endearment didn’t mean anything—it was just something he said. But it gave her heart a pang anyway.

No one had ever called her anything like that.

Flynn went on, “I’ve had some relationships. Got my heart bruised up a couple of times, when I was young and stupid. Bruised a couple of hearts, too, probably.”

He was looking off into the distance now, not meeting her eyes. “But I always knew, even when it was happening…”

His voice drifted off.

Without thinking, she finished his sentence. “That it wasn’t forever.” She felt a jolt of recognition. “Me too,” she said softly. “It was like, even when I thought I was in love, somehow a part of me always felt like it wasn’t real.”

He turned his head slowly, meeting her eyes. “Yeah.”

They gazed at each other, heat building between them.

Slowly, he reached out and traced the outline of her lips with a fingertip. Electricity sizzled where he touched. “Damn,” he said.

She nodded. That felt real. He leaned in, brushing his mouth over her cheek. Blue light sizzled around them, crackling in the air. His lips met hers, and she was gone.