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“Why would I turn around?”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “So you don’t see me naked.”
“Why does it matter if I see you naked when you’re mine?”
Isavelle glares at me. “I do not belong to you, and if you really believe that then I’m leaving. I’d rather be lost on this mountain than stay here with you.”
Suppressing a snarl, I turn about-face and fold my arms. I’m not allowed to kiss my Omega, and I’m not allowed to look at her either? Every inch of her belongs to me to adore.
My Omega doesn’t trust me. Whoever heard of such a thing? An Alpha would never in a thousand eons hurt his Omega or make her feel like she’s anything less than precious and adored.
I wonder how humans court each other, and whether Isavelle is expecting something like that from me. I think hard for a moment, but I know so little about human culture that I come up with nothing. I suppose I’ll have to show her that her Alpha can be kind and patient.
My lip curls at the thought.
Patient.
Now that I’ve found my mate, I want to run patience through with a sword, haul my Omega over my shoulder, and carry her to my bed. I stare straight ahead, fuming as I listen to Isavelle’s wet clothes hit the edge of the pool.
“Oh, this is wonderful,” Isavelle moans.
I turn back to see her chin-deep in the steaming pool. Her eyes drift closed, and she strokes her hands back and forth through the water. “I feel better already.”
The relief in her voice soothes my ragged nerves. I’ve done something that my Omega approves of at last. I’m not the worst Alpha in the world.
I’m keenly aware of the aches and pains of battle in my body and the blood and dust coating my skin. My eyes are on Isavelle, drifting and soaking serenely in the steaming water. I stand up and move toward her, thigh-deep in the water. I need to be close to her, but I won’t touch her if that’s what she wants. If Isavelle needs me to be patient, then I’ll be patient for her. I didn’t wait five hundred years only to ruin everything by being hotheaded.
When I’m a few feet away, Isavelle opens her eyes, then opens them wider. She stares right at me, or I should say, a very specific part of me. Shock is writ so large on her face that I glance down at myself, wondering what’s wrong. I’m thickened from being close to her, but I’m nowhere near erect and am very far from falling into a rut. My knot is a little swollen, but that’s because I’ve been holding her in my arms. There’s nothing about me that should alarm an inexperienced Omega. Even if I were in a rut, I wouldn’t jump on her.
She gasps and whirls around, sinking even farther into the water so that it’s up to her ears. “Zabriel, what are you doing?”
I frown at her in confusion. “Is there something wrong with me? Do I displease you?”
“You—you—” she stammers. “You’re standing up in the water and you haven’t got any clothes on.”
“Neither have you,” I point out, but I submerge myself and lay back against the smooth stones, letting the hot water work its magic on my aching body.
“What is…” She lifts her hand out of the water and steam rises from her fingers.
“What is what?”
Isavelle glances over her shoulder, sees that my body is beneath the water, and turns around. “That thing on your…um, never mind. Maybe we should have taken turns in the water.”
“It’s normal for people to bathe together,” I murmur, catching sight of her dusky nipples beneath the water. Talons and fire, she’s so beautiful. Not only her face but her body as well. Her breasts are full and luminous in the soft moonlight, but I make myself look away before she realizes that I’m staring.
“Children, yes. But not adults, and especially not men and women who barely know each other.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. Maybe you bathe naked with whomever you please where you come from, but in Maledin we don’t do that.”
“I’m from Maledin,” I tell her, and a pang goes through my heart that I even need to say it. We’re the same, her and me, but she looks upon me as if I came from a faraway star instead of trod the same ground as she did all my life.
“No, you’re not. I would have noticed if someone like you had been flying around on a dragon.”
I move closer to her in the water, and she stiffens. “Please don’t flee. I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m not armed, and I won’t even touch you.” I spread my arms beneath the water, inviting her to look at me. My long hair is wet and clinging to my shoulders. The hot springs have washed all the blood and dirt from my skin. Hopefully I don’t look so terrifying anymore.
Isavelle lets her gaze travel over my face, my throat, my chest. “I would have noticed someone like you.”
