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“Fuck, Pyrah, I brought it because you’re a dragon.” His eyes burn like embers. “I wanted to promise you a gift of treasure for your hoard. And besides, I have no problem with whores.”
Venomous jealousy sinks its fangs into me. “Have you tried the nearest brothel already?”
“Don’t twist my words. You know my mother was the queen of all whores. Demons like me often have no other profession.”
Damn, the bastard is right, but I shouldn’t be feeling for him. Especially not guilt.
“I don’t trust yourgift.” I spit the word like a curse. “You only want me because you still need my dragonfire.”
“Wrong.”
I pace around him in a circle. My tail slithers over heaps of gold. “You only want me because you can’t have me.”
“Wrong again. Iwantyou.”
“Want isn’t enough.” I curl my lip to bare my teeth. “Lust isn’t enough.”
He drops the fistfuls of treasure onto the ground and stands before me empty-handed. “How can I prove myself worthy?”
“It’s too late.” It hurts to force out the truth. “I will be mated and married tomorrow.”
“Married? ToScaldric?”
“No one else claimed me.”
“Why did you surrender to him?” Anguish scrapes Rook’s voice raw.
“To save you!” The words explode from me as a roar and echo inside the cave.
His face twists. “Don’t sacrifice your freedom forme. I would die for you.”
“I don’t want you to die, for fuck’s sake, I want you to fall in love with me!”
Silence rings in my ears, but it’s too late to take back the truth. I’ve bared an ugly, raw vulnerability to him.
“I’ve never fallen in love before.” He murmurs it so softly I almost don’t hear him. “I didn’t think that an incubus could. I was a fool to believe such a thing.”
His words shred my heart like paper. “What are you saying?”
“I can’t stop this hollow ache in my heart. This feeling that I’m missing something. Someone. And that feeling is fucking terrifying, but I can’t deny it any longer. I’m lost without you, Pyrah.”
I’m holding my breath. I’m almost too afraid to believe him. “You rejected me.”
He lifts his chin to stare at me, his jaw rigid. “I was afraid of falling for you. Just look at you. Your ferocity and beauty take my breath away. And I…” His mouth softens, and he looks more vulnerable than I have ever seen him before. “I captured you in chains of aellurium, but you captured me in far stronger bonds.”
All the air escapes my lungs as a long sigh. I close my eyes to keep the tears at bay, though it’s difficult to hold the pain inside me.
“You should have told me sooner,” I say.
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
The armor of my scales vanishes and bares my naked skin. I’m left on my hands and knees as a woman. He holds out his hand to me. When I take it, he pulls me into his arms. My heart pounds inside the cage of my ribs.
“Why are you crying?” he murmurs.
I blink fast, the tears clinging to my eyelashes. “Because I want to believe you, but I can’t help but wonder if this is all just a dream.”
“You are dreaming, but Iaman incubus.”
