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“Hmm.” He eased closer, close enough that his body brushed mine. Looking down his nose at me, transfixed as if he’d chosen that precise moment to count the droplets of mist that collected in my lashes, he demanded I explain. “And what have you ascertained?”
“That you’re touching me in a very specific way… because you want something as well.”
Fingertips tripped down the side of my throat, leaving me to shiver and lose ground. His voice was molten. “I do want something.”
But if that something were sex, his cock would have already begun to burrow. Instead, it clung to my hip, stroking me just as his hands did.
Disinterested in falling into the trap of asking what it was he sought, I dropped my gaze and moved my attention to his chest. Water beaded on pale skin, little rivulets running where they would. Like mine, his scales caught the light, flecked here and there in enticing patterns.
“You’re braver than this. Look at me, sweet mate.” Fingers caught my jaw, urging me to turn my chin up.
Yet I kept my eyes down, wondering how this man was able to deceive me for so long.
And it was more than the fact that he heard my song.
It was his callousness toward human life.
In all his years overseeing the academy, how many times had I heard him recite our vows? The hybrids’ solemn promise to protect humans at the cost of our lives. To remember why we had been created and blessed with such gifts. To acknowledge we would never grow old, that our vigilance must never slip. That the survival of everyone building a new society on this harsh planet depended on us.
And this man blatantly refused to keep his word.
“Promise me you will not harm the humans.”
“No.”
What else was he lying about? What other schemes was he up to?
Thumb tracing my pout, he murmured, “So, it's not that you’re afraid. It’s that you’re angry.”
Yes, he could read me as easily as he could any book. But it also wasn’t that simple.
This man had been responsible for my rearing and lessons. For my pains and punishments. To learn he was capable of things I would’ve never imagined had shaken me.
And I was powerless in our dynamic.
His obsession with my song gave me no ability to curb or contain him.
His whispered refusal of my pleas and coldness toward the humans was absolute, colored by a dark history Miranda had only hinted upon.
“And now you are full of fire.” Spoken with such benevolence from such a bad man, as if he knew the exact trail of my thoughts and mused to himself of my folly.
How had I not known we shared a lifetime of cat-and-mouse, in which I had been pounced upon and devoured time and time again? Yes, at the academy, I had grown cunning to get what I required. But my every last rebellion had been nothing compared to what he’d done.
I lived all those years full of dreams and had only just seen the stars.
Fog abounded—it was going nowhere. And I could not find my way to it. A century or two of time would mean nothing to a mate intent on keeping me.
Talons drumming against my thigh, my focus blurred as my mind worked through the absolute mess my life had become.
Suffering uncomfortable honesty with myself, I realized much of this was my fault.
I had been trained for war yet operated from a place of idealistic ignorance. I may as well have been playing with dolls and having tea parties during my tenure at the academy.
Ignorant of the ways of hybrid men, the odds were entirely against me.
So, I needed to work with what I already knew, reform my thoughts, alter my reactions, and consider uncomfortable facts.
Fact one: I had made Cyderial crazy enough to terrorize the academy. I even inspired him to hang boys. Therefore, every living creature outside his door was in danger, should he perceive them as a threat to me.
