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“What whole thing?”
“How did youfindme?”
“Oh, a seer came in. She told us in exchange for letting her stay in the kingdom, she’d guide us to our mates. We haven’t had a successful male birth through the whole kingdom in three years,” he said.
I was shocked. That couldn’t be normal.
“She told me where you were and that we were compatible. Dragon shifter genes can only be passed down by men, so my people are desperate to find women who can breed to help make more before we all die out.”
The weight of his entire species was on his shoulders.
“Aren’t there other dragon shifter communities? I know there are a couple dragon shifters just in town,” I offered.
“They tend to keep themselves as secret as we do here. We’re just six miles from Ember Abyss, and yet the people of the city would never guess that.”
Only six miles.
I’d lived in Ember Abyss for so long and had no idea they were so close.
“The others are going to meet their mates soon. My oldest cousin will learn of his today.”
“We can’t let this happen again. Meeting like this — being kidnapped — it’s just going to scare her away like it did me,” I explained. “We have to stop this if you want any chance of this happening.”
I wasn’t sure why I was helping him, but if it meant one less woman being kidnapped, that was enough for me. There were plenty of women who would happily agree to this situation if it was just laid out for them, but he was just going to scare the living daylights out of them with this behavior.
Sitting on the bed beside him, I sighed.
“Also, don’t use the wordbreed—it makes me sound like livestock,” I stated.
“It’s a part of being a shifter, though,” he countered.
I nodded, wondering how much more there was to learn. His hand skimmed over the sheets to mine, and he tangled our fingers together. It felt electric and incredibly powerful, even with just our fingers touching.
Tugging my hand away quickly as if in disgust, I stared with a tight lipped fury out the window. I wanted to take his hand, wanted to explore this castle with him. Some part of me, deep down, wanted to just kiss him and see what other reactions my body could have with him.
I fought that urge down.
Even if I wanted him, that didn’t mean I had to do anything about it.
I just had to bide my time long enough that he’d let me go.
The thought of home turned my stomach, and I wrinkled my eyebrows at the reaction. Why did it feel weird to think about leaving him behind now? He’d opened up to me, shown me he wasn’t just some crazy sex-fiend, sure, but that didn’t make up for the fact he’d stolen me away from my home without warning.
“There’s a meeting on Monday. After that, let's go back to your town,” he offered.
“What?” I couldn’t mask the shock on my face. He was basically handing me a chance to escape.
