She nibbled her lower lip. Cute and super-hot was all he could think.
“So, you’re a shifter then?”
Cocking his head, Deo once again found himself trying to remember what shifter meant. His brother, Kal, had told him about this Earth species. He preferred to be called a dragon warrior like he was, but if this is what made things easier. Fine.
“Yes. A dragon shifter. Much bigger than any of the Earth shifters you have.”
Her head was nodding. “So shifters compete over size too, then? Wow. Men are all programmed the same.”
Odd response, he thought.
“Compete over size? I wasn’t. A dragon is simply larger than anything you have here. I am not aware of any land beasts that are larger. It’s a fact that a dragon is much larger than most species on Earth. I can introduce you to him, but not in your lab.”
She snorted a laugh.
“Are we still talking about this dragon?”
Scratching his head, Deo felt exactly the way his brothers had. Confused as all hell.
“Right. Yes. My dragon. He would like to meet his mate.”
The laughter came out stronger until he had to back away. She was nearly doubling over, almost falling off the counter.
“Why is this funny?” he asked.
She sucked in some air and sat up. Her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. He liked that part. Deo liked how beautiful she was when she laughed, much better than the tears.
“I basically asked if you were talking about your dragon or your penis, and yeah. The look on your face, priceless. But, right. Dragons aren’t real. So, what are you?”
He closed the gap.
“I am very real.”
Deo let his dragon show through enough to get his point across, his eyes shifting between human and reptile.
She gasped. “So strange.”
He smirked. “Is this a good strange?”
Lifting a hand to his face, she hesitated and then traced the soft skin along his temple down his cheek.
“I don’t know,” she said, studying him intently.
Deo nearly hummed in pleasure as she touched him.
A buzzing sound broke her concentration, and she peeked around. This was not going the way he’d hoped.
“Oh no. I promised Tan I’d meet him for dinner.”
He quickly stepped forward, locking her between him and the counter again as he gripped her hips, keeping her in place.
“No.” He shrank away as she glared.
“There’s that word again. No. No. You don’t own me, you do not tell me no,” she practically scolded.
Deo growled. Something in him strangely turned on and attracted to the strength in this woman.
“But you are mine. Mating is merely a formality. You are mine. Fate has dictated it. You don’t have dinner with another male.”
She shifted, accidentally pushing up against his dick.
“Oh. I, uh,” she said, fumbling over her words.
He smirked. “You what? Changed your mind?”
His nostrils flared; the scent of her need filled the air again. Yes. She wanted him. He just needed to try harder.
Leaning in, he kissed her. She squeaked, but didn’t pull away.
An angry buzzing sounded again, and this time she pulled away and pushed him.
“Oh, for shit’s sake.”
He reached behind him, feeling along the island and knocking the damn comm to the floor. It stopped. Problem solved.
“Deo! That was my phone. You don’t throw it. You push the little red dot. Damn it.” Aisha wiggled free, accidentally brushing against him a few more times. He could do this the hard way as long as that happened more.
Aisha scowled as she wiggled free of him and reached down to pick up her communication device.
“You are so lucky I have a freaking industrial case on here. Gah. You shifters are all brawn and no brain.”
She stopped and looked up at him.
“Sorry. That wasn’t fair, was it? You were the one in here talking about my research several days ago. I’m still sorry I didn’t come up with an antidote.”
They stood in silence, mostly because Deo wasn’t entirely sure if he was supposed to speak or not. He could watch her. There was nothing like watching one’s mate move.
“Is the girl okay?” she asked.
Girl? What girl? All he wanted was to sink his teeth into her and brand her as his.
“Deo? The girl? The one who was poisoned?” she asked again.
Oh. Right. Okay. He was supposed to speak then.
“Yes. Things did not go as expected, but in the end she is well.”
His dick twitched as he watched her tongue dart out between her lips, licking her plump lower lip. He wanted more of her.
She looked down at her phone and punched something on the screen. “All right. Well, I need to get going.”
He stepped forward.
“I will come as well,” he said.
Abruptly she looked up.
“Wait. What?”
Deo stopped directly in front of her.
“I will come with you. Dinner sounds good. Do you plan to eat in a local establishment or are we to go to his dwelling?”
He bent down, wrapping an arm around her waist, his hand wandering down to her round bottom.
“I would enjoy seeing where you sleep, perhaps we go to your home?”
She shivered under his grasp and let out a shuttered breath. “It’s at a restaurant. Nothing fancy.”
He stood up straight.
“I will enjoy this. I have yet to eat with humans. Shall we?”
He smiled down at her as she opened her mouth just to close it again without saying anything else.
3
Aisha flicked her gaze from one man to the other. Well, this was going well.
“So,” she said.
Neither said anything.
“I thought that maybe I’d get dessert.”
She waited for Tan to criticize her. What he lacked in passion, he tried to make up for in annoying knowledge. The latest of his obsessions was fad diets. If he tried to take her dessert one more time though, Deo would need to help bury the body.
Instead of Tan, though, she got Deo’s two cents.
“I like this idea of dessert,” he said.
Finally, Deo turned to her. And it was about damn time. Wasn’t he here for her, supposedly?
“You would be delicious all over my mouth,”
