“Stop!” Father yells. Delina clamps her mouth shut. Zaeyr holds me back from attacking her. “We are not acting civilized.” He slides back into his spot at the table, palming his face. “Delina, take Leith away and make sure he gets what he needs for his throat.”
“But—”
“Go!”
I watch as she helps Leith to his feet and they quickly leave the room. The tension recedes once they’re gone. Taking my first full breath since entering, I pull back from Zaeyr, just enough to glimpse his face.
He stares at the door with barely contained murder in his eyes. Swallowing, reaching up, I cup his cheeks and pull his face down to mine, telling him all the things I need to say in my eyes.
When he finally looks at me, he softens, but his words are laced with warning. “You are never to be alone with him again. If he attempts to touch you, he will die. I may not be a dragon anymore, but once we have nested with a female, we are not bothered. Once the seeding has been accomplished, we are left alone. Honor,” he hisses. “Honor is lacking in this room.”
Before he lifts his eyes to the elders, I lean up and kiss him. Zaeyr melts in my hold as he groans and kisses me back—as if everything that had just happened were a bad dream. Soft and desperate and possessive, the kiss is more than just our lips wetting and rubbing against each other. We speak with our motions and so much is said with such a simple action.
Love. My heart expands. I convey it as I did with my eyes, needing him to understand, needing it in return just as much.
Does a dragon love? Does he even know what it is?
Silly questions. I know the answer; I sense his affection and admiration. The warmth of our bond pulsates, grows. My knees weaken. He tangles his hands into my hair and grasps my head. I need our connection as much as he does.
This time together and these moments.
Father coughs and Mother sighs. We finally separate.
Turning, I find them staring at us. Mortification hits and I blush, wiping my lips. But I’m not sorry.
I’ve never given myself away to affection easily, and here I am… Hard Aida falling. Pulling away from Zaeyr’s grasp, I move to the table and sit awkwardly. He joins me at my side completely nonplussed and I kind of hate him for it—jealous of his coolness.
Silence falls as everyone resettles at the table. The two scouts with their spears move to stand stiffly by the door. My heart thunders in my ears.
But my spine straightens, and I level my gaze at those sitting across from me.
Mother eyes Zaeyr questionably.
“You summoned us,” I snap when no one speaks.
Nata frowns. She looks at Zaeyr. “Can you assure us that you will not attack anyone else in this room?”
“Unless you try to harm Aida or take her away from me, I will not hurt you,” he mutters.
Mother coughs. Nata licks her lips.
Father’s brow furrows. He looks directly at me. “Aida, are you safe?” he asks.
“Yes. Yes, I’m safe.”
He turns back to Zaeyr. “Then we will not take her away from you at this time.”
18
Mine
“Delina has accused Zaeyr of assault.” The male elder says this, and I scoff. He is Aida’s father, I know. I can smell the similarities between them.
Tabach is his name, I remind myself.
He studies me. “Do you deny this accusation… dragon?”
Aida mumbles angrily beside me.
Taking her hand, I stop her from coming to my defense. “I deny it.”
“Can you prove you did not do this?”
“She’s lying, Father,” Aida snaps anyway.
My human, who does not even take commands from me. If I did not still smell the other male’s scent in the air, I would smile. My instincts urge me to chase him down, punish him, but it is Aida and her clansmen who convince me otherwise.
There is also a more pressing need to slam Aida to the floor and mount her in front of everyone, show them who she belongs to, who I belong to. My shaft—though ever hard under the comet—grows harder at the thought.
But logic tells me that will not go well. Not with humans, anyway. Especially not in front of her sire and mother.
If we were dragons, it would be different…
Young femdragons in heat were given to the strongest male dragon by her sire and mother to seed, to learn the proper course of mating. I am that strong male here—the strongest perhaps in all the wilds.
“Can you prove you did not do this?” Tabach asks, breaking my thoughts.
“Prove?” I ask, snorting out a wisp of smoke. “Can you not smell her? If I had assaulted her, my scent would be all over her.”
Aida tenses beside me, and like a wave, I sense her unease at my words. “I was there,” she says. “Though I could not see, I could hear. Delina said since she was the elder’s chosen female, she should be with the mightiest male.”
Tabach sighs.
“Your sister would not do such a thing,” Aida’s mother—Shyn is her name—says. “Delina has Leith, and by being chosen, she was chosen to be with him and no one else.”
“You don’t know your youngest daughter well enough,” Aida mutters.
Shyn scowls. “Delina may be spoiled, but she isn’t stupid.”
“She also has not been raised for the duty she’s been handed! She doesn’t fully understand the importance. When we were growing up, you and the tribe gave all your attention to me, letting Delina get away with whatever she wanted. Now she’s making bad choices because she doesn’t fear there will be repercussions.”
“You said so yourself, daughter—you didn’t see what happened! How can you go against Delina so? When you should have been there to protect her?”
Aida’s jaw ticks. “Because I was recovering from mating with Zaeyr,” she gripes. I watch Shyn’s face void itself of color. “I rose within minutes of the interaction.
