Damn. Her face was still squinched, her nose making an adorable little wrinkle on her brow that he wanted to kiss away. Why the hell was she mad? God, he should have listened to his brothers. Earth women made no sense.
“Deo, you can’t just pick a woman because she’s chubby. You also can’t go around sniffing women, that’s rude. Or, well, it sounds rude.”
His brow furrowed. “What does chubby mean? If it is regarding your ass, then why can’t I pick a woman with equally delightful assets?”
Her upper lip curled.
“Okay. What are you? Where the heck are you from? No. Chubby doesn’t mean delightful, or well …” Aisha stood a little taller and her face smoothed out.
This was better, but he still enjoyed the fire in her eyes. He couldn’t control himself. He wanted to listen to her words, but right now her temper was turning him on. One quick move and she was against him, his mouth claiming her lips, swallowing whatever else she was about to say. She needed to be quiet so he could taste her.
She mumbled something and maybe punched him once before she relaxed into his embrace and started kissing him back.
Deo fought back the urge to take her. His dragon wanted control. He was well aware that forcing a mate did not end well on this planet or any other.
Slowly, he pulled his lips away. “You were saying?”
She blinked at him several times. “You can’t just go grab a woman-”
He smiled. “Is this you complaining then?”
Her beautiful full mouth pouted for a moment. “You’re an asshole. God, no wonder my dad decided I needed help with finding someone. Granted-”
They both turned to look back at Tan. He and the female were talking. Deo sniffed the air.
“They find each other mutually acceptable. Shall we go now?”
He looked down at her. She wasn’t blinking. “Did you have a heart-attack mate?”
Her head whipped around. “What? No. Don’t call me that either. But how do you know that they are attracted to each other?”
He put a finger to the side of his nose. “Scent. Their arousal is very obvious. You, however, still have a spicy scent around you, the scent of anger. Why are you angry? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Her words came out slow. “Yes. But. He was supposed to marry me. Am I that easy to forget?”
Deo wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him.
“He will not marry you, because you are mine.”
She didn’t even look at him.
Odd. He thought that would have more allure.
“Yeah. Okay. Whatever. But still,” she mumbled.
Thoughts ran through his head. How would he win her? Also, she didn’t exactly seem excited about the prospect of being his mate. Again, he should have listened to his brothers better.
“Would you like to see my dragon?”
That got her attention. “What?” she squeaked, finally looking at him instead of that other male.
“My dragon? Would you like to meet him?”
Her mouth moved, but she said nothing for a second.
“Uh. Isn’t that like a second date kind of thing?” she said.
Date? What was a date? He reached out to his brothers.
It’s a human custom. Males take females out for food and entertainment, Eadric thought back.
Ah.
“No. It could be an any date kind of thing,” he said, mimicking her words.
He watched as her brow lifted.
“I’m trying to be open-minded. But I don’t care how hot you are, I don’t want to see your ‘dragon’.”
Deo was certain they had a language barrier. This might have been similar to Kal’s misunderstanding, and damn it if he didn’t want to be turned into a chicken. He started to pull away, but her hands shot out.
“I didn’t say you had to back away. I mean, it’s cold.”
Taking a deep breath, Deo tried to understand what was going on.
“I will not then. But I don’t know that you understand when I say ‘dragon’. I’m a dragon shifter. Like your wolves I’ve heard of. There are lots of wolf shifters in this area.”
The thrum of her heart reached his ears as her scent lost some of the spicy scent of anger.
“Oh,” was all she said, finally turning to look at him. Maybe she was finally forgetting the other male.
Deo allowed his dragon to surface just enough. His eyes shifted between his human form and his beast’s. His eyesight grew clearer. The beat of her heart grew louder, and the heat of her body took on a reddish hue. His skin took on the blue hue of his dragon and scales appeared over skin.
“Oh, is that-” she paused.
“Yes, that’s my dragon.”
He pulled in her scent once again. His dragon didn’t enjoy being cooped up, away from his mate, but Deo knew that this was not the right time. He was smarter than Kal and Eadric, or he’d like to think he was. He was the more mindful one, the one who understood people and those around them. His strength was emotion. Except for hers. He sucked when it came to his own mate.
“So, that’s real. Dragons. And that girl I helped? The one you brought to the lab?”
He shook his head. “She is not a dragon, although she is the mate of Eadric. We aren’t sure exactly what she is outside of human.”
A slow nod was all he got at first.
“The magic side of me could tell some of her genetic makeup is human, some of it is demon. I’ve seen it before in a lab. Before I abandoned working for a magical university, they were big on trying to understand demon chemical makeup. It’s a big thing in the magical communities. Learn how to control a whole other realm of power,” she said.
He couldn’t hide a rumble of disgust. “No one should control demons. No one should control anyone, but demons especially. Even the ones that control the lesser, more unpredictable breeds struggle.”
Aisha nodded. “Yeah. I agree. It’s why I left. Well, that and my dad.”
Deo was all ears. He wanted to know about her. Know
