Kael bends over to clean my wound, and his touch is utterly tender. He takes great care to make sure he doesn’t hurt me, and when he’s done, he leans in and gently brushes his mouth over the wound. Then he looks up at me, as if apologizing for it. His eyes have gone black again.

“See?” I tell him shakily. “No problem at all.”

He trails his fingers over my now-clean shoulder and presses his mouth to it again. This time, his eyes flick back to a deep, deep gold and remain focused on me.

I can’t help it. I gasp at the bolt of pleasure that rushes through me. Maybe it’s the intimacy of the moment, or maybe there’s something in the air, but I’m tingling at his touch. My pussy feels hot with need, and my breasts tighten in response. And I’m suddenly wet between my thighs and aching deep in my core.

As I watch, his nostrils flare.

Before I can react, Kael pushes me back against the sinks, the low growl in his throat wild.

I give a little whimper as my backside slams into the marble counter, and then he’s pushing between my thighs, the hard length of his cock rubbing up against my pussy.

And it feels…good. I’m not scared, I’m aroused.

Oh god, I’m really messed up in the head, aren’t I? Totally sick for enjoying the way it feels when he growls low in his throat and rubs his cock against my aching pussy. Crazy for leaning forward and scraping my nipples against his chest. Doing that feels amazing and sends hot little shocks through my body, and I can’t help but suck in a breath. He’s got my thighs spread wide, his hands clenching my hips, and it would take nothing for him to slam into me and fuck the daylights out of me with that massive dick.

His face looms close to mine, and he cups my jaw, forcing my gaze to his. His eyes are black with need. “Clau-dah,” he grits out, and rubs his enormous length along my slick folds. It’s a question, and he wants an answer.

He’s leaving it up to me. If I say his name, he’ll take that as assent, and he’ll fuck me right here, right now. And…then what? Discard me like the soldier? Snap me in half once his anger is sated and let the pieces fall to the ground?

I can’t reconcile his two halves. There’s the kind, tender half that’s almost human…and the crazed dragon with the black eyes. I don’t know which one I get if we have sex. I don’t know which one I get after sex. Do I lose all appeal for him once his itch has been scratched?

It might be in my best interests to never scratch that itch, no matter how much I might want to.

So I shake my head. “No.”

Kael makes an almost-human grunt and pushes away from me, leaving me weak-kneed against the sink. I should be relieved. I should. Instead I just feel…empty.

KAEL

It is progress. I must remind myself of that.

Darkness gnaws at my edges, but I force myself to ignore it. I think of Clau-dah and her green eyes and her cloud of soft red hair. It makes me want to lose myself in the mating urges. To return to the strange lair she hides inside, push her against the stone, and claim her as mine. Taste her. Claim her. Bite her and give her the fire for her blood that will mark her as mine.

I am a patient drakoni. Normally. But around Clau-dah, I lose control. She makes the emotions in me go wild. It is not surprising. Ever since I have been pulled to this infernal place, I have been nothing but wild emotions, most of them angry. With Clau-dah around, my senses are under a different kind of attack.

I need her. Crave her.

And she still fears me. Not as much, but it is still there.

Progress. She tells me no, but I can smell her arousal. I could see her eyes dilate when I touched her. Perhaps her word will not always be no.

I didn’t intend to pounce on her. I’d simply been exploring her, taking care of her. She was letting me touch her, and it was a moment I intended to cherish. Taking care of my mate is a joy, and I wanted nothing more than to continue doing so for hours. But as soon as I scented her aroused musk in the air, I’d lost control. Just the barest taste of her female scent in the air had been enough to drive sanity away and brings me back to the edge again. Only the knowledge that I would lose her forever if I forced her to mate kept me from pushing deep between her thighs.

Her arousal is curious to me, though. Females of my kind do not go into heat unless they have been conquered in battle. But Clau-dah? She responds to soft touches and affection.

I can be soft with her.

And I can be patient.

Until then, I must leave her alone. I retreat across the room and take the highest vantage point so I can watch both the sky and the lair my mate is hiding in. It will give me distance from her so I do not smell her arousal again and lose control. I need all of my control right now.

11

CLAUDIA

I don’t have the courage to leave the safety of the bathroom just yet.

I finish my makeshift bath, my hands trembling the entire time. Every time I rub one of the rough paper towels over my skin, I’m reminded of Kael’s fascination and intense concentration as he bathed me, and I can’t quite stop shivering. And the worst? I’m not shivering from fear. But arousal is no good—he lost his shit the moment I got wet, so he must be able to smell it. I can’t let this distract him. I scrub between my legs, confused by my own arousal and more than a little annoyed by it. This is not the time to get turned on. This is the time to be a stone-cold bitch. I just need to stick things out until it’s safe to return to Fort Dallas, and then I can make a break for it. The mayor changed his mind. Even if he didn’t and it’s a trap, I still need to go back and get Amy. Kael will just have to find a new girl to hover over.

A big dragon-man with hot amber-on-gold eyes and possessive caresses that make me want to abandon all sanity? Not part of the deal.

I’m a loon for getting turned on in the first place. He’s a killer. A dragon. The scourge that destroyed the Earth and caused most of humanity to be wiped out in a matter of years. It’s only through sheer luck and determination that Amy and I haven’t been counted among the billions that perished.

Dragons are the enemy.

It doesn’t matter that Fort Dallas wants me to ‘tame’ him. What am I going to do with him even if he is tamed? Tell him to go away? Fat chance. The way he hovers attentively around me, he’d never agree to that unless I went with him. Even now, I bet he’s lurking outside of the bathroom, just waiting for me to come out again.