He has none.

I dab at the wound again. Still no reaction. If it hurts, it doesn’t hurt much. That’s good, at least. The gash is long but shallow, and already crusting over with blood. He bleeds like a human—I suppose I should be glad for that. And he’s not reacting negatively to my attentions. Instead, his eyes are flicking between gold and black, and he’s making low, pleased rumbles in his throat.

And for some reason, those sounds make me blush.

“Cool it, Romeo,” I murmur, giving his arm a final swipe before moving to his chest. “I want to get this done.” I’m relieved to see that all the blood washes right off his chest and he doesn’t have more than a few scrapes. It’s occurred to me that I’m completely dependent on him at the moment, and if I plan on getting back to Amy—or heck, just staying alive—he needs to stay whole and in one piece.

I should be thinking about Amy more, I realize guiltily. How I’m going to get back to Fort Dallas and my sister. Instead, I’ve been focused on Kael and today’s scary kidnapping. If I think about what might have happened…

But no, I’m not going to fall down that rabbit hole. I can’t get to Amy right now. The problem of the other dragon has been fixed, and so now I just need to focus on what I can handle. And right now, I can handle Kael. So I press wet napkins at the corner of his mouth, noticing how full his lips are despite the sharp teeth that threaten just behind them. If he kept his mouth closed to hide the fangs and shut his eyes, he’d look human enough, I think. His features are strong, but not too inhuman or unappealing. He’s pretty handsome, actually. At first I thought he was startling-looking, but now I find that I can’t stop looking at him. He also has the longest lashes of any human man I’ve ever seen. Long and thick, just like the thick waves of amber hair on his head, I imagine.

He’s big and scary and over the top, but I’m kind of used to it. And he’s not scary to me. If anything, he’s utterly focused on me. I think about his reaction when the other dragon snatched me. Kael had been incensed, but he’d stayed back in case the other dropped me. It was like he truly was more concerned with my safety than the fact that his favorite toy was taken from him.

I gently clean his cheek, glancing up at him as I work. “I don’t know what I’d have done if that other dragon carried me off and you didn’t come after me.” I don’t like to think about that, but it’s a very real thing. I almost died today. Or…almost ended up as someone else’s pet human. Kael wants me—he’s made that very clear—but he’s also patient, attentive, and kind in his dragon way. It’s like my happiness really matters to him.

Would another dragon have been like that? Somehow, I doubt it. I can picture the scarred golden male chomping my head off. But…maybe not. He’d snatched me away and tried to keep me instead of just taking a big bite out of me. That must mean he’d wanted something similar to what Kael wanted—as in, me, physically.

And that would not have been good.

For all our differences, I feel like I have a connection with Kael. We communicate—sort of—and there’s affection between us. Again, sort of. A weird attraction for sure. The other dragon was not nearly as patient as Kael. And then it’s strange to think of ‘dragons’ and ‘patient’ in the same sentence, which makes me ponder. I finish cleaning the blood off his face and then smile up at him. “Like it or not, if I had to be stuck with a dragon, I’m lucky to have you, Kael.”

His eyes darken at the sound of his name, and he pulls me against him. “Clau-dah.”

I blush to feel the stab of his erection pressing against my stomach, and it makes me acutely aware of just how naked I am with him. I seem to lose more clothes around this man. Dragon. Whatever. “You’re not good at taking no for an answer, are you?”

His head tilts, and black flares in his eyes. “No?”

Of course he’d pick that damn word out. I’m a little nervous at how black his eyes flared, though. He’s probably still feeling possessive from his recent battle, and telling him no right now probably isn’t such a hot idea. “Not what I meant.” I give him a little pat and move to turn the faucets on for more water.

He holds my arm, not letting me turn away from him. Instead, he growls low in his throat and tries to pull me back into his arms.

I turn to him with a frown, but he’s got black swirling in his eyes. Okay, apparently even walking a few steps away is triggering him. “I’m just getting more water to clean you.” When he doesn’t let go even after that, I give him an exasperated look. “Claudia is all Kael’s, okay? I don’t want anyone else.”

He releases me at that.

I move to the sinks and turn the tap on, letting the water rush out in a gush. Even after days of having running water, it still feels like a treat, and I’m terrified it’s going to dry up, so I never leave it running. But the moment I turn the water on, his arm snakes around my waist, and it causes my backside to plump up against the hard, erect length of him.

He nuzzles my hair from behind and I can feel his breath on my shoulder. “Clau-dah…Kael?”

Oh boy. Heat rushes through me at the same time that a tingle of alarm does. I watch him in the cracked mirror. His eyes are black slits of pleasure, and the large arm that wraps around my waist is tender. He brushes his mouth over my shoulder, and then I feel his hips shift, rubbing his cock against my backside in a blatant gesture.

I…might have communicated the wrong thing to him. My goal was to tell him that I was his and no one else’s so he’d calm down. He seems to think I’ve given him assent to, well, take me as his.

In all ways imaginable.

I make a small noise of protest in my throat as he presses against my backside again, stroking the length of him along the cleft of my ass. Okay, that is all kinds of wrong—

—And it feels amazing. God, I am a sick, sick woman because I want him to do it again.

15

CLAUDIA

“Clau-dah,” he murmurs in that impossibly deep voice, and he sounds so incredibly pleased to touch me that it sends shivers through my body. My nipples harden in response, and I can feel my pulse beat between my thighs. Who has ever said my name with that much sheer pleasure?