Chapter 9
My peaceful bathwas over almost as soon as it started. Jasper barged through the door, his flaming eyes dark as he looked around the bathroom for threats.
I clamped my legs together and covered my tits with my arms automatically, but he hadn’t noticed my nudity yet.
His body position told me his mind was probably in dragon mode again. So common sense and logic were not steering the ship.
“I’d like privacy when I’m bathing,” I said. My voice was calm, though my heartbeat was erratic.
“No.” Jasper didn’t even consider it.
I sighed.
His expression remained stony.
Considering the way he’d touched me earlier, I really shouldn’t have been self-conscious of my bare body, either.
But… I still was. Just a little.
He’d never seen me naked before, and he hadn’t reacted to the sight of me. So, that was awkward.
His phone started ringing in his pocket, but he made no move to grab it.
Or answer it.
His gaze was fixed on me, and it was intense.
Maybe he was reacting after all.
He never talked a whole lot when he was really beastly, so I guess I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions so quickly.
His phone stopped ringing.
After a moment of silence, it started up again.
He still made no move to answer it.
And he was still staring at me like I held the answer to all of life’s questions.
“Whoever’s calling you must have something important to say,” I said.
He didn’t reply.
His fingers slowly curled into fists, and his erection throbbed against his damp jeans.
My face flushed.
My body already ached again, and I was sweating, too. Even the lukewarm bath water was no match for heat’s warmth.
His phone stopped ringing again.
Then started yet again.
Jasper really wasn’t going to answer it.
So I bit my lip, then eased one arm away from my breasts. One was enough to keep me covered. I was average-sized, and didn’t have anything impressive in the curve department.
His gaze grew molten, though.
His bulge was massive enough to pull the jeans tight, making it clear that his phone wasn’t in either of his front pockets. Leaning over the ledge, I stretched my arm around to the back of him.
Jasper stepped closer, giving me better access.
I tucked my hand into his back pocket, and struggled to get it over his tight, toned ass. My hand was wet, which didn’t help with that.
But even with the fabric separating our skin, I could feel how strong he was.
I bit my lip against the urge to grab his butt without anything between us. Just skin on skin.
His phone wasn’t in that pocket, so I reached into the next one. I had to bend my legs a little to reach far enough around him with my free arm, and his chest rumbled as they parted a little.
“I need to taste you,” he said, though his phone was still ringing as I tugged it free of his pocket.
August’s name was on the screen, so I answered it. My voice was a little high with the lust I was feeling, but I tried to ignore it.
“Hello?”
“Randa? It’s Elodie.” My best friend’s voice put me more on-edge instead of relaxing me.
Why had she needed to call Jasper three times in a row?
She was with August, and?—
“Your phone’s off. I’ve been trying to call you,” Elodie said. “Are you okay?”
Oh.
That eased the unpleasant, intense feelings that had been building.
“I’m fine. Just didn’t want to be accessible. Is everything okay with you?”
“Yep. Jas just talked to August a few minutes ago, and Auggie asked me to clarify a few things for you.”
“Okay…”
I didn’t take my eyes off Jasper as I eased back into a sitting position, closing my legs again and tightening the arm around my chest.
“Did you have sex dreams last night?” she asked. “Extremely intense, realistic ones?”
The question snapped me out of whatever trance the dragon had held me in. “Maybe. Is that part of heat?”
“No. The demons in the prison below you are starving, and their magic seems to ignite your lust automatically in your dreams when they’re hungry. It only affects unmated humans.”
“I thought we’re mated right now.”
“Nope. Not until you do the deed and seal it for good.”
“Don’t say that like it’s inevitable,” I warned.
“Sorry. I’m explaining this because you need to know, you’re not going to be able to sleep there without having the dreams. They’ll turn you on, and wake you up constantly. I only made it a few days there as a human before August dragged me back to Scale Ridge because I couldn’t sleep. Seeing you not getting rest will make Jasper’s instincts harder to fight, too.”
Well, that sounded like a whole problem of its own.
She paused, and I heard a man’s low voice on the other end of the line. August was talking to her. “I’m supposed to talk to you about how to best survive heat without giving in, now.”
“Tell me you’re not trying to sell what Jasper just said, Elodie.”
She laughed softly. “I’m not sporting Girl Scout Cookies, Randa.”
“Girl Scout Cookies would be preferable in this situation.”
“A box of cookies doesn’t last long, but a mate bond can be forever,” she countered.
I sighed.
“Sorry, sorry. You know I’m biased in favor of the dragons at this point. Anyway, the dragons have been trying to fight heat when it begins for centuries. Since the beginning of time, from what I know. Though August is now telling me that the truly ancient dragons have an entirely different culture—but that doesn’t matter. They fight heat with everything they have, right?”
“Sure.”
“Well, fighting it tooth-and-nail doesn’t work. They’ve proved it time and time again. Gritting your teeth and deciding not to give in isn’t a solution. Heat is too strong. You’ll be literally begging Jas to take your pain away in two or three weeks, no matter how strong you decide to be now.”
“How did you fight it, then?” My voice grew softer.
Less sure.
The whole situation threw me off-balance, made me feel uneasy.
“We sort of teamed up. Jasper probably told you that.”
“He did.”
“Well, you could do it without teaming up, theoretically. At the most basic level, all we really did was give heat everything it wanted for as long as we could. It was only really difficult during the final stretch, when the pain was bad. And even then, August only resisted giving me what I wanted because he knew I could be killed in the supernatural prison, which was where he was going after heat ended.”
My head spun. “He was going to prison?”
“It’s a long story, but yeah. Anyway, I don’t know if it’s even possible for a woman to make it through the last part of heat without giving in. She would have to be a hell of a lot more stubborn than I am, with a much higher pain tolerance, because painkillers don’t do anything for us during heat.”
And Elodie was much more stubborn than me.
Which didn’t exactly bode well for my future independence. Or Jasper’s.
So if I was going to survive it, I’d have to figure that part out on my own, and find a way to get much more stubborn.
“But you made it through the first part with minimal pain?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s pretty easy to do, too. At first, the bond just wants you touching at all times. If you’re physically touching Jasper, there should be minimal pain and heat. That will slowly increase until heat pushes him to bite you to ease the pain.”
She didn’t mention that he’d already bitten me.
I didn’t either.
“After that, sex will be the only thing that can relieve the increasing pain, and that relief will be very, very temporary.”
“Wow, you’re really selling this,” I murmured.
My eyes were still locked with Jasper’s. I was starting to wonder if I could even look away if I tried.
She laughed softly. “I think shitty truths are better than happy lies in this case, don’t you?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“So what would you do in my situation?” I asked her. Though I knew I didn’t want the bond, I was starting to think there might not be a way around it. And I wanted to hear her answer.
She considered it for a moment before admitting, “I would probably brace myself for a mate bond. When you look at all the facts, there doesn’t seem to be another option. Jas can’t leave Mate Mountain without losing his mind even more. You can’t sleep there without sealing the bond with him. Heat is so painful that I couldn’t handle it, and you’re softer than me. I mean that in a good way, too. Of the three of us, you’re the nice one. Vi’s the hard-ass, and I can go either way depending on the day.”
My lips curved upward just the tiniest bit. “I hate being an artist sometimes. It’s so consuming. I’d be tougher if I wasn’t.”
“But you wouldn’t be you, then. And you’re pretty damn great, Randa.”
“Thanks.” I closed my eyes. “What all is there to a mate bond again? No periods? Heat repeated a few days every month? A horrifying amount of flying?”
“The scent thing, too. And the mental bond.”
“Mental bond?”
“Oh, I haven’t mentioned that?”
“No.”
Elodie explained, “The mate bond connects a pair’s minds. We hear each other’s loudest thoughts, and we can speak to each other mentally at any given time, no matter how far apart we are.”
“Wow. So in your opinion, my best bet right now is to try to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m going to be Jasper’s mate. And to touch him constantly, so I don’t have to deal with heat.”
“Right,” she agreed. “Heat is actually fun, when you give in to it. The best sex of your life, over and over again.”
My face warmed.
I opened my eyes, and found Jasper on his knees next to the tub. His hands were braced on the ledge, far enough from my skin that we weren’t touching.
His gaze was molten.
“Anything else I need to know?” I whispered.
“I think that’s everything. If you do decide to give in to heat, try to remember to text me so August doesn’t have to show up there and nearly get himself killed for knocking on your door.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
We both hung up, and I set Jasper’s phone down on the ledge of the tub.