Chapter 35
KIEREN
I’m across the hall and in my suite in twenty seconds, my clothes flying right and left in my wake as I toss them. I turn the shower on. Watching Roark take her where I’ve wanted to since the second I inhaled her thyme and chamomile scent? Fun. Not.
My dick’s rock hard and in my hand. Two strokes in, I’m coming against the marble like an academy dragonet.
Her face flashes before me. How pink her cheeks were when she came while Roark went down on her.
The surprised expression on her face, as if she didn’t know what was going to happen.
What the hell is wrong with human men if they don’t know how to make a female shatter?
I’m holding what should be my limp cock in my hand, but it’s still hard. I’m still hard. Fucking hell, I can’t walk around next to her, not touching her, hard. Or at least, I can’t start the day that way.
She crawled into bed with me. Surely she can’t be that scared of my dragon, right?
My smoke mixes with the steam clouding up the room. I see Roark’s hand over her breast. Her hand on top of his. I come again, my head banging backward into the glass. Beads of safety glass rain down onto my feet.
“Fuck.” But I don’t stop coming. I turn the water off and step out of the shower, then storm from my suite and throw open the door to Evander’s. The water’s on in his bathroom. I should have gone to Roark’s.
“Leave it on,” I growl.
“Use your own shower. This one’s—”
“I broke mine.”
He takes a towel from the heated rack and steps out of the way. “Be my guest. But wear your own damn clothes.” He’s out of view. I’m still washing up when he comes out of the dressing room in a clean suit and dress shirt. “You almost fucked things up.”
“I didn’t fall asleep on purpose. How the hell was I to know she would crawl into bed with me? I closed my eyes and her scent hypnotized me.”
“Her scent hypnotized you? That’s a new one. I could have used that at the academy when the head of clans asked me why I was in the female dorm in the middle of the night. ‘I’m sorry, Headmaster Townsend, I was hypnotized by the scent of the female field hockey team and ended up—’”
“I was there. I don’t need to hear about your debauchery, not now.”
He looks down and back up to me. “This feels different.”
“It fucking does.”
“I had to leave. I wanted to join them so badly my organs were shaking.”
“Your organ always shakes.”
“My internal organs. I get it . . . I get it. We’ll see in a week when the Thessari is stronger. She’ll have the lightning.”
“And if she doesn’t? How are we going to survive six months of this?”
“Five months, thirteen days.”
I glare at him. I’m not interested in his math skills now. I step out of the shower and into his dressing room.
“Wear your own clothes. Last time you borrowed one of my suits, you shifted through it.”
I don’t stop but head out the back passageway into the secret hall. The corridors were put in when the castle was built. My great-great-grandparents didn’t want to see their human servants. I head through the hallway into my suite.
It takes me longer than ten minutes to get dressed. I make a quick call to Percy to get my private car pulled around from the garage.
When I knock on Raine’s door, Roark answers it with a towel around his waist. “I believe I told you she would be ready when she’s ready.”
“I’m ready.” Raine steps out of the bathroom. Her hair is up in a simple ponytail. Her cheeks are red, and it’s not from makeup. She’s wearing a light tank top, but it’s not from the Crest Wing wardrobe. And white linen pants, and light-colored sandals.
I step away from the door and usher her into the hallway. After the incredible effort I put into not touching her a few minutes ago, I’m not going to accidentally do it now. “After you.”
She slows on the stairs for me to catch up.
“I’m coming. Wait. Come this way.” I open the door to the den.
It’s not somewhere that we usually let anyone else in.
In fact, I don’t remember ever letting another candidate in.
I hold the door open for her. There’s a female den across the hall.
But no one has used that since my mother used to come here. Aisling loves the place, though.
“Whoa.”
“What?” I can’t tell if it was a good whoa or a bad one.
“There’s just . . .”
I stand away from her and take in the room with a new perspective.
It’s not that different from other places in the castle.
The walls are a deep inky blue. Two leather chairs flank the lit fireplace.
There’s a wall full of leatherbound books and dark tapestry curtains with the history of Crest Wing woven into them.
“These match the ones in the foyer. Well, not match.”
I try not to smirk.
“Same weaver, though. They’re amazing.” She shakes her head.
I respond with a furrowed brow.
“Oh, sorry. It’s just these last two weeks, I’ve uttered amazing too many times. I need to widen my vocabulary.”
“Stupendous?” I offer. “Beguiling?”
“Oh, those are good high-end scrabble words.” She laughs. “Should I sit?”
“Please.”
My heart twists when she sits on the sofa where I normally do. I like it a little too much. I cross to the fireplace and poke at the fire.
“It’s nice having a fire even when it’s so hot outside. The castle can be chilly.”
“Are you not warm enough? We can have someone light your fire at night.” I lean on the fireplace mantle and hesitate, looking from Evander’s chair to Roark’s chair. I need Evander energy. The whole do-the-task-and-ask-for-permission-later thing he does.
“No, I like having layers of blankets.”
I lean back and then sit up. I’ve never felt this uncomfortable energy. “Are you comfortable now, or is it too hot?”
“No, I like it.” She’s leaning forward too. Fuck, I want to sit on the sofa with her, but . . . this is normally a conversation we would have had with a candidate in the first week, before the ceremony.
“I want to talk about what happened last week.”
Her expression drops and she nods. “Okay.” She’s being brave. I don’t have any right to be proud, but I am.
“But there are some things you need to know before . . .”
She gives another nod.
“Shifters have fated mates. Are you familiar with how they work?”
“I’m not a shifter chaser. Though I did go to a shifter bar once with Chanda and Kate. It was fun, but I went home alone.”
“I know you’re not a shifter chaser.”
“Right. Background check.”
“Yes.”
“Roark said you have a thunder?”
“He did.” I try not to scowl at the fact he broke protocol, but he told me he told her. “Yes, we will share a mate. Did he explain anything else?”
“That you have had some help looking for your mate, but he didn’t clarify and I didn’t pry.”
“Yes, well, thank you. It’s true, we have had some help. You know about shifters, but what other-realm beings do you know about?”
She blinks at me. “Other-realm?”
“This is partly where the NDA comes in.”
“I understand.”
“There are other beings living with humans. I won’t go into all of them, just . . . there are witches. Witchcraft. And among the witches, there are those who have vast power as seers.” I’m wondering if vast might be a stretch, seeing that they haven’t found the right candidate for us . . .
“Oh, I guess that’s helpful. But won’t you know your mate when she appears via smell?”
“We’re a little different.”
“Like that movie star who was so locked up in his fears that he couldn’t recognize his mate? What’s his name, the one who does all the films like The Dragon Days of Summer and Kissed by a Dragon?”
“No, no.” Earth dragons are frustrating. “I’ve sent us off down the wrong path. We’re not from this realm. Our power comes from our homeland. A long time ago, a great seer said a descendent son of Aurora would have a great thunder with a human female.”
“And you’re the grandson of Aurora.”
“I’m the great-great-great-grandson of Aurora. But seers make mistakes. And it might not be me. Perhaps it’s my dragonet, or my sister Aisling’s dragonet.” And that’s the real reason we’re ready to stop looking for a mate. How long do we have to wait?