Chapter 15
Fifteen
Dirk
Knowing I was all kinds of wrong for Ella didn’t make being around her any easier. Dinner was torture. The constant barrage of thoughts from my dragon had frayed my nerves to the breaking point.
A never-ending scene was playing out of me surging across the table and carrying her off to bed. I could hear the sounds of her clothes ripping free as I tore them to shreds, eager to get at her lithe little body with my hands, my mouth, and eventually fill her with my cock.
A thousand different moans filled my head.
What would she sound like when I ran my hands down her back and lifted her around my waist?
Would she breathe sharply or gasp with a high-pitched erotic squeal when I sucked on her nipples for the first time?
And when I filled her with every inch until her eyes rolled back in her head and she twisted the sheets to shreds, would she moan my name?
That was the chaos of my mind as I sat perfectly still, slicing strips of delicious subrahim-steak and chewing thoroughly while conversations went on around me. Gravy was poured over mounds of mashed tubers, much like I wanted to spill myself for Ella.
I clenched the knife in my hand so hard it bent.
How was I supposed to continue like this? I should have left like I’d planned to. At least if I was alone, I could yell and scream my frustrations while taking care of my cock in privacy, buying myself precious minutes of relief before thoughts of her came rushing back.
Somehow the others had planned it so that Ella was seated across from me. It was a suffering I never wished to repeat, but it gave me a focus, something to think about that eventually allowed me to push the physical desires aside.
Her pain. I could see the hurt in her eyes. Some of it I suspected was because of me and the marks on her side, but the bulk of it was from somewhere else. Perhaps it was related to the reason she was so vehemently against the idea of us being together.
And thank the orb for that. I couldn’t imagine having to try to turn her aside if she was actually crazy enough to want me.
Just when I was about to lose my control, Ella stood up and excused herself. The other two women immediately did the same. I glanced down as she rose, staring at my plate, both grateful and dejected she was leaving.
I don’t know how much longer I can do this.
“We leave for the citadel in the morning,” Caz said before they could retreat from the room. “Be ready to go.”
Anna nodded. “We will be.”
By the time I looked up, they were gone.
“Will you be ready to leave?” Caz asked from my left.
“Yes.” I would make the journey. One way or another.
“Good.” Caz spun his dinner knife in his hand. “I dislike being away this long with Bryna’s trial so close. I don’t trust Mirko.”
I grunted agreement.
“Awfully convenient timing of the attack,” Kolar chimed in, his fork paused above the remnants of his steak.
“No, it’s not,” I said, speaking up before Caz could respond. “If Mirko wanted us gone before the trial started, what’s more convenient than an attack here?”
“We can’t prove that,” Caz said cautiously, though he didn’t reprimand me. As the Tyrant, he simply had to be more careful of the accusations he made out loud.
I shook my head, growing more positive of my suspicions the more I voiced them.
“The anonymous tip Florian received said the attack would be overwhelming and at any moment. We rushed off here, just the three of us, without any backup. They sent eight Reds to face us, three of them barely out of their teens. Kolar and Durion could have handled half of that assault without breaking a sweat. They’re some of the strongest warrior Elite we have. ”
Caz frowned in thought.
“What exactly are you saying?” Durion asked from the other side of the table, leaning back casually in his chair.
“This was a distraction. If it had come before we returned, there was only a slight chance it would have succeeded. If we’d left one more guard here, it would have failed. Mirko, or whoever was behind it, wanted us gone. He’s up to something.”
“We can’t just come out and accuse Mirko like that,” Caz chided gently.
“I don’t care,” I snarled, rising to my feet. “I know it was him. He’s behind this.”
He was the reason Ella had been hurt. I squeezed my fingers tightly, wishing they were tightening around the neck of the Red who had hurt her. I wanted to snuff the life from him. Again.
“Dirk …”
“I will find proof,” I said, cutting my brother off. “I swear to you, I will stop at nothing to prove that Mirko was behind this. And when I do …”
Caz stared up at me with a murky expression that gave away little of what he was thinking.
“I will prove it was him,” I repeated and left the table before I started yelling again.
Just the thought of Ella being in harm’s way was turning my dragon into a belligerent bloodthirsty monster once more.