Chapter 16
Sixteen
Casimir
“Caz.”
I shuddered to a halt. My fingers were inches from the doorknob. One push of willpower, and I could be gone, leaving it all behind.
Except leaving my mate was never an option.
If she called me, I answered. Every moment I could spend near her was perfection on a level impossible to describe.
Like slotting the last piece of the puzzle into place.
Except it wasn’t a puzzle. It was my entire being. That’s what it was like being near her.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be free to kiss her. Or claim her.
My fangs tried to slide down on their own, but I held on with steely restraint.
Now was not the time for that. Her voice was not threaded with need, with the sweetness of lust I could smell permeating the room.
Instead, it was hurt—a hurt I caused by being rude to her.
Trying to leave. Was I an idiot? Why would I do that to her, of all people? Anna was too nice.
But she wasn’t the only one hurting. Even as her footsteps slowly made their way across the room toward my back, I tried to shove away the aching her words had wrought deep inside me, in a place I tried not to go.
She thought of me as the ice tyrant. That was who I was to her. Ice tyrant first. Caz last.
I hated that. Hated hearing the words come from her voice. I never liked the title. Ever. No matter how many beatings I endured, being told that to be the ice tyrant meant being the meanest, strongest, most cruel dragon of them all. I should be used to it by now, but I wasn’t.
To hear her say it hurt more than any of the lashings my father doled out. Her words struck deeper than the scale-tipped whip he preferred to use. Even now the marks on my back itched with reminder.
Her hand touched my shoulder, and I trembled harder than any pain his “lessons” had inflicted.
“Look at me.” Anna’s voice was a whisper I could never ignore. Slowly, I faced her. Gazed into those incredible violet eyes, marveling at their beauty, even as I noted the regret pooling in the corners.
She was right there. The woman I had dreamed of night after night. The one I knew I never deserved. Somehow, guided by the fates, I had found her after all.
If I could only show her I wasn’t the person she thought I was.
But all I knew was action. I could show her without words.
She was right there. In the middle of the room.
It would be so easy to slice the clothes from her body with my claws until they dropped to the floor.
I clenched my jaw, wondering what it would be like, that first, glorious sight of her naked body, of breasts I knew would be perfect.
My mouth salivated at the thought of latching on, sucking and teasing them until she moaned, arching her back up into me and presenting.
She would announce her pleasure for my dragon and me.
I wanted to explore every last inch of her body. Kissing it. Caressing it. Tasting it until she trembled and exploded with one final touch, my name on her lips. I nearly came in my pants like a teenager at the idea of her screaming “Caz!” while she orgasmed for me.
One wrong breeze and I was done for.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
I didn’t like my mate apologizing to me. She should never have to. It was wrong.
“I didn’t know it meant that much to you, Casimir.”
This time I liked when she used my full name. It wasn’t meant to mock, but to show she understood. That I never wanted to be the tyrant to her. Just Casimir. Caz. Only ever her Caz.
Because I didn’t rule here. Between us, only one person was ever in charge, and it wasn’t me. I had known that from the beginning, from the instant the mate bond blossomed to life. I would do anything for her.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said slowly, staring at her and wondering if my voice sounded as thick to her as it did me.
“That’s a stretch,” she said, patting my chest.
My dragon bellowed in triumph at the simple contact.
“How?”
“Because I can and will make mistakes too,” she said, crossing her arms.
My dragon went stock still at the sudden press of her breasts against her arms. Holy shit, she was perfect.
“I am not some sort of god. I’m a living, breathing person, who can screw up, thank you very much. You don’t get to take that from me. Got it?” She said it teasingly.
“Yes, goddess,” I whispered, without any mocking whatsoever.
“Oh, dear,” she said, covering her mouth. “I’ve created a monster.”
I smiled broadly, full teeth, letting her know she wasn’t wrong. “I’ll try to remember that. But it’s hard to imagine someone as perfect as you are having any flaws.”
She cocked her head. “Did you forget that I’m a grounded?”
There was no hesitation before saying it, no switch. She had chosen her words from the start.
I grinned wider.
She groaned. “It’s longer than saying clippy and way more formal sounding too.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I told her, winking and pointing at my chest. “Me ice tyrant. Me make rules.”
“A monster,” she repeated again with light laughter that I echoed.
Our eyes met once more, but this time they locked on with physical force.
A joining of something that scraped across my chest. If it weren’t for the euphoria that came after, I would have likened it to that same scale-tipped whip splitting me open.
But the warm buzz that followed was the farthest thing from pain.
What made it all the better, though, was watching Anna go through the same thing. She touched her chest, between her breasts, with a gasp that went from pain to pleasure in a heartbeat.
Rubbing the spot gently through her shirt, she frowned at me. “What the hell was that?”
“I think …” I lifted my shirt casually to inspect. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” Anna clapped both hands over her face but not before I saw her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of pink.
She liked the sight of me with my shirt up.
I tried not to crow in victory, but it was hard, given the purple marks on my chest between my pecs.
A thin violet line that vaguely resembled a horseshoe with its points downward was bisected by a thicker, flowing V-shape that spread its wings up and outward toward my armpits before fading.
“Mate marks,” I said, noting the size of them. “Just the start.”
My eyes dropped to her chest.
“But we haven’t even kissed,” she said, still stunned. “How?”
I shrugged, lowering my shirt. “I don’t know.”
She scrambled to pull at her shirt, tugging the neckline down instead of lifting it up, much to my dragon’s disappointment.
That thought evaporated swifter than ice in fire when I saw green on her chest.
A simple verdant line, much thinner than mine was etched onto her skin, looping up and around itself before fading as it headed downward toward the curves of her breasts.
“Oh, shit.”
The growl in my throat was unmistakable.
“Caz,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not … I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
Not ready. She wasn’t ready. Not “I don’t want this.” She just needed more time—time to understand, to comprehend what was happening. I could do that. We would have centuries together. What was a little more time now?
“I understand,” I said, forcing myself back a step while trying to shove the sweetness of vanilla and cinnamon from my nose before I buried myself in her.
“Do you?”
“Of course. Understanding isn’t the same as agreeing or liking. But I understand.” I shuddered as she let go of her shirt, one hand still pressed to the spot my mate marks had appeared.
“Thank you.”
I shook my head. “But I don’t know if I can resist you for long,”
“Try,” she whimpered, fighting the same pull I was. “Please.”
Oh, fuck. Hearing her say that, practically begging me, nearly broke my restraint right then and there.
“I’ll try,” I ground out, clenching my jaw as my eyes locked on her neck, my fangs sharp and ready.
This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d thought. Centuries together or not, I wanted to start now.
“Please do.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I need you focused on finding my friends. Not my G-spot.”
I chuckled deeply. “I wouldn’t have any trouble with that. Though I might have to spend quite some time pretending.”
Just because I hadn’t been with a woman didn’t mean I was ignorant.
The citadel had a massive library and a very extensive section for women.
Teenage me had learned all about sex from the perspective of women.
Bawdy tales in the depths of drunken nights from the other men couldn’t hold a candle to what those women really liked.
And soon I would get to put that knowledge to good use on Anna.
“Easy there,” Anna teased. “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”
I stepped forward without thinking, taking her chin in my hand and gently tilting it upward toward me. “A mistake I intend to rectify,” I growled, stroking her jaw with my thumb.
The pulse in her neck quickened under my touch. Her eyes grew large, and she shuddered with a breath.
I leaned down, inches away from her face. The fresh infusion of vanilla had my mouth near watering at the thought of finally, finally tasting her. Holding back wasn’t an option. My dragon, this close to its mate, sank its claws in and drove us forward.
Our mouths met, lips sealing tightly as she arched up into me, her hands sliding up around my neck.
I lifted her free of the ground, twirling her slowly as we kissed.
We melted into one another with the perfection of the moment.
The glorious press of her body to mine was nothing short of ecstasy.
I could feel every curve, the firm roundness of her breasts, and everything else.
Her mouth parted under my insistence, and we explored each other more thoroughly, letting the intensity of the moment linger.
It was perfect, and I didn’t want to let it go.
So when she suddenly pulled back, I nearly dropped her in surprise.
“Wait,” she said, breathing harder than before. “Caz, wait. Put me down.”
Her feet hit the floor as I instantly complied. Cold weight settled over my shoulders. I had pushed her too far, too fast. Scared her off.
“Anna …”
She shook her head, and any further words fell away into the gaping chasm of silence between us.
“I …” Anna steeled herself, taking a step back from me with a sudden resolve that only made me like her, want her, more.
She was strong. “No, Caz. I can’t. Not yet.
I wouldn’t feel right. What kind of friend would I be, letting myself give in to you while my friends are still out there being used by the very same people who walk the corridors of your home? ”