Chapter 8
ADRIAN
For dinner, we were all seated around a table that was so large it would never even have fit into my brother's house.
And yet, I still ended up sitting next to the person I wanted to avoid for the time being.
Michael sat to my right, William to my left, Tyrel…
right across from me. Next to Tyrel sat his mother.
She was keeping her eyes on her plate for the most part—we were having a beef stew—but I still felt permanently watched.
And who knew? Maybe my doubts weren't completely unfounded.
If her son had magic, she could have magic, too.
You don't know whether Tyrel has magic.
But I had plausible reason to believe so, anyway.
Every now and then, he'd catch my eyes and I'd feel myself heat up in a way that was decidedly not natural. Couldn't be.
I'd never experienced anything like it.
"How are you liking it here?" he asked.
I wondered if maybe he'd meant to ask everyone, but he was looking straight at me and next to me, William simply continued eating.
"It's a very nice house," I said.
He chuckled, showing his teeth. He didn't quite have vampire fangs, but he came close. "Wait until you see our actual house," he said. "Compared to that, this is a doll house."
"I suppose it's up to you whether I'll get to go there."
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Only in part."
I scraped my knife over my plate. The food was good, but I didn't have much of an appetite and with Tyrel's eyes on me like this, it was hard to focus on eating, in any case. "I have some questions," I said. "Regarding this job."
"Oh?"
I put my knife and fork down and straightened in my seat, feeling all eyes on me. I hadn't wanted so much attention, but I had it now. "The person you choose… will they get to be a parent to the child?"
Tyrel's mother spoke up: "I believe the original job offer stated that they'd be expected to help raise the child. I believe it's beneficial for a child to have both parents available."
Tyrel snorted, although I wasn't sure which part of his mother's statement he disagreed with, and he didn't say. He kept looking at me instead. "That's not what you were asking, is it?"
I shook my head. "Not exactly. What I mean is… I understand that I would be there, but I don't want to be there as…"
"As an employee?" Tyrel prompted. How did he know what I wanted to say? Did he have mind-reading abilities too? His eyes narrowed as he waited for my response.
"I want to be an equal in that relationship. I want—"
"I think that's quite enough of that," Tyrel's mother spoke up.
Her gaze was sharp as she met mine. I got the feeling I was hitting on some deeper issue I knew nothing about.
"Our cook worked hard to prepare a nice meal for us.
Let's not spoil it with business conversation.
Such things can wait for when we're done. "
"I don't know, mother. Don't you agree our guest brought up an interesting point?" Tyrel pushed his plate away. "I'm about done with dinner anyway."
"Eat your food, darling."
"I'm not twelve, mother."
"Some days I wouldn't know it." She raised a napkin to her lips.
"Excuse me." Tyrel stood up from the table and left the room before any of us could say anything more.
I watched him go, wondering just what I'd done to spark this.
When I turned back to the table, his mother wasn't looking at me.
She wasn't looking at anyone, but I felt the displeasure radiating off her.
So much for getting the woman to like me.
"I get the feeling you shouldn't ask too many questions around here," Michael said softly from his seat beside me. I only nodded and made myself finish my stew. We passed the rest of the meal in silence.
"I agree with what you said earlier," Michael said when we were on our way back to our rooms. "That parents should be equal partners and all that."
"Thanks. I guess I just didn't pick quite the right time to say it. Or maybe they don't agree with me. I'm not sure." After all, what did I know about dragon parenting?
Michael stopped in front of the door to his room. "I read somewhere that there's very few female dragons compared to male dragons, but the ones who exist are usually well respected and in positions of power. Tyrel's mother… she seems like that. Maybe she doesn't think much of equality."
"I didn't know that," I admitted. I knew entirely too little of dragons.
After all, I'd never had a reason to dig deeper until I'd met Tyrel only a short while ago.
"She seems to be the head of the family, in any case.
When Tyrel invited me here, he said something that made it sound like she had a good bit of authority in deciding who he ends up with. "
"It wouldn't surprise me if that was true."
"In which case I fucked myself over back there."
Michael shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry. But if things are really like that and Tyrel can't pick you because of his mother… then he's not worth it, anyway." Michael blushed, and then he added, "Don't judge me, but I'm a romantic. I can't help it. If it was me, I'd want him to fight for me."
I laughed. "Don't tell me you're into dragons because you're into fairy tales."
His blush deepened. Oh God. I laughed harder.
"Busted," Michael said meekly.
"I don't think Tyrel's quite fairy tale material." I wiped at my eyes.
"No, probably not." Michael looked lost for a moment. "Honestly, I think I might like reading about this stuff better than experiencing it."
I smiled at him. "Yeah, that might be the safer option. Well…" I turned to my door. "Have a good night, Michael."
"You too."
He entered his room and I entered mine.
I didn't hold out much hope for sleep, but I changed into my pajamas anyway.
All the while, I couldn't stop thinking about what Michael had said.
If I didn't like the way things were run in this family, did I really want to be a part of it?
Did I want any child of mine to be a part of it?
It was true that Tyrel was going to do most of the choosing here, but I had to decide some things for myself, too.
I wasn't a mindless pawn—I could decide that I wanted out at any point.
They weren't holding me hostage. Thankfully.
I was just about to crawl under the sheets when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," I said, eying the door suspiciously. Who could it be now? Michael?
But when the door opened, it was Tyrel who came in.
The last person I'd expected right now.
To top it all off, he didn't look like he was all too sure what he was doing either. He closed the door behind himself and stepped inside quickly. Then, he grinned.
"Already changed into your jammies, I see. Too bad it's not your sexy cop outfit."
I blushed furiously, my cheeks heating up almost in an instant. So far, I'd dressed casually during my visit here, but that picture would haunt me forever.
"Don't be so embarrassed. The pictures the other guys sent weren't much better."
I looked aside, wanting him to drop the topic. "I was about to sleep."
"Would you like me to leave, then?"
No.
It was stupid, but just seeing him in here made my heart beat faster. I didn't want him to leave. If anything, I wanted him closer. My mind strayed to that article again. The one that had mentioned fate.
Don't be silly.
"I'd like to know why you came," I said, gathering myself.
"I wanted to apologize for earlier. You hit on a sensitive topic."
"It's okay. I shouldn't have tried to talk about all that over dinner. It's just…"
"Just what?"
I sighed and sat on the bed, still looking at Tyrel, who stood by the door with a curious expression on his face. "I always had this fantasy, I guess. That someday I would fall in love with a guy and he'd love me back and we'd raise a family together. This arrangement isn't…"
"Not really what you pictured, I assume?"
"No, it's not. I'm sorry."
For a moment, he remained silent by the door, a thoughtful expression on his face. Then he strode over to the bed and sat next to me.
"Do you want to quit?" he asked.
"I haven't made up my mind." I was definitely attracted to him, but that wasn't enough. "You know one of the things that don't fit into my fantasy?"
"Do tell."
"I never thought I'd have to compete for the guy I like with four other men like we're on some kind of stupid TV show."
Tyrel chuckled. "My mother thought this up. But be that as it may, you like me?"
He looked at me and I met his gaze. The intensity of his eyes sent a shudder down my back.
I made myself shrug, trying to appear nonchalant. I wasn't going to tell him that I wanted to get with him when only a few hours before, I'd seen him flirt with another man. Not even I was that desperate. Not after Rory.
"When we first met in that café, you said you found me fascinating. What did you mean by that?"
The corners of Tyrel's lips tugged up. "Do you know I'm not supposed to be in here? In any of your rooms?"
That wasn't exactly answering my question, but I decided to play along anyway. "I didn't know that. Why not?"
He inched a little closer, until I could feel the heat his skin radiated against my own skin. "My mother doesn't trust that I can control myself, I suppose. And humans are… well… most of them are rather easily swayed by my wishes."
I flashed back to our meeting in the café. To the thoughts he'd put in my head.
"Magic," I whispered.
He didn't smile, not quite, but there was an amused glint in his eyes that drew me to him.
As he looked at me, I felt myself caught the same way I had out on the sidewalk that day.
Like he'd thrown his net over me. The pull of his magic was so strong it was almost tangible, as if I could reach out and grasp a strand of it.
If I'd been able to move at all. As it was, all I could do was stare at him and his softly glowing eyes.
"You feel it, don't you?"
I made myself nod, but the action required quite a bit of effort on my part.
"Remarkable," he said. "You see, I can make most people dance and they never know what's happening to them.
" It didn't sound like that was something he was proud of, but not like something he was ashamed of either.
Just like he was stating a simple truth.
I believed him immediately. If dragon magic felt like this to everyone it was used on, there'd be books upon books written about it.
He leaned in a little, came close enough that our foreheads were inches away from touching.
Had he wanted to kiss me, he could have done so in a heart beat—and without protest from me.
Right this moment, he could have done whatever he wanted.
I understood suddenly why his mother didn't want us in a room by ourselves.
And still I didn't want him to leave.
"Not all dragons can do this," he explained, and while he did, I felt his words on my skin.
"Most males can't. I'm an exception. Probably because my mother is so powerful.
You do not want to get on her bad side. Of course, you're an exception, too.
" He touched my face, caressed my cheek with his thumb.
"I had no particular interest in procreation until I met you, but I wonder how powerful our offspring would be. "
He backed away a little, and I could breathe again.
"Because I'm aware of magic?" I asked.
"You're not only aware of it, you can resist it to some point. I've never seen another human do that."
I tilted my head, processing his words. How could I be so special?
So far, I'd thought my only special feature was my well-shaped ass.
Tyrel was giving me much to think about tonight.
Which was difficult when most of my blood had accumulated in my groin rather than my brain.
Damn, but I wanted him to fuck me. I'd heard dragons were well endowed, and I wanted to know if that was true.
Calm down, Adrian.
Think.
But thinking didn't get any easier when Tyrel rested one hand on my leg and then slowly trailed it up, almost but not quite reaching the bulge in my pants.
God, my erection was super visible through my jammies.
Tyrel didn't say a word about it, just looked at me quietly as if planning his next move.
Just fucking touch me.
Tyrel smiled.
Damn, did dragons really have mind-reading powers?
I stopped worrying about that when Tyrel's hand groped me through the fabric of my pants. A surprised noise escaped my throat, but I didn't tell him to stop.
"I should warn you," he said. "You make me want to do things I shouldn't."
"Do them," I pressed out. Because he made me want things I shouldn't want.
A faint smile appeared on his lips. And then he let go and I just kept myself from groaning.
"Not tonight," he said. "But if you decide not to quit…
" He leaned in again, rested his forehead against mine, brushed our lips together for the briefest of moments.
"I promise I'll do things to you you'll never forget.
I'll leave marks on you that'll never fade, and you'll love every single one of them for reminding you of the most intense night of your life. "
I shivered as he drew away and left the room, leaving only his promises behind. It wasn't even funny how badly I wanted all he'd said to happen.
I let myself fall back on the bed, touching my lips, thinking of him.
I was screwed.
So screwed.