Chapter 10 #2
She nodded and stepped away. After taking off the straps, she turned the bra around to unclasp it. As it fell to the floor, Cam’s mouth watered.
Damn, what he wouldn’t give to suckle those hard little nipples into his mouth.
“Cameron Alexander, my face is up here.”
With a sheepish grin, he met her gaze again. “Sorry, but not sorry. I had to look, aye?”
She laughed. “I know.” She held out a hand. “Now, let’s cuddle in bed whilst you tell me what happened.”
He wrapped his fingers around hers, and his dragon spoke up. Share everything now. That way, we won’t be interrupted next time.
This is the last major thing between me and Emily. No matter how difficult it is, I’ll tell her. Well, provided she doesn’t jump out of bed and head for the hills.
His beast grunted. If you’d listened to my advice earlier, we’d be spreading her thighs and bringing her pleasure right now. This just means you should always listen to me.
He mentally chuckled. That’s a bit far, dragon. Regardless, don’t think this means you’ll get to claim Emily the first time. That belongs to me, true mate or not.
His dragon grumbled. We’ll see.
They entered his bedroom, and he pulled back the covers. After Emily climbed in, he followed, and she instantly cuddled against his side. Holding her close, he took a few deep breaths.
The chapter with Megan Brown was one he’d tried to forget and put behind him. And after this, maybe he truly could.
But for now, he needed to remember the betrayal and share it with Emily, so she would truly understand why he’d been so horrible to her at first.
Emily merely lay half on his chest and traced designs with her finger. Her slow, gentle touch calmed both man and beast.
After hugging her closer against his side, he finally spoke again. “When I was in my early 20s, not long after I’d served my time with the British army and had just become a junior Protector, I wanted to let go a little.
“Since I knew I wanted to stay on Seahaven no matter what, I thought that meant I had to find a human female to truly fit in. And since I was past twenty, it meant my dragon should be able to recognize my true mate. Using this as an excuse, I spent my free time trying to meet females in neighboring towns and villages to find my mate.”
In retrospect, it’d been a mad thing to do, considering even back then dragon hunters had been luring dragons into traps and stealing them away.
But he’d been a lot more idealistic at the time and had trusted humans more than a lot of other dragon-shifters, given the situation of his parents and others on Seahaven.
His beast spoke up. Don’t dwell on it. We learned a lesson, and without it, maybe we wouldn’t have waited for Emily.
Are you still unable to tell if she’s ours?
His dragon grunted. It’s that dragon’s blood in her veins, which isn’t my fault.
Focusing back on Emily, he spoke again. “Most of the humans tolerated my presence in their communities, thankfully, and my reckless behavior didn’t damage our budding ties to them.
After all, Seahaven had only taken its current form about five or six years before I went wild.
Although I did stir up trouble once by chatting up a female when her date was using the toilet, and he rightfully punched me in the face.
As I hurried to leave—I couldn’t afford to be in a fight and risk my job—I ran into a human female about my age.
She’d recently moved to the Highlands and invited me to clean up at her place.
I did, and we chatted, and she was utterly charming.
“She kept in contact, and over the course of months, we grew closer, and I thought maybe she was the one, even though my dragon hadn’t been convinced. But then…”
He hesitated. Cam didn’t want to share this bit, mostly because he didn’t want to upset Emily.
She touched his face. “It’s okay, Cam. Whatever it is, it’s in the past and I want to hear it.”
Looking down at her, he traced her forehead, her nose, and then her lips. “Aye, it’s in the past and the only female I want now is you.”
She smiled. “I’ll remember that. Now, stop stalling. The sooner you tell me, the sooner it’s over with.” She caressed his side, and desire shot through him. “Which I think we both want, right?”
He grunted. “You’re one of those doctors who use dubious means to distract patients from needles, aren’t you?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t flirt, but sometimes you have to get creative for stubborn dragonmen who are afraid of getting a shot or having their blood drawn. And I thought human men were bad…”
He lightly slapped her arse. “I can handle needles just fine, thank you very much.”
“Then you’ll do, Cam. As a Scot would say.”
The urge to kiss her and roll Emily onto her back so he could claim her rushed through him.
But he resisted. Not only because he’d promised not to kiss her on the lips yet, but he wanted this bloody awful betrayal aired and out of the way.
So, after taking a deep breath, he said, “Well, back to the past then. We were, er, getting intimate. But when I tried to get a condom, she distracted me. I only just pulled out in time and asked why she’d tried to keep me inside.
That’s when her eyes turned cold and she stated, ‘I can’t get pregnant with a dragon baby if you wear a condom. ’
“I retreated and demanded to know what she was talking about. Eventually, she confessed she just wanted to get pregnant so she could sell the baby to her brother’s friend, who was a dragon hunter.
There was a black market for dragon-shifter children, and Megan had a goal of selling as many as she could to set herself up for life. ”
Cam stopped, and with his free hand, gripped the sheets of the bed. He’d never hurt a female, but he’d come extremely close that night, as Megan had dismissed dragon-shifters as parasitic animals, ones she could at least use to make money.
“Oh, Cam. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
Emily’s voice snapped him back to the present.
“Aye, it was a learning experience, for sure. I’d never really understood how much some humans hated my kind.
Whilst there was some bigotry in the army, in the end, we all had to work together to stay alive.
But to her, dragon-shifters didn’t deserve to make decisions or be happy.
They purely existed to heal humans with their blood and possibly be pets to tame and control.
“After that, I swore off females in general. I would occasionally hear of a dragon groupie gathering in Inverness or Aberdeen, and I’d fly there to get some release, knowing they at least wouldn’t hate me.
” He paused and then finally added quietly, “But what happened in the past is the reason why I was so hostile to you in the beginning. Rationally, I knew you’d done so much to help my kind and weren’t going to betray me. But…”
“But you were still wary of human women in general.”
He met her gaze again. “Aye. I’m sorry, Emily. I shouldn’t have acted that way toward you.”
The corner of her mouth kicked up. “To be fair, I was being a little brat in the beginning, too. There was just something about you that both intrigued and terrified me. And not simply because you’re a dragon-shifter, either.”
He cupped her cheek. “I was a wee bit afraid too, the more I got to know you.”
“I hope you know that I’d never betray you like that, Cam.”
Nodding, he said, “I realized that when you told me about how you gave up your family to follow your dream and help dragon-shifters.” He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. “We might even be able to stop the dragon hunters once and for all because of your sacrifices and dedication.”
“That might be a bit much, but I’m determined to help in any way that I can.”
He rolled Emily onto her back and threaded his fingers through hers before pressing them to either side of her head. “The best way to help me right now is to let me explore your body and make you scream in pleasure.”
Her breath hitched, and Cam waited. If she said no, he’d back off. But now that she knew some of the worst of his past, if she still wanted him, then it would only reinforce that his gut had been right all along.
And so he waited.