Chapter 14
Her mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry, Daniel, what?”
He frowned at her as he felt the muscle directly under his eye start ticking again. “Ryuu.
Just drop it, princess, alright? I told you I don’t know how to do this mate--”
Before he could finish the words, she’d leapt at him, winding her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his throat. “You’re good, Daniel.” When she locked her legs around his waist, he was sure the woman was trying to burrow into him. He had to grit his teeth against the intense pleasure at the thought. Then she sniffled, and he felt his head explode. “You’re really good at this.”
He let out a frustrated sound. She was trying to drive him mental on purpose. He knew it.
“Then why the hell are you crying?” he demanded.
The damn woman only hugged him tighter for a long moment, until she finally pulled back. She lifted her head, her eyes meeting his for the barest heartbeat before she moved in, fusing her mouth to his.
Daniel staggered back a step as he felt the low, savage growl form in his chest as every muscle in his body tightened. There was nothing he could do about it. He wanted her--every bone in his body ached with the need to possess her again. Confused or not, he wasn’t about to fuck this up. He dragged her closer as his mouth ravaged hers. He backed her into the vanity and hitched her up onto it. He didn’t care that the other dragons were still in the cave. He didn’t care she had every reason to want nothing to do with him. The only thing he gave a shit about was the feeling of his mate as she made the soft, wild sound in the back of her throat that drove him to madness, diving into him with the same desperation he felt.
He knew he should be taking his time with her. He meant to, but his soul felt its mate and there would be no denying it now. The mark over his heart burned, flaring bright, waiting for hers to echo it. As it did, as he felt himself finally become whole again, his mouth dragged over her throat, desperate for the taste of her skin, his hands frantic as he tugged at the thin fabric of her
a
tank top.
He didn’t know how they got out of the rest of their clothes. He lost all rational thought the second he saw her naked skin. He kicked the bathroom door shut as he tugged her head back and forced her to look at him as he drove into her with one swift, powerful thrust.
When she bowed back with a scream, her legs tightening around his waist, his self - control simply failed. His sanity was gone. All that existed was Shelby. His Shelby. His mate.
He slammed his palms down on the counter, caging her in as she bowed up, meeting the desperation in him head on. Pleasure roared up his spine like a freight train, screaming for release. Eleven months was too fucking long without her, without this.
He pounded into her harder, faster, driving them both over the edge, straight into oblivion. Her body arched back as her orgasm exploded inside of her. The sight of her letting go so completely for him was all he could take. His head fell back on a roar as he gave in, the pleasure erupting inside of him as everything in the entire world went black, fading from existence.
Except for his Shelby.
Daniel didn’t know how long it took before reality started to intrude again on his subconscious. He only knew years wouldn’t have been long enough.
At some point after they’d both come down from their mind-blowing orgasms, they’d sunk to the floor, their bodies wrapped around each other until it was almost impossible to tell where one started and the other began.
He couldn’t stop touching her. As his fingers slid through her hair, he was aware he’d never experienced anything like this in all of his long years. He wanted to worship her, to give her the gentleness he’d never known he had inside of him, to protect her from feeling anything but joy ever again.
Ryuu. He didn’t know how to do that shit. He didn’t know how to make her life what she wanted it to be. Worse, he had no idea how in the fucking hell he was going to be the kind of mate she deserved, for however long it took him to find a way to break the binding.
He would break it. He knew that now. Letting her go was his only option, no matter what it did to him in the end. He would drag her down into his misery if he didn’t, forcing him to watch as he slowly destroyed everything he loved about her.
So yes. He would let her go. He just wasn’t stupid or masochistic enough to push her away when they only had a little bit of time left.
“Daniel?”
Her soft voice halted his spinning thoughts. He forced his face to soften as he lowered his
gaze to her upturned face. His heart slammed violently against his ribcage at the warm, satisfied look in her beautiful soft green eyes. “Yes?” he asked on a murmur, his voice hoarse as he tried to keep his wild emotions from breaking through the small place in his heart where he’d shoved them.
“Nothing.” She grinned as she shifted on his lap, bringing them eye to eye as she wound her arms around his neck. “Just wanted to make sure if I’d died and gone to heaven you were there with me.”
He groaned as he went rock hard inside of her again. He caught her hips to hold her still, but she only leaned down to rest her forehead against his. God, he needed her. All the way to his core needed her. “You’re not going anywhere I can’t follow, princess.” He shoved his hands into her hair and forced her gaze to his so she could see the insanity burning behind his eyes. “You are not allowed to fucking die on me, got it?”
* * * *
Her breath caught at the fear in him. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t see how beautiful he was on the inside. Desperate to show him how much she needed him, she lowered her mouth onto his, her hips moving slowly over his.
When he reared up, ready to devour her again, to take their pace back to frantic, Shelby stilled, gently cupped his face in both her hands. “No,” she whispered, her eyes steady on his.
“My pace.”
He growled at her, panic in his eyes. It nearly broke her heart. She needed to do this for him. Dragging her mouth over his shoulder, she let her hands slide slowly over the bulging muscles in his arms, deliberately keeping her fingers gentle as they soothed the water scars on his shoulder. She didn’t know how much gentleness he’d ever had in his life, and while she wasn’t naive enough to believe it was ever a term that should fit a dragon-man, she needed to show him.
She took her time with him. She explored his body as she kept their pace slow. She kept her eyes steady on his, so he could see what he did to her, everything he made her feel. In return, she gave him everything she was, until she was left raw and exposed.
She screamed his name as she went over that fine edge, her body quaking with aftershocks as he roared his release.
Shelby knew immediately she’d done something wrong. He was still with her, his body
still tangled up in hers, but she didn’t have to be inside his head to know he was pulling back from her.
She felt it.
Then the animalistic growling started as he carefully got them both to their feet. Before she could ask what was wrong, he grabbed her shirt, yanking it down over her head.
“Get dressed,” he snapped.
She wanted to argue with him. She’d meant to make things better for him, not make things worse between them, but his face had closed off. Her eyes could no longer reach the one place in his where she always felt seen. Like he’d completely disconnected himself.
It took her longer to get dressed than it did him, but he didn’t open the door until he was positive she was decent. He strode out, every muscle in his body strung tight.
It took everything she had to battle back her tears as she watched him storm away. Damn it. This wasn’t how she’d meant this to go.
To make it worse, none of the other dragons would look at her. Even though they’d shut the door, neither her nor Daniel had been very quiet. She dropped her head, embarrassed, a blush tinting her cheeks.
“Hungry?”
Shelby’s gaze snapped up at the rough voice. Dallas glanced at her over his shoulder
,
before he turned back to the stove. Her blush went deeper, but as she turned to find Daniel deep in discussion with Broderick like nothing had happened, she blew out a breath. “Actually, I’m starving.”
“I made burgers.” He shrugged as she moved over to lean against the counter. “It’s all I can do on short notice.”
She let out a quiet snort. “Don’t worry. I’m lucky if I can find my kitchen on most days.” Shelby realized the second the words were out of her mouth how privileged she sounded. She shot him a sheepish grin. “People don’t expect me to take care of myself, and if I insist, rumors start spreading I’m in serious financial trouble.”
Dallas flipped the burgers. “Can’t you ignore the rumors?”
“Sure.” She worried at her bottom lip for a moment. He had an assortment of veggies laid out, ready for chopping. A wicked knife sat next to a cutting board. Moving over to the sink, she washed her hands
,
before turning her attention to the vegetables. She could do this. “They’re only rumors.”
“So what does it matter?”
Shelby gingerly picked up a tomato. She scowled down at it. “It’s not the rumors, not really. It’s the media. They’re relentless. They can, will, and have dug into every part of my life.”
Dallas studied her for a moment, before he raised a brow. He pointed at her. “That’s a tomato.” When she shot him a look, he shrugged, turning his attention back to the burgers. “Not to sound like an ass, but didn’t you give up the right to privacy when you decided to become an actress?”
“Of course,” she murmured. She set the tomato down and picked up the knife. She took a deep breath, and sliced it down the middle. She let out a relieved sigh when she accomplished it without taking a fingertip off. Since she didn’t think anyone wanted half a tomato on their burger, she concentrated on slicing each half smaller. “I don’t seek the paparazzi out, and then whine about my lack of privacy.”
She shook her head, then scratched her nose with the back of her hand. “I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. People want you to fail. The entire world watches every move I make, just waiting for me to fall on my face. And whoever films it
,
gets rich. Nothing is private or off limits. If a reporter films my reaction to my co-star cheating on his wife, it will make him money. But if a reporter finds the father who abandoned me as a child, it will make him a heck of a lot more. They all want to be the one to break the next big story.” She shrugged, making a face at the tomato that was making more of a mess than she’d expected. “But, like you said, I’m the one who picked the career.” She hesitated. “You and Daniel are friends, right?”
“No.” His lip lifted in a sneer. “We’re dragons. We don’t do the mushy friend thing.”
She barely managed to not roll her eyes at his sneer. Daniel had reacted the same way, so had Luca, yet here they all were because he needed them. Her teeth worried at her bottom lip as she glanced up at him. “Ok, but you know him pretty well, right?”
“Not really.” He shrugged as he seasoned the burgers still frying. “We prefer to be solitary creatures unless we find a mate.”
She frowned at him. Geez. It was as bad as trying to have a conversation with Daniel.
Pulling teeth from a rabid bear would probably be easier. “What do you know about Leanora?”
He snapped the burner off and shoved the frying pan to the back of the stove. His face
was furious as he growled at her. “What do you know about that bitch?”
Surprised at his reaction, Shelby struggled against taking a step back in fear. She could feel Daniel watching her. She didn’t doubt for a minute he’d go off on his friend if he scared her.
“Just what she did to Daniel.”
Mistrust flickered in his eyes. “He told you?”
She nodded slowly. No way was she going to tell him how she’d found out about the woman to begin with.
It wasn
’
t
Daniel
’
s nightmares weren
’
t
anyone else’s business. “Yeah. He told me.” She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Dallas, I need help. I’m Daniel’s mate. I know he’s a dragon, but I have no idea what any of this means, or what I’m supposed to do.”
It didn’t surprise her when his face closed off. “I’m not the person you need to be talking to about this.”
“Yeah. Well.” Her shoulders slumped slightly. “My mate is angry at me. I don’t know why or how to fix it.” She sighed, before straightening her shoulders and smiling at him. “You’re right--it’s not your problem. I’ll figure it out.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, before he dragged both hands over his face.
“Look,” he said quietly, his intense silver-green eyes on her as he leaned forward, his voice low. “That bitch fucked us all up, but what she did to Daniel…I’m surprised he never went off the deep end into sheer, absolute insanity. Hell, none of us would have fucking blamed him if he had. When he came back, everything about him was different. He’d shut off, disconnected himself from everyone he’d cared about, and led us into war. Until that moment, we had been leaderless. We were , barely civil and nearly feral. Not only was no one brave enough to try to rule us, we would have killed anyone who tried to subjugate us. But as Daniel led us into war, it wasn’t to control us. It was to make us stronger, to fortify us from any outside attack. He became our king that day.” A chill rippled down her spine as his eyes bored into hers. “His mistrust in people isn’t bone deep, Shelby. It goes past the core of him into the very soul of what and who he is. He hasn’t allowed himself to feel anything for anyone since. If he mated to you, you’re the only chance at happiness he’s ever going to fucking have again. Ever.”
Shelby’s knees wobbled. What chance did they have of making it work if he’d only mated to her by accident?
Not sure of anything at the moment, she smiled at Dallas, because smiling was what she did. “Ok, then we’ll just have to figure it out. Need help with those burgers?”
He shrugged. “I’ll get them. You need to eat before your mate’s head explodes.”
Shelby took the plate he handed her, loaded with a juicy hamburger and chips. She wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but she knew when she was dismissed. She took her burger over to the couch where she could see Daniel without openly staring at him.
She loved observing him. He was so intense in everything he did. She didn’t know what she’d done to cause the disconnect, but she knew she had to find a way to fix it.
The pieces to the puzzle that was Daniel were starting to form a solid image in her head. The urge to save him, to give him a life of happiness was becoming undeniable. She didn’t know what she would do if he wouldn’t let her give it to him.
After she ate half of the massive burger Dallas had made her, she set the plate on the coffee table, and curled up into the corner of the large, comfortable couch. She was exhausted suddenly, her eyelids too heavy to hold open. There was a bed in the cave, but she was content where she was. Even though Daniel was going through every millisecond of video footage from the shooting, being near him calmed her in a way she hadn’t experienced before. It felt right to be with him.
“Hey.”
His gruff voice startled her awake. A beautiful face hovered inches from her own. She smiled sleepily. “Hi.”
“Come on.” He scooped her up gently. “Let’s get you to bed.”
Shelby didn’t know where she found the energy to wrap her arms around his neck, but she didn’t want to let him go yet. Her eyes were already drifting close again as she rested her head against his chest. “Will you stay with me, Daniel? I like sleeping with you.”
“Yeah.” He brushed his lips over her temple as he lay her down. “I like sleeping with you, too.”
She shifted over so he had room next to her. Even knowing he was upset, the second he stretched out on the bed, Shelby curled up against his side. The need to touch him was too great.
He hooked his arm around her waist, hauling her closer.
“Sleep, woman. I’m not going anywhere.”
She yawned into his chest, then tilted her head back, somehow managing to pry her exhausted eyes open enough to search his face. “Promise, Daniel.”
The pad of his thumb brushed over her bottom lip
,
before he dipped his head. He kissed
her lightly. “You’ve got me, princess.”
It wasn’t a promise. Shelby knew it. He would never make a promise to her he knew he might not be able to keep. More than his words though, it was the way he was holding her that convinced her to let it go. Because when he touched her, she could feel the possessiveness in him all the way down to her soul.