Page 77 of The Heart of the Dragon

Chapter

Thirty

Magnus

Twenty minutesinto our sparring session and I had to admit, Rose had more skill than I'd expected. She'd gotten a couple of decent shots in on me, including a solid hand strike to my jaw, and I'd probably have a sore jaw in the morning.

"Not bad, little flower. But you're going to need a lot more to make it through the dark forest."

"I can always run. And you're still going to teach me to ride, right?"

My brain nearly exploded at those words. She was talking about riding on the back of the dragon, but with her mating pheromones active, it wasn't easy to focus on anything else. If we were all in our right minds, we wouldn't even consider going through that portal until she was safely past this.

Unfortunately, there was no guarantee it would end without her getting pregnant with my dragonling, and no way in hell was I taking her through the dark forest in that condition.

"Fuck. We need to call it a night." Isaac groaned. "I can't take it anymore." We all looked at each other, and save Rose, we all knew exactly what he meant without him saying another word.

Rose looked exhausted. Still beautiful, but tired.

"Kitra and I will go ahead in. You two want to clean up here and meet up with us for a late dinner?"

Not really. I wanted to take Rose upstairs, bend her over the end of the bed and rail her until we were both out of our minds with pleasure.

Of course I wasn't sure how she'd take that idea, but it made me and my dragon want to jump for joy.

Since my mind was a little preoccupied with all things Rose, I did little more than grunt my agreement at Isaac, grabbed Rose's hand, and walked off the field. She looked stunned that I was dragging her away, but all the pent-up frustration and worry about her had built to a crescendo and it needed release.

"Magnus! What are you doing?" she hissed. "We need to help them."

"No, we don't. And trust me they do not want our help."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Why not? What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I bit out through gritted teeth. Only my cock felt like it was going to burst if it didn't get inside her. Something I wasn't about to say out loud in the middle of an open field where my asshole brother and his mate would hear.

A growl formed deep in my chest and rumbled through me violently. But I could see the frustration on Rose's face, andwhen she jerked her hand from mine and came to a sudden stop, I figured she'd had enough of my attitude.

"Look. I don't know what's going on. But I do not need to be dragged across the lawn like a child about to be punished."

A warning growl passed over my lips. "Punishing you is the last thing on my mind. Unless you consider spanking an aphrodisiac. In which case, yes, I will be punishing you as soon and as much as possible.

"That's what this is about?"

I looked at her blankly. "What did you think it was about? Are you not overdue?"

She curled her lip and wrinkled her nose at me. "Overdue? What in the Gods’ names are you talking about?"

I blew out a hard breath. "Mating heat," I said slowly, enunciating both words as clearly as I could. "You should be panting for me by now. I can scent your arousal."

She further wrinkled her nose at me. "I really wish you'd stop talking about my scent. You make it seem weird."

"Not my intention. Especially when you smell as delicious as you taste."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "I swear you get weirder and weirder. Is this a dragon thing again?"

"Of course it is. But it's also an omega thing. An alpha triggers your mating heat and you in turn trigger their rut. It's basic science. I thought that was your thing."

"It is. But if I'm not behaving like you expect me to, then maybe you're wrong."

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