Page 35 of Hoarded By the Dragon

“Is your dragon who I met that night?” she asks, a teasing note to her voice. “I like him.”

And he very much likes you.

“He’s closer to the surface during breeding time,” I allow.

At the wordbreeding,her cheeks redden temptingly, and I watch her place a hand on her still flat stomach.

She clears her throat. “Well, I had fun.” She grins, and a strand of hair falls onto her cheek.

I clench my fist to keep from smoothing the rebellious strand behind her ear. It’s more of a temptation not to touch the woman than it should be. My familiarity with her body doesn’t help. The knowledge of how it feels to have her tightness strangle my cock and the mewling sounds she’d make are poisonous spines lying in wait.

Dangerous.

“You said that dragons can only breed under certain conditions, do you think that the figurine influenced that? It’s a magic item, isn’t it?” she asks.

I lift my chin to consider the matter before shrugging. “Unlikely. These things are written into the very threads of our soul. The figurine is from a coven of witches who are powerful, but not as powerful as that.”

“What are the conditions that allow dragons to breed then? Maybe we accidentally did something.” Katarina’s brow is furrowed. I don’t want to ponder how this came to be. It doesn’t change anything. The child exists no matter how impossible.

“We did not. Dragons can only breed with their mate.” I clench my jaw, trying to keep my tone even.

It was a mistake to say that.

Katarina’s face lights up as if that possibility is precious. Something her soul craves. It’s a lash across my senses.

She opens her mouth before I can head her off. “Do you think it’s possible—”

I almost snarl to interrupt her. “You cannot be my mate because I already have one.”

13

KATARINA

“You’re mated?”Fury I don’t recognize blazes through my chest, even as surprise is as sharp as a slap.

How dare he?

How could he be with me while he was connected to another? Is this just one more thing I don’t understand about paranormal beings? But everything I’ve heard treats mating as an absolute. Infidelity in a mating is almost unheard of. Alarm flares next, protective over the little disturbance inside me. What does him having a mate mean for our child?

Kalos closes his eyes, his face pained. “My apologies. Ihada mate.”

Had.

“Oh,” I say. Past tense. He had a mate. My anger and fear fade, leaving a washed-out, ambiguous sense of longing.

Kalos holds himself so tightly that it’s a wonder I don’t hear his bones grinding together.

The longing makes me open my mouth when I shouldn’t because Ineedto know. “What happened to them?”

“She died. A long time ago.” Kalos’s gold eyes open, but he doesn’t look at me.

How long ago doesn’t matter. His emotions are stark in the lines of his body and face.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. The sentiment is a useless one, but it doesn’t make it less true.

Kalos shrugs and sighs before his gaze meets mine again. “Dragons have one predestined mate. So you see, we are not mates, and I wouldn’t want us to be. My heart is only meant for one.”

My brain is too stubborn to let this go without more investigation. “But the night we spent together—”

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