Page 81 of Hoarded By the Dragon

The regret catches in my throat. “I’m sorry, but no. There isn’t a mate bond between the two of us. That part of me broke when Ava fell.”

She nods.

I wish there was. I wish that I could feel her presence alive in me the way a mate is supposed to. To sense her humor or fury.

I want Katarina as a mate even though I’ve told myself it’s impossible.

Her snack is coming to an end, and soon we’ll go back to bed, and I’ll lose this quiet moment with her. The impending loss makes me reckless.

“Will you stay?” I ask, before letting myself dither mentally about it.

Katarina frowns. “Stay?”

“After our daughter is born.” I swallow. “Will you stay here? With Maggie, Ben, and me.”

“Do you want me to?”

You bring me peace that I don’t understand,I think but don’t say. “I enjoy your presence. I like you.”

The words are so bland in comparison to the depth of her effect on me, but it’s what I can vocalize. She makes me want to take risks.

Rina’s eyes soften in thought. “Do you think we could one day have something deeper than we do now without a bond?”

I want to lie, to make promises, but I refuse to be another person to give Rina false hope. “I don’t know. You’ll continue to age without a mate bond, eventually dying.”

She tilts her head. “I’m tempted to tease you for your reluctance to just enjoy the time we’d have together like humans do, but I suppose when one loses the people they love it’s hard to be that vulnerable again.”

“It destroys the soul.” Or at least it destroyed mine. I hesitate but continue, “There may be a solution to that issue, but it requires more investigation.”

“It’s not something you want to risk without a guarantee.” She’s beginning to understand. There are dozens of arguments against keeping what is between us casual, but she only places a hand on my heart. I can taste her sorrow, and it makes me want to snarl, vanquish the one who caused it, but it’s my fault.

“Can I think about it?” she asks.

“Of course,” I say, because there’s nothing else to say. Some part of her must want to stay even without the option of something growing between us. A part that I can court and coax, draw out while I try to find a way to keep this witch that won’t destroy me.

She’s quiet as we head back to bed, and I pull her past her door.

“My room,” I say to the questioning look that she shoots me.

“But—”

“Griffin will find us,” I say, as if that would be her only objection to her staying in my space. The whole house is my territory, but my bedroom is my inner sanctum. I need her scent there after the memories I’ve fought with tonight.

I need her there, even if she chooses to leave me eventually.

I don’t know what she must sense from my words in the dark, but she squeezes my hand.

“Alright.” The word is simple, but it rings with something new. Perhaps she knows how much I want her now. Maybe she’ll let herself believe we have a future.

And maybe her bravery will help me believe the same.

29

KATARINA

Kalos sleeps,his face peaceful in the morning light. He’s usually up and busy by now, but he’s passed out like he’s exhausted, and maybe he is. Fighting demons, even ones that only exist in past memories, is not an easy feat.

I can read between the lines. I know what happened to those hunters. Good. I hope the crunch of their bones gave Kalos some measure of satisfaction, but I don’t think it did.

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