Page 76 of Dragon Blood

She searched his face, waiting for what came next.

‘But I belong to you,’his eyes seem to say, where his lips didn’t.

Completely naked, body, heart, soul. Woman to man. Dragon to dragon to tiger.

“I accept who I am. Man, tiger and dragon. Yours.” He swallowed hard, “But I won’t be played, Astred. I’m not a toy, or a whim, or just a weekend fuck. Not anymore. There’s too much at stake now.”

‘My Love.’

His words echoed back to her again.

He leaned down, forcing her to step back without touching her. Collecting his clothing in a swipe, he met her eyes as he straightened. “But you have to decide.”

He slipped out of her room into the darkness of the corridor on silent feet, clothing balled in his tight fist.

Astred gently pressed the door closed, resting her forehead on the frame to release a shaky breath.

‘Fool.’

Astred slid to her knees, still leaning on the door as the rest of her heart fell to pieces on the floor around her.

“Yes, fool,” she whispered back to her dragon.

Kaipulledhisshirtand jeans back on, ignoring the path to his old room. Instead, he made his way to the servants’ corridors and out through the courtyard to the gardener’s access gate.

He needed to run.

There, he stripped again, laying his clothing on the branch of the same mulberry bush he’d always used as a hook, and turned his face up to the dim sky.

Dawn lightened the horizon, surfacing from her night’s rest.

He drew a deep breath and shifted on the exhale.

Glossy fur sprouted from pores, bones crackled and merged, muscle stretched and reformed until he was whole.

He was Kai Sun. Shield Claw son.

With an effortless pounce of his powerful haunches, he ran.

Away from Astred.

Away from the political turmoil of the shifter world.

Toward the dense tropical forest that surrounded The Watchers’ royal compound. Aware of his presence and habits, the guards wouldn’t stop him. They never did.

His paws flashed under the moonlight as he bounded over rock, root, and turf, up through tree-strangled hills, down the deep maws of nearby gullies. Home. The jungle was cool, dark, peaceful.

Aside from the local dragons and other tiger shifters, he was the apex predator in this wild place and feared nothing in it.

Kai ran until his muscles burned, sides heaving.

Padding to a stop, he panted, scenting the cool night air before stepping out onto the ledge. The delicate pre-dawn air swirled as his gaze took in the pristine natural spring pooling at the bottom of the ravine.

Here, he was roughly mid-way between the dragon compound and the edge of his tiger clan’s boundary.

The distinct sound of air rushing over wings drew his attention to the sky above.

Dawn crested, sunlight illuminating the glorious scaly body of the dragon hovering over his sanctuary.

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