I balked. “So, you stalked me to the bathhouse?”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “We need to talk about yesterday.”
Before I could respond, I spotted Skye and Naasir leaving, both dragons striding calmly toward the exit.
Where are you going?
Images of Naasir and Rake and the two of us standing alone flashed through my mind. Accompanied with the emotions, I understood that Naasir had told my dragon Rake wanted to be alone with me.
So, you’re just leaving me?I demanded.
She gave a mental shrug.Mate.
Wait . . . what? Mate? What do you mean mate?I spluttered internally, completely ignoring the fact that Skye had just used an actual word to communicate, when she rarely did so. At least for any word other thanshiny.
Her only reply was to send me an image of Rake.
My heart skipped a beat.You think Rake’s my mate?! He’s not my mate! He’s just . . . just . . .Well,Realms, I couldn’t put a name to what he was.
Skye didn’t respond, and I didn’t know if she was even listening to me anymore. All I felt was a wave of exasperation from her as she and Naasir disappeared out the exit.
I knew ‘mate’ was just her animal way of saying she thought we belonged together, but still—something about the term sounded tooprimal.
There was a loud splash to my left, and I turned in surprise to see Rake had jumped into the pool.
And he was naked.
My jaw dropped open in shock. That broad chest and all that bronze muscled skin was on full display. My eyes couldn’t help but trail down his body to where the water reached his waist and concealed his lower half from view. The swirling black ink on his side caught my gaze, and I was finally able to decipher what it was—a dragon curling amidst smoke and flames. The design was made up of harsh, simple, masculine lines. When I finished my perusal and met his stare, I nearly gasped at the look of carefully banked heat in his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he warned, “or this conversation will be a lot shorter than we need it to be.”
I swallowed hard, trying to ignore my body’s reaction to his words. “What conversation? What is so important that you felt you had to invade my privacy and disrupt my peaceful bath to come talk to me about it?”
“I wanted to make sure you were all right after everything that happened yesterday.”
“Why do you care?” I countered. Feeling foolish to still be crouching down in the water like a scared child, I rose up to my full height, keeping my arms folded across my chest. The water reached to just below my ribs, and I shivered slightly as the chill air hit my wet skin.
His eyes immediately ran over my body, much the same way mine had done to him, lingering for an instant on my not so concealed curves. “Of course, I care.”
Part of me thrilled at the look in his eyes, and from his earlier words and what I thought he was implying, but another part was frustrated and angry. Not to mention confused.
“All day yesterday you were hot and cold. First you act like nothing’s happened between us, then you’re flirting with me and buying me gifts and then you kiss meagain. I don’t have any idea where I stand with you.” I sighed. “I’m not blaming you. I understand why you’re unsure. I mean . . . I’m me and you’re you. I just can’t tell whether you want to explore what’s between us, or if you simply wish to remain my instructor and nothing more.”
Those penetrating eyes regarded me closely. “That’s all I should be,” he replied. “And up until yesterday, that’s all I intended to be. I let my emotions get the better of me in that alley, and despite your response when I kissed you, I knew you were still wary of me. I spent the last several weeks while I was away, convincing myself that I had imagined how right you felt in my arms. You seemed to want us to keep our distance, so I thought I could do that. That I could leave you alone and not pursue you . . . pursue this. But that’s all changed. I’ve made my decision, and I’m done fighting it.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, ignoring how my heart leapt at his words. “What changed?”
For once, as he stared at me, I could see the raw emotion roiling behind his eyes before he spoke. “You almost died.”
“What?”
“What changed is that you almost died!” he nearly shouted, the words echoing around us.
I reared back, never having seen his cool façade crack quite like this before. He saw my reaction and took a calming breath, his nostrils flaring slightly and his chest expanding with the effort.
“You almost died,” he repeated, much more slowly this time, his voice much softer, “and I couldn’t save you . . . couldn’t reach you.” He ran an agitated hand through his wet hair. “I saw you on that griffin . . . watched you fall . . . and I knew in that moment that I was going to lose you, and there was absolutely nothing I could do. Before I had even . . .” he trailed off and his eyes were like burning coals as they seared into me. I was reminded of how he stared at me yesterday after our kiss, that look of sheer purpose. “When I realized you were all right, I resolved right then that none of the excuses mattered. I want you, and I’m going to let myself have you.”
I gaped. For a moment my mind refused to work. Instead of allowing me to take in the meaning behind his words, I fixated on the last part of what he had just said.