Page 25 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

Beautiful.My dragon sighed as we watched Ember’s ass sway back to the vehicle. I’d be blind if I didn’t appreciate the view, but this was a disaster.

This is fate.He was losing his mind.

Or I supposed I was losing mine.

We weren’t necessarily separate beasts, the dragon and I, but we varied in our approach. His viewpoint was the animalistic side to our rational mind, like two sides of the same coin. Both were valid ways of dealing with the world. We usually got along until we disagreed on the best way to handle something.

Case in point?

He wanted to chase Ember down and bend her over his knee. Spank that luscious ass and then swoop her into his arms, claim her and…

Impossible,I growled at him.

This wasn’t fate. It was an inconvenience. And she could not stay here. It wasn’t safe.

It’s her childhood home.

I wasn’t that much of a monster. The way tears filled her eyes and her bottom lip quivered despite the anger with which she stood her ground had affected me.

But I’d seen nations fall for a pretty, distressed girl, and I would not subject myself to the same.

She could stay long enough for me to figure out where to send her.

I moved fast, reaching the cabin before her vehicle did. Partly because I worried she’d run me over if given the chance.

I’d known this day would come since I took control of the property and I’d done my best to contact the old owner’s daughter so we could pay her for the ‘sale.’ Though I had been expecting a young girl and not a full-grown woman.

No wonder my beast was shocked.

Years of returned mail with different forwarded postal stamps. She kept a private social media presence. It was as if she’d been in hiding, only to emerge when there was no hope left.

Pity filled me again, though I doubted she’d accept it. My first impression on hearing the stories of the human family who used to tend this land had been a sad one too.

It seemed Ember’s history was drenched in pain and hardship.

But she was flighty. Chasing her paper trail over the years had shown me as much. Flighty was good. It meant she’d get tired of this place and leave.

I was no stranger to the whims of humans. They lived such short lives. I didn’t blame them for not wasting time.

There wasn’t much of it left anyway.

I pulled open the door to the cabin.

The place was a mess. It’d been this way since I took over the property and it didn’t look much better now. I’d thought to tear it down, but my beast had a soft spot for preserving memories.

And it also made a good place to store some items when I was building the compound—items I’d left in here and still hadn’t cleared out.

I grabbed the nearest bin, turning just in time to see Ember marching up the porch.

“And another thing,” she growled as if our earlier conversation had never ended, “if you were really trying to get in touch with me, why didn’t you send an email?”

“We did.” I moved to the side so we didn’t collide. Her warm and feminine scent wafted toward me again and I had to blow it away with a forced breath. “Do you ever check your spam folder?”

“No one checks their spam,” she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked me up and down. “Sure. Steal my land. Raid my house. Anything else you plan to plunder while you’re at it?”

The way she said plunder had my balls tightening. Her cheeks flamed as she caught the innuendo behind her words.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “These are my things. And this land is legally mine. The title and deed are in my name.” I took a step closer, drawn in by the need to tell her, “Everything here is mine.”

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