Page 61 of To Ignite a Dragon's Desire

“Will you go away for good if I meet with you?” I knew I couldn’t believe whatever he said, but I needed to stall so I could think this through.

“If you still want me to leave, I’ll go.” No one could sound as defeated as Drew.

“Where are you?” I walked to the kitchen, seeing the keys to Lucan’s bike hanging on the hook by the garage door.

“I thought you’d never ask.” His tone was smug again. I knew that voice. He thought he’d won. “There’s an old motel on HWY 10 right outside of Christmas. I’ll be waiting for you in room twenty-three. Oh, and Riley, don’t bring anyone else. You know how shy I can be.”

24

Lucan

This Place Could Use Some Work

“Where are we?” I wrapped my arms over my chest as I stared into the darkened cave. Water dripped down dirty stone walls and moss clung to the sides of the entrance.

“No one asked you to come.” Malachy growled as he crouched over a rock pit, breathing fire onto thin branches.

We had no clothes stashed here. In the lodge where he used to live—the place I’d warded for his protection—I wouldn’t be standing naked shivering my dick off.

“Is this… your new place?” I peered deeper into the cave. A stack of picked-clean deer bones lay in the back corner before the tunnel lined with bat drippings headed deeper into Earth’s depths.

It must’ve been a mid-life crisis.

He’d gone full dragon stereotype. All that was missing was a pile of gold coins under his ass and some screaming princess tied to the walls.

“Like I said, no one asked you to come,” he grumbled under his breath as the sticks caught light, casting deeper shadows around the cave.

Earth Almighty. He’s gone insane.

I inched closer to the fire, holding out my hands as if approaching a wounded beast. “What made you decide to move?”

“Fuck you,” he snarled.

I stopped shivering long enough to glare at my idiot brother. “You show up at my house broken and beat to shit after not speaking to me for years with a MacAlister hot on your heels breathing some dark magic curse. I nurse you to health, even though you cock-blocked me for weeks, and then you fly off in a tantrum forcing me to chase you like some flighty bird. Now you’re going to tell me to fuck off?”

The flames continued to grow making the shadows lengthen and shrouding Malachy in darkness as he rested back on his heels.

I crossed my arms and waited.

Finally, he sighed. “I had to leave.”

“Care to explain why?” I arched an eyebrow.

“You weren’t claiming your mate because of me.” He looked away. “I refuse to play a part in your idiocy.”

My brow furrowed as I replayed the conversation between me and Riley this morning.

“You think…” I glanced up as if the ceiling could give me patience to deal with this. “Is your ego that inflated? Forgive me, King Malachy, but not everything in this world has to revolve around you and the prophecy. Riley needs time to heal before she’s thrust into our world.”

“She begged you to claim her and you didn’t,” he said, confused. “I can understand wanting to protect her from this. From me.”

“But you can’t understand that I’d put her before the prophecy?” I chuckled.

The way my brother stared at me had the laughter dying on my tongue. I knew that face—had seen it before. His mind was warped, far beyond where I’d thought.

He looked just like our father.

“No, you wouldn’t get it,” I whispered, not unkindly. My gaze fell to Earth and I clenched my fists by my side.

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