Page 44 of Monsters In Her Head

“Just hear me out, if we give her back,” Desmond pushed forward with his hands up to pacify them, “we can move somewhere else then there’s no threat to any of our people.”

“We’re not giving her back.” Ryu growled out smoke trickling out of his mouth with the force of his rage.

“Come on, her pussy can’t be that great.” Desmond shook his head with a disgusted scowl, his tail whacking the floor with his irritation. “There are plenty of drake females who would love to be marked by you, why can’t you just pick one of them?” Desmond scratched his chin with his claws. “Or maybe it’s the human aspect? If that’s the case we can find you a new one.”

Desmond barely dodged the swipe of Ryu’s claws. Ira was right there at his back, his ire just as strong but his reaction more reserved. He had always been more in control of his emotions out of the three of them. Though when Ira finally did burst it burned with such a ferocity that the whole world would tremble.

“Just because there’s no female who wants to become attached to you doesn’t mean you have to shit all over ours.” Ryu grabbed him by the horns and shoved his forehead against Desmond’s. “Don’t talk about things you do not understand.”

Pushing his brother back with his head, Desmond growled and bared his teeth at him, “What I understand is that you think some pussy is worth all our lives. When we can just leave.”

With a roar, Ryu threw Desmond away from him.

Desmond’s back hit the stone and dirt wall with a crack. Wincing, Desmond leaned against the wall until his vision stopped spotting.

“Tell me, brother,” Ryu spat, his body wavering in his vision. “Are you going to tell our people that we have to leave? That they have to pick up everything they have built over the last five decades and start all over again? Because I won’t do it.”

“Coward,” Desmond coughed out, dragging in a breath as he pushed himself back to standing with his tail.

“No, you are the coward for wanting to run when we should stand and fight.”

Desmond glared at his brother and king not wanting to admit he was right. Drakes didn’t run, they stood their ground and razed anything that got in their way to the ground. This was different though. Whenever a female was involved it always was.

“She doesn’t belong to you.” Desmond reminded Ryu and then shot a look at Ira. “Either of you. She’s already spoken for. Marking her doesn’t make her yours.”

“That’s not how it happened and you know it. She came to us. That prince of hers,” Ryu spat with a flash of his fangs, “doesn’t deserve her. He will only end up killing her and then us if he has his way.”

“Then we make a deal.” Desmond tried again. “We contact this prince and tell him we’d trade the princess back for a treaty with them so they won’t attack us.”

Ira chuckled. “When have humans ever kept their word?”

“We could at least try,” Desmond snapped, stepping forward. “Better than just going along with whatever some princess wants. All we have is her word for it. How do we know she’s not lying?”

Ira shook his head with a sad frown. “You haven’t seen the scars, Des. You don’t know what he’s done to her.”

“So? You told me about the scars. So what? We all have scars.” He threw a hand at Ira’s face. “What makes this any different?”

Ira’s face hardened. “Hearing about them and seeing them are two different things. This isn’t some scar she got on the battlefield. He tortured her for his own amusement. Carved his very name into her flesh so she wouldn’t forget she belonged to him.”

Desmond swallowed the bile that threatened to rise in him.

“Tell me,” Ira lifted his chin, staring down at him. “Would a female drake let that kind of thing stand?”

Shaking his head, Desmond said softly, “No, they’d scoop their guts out with their claws before it ever got that far.”

“Exactly.”

Ryu gripped his shoulder with a sigh. “She may be human but she has the heart of a dragon and we would be fools to run away from this.”

Desmond huffed a breath and nodded, knowing he wasn’t going to win this one. Maybe if he talked to Georgia he could get her to see reason or find some way that their people were caught in the crossfires.

“Very well,” Desmond offered a weak smile to both his brothers. “Where is our fearless princess anyway?”

Ryu shrugged. “At the clearing I think with Tatoween.”

“Alone?” Desmond arched a brow. “Is that wise?”

Ira snorted. “She’s not going to run away.”

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