Page 21 of Guardian's Dilemma

Hope surged inside me. My mate was feeling a bit of mate pull, and at least he was willing to talk. Dragons might be clannish and want to claim their mate straight away, to make them family, to make himours, but I could wait. I could wait as long as my mate needed me to. It just seemed that perhaps I wouldn’t need to wait long.

Chapter 10: Kingsley

He actually believed that. I could see it in his eyes, in the way he was so focused on me, could read it in the way his body leaned towards me. I’d been trained to be observant and everything about this dragon was telling me that he actually believed we were fated mates.

I wanted to laugh. The idea was hilarious. A dragon and aridire?

“How do you know?” I asked.

He breathed in deeply and a look of bliss passed over his features. A sharp jolt went through my body at the sight. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and already I wanted to see that pleasure in his face again.

Damn, this beauty was messing with my mind. I really needed to get over it.

“I can smell you.”

“So?”

I knew dragons could scent me; that was why I rubbed that lotion into my skin every morning, so they wouldn’t be able to scent me easily. Glimmer breathed in again.

“You smell like you’re mine.”

Any lust that had been growing inside me, branching up into my body in inappropriate ways, withered at the word ‘mine’. That, I reminded myself, was the way dragons thought about everything. I wasn’t a man to this dragon: I was only property.

Except, I wasn’t his property.

I was a person.

I was aridire.

And I was going to kill this dragon.

I cleared my throat. “How do you know that means we’re fated mates, though?”

“There’s no mistaking it. Your scent is perfection. Your body is perfection. Even your personality…”

He trailed off.

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“Mates are perfect for each other. That’s just the way it is. I don’t know why Fate sent me a mate who’s been raised byridirebut I do know that you – the very heart of you – is perfect for me.”

“So you’ve got aridirekink?”

“Not so much, no. I could do without my mate trying to slaughter my family in their beds, thank you very much.”

His tone had cooled and I became aware that I’d pushed a bit too far. If I wanted to use this to my advantage, I’d have to be much more amenable.

“How can I be perfect for you, then?”

Partly, I wanted him to think about all the ways I was perfect. That sounded like the sort of thing that would get me in his good books. A little shard of my soul, though, just wanted to hear it. And I wasn’t reading anything into that. I just wanted to know. So I could turn it against him. That was all.

He was leaning towards me again, his eyes locked on mine. They were so blue, I felt as though I were flying into a clear summer sky, soaring across an endless sea.

His voice was soft and he was leaning so close to me that I actually felt his breath play against my cheek. I could almost taste it on my lips.

“You’re strong, Kingsley. So am I. I know I don’t look it but I am. I’m the Guardian.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. Looked like my ‘mate’ was proud of his status.

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