Page 66 of Guardian's Dilemma

“That and…” I hesitated. I was giving a lot away, and it was dangerous. Not just to me but to Seren, and every dragon out there, if Kingsley used the information against us.

He grunted and turned his head away. Anger and hurt permeated his scent and I couldn’t bear the smell.

“Because he was going to be the Guardian.”

My mate looked at me again and I have to admit that I was relieved to have his eyes back on me. I didn’t know what I’d do tomorrow or the day after, I didn’t know if my mate would ever want to be bound to me, but I did know that my dragon settled inside me when his eyes were on me like that.

“Why would you need his hair?”

“Because it’s part of him. It gives me power over him. If ever something happened and I needed to… prevent him from doing something… this would make it possible.”

“You mean you could kill him?”

“No. it doesn’t work like that. But I could weaken him.”

“How?”

“It’s part of him. I’m literally holding part of him in my palm right now. He’s trusted me with it.”

“So if I took some of your hair or your blood or whatever, I’d have power over you?”

I tried to restrain the shiver but it got out and my mate noticed. His eyes were sharp and they saw exactly what I was trying to skirt around. “Yes, you would.”

Kingsley grunted again. “That’s why you fought to protect it?”

“Yes. The locket itself – that’s just gold. But what’s inside is Seren, and he’s my treasure. I need to protect him. If I thought someone could take this from me, I’d have to burn it.”

Seren had done just that to my hair. We’d trusted each other with that power, and I’d never have asked Seren to burn that lock of my hair, but he had. He’d done it and only told me about it afterwards. He’d had to burn it in the grate because he couldn’t shift and breathe fire over it the way I could. And he’d done it to protect me, to keep me safe, and that made me feel all strange and protective of him. When he’d lost his dragon, he’d lost the power to keep that lock of hair safe, and he’d burned it without a second’s thought. If I thought for a moment that I couldn’t protect that lock of his hair, I’d have to do the same.

Slowly, Kingsley reached out and touched the locket. His finger barely ghosted over the lock of hair inside and then he closed the locket up tight. His palm rested against it, on my hand, and it was as though we were holding hands for a moment.

“You say you’re the guardian. What is it you guard?”

“My clan.” Maybe I said it as though it were obvious – because it was – but Kingsley huffed out a laugh. “It’s my duty to protect them,” I insisted. “I patrol the borders and put up protections that will keep people out and, when mean oldridirebreak in, I lead them to the vault and—”

“Crush them.”

“Yeah. That.”

Why did I always have to say the wrong thing? It wasn’t like my mate wanted to be reminded of that.

To my surprise, though, Kingsley nodded. He slid down the bed again so he was laying beside me and rested one hand on my naked hip.

“I don’t know what I’ll think of the rest of your clan, but I know what I think of you.”

Before I could ask, he leaned forward to kiss me again. This time, it was slow, his tongue didn’t demand entrance but rather teased my lips until I couldn’t bear it any longer and I pushed him onto his back and crawled on top of him.

Deepening our kiss, I lost myself in the feel of him. My body burned with heat and lust and a need to see my mate come.

Getting his boxers off was frustrating and I barely managed not to rip them off with my claws. I didn’t want to risk putting my claws that near his dick, though. Just in case.

When he was finally naked, I lay on top of him, covering his large body, pressing every inch of myself down onto his warm skin. Every wriggle and sigh made us rub together delightfully and my hard dick was leaking a steady stream onto his own hard length.

I slid my hand between us and took hold of my mate’s dick for the first time. He groaned and arched his back, throwing his head back and baring his neck. My teeth lengthened with the desire to pierce his skin there but instead I pressed my nose into his shoulder and inhaled his arousal. It sent fire coursing through my veins.

“Glimmer,” he said, and that one word was filled with emotions I couldn’t name. I loved to hear him say my name like that.

His dick was hot and heavy in my hand, and I stroked it from base to tip. He bucked his hips again and I wanted to feel it against my own length, so I moved around, grabbing my own dick in the same hand and pressing us together.

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