Page 38 of Dragon His Heels
“I… You look like you could use a little time in the sky.” Dragons didn’t normally take flight during daylight hours, preferring night when they couldn’t be seen. When, if a human did notice the silhouettes in the sky, they’d convince themself it was something else. A bat. A really big bird. An alien, which, of course, no one would believe. Anything but the reality that dragons lived among them.
He turned away from her and stalked across the foyer, heading toward the kitchen. She scurried up the stairs and chased after him. When he reached the counter, he flattened his palms on the cool granite and said, “It’s the middle of the day.”
She waved at the window. “But it’s overcast. A storm is obviously coming. Look how dark it is. If we’re quick, we can get above the clouds before anyone notices.”
“No,” he said, flinging himself around to face her. “Not with you. I’ll go alone.”
“But…”
“I said no.” He headed for the door, pausing with his hand on the handle. “Don’t follow me.” And then he was gone, leaving her alone in the kitchen.
She sank onto the nearest barstool and stared at her laptop, open on the counter, the screen long gone black.
“He said you believe you found your fated mate.”
What was Morna talking about? How was that possible? No one in their colony had found their fated mate in thirty years. They were cursed.
Not to mention, the only person Gabe had spent any significant time with lately was…her.
Whoa.
No. That couldn’t be. No.
Talia leaped from her seat, ran to the door, burst through onto the porch. But Gabe wasn’t anywhere in sight. If he was in the sky, he was well above the clouds. For a moment, she contemplated shifting and going after him.
They needed to talk.
But not in dragon form. Even if they could communicate telepathically—something she didn’t want to think about because that was a fated mate trait—that wasn’t the best scenario. They needed to be face to face, in human form, with no distractions. This was a hell of a serious conversation and required their full attention.
Fated mates? She and Gabe?Really?And hadn’t told her? But he’d obviously confessed something to Adelbern.
But it wasn’t possible. The colony was cursed.And let’s not forget Gabe doesn’t want a mate.
He just showed you his treasures,her dragon pointed out.
Oh no.
Wait—Condoms. All that not-quite-sex business. Was it really about condoms?
She rushed from the kitchen, up the stairs, hung a left at the top. Bursting through the door to his bedroom, she headed straight for the bedside table, the most logical place for a stash of…
Condoms. Not one but two boxes. And they were the same damn brand she’d bought yesterday.
Allergy her ass.
The entire thing was contrived to use her. To use her physically, without connecting with her the way that was natural for dragons.
Because he was immune to the curse and heknewit.
She dropped the box she was holding into the drawer and slammed it shut. What the hell was she going to do? Leave? Leave what, precisely? His employ? His bed? Both?
But they still needed to deal with this fated mates business. Even though they hadn’t sealed it, they now both knew. What did that mean?Couldshe walk away?
She knew precious little about the concept. The older dragons hated to even talk about it. And the younger dragons, like herself, never bothered paying attention to it since they had no idea what they were missing.
But Gabe did. How was that possible? And why hadn’t he told her?
She clenched her fists as she stared at the bed, still mussed from their not-quite-sex lovemaking session this morning. What a colossal mess.
