Page 49 of Driven By Dragonblood
Grandpop’s brow furrowed, a murderous glint in golden glare. “You spoke with him—and hedeniedyou?”
“I k-kissed him, even, but his human side isstrong, Grandpapa. I’ve never come across a dragonblood who had the ability to lock their inner voice behind a stone fortress inside their soul.”
“Did his dragon communicate with yours?”
“I heard it whispering to him—assuring I belonged to him, encouraging him to take me.”
Grandpop’s brow rose. “And he claimed not to desire you?”
I nodded, my shoulders drooping as I stared at my hands. “It was like Patrick slammed a lid atop his dragon, shutting him out. Sealing him off.”
“I’ve never read of a human capable of controlling his inner dragon like that.”
“No books in the library speak of such a gift,” I said as a shiver—achill—raced down my spine for the first time in my life.
“Come.” Grandpapa reached for my hand. “Perhaps Vanni and Ashley can offer some insight on how you might sway your alpha into your arms.”
I hated that word as much as I did manipulate, but I grew desperate to see my dreams come to fruition, the fulfillment I craved.
Both of Grandpapa’s mates had covered their nakedness when we returned to the living space below, but Vanni continued to smirk, his bright green eyes alight with laughter. Ashley took one look at my face and hopped up to hug me tight, murmuring apologies for something she hadn’t even caused, while Tiggy circled around us.
I hadn’t been held by a woman since before Grandmother had passed, and I fought off another round of tears as Ashley smoothed her hand up and down my back. “What happened, Primrose?” she asked, stepping away to meet my gaze with empathy while holding my upper arms.
“It’s a long story, but you need to listen so you can offer some advice,” I stated abruptly, my fingers finding the top of Tiggy’s head for a quick scratch.
“Still haven’t learned any tact, either,” Vanni said, smirking.
Ashley shot him a glare before turning toward me. “Come sit. Tell us everything.” She settled between her mates, andthe purr of all three inner dragons revealed what I had wondered.
Grandpapa and his two mates had bonded.
Jealousy curdled what was left of the ice cream still in my stomach.
I sat across from them in a single chair facing them, wishing desperately for the same as Tiggy settled against my bare feet, his tongue giving a quick wet kiss to my ankle. “Have you shifted?” I asked, my gaze flitting from Vanni to Ashley. “Flown?”
“Oh, we’ve taken to the skies, all right,” Vanni said with a grin, stretching his arms along the back of the couch. “Strapped to Dolyn’s body, experiencing the rush of wind, that euphoric feeling of soaring to the heavens.”
Sexual tension sprang to life among the three of them, and I grimaced. “I don’t want to know.”
Vanni chuckled, Ashley’s face flushed, and Grandpapa glanced at his alpha. “Vanni shifted long before our female?—”
“Because I’m a direct descendant of the royal line,” Vanni interrupted, pride lacing his tone. “It’s why I was able to enter the vault where your ancestors’ orbs rest.”
I’d never been into the vault since I wasn’t an alpha male, but I’d read about the room and how royal blood was required in an alpha in order to open the sealed door.
“Is that what made you finally submit?” I asked, turning my focus onto Grandpapa.
“No, but it certainly made me look at him in a different light.”
“You’re no longer a racist asshole,” I stated what I read in his mind.
“Primrose.” His lips stretched thin at the curse.
My face heated. “My beta is fond of swearing, and I fear I may have picked up his bad habit a bit over the last couple of days.”
Grandpapa muttered under his breath about unworthiness as his mind thought it, but I glared. “Heisworthy. He’s mine, and you have no say about who I spend the rest of my life with.”
“Well, that settles that,” Vanni said with a chuckle.
