Page 88 of Driven By Dragonblood
“Iam in control,” I muttered under my breath, flipping open a patient file and setting the others aside while the beast pouted and curled up inside me. Silent, thank fuck.
A knock sounded.
I cleared my throat, glad for my one o’clock appointment arriving and giving me something else to focus on. “Come in, Emelia.”
She slipped into my office in the same Hello Kitty robe she’d worn on our first meeting.
The beast inside the vault of my soul pressed for release, wanting to make his presence known to her, but he surprisingly stayed quiet.
Regardless, the second her gaze landed on me, she smiled. “You finally listened to him.”
Unsure of what to say or how the fuck she knew the truth, I motioned toward the chair. Same as the first time we’d met, I needed to take caution with the questions I asked and how I responded to her.
“You have claimed your mates?”
“How are you feeling today, Emelia?” I asked rather than answer her.
A frown flitted over her brow when my inner beast didn’t communicate with her like he wanted to do. Perhaps the fucker was private when it came to intimacy behind closed doors?—
Theyaremine, he finally whispered.
Yep—possessive as fuck.
And zero self-control.
Emelia snickered. “I am well, thank you,” she answered me.
Hating how easily the beast had given in to weakness, I asked a few more doctor-like questions of my patient to keep us from meandering off the necessary path of my work.
“You aren’t happy.” Emelia made a note as soon as our conversation allowed her to change the topic off herself.
I lifted my head, my focus on her face rather than her file. Her dark-as-coal eyes peered across the desk at me, but I shoved the inky blackness of my inner beast behind walls before he could breathe a word to her.
Her frown deepened. “Why don’t you allow him freedom?”
I considered her question as the clock on the wall ticked, a variety of responses filling my head.
But uttering a word about the madness inside me would condemn and ruin my life if heard outside these office walls, never mind get me in trouble for the poor choices I’d made in the previous twenty or so hours.
“Are you ashamed?” she pushed when I didn’t answer.
Still, I kept my lips pressed tight even though she’d touched on another reason for my silence.
“YouareBlood Born, Doctor Macaire.” Her quiet voice, so childlike, sounded as otherworldly as her question. “The orb told me so when I found it.”
I leaned forward at her turn of topic, no longer concerned with the time. “You mentioned finding an orb in our first meeting.”
The beast inside me roused to breathe fire against the walls, longing to speak, but my humanity proved stronger without my mates nearby.
“Yes.” Emelia continued to study me with spine-tinglingintensity. “In a cavern while hiking in the canyon. It’s where our ancestors lived.”
I sat back at her statement, but my inner drive for truth wouldn’t allow me to do anything but ask more questions. “Ourancestors?”
“Yes.” A hint of a smile curved her lips as though I’d agreed with her. “We’re family, Doctor Macaire. You’re a direct descendant of the royal line of our house—which is why both your inner beast and human side are so strong. I am a distant cousin, but we’re family, nonetheless. It’s a good feeling to know we’re not alone, isn’t it?”
I found myself nodding, unable to tear my gaze from her face as I fought to process what she claimed. “Who were your parents?” I asked since there wasn’t much information listed in her file.
“My mother was a ward of the state who heard voices.” Emelia smiled, even though she’d used the past tense in regards to her mother. “My fathers were brothers on vacation from Canada, looking for a place to rest.”
