Page 15 of Happily Ever Witch
Trevelyan’s tongue ran over the edge of his teeth, considering Esmeralda with deeper interest. “You should becareful of what you say to me.” He told her softly, just to see her reaction. “I’ve filled cemeteries withactualwicked witches.”
She made a face at him, wholly unimpressed with that dark truth. “Oh, please. You’re not going to kill me.”
No, he wasn’t. Everyone else was a possibility (even a probability), but never her. The True Love bond would never allow that and they both knew it. More importantly, he simply didn’t want to kill someone so alive.
“We’re connected.” She continued, looking right at him. Meeting his eyes like she wasn’t afraid. He far preferred that to her earlier alarm and small retreat from him. That had pissed him off, although he usually enjoyed inspiring terror.
It had seemed… wrong.
“You’d better start dealing with being my True Love, because we’re in deep shit, right now.” She paused, her tone going hard. “And if youeverthreaten to hurt me again, I will drop-kick your ass right back into a coma. That’s a goddamnpromise.”
Every drop of dragon blood in his body was pounding with desire, now. So few people ever defied him. Especially not small beings he could crush without even trying. It was fascinating.
“I am dealing with our True Love match quite well, I think.” He said, all his attention riveted on her. “You’re the one who’s upset that you’re not marrying a guitar player.”
“I’m not upset!” She raged.
“Obviously.” His eyes lingered on her shapely hips, as she paced.
He’d allow her to continue dressing as she pleased. Granted, other males were going to be an issue, but Trevelyan could just slaughter them all. Simple enough. Why should his enjoyment of her stunning body be impeded because weaker men didn’t know their place? Trevelyan had never altered his own desires because of others and he didn’t plan to start now.
Hewas the only one who mattered.
Esmeralda’s wrath seemed to fade into something like sadness. “It’s just I had so many dreams about my True Love. So many ideas about the perfect guy…” She broke off with a sigh and put a hand over her face. “I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
“Well,youmight be stymied, but thankfullyIcan do anything I want.” Trevelyan reminded her, insulted that she still longed for her fictional record store boy. Was she blind? “I have level five magic.” That was pretty much as high as it went. “And my powers are ninety-eight percent wicked, according to the rabbit’s matrix.” He hesitated. “Not counting the margin of error, which I’msureis two points. So, I’m not concerned about my future.”
Esmeralda blinked over at him. “Level five?” She repeated, like she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right.
“Yes.”
“Not a six?”
“Few people have ever scored a six. Merlyn, of course. A sorceress, here and there. That dickhead from El Dorado. Perhaps a few others.” And they were all Good, as far as he knew. Such a waste of magic.
“Oh.” She crossed her arms over her chest, which just drew his attention to her bountiful breasts and skimpy top. The damn thing had less fabric than her underwear. Literally. He could see the edges of her lacy purple bra peeking out at all the seams. Her clothing choices were going to necessitate the deaths of thousands. It was inevitable. “Well, I guess level five is… nice.” For no reason at all, she suddenly looked amused. “Really.”
Trevelyan’s eyes narrowed, trying to understand her expression. “How low did you score?” He pressed again.
“A one.” She held up her middle finger at him, pointedly flicking him off.
Goddamnbut he wanted her.
It came over him in a crash. Nothing had ever felt like this and he reveled in it. Thankfully the two idiots who’d been there earlier had brought him a robe along with the medical files, because there’d be no hiding his growing desire, if he was still naked. Not that he cared about the “being naked” part. Dragons were the least inhibited species in any given kingdom. But he didn’t want to scare the girl away.
…Unless he got to chase her.
Trevelyan slid off the edge of the bed he’d been sitting on, ignoring the way the edges of his vision dimmed. The long unnatural sleep was still wreaking havoc with his system. He took a deep breath and prowled towards her, forcing away the dizziness that spun around his head.
The dragon was watching her intently, now. Focused on the witch and intrigued by what it saw. Interesting. All parts of Trevelyan were being drawn towards this perplexing littlecreature. Well, that settled it then. He was definitely going to fuck her.
This time, Esmeralda didn’t back up as he approached. Instead, she squared her shoulders to face him head on. It nearly made him purr in satisfaction. The woman was a fighter, beneath her showgirl veneer.
“This is crazy.” She informed him. “We need to discuss what we’re going to do about being True Loves, not compare our magical tests scores.”
“Why don’t we discuss whatyou’regoing to do about our being True Loves?” He retorted, moving closer to her. “Myposition is very clear: You stand with me or my enemies. You’ve apparently chosen Marrok,” he spat out the name, “sonowwhat are you planning to do?”
She glowered up at him. “I’m not great at making plans, but I guess…” She floundered for a beat. “I guess I’m going to stop you from destroying my home and family.” She gave a firm nod, pleased with that announcement.
