Page 60 of Claim the Dragon
“It’s true,” he said.“And I’ll answer all of your new questions on the ride or after I meet with the others.But right now, we’ve got a lead on where Temptra may have taken your friend.”
The light of curiosity that had been just brimming in her eyes disappeared and her shoulders squared.“Where is she?”
“I’ll find out as soon as I get to the meeting location.And, ah, get some clothes on, because in case you haven’t noticed...”he said, and looked down at his naked body.
“Oh, I noticed,” she replied.“Why do you think I hightailed it over here the moment you were back?”
His ego inflated on command, just as his dick gave a jerk of awareness that she was close and staring at him at this moment.She wasn’t repulsed by him, nor was she still angry at him for the mind cleaning, even though he could admit she had every right to be.He still wasn’t sure why it hadn’t worked, but if it meant he got to experience her looking at him with such appreciation again, he didn’t really care.
“Come on, I’ve got clothes in the truck.”He took her hand and they walked through the area in the forest where he spent a lot of his personal time.
Theo had purchased the mountain and all the forested land surrounding it to ensure that they’d have privacy and space to move around in their true form.But Steele had never felt as if that was really his place to be free.This spot was located on land owned by the government but left alone by some type of historical proclamation so it had become the perfect place for him to be alone and to be free whenever he needed to.
“You keep clothes in your truck like some type of secret agent,” Ravyn was saying as they came closer to the edge of the trees.
“Like a man who doesn’t like to walk around with his ass out after he’s shifted.”
“Do you shift often?I mean, I’ve never heard stories of dragons.Just some ramblings about people that could take on the features of wolves or big cats and people who could see the future or hear things that others couldn’t.Cree can do that,” she said quietly.
“He can do what?”
“He can hear and sense things.It started when he was young but his father didn’t like him talking about it so he stopped.I used to listen to his stories but I thought they were just stories.”She sighed heavily.“I was so wrong about everything.”
They were at the back of the SUV when Steele took her by the shoulders.“Don’t beat yourself up about this.You had no reason to believe otherwise.”
“When your best friend tells you he can do something, you should probably believe him.”
“Or you can listen to him when he talks about the things that he can do because others didn’t do that for him in the past.”
She smiled up at him and Steele took a step closer to her, his body reacting a bit more forcefully to his naked state and her proximity.
“Did you say somebody called you?How?I didn’t hear a phone?And if you’re expected somewhere you should definitely get dressed and, ah, soon.”Her gaze dropped down between them to his erection and when she looked back up at him again the haze of lust that clouded her eyes only made him harder.
He opened the back of the truck and reached inside to pull out a duffel bag.Unzipping it he grabbed gray sweatpants and a T-shirt, tennis shoes and socks.
“We have a signal that only the Drakon can hear,” he told her as he pulled the sweatpants and T-shirt on.
He leaned against the truck to pull on the socks.
“Oh, like a Bat Signal,” she said and when he glanced over at her she grinned.“You’ll go commando, but you gotta have socks, huh.”
Steele stood, then he turned so that he was now in front of her and grabbed her face between his hands, lowering his mouth until it met hers.For a second she held her head perfectly still as if she was contemplating whether or not she was going to accept his touch or his kiss.She had every right not to.He’d done the one thing she didn’t want any man doing to her and he was sorrier than she would ever know about that.So he waited for her to make the next move.
“I don’t know what’s happening between us,” she said and continued to stare up at him.“I should hate you for betraying me, but I don’t.And I don’t know what that means.”
His beast was ready to be free again.It was ready to claim its mate.Steele, on the other hand, was right where Ravyn was with the uncertainty.Even though he’d told her and showed her what he really was, the same obstacles still existed for them.Cree was in danger and here she was ready to do whatever to save him.They were both humans and neither of them deserved to be up against a Dhampir and a cursed dagger.So no matter how much he could now admit his beast was probably right to want her, he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stay in this world with him.
“I did betray you.I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.”
“I can’t undo anything that’s been done either,” she said.
“We can move forward and save the people we both lov...we both care a lot about,” he said and cleared his throat.
What he’d been about to say was crazy and it couldn’t be true.She’d only been an active part of his life for two weeks, and the other time he’d been following her she hadn’t known he existed.Besides that, love didn’t have to be part of the Drakon Selection.A beast could want its mate with or without its mate returning those feelings.It couldn’t touch its mate until at least the physical draw was reciprocated, but emotions were something totally different.The process was barbaric, as Opal had often stated, and one that Steele had never given much thought to.Until now.To enforce that thought, his beast pressed into Steele, encouraging him to move his head closer to hers.Ravyn tilted her chin up to him.He leaned in a little closer, until his lips just brushed against hers.She made the next move by puckering her lips for another kiss.This one started with a flash of light and then melted into what felt like a warm reunion as their tongues danced and dueled once again.She immediately pressed her body against his, her hands going to his shoulders as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss.
When he reluctantly broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers so they could catch their breaths, he chuckled.“It’s not a Bat Signal, whatever that is,” he said, reminding her of the conversation they’d been having before the one about emotions that just couldn’t be between them.“And you’re gonna appreciate the commando choice at some point.”
She grinned, slipping a hand down until it rested over the tent in the sweatpants created by his overwhelming arousal.Gripping his length through the material was just as enticing as if she’d stuck her hand down his pants and palmed him skin-to-skin, so he dutifully sucked in a breath, in lieu of begging her to keep going until he came.
