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“Do you think she knows what grabbing his tail means?” Kimi asks as I hurry out, Mal behind me.

“No,” I hear Ben and King say simultaneously before the door slams closed behind us.

17. Ride the Dragon

Mal

She doesn’t know. She couldn’t possibly.

Nevertheless, I find myself stalking after her, practically panting. My mind may not be convinced she wants sex, but my body vehemently disagrees. She bears the faintest traces of arousal, sosomethinghas stimulated her. My hindbrain is convinced it was me, and her pulling my tail so violently is the proof. I can’t remember the last time I’ve copulated, and my cockstand is so heavy it’s painful.

She’s just ahead of me, her Human denim pants fitted loosely around her but unable to hide the luscious curve of her ass. I hadn’t noticed her physical attributes before, and my eyes are suddenly greedy for the sight.

She is looking through my phone for the address Mike sent while I succumbed to my rage. I use her distraction to launch myself into the bed of the decrepit vehicle she’s heading towards, hiding my erection but not my flushed cheeks. I rake both hands through my hair, pulling it to distract myself.

I will not molest the sweet little mender.

She would be terrified of my body, just like Iris.

She slips into the driver’s seat and starts the monstrosity without asking why I have chosen to sit apart from her. I suppose she thinks I would be uncomfortable squeezing into the front seat. She has no idea how muchtruth that bears, although I’m thinking of squeezing into someplace else.

Stop, stop!

A few of the faeries, fully armored soldiers, join me and raise their brows at my lap. I snarl menacingly, and they find somewhere else to look.

And now I have witnesses.

Luckily, I managed to turn away from the table before the erection started. However, it’s a hollow comfort because everyone left inside that home knows exactly what my reaction would be. If they hadn’t commented that she had no idea what she was doing, I might have made more of a spectacle on the front lawn than I already have.

Why did Ben allow her to leave with me, then?

I release a roar at the thought.She’s mine now. No one touches her! She choseme!

I yank my hair harder to pull the instinctive thoughts out of my head, struggling between the things I’ve learned in the form of a man and what I learned as a dragon. These instincts have focused solely on King for so long that having them aimed elsewhere is jarring.

Theshunkof a window sliding open near my head startles me, and I turn my head to see Beatrice’s hand withdrawing. I’ve been so lost in thought I never noticed her moving inside the vehicle.

“We’re about five minutes away from your friend,” she calls over the rushing wind.

Myfriend. She called me Mitri’s friend as well. How can she be so tormented inside and still be so innocent? There are no friends in this world, only allies and enemies. The thought tastes like bile on my tongue. When did I go back to being such a pessimistic beast?

Maybe when my mate admitted that he purposely shut down our bond. No explanation, just the admittance.

The image of his aloof expression as he informed me of it flashes before my eyes, and I begin to feel the erection waning.

He didn’t care that he ripped out my insides with his calm words. That was when I decided to follow Mitri back to the house where Beatrice was staying. To ask her to release me from my curse once and for all. Only to be rendered unconscious and tied next to King if I got violent because I’m supposedly hismate.

“Hey,” her voice brings me from my thoughts again, and she reaches back through the slim window to pat my tightly folded wings. I suppose she’s trying to comfort me, but it’s awkward enough to be embarrassing for us both. “Almost there.”

And this is seduction? What prowess.I can’t stop the snort of laughter the thoughts bring.

Her hand withdraws, and she focuses on her driving. “You may want to lie down. We’re heading into the Human side, and you look really dragonish right now.”

Shit, she’s right.

I tuck my wings away and slide down until my head is propped against the body where she sits, and my legs are bent unnaturally to press my feet against the tailgate.Tailgate. I don’t understand Humans, and I fervently hope I never will.

A short time passes before she slows to a stop and puts the vehicle in park.