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I sucked in a breath. “Can you not read my thoughts?”

“I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair, then held it on the back of his neck. “I’m not used to telepathy.”

“Because you’re a werewolf.” It was still hard to wrap my mind around it.

“Yes and no. My mother’s side gives me some wolf traits like strength and aggression, and I’m called by the moon once a month, but my beast is dragon, not lupine.”

“And Alec’s traits are…”

He grimaced. “Alec’s a bit of a different story, and I think you saw some of that in the tower.”

“Yes.” The memory of Alec’s glowing skin and sharp, deadly features was unlikely to fade from my mind anytime soon.

“May I sit?” Lachlan waited for my nod, then settled beside me, bringing his familiar scent of aftershave and dark spices. “Alec isn’t just any fae. His mother was a princess of the Seelie court. It’s a popular misconception that the Seelie are good and the Unseelie are bad or evil. But the truth is all fae are the same. They are neither good nor evil. They’re power, the same as electricity or fire.”

Goosebumps rose on my arms. “Is that why Alec’s commands hurt?”

“Aye,” he said softly, “but he didn’t mean to harm you. You seem unusually sensitive to him, probably because—”

“I’m his mate. So you keep saying.”

He tilted his head—a wolflike gesture that, along with his golden eyes, made that side of his ancestry apparent for the first time. “Would it be so bad to be our mate, Chloe?” The hint of a smile returned to his face, which was shadowed by dark stubble. Between that and his Highland dress, he didn’t seem like a dragon at all. Just a man. A living, breathing man with washboard abs and perfect, rugged features.

Out of nowhere, I heard myself say, “You’ve never talked to me like this before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just…” My cheeks heated. “I don’t know, just two people talking. In the office, you always seemed in a rush. So corporate. Like—” I cut myself off before I could say “like Josh.”

He frowned. “I’m nothing like Bennington. For one, I’d cut off my hands before I hurt you.”

He would, too. I might not feel the same tug of fate he and Alec did, but I knew in my bones he would never harm me.

“Neither would Alec,” he said, reading my thoughts. “He’s possessive, Chloe, but he’s not a monster. When dragons find something they want, they take it.” His eyes gleamed. “They keep it.” Little flames seemed to dance in his pupils. “And I think you’d like being kept.”

My nipples tightened. His domineering language should have been a turn off. So why was my body totally ready to sign the dotted line on the mate agreement? A kilt, a couple of smiles, and I was prepared to ditch my freedom and stay locked in the castle forever.

“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” he rumbled. Before I could tell him to get out of my head, he stood and extended a hand. “You want out of this tower?”

“Yes—”

“Want to see Scotland?”

“Yes, but—”

“How do you feel about seeing it from the air?”

Chapter Thirteen

CHLOE

“Why are you wearing a kilt?” I asked Lachlan as he led me through the castle. I hadn’t paid much attention to where we were going. I was too busy admiring his legs.

He slanted me a look. “Given the direction of your thoughts, do I really need to answer that?”

I clamped my mouth shut. I wasn’t sure which was worse, that he thought I was easy enough to be lured by a kilt or that he might actually be right.

“You wouldn’t be the first, lass.”