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It astounded him that his beast listened to her when it had so easily overridden his own will on that beach.

“Goodbye, Alessandro.” She laid a flutter of a kiss on his cheek and then phased out.

Alessandro roared from the bed once he realized what had happened. Where the fuck had she gone, naked?

Chapter 17

This time, when she popped into Chloe’s apartment, Rowan did so, dressed in a soft green lounge set.

Still reeling from the shock, Rowan walked through the rooms, realizing Chloe wasn’t home. She made herself comfortable in front of the TV and began flipping through channels that couldn’t take her mind off of what had just occurred.

Alessandro’s dragon wanted to mark her. Something about her intrigued the beast so much that he wanted to chain them together for the rest of their natural lives.

On principle as a succubus, she’d never really thought she could intrigue anything as territorial as a shifter. The idea of his rage if someone ever aroused her hunger made her tremble.

Julio and Kin had been the embodiment of hyper jealousy that she associated with mated pairs, and she couldn’t see herself willingly going through that.

It didn’t seem the sane part of Alessandro did either, because he’d showed up only to clear up the fact that while the beast wanted her on the most primal of urges, the man didn’t concur.

She wasn’t good enough to be his queen.

On a deeper level, she knew she was not queen material for anyone, let alone the oldest race of mystics, but that didn’t stop her pride from picturing herself leading them. She had a ton of attributes that would allow her to fulfill the job if it ever came down to it.

Her control and strength with magic were above reproach. She was scrappy enough that she could handle one or two dragons coming at her. Her history with the Coven made sure she had a surplus of patience when dealing with obstinate people. She was proactive…though that sometimes looked more like recklessness.

She passed her morning away contemplating these thoughts before the lock on the door rattled open and Chloe entered, giggling in the arms of a tall brown-haired, blue-eyed man Rowan had been seeing with increasing regularity.

Chloe’s good mood dropped to immediate concern as she took in the visage of her friend.

“Umm honey. Do you mind getting us some coffee from downstairs?” The blonde asked, dropping her keys off on a tray near the door.

“I don’t mind at all.” He dropped a kiss on Chloe’s forehead, threw Rowan a soft look and shut the door gently behind him.

“That was cute.” Rowan tried not to squirm under the tight embrace her friend gave her.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked, cutting right to the heart of the issue.

“What gave you the idea that anything was wrong?”

“Oh Ro, you don’t watch TV unless you’re trying to ignore something going on in that crowded little mind of yours and you definitely don’t do it anywhere but at home.”

Rowan sighed. “Alessandro doesn’t want to have sex anymore.”

Chloe pulled back to look at her in the eyes, and she raised an eyebrow. “Want to try that again, but like with the actual meat of the problem?”

“Therapists suck.” Rowan groaned and melted into the fluff of the couch, crossing her arms in front of her. “His beast wanted to mark me, so he thinks it’s too dangerous to continue wandering into the lands of amazing sex in case he loses control.”

“I’ve heard of a host and their beasts being at odds over small matters but never over choosing a mate.” Chloe furrowed her eyebrows. “He must be quite stubborn.”

“He is.” Rowan scoffed, “And can you believe he told me I have nothing to offer but sex, so I’d make a terrible queen?”

Chloe gasped, “He did not!”

Rowan unwound her arms and scratched her cheek. “Actually, he didn’t. Now that I’m thinking it over, I might have guessed what he was feeling—but he didn’t deny it!”

Chloe leaned her chin on her fist. “Just because he didn’t deny it doesn’t mean you guessed were right, Rowan. In fact, it sounds like maybe you projected your own ideas onto him.”

“I should’ve taken my chances at the Brood and gone to Louisa.”