Page 39

Mia felt like a new person when she came out of the shower wrapped in her robe and her hair up in a towel. That ride on Tiber had been wild, their speed so fast she’d been more grateful than she’d expected for the goggles he’d given her.

She hadn’t needed them with Ilmari but with Tiber… she wanted to ride on him again. In more ways than one.

As she headed down the hallway from the bathroom to the open living space and kitchen, one of the arched doors was open and she saw all her stuff sitting at the end of the bed.

Frowning, she stepped inside and realized that Angel or whoever had brought a lot of her things… and left them in the guest living space.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to share my space. My bedding is upstairs, but my personal room is just across the hall,” Tiber said from behind her.

Painting on a pleasant expression, she gave him a small smile.

“I didn’t want you to think I was expecting anything or for you to feel pressured,” he added.

Pressured? After they’d just shared a day of nonstop sex. What a load of crap. “Okay.”

He watched her closely for a long moment. “Okay?”

“I’ll stay in here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get changed.” She nudged him out of the bedroom and shut the door in his face, more annoyed than she could have imagined.

If Tiber wanted her, he needed to claim her.

She wasn’t playing games, but she remembered what he’d said the first time she’d met him.

There was no way she was going to push him into publicly accepting her or for anything else for that matter.

She was well aware of their class differences.

In more ways than one considering she was a human.

Sure, maybe he was being polite, or whatever, but she knew enough about supernaturals that when they wanted something, especially a mate, they went for it. No holds barred.

Especially dragons.

They were obnoxious to the point that they were borderline barbarians.

The fact that Tiber wasn’t pursuing her now that they were back at the castle… it hit low in her gut.

She might have tried to tell herself that she was okay with just sex between the two of them, but she’d changed her mind. She wanted more from the ancient dragon and if he wanted more from her, he’d have to make that crystal clear.

She’d spent the majority of her childhood taking care of others. Then she’d been in one shitty relationship after another and had found herself making excuses for why her relationships were always lopsided in effort.

She refused to put more into something if she wasn’t receiving the same kind of effort. Even if it hurt to pull back, she had to protect her heart.

Because Tiber was the only male who’d ever had the capability to actually break it. Though who was she kidding, even now it sliced deep that he wasn’t going after her the way dragons claimed their mates.

It was because she was human; she wasn’t good enough.

***

Mia hadn’t been expecting anyone to show up tonight, especially since she, Tiber and Ilmari had just returned a few hours ago, and it sounded like he would be heading out in the morning.

But by the time she’d dried her hair and changed into comfortable clothes, the same group of warriors who’d been over the day before they’d left had brought food and a lot of cakes—and Tiber was nowhere to be seen.

“Why are there so many cakes?” she asked Octavia as she cut herself a piece.

She was almost certain the three-tiered blue and green confection was from Isaac’s bakery since it had his signature style.

Octavia just laughed and winked at her. “Ha ha.” Then she snagged Mia’s plate right from her hand.

“Wha… hey!” But the other woman was gone, having disappeared into the next room where she threw herself down on a giant pillow and started eating her cake.

“Gotta be faster than Octavia when it comes to desserts.” Nolan stepped up next to her as she started to cut another piece.

“Clearly,” she grumbled before cutting another slice.

She didn’t actually care about the cake, but she was annoyed that Tiber had put her in the guest room and that he was now gone without a word.

He’d left hours ago and she was in his home with all his friends and… she kind of wanted to cry. She might have joked with him about being a temperamental artist, but she wasn’t.

No, she was confused and hurt and wondering what the hell was going on with them.

Not that it seemed there was a “them” at this point, if the way he was acting was any indication.

Since she didn’t want to disappear to the guest room, she headed to the living room where they were all playing a different game than the other night.

This one involved dice and little pieces and some kind of betting that she didn’t totally understand.

“Don’t even think about it, cake thief.” She sidestepped Octavia and sat in between Cyprus and Angel.

When Octavia opened her mouth to respond, Ilmari snuck in and licked up the last piece of the stolen cake—sending everyone into a burst of laughter.

Even Mia.

Ilmari seemed quite proud of himself, doing a little bow before he hopped into the kitchen, likely in search of more food.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed, maybe another hour or two, as the others continued betting each other.

As she dozed on the cushions, resting her head on Cyprus’s shoulder—and debating a polite way to either ask them all to leave or to simply make her escape and get some sleep—Tiber finally stalked in looking exhausted and cranky.

His gaze narrowed on Cyprus, then her, then back to Cyprus. And he looked annoyed—with her.

She lifted her head and frowned at him, ready to ask him where he’d been when he snarled at everyone.

“Get out. Everyone but Mia—and Ilmari—out. Now.”

Neptune was still with Jonothon, otherwise she was certain he’d be included too.

“Come on assholes, let’s go.” Octavia was on her feet first, but then she disappeared into the kitchen while everyone stood.

Smothering a yawn, she intentionally ignored Tiber and followed Octavia to find her cutting off another hunk of cake and putting it on a plate to take with her.

“I think you might have an addiction,” she murmured.

“You’re not wrong.” Octavia snickered, but sobered when Tiber stalked into the room, a dark cloud as he continued to glower at her.

“I swear to god that glare better not be for me,” Mia snapped against her better judgment. Though she took pleasure in the way his amber-gold eyes widened in surprise. “You know what… I’m stepping outside for some air. Do not follow me.” And she wasn’t asking for permission either.

Octavia headed out with her, eating cake as they walked past the magical barrier of his home’s entrance. They were far enough away from the actual castle that the moon and a blanket of stars were their main illumination.

“What is going on with him?” Mia whispered when they were outside. Since she’d forgotten her coat, she wrapped her arms around herself to brace against the cold.

The others were trickling out and moving past them, so Octavia held a finger up to her mouth, then shooed some of the others to go faster. It was clear that Nolan was trying to wait for her, but Octavia gave him her back, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder as she did.

Mia raised her eyebrows at her, but Octavia simply shook her head.

“Okay, cake thief, talk! I’m about to lose my mind with Tiber.” She was surprised he hadn’t followed her out, but maybe she shouldn’t be. “He put all my stuff in the guest room and told me he didn’t want to pressure me even after we…” She made a gesture with her hands, making Octavia snicker.

“Oh, I know. We all know. I scented it at the retreat. I can still scent him on you. It’s why we brought all the desserts and food… we were celebrating.” Octavia’s pretty face dipped into a frown. “But then Tiber disappeared so I thought maybe we got it wrong.”

“Got what wrong?”

Octavia looked a little panicked and instead of answering, she shoved more cake in her mouth.

Beyond annoyed at this point, Mia smacked the plate out of her hand lightning fast, making it fall to the grass.

Octavia made a sad groaning sound as she stared at the fallen food. “Not the cake.”

“Screw the cake. Talk.”

“I thought humans were supposed to be all meek,” she muttered.

“You thought that based on your vast experience with us?”

“Fair point.” Then she sighed. “Look, Tiber is… he can be…” She covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know what to say.”

“How about the truth? I know enough about dragons and supernaturals that if they’re interested in someone, they go for it and they don’t care what anyone thinks. Clearly, it’s a big deal that I’m a human—”

“That’s not it.”

“It’s not?”

Looking almost guilty, Octavia shook her head.

“No. I think maybe me and the others got into his head. We stopped by earlier to drop your stuff off. You were in the shower, I think. When he went to put your stuff in his room we might have told him that humans didn’t like it when their partners were presumptuous about such things.

That he should let you decide if you wanted to comingle your things. ”

“First, you have no experience with humans. Second, we’re not a monolith.

Third… I’m just going to talk to Tiber because this is ridiculous.

” If he rejected her then so be it. At least she would know.

But she had to get over her own bullshit and just ask him what he wanted.

And she was going to tell him what she wanted.

Because she wasn’t going to hide her head in the sand anymore. She was going to start making better decisions when it came to relationships.

“I’m sorry, we’re all crap with relationships. We know nothing. Clearly. None of us are mated.”

Mated. Wait… what? She put a mental pin in that, unsure if she and Octavia were even on the same page. “No, this is on me. I should have just talked to him earlier instead of getting my feelings hurt and retreating.” But that was her thing, something she needed to work on. She had to stop running.

Octavia shrugged. “I mean, you’re not wrong. Dragons can be intense so it makes sense that you expected him to be more explicit in what he wanted. Especially since, you know…”

“Know what?”

Again with the panicked look. Then to Mia’s horror, Octavia started taking off her clothes. “I gotta go. I hear someone calling me.”

“You’re such a liar.” But Mia turned around as the other woman completely stripped and then with a whoosh of noise, took to the skies.

“Freaking dragons.” She stalked back across the grass, determined to hash this out—and hopefully end the night in a lot of sex.

Because this wasn’t solely on Tiber. It was on her too. She needed to communicate better. They both did.

She’d made it halfway across the grass to his place when she heard another whoosh and started to turn, thinking Octavia had returned (maybe to eat her fallen cake). Then froze when she felt claws wrap around her neck, pressing into her pulse point.

“Scream and I’ll rip out your jugular,” a terrifyingly familiar voice hissed into her ear.