Page 38 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

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, so something has 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 much truth 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 chose me !

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.

The shunk of 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.

My friend . 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 his mate .

“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.

“I’m just going to text him back and let him know you’re here. I should be the one to get him, though.”

I don’t think seeing a rampaging dragonkin in the middle of the children’s park where he has chosen to hide would be wise. I give a chirrup in agreement.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” she says, and the truck sways a bit as she gets out and closes her door. She’s left the truck running for some unfathomable reason. Is she expecting trouble?

I can faintly hear children chattering excitedly, and I want to slap Mike with my tail for endangering hatchlings.

Maybe I shouldn’t have let Beatrice go alone. With the knowledge that she’s a rarer find than I even imagined, everyone will want her.

She’s back before I can change my mind about leaving her alone. She leans over the side of the truck and grits out, “Can you wave your hand or something so he knows you’re here? He doesn’t believe me.”

I stare at her for a beat. How will she explain to a bunch of squealing hatchlings the dragon she has in her truck? I wait for the logic of it to set in, but she continues to glare at me fiercely.

With a sigh, I shift until my tail is untucked from beneath me and raise it to wave. I notice the three faerie casually leaning on the tailgate, grinning at my discomfort.

She spins away from me and faces someone else, raising her hands in frustration before dropping them at her sides.

She disappears from my sight, running some distance away.

The sound of her footfalls gets overtaken by frustrated parents and little giggles of mischief. I’m forced to wait once again.

It takes a long time for her to return, Mike grumbling under his breath but in tow. It sounds as if she’s dragging him. The suspicion is confirmed when he is pushed bodily into the side of the truck, rocking it, and he stares at me in surprise.

He reeks of old and new fear, soot, and dried blood. His hair is lank and covered in sweat, his chin unshaven in patches, and he is paler than my silk sheets.

“Mike, get in the truck,” I snarl at him as quietly as I can, flashing him my teeth.

“See? In all his grumpy glory,” Beatrice leans over to see me. I flash my teeth at her, but she isn’t cowed in the slightest. “What? You can’t blame him for being paranoid. Look at him, for fuck’s sake!”

“Dude, this is a kid’s playground,” he hisses at her wide-eyed. “Language!”

Surprised, she looks at him, “Okay, morality police, get in the blankety-blank truck now.”

“Not unless he does,” he spits back, narrowing his eyes on her.

“He can’t ,” she growls back in an impressive mockery of Ben’s snarl. “I already told you he shouldn’t be seen. Especially here! Just throw your bags back here with him and get. In. The. Truck! And you, stop waving that around!”

I open my mouth to snap my teeth at her, but she’s already reached out and grabbed the end of my tail in her fist, shaking it back and forth as if strangling it.

My intended tirade is cut off with a choked-off cheep of sound as I slam my eyes closed. I hear her stomping around the truck to slide into the driver’s seat.

“Great Senate and I thought my ex-girlfriend was vicious. That was just wrong, man. I’m sorry,” I hear his jacket shuffle and open my eyes, watching as he reaches for my arm to comfort me.

“ Do not touch me ,” I strangle out, and whatever my expression is makes Mike back away quickly and finally get into the vehicle.

The faeries are huddled close together near my feet, watching me warily.

Twice now. She’s touched it twice now, and I’ve got to deal with the consequences alone.

I will not molest an innocent mender.

My life has sunk to this. A broken matehood, rescuing Human males, and a tiny female abusing my tail. I writhe in discomfort as my instincts once again rear up.

“Are you okay?” I hear her ask as she pulls away from the park and back onto the paved roads. “You look rough. When was the last time you ate anything?”

“I dunno, a while? I’ve only been hiding for two days, and there’s a burger place a few blocks down.”

“Why did you wait so long to call? Why didn’t you ask Mal for help right away?”

“Well, I memorized the other guy’s number but couldn’t remember the dragon’s. I figured calling the scary guy would get me killed, so…”

Good call.

“Good call,” Beatrice reads my mind or uses common sense, who knows.

“Then I had to sneak into my ex’s place and steal her Other phone so I could call. It was a process.”

“You stole a phone?” Beatrice asks calmly. “Do you have yours?”

“Yeah, they’re both right here - Hey!”

She pitches the phone out the window, and another follows quickly, shattering on the road behind us.

“Why?” Mike whines, leaning his face out of the window leading to the truck bed. His face is filled with dismay. He looks as if this will be the tipping point where he breaks into tears.

“You told me you might have seen them around the park today. If that’s true, they’re tracking you through the phone.

One or the other, I don’t know. Whatever Mitri asked you to find is dangerous, and we don’t want anyone to know where we’re going.

Shit, I may have to ditch my truck.” Her speech ends with a depressed sigh of resignation.

“You act like you’ve done this before,” Mike says with a suspicious narrowing of his eyes and pulls his head back in.

She doesn’t answer, and the truck speeds up.

“Don’t sit up, Mal,” she says grimly.

“Why? We’re almost to the divide. He’s not gonna be noticeable now,” Mike argues suspiciously.

“Because we have company. I didn’t ditch the phones fast enough.”