Page 2 of Claimed By the Dragon

Dr. Sid nodded. “I don’t believe in hiding the truth with something so important. But for now, they seem healthy. The extra tests are just a precaution. They should be back in the next hour or so. Did you want us to leave you until then?”

The dragonwoman’s to-the-point attitude settled her a bit. “Yes. I’m not as tired as I was, but I could do with a quick nap.”

“Then we’ll leave you to it.”

Just as Dr. Sid and Dr. Innes turned toward the door, it banged open.

And in the doorway stood the dark-haired, brown-eyed dragonman with pale skin who’d offered to mate her.

He was out of breath and ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his glasses before entering the room. His Welsh accent filled the space. “I lost track of the time. But I’m here, so let’s get on with it.”

At the lack of inflection, not to mention his word choices, a thread of irritation shot through her.

Before the other doctors could say a word, Grace bit out, “No.”

He frowned. “No?”

“You clearly don’t want this, so leave.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and stared at the wall to her right, avoiding her gaze.

She was about to tell him to leave again when he finally said, “Let me help you, Grace. Once you find someone more suited, you can break the mating and mate someone else. But for now, you need Stonefire’s protection.”

“Did you just casually ask me to marry you and then divorce you when I feel like it?”

“Mate, to be precise. But yes, that’s correct.”

She blinked, trying to figure out how the bloody hell to reply to that.

Dr. Trahern Lewis was often consumed and borderline obsessed with a lot of things, but timekeeping wasn’t one of them.

And when his stomach had rumbled enough to make his fairly quiet inner dragon grumble too, he’d checked the time.

Only to find he was late. And while he didn’t believe in love, let alone that anyone would actually want to put up with him for life, he’d offered to help Grace Butler.

And one thing Trahern took seriously was honoring his word.

So he’d raced down the hall, to Grace’s room. Without stopping, he’d barged in and explained his reason for being tardy.

Judging by Grace’s furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, she was probably angry at him. Maybe.

And yet, he’d offered her a logical solution, stating how their mating would only be temporary, on her terms. Instead of being glad or enthusiastic, she’d just blinked at him a few times.

His inner dragon stirred and spoke up.Don’t let her go.

It wasn’t the first time his beast had said that to him over the last few days.

However, since his dragon promptly curled into a ball and went to sleep, Trahern didn’t even try to get more information. Instead, he walked toward the bed and finally met Grace’s eyes.

They were a deep, dark brown, and they searched his own brown eyes. Trahern had never been very good at readingpeople’s emotions—well, unless they were shouting at him—but he sensed she was confused. And while harder to see, she looked a little lost.

He probably only recognized the latter because he often felt that way himself. Few had patience for his obsessions or the need to finish a task before he could move on. His only real friend in the world, Dr. Emily Davies, even struggled sometimes.

However, seeing someone else who felt out of place only made him want to convince her to say yes all the more. Not that he understood why.

So he walked to the edge of her bed, cleared his throat, and stared down at where her dark-skinned fingers played with the sheets. Her hand was so much smaller than his, and he itched to stroke her skin.

Resisting a frown—he’d never wanted to touch someone that way before—he said, “I can help you with more than a place to stay. I know where everything is in the archives, every section of books, and can help you find whatever you need to better understand your children.”