Page 25 of Claimed By the Dragon

Not for the first time, he wished he could look someone in the eye and determine if it was true joy or fake. But he’d never been good at that kind of thing.

His dragon spoke up again.I think she is happier, although I struggle to judge sometimes too.

Before he could reply to his beast, Grace turned her smiling face at him, and his heart rate increased. He’d thought her beautiful in the sunlight, but when she smiled, he could barely string two thoughts together.

Which scared him a little.

Grace must not have noticed because she gestured toward the counter and ice cream flavors. “They have strawberry, but did you want to look and see if you want something else? And did you want a cone or a cup?”

“Strawberry in a cone is fine. It’s not too hot, so it shouldn’t melt over the sides. I don’t like melted ice cream.”

Delphine prepared their order, Trahern paid, and they each took their cones. Grace had two scoops, licked the top one, and the sight of her tongue made his skin heat.

But why?

She moaned a little, and his skin tightened more, and he started to feel overheated. His penis also filled with a little blood.

Which hadn’t happened since the embarrassing incident on Snowridge. At least when awake. He awoke to uncomfortable stiffness sometimes and usually took a cold shower to douse it.

His dragon spoke up.She is our mate. It’s okay to want her. To desire her.

Not wanting to talk about this right now, or end up with a fully erect penis in public, he turned the pram with one hand and walked toward the exit.

“Trahern, wait up!” He heard her murmured thanks to Delphine and soon caught up to him. “Where are we going? The grocery store is the other way.”

After stopping, he stepped away from the pram and said, “I need a few minutes.”

Without looking back, he dashed toward one of his safe places—the medicinal garden—dropping his ice cream cone, and needing a little space from anything related to Grace.

Grace, who made him feel things he thought were nuisances.

Who also confused him with her touches and licks of her tongue and pretty smiles.

Which only made more blood rush to his penis, irritating him further.

Once he entered the walled garden, he took a deep breath and started naming every plant inside his head. It would take over an hour to do them all. Maybe then he could settle his mind and push aside any sexual thoughts.

Not only because they disordered his life, but she had recently been imprisoned and given birth. To want her that way was unseemly.

So he kept reciting scientific plant names inside his head, determined to restore order to his mind and remember Grace was his mate in name only.

Grace watched Trahern stride purposefully away from her, tossing his ice cream cone to the ground in his wake, and tried to figure out what had happened.

He’d seemed pleased at her surprise and had nearly smiled when she’d handed him the cone.

But within minutes, he’d looked like a deer caught in headlights and had run away.

It shouldn’t sting since he wasn’t really her mate or husband or romantic partner. And yet, some of the dark weight from yesterday descended upon her shoulders, making her think she was being foolish.

“Grace?”

She distantly heard her name, but didn’t fully acknowledge it. No, she was trying too hard to fight back tears. Silly tears, seeing as she’d been the one to push Trahern with her surprise.

A female dragon-shifter she didn’t recognize at first, with brown hair, pale skin, and a scar on her face, appeared in front of her. Then the scar triggered her memory, from when she was newly rescued. “Dr. Turner?”

The dragonwoman’s southern English accent filled her ears. “Scarlett is fine, since I’m not your doctor. What’s wrong? Sid and Gregor said you were cleared of any lingering drugs and aftereffects. But you look as if a wind might push you over.”

As the dragonwoman doctor searched her gaze, she remembered how the dragonwoman had been firm yet kind when Grace had first been rescued. She’d even taken some of her former fellow prisoners off for more intensive care, both medical and mental.