Page 11 of Claimed by the Savage Dragons

I don’t answer her, but I slide one of the bowls over to her. Orin tears a chunk of bread off the loaf and offers it to her. My eyes narrow as I watch him, see how bright his eyes are, the way his eyes have begun to dip down to where her breasts disappear at the table’s edge.

Fuck. That’s all I need.

‘When you’re finished,’ I tell him, ‘I want you to scout the mountains. A hundred miles should be enough to make sure there aren’t any other factions encroaching on what’s ours.’

His eyes widen. ‘A hundred miles?’

‘You think it should be more?’ I ask.

‘No!’ He sits back in his chair sullenly. ‘A hundred miles is enough,’ he mutters, and I stifle a grin.

‘If you go before sunset, you might have time to get some elk hunting in yourself,’ I say.

My student brightens a little at the prospect of honing his skills. He eats his meal quickly after that, filling his mouth with the chunks of meat and potatoes and gulping the liquid left at the bottom of the bowl. Pushing it away, he breaks off another large chunk of the bread, and, with a final look at the woman, he leaves the room.

I glance at her. She’s staring after him and I wonder for a moment if she was trying to seduce him. Orin is definitely stupid enough to fall for a human female’s antics. He will be until he learns firsthand that they can’t be trusted, and I don’t want him to learn that lesson withthis one.

‘Don’t encourage him,’ I growl.

‘He’s your…son?’ she asks, glancing at me.

‘No.’ I let out a long breath. ‘My student. He’s young. Doesn’t know his own strength, even as a human. You should remember that.’

She frowns at me. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘If you use your wiles on him, he could kill you.’

‘Wiles?’ Her face is blank as she looks at me. ‘I don’t understand what?—’

‘If you entice him to fuck you, he will slaughter you, woman,’ I snarl and her eyes widen, flicking down almost comically to where my cock would be if she could see through the table.

‘You can… You have…’

‘When we’re human males, we’rehuman males,’ I say meaningfully, realizing that she hadn’t thought wecouldbe seduced.

So, I was wrong. She wasn’t trying anything with Orin. Orin was just being a young drake.

She seems a lot more nervous now, I note, as she eats her soup, her eyes darting around as if she’s trying to find another way to escape.

‘Why would he kill me?’ she asks in a small voice a minute later.

‘He wouldn’t do it on purpose, not unless ordered to, but, as I said, he’s young. He doesn’t have the necessary control over himself.’

She glances at the bed. ‘You mean…’

‘During sex. Yes, human. He could easily begin to change.’

Her eyes somehow widen even further. ‘But why would he… You’re dragons. I’m a human.’

I snort. ‘That hardly matters. While most of my faction detest your kind, we are compatible with humans when we’re in this form.’

She stares at me, and I think she’s going to keep asking questions, but she miraculously stays quiet, and I’m allowed to continue eating.

We finish the meal in silence and, afterward, hoping she’s learned her lesson about trying to run away, I grab some clothes from my pack.

‘You can have these inside. When we leave tomorrow, I’ll give you some furs you can wear over them.’

I put the bundle on the bed and try to ignore her as she unwraps the black, drawstring trousers and the shirt, and puts them on.