Page 52 of Claimed by the Savage Dragons

I feel Mari relax and her breathing evens out as she succumbs to sleep, and that’s where Tor finds me several hours later, staring into the fire with our human slumbering in my arms.

He looks surprised when he comes in and opens his mouth to speak, but I put a finger to my lips.

‘Let her rest,’ I whisper.

He sits in the other chair without a sound and looks at me expectantly.

‘My dragon punished her for going outside,’ I say quietly.

His brows rise. ‘You lost control.’

I give a small nod, but he doesn’t look angry. He looks thoughtful.

‘Is she all right?’

‘She says so, but he wasn’t…gentle.’

‘I’ll heal her if she needs it,’ he says, looking her over with a sharp eye.

He looks at me again. ‘When was the last time he was able to take over without you letting him?’

I shake my head. ‘Not since I was Orin’s age.’

He leans back in the chair, staring at the glowing embers of the fire. ‘Your dragon thinks she’s his mate,’ he murmurs.

My eyes cut to him, and he gives me a bored look. ‘You think I don’t know the signs? The protectiveness? The obsession?’

‘You felt that with Fiona?’ I ask.

He rests his head on the back of the chair. ‘I loved that woman with every fiber of my being. My dragon did too. In all my centuries, losing her and Toramund was by far the worst thing that ever happened to me.’

He opens his eyes and looks at me. ‘But, no, I never felt…like this with her.’

My mouth falls open. ‘You as well?’

He nods and looks back at the fire. ‘Irrefutably.’

My arms tighten around our human. ‘This complicates things.’

‘Yes.’

We let her sleep for as long as we can. I take her back to the bed we claimed her in, and she never stirs, exhausted by what we’ve done to her already. Thankfully, Tor heals the injuries to her ass while she sleeps, much to my dragon’s disgust.

How will she remember to follow the rules if she doesn’t suffer when she breaks them,he huffs, pacing around my head. But I keep my barriers strong. I don’t need him breaking out and tanning her behind again just to prove a point.

But besides making sure he can’t take over, I largely give him the cold shoulder. Whatever his motivations, what he did could have gone horribly wrong. I need to keep her safe, even if it’s from the other side of myself.

Safe.

And yet we’re taking her to the veritable belly of the beast.

‘I hate this,’ I mutter.

Tor nods as he gets things ready. He’s already cleaned up after us and restocked the freezer with the meat he brought back from his hunt. Now, he’s making sure there are enough furs so that Mari doesn’t get cold while we travel.

‘All we can do is explain to Drey.’

I snort softly. ‘Will he even believe us?’