Page 14 of Driven by Dragonblood (Blood Born #3)
Primrose
I made it to the stairwell before collapsing in a heap, lower lip between my teeth to contain the sobs clawing at my chest. The coppery tang of blood slid across my tongue, but I didn’t recognize that I’d injured myself.
Eyes clenched, I fought to keep the pain inside me from causing my dragon to take over—help us escape the pain by burning down the hospital around us.
Even grief over losing Grandmother hadn’t hurt us to the extent of our alpha’s rejection.
He had pushed me away, and even though I could still feel the tether of energy connecting us, the darkness inside him lay quieter than it should.
The human blood in him pumped with vigor, as strong as his will to hold his inner dragon contained.
He feared— hated —that part of him he didn’t understand.
Refusing to acknowledge what he was wouldn’t ever make it go away.
The metal door behind me squeaked open, a rush of brimstone and musk trickling over me. The man’s self- control was stronger than in anyone I’d ever met—and Grandpapa was the epitome of stubborn.
My alpha loomed above on the landing, longer hair slicked back, eyes dark and fathomless.
Wide shoulders suggested he could carry the weight of my world, but the stoicism radiating from him was unparalleled.
Hands clenched at his sides as he trembled, his inner beast imprisoned from my gift to hear Blood Born.
“How do you do that?” I whispered past the thickness in my throat. “Completely shut that part of you away from me? No dragonblood has been able to do so.”
A deep groove lined his forehead. “Who are you?” he asked again, ignoring my question.
I decided to answer this time rather than flee, in the hope of making a connection he wouldn’t be able to deny. “Primrose Cadet.”
“You’re a patient here?”
“No.” I swallowed against the sudden dryness attacking my mouth at the realization his cock strained less than two feet from my face, the material trapping it darkened from evidence of his need to breed me. Heat rushed through me as I shifted closer, my hand rising to stroke his hard length.
He took a step back before I could touch what belonged to me and our beta.
“I want you to claim me against that door like you almost did moments ago because I belong to you,” I whispered. “I need you.”
He blinked, the energy linking us swelling with a blinding light that dimmed just as fast as whatever prison he locked his inner dragon within doubled its wall thickness.
“Your human has complete control.” I mourned, my voice breaking, my hand dropping to my lap.
“I can help you,” he said, his tone low, his voice sounding forced .
I climbed to my feet, holding his stare, and even though I couldn’t hear his inner thoughts, I didn’t need to in order to understand what he’d meant.
My alpha was a doctor in a mental hospital.
“I know what kind of help you refer to, but there’s no cure for who I am.
Even if there was, I would fight to the death to remain whole. ”
He stared at me, unblinking, and even though sexual energy rippled between us with potency, I struggled to resist his vocalized boundaries, his remained veiled.
Was it possible I had been wrong? My body and dragon knew Patrick was Blood Born, my alpha. Perhaps he didn’t want me .
No.
Perhaps we’re not enough , I suggested to the mourning dragon inside me.
Perhaps I wasn’t pretty enough. Too tall, too curved for his tastes, even though he had muscle enough to lift me in his arms as though I weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.
My beast whimpered as the silence between me and the frowning man grew.
“Why did you come after me if you don’t want me?” I asked, hoping for an answer that would soothe my tumbling emotions.
A muscle twitched the scruff lining his jaw. “Because you need help .”
My shoulders sagged as I realized he would never give me what my body and soul craved, the bonding that would tie us together even after we rested among the stars.
I lifted my chin rather than crumple into my misery at his feet. Finding my mates wasn’t supposed to have been difficult, but an easily traversed path toward my destiny. I had encountered nothing but road blocks at every turn.
A dozen or so curses flitted through my mind, but I kept my lips sealed.
Dragonblood and my alpha, the man must smell the arousal smeared inside my leggings.
How could he withstand the pull? I had read once that having caught the scent of his mates, an alpha would move mountains to claim what belonged to him.
No human side could resist their true form when faced with those fate had chosen for them.
Which meant…
He didn’t want me. In his eyes, I was somehow tarnished, less than perfect. Too much or, perhaps, not enough.
My chest split open, causing a cry to erupt from my chest. I turned away and hurried down one level of stairs, cloaking myself from human sight.
Uncaring about raising suspicion or alarm, I threw open door after door in my attempt to escape the tether wanting to pull me back to the one who had rejected what had been planned for us since the dawn of time.
The second the sun shone down on me, I shifted to my true form, shredding clothes, our wings lifting me in a rush of wind that blew two people approaching me onto their backsides, shrieking.
Tears poured from our eyes as we shot upward, yearning to escape the pain caused by our alpha, to somehow break the beginnings of the bond we had been created to fulfill.
We wanted to roar our frustration, but couldn’t afford to further raise human awareness of a beast in the sky after blasting wind over those poor ones below.
We banked toward the south, needing space. Time to find some semblance of peace we would be able to live with.
Our beta had wanted us, my human half didn’t doubt, but he had disappeared as easily as we had from Lockwood.
South.
My humanity gave over to our dragon, and we flew onward, another town growing on the dusty horizon.
Wings tucking, we dove, sweeping over buildings and houses around its perimeter, slowly moving inward, still grieving in silence, our heartache extending to the tips of our bones.
While our dragon controlled our body, our other side licked emotional wounds that attempted to tear us apart limb from limb.
Perhaps I ought to return to Grandpapa and the mountains. At least some semblance of peace had been offered in our childhood home—even if it meant being alone for the centuries ahead of us.
A cool wind rippled over our wings, tinged with a hint of…
Beta.
Our heart leaped, the searing pain over our alpha momentarily quieted.
I forced my human mind over my dragon’s control, seeking out the energy rising from below.
Same as the night before, the tether between us strengthened as we closed in on a cul-de-sac lined by homes.
The one at the circle’s end drew our focus.
We landed in front of the house and shifted into human form, naked and cloaked, my gaze roaming over the house as trembling took over my body. My attention moved toward the garage, to the set of stairs leading to a small balcony.
Yessss.
Would he turn me away as my alpha had? I bit my lip once more, refusing to spring forward as my dragon wished.
He wants us.
The energy between me and my beta swelled, and I found myself moving forward, hardly noting the wooden treads beneath my bare feet as I climbed the stairs to the balcony.
The tether solidified into an almost tangible force, tightening around my soul.
I could sense—physically feel —my beta’s consuming desire for me.
The door flew open before I could grasp the handle, and my insides swooned at the beauty of him, the perfection of his dark hair, blue-green eyes, and freshly shaved jaw.
His smooth, bare chest appeared chiseled from stone, lusciously bowed upper lip, and the one below full enough I wanted to sink my teeth into the soft flesh.
I could feel my beta’s desire, see it beneath the jeans, clutching at his groin, scent it in the air swirling around us—but my alpha’s true form had lusted for me in the same way.
And he’d denied us.
My eyes burned as I stood invisible on the edge of indecision over revealing myself and experiencing possible fulfillment or pain I didn’t wish to endure twofold.