Page 19

NINETEEN

Blaze thought being in human form would help him control himself, but now he knew the girl with her irresistible scent wasn't Diana's mate, he wanted to explode into dragon form and roar, "MINE!" to the skies.

Even as a man, he still barely kept control over himself. If he hadn't grabbed her sheet to use as a loincloth, she'd definitely be able to see how much he was attracted to her. How much he desperately wanted to grab her, rip Diana's dress off her, and have his way with her on the enormous bed behind him.

She was lovely, that was all. Lovely and irresistible and everything he could possibly want in a mate. She even had Diana's approval, for Diana would never go into a business partnership with someone she didn't trust implicitly.

But fated mates? Those were the things of fairytales. Diana had wanted to believe in them, because that was the only way she'd ever truly transform into a dragon – if she formed a mating bond with another dragon. Blaze had humoured her, for he couldn't deny he'd love to see her as a dragon, fulfilling the destiny of her bloodline, but he'd known in his heart that no fairytale awaited him.

Which was why Eden couldn't possibly be his fated mate, because they didn't exist. The scent that drew him in was just pheromones, stronger than a normal human's because of her shifter ancestry. It wasn't like he wanted to bite her, to initiate the bond...

At the thought, his already painful hard-on turned excruciating. All right, maybe he did want to bite her, in an animalistic, at the peak of their pleasure kind of thing. A love bite, that's all, that would leave a hickey on her neck. Not something that would actually draw blood...

He should kiss her, he decided. Then he'd know for sure when he tasted her that she wasn't his fated mate, that fairytales didn't exist, and the attraction between them was purely lust on his part. Then he could concentrate on finding Diana.

She let out a small sigh, surely a sound of impatience that he was dithering so long when they should be helping Diana.

Yes. Kiss her, and be done with it.