Page 7 of The Dragon’s Captured Heart (The Dragon Overlords #7)

Callum

T he walk back to my quarters within the palace was excruciating. With each step, I worried my dragon would betray me. My temples pounded with the effort of controlling the raging beast.

“Here,” I said, pushing open the door and walking inside.

Manners dictated I should have let her go in first. But common sense screamed that, at that moment, if I watched her walk past, I wouldn’t be able to maintain control of myself.

Keep it together.

The mantra was slowly failing, and the audible click as the door closed, leaving us alone, did nothing to help the insatiable lust concentrating far too strongly between my legs.

For her part, Madison—I’d finally remembered to ask for her name—seemed oblivious to my desires and the heat I knew had to be all but pouring off me.

“I hope you don’t expect me to just jump into bed with you,” she said, looking around.

I sighed at the acidity in her tone. “It would be great if you laid off the attitude for a bit.” I pointed down the hallway to our left. “For your information, the first door on the left is a spare room you can have. Assuming it’s up to your standards.”

Madison blinked. “Really?”

The surprise appeared genuine, though I didn’t know her well enough to be certain.

“No, it’s a sex dungeon where I intend to keep you for the rest of your days,” I said sarcastically. “Yes, really. Despite what you might think, you’re not actually my concubine, Madison.”

“Oh.”

My dragon flared once more. There was no way that was disappointment in her voice.

Was it?

I shut down that thought immediately, trying to bury it in memories of Noa. My mate. This was not at all going according to plan, and I needed to get myself back under control. Full control. No more idle thoughts of wondering what Madison might sound like while I tongue-fucked her into oblivion.

ENOUGH!

I shouted the thought mentally as my mind wandered even while telling it not to wander.

I should’ve just walked out of the damn palace instead of going back for her. Things would be so much easier.

“Well, thank you,” Madison said when I didn’t reply. “So, what, uh, what now then?”

My stomach betrayed my answer, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in hours.

“Food,” I said bluntly. “I guess we’ll try to figure out what to do next after that. I think better with a full stomach.”

I crossed the living room, heading to the kitchen at the rear of my apartment.

“Figure it out?” Madison echoed. “What’s to figure out? I’m your prisoner. That seems pretty ‘figured out’ to me.”

“No, you aren’t,” I said dismissively.

“I’m not? So, I don’t have to do what you want?”

I waved at her, opening the fridge. “There’s the door. Have fun. Go explore or whatever you want to do.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Me?” I saw the plastic tub I wanted and pulled it out, tossing it on the counter along with some fresh bread. “I’m going to make some sandwiches with leftover steak slices from last night. Then I’m going to eat them and be much happier.”

Madison sighed loudly. She did not, I noted, head for the door.

“What now?”

“I’m a food hostage,” she pouted.

I glanced over at her, careful not to meet her eyes. I couldn’t afford a repeat of the battlefield. Her cheeks were dimpled as she smiled at her comment. A joke, then.

For a moment, grateful for the thawing of tensions between us, I let my guard down and smiled back at her.

A moment was all it took.

Our eyes locked before I could process what was happening, and the world slid to a halt. A big, gaping hole waited for me. The abyss at the center of swirling circles of sunset-tinted ocean waters, the whirlpools sucking me in before I could stop it.

Down I fell. Toward the center of this woman. This human . She swallowed my world like the first day I’d laid eyes on her in my dragon form. I tried to fight the current. To assume control of myself, but it was no use. My dragon bellowed triumphantly, steering us into the storm. Not away from it.

This wasn’t right. I knew it wasn’t.

I had a mate. Her scale was on my chest.

Fighting the rising tide, I brought my hand up. Everything happened in slow motion as if I were stuck in molasses. Eventually, however, I managed to brush my fingertips against the deep blue scale adhered to my breastbone.

The link between Madison and I vanished, and my body abruptly returned to my control. I spun wildly as muscles obeyed commands I’d never stopped giving, and I bashed my face off the fridge, dropping the tub of steak leftovers onto my big toe.

“Sonofabitch!” I howled, grabbing my face as pain lanced out from where my nose had made contact with the cold metal. “Damn it.”

Warmth spilled into my hand, and I brought it back to see red smeared across my palm.

“Unbelievable,” I growled, snatching a paper towel and jamming it up both nostrils.

At that point, I heard the snickering. Madison had both hands over her mouth and looked on the verge of exploding. Tears built in the corners of her eyes as her entire upper body shook.

“Something funny?” I asked through the blood-stained paper towel.

All at once, the dam broke, and Madison howled with laughter. “I don’t believe it,” she sputtered, cheeks red, tears streaming down her face now as she let it go. “We spent so long fighting you, hurling tanks, missiles, bullets, whatever we could think of, and none of it did a thing. Boy, did we screw up by not using old fridges as ammunition!”

She cackled wildly, falling into one of the sofas nearby.

“Haha, very funny,” I said, pulling the paper towel from my nose.

Blood spattered onto my shirt as it popped free, but nothing more continued to flow. My nosebleed was over.

I tossed the paper towel out, then, grimacing at my shirt, pulled it off and hurled it through the open door into my bedroom before washing my hands and face in the sink. Only then did I pick up the steak container.

As I stood up, I could feel Madison’s eyes on me with near-vibrating intensity.

“What is that?” she asked, pointing at me.

And the blue scale on my chest. A scale very different from my ruby-red dragon.