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Her control and strength with magic were above reproach.

She was scrappy enough that she could handle one or two dragons coming at her.

Her history with the Coven made sure she had a surplus of patience when dealing with obstinate people.

She was proactive…though that sometimes looked more like recklessness.

She passed her morning away contemplating these thoughts before the lock on the door rattled open and Chloe entered, giggling in the arms of a tall brown-haired, blue-eyed man Rowan had been seeing with increasing regularity.

Chloe’s good mood dropped to immediate concern as she took in the visage of her friend.

“Umm honey. Do you mind getting us some coffee from downstairs?” The blonde asked, dropping her keys off on a tray near the door.

“I don’t mind at all.” He dropped a kiss on Chloe’s forehead, threw Rowan a soft look and shut the door gently behind him.

“That was cute.” Rowan tried not to squirm under the tight embrace her friend gave her.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked, cutting right to the heart of the issue.

“What gave you the idea that anything was wrong?”

“Oh Ro, you don’t watch TV unless you’re trying to ignore something going on in that crowded little mind of yours and you definitely don’t do it anywhere but at home.”

Rowan sighed. “Alessandro doesn’t want to have sex anymore.”

Chloe pulled back to look at her in the eyes, and she raised an eyebrow. “Want to try that again, but like with the actual meat of the problem?”

“Therapists suck.” Rowan groaned and melted into the fluff of the couch, crossing her arms in front of her. “His beast wanted to mark me, so he thinks it’s too dangerous to continue wandering into the lands of amazing sex in case he loses control.”

“I’ve heard of a host and their beasts being at odds over small matters but never over choosing a mate.” Chloe furrowed her eyebrows. “He must be quite stubborn.”

“He is.” Rowan scoffed, “And can you believe he told me I have nothing to offer but sex, so I’d make a terrible queen?”

Chloe gasped, “He did not!”

Rowan unwound her arms and scratched her cheek. “Actually, he didn’t. Now that I’m thinking it over, I might have guessed what he was feeling—but he didn’t deny it!”

Chloe leaned her chin on her fist. “Just because he didn’t deny it doesn’t mean you guessed were right, Rowan. In fact, it sounds like maybe you projected your own ideas onto him.”

“I should’ve taken my chances at the Brood and gone to Louisa.”

“But your first choice was to come here, almost as if you were looking for this conversation rather than retail or blackout therapy.” Chloe grinned. “I’m quite proud of your healthy choice.”

Rowan threw a throw pillow in her direction but it didn’t give her the satisfaction she sought.

“I know being the youngest sister to three amazing women has given you the impression that you have to impress people for their approval, but in relationships as intimate as your insane sex one with Alessandro, you don’t have to.

Just being you is enough and his beast realizes it.

I’ve worked with a couple of shifters and more often than not, if there’s conflict between a host and his beast, it’s due to the host side being slow on the uptake. ”

“The thing is that I don’t want to be marked by a shifter. I have commitment issues!”

Chloe nodded her agreement. “Oh, I definitely don’t think you’re ready for that level of commitment.

You haven’t even explored your true magic limit with everything that’s been happening to the shifters.

Your relationship with magic is the most important one you’ve had up to this point.

Until you figure out where you stand there, I don’t think you’ll be ready to explore a new relationship. ”

“You’re right.” Rowan grudgingly accepted the analysis and pouted. “By the time I get my shit together enough to even think about considering it, he’ll have moved on.”

Chloe patted her arm. “Now I know you’re really bummed out.

The Dragon King hasn’t found someone to sit at his side for a couple hundred years.

I don’t think another potential mate is gonna pop up in the months it’ll take to get where you need to be.

My dad said no one has ever gotten an offer of the bite before, so keep that in mind. ”

Rowan blinked in surprise. “Huh?”

Chloe nodded. “Yep. you’re the first person who has ever gotten his lamps to go off.”

Something big settled on Rowan’s chest as her cellphone’s alarm went off and she stood. “I have to go.”

Chloe glanced towards the clock on her wall and nodded. “Please be careful with the sphinx. Try not to let what just happened overwhelm you.”

Rowan’s bravado sounded false even to her own ears. “I’m a professional, Chlo.”

The door opened, and the brunette walked in with three cups of coffee on a tray. He looked surprised to see her standing. “Leaving already?”

“Try not to cry about it too much, Tomas.”

As if . If the sexual tension that had filled the room as soon as Chloe’s eyes landed on her new boy toy was anything to go by, he was going to have a better time than she was.

She gratefully took the cup he offered and phased away.

XOXOXOXO

Rowan was wary of returning home, but she needed to collect a few tools for the sphinx lair that Zeva had specifically requested.

It didn’t take long to note two things.

One, the cabin had remained exactly where Rowan had last seen it, an oddity to be sure.

Two-there was a familiar energy pulsing from the direction of her bedroom. She bit her lip.

He had stayed. One half of her cheered, the other closed its eyes and held its breath.

She marched forward even as troubled as her mind was until she saw his broad back, taking up the space of her doorway.

Okay, he hadn’t stayed. He was returning. Dressed in a pair of light jeans, brown boots, and a brown trench coat. His curls were still drying and the scent that radiated off of him could only be a fresh wash.

“I thought you would still be gone.” His voice was gruff.

“I thought you would have stayed gone.” She rebuked.

The smile he flashed her when he turned to look at her showed how much her back-talk amused him.

The poor fool.

“I needed to apologize.” It was then that she noticed he was holding yet another plant. The vines that had grown around the room from his last one plant were still there. She’d only gotten to juggling three of her chakra points at once; she was unsure what would happen when she got all seven.

This plant, however, was in full health, gorgeous forest green leaves full of yellow and red dots. On the saucer a single black scale caught the light of the sun flooding the room now, it reflected dozens of rainbows. Her jaw dropped as she looked at it.

“Isn’t this-?”

“One of my scales.” He answered before she finished her question. “If you ever need me, a drop of blood on it will summon me.”

Blue eyes widened with shock. “That’s insane.” She whispered. “There’s no need to go this far.”

“I was on the verge of merging our souls without either of our consent. It is the most heinous thing a shifter can do. You could order my head on a platter and everyone would agree it was the right decision, but because you are not a shifter and I don’t foresee you taking that choice, this is the best penance I can give. ”

She let out a heavy sigh as she walked out of the room to put the plants amongst her growing collection at the entrance of the cabin. He fell into step behind her.

Before she surrendered it to the consideration of the cabin, she plucked the scale from the saucer. “After you leave, shall I act like we never met?”

She didn’t turn to him as she asked this question, but she felt his tension.

“Yes.”

She held her head up and gave a nod as she shot magic into the scale, turning it into dust that she blew from her fingertips.

“I didn’t need you before. I won’t need you in the future.” She turned to face him, the tears of her anger rolling down her chin. “Fuck off, Dragon King.”

Swirling rainbow eyes raked over her before the cabin itself ejected him from its walls.

There was the softest thrill of satisfaction in her as the view of the ocean swirled for a moment before settling into a view of icy mountain peaks.

XOXOXOXOXO

Alessandro landed on the sand of the beach unceremoniously.

He laid, sprawled out, face up towards the sun, not quite knowing how to react to suddenly being ejected from the confines of the elf’s home.

Anger so fierce it heated the blood in his vein swept through him. It reminded him of his youth when his celestial magic made its first appearance. Panic bled into that anger, chilling his blood enough to give him room to breathe. In the end, he settled on amusement.

He covered his face with his hands as he laughed. What the fucks were the fates thinking? Was it some sort of grand joke from the universe?

The woman never ceased to entertain. Fuck. He wanted her.

He rolled his head to dispel the tension that little conversation had merited and he phased from the beach.

Time to focus.

XOXOXOXO

The Dragon King was upset. It was a minute observation on Naseem’s part, but there was a certain ice in the rainbow eyes of his lord that he had only known to be there on rare occasions.

He had expected it after Elaine had passed, but Alessandro had been more relaxed and less severe than Naseem had known him to be when his dragons failed to live up to his expectation of near perfection.

While the Dragon King examined the demonstration of the children’s combat training, he weaved in and out, correcting gently and recognizing the students who had perfected their stances.

The children were nervous. They could feel, like Naseem could, that there was something off about their leader.