Page 64 of Fated Obsessions

“What is going on?” I mumbled to myself and curled my fingers into my palm before placing it in my lap, as if I were holding on to that kiss he’d given me, keeping it close.

“I’ve finally found you,” he responded as if he thought I’d been asking him the question instead of thinking out loud.

I got up and walked toward the fire before I knew I moved. I stood there, not speaking, and watched as he uncoiled his big body from the pile of furs. I quickly averted my gaze when I saw his erection bounce slightly from the sudden shift of motion.

“Does your… kind not wear clothing?” I asked as I stared at the fire, the flames having dwindled down enough that they hardly gave off much more than a glow. But despite the low but ambient light in the cave, I could see well enough. Maybe too well, judging by what my dragon captor refused to wear.

“Does my nudity bother you?” His tone was nonjudgmental, more curious than anything.

I glanced at him, and the shadows and small flickering light from the fire accented all that hardness under his skin, all that male prowess. I felt that warm, familiar pool of wetness between my thighs just at the sight of him. His nostrils flared, and I felt my face heat, knowing he scented it, knowing he was very well aware he turned me on.

I forced myself to look away into those low flames. “No, it doesn’t bother me.” It was a bold-faced lie, but not one I was going to admit to.

There was a suspended moment of silence; then I heard some shuffling of materials and could picture him fully uncoiling that massively masculine body. I felt another wave of heat that had nothing to do with the fire moving through me. It was starting to piss me off.

“There will be people looking for me, wanting me back.” That was another lie, but he didn’t know that. Only Tilly would give a shit if I never came back.

“You mean the human male who touched what wasn’t his?” His voice was frighteningly cold… and so very close.

I turned around to face him and wrapped my arms around my waist. His words were as hard as the stone that surrounded us.

“Let the humans come. Let a hundred males come to try to take you from me.” Although his tone was even, there was no mistaking the violence laced within the words. “It would please me greatly to kill each and every one of them, to show you howstrong I am, how capable I am in protecting my female.” He stalked forward like the predator he was. “And taking their lives would be so easy. Humans are weak.”

Compared to his kind, yeah… yeah, we certainly were.

He kept moving forward, kept crowding me. “There is nothing I hold more precious than you, mate. So let them come, and they’ll see what a Dragao does to those who threaten what’s his.”

I should have been angered, frightened at the possessiveness and proprietary tone laced in each letter he spoke. I should have… but I wasn’t.

I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat.

“Tell me what you’re called,” he coaxed, drawled out in that sexy, deep voice of his.

I found myself answering before I could be stubborn about it. “Emma.”

His eyes seemed to become even more hooded, his desire thicker, surrounding him. “Emma,” he purred my name, and he made it sound so sexual.

He was crowding me, drowning me with his delicious scent. “What’s that smell?” I murmured though I’d meant to keep those words to myself.

“It’s me. It’s the scent of the Cord. It’s an aroma created strictly for you.” His voice was almost too low to hear, and gods, I loved the way it made me feel. “My body created it solely for you, Emma.”

My eyelids fluttered as if they were about to close on their own.

“It’s my pheromones, an aphrodisiac.”

Yes… it certainly was.

My brain was a scrambled mess, and I shook my head to clear it, knowing I had to focus on the important things. “Why did you take me?” I was surprised I’d been able to form a coherent word.

“Because you’re my mate, and that human male was going to hurt you.” He said that last part in a growl, and I did look at him then, surprised to hear the malice in his voice.

“And what does that mean… to be your mate?” Obviously I knew what mating meant, had seen many in the Pit participating in the sexual act as they hid behind darkened corners, sneaking away to shadowed and abandoned alcoves. Is that what he meant? Is that what he saw in me? Did he want me just as a sexual vessel?

And why the hell did that turn me on as much as it did?

I stared into his eyes as he came closer, and closer still, those dark, inky pools so beautiful yet so frightening.

“You understand what that means,” he said deeply, the sharpness to his voice like a tangible touch. “Youfeelwhat it means.”