11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cyrus

S he's singing again, her voice unexpectedly lovely. Untrained, but all the sweeter for it.

I knew it would be torture to be this close and not have her, but it's even harder than I expected. It makes it worse knowing that her last boyfriend was such an ass. I mean, it works out well for me, but I hate that someone hurt my beautiful flame.

I want to show her exactly how she deserves to be treated. With care and concern, straight up adoration. I want to kneel at her feet and splay my heart open for her. The more time I spend with her, even just the brief interactions we have around the house, the more I want.

Her singing turns to humming, and I grit my teeth. Such a simple noise, but it destroys me. My dick throbs, picturing her lips around me, those noises vibrating against my sensitive flesh. Moving without thought, I'm in front of her studio door before I realize what I'm doing.

Shit, what was I thinking? What did I plan to do? Barge into her studio and kiss her?

Forcing myself to walk away, I go straight upstairs, through my bedroom to the bathroom, and turn the shower on as cold as it'll go.

Maybe I should call Midas. If I talked to him, he might understand why I can't wait any longer. We're close enough to her birthday that the law shouldn't apply, right? This is a special circumstance. It's not like this has ever happened before.

But it's a useless hope. Midas can't change the law just for me. It would set a bad precedent, and he'd need approval from the priests.

Stripping out of my clothes and stepping into the shower, I try to leave behind the tension I've been carrying. The icy water snaps me back to my senses, invigorating and calming at the same time. Cooling my blood.

In the massive shower, I allow myself to shift into my dragon form, needing to stretch my wings. Mindful of Midas and Jeslyn's wishes, I've been careful to stay in human form most of the time so that Finley doesn't discover something they don't want her to, but it's not like she'll come into my bathroom .

Fuck, now I'm imagining her coming up here and finding me like this. But it's not shock at discovering a dragon that I picture. Instead she's in awe and completely unafraid. She steps right into the open shower and runs a hand up my massive dragon dick. Fuck!

My scales shiver. Fuck!

My body tenses. I can nearly feel her little hand trying to wrap the width of me. Fuuuuuck!

A roar builds in my chest. A roar I can't let out. I open my mouth and guzzle the water from the shower head, stifling myself with a long cold drink.

This would be so much easier if Finley knew about dragons. If she knew, she would understand why I have to keep her at arm's length. As it is, I can feel her frustration and disbelief every time I say she's too young. She thinks I'm making excuses, playing with her. She doesn't understand how serious it really is.

After my shower, I don't bother shifting back. I use my long dragon nail to push the button that opens the sliding floor-to-ceiling doors leading onto the rooftop. Within seconds, I'm in the air. This isn't how I want to work out the tension, but it'll do.

I don't go far. Just circle the building a few times, noting the four dragons I have on guard. None of us can be seen. By the goddess's blessing, we can hide ourselves from humans when we want.

I signal to two of the dragons before dropping to the rooftop to get a report.

"Ra'i," Damian says, shifting back to his human form. He bows, his naked body tense, cock hard. Violeta lands beside him, her breasts tight despite the warm air. The three of us have had a dalliance or two when we were young. Dragons aren't particularly rigid in our sexual preferences or exclusive until we find our mates.

One look at them and it's clear why they think I signaled them down here.

"Report," I say, a little sharper than necessary. I don't want them to get any ideas. While it would be nice to work off this frustration with an orgasm, I've had no interest in anyone but Finley since the first moment I saw her. It's been six years since my cock has known anything but my hand, and I don't plan to change that now.

"There's been no other sightings of the Silver Horde in the city," Damian says.

"Good."

"Should we cut back on the guard?" Violeta asks. "Their nearness could have been coincidental. "

"No. Keep a guard on the building, and at least two dragons on Finley any time she leaves."

"Isn't that overkill?" Violeta tilts her head to one side.

"No. It's not."

She steps closer, her hand trailing up my arm. "You seem tense, Ra'i. Maybe—"

"No." I shift back into dragon form before the two of them can get any ideas. There's only one person I want.

Unable to stop myself, I fly down to the balcony outside Finley's new studio. Perched on the railing, I watch her. She's facing the massive windows with an easel in front of her, looking right toward me but not seeing me.

She looks lovely, bathed in the golden light of early evening. She's got her hair pulled up in a messy bun with loose tendrils falling to frame her face. Her tongue is between her teeth as she concentrates, and there's a smudge of charcoal across her chin. She's adorable like this, so focused on her art. I want to ask her a million questions about what she's working on, what inspires her, and what her dreams are for the future.

Maybe I've been approaching this all wrong. We could be friends. I could use this time to woo her rather than pushing her away. It doesn't have to lead to anything more yet.

She keeps reaching her hand to the back of her neck, like she's irritated by something. Maybe the tag? Then, without warning, she pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it across the room, scowling at it. A pink lace bra is all that covers her soft skin. And it's almost completely see-through. Her breasts aren't what I would call large, but they're perfect. Pert and pointy, they lift as her chest expands on a sigh. Her tight, rosy nipples poke through the lace, begging me to pinch them and pull.

My claws tighten on the balcony ledge, bending the metal. The scraping sound has her looking up, but when she doesn't see anything she shakes it off as nothing. She stretches, lengthening her soft belly and pushing out her chest.

Pulse erratic, it's all I can do to keep from charging through the window like the beast I am and carrying her back to my den like the dragons of old. I want to hide her away, hoard her for myself, lay her out on top of everything I treasure, and ravage her until she's thoroughly and completely mine.

Fuck! What the hell am I doing?

Deep breath in.

If I charge in there and take her now, Midas will banish me from the horde. Finley will lose her access to the goddess's pool.

Deep breath out .

She puts her hands on her hips and stares at the painting, then out the window, right through me. I want to drop my shields so she'll see me. Really see me. But what would that accomplish? It would just scare her.

I'm about to turn to leave when she picks up the easel and repositions at an angle so the light hits the sketch she's working on.

No longer blocked from my view, I see exactly what she's drawing. Me . Naked like I was the other morning. There's none of the color, and she's got the tattoo—which isn't really a tattoo—slightly wrong, but it's me.

I preen, flapping my wings, with a smile. She's thinking of me. It's time I start showing her exactly how much she means to me. I just need to do it from a distance so I don't fuck up and destroy our future.