Chapter Fifteen

Chloe

"Are you okay?" Silas asked, pulling back from the kiss as the shock rocketed through me.

"Uh-huh," I said, glad for the grip he had on my waist, my legs shaking worse than trying to go down the stairs after leg day at the gym.

Falling at that point would have been a poor choice. It was a long way down. Thankfully, Silas continued to hold me tight, our bodies pressed together. Touching. His fingertips were spread wide, finding plenty of skin thanks to the glani, which was flapping wildly in the wind.

"Are you sure?" he was concerned, brow wrinkling furiously as his eyes searched mine. "I—"

I lunged up, capturing his lips a second time before he could say anything else. It wasn't what I should have been doing. My mission called for me to find the location of the dragon homeland. I could do that by mapping out our location using the very stars themselves. They shone so brightly over the Dragon Isles because of the lack of light, and triangulating our position would be easy.

That was what I should have been doing.

But what I wanted was to give in to the building connection between Silas and me. It was hard to even consider resisting with his warmth enveloping me, dragging me deeper into him.

"See, I told you it was okay," I said, pulling back for some air.

"It seems that way," he replied, lips curving upward in that same smug shit-eating grin all men get after realizing a woman actually was into them.

"This was cheating, though," I pointed out as we started to move again.

"Cheating? What was?"

"Floating in the air under the stars and kissing a woman? Oh, come on, that is so cheesy," I said. "How am I supposed to resist that?"

He grinned. "You liked that one, did you?"

I smacked his chest. "How many times have you used that move? Not that it matters. I'm probably the first human who's ever experienced it. Basically guaranteed success for a kiss."

"If you hated it that badly, you wouldn't have come back for more," he countered, eyebrows dancing.

I licked my lips slowly. "True," I said, looking down, then up at him through my eyebrows, trying not to acknowledge just how much fun I was having with him. It was supposed to be a job. It was supposed to be fake.

Not real …

Lost in our thoughts, Silas took us soaring through the skies, his body temperature spreading through me, keeping me from feeling the chill of the night. Eventually, he swooped down, depositing us on a hillside above the sea. Below us, the waves crashed against the shore with rhythmic timing that could easily lull me to sleep.

If my heart wasn't slamming into my chest wall at a million miles an hour, filling me with nerves I couldn't control.

"This is beautiful," I remarked, the moon rising over the horizon off to our right. "How many women have you brought here?"

He snorted. "There have been no women. Not in that sense at least."

"I'm the first?" I asked doubtfully.

"Not in the strictest sense, no. But you are the first who's been more than just fun," he admitted uncomfortably.

"Why did you do this?" I asked, voicing a question I'd been curious about since the start. "Choose me as your mate, I mean. You've been amazing to me, but it seems that by being human, I've brought you nothing but troubles."

My voice wavered slightly at the end, but I managed to keep it together. If I lost my composure, I would be forced to explain why. Why the idea of someone fighting as hard as he had to for me was so foreign to me. Something I wasn't used to.

And that part of my childhood—foster family after foster family, being abandoned by the system, left to fend for myself—wasn't part of my current identity. But it was what drove my need to know why he had chosen me. Nobody picked me like he did. Ever.

Why was it different? I wanted to know. Needed to.

Silas took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. I glanced over at him. He was staring out at the ocean and its infinite vastness, but I could tell he wasn't really seeing it. His focus was elsewhere. Inward. I let him gather his answer, taking his time. We weren't in a rush.

"All my life," he said at last, "it was expected of me to take over for my father at some point. He's a believer in the old school. He won't let it happen until I'm mated. Not to just anyone, though. It has to be someone he approves of. Like I'm just another asset of his to be managed, not his own flesh and blood."

Wordlessly, I reached over and took Silas' hand in mine. The anger in his voice was disguising pain. I wanted him to know it was okay, that he could let it out.

"For years now, ever since I turned eighteen, in fact, he's paraded women before me. All of whom he's chosen. Women who fit his dumb definition of what a dragon woman in this position should be. Meek. Submissive. Etc."

"Be seen, not heard," I muttered.

"Pretty much. They've all been the exact opposite of the type of woman I think I would like. Someone strong. With a personality and brain. To stand with me, not behind me!" He clenched his hand into a fist.

I leaned over, putting my head on his shoulder while slowly prying his fingers apart before sliding mine between them. He stiffened slightly but only for a moment.

"It's driven a wedge between him and me," he continued, his thumb starting to stroke the back of my hand. "Every time I say no, he gets a little more frustrated with me, and every time he brings yet another one before me, I grow angrier at him and his unwillingness to change ways. Then you were there, and for once, things were different."

I perked up slightly as the answer to my question began to reveal itself.

"I didn't expect it to go this well, though," he said with a chuckle, squeezing my hand. "That's been an unexpected surprise."

"A welcome one, I hope."

He nodded.

"So, then, you want me to stay?" I asked, unsure why that was the question to ask.

That's not true. You know why you asked it.

I wanted to be wanted, desired. Mission or not, it was something I'd never really had before. Not from someone I was interested in. Men had lusted for me. That was a part of my missions I didn't enjoy, but they were idiots when they thought with their cocks and not their brains. A hint of cleavage or the idea of a midnight tryst, and half the time, they would spill any secret I wanted.

Silas wanted me for my brain as well. And that … that felt good.

"Yes," he said. "At first, I might have said no because I didn't really believe this could be a long-term thing. But now … Now, I've kissed you. You make my dragon antsy, something no other woman has done. I'm having fun."

I smiled at him, trying to disguise the topsy-turvyness of my stomach. "Are you sure? It's causing some friction in your family. My presence, I mean."

"It's pissing off my father, you mean."

"Yeah, essentially."

Silas grimaced. "Too bad, I think. I've pissed him off enough over the years. It's nothing new. This time, I'm doing something for me. If he can't see past his prejudice and be happy for his son, then perhaps … I don't know. We'll deal with that when we get there."

"Your father wants to kill me," I pointed out. "We should probably plan for that."

"I will not let that happen," Silas growled suddenly, banishing the silence around us. "I swear to you, Chloe, right now, I will never let him harm a hair on you. I will protect you."

"If you're around," I said, a shiver puckering the skin along my spine at the sudden intensity he was putting out. "But all he has to do is find me when I'm alone."

"Then you won't be alone until this is settled," he said firmly. "I will keep you safe. No matter what."

"Okay," I said, letting myself be pulled into him, my head resting on his chest. His heartbeat was strong.

"He won't go that far," Silas said in a softer tone. "He knows better."

"You think."

He grunted. "True. I promise you, though, I'll find a way to make it work. Make this work."

This. There was a "this" now, between us. I smiled as I lay there on his chest, enjoying the closeness to him. His giant arms enclosing me in their grasp made me feel not just safe but something else.

"We should get going." Silas abruptly pulled back, looking away.

He must have felt the moment shifting, too. The increase in tension as the silence intensified.

"Yeah?" I asked, getting to my feet as he hopped up.

A part of me was a little disappointed he didn't push it further, but I knew it was for the best. Things were moving faster, and I needed a chance to collect my thoughts. To think about how to proceed and whether I was ready for more.

Physically, my body wanted it right then on the top of the hill with the surf below. But if there was a thing between us, I had to consider that as well. I was on a mission that could go for the rest of my life.

I needed to do it right.

"Big day tomorrow. More of that," he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction we'd come from.

"Another party?" I asked, not bothering to force myself to sound happy.

"Always more parties," he laughed, stepping back to create some room for himself. "Better get used to it. We're going to—"

Whoosh.

I blinked as he was suddenly cut-off midsentence. Then my eyes popped out of my head as I clued into the fact he wasn't there.

"Silas?" I asked, looking around. "Silas?"

A dull thud from somewhere behind me was the only hint. I spun, looking down the hill at the shoreline.