Chapter Nineteen

Silas

I'm going to fucking kill Caleb.

I stared down at my cock, so hard it was straining against its limits, mere inches away from her plump pussy with its lips glistening, ready to accept me deep within. My dragon roared and fought me. My hips swayed closer to her. Nearly touching tip to opening. It would be so easy. Just step up and push in. I could take her right there, right then, and make her mine. Ours. I wanted it. She wanted it, judging by how she pushed her hips back toward me, trying to capture my cock that way.

The door shook. "Silas. I'm sorry. But we have to go. Right now."

A silent groan deflated me.

Meeting Chloe's eyes, I apologized with a look. We'd been so close. But whatever Caleb wanted, it was urgent. The unease and worry in his voice was evident to anyone who knew him. That wasn't like him. He was as calm and composed as they came. For Caleb to interrupt us—and there was no doubt he knew what we were up to in there—it had to be something serious.

Why, I wondered. Thought my decision was already made as I pulled up my pants, doing up the button and belt I'd undone while eating her ass—a memory that brought a smile to my face as I recalled the surprise in her gasp. A few seconds later, Chloe had properly settled the dress around her waist once more and, with a shrug, pointed at the door.

We were as ready as we would ever be. There was no disguising what we'd been up to anyway. Her sex was thick on the air and my lips. No dragon would miss that. So, I opened the door and hit Caleb with a hard glare. Brother or not, I was very unhappy just then.

"This had better be good."

Caleb's nostrils flared, and his eyes flicked past me to Chloe, but only for a split-second. Then he was all business again as he confirmed what he'd suspected we were doing in Jennsen's changeroom.

"Father is looking for you," he said tautly. "Something's wrong. He says it's urgent. That you need to get to the house as soon as possible."

I rolled my eyes. "He's probably got some made-up evidence Chloe is here to cause us all kinds of harm or something," I said, scoffing.

"He didn't say a thing about her," Caleb replied. "But he was angry. Not gloating."

I pondered that for a moment, leaving the changeroom and the smell of Chloe's perfect pussy behind. Not that the thoughts of it were far. I wanted more. To taste her once more. To take her and make her mine, watch her body shake as I fucked her hard somewhere she could properly cry out and enjoy herself.

Reaching back, I took her hand. Making quick arrangements for payment with Jennsen, we left the store with Chloe holding her clothes in one hand and still wearing the dress. I kept picturing it on the floor, pooled around her naked body, even as we took to the air and winged it toward the family estate.

"What the hell set him off?" I pondered out loud, knowing I had to get my mind off Chloe's body, or I would be walking into a meeting with my father with a raging hard-on tucked up under my belt. I didn't need that distraction. Not if it was serious.

"I don't know," Caleb said. "But he'd been calming down the past few days without you two around. Then something happened to set him off again."

"We haven't done anything new or unusual," I muttered. "So, what changed?"

Nobody had any ideas.

We landed at the estate and, with Chloe on my arm, I strode into the house. Although Father hadn't asked for her presence, I intended him to know we were mates, that where I went, so did she. He would just have to deal with that.

"He's in his study," Abby said, meeting us in the hallway. "Waiting."

"Thanks, sis," I said, giving her a one-armed hug and kiss on the top of her head.

"Be careful," she warned. "He's pissed. I've not seen him like this. Not even when you brought her home."

Abby didn't look at Chloe when she spoke. My eyes tightened in disapproval, but Abby didn't care. She turned and left.

"Let's get this over with," I said, walking with heavy steps toward my father's study. Whatever bullshit he'd gotten worked up over, I wanted him to know I was coming, and I wasn't happy about it.

Caleb trailed behind. I didn't blame him. I'd avoid father if I could, too, when he was in one of his moods.

Dropping Chloe's arm at the door, I grabbed the handle and flung it open, striding in, eager to get the confrontation over with. I had a mate who needed my full attention.

My father was standing in front of his desk, arms crossed, a ferocious glare on his always stern face. Fires burned in the corners of his eyes, not a good sign. His thick chest rose and fell at a slightly inflated rate.

"What do you—" I stopped talking upon seeing the second person in the room, standing off to the left. "You."

"Silas," my father said stiffly, barely holding back his anger. "You know Caine."

"Of course I do," I growled, unhappy to see the head of our biggest rival in our house. What the hell was going on?

Caine, who'd been standing calmly against one of the bookcases, came fully erect as Chloe followed me into the room to stand at my side. "What is she doing here?" he snarled, taking a step forward.

"Lay a hand on her, and I promise it will be the last thing you ever do," I said icily, shifting my body between her and Caine.

Caine stopped short, glaring at me before turning to my father. "She needs to go."

"She stays," I snapped before my father could respond. "What the fuck do you want?"

"What I want? What I want is for you to take that insult to my family and get rid of her," Caine barked. "You reject my daughter and then parade around this pathetic thing in public the next day as if she's somehow superior? You have insulted my family in public with your actions. You will atone for your actions or else."

"Fix it?" I chuckled. "Seriously? You're telling me that? As if I'm the one who organized that party and brought your daughter into it? I didn't have a damn thing to do with that."

My eyes never left my father. It was all his fault. How dare he try to lay the blame at my feet! I hadn't wanted the attention, nor did I want him to try to set me up with anyone. It wasn't my problem, and I intended both of them to know it.

"Caine makes a good point," my father said. "You did humiliate his family publicly."

"Strong word," Caine said, disagreeing slightly. "But he did insult us."

I shook my head. "Why do you want me to take your daughter anyway? You two hate one another."

Caine shook his head in disappointment. "We're businessmen, Silas. We recognize a smart deal when we see one. Working to bring our houses together will ensure nobody can challenge us. Our only competition will be one another."

"That's wonderful for you," I said, not believing it for a second. Both clearly thought they would get the upper hand. They were playing one another, and both were blind to the fact the other was doing it, too. "But I'm still not doing it. I'm happy with Chloe. If your ego is so fragile you can't handle it, that's not my fucking problem."

Caine stepped forward sharply, leveling a finger at me. "If you don't, then we will be forced to act, Silas. Your entire house will have to be taught a lesson."

Drawing myself up to my full height, I walked right up to the head of our biggest rival and stared down my nose at him. "Try it," I whispered coldly. "If you so much as touch a single hair on her head, I will kill you. I will rip your throat out and feed it to your children before I do the same to them. Every single one of your house will fall before me if you so much as breathe in her direction. This, I swear. Don't test me Caine. You'll regret it."

I locked my gaze on him and didn't look away. He tried to match my glare, but he couldn't. Finally, he looked away, stepping past me toward the door, with one last look at my father.

"Two weeks," he said. "You have two weeks, Azarel. Rein him in and fix this. Or I will."

Then he was gone. I watched him go, resisting the urge to snap his neck right then and there.

I succeeded. Barely.

"I hate that fucking man," I snarled once he was out of sight.

"He's right."

I spun, my fury fixated on my father now.

"No, he's not," I said stonily. "I didn't insult him. You did. This is your fault. I'm not going to clean up your mistake when I have clearly told you dozens of times already I don't want your help when it comes to finding a mate. Got it?"

"Don't you come into my own house and yell at me!"

I lost my temper. "You summoned me! I wouldn't be here if you could handle this on your own!"

Azarel was in my face in an instant. "This isn't my problem to handle. You did this. You rejected a perfectly good mate proposal. If you had just made the smart move, the proper move for this family like I tried to get you to do, then none of this would have happened!"

"The proper move?" I mocked. "If you had made proper moves, Father, then we wouldn't be where we are now with our power diminishing. We wouldn't be afraid of any reprisals from Caine or Seth. We would have laughed him out of the house and told him to go fuck himself. Instead, you're bowing before him all because you won't make the right choices for our house."

"Like what? Your stupid human proposal?" he sneered.

"Yes!" I shouted. "Exactly like that! If you'd acted and gotten it passed, I would be governor of all the human territories now. The power that would come from having so much territory would be undeniable. The neutral families would flock to our banner. We would have nothing to fear from anyone for decades, if not centuries. Our power would be unrivalled. But you refuse to accept this, so instead, we're holding onto our position by a hair. Because you're too stubborn and scared to change!"

The flames dancing high in his eyes told me I may have crossed a line. It was the second time I'd called him scared, and he looked angrier than I could ever remember seeing him. He strode toward me, and I resigned myself to the inevitable. I was going to have to fight him. My own father.

"Father," Caleb said, sliding in between us. "Wait."

Azarel came up short. He loved Caleb. I'm sure he would have loved to turn everything over to Caleb. The son who had a proper mate. Unfortunately for him, Caleb wanted nothing to do with being the head of the family.

"Why should I?" he asked his younger son.

"One, because you can't beat him," Caleb said. "And you'd know that if you took a moment and remembered. Hate me for saying it if you must, but you know it's true. Secondly, because while yes, Silas did create a bit of a mess by bringing home a human mate, that doesn't exactly cancel out everything else."

"What do you mean?"

"Father, our house has been stagnant for a long time," Caleb said, taking my side in the argument, something he rarely did. Not because he disliked me, but because we usually got more done if he remained neutral. "We need to do something, or we risk losing it all. Father, you need to act."

I watched my father stare at his younger son.

Please, listen to him. Please.