Chapter Thirty-One

Silas

"Don't be mad," I called, pushing open the door with my shoulder. "But I may have gotten more than just the red one. I just want to see your body in all of them. And out of them, too, come to think of it."

I dropped the bags on the floor, letting the door close behind me before twisting the lock shut.

There was no response from Chloe.

"Stop rolling your eyes," I muttered, shaking my head, imagining the tiny smile creeping across her perfect soft lips. She liked to be spoiled, even if she refused to admit it. "Just enjoy it."

There was still silence. I frowned, glancing at the wall. I'd been gone far longer than planned. There was no way she was still asleep.

Was there?

Silently, I padded toward the bedroom of our spacious villa, listening intently for the sounds of her breathing. Had she gone to the beach, perhaps, to start tanning? I grinned, imagining the tan lines I would see by the time we returned to the Isles. Lines that would start at her shoulders but dip deliciously across her breasts, inviting thorough inspection, touching, and maybe a bit of tasting, too, if I included the ones between her legs.

I salivated slightly at the idea of spreading her legs and tasting her warm pussy once more, her juices dribbling down my face as she ground her hips against my mouth, my tongue drawing slow shapes across her clit until she cried out and shook.

My cock stirred again, ready to be buried deep inside her. I wondered if she would be ready for more just yet. I knew I would never not be ready. Not for her. The curves of her body just drove my dragon and me wild. We were insatiable when it came to Chloe.

"Hey," I whispered, pushing the already ajar door fully open. "Wake up sleepyhe—"

The bed was empty.

"Chloe?" I called, peeking into the bathroom in case she was in the shower and I'd somehow not heard the water running.

She wasn't there either.

She's probably at the beach.

I strode down the hallway and onto the sprawling deck that overlooked the private beach a hundred feet away. My eyes were focused on the surf, scanning from left to right for any sign of Chloe and her yellow bikini.

Nothing.

Frowning unhappily, I walked all the day down to the beach itself, warm yellow-white sand shifting underfoot.

Where the hell was she?

There was no sign of her anywhere. A pair of swimmers several hundred feet away, two couples past them. The other side had a half-dozen overly tanned sunbathers and a young boy building a sandcastle twice as tall as he was. If I wasn't growing worried, I would have paused to admire his gusto.

"Chloe?" I called as I jogged back to the villa house, looking through every room. "Chloe, where are you? This isn't funny!"

Everywhere I looked was empty. Stifling the growing knot in my stomach, I searched counters, bedside tables, and the bed itself for any sign of a note or indication of where she might have gone.

Nothing.

Something is wrong.

There was no sense in panicking. So, I didn't. If someone had followed us there from the Isles or if one of the locals had somehow decided to become an idiot, there was little I could do at that point. They would contact me and demand a ransom. Then I would go to the meet and wait for them to show up.

When they did, I would kill them. All of them. I didn't care who they were or what they wanted. I would burn them alive, rip their bodies into shreds, snap their necks. Whatever it took to get my Chloe back.

"Mine." The growl, perpetuated by my dragon, shook the entire villa with its angry strength.

I stood in the center of the entryway, breathing deeply. Considering my next steps. Where should I go. I couldn't sit around and do nothing.

The lobby. Perhaps she'd gone there, or maybe they'd seen something.

Decision made, I reached for the door handle.

Someone else turned it first.

I stepped back, instantly alert.

"Hey," Chloe said, stepping into the room, greeting me with a smile as she came forward. "You're finally back."

I arched an eyebrow. "So are you."

She shrugged. "You were gone a long time. I got bored."

"Where were you?" I asked, sliding past her to peer out the door.

There was no one else present.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, resting a hand on my shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

"Nothing." I shut the door. "Where did you go?"

Her face scrunched up in a frown. "Out. Just like you. Is that not okay? Why are you all worked up?"

I stared at her, carefully watching her. Her heart was beating fast, I could hear it. Why was she nervous?

"When I came home, you were gone," I said. "I thought … I thought something happened to you, okay?"

"Oh," she said with a large sigh, coming in for a hug.

I embraced her, but the pounding of her heart was even more noticeable now. She wasn't telling me everything.

"Where did you go?" I pushed.

"Out," she said with a hint of stiffness.

She was lying to me. No, not lying, I decided, but holding back. Not telling me everything. I stared at her. Waiting for an elaboration, an admittance of what she'd been doing or up to while I was gone.

"I went out to go be among my own people," she said at last, sounding uncomfortable about it all.

"To be among your own people," I repeated.

"Yes," she said, sagging. "And it felt so good, Silas. To just be able to wander the streets and not have to worry about someone hating me for being human. Or even worse, wanting to just outright kill me because I'm human. It was so nice. Relaxing. Despite being a single woman walking around alone."

The last sentence felt tacked on. Like it wasn't a huge deal for her. She was confident. And I also sensed a kernel of truth in what she was saying. The relief flowing through her as she recounted the experience wasn't fake. It was real.

She's not happy among your people.

That was it, then. The reason she was so uncomfortable.

More things clicked into place. Including her nervousness. She was looking to figure out a way to leave. To leave me.

What was worse was I couldn't blame her. The greeting she'd been given from my family, the other dragons we'd encountered, and the shitstorm Caine and his family had thrown our way, simply because I'd chosen her over his daughter, was not the sort of welcome anyone deserved.

But Chloe also knew she couldn't just up and leave. That would be a violation of the truce. I pondered what the sovereign would do if that happened. Accept it? Look past it? Go on the warpath? I wasn't sure. The truce was such a flimsy thing, enforced almost entirely by the sheer force of the sovereign's will. All it would take was one incident for the warmongers to latch onto and use as a reason to renew their attacks.

I knew what I would do, however, if she were ever kidnapped. Even if it was faked. Until I knew better, I would go on the warpath.

Things had gone too far. I cared too much.

I would destroy anything to get her back. She would have to tell me to my face she didn't want to be with me. But until then …

"We should pack up," I said with a sigh.

"Why?"

"Because we're going back to the Isles."

The vacation had been a mistake. I saw then.

It had only made things worse.