10. Chapter Ten

My dragon was awake.

Fully.

The way that woman put her hand on Amara made him burn with fury. My fingers clutched the table between Damien and me. I heard the wood bend beneath my grasp.

I needed—I had—to save her.

"What the hell was that?" Damien asked under his breath. "Is your dragon attached to someone here?" Damien glanced around the room in an attempt to pick out my mate.

Damien and I had a love-hate relationship. He pissed me off daily, but he was my brother. We'd grown up beating the hell out of each other, and sharing meals every night. His searching did little to bother me. My dragon needed to save her.

I went to stand up when the restaurant's doors opened, and two humans raced toward our booth. My irritation flew to the roof. I vaguely remembered them from the ball.

They'd been introduced by their mother—aka the step-monster. It was all unfortunately coming back to me.

If there hadn"t been people watching, I would have flicked the two of them across the room. Instead, I stood awkwardly above them, waiting for either of them to state their purpose.

The younger one cleared her throat loudly. "I'm Zella," she said. "Our mother owns this place."

I lifted an eyebrow slowly and glanced toward the kitchen where Amara hid.

"So?" I asked bluntly.

The other one inhaled sharply. "We're sorry we didn't catch a dance at the ball last week, we're hoping you'll save us one next time."

"Doubtful," I said, sitting back down in my seat.

I felt Damien's gaze hard on the side of my face.

"Maybe you'll change your mind," Stasa said sharply.

She turned on her heel and disappeared into the kitchen. The other one looked shameless standing by our booth. "I bet I can change your mind," she said, before swaying out of the restaurant.

"Dear God," I hissed, taking a sip of my drink. "I thought they would never leave."

Damien cackled and slid his palm down his face. "Wow, Dorran. I've seen you brush off women before, but you've never been deliberately rude. What the hell was that about?"

I shrugged coolly, eyeing the kitchen for our food.

"Do you know who your mate is?" Damien asked. "Is she human? Mother will love that."

"Please stop talking."

Damien sat back against the booth. "You're hiding something, and I will find out what it is."

I gave him a sarcastic grin. "Don't hold your breath."

Amara brought out our food ten minutes later. With her hands occupied, I caught a good view of her curves in that outfit. Her face was red when she slid my food in front of me.

"Here we go, Boys. Can I get you anything else?"

I felt Damien staring at me again, but it couldn't stop me from watching her mouth as she spoke. I wanted to do so much to that mouth. Perhaps in a few months when she's more experienced—,

"Dorran," Damien hissed.

I noticed Amara staring at me, and I hadn't heard a word she said. "Huh?"

"Do you need any ketchup?" she asked.

I slowly shook my head. "No, Little Mouse."

Amara's gaze dropped to the table, and then over to Damien. "Let me know if you need anything."

Damien slapped the table. "That's the mate bond if I've ever seen it. You all but took her clothes off just then. Why aren't you carrying her back to your room?"

That was a good idea if Damien ever had one.

"It's complicated, Brother. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone yet, not until I figure some things out."

"What do you need to figure out? She's right there, go get her,"

"Drop it," I snapped. "Eat your food. I'm tired of talking to you."

Damien smiled smugly.

When we finished our food and Amara walked toward our table, I heard Damien laugh under his breath. It took all that was in me not to smash his head into the wall.

"Helena says the meal is on the house and thank you for stopping by."

Digging some cash out of my pocket, I reached over and pulled Amara in by the apron wrapped around her waist. She made a soft sound under her breath and matched my stare the entire time I slipped some money into her apron. "You tell her we'll be back, Little Mouse."

Amara backed away from the table swiftly. "I will."

She hurried to check on her other tables, while I left the restaurant without a glance in her stepmother's direction.

Once we cleared the door, Damien let out a laugh. "Your mate is human, Dorran."

Turning onto the sidewalk, I shoved one hand into my pocket and clenched my fingers into a fist. "What an observation, Damien. You should join the guard."

"Aren't you worried about what Mom is going to say? We both know she secretly hates that her grandmother was human."

I jumped down from the sidewalk, and onto the pavement to get home. "I don't care about Mother's opinion at all. Your dragon wants what he wants. Sometimes I wish our parents would find their perfect mate, so they could see why my dragon resisted all the women they tossed at me."

"Do you think Dad would leave Mom if he found his? Or vice versa?"

"Yes."

Damien became quiet because he was more attached to our parents than I was. I loved them, but I didn't idolize them like Damien. He'd do good to take them off their pedestal.

Once we neared the castle, I jumped toward the bridge and landed on the side. My brain tossed around ideas on getting Amara out of the house. If I could figure out what type of medication she took and the name of her condition, I could prove that I could take care of her.

Helena wasn't doing that good of a job anyway.

Amara was getting the hell out of that house.

I couldn't get to know Amara while she lived there. My dragon couldn't stand another second of her living there.

Speaking of, I walked down the bridge, passed a couple of dragons, and onto her roof. I slid into her sister's bedroom window and smiled at her perfectly made bed.

I knew Amara imagined our short-lived kiss, while she made it that morning.

Since the house was empty, I took my time finding my way down to the kitchen. I rifled through the medicine cabinet for Amara's pills but came up with nothing.

I knew I was overstepping boundaries, but my dragon would do anything to fix her situation.

In Amara's room, I found a medicine bottle wedged down into the drawer of her nightstand. I'd never heard of the medicine before, so I took a picture and placed it back into its place.

Amara's scent drew my dragon toward her chest of drawers.

His dominance was growing. Most oddly, I could sense him growing physically.

Get her underwear,my dragon spoke.

I halted by the foot of the bed.

"You're serious? What are you? Eleven? I'm not stealing her underwear."

Get it now or I'll shift, he countered.

"I'm not a creep. I'm not stealing them. The only way I'm taking her panties is if I get to take them off myself."

Do it, he growled.

"The balls on you," I said.

The front door opened downstairs, and fighting came with it. "I can't believe he spoke to me that way," Stasa said. "Did you see the way he looked at Amara? I mean ... gross. Doesn't he know she's a maid?"

"I think he felt sorry for her," Zella said.

"Both of you stop it," the stepmother said loudly, slapping something against the wall. "Amara did not have his attention. He was being kind because she was taking his order. That's it."

"You know we only have like three years before she gets the restaurant—,

"I'm taking care of it," she said. "Now go into the den. We're going to do our workout. You both need to look your best by the ball. And don't think I didn't see the chocolate wrappers in your bathroom trash, Stasa."

What in the hell?

I made my way to Stasa's room and slipped out of her window, and back toward the bridge.

What did she mean that she was taking care of it?

I had to get Amara out of that house.

Waiting until nightfall was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I even skipped dinner because I could not imagine sitting through it and listening to my mother while waiting for Amara.

Mother sent food to my room, and I left it on the bed. I'd eat when I got back from seeing her. I slipped through the bathroom window to save the nails from falling again.

Her laptop light shined from underneath the covers when I walked inside and locked the door.

Smiling, I tapped my knuckles against the door, she shut the top, and turned onto her side. "Amara," I whispered.

She sat up quickly, staring at me with only moonlight as a guide. "You scared me," she whispered.

"Yeah? You should sleep with your curtains closed, Amara. Anyone could get up there and look at you."

Amara chuckled. "You're the only person besides Sasha that has ever shown any interest in getting to know me. I think I"m safe."

I imagined the emotional damage growing up with her stepmother must have done to her over the years.

I'd slowly correct that. If it took ten more years.

Bending down, I grabbed her blanket and pulled it off her. She squealed and went to reach for it, but I held it over my head.

She wore another long t-shirt that bunched against her thighs.

"Your fathers?"

She grabbed the edges and pulled them down her thighs.

Catching her hand, I braced it above her head and maneuvered myself between her thighs. "You thought I'd go to bed without a kiss?"

"You did fine before you met me," she whispered.

"That's where you're wrong," I said, bending my mouth against her ear. "I was damn near an insomniac before I caught you on the bridge. My late-night flying was an attempt to tire myself out. Now, I sleep," I said, sucking her earlobe into my mouth. "And I dream of what lies ahead for us."

Amara's breathing picked up. "Do you think your little crush will last that long, Dorran?"

I pressed my hips into hers. She became quiet, and her fingers gripped the sheets below her. "You don't know, do you, Little Mouse?"

She looked up at me confused. "Know what?"

Biting her neck gently, I smoothed my tongue over her skin and listened to my dragon go crazy. "Dragons have mates, and you're my mate."

Amara stared at me in disbelief. "You're joking?" she said with a giggle. "You think I'm supposed to go live with you in the castle and become the queen one day?"

When I didn't say anything, she laughed again. "Dorran. You must know I'm not the queen type. You see the dynamic I have at home—,"

"Your stepmother doesn't determine your worth, Amara. Our dragons don't get it wrong. My dragon is opening up to you. You're my mate whether you like it or not, and you won't stay here much longer. I'm going to have someone look at your medicine—,"

Amara slipped her hand from my grasp, shoved me up onto my knees, and glared at me. "You took my medicine from my room?"

"I took a picture of it. I want to prove she doesn't have to be your legal guardian so you can come stay with me."

She took a deep breath. "She is going to blame me for that, Dorran—,"

"—she'll never know until it's too late. I'm meeting tomorrow morning with our clan doctor to see what can be done."

She gave me a skeptical look, and I hushed it with a kiss. My dragon was shoving ungodly things into my head, and a kiss would only take the edge off, but I couldn't stop myself.

Amara grabbed the back of my neck and dragged me down on top of her. My wings fluttered out, a defense mechanism when my back was toward the unknown.

Her fingertips slid along my wings softly. It was erotic to feel her touch such a vulnerable part of me.

"They're so soft," she whispered.

My palms snaked across her hips, and I slid her toward my own, the warmth of her thighs burned through my jeans. "I'm going to get you out of here without losing your father's restaurant and getting you released from her talons."

Amara's fingers moved to my mouth, and I caught the end with my teeth. She watched in anticipation as I sucked it in, and a moan slipped from her.

She tightened her legs around my waist.

I rolled my hips down against her as she squirmed.

My fingers twitched with the urge to touch her there, or feast on what awaited me between her thighs. That would satisfy my dragon for a night or two.

Then I heard the floorboard creak in the hallway.

As quickly as I could, I slipped off Amara, and underneath her bed.

The bedroom door opened several moments later. I watched her stepmother stall in the doorway from my hiding spot. It burned my stomach to think she controlled a grown woman that way.

Amara showed no signs of being unfit. I was beginning to think it was all a hoax.

I couldn't wait to get Amara released from her stepmother's grip so I could break Helena down peg by peg.