17. Tyson

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

TYSON

I t was like she'd memorized a fecking playbook on how to attract a dragon.

She looked incredible, sitting on the speaker and lording over the entire social like a queen. I'd had her in my arms. I'd traced every curve, run my dick along her back, and nestled her between my bare thighs. I groaned, picturing her sitting on top of one of my collections, on top of me.

My dick strained in my pants, and I scrubbed my hand down my face, feeling stubble where I was usually clean-shaven.

This couldn't be normal. It took two dragons to hold me back when that asshole Rehan kissed her. And she kissed him back like our time together never even happened.

Smoke billowed out of my nose despite my unlit fire.

Even after telling my sire everything, my dragon still turned from me. He wasn't mad I failed. He was mad about Wiggles. And I was fecking furious. I don't know why I thought she'd stay loyal to me, but for some reason, it hadn't occurred to me she wouldn't.

I tried to use her kissing Rehan to justify Tia, but my dragon turned his back on the thought. I'd pushed our mate away first. Guilt burned into my soul.

Wiggles wasn't just anyone. She was mine, and I was hers. I let my sire take the lead, and we'd treated her like trash. But she was the opposite of trash, she was treasure. My treasure. I hadn't even given us a chance.

"Ty-ty." Tia gripped my shoulder, pulling my gaze away from Wiggles. "You've got to stop staring at her. She lied to you, tricked you. She isn't good for you."

I grunted. She'd done all those things, and I wanted to punish her for it, with my own hands.

"You have to mingle with at least three women tonight." Tia continued. "You know the rules. Even if you don't pick, it's supposed to make you better at this next time around."

"I won't get a next time around." I spit, hitting some other dragon's shoes.

Tia pressed her lips together. "We'll be enough, the two of us." She gripped my arm and pulled me to face her. My younger, wingless self reflected in her eyes.

How had all of this gone so wrong so fast? I tore away from Tia, desperate to be anywhere else.

Without a conscious destination in mind, my feet took me straight to Wiggles. Fire, that dress looked amazing on her. Her long, shapely legs crossed delicately across the front of the speaker. An empty glass with the dregs of something creamy rested against her bare thigh. Blood rushed to my dick. I could shoot a load straight down her throat if she wanted something creamy.

I shook my head and stomped my feet. Cream, real cream, wasn't vegan. Anger should have chased away my lust, but it didn't. My head spun. She still couldn't talk. Had she really lied or had I made assumptions? I reached out and steadied myself on her calf.

Immediately she pulled away, ‘What the fuck' clear on her face.

I snarled, anger eating my logic. "You're mine. Who do you think you are, kissing Rehan back?"

She blinked at me like I'd grown a second head, and I huffed.

I rejected her. I needed to keep rejecting her, but every time I tried, she wormed her way further under my skin.

I cracked my neck. "Just get down from there."

She narrowed her eyes but pulled off her heels and lightly jumped to the floor. I put my arm out to catch her, but she stepped back, dodging my touch.

My blood boiled. I lunged forward and gripped her bicep, dragging her away from the clearing and into the dark forest, away from prying eyes. I needed to reject her. My family needed me to leave her. There was no place on this island for barren women. We already had too many issues with dragons.

But I didn't want to. Until that moment, she'd been perfect. Not the crap on her preference sheet. Her. Her competitive streak. Her ability to compliment me and insult me in the same sentence. Her curiosity. Damn it, if I had answered some of her questions, maybe they would have led to the deeper conversations I still wanted. Pain squeezed my heart. She would be good for me, so good. I deserved a second chance at this, not just to give her to my rival.

She squeaked, struggling in my grip, even punching my arm, but her human strength was no match for my dragon. In the darkness of the forest, alone, I pinned her against a tree. Her curves pressed into me. We fit together like a puzzle. My anger calmed, and my dragon's heart beat with mine. This felt right. We were right. I shifted my eyes to see her better in the dark forest—her honey skin glowed.

She looked at me with wide eyes and trembled with anticipation in my grip. I caressed her bare arm where I gripped it, scenting her arousal and the cream liquor on her breath. I leaned forward and gazed into her eyes.

Fear stared back.

My heart stopped. Her trembles weren't from anticipation. I'd done this. I'd scared my mate.

Feck.

"I won't hurt you," I whispered, pressing my forehead into hers. "But if I can't have you. He can't either."

My dragon roared inside me, pushing me into action. I shifted my jaws and nicked her neck on the opposite side the water fecker had. Instincts took over. My tongue grew into its longer-pronged form. It curled into the cut, opening it further and power rushed through me in a wave of static heat.

Rehan's magic tried to push me out. Pain zapped my jaws and ran down my body. Instead of flinching away, I embraced it, letting it fuel my need. She felt so right. So perfect. I poured my essence into her. Marking her as mine. Despite the pain, my dick swelled for her. With one knee, I pressed her legs apart. She needed to know what she did to me, how strong she made me.

Agony in the back of my skull seared through the swirl of lust, and I found myself flying through the air. I collided with the thick trunk of a tree. Pain exploded along my side. Bark and wood splintered from the force of my flight. Automatically, my scales coated my skin. My hands and feet shifted into their taloned forms. The tree cracked in half, and I flipped, so I landed like a cat off to the side.

I stood, growling and spitting, to find Rehan with his arm wrapped around Wiggle's waist. Blood trickled down my mate's neck, and her wide eyes looked at me with a mix of fear, lust, and revulsion.

I'll never hurt you. You're my soul mate. My own words echoed in my memory.

"If I can't have her, neither can you," I spat at Rehan, unable to admit I'd just done the opposite of what I'd promised.

"You rejected her," Rehan said, disgust pinching his features. "We don't force women, ever. As a race. Get your shit together and let her go."

I gritted my teeth. "I wasn't?—"

He didn't let me finish. The air around him swirled, and beads of water formed, rushing toward his shifting body with Wiggles in the middle.

I lunged forward to pull her out. Rehan's fecking water would cut through her human skin like a hot knife through butter, but the big blue arse encased her in a liquid bubble, protecting her from his transformation. Internally, I thanked him while I let out a string of obscenities in every language I knew.

Rehan's transformation was fast. He spun, splintering trees and dirt with his thick spiked tail. Distracted by Wiggles, I didn't dodge, and the scale-covered heavy appendage hit me hard. Once again, I went flying towards a tree. The air filled with spikes of wood and dirt. Although desperate to stand, I had to hunker down and put my hands over my head to keep from getting clobbered.

The sound of splintering wood lessened. I sprang to my feet, lunging for Wiggles again, but Rehan's trick cleared the area, and his massive wings were already beating above me, my mate pressed into his chest. I could do nothing but watch him disappear into the night.

I fell onto my knees and punched the ground.

I would never force her, except I just did. Beating the ground again, I cursed. How had I messed all of this up so much?