8. Tyson

CHAPTER EIGHT

TYSON

S till shaking with rage, I glared at the rubble I'd reduced my bedroom couch and chairs to. I wanted to set it all on fire, but I couldn't. Rehan quenched my fire, just like he marked my mate. The woman I'd fought for, my blood ached for, and who'd finally let me under her guard.

After capturing her, I assumed we'd go at it like rabbits. Getting pregnant as soon as possible was literally what she'd signed up for. But when I set her down, she'd been poised to run. I'd never felt my heart squeeze with so much pain before.

My mate didn't trust me. I needed to fix it.

My mate.

My mate with another dragon's mark.

I picked up the nearest object and sent it crashing into the pile of rubble. Rehan marked her! When I'd tried to kiss her, a jolt of painful power burned my lips, searing down my body before shocking my cock.

"Damn it!" I yelled, kicking the pile.

The sound of quiet knocking distracted me, and I growled.

I had my mate. No one was to disturb me for three days. It hadn't even been three hours.

My mate, pointing at a towel, flashed in my mind. I grabbed a pair of red silk pajama pants from my bedside and stepped into them before yanking my door open. Tia's pink eyes met mine briefly before she bowed low. Her strawberry blonde locks fell across her expansive cleavage. Pink and gold scales rippled across her back, disappearing under her cream halter top.

I ran my hand over my face. We'd been an item for the last year, and the moment I smelled my mate, I forgot Tia existed.

The anger drained from my posture. "Tia…" I trailed off, unsure what to say.

Tia stood from her bow and looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks. "You weren't even supposed to compete."

Almost two feet shorter than me, her frame was incredibly petite for a dragon. I'd never seen her anything other than confident, but tonight, she wrapped her hands around herself, popping her large breasts closer together.

"Have you marked her yet?" Tia asked, her voice small.

I pulled my gaze back to her face. My forgotten anger made me clench my fists. Although I couldn't make fire, smoke still trailed out my human nostrils. Rehan had broken the rules, but feck if I was going to admit my mate wore the water dragon's mark and not mine.

"Why are you here?" I asked instead of answering.

"I'm your mate, Tyson." The fire I usually associated with Tia blazed in her eyes. "I know you need to knock her up. I just didn't think it would be so fast. Or that your hunt would be so intense." She patted her heart. "We're mates. I need to hear you say it."

She'd pried the words out of my mouth once before, but now I knew what having a real mate felt like; I would never call her that again. I shifted my stance.

Silence solidified between us.

Tia blinked rapidly before a tear ran down her cheek. "You're destroying everything." She brushed away the moisture. "I could hear your temper tantrum from down the hall. This isn't what you want."

I clenched my fist. I didn't have temper tantrums.

"The woman pissed you off, and not in a good way." Tia slid to my side and ran her hand up my abs. "Human women aren't like us. You can still turn her aside. Another dragon will?—"

"No," I snapped, grabbing her hand and pushing her off me. "I won't turn her aside. She's mine ."

Tia stepped back as if I'd hit her. "You're worked up, and not in a good way, Ty-ty." She put her hands on her hips. Her massive breasts bounced with the action. "Once your hormones calm down and the magic from The Hunt wears off, you'll return to me. I know it."

"Leave." I flicked my gaze to the camera in the corner. "Before I send an anonymous email to the security team to check the feeds. These three days are mine and mine alone. No duties, no expectations, no you."

Tia's eyes filled with tears. A pang of guilt twisted my stomach, but not enough to change my actions. Stepping back, I shut the door in her face.

A chill ran down my back, but when I called on my fire to warm me, nothing came.

I was dog-tired. Although shifting into my dragon form healed all the wounds I'd sustained during The Hunt, ghosts of pain still ached in my memory.

Feck Rehan. I punched my door. For the first time, I wished I had more than my elemental magic. Although fire was the most powerful force on the Island, it couldn't heal.

With a frustrated sigh, I padded back to my bathroom. My mate had slid so far into the water I couldn't believe she'd not drown. When I lifted her, she didn't even stir. I wrapped her in a towel and cradled her to my chest.

The injury on her arm still leaked blood. Bruising and minor cuts coated her skin, and I cursed my inability to heal a second time. We had a doctor who could help, but I wanted to take care of her. She was mine, and no one would tell me otherwise.

I glanced around for her luggage but didn't see it. After placing her on my bed, I liberally slathered her injuries in magically enhanced disinfectant and wrapped them as best I could. Her luggage still hadn't been delivered. I slid one of my t-shirts over her head, silently thanking my luck, and tucked her into my bed.

My bed. My shirt. I let out a possessive growl. Mine. I loved seeing her in all of it.

Crawling in behind her, I locked her in my embrace and breathed in her scent until sleep took me.

My throbbing hard-on woke me in the morning light. My mate slept locked in my arms. I pressed my hips forward, desperate for friction. A low, sleepy moan escaped her lips, and she wiggled her butt invitingly.

I ran my hand down her stomach, still covered in my t-shirt. She mumbled in her sleep and arched her perfect peach into my dick. My heart sang. A tall woman, my shirt just barely went past her ass. I didn't need to push it up much to explore the crease between her thighs before cupping her sex.

A low tingle brushing my skin was my only warning. Raw power zapped my hand, running down my body to strangle my erection. Pain blossomed. I cupped my tender junk, rolling to the other side with my lips between my teeth to keep from waking up my mate.

My anger from last night flooded back. I glanced toward my demolished couch, willing it to catch fire, but Rehan took everything by putting out my internal flame. I needed a feckin' ceremony to relight it, which wouldn't be happening any time soon.

I took a deep breath and looked at my sleeping mate, letting her calm me.

At least peeing would be easier with my dick as floppy as a cable.

With my bodily functions taken care of and a coffee in my hands, I picked up my tablet and stared at it. I wanted to get back into bed with my mate, but I couldn't touch her.

We had three days, less now, just the two of us. Scalehive, the group who ran The Hunt and brought women to the island, told us our mates would think of these three days like a honeymoon. But with the water heir's magic protecting her body, we couldn't even kiss.

I ran a hand down my face.

This was mad. I'd never obsessed over anyone like this. Nothing in my life prepared me for these emotions. I grunted. Ruling this island required a degree of objectivity. A lesson my sire literally beat into his too-sensitive son.

Instead of letting my past hurt, I focused on my future. My mate. What did humans even eat? Tia had been right last night. I'd not planned on going on my first Hunt, much less finding a woman.

Could they usually talk right away?

Baw, I didn't even know her name.

I woke up my tablet. My chat, social media, and email were all disabled, so my mate and I could focus only on each other, but a file waited for me on my cloud drive. I opened it, and my mate's paperwork appeared before me. The picture of her was terrible. She barely looked awake.

Betty Strop

5"9'

172 pounds

Mixed race, possibly Egyptian

Green eyes

Black hair, no history of male pattern baldness

American, Master's Degree or higher

IQ 108

Clean family history, some alcohol abuse

Overall score 87/100

I furrowed my eyebrows. Eighty-seven was solid, though I'd had higher expectations. I flipped over to the next page, where it went into details. After reading through her family medical history, I flipped back to the front. Five-nine seemed too short. I was a solid six-six, and though she was smaller than me, I'd only had to bend a bit to kiss her. Granted, she'd been in my arms for most of it.

I kept reading, looking for something less medical. At the back, I found her preference sheet. I'd left my bedroom door open enough to peek at her sleeping form. "Betty," I tried out her name, smiling at her, before continuing to read.

She liked long walks on the beach and knitting. Her favorite movies were romantic comedies, and she was a vegan.

I wrinkled my nose at that, but I'd make anything work for her. My stomach growled, and I brightened. An idea of how to start our day got me going.