Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(23)

“Yeah, that wasn’t really to be taken literally.” I wrung my hands and stepped from foot to foot, waiting for him to stop being a dick and ask me why I wanted to meet him there.

“Okay. What was so important that I had to leave my K?rasta?”

Forcing out a weighted breath, I let it all out. “Because it’s true. You were right. I’ve found my K?rasta, since we’re on the subject.”

His smile said it all. My brother, on his mating day, wished that I would soon find my mate, but that was a few years back.

“Nice. Who is it?”

Now I was ready to choke him. “You know who! Kallie. The human girl. Which is the reason I needed to talk to you.”

“She’s human? You sure she’s not part dragon? Have you had Ramses do the tree?”

We had a clan member whose sole responsibility was to keep track of the dragon family tree, at least the ones that we knew of, where they came from and how they connected back to Mímir, the original dragon father.

“There’s no need, brother. She is not part dragon. I would be able to scent it on her.”

He looked to the skies. “There hasn’t been a dragon mated to a human since…”

“Since Grandmother. I know.”

Samson raised his eyebrow. “But she was fierce as a dragon. Fierce as our talons. Free as our wings. She wasn’t some nosey law student with a Sherlock Holmes complex.”

My entire hand was wrapped around his throat before my human side could even comprehend what he had just said.

My dragon knew exactly what the idiot said and wanted him to pay for it.

“Look at me, Knox. Slow down. It’s the Mate Craze talking. I was just joking. Calm the fuck down.”

His eyes had flashed dragon, gold and royal like his scales and indicative of his place in the clan. “Release me, brother. I can…”

He would’ve said ‘I can’t breathe’ if I hadn’t clinched down harder. His Adam’s apple began to move inward with the force of my hand. I had to stop before I crushed his larynx.

“Don’t you ever speak about Kallie in that manner again if you value your ability to breathe.”

My voice, mannerisms, and demeanor had phased to Alpha in a flat second. I could feel the power of my command flowing from me and infiltrating his consciousness. He had no choice but to obey.

“I understand. I’m sorry.”

“Shit,” I said, not only fully letting go of his throat, but stepping back to ensure I didn’t do it again, barely hanging onto the rage of my beast. “It’s not impossible. It’s not like we can’t mate with a human; it’s just rare.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” His back was to me now. I wasn’t the only one barely holding on to a shred of control.

“There’s some complications,” I said more to myself than him.

“You’ve got two choices here. One: You can tell her you’re a dragon first and she runs like hell until she remembers that she’s totally got the hots for you. Two: You make her fall for you first, then tell her you’re a dragon later. Then she feels betrayed and runs anyway. I don’t envy you, I can say that for sure.”

I didn’t envy me either. My dragon had a third plan, but it involved a lot of biting and commanding and holding her hostage in a cave until she relented to love us. I wasn’t sure if I had a dragon or a caveman inside me sometimes.

“Damn it. Neither one sounds good.”

“Well, if she is your mate, remember that it’s not just one-sided. She will feel the pull too. Eventually, she will come back. She won’t be able to deny it. Then again, humans are stubborn little beings. They have no animal-sense to fall back on.”

“Puny little humans,” I mocked him and quoted Hulk at the same time.

“Pathetic,” he joined in but his hesitance was palpable.

“I already love her, Samson. Two days and I swear I’d kill for her.”

The big brother, I’m proud of you, smile was back. “That’s how it goes. Attraction, protection, love—always in that order.”

“I have to tell her. I can imagine how that’s going to go down. She thinks our family murdered her grandfather.”

He walked to the edge of the cliff and sat, dangling his feet over the edge, fearless. Then again, if he fell, he’d just sprout wings and fly back up.

Perks of being a dragon.

“I’m probably supposed to give you some kind of advice, but I don’t have anything in me but sarcasm.”

Sitting beside him, the scales were painful now, already warning me of the pain I’d face if I denied my mate—as if I could deny her. “Hit me with it.”

“Well, now that I’m on the spot, I don’t have any. When you talk to her, do it without that Rhi person with her. She’s a little, I don’t’ know, she’s weird.”

“What does that mean?”

“I swear I saw her start a fire without wood and a couple of people in town say she talks to herself, and Dena, the maid at the hotel, said there was some candles and shit in her suitcase.”

“What was Dena doing looking in a guest’s suitcase?”

He shrugged. “Said it was open. Like she wasn’t trying to hide whatever it was.”