About a Dragon (Dragon Kin #2)(8)

Briec, a being easily bored by nearly everyone, found himself irrationally intrigued by this woman.

“How could he not know?” She didn’t answer, instead focusing all her energy on the rabbits. Only one possible way came to mind of how the man wouldn’t know about that blade. “Did he not bed with you?”

Without looking up, she murmured, “Not for many years.”

It galled Briec how ridiculously happy that little admission made him. “And how did you manage that?”

Unless the man was blind, there would be no way he couldn’t want this woman. Briec wanted her the second he saw her.

“I don’t understand your question.”

“If I remember correctly, you said something about the two of you being together for sixteen years. That’s a very long time for a husband not to—”

“Couldn’t he have just grown tired of me?”

“Of course.” If he were a complete and utter idiot. “But males of most breeds still have moments when they take that which is most available. So I’m not sure how—”

She threw the skinned rabbit down on the ground and turned that dark, angry gaze his way. “Herbs. I put certain herbs in his food.”

“You poisoned him.”

“No!” She actually had the nerve to appear insulted when she was the one putting herbs in the man’s food. “Understand, he bed many others, it would have been cruel to deny him that, but anytime he came near me, he’d lose his…uh…” Once again she glanced at his lap. Seemed she couldn’t stop herself from staring at it. “Well, you know. With the herbs and a very simple spell it was surprisingly easy.”

“If you didn’t want him, why did you stay?”

“I don’t want to discuss this anymore.” She picked the rabbit back up and finished cleaning it. “It’s none of your business what I did or didn’t do with my husband.”

“Were you with others?”

“Other what?”

“Other males.”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want the one I had. Why would I bother with another?”

“Because at our core, we’re all animals in need.”

Her head snapped up at his bald statement. For a split second, he saw a heat in her eyes that nearly burned him to embers. But, just as quickly, she hid it. He guessed she’d been hiding much her entire life. He looked forward to stripping away all the layers of protection she’d wrapped around herself.

“I don’t know what your needs are, dragon. And I don’t want to know.”

“Really?” Dramatically, he sniffed the air again, and she glared at him.

“Would you stop doing that!”

“I could. But where would the fun be in that?”

* * *

Fun? He thought this was fun? Nightmares were made of this. Tales of terror to scare children into behaving. She was not having fun. Dammit.

Standing up, Talaith went in search of a sturdy stick. “Tell me, dragon. Are you planning on forcing me to bed with you?”

“No.” He said it so casually. Like she didn’t just ask him if he had intentions of raping her.

She crouched down, moving a small pile of twigs and branches around until she found what she needed. “Then you and I will not be—”

“Oh, yes we will.”

The branch held tightly in her fist, Talaith stood and turned quickly to face him. “No. We will not.”

He snorted a laugh, his eyes rolling. “Why do you deny yourself?”

“Oh. Is that what I’m doing?” His arrogance made her head want to explode.

“Aye. To both of us.”

Marching back to her rabbits, Talaith again crouched by the fire. She picked up one of the carcasses and brutally shoved the stick through it. She didn’t even have to sharpen the end to a point with her knife.

“You, dragon, are the most—”

“Amazing being you’ve ever met.” It wasn’t a question from him. It was a statement.

“I was going to say the most arrogant son of a bitch.”

He blinked. “Well that’s rude.”

“Personally, I find you—”

“Shush.” He waved his hand.

For a moment, Talaith truly thought her head might explode. Through gritted teeth, she snapped, “Did you just shush me?”

“Aye. I want to take a nap before we move on.” He settled back against the tree, closing his eyes. “And I find your constant chatter quite annoying.”

Talaith looked around desperately. When did everything become blood red? Because at the moment, everything appeared blood red.

“And don’t try running off anywhere.” One eye opened and focused on her. “Although it might be fun to chase you down.” He smiled as he again closed both his eyes and seemingly drifted off.

Unable to think of anything else to do, Talaith stuck her tongue out at him.

“And don’t stick that tongue out at me,” he teased in a low, sing-song voice, “or I’ll find a good use for it.”

Startled, she immediately closed her mouth and turned back to her rabbit. But when she heard his deep chuckle from across the flames, she knew at that moment she really did hate him.