Dragon Actually (Dragon Kin #1)(58)

Annwyl pulled away from him and took several stumbling steps back. “No! We are not clear!” She turned on him. “I did what I had to. And I’d do it again! And I’m not afraid of your family!”

“Annwyl,” he warned through gritted teeth.

“No! I don’t want to hear it!” She fought to get the strands of wet brown hair out of her eyes. “Do you have any idea what I went through today? In just one day I stood in the dragon’s flame . . . twice!”

“But I—”

“Quiet!” He stood there, startled into silence. “I also had to face that cold bitch you call a mother! I took my own brother’s head! And I was forced to break your brother’s hand because he wouldn’t stop touching me!”

Fearghus broke out in a grin and she stopped her tirade. “What?”

“You broke his hand?” He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, it was more like a finger. But the way he carried on, you’d think I’d broken his entire arm.”

Fearghus laughed. Hard. And, eventually, Annwyl smiled.

What the hell was he going to do? He loved this woman. Loved everything about her. Wanted her as his mate. But she had a kingdom to run. Allies to forge. Enemies to crush. He already saw the fear in the men’s eyes. They’d witnessed her “dance” with the dragon’s flame. A dance she’d survived. And they all knew she’d taken him as her lover. His presence would do nothing but put her safety at risk.

“What are you thinking, dragon?”

He shook his head and moved to her. “Nothing,” he whispered as he slipped an arm around her waist.

“Still lying, I see.” She pulled away from him.

He sighed. “What, Annwyl?”

“You’re planning to leave, aren’t you?”

How she knew these things, he’d never know. “Look, you have a kingdom to—”

“Horseshit!”

“What?”

“He told me you’d come up with some noble horseshit about me having to defend my kingdom and no one able to accept the two of us.”

“Gwenvael,” he growled angrily. “Annwyl, it is for your—”

“You have two choices, dragon,” she cut in smoothly.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do I?”

“Yes. You do.”

“And they are?”

“Claim me now. Or let me go forever.”

He’d kill his brother for his big mouth.

“You don’t even know what that means.”

“Yes. I do.”

He wanted to Claim her. To make her his own. Yet he planned to wait until she’d secured her reign. And if, after that, she still wanted him. . . . “No. You don’t.”

“I know I’ll not waste my life waiting for you.” That stung. More than he wanted to admit.

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Really? You’re not?”

“No.”

“So I can take any man right now and you won’t care.”

“If that’s your wish.” He bet a lie that size could kill him.

“Well, any man won’t do,” she mused softly. “But I think Gwenvael is still here.”

She grabbed a fur covering and headed toward the tent flap. Fearghus seized her by her arm and swung her around. “That’s not funny,” he growled.

“Fearghus, just admit it. You’d kill any man or dragon who came near me.”

He wanted to say no. He wanted it to be the truth. But they both knew better.

“I would.”

She leaned into him. Her br**sts against his forearm. He closed his eyes as her hand ran down his chest, his hips, finally grasping his shaft in her hand. She ran her fingers over the veins and ridges, her thumb circled the head. “Then Claim me.”

“No.”

She angrily released what had now become a healthy erection. “Why?”

“Because it would be clear to all that you are mine. That your love and loyalty belonged to a dragon.”

“And?”

“Could you at least act afraid?”

“The only thing I feared has his head on a spike outside my camp. Now my fear is of living the rest of my life without you.”

Fearghus stared at Annwyl. Just that morning the woman bravely took the queen’s flame. A flame imbued with the most ancient of Magicks. And until her death, Annwyl would always be immune to any dragon’s fire. But he knew his mother well enough to know she didn’t make it easy on the girl. Annwyl’s back and side were completely covered in dark bruises. The old bitch probably knocked her right out of her chamber.

His eyes glanced briefly at the mark clearly defined on her chest; it was burned into the tan skin above her br**sts. She now wore the Chain of Beathag as well. And would for the rest of her life. It would always be there, right under her skin. One of the most powerful gods-created items a dragon could bestow upon a human. The Chain of Beathag could extend the life of the wearer but only if her heart remained pure and her love true. Her love for the dragon. Otherwise it would be a fiery and painful death that would last days.

He touched the mark and Annwyl winced, her skin still sensitive. Annwyl loved him. She wouldn’t have survived if she hadn’t.