How to Drive a Dragon Crazy (Dragon Kin #6)(58)

Éibhear stepped back, black smoke swirling from his nostrils, a low growl rolling past his lips as he gripped his jaw and popped it back into place. By the time he was done, Izzy had placed her hands behind her and flipped her body backward so that she landed on the other side of the table.

“Running?” he couldn’t help but taunt. “The great general of Queen Annwyl’s armies?”

“You should know by now, Éibhear the Ridiculous, I don’t run.”

Then a wooden chair came flying at his head. Éibhear leaned back and the chair careened past him and into the far wall, breaking into pieces on contact.

“You’ll have to explain that bloody chair to Bram,” he told her.

“I’ll tell him it was your fault. He’ll believe me.” She grinned. “They all do.”

Their gazes locked and they watched each other, for how long, Éibhear didn’t know. But then he saw her eyes briefly stray to where they’d placed their weapons while they ate. At the same moment, they were both running, heading for those piles of weapons. Izzy was fast, her long legs getting her to the pile quickly. But he was fast, too, leaping over the table and slamming into her just as she reached out for an axe. His axe!

Éibhear lifted her off her feet and swung her around. He had her arms pinned, but her legs were free and the damn woman kicked like a psychotic mule. She brought her head back, ramming it into his chin, almost dislodging his jaw again.

Fed up, Éibhear spun Izzy around and slammed her into the wall, pinning her there with his body.

Panting, the pair stared at each other until Izzy asked, “Ready to kiss me now?”

The dragon’s silver eyes narrowed on her. “I see how you’ve come so far in the human armies, Iseabail. Because you’re completely insane.”

She laughed, her tongue reaching out and swiping up blood that leaked from her split lip. “I may have heard that accusation before, but I refuse to accept or acknowledge it. Now kiss me . . . or get the battle-f*ck off me, Éibhear the Blue.”

His gaze lowered to her mouth and she saw his brain turning while he, as always, agonized over his decision. She imagined he couldn’t be like this in battle or even with other women. She just didn’t know why he insisted on being so obsessively concerned for her.

“Waiting,” she pushed, the one word no more than a snarl.

That’s when he released her, Izzy’s drop to the floor a little unsettling since he hadn’t even lifted her up all the way to eye level.

“And you can keep waiting,” he shot back seconds before he turned away from her and headed toward the stairs.

Smirking, Izzy watched him.

“Éibhear?”

Fed up, Éibhear spun around to face the unhinged female that he was trapped in this bloody castle with for the night.

“What is—” he just managed to get out before a piece of the broken chair rammed into his leg bone. The pain of it shocked him and he automatically dropped to one knee. Then Izzy was there, her strong hand gripping him by his jaw.

“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?” she said.

Then she kissed him.

Not a silly, girlish kiss or even an angry, biting kiss. But a demanding, passionate kiss that tore the breath from his lungs and did to him exactly what he’d always feared. Tore any control or rational thought he’d believed himself to possess completely away from him.

Damn her!

She pulled away first, stepping back, a triumphant smile on her face. “There. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

Her tone was unbelievably condescending and superior, which only made him want her even more. Why? Because he was pathetic! He didn’t deserve to be a dragon. The mightiest of higher beings!

The pompous brat stepped away from him, tossing aside the piece of chair she’d used to temporarily incapacitate him.

“Night!” She gave him a little wave that made him hate her a bit and that’s when something in Éibhear snapped. Like the last piece of rope he was hanging on to.

Éibhear stood to his full height and reached out, catching hold of Izzy by her chain-mail shirt and swinging her around until she was in front of him.

“Really?” he asked.

As usual with this insane female, Iseabail the Dangerous showed no fear, no concern, nothing but humor at his expense.

“Really?” she shot back, her arms extending from her body. “Really . . . what are you going to do? The great, pious, beloved Éibhear the Blue. What are you going to do?”

Éibhear’s grip on her shirt tightened, the little metal rings that made up the protective garment digging into his fingers. And he realized in that moment that he’d have to show Izzy the Dangerous that the “great, pious, beloved Éibhear the Blue” had been dead and gone for a very long time....

Chapter 18

Izzy would be the first to admit that over the years, it was this sort of thing that often got her into the worst sort of trouble. Well . . . her and Brannie. Poor thing. That dragoness had pulled Izzy out of more scrapes that Izzy’s mouth had gotten them into than either would ever care to admit. But Brannie wasn’t here right now and Izzy wasn’t exactly in a situation she didn’t want to be in.

More fool her.

What exactly was wrong with her anyway? Was she still harboring the desires of her sixteen-year-old self? The same girl who had gone from having only three soldiers protecting her as they lived their lives on the road to having an entire family to call her own, including a mother, father, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents . . . and Éibhear. Handsome, chivalrous, impatient, terse Éibhear.