Page 32 of Dragon Cursed
He wasn’t prepared for it.
His chest cracked open and the horrible, awful thing underneath three centuries of grief and silence rose up and took him by the throat.
Something inside Alsander snapped clean in half.
She wants us.Get up, fool!The dragon snarled into his skull when Alsander stayed rooted to his spot, too stunned to move.She knows what we are.She knows what we have done.She knows we are killing her.And she wants us anyway.
"Poppy —" Alsander’s voice cracked.
"Alsander."She moved closer.Settled between his legs.Her hand slid from his cheek into his hair."I heard you.I heard every word."
"Then run."
"No."
"Poppy.I am begging you —"
"I said no."
She pressed her forehead to his.
Her breath was warm against his mouth.Her hand clenched in his hair.Her body was inches from his.He couldsmellthe want on her — the slick honey-warm scent of a woman who had been thinking about a dragon for days and had just walked through her own fear to find him.The dragon's nostrils flared.His own cock answered.
"You should hate me," he whispered."You should be running."
"I should."Her mouth was an inch from his."I am not."
"Poppy."
"Alsander.Comehere."
The dragonfire magic he’d forced down during the shift roared up the back of his throat in a single hot rush.
The dragon let go of the reins.
So did the man.
9
Poppy
She kissedhim before he could utter another word about her leaving.Every word he spoke was a hand on her chest, pushing her away, prying her fingers off his soul.
She refused to let go.It was her choice, not his, whether she was going to stay.
She pressed her lips to his slowly.Deliberately.The way she had wanted to kiss him from the first moment in the forest clearing, before the fury and the desperation and the snarl.She let him feel her choice in the way she moved.
She was his true mate.She knew that now.He was just going to have to accept it and stop pushing her away.She wanted her dragon man —good, bad, body, mind and soul —forever.
She was unashamedly not above seducing her mate to get what she wanted.And right now, what she wanted most were his arms around her and his hard cock buried deep inside her.
The soft press of her lips turned into a possessive, claiming thing.
Mine,she thought, with a clarity that startled her.You are mine.You have been mine since the moment I saw you.Stop fighting me.
He held himself rigid for one long heartbeat — as if he still expected her to bolt, to finally see the monster and run.
Then he gave.
