Page 30 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
I eyed my sides, my chest, my back, but other than the injuries, nothing was there. Caz had been right. I possessed no mate marks of my own. Not a single one. Yet Ella bore a full body worth of mine.
I had seen them as she fell away from me in the sky. Those moments where I hadn’t known if I could get to her in time or not were burned into my mind. As was the picture of her body,the right side covered in swirls and twisted markings that were as blue as my eyes.
So where were mine? I’d never heard of such a one-sided marking before.
The cold water puckered my skin, pulling it taut over the various wounds and scars. I grimaced away the momentary pain and leaned deeper into the showerhead, letting it drench my hair. The sting of the physical pain was something I could handle with ease.
It was the ache of knowing that deep down, Iwantedto be with Ella, but I couldn’t. For her own sake. She’d clearly been hurt in her past, and the last thing I wanted to do was add to that.
So I wouldn’t. I would keep my distance from her, and the body covered in marks meant for me. I wouldn’t touch her. Wouldn’t caress her and taste her sweetness.
“Enough!” I barked at myself, shaking the distracting and desirable thoughts free as I shut off the water.
There could be,would be, nothing between Ella and me. I’d made that decision. It was done. No more moping about it and—
Knock. Knock.
I wrapped the towel around my waist and made my way to the door, my curiosity growing. Who would be knocking at my door? The options were limited, and the knock had sounded rather light to be Caz or one of the other men.
Anna, perhaps? What would have brought her here?
Was she coming to chew me out for not leaving Ella alone earlier?
I was in no mood for a lecture about things she didn’t understand. Anna might think Caz and I were alike, because we were brothers, but we weren’t. She knewhim. Not me.
“What?” I growled, reaching for the handle.
“Uh, sorry.”
I twitched. That voice.
“Never mind,” Ella added through the door, her footsteps shuffling away.
“Wait!” I leapt for the door, yanking it open. “Sorry. That wasn’t for you.”
Ella froze as she looked at me, her eyes locking on to my face and not moving. Her throat bobbed up and down, the only sign she was still alive. The artery running up the side of her neck was practically pulsing with activity.
I drew in a slow breath against my better judgment. I knew what I was going to smell, and when the bold warmth of amber flooded my system, I struggled to stay still. Because there was more than I expected with her mate scent. The sweetness of her arousal was a magnetic lure that stirred my dragon to life.
My lungs expanded as I sucked in as much of that deliciousness as I could, filling every inch. I never wanted to forget it.
Ella’s eyes flicked down my body and then back up to my face. A hint of pink touched her cheeks, descending down her neck and disappearing under the collar of her shirt. I wondered if I would ever get to see just how deeply she could blush.
“So many bruises,” she said, the throatiness of her voice combining with everything else to broadcast that the bruises weren’t her primary focal point.
All at once I remembered I was naked save for the towel, which was doing its very best to make it obvious how badly I wanted to throw myself at Ella. I could pin her against the wall, her tiny legs wrapping around my waist as I ravaged her sweet body until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Mate.
I struggled to hold back my fangs from descending as my dragon roared to life like an avalanche breaking free. I only hoped I could do a better job of containing the beast this time. If I tried to bite her now and make that claim, Caz would have no choice but to deal with me. Harshly. I had to get a grip.
“Better on me than on you,” I said, turning the words from a growl to a grunt.
“Yeah. Listen …”
Ella looked up and away, ripping her gaze free as I breathed heavily several times, trying to regain full control of myself.
I waited, but she didn’t continue, only shifted uncomfortably from side to side.
