Page 28 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
I shook my head, staring at the floor, too uncomfortable to look at them. “I’ve been on one too many rides with Elites before. I know how it ends. I can’t go there again. Ever.”
My friends were silent, but I could see them sharing a look out of the edge of my vision.
“I really think you should ask Dirk,” Anna said quietly. “He’s a good person, and you’d see that if you gave him a chance.”
“Maybe once I figure out what’s going on with my dragon.” I didn’t mean it, but perhaps it would mollify them. “There’s too much happening at once.”
“We’ll be back at the citadel in a few days,” Anna said, glancing between Milly and me. “There’s a huge library in Caz’s private wing. Lots of old texts. I only had a little bit of spare time, but I’m sure if the three of us do some work, we can find something to explain how our dragons have awakened. This can’t be the only time.”
“El and I will comb through it for sure,” Milly said. “I’m feeling stronger by the day now, so I can finally help. You’ll be busy being Ice Tyrantess and all that, with Bryna’s trial. She still needs to be punished for what she did to me.”
“She will,” Anna said with ferocious promise. She rarely showed that side, but this time it was her longest friend who had been attacked and brutally tortured.
I almost pitied Bryna for what she’d awakened. Almost.
“Maybe there will be information about what happened to my dragon too,” I mused. “It would be nice to know what’s going on inside me.”
They agreed. We were all eager to understand more about ourselves, and in particular how the changes to Anna and now me might be applied to all Clippys. If we could awaken all of their dragons, none would suffer the horrors I and so many others had.
We could change everything.
The talk of hope buoyed all our spirits, and we spent the next hours wiling away the evening, chatting about nothing and everything. Tensions relaxed, and I was able to just be myself among my friends. It was much needed after a stressful few days. Taking my mind off my dragon and Dirk, even for a few hours, was a big help.
Eventually Milly tired, and Caz came by to gather up Anna. I said my goodnights to Milly as she slid under the covers and pulled the door to her room closed behind me.
Standing in the hallway, I had two options. Left would take me to the stairs, my room on the floor above, and bed. Right led to several other rooms, including Dirk’s.
I could go to him and ask him to take me back to the crash site. The girls had been fairly insistent that I should take this option. But they also thought just because I had been marked by Dirk’s dragon, I should give in and “test the waters.” They didn’t understand I was already drowning.
I was torn. Awakening my dragon would likely drive me further into Dirk’s orbit. The brief period she’d been a part of me in full had left indelible memories about her desires to be near his dragon and the rest of him.
But if shewasawake, I would have the power to defend myself. To ensure I never had to suffer the predations of the Hunters ever again. I would finally befree.
From everything except Dirk. Was that a price I was willing to pay?
I stood thinking for a long time. Then I started walking.
Fifteen
Dirk
Knowing I wasall kinds of wrong for Ella didn’t make being around her any easier. Dinner was torture. The constant barrage of thoughts from my dragon had frayed my nerves to the breaking point.
A never-ending scene was playing out of me surging across the table and carrying her off to bed. I could hear the sounds of her clothes ripping free as I tore them to shreds, eager to get at her lithe little body with my hands, my mouth, and eventually fill her with my cock.
A thousand different moans filled my head. What would she sound like when I ran my hands down her back and lifted her around my waist? Would she breathe sharply or gasp with a high-pitched erotic squeal when I sucked on her nipples for the first time? And when I filled her with every inch until her eyes rolled back in her head and she twisted the sheets to shreds, would she moan my name?
That was the chaos of my mind as I sat perfectly still, slicing strips of delicious subrahim-steak and chewing thoroughly while conversations went on around me. Gravy was poured over mounds of mashed tubers, much like I wanted to spill myself for Ella.
I clenched the knife in my hand so hard it bent.
How was I supposed to continue like this? I should have left like I’d planned to. At least if I was alone, I could yell and scream my frustrations while taking care of my cock in privacy, buying myself precious minutes of relief before thoughts of her came rushing back.
Somehow the others had planned it so that Ella was seated across from me. It was a suffering I never wished to repeat, but it gave me a focus, something to think about that eventually allowed me to push the physical desires aside.
Her pain. I could see the hurt in her eyes. Some of it I suspected was because of me and the marks on her side, but the bulk of it was from somewhere else. Perhaps it was related to the reason she was so vehemently against the idea of us being together.
And thank the orb for that. I couldn’t imagine having to try to turn her aside if she was actually crazy enough to want me.
