Chapter 33 An experiment
Wolf-girl was trouble.
It was a nagging worry from the moment I saw her disappear beneath that lake with Hale.
When a bright-eyed Finn confessed that he was in love with her, that worry became dread.
And now, panic exploded like fireworks as my lips touched hers.
It was meant to be a quick kiss. But at the charged contact of our lips, not even the threat of destruction could have terrified me enough to resist exploring their plump softness.
It sizzled, rousing long-forgotten emotions in these old dragon bones that, up till a second ago, I believed were dead.
I withdrew, partly to give her one last chance to back out, but also to confirm that this was real, that I had not slipped between the gaps of consciousness and dream where the ballerina had become a French Queen in my arms.
My heart was ripe, bursting, swelling with excitement I had not felt in years.
She was staring back at me with as much surprise in her eyes, lips slack, cheeks red as her chest rose and fell.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered.
I yanked her back to myself, aching to spank her.
How many times would I have to tell her to stop bloody apologizing?
Choosing a safer outlet, I fisted her hair to keep her head still for me. My fingers sank to her roots, gripping tightly. But it was not enough.
I was feverish to get in her head. To taste all the parts of her mouth there was to taste. So I slanted my lips over hers, prying her soft and yielding mouth open with my tongue. My temperature spiked at how yielding she was, how eager she was to open for me.
And then she moaned.
I flew off the seat. Backing away as if it was suddenly on fire.
“Bloody hell.” I turned my back, unable to even look at her. I should have left her alone. This was selfish and dangerous.
I should have just stuck to the bloody, boring plan.
“Fuck.” I cursed. The vault, usually annoyingly cold, was now too hot. Way too hot.
There was something…there was something about those naturally scarlet-colored lips, that small, warm mouth that made me want to pin her down and not let her go till she broke in halves.
Giving my head a good shake, I decided it was best to leave her to Hale. She was too fragile. Too weak. Too naive.
Hale was the one with the patience for these sorts of things.
The elegant aristocrat who would work his way in gently, break all your defenses insistently but politely. And softly whisper praises in your ears the whole way.
I exhaled, and turned back to her.
The sight of her sitting exactly where I left her, composed and staring up at me like she was waiting for instructions to even breathe nearly broke my resolve.
Another big gulp of air, and I lowered to sit beside her again.
She wanted to see her future. That’s exactly what we will do.
“Are you usually this obedient?”
She blushed, and looked away. That was new. I had no idea her personality embarrassed her.
Conflict, sudden and fierce, warred within me.
I wanted her to be bolder, speak up, but at the same time, this personality was beginning to drive me wild in all the wrong ways that also felt right.
“You’ll be a perfect sub.” I shut off all thoughts and took her lips again.
My heart was pounding.
I wished she would not make that sound anymore. Things would get really rough if she did.
She didn’t.
I did. I was the one embarrassingly making all the sounds, groaning at the taste of her lips, at the warmth of her mouth that almost rivaled mine in temperature.
I should be weaving into her mind, sifting through timelines to tell the lovely little lady what would happen to her in the next couple of months, her last year on earth.
But instead, my hand was caressing a long line down her back.
She was pliant against me, her body moving only within the inch my hand steered, opening her mouth more for me before I even prodded.
The longer we kissed, the louder her heartbeat became.
My free hand came up to rest against the spot, feeling the strong, healthy beat of the heart that strangely ruled mine with an iron fist, summoning it at will, despite its owner not knowing she had such control over me.
I pulled her onto my lap then, so there was not an inch of space between us.
And I loved it, feeling her like this, so close.
She loved it more because her hands went around my neck. I uncurled her hands, clutched her wrists, and pinned them behind her.
I meant it to be uncomfortable, painful. But her breath caught once, and she moaned again.
Before I could lose myself completely, I dove head first into her mind.
Chaos. I felt right into chaos.
I winced, even as my lips continued to move mindlessly against hers, sucking on her lips, her tongue. Exploring every corner of her sweet mouth.
My body was surfing in ecstasy, my dick lying in a hard line up my thigh. But my soul was in hell.
The Ballerina’s mind was hell.
The next twelve months for her, for us, was hell.
I saw strange things, awful events that made a silent tear run down my cheek. I recognized the silhouettes of warring lovers as Hale and me. I was in an awful war with the man I had loved for almost two centuries, the man I would journey to the depths of hell for.
I was not out for his head, and he for mine.
We fought like beasts, holding none of our powers back. And we were fighting over her. Lys.
We were fighting over this woman we barely knew. And in the center of all this chaos was Finn, his betrayal tasted like ash in my mouth as I pulled away from her.
She stared at me, burning as much as I did. But she was curious, waiting.
I wiped my cheek and turned my neck to stare at a blank war, feeling strange in this body for the first time.
As a full dragon, things were not this complicated. Life was linear, if a little dull.
But it was easy.
Nothing was big enough to hurt me.
But in this body, something could hurt me. There were things big enough to crush my soul, like Nymphaea did, like this woman, young and so pliant, was about to do.
“You won,” I said finally.
Her eyes lit up, and her lips lifted in the first real smile I had ever seen on her.
“You understand you have to give it your best to not alter this future, right?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I will. I promise, I will.” She was bouncing on her seat, no doubt already having forgotten the kiss that just tore my soul in halves.
“You may go.” I nodded towards the door, and she jumped to her feet, hurrying away.
I had little doubt she would head right to the kitchen. To the man she loved who was obsessed with creating new recipes.
My phone rang loudly then. The man I loved was calling.
“Did it work?” Hale sounded breathless over the phone, and it took me a minute to remember what he was asking about.
He could not have known about the vision or the kiss.
“Too well.” I responded.
My experiment was supposed to be simple. Confirm if my ability to bond with a woman was gone.
Test the viability of that magnet that always brought Nymphaea back to me.
It was still there, I felt it the moment I brought her into this vault. Felt it in the kiss.
My soul was still holding its hand out to Nymphaea, but she would not take it. Instead, another woman just did. And painfully stabbed my soul in the process.
“Well,” Hale sighed over the phone, “We can proceed to the next plan then…”
“You lied to me.” I cut him off, my chest aching horribly.
I tried to remind myself to be rational about this to avoid that horror I just saw in all four of our futures.
Hale was quiet over the phone. He did not ask what I was talking about, he did not get defensive. And that made it easier.
“Why?” I inhaled deeply now, greedy for air. “Why did you not tell me Lys was your destined mate?”