Supper was an exercise in self-control. Thankfully, neither Darius nor Aaron showed for it. The Dragon was there, though. I caught the bloke staring at me every time I glanced his way.
Could he tell I was skating a razor’s edge with Anna? Impossible to say. Those metallic eyes glittered at me but gave nothing away.
Dodgy bastard.
My only choice was to run away. And as soon as supper was over, that was what I did.
“Gotta run, Angel,” I told her. “I’ll catch you later.”
I sensed her eyes on me as I fled. Down the stairs, out the front doors, and to the forest.
And then I ran as a beast.
I ran with my nose to the ground. All those scents bombarding my noggin. Despite forcing my brain to pay attention, it rebelled, refusing to forget the scent of citrus.
Sweet, but not cloying. Compelling.
Unforgettable.
It hooked into my soul, and left it bleedin’.
Having such an incredible sense of smell had never been a problem until now. My memory supplied me with a constant stream of stimuli that had me hard and aching.
No way I’d be able to sleep like this. When the sun set and the moons rose, I was still running.
A couple of times, the moonlight flickered, and I wondered if the Dragon was up there, somewhere, soaring through the clouds.
I was far from alone in the forest. I’d already heard howls from those exercising their animal half. But I was not in the mood for company.
Or rather, not in the mood for that kind of company.
So after milling around for hours and getting nowhere with my inner demons—or rather, demoness—I set myself a goal. I’d run to the plateau and serenade the moons all by my lonesome. I doubted most of the other students would run that far.
This desire for solitude surprised me. It wasn’t a normal Dire kind of thing. Back home, I’d always been at the center of every piss-up. Sure, I carried a torch for Anna. But why would she have such an effect on me?
I’d seen her in my dreams. Known her before I’d ever set eyes on her. It smacked of something big, something I’d never thought would happen to me.
Fate.
My beast was more certain than my human, pushing at me to never leave her, and to go even further—to claim her. If Aaron hadn’t interrupted me when she was so temptingly close, who knows if I could have resisted.
Yes,I told myself. I would have. Anna had no idea of what Fate had decreed. We barely knew each other. I wasn’t going to grab her, haul her into the bushes, and sink myself into her—okay, even thinking about that wasn’t a good idea.“Excuse me, do you mind if I screw you senseless and then bite you? Oh, you didn’t know we were fated to be together?”
Only days ago, Anna didn’t even know Dires existed. She wasn’t likely to agree to become my mate on just my say-so. Which left me panting after her like an idiot, growling at every male that dared look at her and running through the night with a throbbing bloody stiffie.
I winced as the latter encountered a lovely branch. Running through the bush in this state was dodgy as hell, but instead of slowing down, I accelerated. The more I thought of it, the more the plateau appealed to me. And I needed to get there, like, now.
It seemed forever before the ground rose beneath my paws and the trees thinned. But as I burst out onto the raised, flattened surface, I realized that I’d invited myself to another bloke’s piss-up.
A bloody big guy stood near the boulder along the edge. I recognized him even before the wind blew his scent to me.
The Dragon.
He spun as I trotted out of the forest. I sniffed, and caught the scent of blood. And something else. Something verified as scales chased over his lower half.
I made a mental note—never get in a dick-measuring contest with a Dragon. It seemed Talakai had come here seeking much the same solace as myself.
His dark brows dropped as he saw me lift my nose.
