Theo
Gemma took a deep breath. Theo could see by the look on her face that she was very innocent in the ways of romance. Of course, there wouldn’t have been a whole lot of time for romance as she had spent her whole life just trying to survive.
“What do we need to do?” Gemma asked.
“We are going to act like we’re mates. Our acting has to be absolutely genuine, so no one suspects anything different,” Theo said.
Gemma stared at him, her eyes wide.
“There is an important ritual for my clan coming up in the few days. It is one of those things where a date is required. Generally, people bring their mates. You will go as my mate,” Theo said.
Gemma nodded. “Mama told me about some of the rituals she and Daddy used to go to. I know she missed Daddy a lot. They really loved each other. The rituals sound a bit – frightening,” Gemma said.
Theo raised his brows at her. “You have fought your entire life. An entire wolf pack is hunting you and trying to kill you. And you are afraid of a little socializing?” he asked.
“I’ve never been around other people. I barely even know how to carry on a conversation with anyone but myself and my mom,” Gemma said defensively. “Plus, I don’t even have a clue how to dance. I’m pretty sure I would embarrass myself if I even try the waltz, and I’ve heard that is the easiest one to do.”
Theo had to admit that going into a room full of strangers when living an entire life alone would be a little nerve-racking.
“I promise, I’ll be with you. You are smart, and you’ll be fine. We can practice some dancing here before we go. You won’t have to do anything too fancy,” he said.
“Okay. So, I won’t have to be Baby to your Johnny fromDirty Dancing.I’ll go to the ritual with you. You tell everyone we’re mates,” she said.
“That way, as my mate, the entire dragon clan will be obligated to protect you,” he said. “The wolf pack won’t be able to touch you because that would be violating the supreme clan rule of protection. Members of the clan attach more importance to their mates than they do their own lives.” He hated the sadness he heard in his voice.
Gemma said, “Okay. What else. I assume we’re going to have to act all lovey-dovey, especially in front of everyone else.”
Theo nodded gravely as though the idea was distasteful to him. He hadn’t wanted to kiss anyone else since Savannah. It wasn’t that Gemma was ugly. She wasn’t ugly at all. As a matter of fact, she was quite beautiful. But …
“How lovey-dovey do we actually have to act?” she asked as though she just asked whether she had to clean the bathroom with her toothbrush.
Theo almost felt offended that the idea of being romantic with him was so distasteful.
“Kissing is definitely a must,” Theo said.
“Just in front of other people, right?” she asked.
“No. If we don’t practice kissing here, in private, everyone will know if we try to kiss in front of people. It will be awkward and all wrong,” he said. Then, he added with a smirk, “I think that kissing me is a small price to pay to save your life. It’s not like you have to do it forever. Just a couple months.”
“I know. It’s just that I’ve never even thought about being with a man before. At least not specifically. There have always been the dreams that someday I might meet a man and have a family after all of this is done. I guess I never considered what it would take to have the whole children part. In my little fantasy, they were just there,” she said.
“Really?” Theo asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Other things occupied my attention,” she said sardonically. “Kissing. Okay. We will practice kissing. When do we start that?” she asked.
“Today. We have to act like we are mates in just a couple of days. We are going to have to fool a whole room of dragons,” he said.
He was trying to be patient with her, but he was starting to get a bit irritated. He didn’t want to do this anymore than she did, but she didn’t have to act like she’d rather eat an entire plate of fried worms than kiss him.
“I promise, I’m a good kisser. I won’t slobber on you or anything,” he said, smirking again.
Gemma’s eyes opened wide. “What if I’m a terrible kisser, and I do drool all over you?” she asked, sounding horrified. “I’ve only ever kissed my mum on the cheek before. No chance for drooling there.”
He could see her mouth starting to turn up at the corners.
So, she does have a sense of humor. That’s good to know.
“We’ll wear bibs if we need to,” he said, smiling back.
