“Of course I’ll be fine,” he snapped. “You are the one with the fragile human body.”
I shot him a glare. “Lay off my body, man.”
Ignoring me, he pulled something out of his bag and clutched it tight. “That mad bastard has gone too far. I’ll rip his throat out before he so much as looks at you wrong again,” he snarled. “I’m taking you home. Now.” He swayed again and caught himself on the table. “Damn it all.” Dante rubbed his temple and glared at the banana in the bowl of fruit. “I don’t need that from you right now.” He cursed at the fruit, then snatched an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against his side.
“Wait!” I gasped, trying in vain to push him away. “At least let me get my things.”
“I’ll buy you new things. Let’s go,” he growled.
He raised his fist, revealing a gray stone about the width of this palm. Letters from a language I didn’t recognize glowed on its surface. Dante muttered something under his breath, then the letters grew even brighter until I had to look away from the sharp blue light. Swirls of mist surrounded us on all sides, whipping around like a tornado, and I clung tighter to Dante.
As the small tornado raged harder, Dante’s grip on me tightened. His large body completely enveloped mine. A hand slid to the small of my back pushing me further against him. His free hand tilted my head to the side. I gasped when I felt his warm breath on my neck. He shuddered. Then inhaled deeply. “Dante?”
“Gods, you smell so good,” he breathed.
Logically speaking, I knew I should be more concerned with the strange tornado he just summoned around us. Or the litany of other things wrong with the situation. But when the heat of his body pressed against mine, I was all too aware that the strange dragon-shifter pinning me to him was also the first man I’d seen since I was taken. I didn’t have much experience with men. Yet I imagined when a man whispers such things as ‘Gods, you smell so good’ in a woman’s ear, when said woman had not seen a man in many moons, I’d like to think she should be allowed to feel some…things. At least, I really fucking hoped so.
Dante lifted his head to look me in the eye. My heart practically beat out of my chest. The silver of his eyes bled away to an ethereal-looking violet. A long scar ran down the right side of his face, giving his regal features a wild edge. Flickering lights appeared around the swirling tornado keeping us entrapped. My breath hitched when he took hold of my chin and forced me to look at him.
“I need you to say yes,” he said.
My throat went dry. “Say… say yes to what?” His tongue darted across his lower lip. I wonder just how much softer it was than the rest of his chiseled features. The warmth of him radiated into me. My body felt icy anywhere he wasn’t touching. He leaned in closer, as if he meant to kiss me.Did I want him to?
“Just say yes.”
“Yes,” I said instantly.
Wait, oh hot habaneros, I can’t do that!
His body shuddered. I squeaked when his hands grabbed my ass and lifted me to wrap my legs around him. He pulled me closer, and I closed my eyes.
Then I felt his sharp fangs on my neck.
“Wait, Dante, what are you doing?” I asked. Sharp pain sank into my neck as he bit down. I cried out and banged my fist against his shoulder, trying to knock him away. His grip held me like a vice. No matter how much I struggled he didn’t so much as flinch.
Something seeped into my body from every direction. It beat against my insides with such an oppressive force that I lost my breath. Thunder rolled in from the world outside. Then that too shook through me. There was a flash, and it felt like every inch of my body was electrified. I screamed, the sound being choked out by the storm trying to rip me apart.
“Relax, Princess. I have you.”
“Relax?” I snapped at him. “You fucking bit me!” I thrashed, frantic to escape whatever force was clawing at my insides. Thick gray clouds lapped at my waist, while little sparks of yellow danced in their wake. My breath caught, and I choked on what felt like syrupy fog. Whatever the force was looking for, it found it. I felt it in the jolt it sent through my body. I wasn’t in control anymore. My limbs weren’t mine to move. My lungs gulped in air, but it wasn’t me that commanded them to. It pushed and pulled against me until the fight had been wrung out of my consciousness. Soon it settled somewhere deep in my body. Thrumming through my blood in an almost pleasant hum.
Dante let out a breath and placed a kiss on my temple. “There you are.”
The swirling tornado dissipated, and the clouds faded away. Yet the room was covered in darkness. I heaved in air, then tested my limbs to make sure I was the one in control again. When my fingers clenched and unclenched at my command, I shoved at Dante as hard as I could. It did nothing, but he relented and set me down, then stumbled away. There was a soft thud, and I heard him groan. Cold air nipped at my skin, making me shiver.
Chest heaving, I whirled around trying to get my bearings, but I couldn’t see a damn thing. “What did you do?” I snarled at him.
Dante snapped his fingers. Torches lit up all around the room, revealing that I was no longer in my kitchen. Judging from the size of the room, I wasn’t even in the tower. This room was enormous. I saw blankets, and soft cushioning littered the floor in every direction. On the far end of the room, there was a small waterfall that fed into a peaceful-looking pond. Vibrant lilies glowed in a white light on the water’s surface. I looked up to see that the ceiling was covered by a rolling storm cloud. No rain came down, but flicks of lightning and thunder rolled gently through the clouds.
I turned back to Dante, anger and confusion making me see red. “Where the fuck am I, and why is it so damn cold?”
He forced his eyes to open and blinked around as if he was the one that was confused. “I took you home,” he replied. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“My home!” I screeched. “I meant my home, you weirdo!”
His head lulled back against a pillow, his eyes drooped. “You should have been more specific,” he said, before closing his eyes. In a matter of seconds, the dragon-shifter was snoring.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” My question fell on deaf ears. The damn lightweight was completely passed out. I gritted my teeth in frustration, then took a deep breath to clear my thoughts. “Bright side, Cherry. There’s always a bright side,” I muttered. If I repeated the mantra enough, perhaps it would come true. When my breath evened out, I snuck a glance at Dante’s sleeping form. From the looks of it, he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. Maybe thatwasthe bright side. He didn’t seem like a raging murderer, but he did bite me for some weird reason.
