5. Push and pull

(Mateo)

(Just before he was in the forest)

When the dragon flew away through the window, it took me minutes to get my head back and I was finally awake from the spell, the woman and her dragon put me on. They were both bewitching.

The woman was a menace, a freaking menace, with a mouth like... a flame thrower or something. Every f*cking word that came out of her mouth was made to make me burn.

I didn’t even have the proper word to describe her. She vexed me to madness. But her dragon- oh! Now, I loved that sexy beast. Her red and black scaly body, her soft violet eyes with a slash in the middle that looked like a doorway to her soul, her soft purr.

"Oh, I won’t mind riding that dragon...” Shade said with a moan, and I chuckled, shaking my head. On a normal day, my dragon was usually the most level-headed creature, but with Vera and her dragon, Shade seemed to be losing his shit, too, more so than me.

"Yes, I know you won’t mind riding her, you dirty dragon.”

“Who is this woman? What is she doing here, and why is her dragon hugging you? She was hugging you, wasn’t she? What the hell is going on here? I came here for a few days of relaxation from medical school... but this place is still a madhouse, and this royal family is full of drama...” Amyra huffed. Amyra Storm was the best sister a guy could ask for and she was studying at Zee-Duklee school of medicine and in a few months, she would be a doctor. My brother Blaine was also a doctor. I was the only one who was not!

“Take a deep breath, doctor, or you will faint,” I huffed. “And that-” I pointed to the window where Vera’s dragon had just flew away, after effectively hypnotizing me. “That is the secret I wanted you to keep,” I told my sister as I looked at Vera’s shoes that was discarded at the side of the room.

“Go on, explain... or I feel like my head will burst open from all the surprise,” she whispered.

“That- that is my mate.”

There! Saying it out loud finally put things on perspective. MY MATE!

“Ew...” she said. “You guys are into some kinky shit? Is that what I just saw with those handcuffs?” she shook her head, her nose crunched, and she looked disgusted. I frowned at my sister.

“Really, Amyra?” I shook my head, wondering why the f*ck her mind would immediately drift there. “That is not- we didn’t... shìt, it is complicated. For now, please promise me you will not tell mother.”

“But- but mother will be so excited to know that you have finally found your mate. She has been asking me to go with her to polish her crown just in case you find your mate before the coronation... Mat, this is perfect and you can introduce her to our social circle on the same day, but-”

Yeah, crown.

My mate would probably steal it at the first chance she got, and run away if I handed it to her.

No way in hell could I bring her to my parents and tell them, “Parents, meet my mate, the one who stole our family heirloom.” Oh! That would be a freaking disaster. A royal scandal!

“No, no, just trust me, Amyra. First, I need to track her,” I said with a cross look on my face as I picked up her shoes. They were beautiful. I wondered whether she had brought it or lifted it from somewhere. Scoffing, I turned towards the window. “If mother asked, Amyra, tell her I am just getting some air.”

“Yes, yes, the things I do for you...” my little sister grumbled before she walked away. I stripped, pushed the clothes inside a bag, tied it around my neck and shifted.

Shade lifted his head and his nostrils flared when her scent filled him.

"Oh, she smells the most delicious,” Shade said as he tracked her. It was easy, because of the overwhelming power of the mate bond. I wondered what I was going to do about that!

I- I knew I could’t- I wouldn’t reject her. She was made for me, she was a blessing. She was supposed to be the best thing in my life, but was she? Could she be everything I had been looking for?

And let’s not forget that the woman was also a lying, swindling thief.

"Just take your time. Maybe she will grow on you,” my dragon said with a sigh. ”I understand it is making you feel conflicted, because you- you are the most moral, straitlaced, law-abiding person in Draconia, but still... she could surprise you.”

I sighed. ”Of course. We will see, Shade, we will see,” I said when we finally reached the forest.

***

And that was how I ended up here... with the thief staring at me with those bewitching violet verbena eyes, and me, once again, in a humiliating position. I was freaking covered in mud from head to toe.

Whenever this thief was involved, I found myself tied to something. A window. A tree.

"Her bed could have been better, maybe?” My dragon offered with a tilted head.

"Yes, at least that would be a little less humiliating,” I said to him, readily accepting it and the image it brought to my head.

“And she will beg me to touch her!”

"By the f*cking rate your c*ck is growing, it looks like you will be the one begging...” Shade said with a smirk. The dragon was incorrigible . I shook my head as I tried to control myself, but looking into her darkened violet eyes... no, I could almost hear my control snapping. Snap. Snap.

“And?” she breathed out, as her body moved towards me, as if it had its own mind. Her eyes were wild and desperate. I gasped when I was hit by her delicious scent.

I licked my lips. I wanted her pink lips on my mouth, on my body, and on my erection.

“I can’t. I won’t touch her. I have to punish her for being a naughty, naughty vixen,” I breathed out and she moaned, biting her lower lips and her eyes... the lust in them... it pulled me in.

I already knew this fight was hard, but she was making it harder.

I loved it. I loved it a little bit too much.

“You have changed,” she whispered finally and she stood so close to me, I felt her whole body on mine.

She wasn’t touching me, but I could feel her warmth seeping through my skin, starting fire in my blood.

“Well...” I shrugged.

“So now that you have found me, what are you really going to do, Prince?” For just a second, I saw the mask slip and I saw the flicker of panic. She was scared... but I didn’t want her to be scared.

“I don’t know, Vera. I don’t know what to do with you or this.”

She looked surprised when I used her name.

“I know what you should do. Leave here and forget we have ever met. It will be easy that way.”

I felt a small twist of pain in my chest.

“Forget? You are my- my mate,” I breathed out and she looked at me like a deflated balloon.

The confidence, the arrogance, everything was gone in that instant.

“I don’t want a mate, I have never wanted a mate,” she said. There was no emotion in her voice, and the playfulness was replaced by seriousness. The tension in the air was so thick I could almost cut it with a knife.

I had been thinking about what to do with this thief for a while, but the moment she told me that she didn’t want a mate was when I realized how much I wanted this to work out. Whatever the f*ck this was.

“Why?! Because you already have a boyfriend?” I roared out as I took a step closer to her and my dragon was clawing inside to come out and kill that boyfriend.

The envy burning inside me matched Shade’s anger and it was unusual for me, for us. I had always been cool and logical, but looking into her beguiling eyes holding worlds of secrets... telling me that she didn’t want me...

"She can’t reject us...” Shade growled out. ”You need to make sure she won’t.”

“She is not rejecting me.”

Now I knew what I wanted and I wanted her. I had, for a second, wondered about what to do with her, but I knew now... This little thief was mine, and the Sun God made it so.

I would fight for that... even if it included her.

“Well, too bad. You have got a mate, and he is f*cking right here,” I growled under my breath and her eyes flashed in anger and something else I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

She pushed a finger to my chest. “You think I am scared of your little growls? I can growl, too.”

I took another step towards her, forcing her to back against the tree. She looked around wildly and I could see her eyes already changing, responding to my closeness.

“You are not rejecting me, Vera. It is not going to be that easy.”

“Who gives you the right to-”

I pressed a finger to her lips, quietening her. Her violet eyes turned intense and I wondered why she was so hellbent on saying no, when everything in her was screaming yes.

Why did she want to reject me? Was she really in love with that man with her?

Thinking about it made my stomach burn with irritation and envy.

"I will claw his eyes out...”

"Shade, violence is never the answer, don’t you know?”

“You know you want me, so why do you keep yapping? Forget about that for a while. We will come back to it later,” I said as I stared straight into her eyes. “Now let’s get down to business. Stop whatever evil plans you are cooking in your devil’s workshop.” I poked her forehead and she bared her teeth at me. “I knew you didn’t come to the palace just to enjoy the ball like everyone else. I knew you weren’t just blinking those scheming eyes at Kalen because you were attracted to him.”

“What are you going to do if I say no, I am not stopping?” she said with a glare.

“I will find out what you are planning and I will stop you.”

“Is that a challenge?” She raised her chin defiantly, her eyes excited.

"I think you have just woken up a sleeping dragon.”

I trailed a finger down her chin, to her throat, and pushed the finger against her neck...

She arched into me.

“It is a promise.”

“Game on, prince. It is a fucking game on.”

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