Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Vasily cleared his throat and glanced away while Luka snickered.
“No, we didn’t find anything,” Luka said as he dropped on the ground across the fire from Dimitri. “Thanks for setting up our tent. We’ll grab yours next time.”
Vasily settled next to him, wrapping an arm across his shoulders and pulling him in close to lean on him. Some frightened part of Dimitri’s heart sent up yet another prayer that there really was no mage waiting to tear them apart. Vasily and Luka were happy together. They were mates. No one should be allowed to disrupt that.
Dimitri waved him off. Who was he to begrudge them some private time so long as they did their job? It went without saying that his companions all knew he was getting plenty of quality time with Sam.
Well, maybe not plenty, but it was a good start. And he was looking forward to getting a lot more of that quality time once they got out of this forest and he could spend some time properly wooing this precious man of his.
He intended to take the first steps of that plan right after they finished their meal.
“I’ve been thinking,” Dimitri announced as they set aside their dishes to be cleaned.
Gregori shivered. “Those three words out of your mouth always give me chills. It’s never a good thing.”
“This time it is,” Dimitri hissed. “After the discovery of the booby trap, I’m sure we’re all thinking the same thing. There’s going to be more. I believe it would be best if we head back to Praia do Secreto and the clan. We can get more supplies and more help on this endeavor.”
“Are you fucking insane?” Sam shouted as he leapt to his feet. He towered over Dimitri, his face turning bright red in the flicking firelight. “We hit one little snag, one tiny roadblock, and you’re ready to turn tail.”
“It’s not one snag. You were attacked by the pisadeira,” Dimitri countered, shoving to his feet as well.
“And survived with only a tiny bit of bruising.”
“The boitata—”
“Which was pissed at dragons coming into its territory. That had nothing to do with me!”
“And the booby trap. There are going to be more, and we don’t know what kind of danger they present. You could be hurt.” Dimitri started to point at him but noticed that his scales were popping out again as he became more agitated and ripped his hand back to his side.
“How am I going to be hurt with four dragons surrounding me at all times? Besides, you’ve already proven that I can’t sneeze without you there to totally freak out about it. This is all because I told you my core is broken. You weren’t this bad before.”
“What?” Vasily barked.
Gregori put up his hands, forming a T. “Whoa! Time out! What do you mean your core is broken? How is that even possible?” This announcement had the other three dragons climbing to their feet so that they were now all standing around the fire, their shadows stretching and dancing wildly in the firelight.
Dimitri winced, his heart aching for Sam as his lover’s shoulders slumped and he spat out an abbreviated explanation of his condition. As expected, looks of pain and sympathy filled each dragon’s face. There was no one in this world more precious than a mage, and to hear that one was suffering in any way was just heartbreaking.
The one exception to that rule was the traitorous Jaeggi, but that didn’t apply to Sam. No one would dare to even mention that name in regards to his Sam. It had to be another reason.
“This has nothing to do with whether you can or can’t do magic,” Dimitri argued.
“Oh, that’s right,” Sam began, his words thick with sarcasm and irritation. He turned toward the others as he waved a hand in Dimitri’s direction. “He thinks I’m his mate.”
“You are,” Vasily, Luka, and Gregori agreed in unison.
Sam jerked back a step, his eyes wide. “What?”
Gregori snorted. “It’s really obvious. Pretty much since you walked into the clan compound.”
“He’s very possessive and protective,” Luka added.
“Overprotective,” Sam muttered under his breath. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Dimitri. “And you’re losing control of your powers!”
“What?” Dimitri gasped. “I am not.”
That got a round of wild laughter from the three men he’d called brothers for nearly his entire life. He took it back. He took back all the nice, sweet things he’d ever thought or said about them. Fucking traitors.
“Dimitri!” Gregori gasped. “We’ve been watching you randomly shift different parts of your body since you returned from your talk with Samuel.”
“You’re creating random patches of ice. We found mini-icebergs floating in the river when we went to inspect it,” Vasily said while chuckling.
Luka waved one hand up toward the sky. “It’s snowing.”
Dimitri’s head snapped up to see tiny flakes fluttering down and melting before they could even reach the ground. Okay, maybe he was losing his control, but his mate was not only hurting and he couldn’t fix it, he was also in constant danger in this forest. How was Dimitri supposed to be calm about this?