Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Victor and the other man drop quickly to their knees.
“You will go and gather your army.” Galen’s command from his throne surprises me. “Now.” The man and sorcerer stumble to rise, then leave quickly and silently, whispering their thanks. They should be dead.
I watch them leave before turning my attention back to the woman.
“Does she really mean that much to you?” I hear Cyrus ask Galen, gathering my attention.
“I’ll let him live until I see this Isabella.” I nod knowingly as a fire burns within me. Victor’s days are numbered, but he may be useful in attaining this mate he speaks of.
Ever so slowly, I reach down to the woman who’s seething in pain from the slash on her skin, kneeled over and trembling. Blood drips down her shoulder and I move to wipe it, to offer her comfort. Her hard eyes find mine and she grimaces. “I’ll kill myself before I let you hurt me. I’ll starve myself to death if you keep me caged.” She swallows thickly, pain and stubbornness equally reflected. “I won’t be your slave.” Her throat is dry and her words are strangled, but her fight is commendable.
I smile down on her, loving the spirit she has. “I have no intention of you being a slave.” It takes a moment to steady my breath as the tense air crackles between us. “What name do you go by?”
She stares at me with wide, wild eyes and slight disbelief and presses her lips together. Unwilling to believe me. Defiantly disobeying me. The words behind me are a distraction. Cyrus and Galen tell Adelle to feed the other women and grant them housing in the castle. Deliberately and carefully, I reach down to push the woman’s hair out of her face and that’s when I smell it.
Her heat.
I struggle to remain composed as my blood rushes and my heart beats chaotically. There’s no way my brothers would be able to scent her so far away. I look over her small, damaged body and frantically smell her again. I have to resist the urge to flip her over and bury my nose between her legs.
“I hate you all.” Her words barely hit me as I stare into her heated gaze.
She’s fertile, but she may lose her heat as she stays within my proximity. It’s happened before. A woman seems to heat for us, but it’s not ours to take. It dies quickly and never returns. But this is the strongest I’ve ever scented a woman. There’s a possibility that she’s capable of heating for me. That she’s intended for me. Or one of us. The thought makes me tremble with rage.
Mine! My dragon hisses in my chest.
“Take her to my bedchambers.” I nearly choke on the loud words that escape my lips without my consent.
A shocked tone resonates behind me. “You can’t be serious, Drago.” Galen glares at me with disbelief as another servant enters and attempts to pick up the woman. My potential mate. I hear a scuffle and turn to see the servant stumble, but she doesn’t fall.
She may think she can fight me, but she cannot.
“I’ll do it.” I grit out with irritation to the servant as I turn my back on my brothers. I know if they find out she’s in heat, there will be hell to pay. I grip the small blonde woman forcefully and pin her to my chest as she struggles against me.
“Drago!” Cyrus calls after me as I carry her away from them.
The woman cries out in my arms, wriggling her body. I ignore her attempts as I hear my heart beat louder and louder. The look of disgust on Cyrus’s face makes me aware that he misunderstands my intention. I look over my shoulder at my brothers who stare back with confusion and incredulity.
My dragon hisses. My eyes flash reptilian and flames burn in my chest. My dragon wants her now, but he’ll have to wait. I won’t touch her until she’s ready to carry my dragonlings. Her fists pound against my chest even as I hold her with a single arm. She’s weak and frail.
“What are you doing, Drago?” Galen’s words carry through the room, and I turn at the doors with the woman screaming in my arms.
“I’ll come back and we will prepare for war.” I look down at the woman in my arms and then out to the hall. To my bedchambers. Knowing this is a dangerous game I’m playing. “You can have Isabella, Galen. I won’t fight you.”
My brothers stare at me as though I’ve gone mad, but Galen is pleased by my words. Cyrus looks between us, before asking, “Drago?”
I stare back at him, waiting impatiently. “What?”
“You won’t hurt her. Promise me.” I’m shocked at his words. I know I must look as though I’ve gone mad. The woman is quietly sobbing in my arms as it dawns on her that the fight is useless. I look down at her and then back at my brothers, feeling selfish and undeserving.