Dragon Keep Me

Chapter Seventeen

Cass

Well, Crux was gone, and I had a month left to live. That sucked. Big time. I was going to do what I always did and distract myself with a beautiful woman. A dark elf seductress who’d awakened something in my soul with a simple kiss.

My smile faltered when I looked down at the tattoo. If I wasn’t selfish, I’d tell her to go home. To forget about me because I’m a dead man walking. I knew the odds of finding and stopping Morga were probably close to zero. Maybe if we had a year to search, but the vast number of lakes in Canada was too much to search through in twenty-five days. My heart pinched. I was selfish and wanted to spend my last days exploring this bond with Natalie Norman. Part of me had always been jealous of the wolf shifters and their mate calling. Now I could experience something like that.

I knocked, and she opened the door for me, tilting her head with a small smile curling her lips. It was like I was seeing her for the first time. Not as Elizabeth, but as Natalie. The fae were normally tall and slender, but she’d kept her ample curves, and they made my mouth water. I wanted to trace them with my tongue.

Natalie

“What?” I asked, shifting under Cass’ gaze.

I didn’t know what to do with this man. Maybe it was the kiss this morning, but the way he was looking at me now made my stomach clench. Those metallic-blue eyes were so intense, devouring me. He smirked at me and that knot in my stomach twisted, heat blossoming like a lewd flower.

I didn’t think he had a filter in his brain, because he said, “I want to lick your entire body,” and he smirked, unashamed to be so inappropriately blunt.

“I don’t want you, witch,” I said, repeating what he’d told me when the tattoo appeared. “And what was it?” I tapped my cheek, tilting my head. “Oh, yeah. Please, not her.”

“I was surprised, that’s all.”

“And now you’re just fine?”

“A terminal diagnosis can shift your worldview.”

“You’re not being totally honest. River already shared with me why you hate witches, but I know that’s not the entire story. You didn’t seem to dislike me so much when we waltzed at the cafe, and you already knew I was a witch then.”

“Oh, dancing. We should do that again. Alone. And naked.”

It took all of my willpower to frown instead of smile, and I crossed my arms over my chest for emphasis.

“Okay, the truth,” he said, sighing and sitting on the couch. He patted the spot next to him, bobbing his brows.

I took the chair across from him and he stuck out his bottom lip in a pout before he started his explanation. “When I found you in the woods, it was unsettling. Creepy. You looked—and I mean exactly looked—like a girl I once knew. Her name was Elizabeth. She was the first person I ever loved besides my mother. When I was taken by the witches, as River told you, I thought they killed Elizabeth. I didn’t know what to think about you. You were admittedly hard to look at, and you brought forward memories I would rather keep buried.”

I was thinking, my mind whirring. Things were clicking into place.

“You were so interested in my biological mother when Nadaria was talking about her, because you think that I’m related to your Elizabeth, don’t you?”

“I am sure she is your grandmother or great-grandmother.”

Ugh. Yeah, that’s a little weird. No wonder he was hesitant.

“Oh, god! Cass, did you have s*x with my grandma?”

He blanched, his mouth falling open before he sputtered, “What? No! Goddess, no. We were fourteen. I never even kissed her!”

“That’s why you were upset when you found out she was enslaved.”

His face pinched, and he nodded as I stood and wrapped my arms around my body, going to a window to look out at the vast ocean of pine trees. It was raining again, and I watched two drops race toward the bottom pane of the window.

“What’s wrong, Natalie?”

“So, do you just feel attracted to me because I look like her?” I asked, rubbing my arms to comfort myself.

“I’m attracted to you now because you don’t look like her with your curse lifted. It is a relief for me because I can separate you from her in my head now. When you kissed me this morning, it was intense. I’ve never felt that with any other woman I’ve ever been with.”

“And how many women are we talking about?” I asked dryly, glancing over my shoulder.

He blew out his lips in a raspberry and looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. Uh-huh, as I suspected. Player.

I studied the tattoo, mumbling, “Look, Cass, I don’t know. I was raised as a human. The thought of committing myself to someone after knowing them for less than a week is bewildering to me.”

Dragon or not, he was stealthy. I had to give him that. When I turned around, he was right there, like inches away, and I hadn’t even heard him get up. His broad frame blocked out the room and he stepped into me, a hint of mischief shining in his blue eyes. I didn’t have anywhere to go, so I stared up at his face, doing my best to act unimpressed.

“Well, I’ve got twenty-five days to live,” he drawled, and put his hands on the window on either side of my head. “I want to spend every single one with you.”

“Like, dating? You want to date me?”

“Yes.”

“Exclusively? I’m not messin’ around with some scrub, you know?”

“Yes, exclusively dating, while also trying to kill an evil witch and maybe save my life.”

“We will save your life,” I insisted. I couldn’t bear the thought of him dying because of me. It scared me more than I was willing to admit. “But,” I snapped, putting my finger on his chest and prodding. “If we have s*x, it seals the deal, so anything as far as that is completely my choice. I remain p***s free unless I explicitly ask for it.”

He laughed low in his chest. “Well, I take that as a challenge. It sounds like you want me to have you begging for it, and I won’t lose. I don’t lose. Ever. Ask Finn.”

My brows lifted. “Do you think arrogance is sexy?”

“Confidence is.”

“Well, there is a line,” I said, and I placed my hands on his chest, intending to give him a flirty shove. With just a little push, he flew backwards and hit the couch, flipping ass-over-tea-kettle and falling with a thump on the other side.

“Oh my God! Cass, I’m so sorry! Oh, s**t!”

I ran around the couch, relieved to see him laughing where he was lying in a heap on the floor.

“I don’t know how to control my strength,” I said, hiding my face in my hands to cover my burning cheeks.

He sighed. “And I guess I don’t realize my own human weakness yet.”

Cass held up his hand to ask for help, but when I took it, he pulled me down instead. I yelped and landed on his chest, but he didn’t miss a beat. With expert grace, he flipped us, so I was on my back with him on top of me.

My brain was struggling to come to terms with how he felt, his weight pinning me there. I stifled a moan as he pushed my legs apart with his knee and settled between them, grinding against me. I could feel how hard he was, and knew how wet I was. My head spun, and I melted into the floorboards while he nibbled on my earlobe.

He whispered, “I may have less than a month to live, but trust me, we’re going to have fun.”