The Dragon King and His Human Mate

13. Engaged

| Anastasia |

"I made breakfast," I told Vladimir as soon as he entered the small wooden house in his human form. That sentence sounded almost normal, considering we were on a desert island.

He grinned. "As a princess, you sure know how to cook," he teased. My eyes lingered on his abs that were out on the open a few long seconds, which he noticed.

I blushed and looked away. Why did I have to want him this much when he didn't want me back? It was simply unfair the attraction I had to this man.

"You had left some meat so I cooked it too, but there's no salt so it sucks." I made a face and he chuckled. While I handed him some water, his suddenly narrowed eyes didn't move from my hand. As if he had noticed something there that had troubled him a lot.

"What is it?" I softly asked, but he grabbed my hand in his big one.

"You're engaged," he pointed out in a low tone, his voice a bit deeper than usual. I now realized what he was looking at. Felipe's ring.

"Why do I still have this?" I mumbled more to myself than Vladimir. I hadn't even noticed I still had my engagement ring on my finger. I didn't consider myself engaged to Felipe anymore. I mean, he probably thought I was dead by now anyway.

"You're engaged." He was suddenly just some inches away from me, the look in face deadly serious that it sent shivers down my spine. Instinctively, I made a step back and he made a step forward. We kept doing this until he had me pinned on the wooden wall, his intense gaze piercing my skin. "Who is he?" He asked, his voice almost threatening.

I gulped. "Vladimir you have no right to demand answers from m—" He hit the wall above my head so hard I wondered how it didn't break.

"WHO THE f**k IS HE, ANASTASIA?" He growled.

The breath got stuck on my throat. The bulky man was scary. Much more scarier than his dragon, as stupid as it sounds.

I could look nowhere else but at his big naked chest. At least until he grabbed my chin in his fingers and forced me to look at his penetrating eyes.

"Prince Felipe," I found myself answering, my voice smaller that I would want it to be. "...king Ethan's grandson," I added when he narrowed his eyes questioningly.

"A wizard?!" He chuckled bitterly. "The f*****g wizard prince? You told me you hate them all."

"I do hate them," I answered, trying my very best to not show how much his proximity messed with my head. "But Felipe is..." I trailed off. There was no use getting him angrier right now.

"Is what?" He asked, but I looked away. "Is what, Anastasia?"

"A good man." I didn't lie. He indeed was.

"Oh." He flashed a dangerous look at me. "This is why you wanna go back home this much? You wanna go back to him?" He whispered, his breath on my skin making the hair on my neck stand up.

"Vladimir." He traced my collarbone lightly with his index finger, before moving slowly to cheek and then to my lips, which parted immediately as he traced them softly. My breath got heavy as I realized I was shivering under his touch.

"Do you want him?" I couldn't understand what was behind his voice anymore. I could just see something wild in his face, something I had never seen in a man's face before. "Have you ever wanted him like you want me right now?" His finger was replaced by his lips, brushing my skin slightly, making me crave for more.

"I don't want you," I lied. I was practically about to beg him to touch me. To do things to me I had never wanted someone to do to me before.

Vladimir chuckled. "Oh you do my little Anastasia, you do," his voice huskier. "Did you forget I'm a shifter? I can hear your heart pounding on your chest like crazy. Hell I can smell how desperately much you want me right now. I'd smell you from miles away."

I pressed my legs together and closed my eyes as his hands wandered around my trembling body. Oh, how much I wanted him indeed.

"You are mine," he demanded on my ear, his voice so damn deep and possessive it drove me wild in desires.

"I-I'm not," I forced my eyes open. No, this was wrong. He didn't want me; I had to remind myself that.

"You know you're the worst at lying." He started sucking and biting on my neck and I couldn't help a moan that escaped my lips when both his hands cupped my breasts and pinched my n*****s.

"Vladimir," I cried out and ran my fingers through his long blonde hair.

He crashed his lips on mines roughly. "YOU. ARE. MINE," he growled possessively in my ear. "ONLY. f*****g. MINE." I only moaned and gripped his hair even tightly. If he kept doing that with my breasts I swear I'd have an orgasm without him needing to touch me down there at all. "There's no wizard in this whole goddamn world that could change this."

But he froze in the mention of wizards.

I knew that look in his face, I knew it quite well because it was the same as the one he had when he kissed me a few days ago.

Maybe there were no wizard that could change this, but there was definitely a witch. A dead one.

"Anastasia," he whispered, his arms now loose in his sides and not around me.

"Save it." I pushed him away with all my might and made an attempt to leave so he wouldn't see the tears running down my cheeks but he grabbed my wrist softly and leaned my back in his front, before leaving a kiss on my shoulder. I'd love it if only my mind wouldn't keep replaying the painful look on his eyes when he realized what he was doing with me.

"Let go of me," I demanded. "Please Vladimir just let go of me," but it still wasn't a pleading. More of a demanding. "You clearly don't want me so stop playing with me and let me go."

"I want you," his voice was desperate as he left other kisses in my shoulders and sent me shivers all over my body. "I swear Anastasia I want you so much I don't know what to do. I want you every damn minute of the day, I want you so much I am going insane."

Those words swallowed my heart with pain. "It's not enough." I removed his hand around my body and faced him, but not before wiping the tears off my face. "I'm not her, I can't be her."

"I'm not asking you to be her."

"Yet you don't want me like her. Hell it's been a century and you still want her." I knew my voice was painful. And I knew I hadn't known him for long, and it was so strange to want someone that much in just a few days but I had to come in terms with that somehow. I had feelings for him. Feelings that could break my heart— if it wasn't already breaking.

"She was my mate." He looked away. For a second I thought he might start crying.

"It's been so long," I barely held the tears back. Why couldn't he just give us a chance if he wanted me the way he said he did?

"A century isn't that long for dragons," he pointed out.

Right, it wasn't. But it was for us humans. It was more than a lifetime for us. One I wasn't willing to sacrifice hoping for him to want me back. "Than I think there's nothing left to say."

"Anastasia."

"No." I raised my hand for him to stop. "It's enough. It's clear. You're still in love with her. You won't ever give us a chance. Right, I get it." I shrugged. My throat burning. "I'll just make a boat or whatever to get out of here so you can be left with just the memories of her."

"No."

"Yes," I shouted back. "There's nothing that can stop me from going back anymore."

He made some steps forward, now only a few inches away from me. "You wanna go back to him?" His eyes narrowed.

"Oh for god's sake do you really think I'm in love with him? Are you this stupid?" I demanded. "It was an arranged marriage by king Ethan, it's not like I had a saying over it." It almost seemed like he was glad I said it. "Not that you care, anyway."

"I do care."

"Not enough." I turned on my heels to leave but he stopped me by grabbing my wrist once again. "I swear if you touch me once again I'm gonna punch your face and I don't care that my hand's gonna break after that." Well, at least I knew the consequences of it.

However, he took a string of my wavy red hair on his fingers and brushed it behind my ear. "You're beautiful."

"Apparently, not enough," I said before pulling away from his hold and getting away from him.

It was the only way.