Dragon Blood

Chapter 45

"Beautiful night, isn't it?"

Dáithí looked around and scowled. "Fuck off, Juniper." he snapped.

"Rude." She kicked him lightly and flopped down next to him, ignoring his growls.

"What did you do to her?"

"Relax. I dropped her off at the house with her mom and a couple of Atticus's sisters."

After a tense minute, he followed her gaze out towards the city. The humans called it the city of angels. It was just one big, bright, noisy mess to him. Like they all were. He much preferred the desert. Or the swamp. Anywhere that was generally less inhabited by mortals. In all the years he lived out in the desert, this was the first time he'd ever come into L.A. proper. To follow Rhia here... He was instantly reminded of how he'd followed Juniper into New Orleans. Why did he keep letting females drag him into places he didn't want to be?

"You didn't tell her she was in heat." it wasn't a question.

"I didn't know she was."

"Don't give me that bullshit." She snarled. "You knew. You were hoping she would give in to her urges. She told me about the dream."

"Did she tell you about the nightmares she was having?" he snarled. "Since the start she's been dreaming about being tortured, I've been stopping them."

"Blocking her nightmares and injecting yourself into her unconscious mind are two very different things, Dáithí." Her voice was level and ice-cold. "You took advantage of her."

His lip curled. "I suppose you were more than happy to tell her?"

"I don't need to tell her anything. You're doing enough damage on your own."

He scowled. "She should be with her own kind. Luna has taught us well enough that nothing good comes out of sleeping with vampires."

Juniper stared at him and a long, silent minute ticked by. "You should leave." She finally said. She never was one to play around with her words. "She's better off without you."

Dáithí snarled and stood up to give himself space to shift. Juniper followed him, never letting him have that space. She grabbed his shirt by the front and pulled him forward sharply. Her foot hooked around his ankle, and he went down. She went with him, straddling his waist, grabbing his wrists, and pinning him down.

"She's better off without you, Dáithí." She said again softly. "Sleeping with you, cheating on Nolan... it would have broken her. Haven't you burned enough bridges with Nolan? Why come back if you were just going to do this to him?"

"Get off." He flexed his arms to throw her off, but she was a lot stronger than he remembered and she kept him pinned.

"You think I don't know what it looks like when you're in love?" Her voice was pleading now.

He froze, torment and conflict glittering his sandy yellow eyes. "She's different." he said quietly. "There's... something different about her."

"I know." Juniper whispered. "I know. In a few decades, she could have a following as dedicated as any of the dragons and she wouldn't even need to bind them. She will have enough power to rival even Quin."

"That's exactly why I-"

"That's exactly why you need to leave her alone! Quin might think you inconsequential, but Keoni is no fool. He's not going to just stand by and let you train her to be your weapon."

"I don't want her to be my weapon." he breathed. "I want her to choose me. I want her to be mine. I want to be hers."

"Dáithí," she slowly loosened her grip on him and sat up. "As long as you're thinking about what you want instead of what she needs, you will never be even a choice."