Ever Mine (Dragon Lore) by Eden Ashe Page A

happy if he had sex with Luania before Finn was done with her.”
    A dark scowl crossed his face, all easiness gone. “What about you? Do you have anyone at home that isn’t done with you?”
    Katenia shook her head, and turned her gaze out the side window. “I don’t want to talk about it, Nathan.”
    “Too bad,” he snarled, yanking the vehicle to a stop, and turning toward her. He reached out and gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I don’t sleep with anyone who’s already taken, Katenia. If you have a boyfriend, or someone at home you are fucking, you need to tell me, right now. I don’t share.”
    Confusion rippled through her. “We’re not having sex… I’m not having sex.”
    He snarled at her. “Then what is it you don’t want to talk about?” he asked on a near shout.
    She glared at him. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About—” Her voice cut off before she could get the last word out, a little worried about the vein pulsing in his temple. Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. She knew she owed him the truth, but if she’d learned anything about him at all, answering wasn’t going to satisfy him. “The Elder Council has been trying to pair-bond me to someone. When I go home, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to stop it.”
    “What do you mean, you won’t be able to stop it? You don’t have a choice?”
    “No,” she whispered, forcing herself to hold his gaze. He was so big, and terrifying in his sheer size, and they were in a cramped space. While she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, it made her uncomfortable. She blew out a breath and said the words anyway. “I won’t have a choice. As a fairy turned human, for no matter how long, I will be tainted goods. If I am not banished, I will be forced to pair to Aeron, to be used only to keep the royal fairy bloodline pure.”
     

 
    Chapter 9
     
    Nathan jerked his car door open. “You’re not going home. You’re moving in with me. I’m not sending you home to be a fucking broodmare.”
    He slammed the door before she could argue with him. The hope in her chest was not good. While it sounded wonderful to be kept by him, she wasn’t human. This wasn’t her world. And if they didn’t know what had turned her this size, it could be anything that changed her back. She couldn’t let her heart get involved when she knew there was no possible way it could ever last.
    She refused to look at him when he opened her door. An impossibly tall glass building towered above her. “Where are we?”
    “My building.” He grabbed her arm and led her toward the door. “I’m in the penthouse. I know you hate elevators, but it would take us until tomorrow morning to make it all the way up the stairs.”
    She nodded, exhausted trying to understand half of what came out of his mouth. Then she stilled, her stomach dropping at the determination in his eyes. “Elevator? The metal box?”
    He nodded, the vein in his temple still pulsing. “I’m on the fiftieth floor. I could carry you up, but it would take us hours.”
    She swallowed hard and told herself to be brave. “How long… If we take the metal box, how long before we get to your home?”
    “Two minutes. I have my own elevator, so we don’t have to let anyone else on or off.”
    Katenia nodded, pretending she understood what he meant. “Okay.” She straightened her shoulders, and nodded again. “Metal box it is.”
    “Hey.” He snagged her hand when she started forward and tugged until she turned to face him again. The storm of fury still raged in his eyes, making her feel awful, like she was taking advantage of his niceness. He let go of her hand and reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You look at me when we get inside of it, alright? You look at me, and you focus on breathing, and it will be over before you know it.”
    She moved her body closer to his. Something squeezed her heart when he bent toward her without missing a beat, closing the height