Taking a deep breath, she replied, "One meeting, that's it. If he pushes me away again, hurts me, or anything else negative, I won't give him another chance. I know some women can keep overlooking a man who pains them, but I'm not one of them."
Finn bobbed his head. "As it should be. I'll let you have your tea and biscuits first whilst I wrestle this wee one back upstairs. After that, I'll send Alistair a text message to come over."
As Finn scooped up his daughter and disappeared from sight, she could hear the strong clan leader singing a silly song to his daughter. Such a contrast to the strong, well-controlled leader she'd seen in TV interviews.
Every day dragon-shifters kept surprising her.
Maybe Alistair would, too. Although she wouldn't know for sure until he came. So Kiyana ate some chocolate and waited for him to arrive.
~~~
Alistair's head pounded and he had to squint against the faint sunshine as he walked to Finn's place.
Drugging a dragon silent was never easy, but after the mental battle he'd had with his beast the previous night, his brain felt as if it were full of holes. Stringing two thoughts together was difficult.
Coffee hadn't helped, nor had breakfast. He only hoped seeing Kiyana would jumpstart his neurons. Otherwise, he'd never be able to convince her to forgive him and be his mate.
He reached Finn's cottage, took a deep breath, and knocked on the front door. Arabella answered it. She didn't waste time saying, "I hope you're the male I think you are."
"I am."
She studied him a second before bobbing her head. Arabella stepped aside and motioned down the hall. "Kiyana is in the kitchen."
"Don't you want to announce I'm here?"
"You may be a quiet man most of the time, but your voice carries enough for even a human to hear you. I'm sure she knows."
Under normal circumstances, his dragon would've teased him.
But his brain remained silent.
For all the times he'd complained about his beast, Alistair missed him when he was absent. And the only way to get him back sooner rather than later was to convince Kiyana to forgive him.
So he nodded at Arabella and went toward the kitchen. The second he entered, he instantly zeroed in on Kiyana sitting at the table. Her back was to him, but even without his dragon's lust coursing through his body, he wanted to lift her hair and kiss the back of her neck. Then he'd tug her up and against him before giving her a proper kiss.
He wanted her, pure and simple. Alistair just had to win her first.
After he cleared his throat, Kiyana whirled around, a chocolate biscuit in her hand. "Alistair."
Her voice washed over him, and in the process, wiped away the exhaustion and fog of the morning. "Kiyana. May I join you?"
She studied him a second, and he expected her to tell him to sod off. She had every right to do so.
However, she motioned to an empty chair across from her. "Sit and start explaining things. I just want the truth."
He couldn't help but smile. He loved how direct she was with him.
Once he took the proffered seat, he placed his hands on his knees under the table. Otherwise he might reach across and try to take Kiyana's hand before she was ready.
He hoped she'd be ready at some point.
Not wanting to go down that tangent, he looked into her deep brown eyes and said, "I trust Finn and Ara told you some of it?"
She swallowed the last bit of biscuit. There was a crumb at the corner of her mouth, and he wanted to lick it away.
However, he made himself focus on her words instead of her lips. "Well, I know your dragon was drugged silent temporarily. And Finn seems to think there's a bloody good reason for how you treated me last night. However, that's all I know."
What he wouldn't give to smooth away the frown between her brows. "It's true, my dragon is quiet right now. And as for the reason…" Alistair took a deep breath and forced himself to continue, "While she wasn't my true mate, I had a female I loved named Rachel. She died just over three years ago, from a disease affecting her inner dragon that no one in the UK or America knew how to treat. However, we thought maybe someone in South America might. The problem was that there was no way to reach them." He stopped a second, not wanting an image of Rachel pale and wasted away to flash into his mind. "It was on her deathbed I made the vow of no sex until I found a way for dragon clans to share information more easily, to prevent other unnecessary deaths."
He went into the finer details of the possible cure, the lack of communication, and his spending all of his free time researching ways to fulfill his vow. Then he added, "So when kissing you kicked off the mate-claim frenzy, I panicked. I was convinced that if I carried it out, broke the promise I'd made to myself and Rachel, and accepted your offer to be in the frenzy with me, I'd become someone I didn't recognize."
She asked quietly, "What changed?"
Alistair rubbed his legs under the table. "Finn. He has a way of making you see the truth when you can't see it yourself."
"And what's that truth, Alistair?"
He didn't look away. "That you're the second chance I never expected to have. And not just because of some random act of fate, either. You're bonnie, intelligent, funny, and so much more. You weren't born a dragon-shifter, yet you're not afraid of us. Not to mention I'm positive you're more interested in helping us than exploiting us. So I'm sorry. Sorry I rejected your offer when it had to be a scary thing to process so quickly. I'm sorry I made you cry. And most of all, I'm sorry I forced you into any of this in the first place."
"It's not really forcing me, though. I mean, I was all set to be your pretend mate for six months. This way, I'd at least get sex, too."
"I want to smile and make a joke, but this is more serious, Kiyana. Females who mate dragon-shifters, then decide to divorce, returning to the human world aren't treated well. Maybe one day it'll change but for now, if you still want to go through the frenzy and be my mate, then it's a serious decision. One I can wait for you to make, if you don't outright refuse me."
She searched his gaze. "And what if I said okay to the frenzy, was your mate-to-be, and then left at the end of the six months if it doesn't go well? Wouldn't that be an option?"
He shook his head. "Dragon-shifter children, even if they're only half, must stay with a dragon-shifter clan. The gene to shift is always dominant, and it's a risk to everyone to let them grow up thinking they're merely human."
"So in other words, I'd have to come back to have my child and then leave him or her here?"
"Aye."
Kiyana glanced down to her mug and traced the rim. It was one of the few times he'd seen her unsure of herself, and he didn't like it.
Especially because the decision she mulled over was related to him.
However, he wasn't going to trick her into his bed for the sake of it. The true mates who failed in the end were usually because the two people hadn't been honest.
She finally raised her head and met his eyes again. Her expression was unreadable, which made him rub his legs with his hands again.
After a few more beats, she said, "Promise me you'll be honest and as open as you can with me, and I'll say yes. I get people have secrets, we all do. But I also have the feeling not even Finn knew about what happened to you three years ago, and he's your clan leader. I can't live with a male who hides so much from me. I want more than a lover. I want a partner in life."
Hope swelled in his chest. "I will do the best I can, Kiyana. Opening up about certain things isn't easy for me, but I'll try."
She nodded. "Okay, so what happens next?"
His heart raced. Could it really be that simple? Explain things to Kiyana, and she believed him?
Maybe she had some sort of pseudo secret-power about detecting liars, or something. Regardless, he would keep telling her the truth. Lying about anything from this point forward would push her away.
And Alistair didn't want that.
He replied, "Aye, well, my dragon won'
t return for a few days yet. So maybe before all of the hot and sweaty sex, we try to get to know each other?"
The corner of her mouth ticked up. "Imagine that, going on a date with the future father of your child. Who would've thought?"
He chuckled. Life with Kiyana would be one full of smiles and laughter, he was sure of it.
Alistair just needed to not fuck it up.
Putting a hand on the table, palm up, he waited until Kiyana placed her palm in his. Her warm skin against his felt good, as if it had always meant to be there.
His dragon would’ve made a crack about becoming poetic, and Alistair snorted. Kiyana raised her brows. "What's so funny? Care to share?"
"Well, I'm thinking of what my dragon would’ve said to me, is all. I guess without the chatty beast there, I fill the silence myself."
She leaned forward a fraction. "Which brings up something we definitely need to discuss in more detail. Once the drugs wear off, tell me what to expect, Alistair. And don't try to shield me, or make it seem as if he'll merely say how do you do and wait patiently for me to get naked."
"I see you're a wee bit prepared already."
"That's sort of what I do."
"Me, too."
As they smiled at one another, Alistair imagined part of his future—one where he and Kiyana worked together to find the answers he needed.
It seemed as if fate had done a good job after all.
She squeezed his hand. "You still haven't answered my question."
"Aye, well, he'll be demanding. Inner dragons work mostly on instinct to begin with, but a mate-claim frenzy is the epitome of that. All they want to do is have sex, over and over again, until you carry our scent. If that happens, it means you're pregnant."
"Oh."
Oh indeed. "There is a major positive to you being my true mate, though, lass. My semen will make you orgasm."
Kiyana shifted in her seat, and he hoped it was for a good response.
She nodded. "Well, that means I won't have to think of faking it, then."
He growled. "A female shouldn't have to fake it. I can't always guarantee it during the frenzy, but without it, I will always make you come before me. Always."
Kiyana's eyes heated, and his own cock stirred. Even without his dragon's pounding need, he wanted to sit her on the table and take her right then and there.
She'd agreed to be his, and Alistair wanted to make it official.
And yet, he didn't want to be a bastard. She'd want to get to know him better first before getting naked. It was the least he could do.
Kiyana's husky voice fill the kitchen. "Kiss me again, Alistair. Just to make sure we're as good a fit as fate thinks we are."
He didn't hesitate to stand. Once she did as well, he pulled her against him and stroked her cheek. "You're so very beautiful, Kiyana. And yet, it's your mouth and what comes out of it that draws me the most."
She raised her brows. "Now you're just being over the top."
Cupping her cheek, he replied, "No, it's the truth. I've never met someone quite like you, and if I don't fuck it up, I hope you'll be around to surprise me every day."
Her lips turned upward. "You may regret those words one day."
Leaning even closer to her mouth, he whispered, "Never."
"Then—"
He cut her off with a kiss. The instant his lips pressed against hers, she opened and allowed his tongue. Her arms soon looped around the back of his neck.
Even without the frenzy, one taste of Kiyana and he couldn't hold back. He stroked, explored, nibbled, and reveled in when she made small pleasure noises into his mouth.
He wanted to rock her against his hard cock, but no. He wanted to tell her how he felt with his kiss and nothing more.
Of course when she pressed even closer against his chest, her hard nipples making him groan, he came that much closer to tossing her on a counter and ripping off her clothes.
Then he heard the noises. Fuck, he was in Finn's house.
Since someone was coming, he broke the kiss to be safe. Her breathing was as ragged as his, and a sense of contentment coursed throughout his body. She asked, "Why did you stop?"
Finn's voice filled the space. "I think because he didn't want to give us all a wee show."
Kiyana looked over her shoulder at the same sight Alistair saw, which was Finn standing in the doorway with one of his sons in his arms.
Alistair grunted. "You should've knocked or made a wee bit more noise to let the lass know of your presence."
Finn jostled his little baby. "Why? This is my house, aye? Besides, I knew you could hear me."
He was about to say Kiyana couldn't and Finn shouldn't dismiss the human so easily, but his female spoke up. "It's okay. Since things will, er, become rather busy in the near future, I should probably visit with the human women and let them know I'll be out of touch for a stretch of time."
Finn glanced at Kiyana, to Alistair, and back again. "Oh, aye? And when will you become 'rather busy' as you put it."
Alistair narrowed his eyes at his clan leader. Most of the time, he liked Finn. But there were times when he could punch the male for being obviously annoying. To keep Kiyana from answering, Alistair growled, "We'll let you know when we do. Now, can we have a few more minutes alone?"
Finn's son—Alistair could never tell the twin boys apart—patted his dad's cheek. Finn made a face before answering, "A few minutes and no more. I don't want my kitchen turning into mate-claim frenzy central."
He spit through clenched teeth, "My dragon won't wake up for at least two days."
Finn shrugged and then bounced his son. "You've always been strong-willed, so who knows, maybe you could bring him back simply because you will it."
Alistair took a step toward Finn, but Kiyana placed a hand on his chest. "Don't let him get to you. Because if you do, he wins."
Finn's gaze shot to Kiyana. "Clever lass."
She raised her brows. "Male dragon-shifters tend to be mostly predictable. If someone doesn't notice their proclivity toward alpha, stubborn, veiled challenges the first week, then they aren't looking hard enough."
Finn snorted. "Aye, you'll do fine here, lass."
Kiyana stood a little taller at his side. And even though they'd barely done more than kiss and agree to have a frenzy, a surge of pride rushed forth.
He needed to do everything he could to win her heart before some other dragonman saw how bloody fabulous she was.
Finn swung around once and then tickled his son's neck. As the bairn squirmed, he said, "I'll give you a few minutes. Before you leave, come find me, Alistair."
With that, Lochguard's leader exited the room.
Turning toward Kiyana, he kissed her quickly. She blinked. "While I'm not complaining, what was that for?"
"I couldn't help it. I just needed to."
"Hm, more likely it's so I can taste you again, giving you the chance to brand it into my memory? And as a result, I'll crave it?"
He snorted. "You're a cheeky one, aren't you?"
She grinned. "As you Scots say, aye, I am."
He chuckled. "I'd like to tease you some more, but it'll have to wait. When can I see you again?"
"Do you have to teach today?"
"Aye. Not only that, I need to coordinate with the other teachers to cover me in case we have the frenzy."
She searched his eyes. "In case?"
"I'm not going to assume anything until my dragon is back and you're naked under me, moaning my name."
"Oh."
Cupping her cheek again, he thrummed his finger over her soft skin. "Och, now you get shy."
Her lips turned upward again. "Studying dragon-shifters from afar? I know how to do that. But I don't peep through windows and watch couples going through a mate-claim frenzy. That would make me a pervert."
"That it would, so don't go peeking into windows in the next few days, aye? We don't want any rumors starting."
She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. The fem
ale kept making him do that, and it was brilliant, especially as it slowly kept dawning on him how serious he'd become in the last few years.
Good thing his dragon was absent or Alistair would never hear the end of his admission.
He kissed her nose. "Okay, I'll stop. Besides, Finn will be back any second. Come find me after three o'clock. I should have everything sorted at the school by then."
She bobbed her head. "What will we do after that?"
"Let me surprise you, Kiyana. Make sure to bring a jacket and wear sensible clothing."
"Right," she said slowly. "Then I'll, uh, see you later?"
The parting seemed so bland and uneventful when compared to the discussion they'd had less than ten minutes ago.
Gently tilting her head, he murmured, "This kiss will help you remember my taste."
He pressed his lips to hers. The instant she opened, he pressed his tongue into her mouth and took his time teasing, licking, and treasuring her.
While he'd said it was for her to remember him, in reality, it was to help keep Alistair going until he could do it again. Even though his dragon was silent, he wanted to claim his human.
However, kissing would have to be enough for the moment. And so he put everything into that kiss, letting Kiyana know how much he'd miss her for the day.
Chapter Seven
Kiyana somehow managed to go through the motions until three o'clock arrived. Well, actually ten to, but it was close enough.
The receptionist of the school had directed her to Alistair's office. Apparently, each teacher had a small office inside the school since sometimes the classrooms were shared.
She didn't nose around for about twenty seconds, and then she scanned the room. There weren't any photos, just a massive corkboard with all sorts of things pinned to it. The words were written in some sort of code, though, and didn't make sense. She wondered if it had to do with Alistair's research in the archives.
Kiyana had just noticed a misshapen dragon sculpture on his desk when the door opened.
Alistair's eyes instantly found hers, and she couldn't resist a shiver. Even without his dragon, his mismatched eyes were a tad bit predatory. Not in a bad way, but more in a I'll-devour-you-and-you'll-never-get-enough sort of way.
The Dragon's Discovery (Lochguard Highland Dragons Book 6) Page 7