Pretty Painful - K.A Knight Page 0,22

I coo, and he is. His dragon form is regal and huge, taking up his whole back with his tail curving along his hip and ass. I feel Nyre move under his skin and drop a kiss over the dragon tattoo. “When did you get it tattooed?” I press curiously, wanting him to open up to me.

“I didn’t, I was born with the markings. We all were. When I turned six, I transformed for the first time. It was Nyre coming free. I thought I had lost my mind, I always had this other voice in my head, a boy talking to me. As I grew, so did Nyre, and we became closer than brothers, we became almost one. He is the only reason I haven’t gone crazy in here, but he is struggling being trapped for so long,” he finishes, his voice harsh and worried.

“You are scared for him?” I ask, and he hunches his shoulders like I have struck him.

“I fear nothing,” he growls, more animal than man.

I curl over his shoulders, wrapping my arms around him and cuddling him from the pain in his voice when he said that. “I know, but you worry about him,” I murmur, trying again.

“Yes,” he whispers, like he is scared of being caught saying it. “It hurts him to be trapped for so long. Before you came, I could barely hear him anymore. Sometimes, I used to resent him always being here, never being alone, but when I finally was…I hated it. I wanted him here, I wanted him in my head. He was weakening, then there you were and he came roaring back to the surface…I just don’t want him to disappear again.” His voice is husky and I hold him tighter. I can’t imagine spending my life sharing a body with someone, but it’s obviously built a bond no one could understand…to lose that must be terrifying.

“I won’t let him. I’ll drag him back if I have to. One fang at a time,” I promise, kissing each shoulder.

“Little one—” He starts, but I cut him off by biting his shoulder. He shivers against me, groaning as he leans back, offering me more room. I don’t drink, knowing I have already taken a lot—not that his body seems to be bothered.

“I won’t let him. Nyre is mine,” I growl. I don’t know when I decided that, but I did. “You are mine, he is mine, and neither of you gets to leave me,” I snarl, nipping at his shoulder again.

I laugh as he reaches back and drags me to his front, bending me over his knee as he looks at me with one green eye and one black eye. “Is that right? Are you trying to claim me, us, little one?” he rumbles.

“Yes, problem?” I grin, daring him with my gaze to do something about it.

“Does that mean we get to claim you?” he teases.

“If you want to,” I reply breathlessly, clenching my thighs together.

“Oh, I want to, we both do. Maybe it’s time I let Nyre have his fun.” He grins and his teeth seem sharper than before. Imagining him using them on me makes me pant. I’ve never really been one for pain, but something about this man, this beast, and the way he forces me to like it, mixing it with pleasure until I don’t know which way is up, is addicting as hell.

“Please,” I beg.

Nyre

Mishal instantly gives up control at her breathless plea, letting me surge forward and fill his human form. It used to be strange to me, but now this form is more familiar to me than my own dragon form. I ache to soar the skies again, to stretch my wings and explore the world, but these chains and men keep me trapped here, trapped inside him, for now. But I know something not even Mishal knows—you cannot keep a dragon chained for long. I will be free, and when I am, I will burn this world to the ground for harming me and mine.

My mate stretches out across my knee, her glowing eyes, so bright like mine, staring back, filled with trust and a softness neither me nor Mishal are used to. Even Mishal’s brothers were not soft or loving. They had different ways of showing they cared, but Dabria is all soft and all mine. Mishal nudges me and I almost laugh, reminding me that she is both his and mine. She wears her heart in her eyes for everyone to