Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,83
superior that they weren’t interested in having sex with humans. Though I would have much preferred it if Dob didn’t have that interest, especially when I couldn’t do anything to defend myself.
Frustration boiled up in me, but I couldn’t even grind my teeth. I wasn’t used to feeling helpless. Being hit on, sure, that happened, but I’d always been strong enough and fast enough to handle myself. This gave me a lot of sympathy for all those people who weren’t. And it filled me with rage.
Dob stopped in front of me again. “Zavryd’nokquetal has claimed you as a mate, yes?”
No, I thought.
“No?” He twitched a finger.
I found I could move my mouth and tongue enough to speak but little more. “He’s made it clear humans are vermin and he’s not interested in me.”
“No?” Dob’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “I find this difficult to believe. He likes elves just fine, or he did once. I suppose that didn’t end well for him, though he’s still alive, so what is there to complain about? He screwed one of their princesses for a while. Of course, he was cavorting around in elven form then. These days, he’s rounded his ears and put on some more muscle to blend in with the locals. He should have the same urges as any human male while he’s in that form.”
Why was Dob acting like he had all the time in the world to discuss this with me? Even if my cloaking charm was working against me—if I hadn’t activated it, Zav would have sensed me being pulled away—Zav would eventually glance back, find me missing, and come looking for me. Any second now, he would charge in here.
Dob leaned in, brushing his knuckles down the side of my face. “I think even an elf would find you worth mounting.”
I spat at him. Before I could be pleased that my muscles worked well enough to manage the act, my spittle struck some invisible barrier and never hit his face. Damn it.
“So feisty too. Truly, I do not believe he has not claimed you. I am certain he wants to.” Dob’s fingers drifted down to stroke my breast.
Such rage filled me that it blurred my vision. First, the panther shifters and now this. What was it, bag a half-elf month?
“I bet you’re wrong about a lot of things, asshole.”
His eyes flared with silvery light. Oh, how I wanted to whip out Chopper and slam the blade between them. I willed my arm to move, to let me reach up and grab the hilt. Zav had implied I had power. Why couldn’t I use it for something useful, like braining this murderer?
Smirking again, Dob lifted his hand and pressed it against my left temple. A new fear charged into my mind. Zav had done that when he’d compelled me to want to get that artifact for him. What would Dob try to make me do?
“Provide a distraction for me, will you, sexy elfling? I do not know why he brought you here, but since I’m positive he feels something for you, I will use that to my advantage. This will be even better than leaving wounded people in his way for his annoying noble self to heal.”
Images popped into my mind, images that were not of my own making. I saw myself striding out there and seducing Zav, having sex with him on the walkway while Dob did… Dob did not show me what he planned to do. Bite Zav’s head off while he was in the throes of passion?
I couldn’t believe this idiot thought that would work. He would have been better off putting me in danger, not that I was going to speak and give him that idea.
“I will be curious to see if you are telling the truth—it’s interesting that I can’t read any of your thoughts except those you vocalize in your mind to me—or if it’s clear that you and he have rutted like animals before.” Dob tilted his head. “After he’s dead, you’ll come with me. I believe you’ll find this encounter too brief to be satisfying, but I’ll make sure you don’t go away longing.”
He gripped my shoulder and turned me toward the door. “Ah, but that won’t quite do.”
He unbuckled Chopper’s harness. Fresh horror filled me. I’d have an even harder time breaking his compulsion without the magical protection the blade lent me. Not that it was helping right now anyway… Asking it to stave off a dragon was too much.