She sighed. “You’ll have to trust me when I say I can’t talk about it and it’s going to be fine.” She gave his arm a squeeze. “If I need you, I’ll let you know.”
He grunted. “I don’t like it, but I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“No,” she said reluctantly.
“Fine,” he said. “Then at least I’m getting breakfast.”
“Don’t start anything, please,” she said, pulling on his tee shirt as he moved to go.”
“Douche better stay out of my way, then. I’m not looking for a fight, but if he starts one, I’ll damn well finish it.”
She had to admit that was fair enough.
Dante made it to lunch without anything happening.
He was pretty proud of himself for that. He was crunching carrot sticks, thinking about what a great dragon he was, when Cliff came into the room.
Dante bit back a snarl, remembering his promise to Ella that he wouldn’t do anything violent without provocation.
But he was finding it hard not to deck the other guy. No, kill him. Something about him set off a primal rage in Dante, one he’d never felt for another being.
He’d been protective in general, sure, when he’d helped protect the village or patrolled at night when the humans were asleep to make sure no shifters or other dragons were encroaching on their land.
But it wasn’t like this. He’d been apathetic, willing to do the right thing for the sake of his family’s reputation. But had he ever really cared about anyone other than himself?
He’d watched out for his team as their leader. And he was loyal.
But it wasn’t anything like this.
All his happiness, his well-being, seemed to revolve around Ella, this fragile, human creature, and unless she was safe, he couldn’t think straight. Couldn’t breathe.
And having this guy around just messed with that too much.
“Hey, douchebag,” Cliff said caustically, sitting next to him at the counter.
Dante ignored him, taking a bite of his sandwich and pretending he was biting the other man’s ear off.
“Can I have a bite?” he asked, reaching for Dante’s plate. Dante flicked his hand away, determined not to be rattled by this jerk now that he was actively trying to get him worked up.
“What?” Cliff said with a smirk. “Not good at sharing?”
Dante just shook his head, blocking out the other man’s words. It was weak to pick at someone verbally like this, hoping to break his control.
Ella was at the store with her parents and sister, hopefully having a good trip. So there was no need to fight now. She was safe. No need to protect her.
At least that’s what he continued to tell the dragon inside him.
He couldn’t let this jerk get to him.
“It’s fine,” Cliff said. “I mean with Ella. You’re already getting my leftovers, so…”
Oh, fuck no.
He set down his sandwich and began calmly brushing his hands off.
“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Cliff said, waving his hands. Dante hated everything about the other man, from his bland, blockish features to his dark, gelled hair to his cold blue eyes. “Big bad male model is going to try and fight me.” He narrowed his eyes. “I dare you.”
Dante’s heart was hammering. If only Cliff would throw a punch at him. He badly wanted to smash the other man’s face in for what he’d said about Ella, but he knew he hadn’t yet been given provocation to break his promise.
Even though the dragon inside him was hot enough to breathe fire, ring or no.
Cliff stared at him curiously. “Heated, aren’t you? I can almost physically feel your anger.”
That’s because in my real form, I’d be burning you to death right now.
He could almost picture the gold flames, his own cackling laugh rising above the smoke and the screaming.
When Dante was good, he was very, very good, but when he was bad, he barbecued people.
He slowly turned back to his carrot sticks, letting the fantasy of ending Cliff settle him for now.
“Heh,” Cliff said. “Coward. Got it. That’s why I got more action from Ella when she was in my arms.”
Snap. It was the sound of Dante’s carrot stick and also the last bit of restraint in his heart.
He whipped around, catching Cliff with a fist to the face and then throwing himself at him, knocking him to the ground while he was still stumbling from the blow.
They hit the ground, rolling across it, and Dante was surprised to find the other man was stronger than he’d thought.
No matter. Dante got the upper hand and slammed a hand down toward Cliff’s face, but he rolled out of the way and stood just before Dante lunged, grabbing him around the waist and taking him to the ground again.