Gold(35)

“How?”

“I met some in the New York dragons’ employ.”

“Oh,” Dante said. “I see. So can he tell I’m a shifter?”

“No,” Citrine said. “He might sense something off about you, but your ring should suppress anything else.”

“Ugh,” he said. “And Citrine, how am I supposed to fight him if I can’t take dragon form?”

“Don’t fight him,” Citrine said.

“He has history with my mate,” Dante said.

“He shouldn’t attack you. Since he assumes you’re human, he probably won’t want to do anything to reveal himself in front of you.”

“Citrine—”

“And you could handle him.”

“Not if I’m a human I can’t,” Dante retorted.

“Then hurry up and mate the human and get your ring off.”

“No,” Dante said. “I don’t even know how to tell her what I am, let alone mate her.”

He could almost hear Citrine shrug over the phone. “Do what you have to do. All the other dragons did.”

Dante put a hand through his hair. But did all the other dragons have mates who were already afraid? Who were already hesitant and dealing with so much? Not all of them were humans who didn’t know about shifters either. He sighed.

“Anything else I can do for you?” Citrine asked.

Give me my powers back, Dante thought. He wanted the ability to protect his mate. Before, he’d hated the ring because he didn’t want to have to please anyone. Wanted to do whatever he wanted, as he always pretty much had.

But now he just wanted to have all his strength at his disposal in case he needed to protect his mate.

“How else could I get the ring off?” he asked.

“I mean, you could go see Aegis,” Dante said. “But he’s a little caught up with his pregnant mate, and I wouldn’t want to see the emerald dragon when he’s bothered.”

“Hm.” Citrine had a point.

If Cliff was only a cat shifter, maybe he could take him with his bare hands. One thing was for sure; he knew Ella wasn’t ready for him. She needed him to move slow, and that’s what he was going to do, no matter what.

He’d have to find another way to deal with this and keep her out of harm, because he had the feeling her trust had already been violated by men in the past.

So even if mating her would solve some of their problems, he could never force her to move faster than she wanted.

“Fine,” he said. “Thanks for nothing.”

“You’re a dragon,” Citrine said sardonically. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Bye,” Adrien said.

“Wait,” Sever said. “How is your mate?”

“Better than I’d ever hoped for,” Dante said honestly.

“Wow. You sound completely different,” Adrien remarked.

Dante thought about it. “I feel different.” And it was true. Before, he’d been all about his appearance, his wealth, his reputation. His power. His ability to make gold appear from thin air and make people do his will with it.

Everyone fawning around him.

But that all paled in comparison to the pleasure of holding his mate. Of even looking at her and knowing she was his.

“Be safe out there,” Sever said in a low voice.

“I will,” Dante said. Hearing his team’s voice made him realize how much he missed them. Yet his world revolved around Ella now. His heart would be wherever she went. “I’ll talk to you later.”

By the time he went upstairs and entered the room, she was asleep, book loose in one hand. She made slight snoring noises, and he smiled as he walked over to pull the covers over her, put her book away, and press a light kiss to her forehead. He couldn’t resist.

Then he changed and got in bed next to her, wondering what he was going to do when they got up the next morning.

Hopefully they could just get through the next couple of days and then get out of town before Cliff tried anything.

Dante wouldn’t allow anything to happen to his mate.





Eleven





“I don’t see why we need a manager,” Adrien said, crossing one leg gingerly over the other and looking at Citrine with bored, silver eyes.

“Because Ella said so and because our business is failing. And if our business fails, then you won’t find mates. And if you don’t find mates, then I’ll never be done with this!” Citrine hissed, nearly spitting.

Adrien wasn’t sure what was wrong with the man. His normally tan, smooth skin looked paler these days, and there were circles under his eyes.

“What if we don’t want mates?” Sever asked dully.