Page 39 of Desired By the Dragon

Taylor snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Max.”

“I fucked up.”

My best friend sighed heavily and nodded. “I thought that might be the case.” Then he walked over to the fireplace and stoked the fire before heading over to the window and cracking it open. “Smells like sex in here,” he explained when I followed him with my eyes, blankly. “Oh damn, that’s not the problem is it?”

“Taylor.” I rubbed at my brow and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can you just shut the fuck up for two seconds.”

“Hey, look, it’s nothing to be ashamed of — the witches have all kinds of lotions and potions to help with that kind of thing. In fact, I have a friend⁠—”

“There’s nothing wrong with my dick,” I snapped and Taylor took it in stride.

“Right, yeah, of course. Nothing that can’t be fixed anyway.”

Fucking hell. Why had I thought for a single second that he might be able to help me?

Taylor clapped me on the back. “I’m messing with you, man. Come on. What happened?”

“I love her.”

He nodded, making his way over to the armchair by the hearth and resting his arms on his legs as he watched me. “Okay.” He waited and when I stayed quiet, he sighed. “Gonna need a bit more here, Max.”

“I told her.”

“You told Kiernan, the notoriously flighty dragon only interested in sex, that you loved her?”

“I’m fucked, aren’t I.”

Taylor winced and ran a hand over his hair. “It’s… not great, buddy. I’ll be honest.”

“It just came out — she was saying all this stuff about me changing my mind about her after she opened up to me⁠—”

“She opened up to you?” Taylor brightened. “Well, that’s good. Maybe it’s not all as casual as she wants to believe?”

“Well, that’s what I thought. But then she freaked out again, and she kept pressing me for an answer about why I was acting weird, and I don’t know… I just told her.” I started pacing the length of the room, thirty steps toward the door, thirty steps back to the bed, over and over again. “Then she left.”

“Maybe she’s just in shock,” Taylor offered. “Give her some time.”

“I’m worried that time will just give her the opportunity to overthink it all.” Shit, shit, shit. Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut? Or, even better, why had I fallen for someone who so clearly didn’t want to be in a relationship? “I don’t know what it is about her, man. I can’t think, can’t breathe, when she’s not around. I know she’s scared but so am I! I’ve known her for a few weeks, and I’m already in so fucking deep.” My voice cracked and I sat down on the edge of the bed, head in my hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

Footsteps sounded and Taylor’s hand came down onto my shoulder. “Have you considered…”

Lifting my head up, I sighed. “What?”

“Maybe there’s more to it. I mean, look, I like you a lot, Max, but you’re hardly the sentimental type. If given the choice between betting on you being alone forever and falling for someone instantly, I would have put money on the former.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Taylor rolled his eyes. “I’m saying, don’t you think it’s weird that you’re so gone for her so fast? When have you ever known this kind of thing to happen?”

Flames, my head hurt. “Just spit it out, Taylor.”

“I think she’s your mate.”

Time ceased to exist. The word echoing around in my head as a tug in my gut seemed to laugh at me, everything in my body falling into place as relief fell over me.

Mate. Kiernan Ironclaw was my mate.

“Yep, there you go.” Taylor looked smug at having figured it out before me. “Hey, don’t feel bad, sometimes you need someone with an outside perspective to make everything clear.”