Page 28 of Protecting His Treasure

He still felt the need to explain. “I don’t want to kill my mate.”

“We know,” Silas said again.

“I don’t want to hurt her at all. I… Sometimes, I just have an urge to be rougher than necessary with her… when we’re… when we’re….”

“Coupling,” Silas finished for him.

“Yeah. That.”

You talk too much, his dragon growled.

“I’ve been able to fight it so far. But last tonight, I almost lost control. I almost shifted while I was…”

Shut up!

“While I was making love to my mate.” Could he really call that making love? There was nothing loving about it. He’d acted like an animal. He’d treated her like an animal.

Elder Henry spoke up. “That happened because your inner animal is being affected by the pull of the coming full moon. Nothing we do for you can stop that. Only your dragon can. During those intimate times, he needs to find a way to calm down and allow you to be in control. It’s up to him to resist the pull of the full moon.”

It’s not the full moon that’s hard to resist. It’s our mate.

“My dragon says it’s not the full moon that’s hard to resist, it’s our mate.”

Snitch.

“We believe it’s a combination of both,” Elder Rankin clarified. “To prepare you for the full moon, we’ve had you meditating and try to clear your head of all negative thoughts and clear your heart of any negative energy.”

“That’s hard to do with The Deciders out there gunning for my mate.”

“Is that the only negative energy surrounding you?” Silas asked.

Yes, it is. What else do they want us to say?

“We have other enemies. But none of them are a true threat.”

“But is that all that’s bothering you?” Thompson asked.

Leave. This is going nowhere.

“If you four have something to say, say it.”

They nodded in unison. Thompson was the one to speak up this time.

“We believe there are layers to your anger.”

“Anger?” Kaede asked, surprised. “You believe I’m having these thoughts because I’m angry with my mate?”

“Not with your mate. With witches.”

“Witches? You’re saying I’m a witch hater?”

“Aren’t you?” Silas questioned.

“No.”

“Wasn’t it a witch who banished you here?”

“Your point?”