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Because you're my mate, because the second I saw you, every instinct I'd spent centuries controlling decided your life mattered more than mine, because if that man had put one fucking hand on you, this nightclub would have ended with blood on the floor. I couldn't tell her any of that, not yet. So I gave her the only answer I could.

“Because I didn't like the way he looked at you.”

She blinked. “You don't even know me.”

“I know enough.”

“You know my name.”

“I know your heartbeat.”

Her expression changed. Shit, that was too much. “What?”

I leaned closer so I didn't have to raise my voice over the music. “I know you're pretending I'm not making you nervous.”

Her chin lifted. “You're not.”

“Your pulse says otherwise.”

“You can't hear my pulse.”

If only she fucking knew. I smiled. “Can't I?”

She stared at me. I could practically see the questions forming. Good because questions kept her here.

The man behind her moved, one step. My eyes snapped towards him, wrong fucking decision. He stopped as the warning in my face must have translated perfectly because he immediately changed direction and disappeared into the crowd.

Bryn followed my gaze. “He's leaving.”

“Yes.”

“You didn't say anything to him.”

“Didn't need to.”

She looked back at me slowly. “Should I be worried about you?”

Probably. Instead I stepped closer until barely any space remained between us. Her head tipped back. My hand was still against her waist. I should have removed it but I didn't. “Not unless you plan on disappearing before I get to know you.”

Her lips twitched. “Was that supposed to be charming?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Did it work?”

“Absolutely not.”

Liar. Her pulse had jumped again. Mine wasn't doing much fucking better. I looked down at her and knew I was already lost. I had walked down those stairs intending to introduce myself, that was all. Find out who she was, speak to her. Understand why one look at a human woman had brought centuries of instinct crashing down around me. Instead, standing there with my hand against her waist and her scent filling my lungs, I understood there was nothing left to investigate.

She was my mate. The bond had already begun, the man watching her had simply taught me something else. The idea of another male wanting her made violence rise inside me with terrifying ease. A single thought cut clean through the chaos in my mind.

No one touches what's mine. Not him, not anyone, not ever. Bryn didn't know what the Dragic men were capable of, she didn't know what I was. She didn't know that one touch had just confirmed something that would change both our lives, but she would because the moment our eyes had met, her fate had bound itself to mine. And nothing on earth was going to break that bond.

Chapter 3

I didn’t see it coming.