Read Online Forbidden by Fate by Kristin Miller - Free Book Online

wanted to let on?
    As Sasha rolled in Damon’s arms, rubbing her backside against his shaft, he let the seriousness of their conversation flitter away. “I think you’re made for this, Sash, I really do. Is there a Were research program you can apply for? I can donate this cave as a research facility if you promise to come back and work me—I mean, work . Of course, I mean work. It’d be business only around here.”
    “Business?” She craned her neck around, and he kissed the tip of her nose. “You mean business like we conducted today?”
    “Of course.” Damon’s spirit lifted. “I’ve got a lengthy petroglyph you can decode.”
    She smacked him in the side. “So what about that large group of figures on that side of the room?”
    “From my best guess, they’re grouped together for some sort of social event.” He went to work smudging kisses down her back. He didn’t have to look—he knew exactly which carving she was talking about.
    “What makes you think that?”
    “They aren’t holding spears, keeping to separate sides, like over there.” He pointed to another grouping on the ceiling over his shoulder, behind him, where bodies were drawn flat on the ground in pools of red. She followed the direction of his finger and gave another mewing sound as he licked the groove between her shoulder blades.
    “If you follow the arc across the ceiling,” Damon said, making the same arc across her back with his finger, “they progress from fighting to gathering together as friends…or at the very least, tight acquaintances.”
    Her breathing became shallow. “Do you think the Dracos and Weres will ever get to that point? When they’ll come to accept…”
    Us.
    Though she let her words hang, Damon knew how she meant to finish it.
    He hated the sudden heaviness of their conversation, but he supposed it was bound to take that turn. It had to be early afternoon, and the fight for the springs was gulping down minutes of the day faster and faster. “There’s a whole lot of bad blood between us. So I doubt it.”
    “Damon,” Sasha said softly, turning to look up into his eyes. “You still haven’t told me the real reason you came back to negotiate the springs. You said it was to prove you could resist me, but we both know that’s not all there is to it. If you’re exiled, why would Queen Elixa choose you to come into Were territory and talk to my father?”
    His back teeth grinded shut. What was the point of holding back the truth now? What would it matter? “If I prove my loyalties are only to the Dracos, they’ll accept me back into Castle Arcane and Draco society. I have to prove you hold no sway over my decisions.”
    “And by that you mean…” She twirled in his arms, facing him.
    “I’m going to be the Draco who claims the hot springs tonight. It’ll be all right, Sasha. It’ll be over before you know it.”
    “You can’t…” Conflict plagued her eyes, filling them with shadows and despair. She clearly didn’t want a Were to win the fight any more than she wanted him to. “You have no idea the kind of wolf my father is going to bring out of his arsenal,” she said. “He’ll be a beast unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”
    “And you have no idea the kind of beast I can become when I need to.”
    Sasha quirked her lip disbelievingly, irritating Damon to no end.
    “Isn’t there another way to convince Queen Elixa of your loyalty?” she asked. “I mean, we’ve already discussed tonight being the end. Isn’t that good enough? Couldn’t you just be upfront with her about what’s going on? About my role in my pack?”
    Damon kissed the worry from her chin. “I can talk to her.”
    “She can choose another Draco to fight. It doesn’t have to be you.”
    Of course it did. Deep down, Sasha had to know it.
    “You can tell her that after tonight, you’ll forget about me, about us. Convince the queen of that and your Draco family will be waiting for you with open