The Burn

Chapter 2- Purring Dragon, Hissing Vampire

Ronan

"The fuck you say?"

That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting when I finally told Violet the truth. Told her that we were mates. Happiness. Elation. A welcome back fuck on her father's desk or that shitty, floral atrocity of a couch that she loved, yes. Disgust and anger, no. But there it was on her beautiful face. She looked like someone tried to serve her up a plate of rotten food and she was going to toss it in their face as she reared back away from me, practically lying flat on the top of the desk to put space between us.

"We," I said, pointing a finger at her before I pointed it at myself, "are fated mates." Her eyes narrowed at me, the inky blue darkening and sparking with an anger I'm not sure I totally understood but I liked the look of. She's sexy when she's pissed. Spots of dark pink burned high up on the apples of her cheeks and her chest was rising and falling with her rapid breaths, straining against the material of the ridiculous sweatshirt she was wearing as her delicate nostrils flared. She smelled like green apples and fire and the sharp, acidic bite of her anger. Underneath that was the ozone scent of her rising magic. She still had two days before she would have access to it but it was there, just under her skin and I ached to touch it, to feel the electric burn of it as it rose up. My mate was going to be glorious when she surged.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Yes."

"No." She shook her head again, harder this time. A tendril of her russet hair fell from the mess on the top of her head barely held together with what looked like a set of chopsticks and an ink pen. I couldn't stop myself from reaching out and tucking it behind one of her delicately pointed ears. I just wanted to touch her, feel her skin beneath mine. A year was entirely too long to stay away from her, to not feel her. I was a bit touch starved so I let my fingers trail down the silky softness of her flushed cheek until I could wrap my hand around her slender neck. Her pulse fluttered under my thumb as I leaned closer and ran my nose up the side of her neck and her cheek, breathing her in before I pulled back enough to see her face. The dilating of her pupils and the rising scent of her sweet desire had me purring in satisfaction. This was a much better reaction. This was what I had expected. When she let out a small gasp at the tightening of my fingers around her throat, I breathed it in like it was the very breath of life as I tipped her face up to mine.

"Why are you fighting this? Fighting me?" I asked, genuinely curious. I ran my nose down her neck again, flicking my tongue out so I could taste the salt of her skin. My purr grew louder as my desire for her rose, vibrating through the few inches of space between us.

"Are you purring at me?" she hissed, flashing a hint of fang that had my cock twitching in my pants. I smiled at her annoyance, my lips brushing hers when I spoke.

"Yes," I whispered as she sucked in a sharp breath. "You know how much I like it when you get feisty."

"Feisty?" she practically growled out as her eyes narrowed even further at me. "You think I'm being feisty?"

"Aye." I squeezed a little more and the scent of her desire grew, thick enough that I could practically taste it on my tongue. My cock hardened and my own fangs lengthened as I breathed her in. "I should take you over my knee."

A growl was the only warning I got before she had me on my back on the cold, concrete floor, her hands fisted in my shirt as she sat on my stomach with her knees on top of my forearms. The tip of her nose was pressed against mine and the heat of her core felt hot enough to burn. "I dare you to try, dragon." Her eyes were entirely black now, the pupil lost in the inky color of the iris as her vampire came out to play. I'd forgotten how strong she was and how quick she could be when she wanted to. My mate was no shrinking violet despite her name. She was fierce and strong and the most beautiful thing I had ever had the pleasure to put my eyes on.