After her mate marked another and expected her to be the side chick, Dani vowed never to let a man fool her ever again. As her wolf faded away without her mate Dani was resigned to being a human among her kind. Until case of mistaken identity led he...
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Eric
Depends on which time you're talking about.
It took all his will to hold back the chaos that wanted to erupt as those words kept playing through his mind. He could feel the dark coldness of that power coursing through his veins. The eroding agony almost had him screaming as it took all his will to hold back.
Dragon fire seared his chest in a drive to rage out of him, to protect him. It was a weird feeling, having ice in his veins and yet fire shrouding his body. He felt even more out of control than ever before. The same turbulence he'd felt just before he'd lost control and accidentally opened the very gates he was sworn to protect.
He couldn't afford to lose control, not when he was surrounded by so many irreplaceable manuscripts. Most of which were one of a kind and so ancient their authors were myths. If he failed he knew his people would never forgive him.
Eric wasn't used to making mistakes. Not ones of this scale which wasn't helping the control he normally had. Was Dani's brother right that their grandmother hadn't been as surprised as she'd seemed? Looking at the woman he'd known for most of his life Eric doubted she could have faked the panic she'd shown.
And yet as much as he knew her he had to admit their relationship could hardly compare to that of family. The dragons had always revered the goddess but whilst her grandchildren listened to her for the most part, they had an irreverence for her status he couldn't reconcile. Could she really have set him up to crack the gates?
How could he even trust that she had their best interest at heart? After all, she'd lied to him about the hidden wolf being his fate. Not that he wasn't happy with Daniella but he hated being manipulated. Worse was the fact that he understood what she'd done, could relate. Eric just hated being on the receiving end of such machinations.
Which had him realising Daniella might be feeling the same way about how they came to be mates. He knew she wasn't as opposed to him as she tried to portray but that didn't change the fact that a strong proud woman like her would hate having her choices taken from her.
Eric found himself fighting not to smile as he imagined how his little wolf would react to knowing he was far from feeling remorseful. Would she try to hit him again despite it having proved futile before? Would she use her voice to incapacitate him again?
Yes, Eric realised, the only way to his mate's heart was to challenge her, to bring out the fire she tried to keep under wraps. The hard part in that would be to prove to her that she had his loyalty. And since the goddess of fate made it clear that Cari was the one leading the quest that might prove harder.
His eyes sought and found hers. She looked at him with defiance, a challenge that told him she knew he wanted to be the quest leader and wasn't going to stand for it. He smiled. Knowing it would attract her as much as it would annoy her. Eric was beginning to understand Daniella and was enjoying every moment of it.
