Power Hungry: A love triangle enemies to lovers romance (The Queen's Court Book 1) by Wanda Swan

Author:Wanda Swan [Swan, Wanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Black Swan Publishing
Published: 2022-09-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, I’m yawning as I leave my bedroom. My sleep was tormented once again by a night terror of being chased and hunted by an unseen male. But my tired eyes snap to attention when I meet Ash in the hall. He’s shirtless, and his jeans are unbuttoned. He looks like a walking sexvertisement. He also looks back to normal after last night’s attempted mugging—his eyes are a brilliant greenish-brown, and he’s returned to his petite dancer’s figure of six foot five, two hundred and twenty pounds.

“Good morning, Princess.”

We stand looking at each other for a moment, before he gathers me into his arms.

Tentatively, I run my hands up and down his broad back, feeling nothing but the play of his muscles. “Last night. Did you shift into your dragon?”

Keeping his arms around me, he pulls back enough to look me in the eye. “I let him come out to play with those fuckers. But no, I didn’t shift. I try not to when I’m Earthside. I’m a little too eye-catching.”

Although humans fully embrace our charismatic, beautiful side, they don’t like us flexing our muscles with over-the-top displays of magic. It reminds them of the immense power imbalance. If you use your power to frighten the humans and it draws media attention, you’ll be yanked back to the preternatural plane to justify your actions. Our leaders don’t want the humans to be scared and upset—it’s bad for business and public relations.

If you can’t justify your power display, you’ll face the consequences—a trip to see the Council of Seven. The Council of Seven is made up of our most powerful rulers and includes the Queen and Ash’s father. That’s a trip you don’t want to make. A dragon in Midtown Manhattan for a trio of would-be human muggers would probably be considered an over-the-top display.

“Thank you for protecting me,” I say sincerely. “I don’t think I said it last night.”

“While I have you in a thankful mood, what do you think about moving up the consummation date? To say . . . today? I’m free right now as a matter of fact.” Ash looks pleased with himself as he leans in to kiss my temple.

“Nice try. But I’m not that grateful. I think we’ll leave the consummation date right where it is.“ I try for huffy, but the smile in my voice betrays me.

I move my hands to his shoulders and let my fingers skim over his tattoos. The intricate, abstract designs cover both of his shoulders, upper arms and a portion of his chest. The outline of each tattoo seems to be similar, but the center portions are entirely different. “Will you tell me about your tattoos?”

Ash’s face tightens, his expression becoming guarded. “What do you want to know?”

“What do they mean?” I ask, raising my eyes to his.

He looks down at his tattoos with pride. “They represent being a dragon, my heritage, my clan, and things I’ve done.”

“This one”—Ash raises his right shoulder—“stands for strength and bravery.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.