Read Buying a Mate (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Quick & Furry Book 8) for Free Online Page B

simply been dragged along by his beast’s emotions. “Look at me.”
    She kept her eyes closed. “I’m good.”
    “No, you’re not. You need to see me, to listen to me. Then we can talk about other things.” He traced her lower lip. “So open those pretty blues and let me see those eyes.”
    “Taron.” She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t say much more than his name.
    “Now, baby girl.” His whisper was rough and rumbled with his dragon’s tone.
    River forced her eyelids to part and fluttered her eyelashes until her vision cleared. The eyes she met were so dark they neared black, but she caught sight of a hint of blue lurking in their depths.
    “Before I… Before we… You need to listen and you need to understand exactly who you’ll be mating, River.”
    “Are you saying I’m not your true mate?” That was the only thing that could have her backpedaling at the moment.
    His gaze softened, almost becoming sweet. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. You’re mine. My human heart knows it and my dragon is proud to shout it to the skies. I just can’t do this without you knowing… everything.”
    He sighed, the sound heavy with heartache and pain. River stroked his chest, not to arouse and tease, but in comfort. “I’ll listen.”
    Taron grimaced and nodded, changing their position and moving them around until he leaned against the headboard with River resting her head on his chest. The pulse of his heartbeat filled her ear and she sighed as she relaxed into his embrace.
    River rested her hand over his heart, reveling in his heat and the feel of his scales. “Tell me.”
    Taron breathed deeply and let it out slowly, repeating the movement once, then twice, and finally…
    “Dragons are ageless, did you know that?” She shook her head. No, it wasn’t something they spread around. “We are and that makes us dangerous. It gives us a lot of time to get into a lot of trouble.”
    He rested his hand atop hers, rubbing small circles on the back with his thumb. “No, I’m not starting in the right spot. We have to start in the present and then we can go backward.” He huffed when he removed his touch. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “You see this? This white hair?”
    River nodded. She’d noticed it, of course. The pale strands contrasted against the near midnight color of his hair.
    “Some call it Queen Touched. Queen’s Curse. They shorten it to simply Touched or Cursed. It’s a sign I’ve done something so horrible that it’s by the queen’s grace alone I still live. I live, but barely. I’m an outcast. I have nothing. No family. No friends.”
    “You have Mari and Maddox.” They’d put her in touch with him.
    “No dragon friends, then.” He corrected himself. “I lost any association and support from dragons long ago.”
    The truth struck her. He had no family. No friends. No dragons. And when someone had nothing, they were willing to do anything. “That’s why you’re willing to be bought.”
    The word was sour on her tongue even if it was the truth.
    “It was only going to be a job until I met you, baby girl. You have to know that,” he murmured.
    “Do I?”
    “I’m telling the truth about my past now, aren’t I? If I wanted you for the money, I could keep my mouth shut, fuck you, and earn the money on my back.”
    The words sounded harsh but his tone was matter-of-fact.
    “Instead, I want you to know the kind of man I am before you take my bite and become mine for eternity.”
    River swallowed hard and nodded in encouragement.
    Taron ran his fingers through the white hairs once more and closed his eyes before he spoke again. “I was born a twin. Elian.” He chuckled, body shaking with the laugh. “We were a pair. Inseparable. Drove our parents nuts with us running all over the place,” he chuckled softly. “Climbing into the hills and shifting at night.
    “We had a little cottage, just us four. It was enough for us. This was back during the Middle Ages.