“You’re talking about when you were on top of me and all those guys were getting ready to… I thought I was about to be raped, torn apart. You took advantage of that.”

“I didn’t know all of the bullshit stories you had been fed. It was my understanding that you were fully briefed. It is done, we are mated.”

“Just like that?” She felt panicked and confused. “No damned way.” She could recall that there was talk of being mates. She had admitted to having chosen him and he her but that was all… “I just said that to make the others go away. I didn’t mean it.”

“It does not matter. Your words are binding. I pulled up your dress to make them think that I was claiming you and I would have done so too”—his jaw clenched— “with your full consent, but you were in such bad shape. The point being, the others believe that we are mated. It is only a matter of time before word spreads. The water dragons already know.”

“I don’t care.” She reached for her tea and took a small sip, keeping the mug in her hand, which shook slightly. “I thought that they planned on raping me. I thought I needed your protection. It turns out I didn’t. You just told me that forcing a woman is punishable by death.”

He nodded.

“You lied to me by withholding information.”

“I had no idea you weren’t aware of the rules. You begged me to choose you, to help you. I assumed that you wanted me.”

“You were wrong. All I wanted… all I still want is to go home.”

“It’s too late for that.” His voice was deep and menacing. “We are mated and I will need to make that official as a matter of urgency.”

“Official?” She raised her brows and took a sip of tea.

“Official, as in we need to rut.”

Candy choked —again—tea came squirting from her mouth and even out of her nose. She put a hand over her lips and coughed.

“You look shocked.” He looked amused. “Rutting, it is what mated couples do.”

She still had her hands over her mouth. There was tea everywhere.

“I want to get to know you. Everything about you. We can start with your likes… in bed… or, we could use the tub or the floor, or up against the wall. You tell me how you want it.” His hand tightened over the mug. “Once we have both relieved our tension, we will be in a better position to get to know each other in other ways.”

She used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe her face and watery eyes. She tried hard to get her breathing back under control. It was the choking that had winded her, not his words.

Torrent licked his lips. “I want to know what drives you crazy. The things that make you writhe and scream. I want your pussy on my mouth and…”