After that little...stunt Pashnirix pulled, I was beyond furious. I was ready to hunt. I paced back and forth, having gone back up to my room (but not without taking a few pastries with me!), and tried to see where I had gone wrong.
I had let myself be swayed by the promise of good food. I had even forgotten to keep my chains on me! Letting your guard down like this could get you killed, I thought bitterly. I quickly grabbed my chains from the table beside the bed and started wrapping them, but then a little voice in the back of my head said, But the reason you let your guard down is because you trust him.
"No," I growled, "I don't." I wrapped my chains tighter and clenched my fists.
You do, and it's because you to are destined to be mates, said the voice.
But how could that be true? We were Nobodies, beings by their very nature unable to feel. Anything that Pashnirix thought he felt for me was nothing but the instinctual stirrings of a dragon.
"And this once," I said aloud, "I refuse to bow down to my instincts."
"And why is that?" I whirled around to see Pashnirix lounging in my doorway, a frown on his face. "Why will you not allow me to court you as is proper?"
"I--Pashnirix, we are Nobodies," I said. "We can't fee-"
"Don't," he said sharply, turning his head. I fell silent as he looked away. Finally, he said, "It seems you truly do have a lot to learn, Tigress."
"Look," I said, "if you're going to try to teach me that 'there are other ways to feel than through a heart,' save your energy. I have no use for feelings, and they have no use for me. Those were for my Other, and look where she is now." I turned away from him. "She entrusted her heart to someone else after keeping it hidden for so long...and he broke it."
"But we don't have hearts," he said after a while. "Anything we feel is through our souls, our wills, much stronger than mere emotions that come with a heart. To feel...isn't always a bad thing, Rex."
I said nothing, only sat down heavily on the bed. I had heard those last words before...even if only in a memory.
"I need a mate," Pashnirix said suddenly. "My last mate was killed. She was irresponsible, foolish, and weak. Tell me, Rex, why would I chose you as my new mate if I thought that you were as weak as she? That you could ever be as weak as she?"
He walked over to me with long strides, sat next to me on the bed, and grabbed me by the shoulders. "You are stronger than that, I know," he said urgently. "I knew from the first time we fought that you were different, better, the only one I could ever truly respect." He turned away from me.
I contemplated his words, and came to one conclusion: "I really wish you hadn't said that," I said lowly.
"Why?" Pashnirix said dully.
"Because now I have no choice but to face the truth," I muttered, "my instincts."
Pashnirix raised an eyebrow. "And your instincts...?"
I covered my face with my hands. "Are telling me to submit," I mumbled. I peeked through my fingers to see his reaction.
He smirked. "Good," he said, "it's about time. I've been fully acting on my own instinct to dominate, and I must say, you've resisted quite nicely."
My jaw dropped. He...he what? "You...you arrogant jerk!" I beat him with a pillow as he laughed and fought me off. Suddenly, he paused, grabbing my wrists to stop me.
"Hush," he said sharply, ears pricking to attention, nostrils flaring. Then he let me go, quickly striding out of the room. I followed him.
"What's going on?" I asked, hurrying behind him.
"Someone's near this castle," he said angrily.
