Chapter 4

My eyes widened, and I raised my voice.

"That was just a bath, nothing more! Besides, you weren't even an adult yet!"

I stopped short.

Hold on. Why did that sound so wrong when I said it out loud? It almost made it seem as though I had actually done something wrong. I quickly added, "Besides, I didn't do anything!"

Onyx said nothing, and the look he gave me made me feel like the biggest jerk alive. In the end, all I could do was let out a weary sigh.

"Anyway, no matter how you look at it, I'm not your mate. And I don't have the energy or the money to keep taking care of you."

He sounded displeased.

"Why? Everything was fine before. You don't want me anymore just because I won't mate with some other beast?

"If that's the case, then why don't we just mate with each other?"

I felt like I should stop talking. No matter what I said, he would only twist my words around again. A beast had no idea how hard it was for a human to earn money.

All I could do was sigh.

"Let's just get some sleep. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Onyx paused and fixed me with a burning stare.

"So you agree?"

"I do not!" I shouted immediately. "Absolutely not!"

It had not expected me to react so strongly. In the end, though, I was too exhausted to keep arguing. It wrapped its tail tightly around me and drifted off to sleep in no time.

I, on the other hand, tossed and turned for hours.

Unable to sleep, I opened an app and searched for exotic pets.

I had been counting on Onyx to make my fortune. Now that plan had fallen apart. Not only could Onyx no longer make me rich, but all the money I had saved and spent on him was gone as well. I had no choice but to figure out another way.

Breeding exotic pets was still a profitable business. Then it occurred to me that if one opportunity fell through, I could always look for the next one.

The next morning, Onyx got up early as usual and started making breakfast.

The doorbell rang.

I was just about to get up and answer it when Onyx beat me to it and opened the door himself.

The moment the door swung open, Onyx froze.

I walked over and found a pure green snake poking its head out of a box.

"Ms. Kenzie Rowe?" the deliveryman asked immediately. "This is the exotic pet you ordered online last night."

The ladle slipped from the tip of Onyx's tail the moment he saw the snake.

Meanwhile, I happily signed for the delivery after thanking the driver.

Sprout, my new little green snake, had cost me every last cent I had left. If this plan fell through too, it would be enough to give me a heart attack.

I put Sprout in the cage I had originally bought for Onyx, which he had never ended up using, then eagerly set out fresh water and food. When Onyx called me over to eat, I did not even bother going. I spent the entire day fussing over Sprout and would have happily fed him and bathed him myself.

Just as I turned around to set up a heat mat in Sprout's cage, an emerald green tail suddenly wrapped tightly around my waist. Onyx coiled himself around me from head to toe as though staking his claim, glaring at the little snake with open hostility.

Annoyed by how clingy and possessive he was being, I said, "Stop fooling around."

Onyx rested his head on my shoulder. His voice came out muffled, but it left no room for argument.

"It's time for my bath."

I frowned and tried to pull away.

"Didn't I tell you this morning that from now on, you'd sleep by yourself and take your own baths?"

Onyx immediately looked displeased.

"You're my mate. We emerald dragons always help our mates bathe."

I was not happy either. Since yesterday, I had been holding back my temper, and now I finally could not take it anymore.

"Onyx, you're a dragon and I'm a human. We can't be together!

"And I don't like you! I like my own kind. I like humans!"

The moment Onyx heard that, the soft, sweet look in his eyes vanished, and his silky voice turned cold.

"So what you've wanted all along was a human as weak and helpless as you?"

I froze, completely lost as to what he meant. Weak and helpless?

Yet the tight grip around my waist suddenly disappeared. I turned to look at Onyx, only to find a handsome man standing before me.

Dressed in emerald green, he carried a refined, scholarly air. His piercing eyes were fixed intently on me, making it impossible to look away.

I was stunned as the man in front of me pulled me into a tight hug again.

"Can you mate with me now?"