Yelena turned the token over in her fingers again. "He's busy."
She missed him too, though it had barely been a few hours. Maybe it was because she knew he was upset, and she had no way to comfort him. She didn't like that she wasn't there to protect him, and the city wasn't feeling as safe as it used to.
Yelena's magic twitched as Valentine crossed through the first of her wards. A grin lifted her lips. She had been worried that his brothers might have convinced him to stay with them for the night. She liked sleeping with him, his warm body cradling hers.
What would happen when he went back to the human world? Her dragon snarled at the thought and sent her an image of chaining him again. She didn't have time to comfort it before Valentine came through the door.
After such a heavy conversation with his family, Yelena expected him to be upset. Instead, he looked at her, and his smile was devastating.
Yelena sat up and fought the urge to smooth her hair down. "By that smile, I take it everything went well?"
"The smile is for you, but yes, the talk went well, and I feel..." Valentine shrugged, but his smile didn't shift. "Free? Light? Both maybe. Good. They weren't angry, though I don't think Dad is going to let it go any time soon. He was more upset over the fact that the bindings were hurting me than the dream I had about my mother's death."
"You say that like you're surprised. He loves you boys so much, it just shines out of him," Yelena said and patted the couch beside her. "It's a good thing to be loved like that."
Valentine sat down so their shoulders were touching. "Speaking of love, I have some things to talk to you about."
Yelena's heart started beating harder. "Sounds serious."
"It is." Valentine took her hand in his and brushed his thumb over the top of it. "I said it before we went into the fight yesterday, but in case you thought it was a spur-of-the-momentthing, I wanted to make it clear to you—I do really love you. More than I thought I was capable of loving anyone. I'm not going to be good at it to begin with. I'm out of practice being open with people, and I can't promise that I won't fuck it up at times, or be so insufferable you want to murder me. My dragon believes you are my mate, and I don't know if you feel it too..."
Yelena broke his speech off with a kiss. She climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. She finally drew back so she could stare into his beautiful eyes.
"I know you are my mate too. I'm not like other dragons, but that side of me has been insisting on it for a while now. I didn't want to believe that such a thing could happen to me, but I love you too much to deny it. I would be honored to be your mate because you understand me, support me, and make me very happy. Not to mention you will maim anyone who insults me."
"With a smile on my face and a song in my heart while I do it." Valentine's wicked smile went serious again, and he rested his forehead against hers. "Thank the gods you feel the same, or that would have been embarrassing. It brings me to the next thing I want to discuss with you, and you're probably not going to like it."
"You don't want to do a mating bond?" she asked, her voice breaking a little along with her heart.
Valentine's eyes widened. "What? Of course, I want to do a mating bond! That's not the problem at all. It's the timing. I would claim you right now, except it would fuck with my plans to take out Midir."
Yelena threaded her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck. "What plans would these be?"
"It will probably get me killed, and that's the only reason I'm not insisting on putting the bond on you now. I'm not that selfish. I saw what happened to my Dad when Mom died, andthere's no way in hell I'm going to do that to you," he said. He ran his fingers over her back like he was trying to soothe her.
"You are worrying me now." Yelena's grip on his hair tightened, making him hiss. "Tell me right now, or I'll put you in chains, and you won't be able to get out, Valentine Greatdrakes."
Valentine's eyes glowed hot. "Gods, you make me so hard when you talk mean, baby girl."
Yelena brushed her lips against his and whispered, "Tell me right now before I start to getreallymean."
Valentine kissed the tip of her nose. "Okay, but you are not going to like it."
35
"You are right. I hate this stupid plan," Yelena said once he was done explaining. Valentine slid his hands over her silky robe, unable to stop touching her.
"I know, but it's the only one that gets us what we want. I can't do it without you, Yelena. We can mitigate as much of the risk as we can, but I can't see another way around it," Valentine replied. He reached behind her to pick up the melted token from the coffee table. "You can still feel his magic in this?" Yelena nodded. "I can too, which means I can use it," he said, and he could see her mind whirling, trying to find another way.
"Everyone is going to think the worst of you," Yelena grumbled. "Then I will have to fight them."
"I will leave letters for them. I'm going to need everyone on this, but if I tell them before I go, they will try to stop me."
"I haven't decided if I am going to try and stop you yet either." Yelena rested a hand on his chest. "So much can go wrong."
"That can be said of any plan. You will be able to find me in the way I found you. I need you to get everyone in place, and we can take out the bastard once and for all."
Valentine kissed her, unable to resist her soft lips, especially when they were pouting.
