Cosimo's eyes lit with wonder and triumph. He moved too quickly for Marcella to see, but his teeth were digging into her neck, and she was screaming his name as she shattered into a million pieces.
Magic throbbed from the pain in her neck, sending hot pulses through her and making her pussy grip him. They were both panting harder, their arms and legs and mouths tangled together until there was no way to get any closer.
Cosimo kissed her, his eyes no longer filled with the madness that had been riding him. "I love you so much. Thank you for accepting me as your mate."
"You could have warned me earlier," she said with a soft laugh.
"I couldn't have you running away on me."
"Would you have let me go?" she asked.
Cosimo's head tilted to one side. "I would have done my best to convince you not to."
"That means no," Marcella said and laughed softly. She pushed his damp hair back from his face. "You are lucky I love you."
"I am," he replied, deadly serious. He kissed her, slow and soft. "But if you have a running away kink that I don't know about, I am more than happy to explore it with you. Just know, I will catch you and fuck you so hard that you will know exactly who you belong to."
Marcella smirked, rather liking the idea of Cosimo hunting her down. "Maybe next time. I rather like being just where I am at the moment."
Cosimo shifted his hips, his dick already hardening again. "Good, because you are in for a long, long night, witch."
Marcella bit his chest, making him hiss. "I'm ready when you are, dragon."
45
Cosimo spent the next three days in a happy daze. The house, reacting to his new mated status, had begun to subtly rearrange itself. With some satisfaction, Cosimo noticed that the bed in Marcella's room had disappeared. Her rooms had expanded to make a proper space for her. It didn't surprise him when all her books, clothes, and decor from her apartment in Florence suddenly appeared.
"What am I supposed to use for furniture when I want to visit Firenze!" Marcella had complained.
Cosimo had kissed her until her outrage vanished. "We will just have to go shopping and make it a holiday getaway."
Little did Marcella know that Cosimo had prepared other surprises for her during the past few days. Now, he was about to spring the best one on her.
"Tell me again why I need to be dressed in old clothes?" Marcella asked, tying her hair in a red scarf and making her look like a very sexy '50s housewife. She was dressed in jeans and a black shirt, her scuffed boots on.
"Because we are going to go out in a field to watch dragons shift, right, bro?" Maria asked. She was only partially in on thesurprise because Cosimo didn't want her to have a chance to be nervous.
"Absolutely. Dragons are big, and we need space so we don't damage things."
Maria gestured to the trashed yard they were standing in. "Like this poor garden. Seriously, you could have woken me up so I could see you shift."
Cosimo laughed, and Marcella cleared her throat awkwardly. "No. We are all very happy you slept through that."
Maria only rolled her eyes. "You know better than to fuck in public, Cosimo."
"It was worth it," he said unapologetically.
"Are we doing this or not?" Apollo demanded, stepping outside in a pair of old sweats, followed by his brother's and their mates. "I'm getting twitchy."
Cosimo waited until they were all there and gestured to Valentine. "Okay, do it."
Valentine grinned his wild smile, and a portal ripped open. Maria immediately ran over it to poke at his threads of magic.
"I swear I'm going to figure this out," she said.
"Later, Maria. We have things to do," Cosimo called. With a huff, his sister disappeared through the portal, followed by everyone else.
Cosimo kissed Marcella's hand, and they went through last. They were in the middle of an overgrown garden, with untended fields around them, and a villa of ocre, cream, and brown brick.
