No escaping Dugal Sutherland and his wicked mother, Elspet.
Unfortunately, that pull only became stronger, stirring me awake in Tavish’s arms a few hours later. Stirred me awake because the time was nearly here, and I would soon go, whether Tavish wanted me to or not.
Chapter Sixteen
–Tavish–
WHERE I HAD seen to my needs with different women over the years, I could safely say I had no idea how intense lying with a lass could be until I lost myself in Ellie. That’s how it felt, too. One moment, I knew my way and understood the world around me. The next, I was gone, deep inside the woman I loved with every fiber of my being, and I realized there was so much more to pleasure.
So much more to life and love itself.
Everything about having her in my,our, bed felt beyond merely coming home. It felt like I was where I was supposed to be in every life from this one to the Hereafter, and all to follow. While it seemed strange at first to equate making love to a woman and slaking my desires to such profound emotions, there was no avoiding it because Elliewasmy soulmate in every sense of the word.
Myfatedmate until the end.
And while I felt Elowyn inside her, forever a part of her, it was Ellie who spoke to my heart. Who made me come alive in ways I didn’t know I could as I tasted her soft, supple flesh and drank of her sweet juices. As we took each other in the most primal way possible, and she brought me more pleasure than I knew I was capable of feeling.
So much pleasure that when fire raced down my spine and tightened my ballocks almost painfully, I had no choice but to thrust deep and fill her with my liquid hot heat, only to realize something that made my emotions swell. I might have claimed her flesh, but my dragon didn’t do the only thing that might have kept her in my arms.
It didn't impregnate her.
It broke my heart all over again, because in the end, no matter how much we loved her, andwedid more than anything, it couldn’t risk our offspring ending up in Dugal’s hands.
Although I fully intended to do everything in my power to keep her here with us, in the end, my inner beast couldn't trust how easily she’d slipped away from us twice already. And how driven she was to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
Even so, there was a piece of me and my inner beast that, no matter how much we loathed it, also admired it. She was, without question, the strongest, most admirable woman I had ever met, and she not only made me immensely proud but deeply humbled me.
Yet still, when I stirred awake in the early hours of the morning after making love all night, I was terrified to find her gone. Panicked that she was gone for good this time, I shot to the door, only to find her sitting on a small wooden bench watching the sea.
Chanting on clothing, I grabbed a fur and joined her, wrapping it around her shoulders even though I knew the biting wind didn’t bother her any more than it did me.
“Good morn, lass,” I said, taking in the stormy sky, angry waves, and spitting snowflakes, as I sat beside her. “Such as it is.”
“I like it,” she murmured, offering me a soft smile, her skin aglow, speaking to how sensually satisfied she felt. “But I guessthat’s normal for us dragons, seen clearly in the great hall’s tapestries I’ve always admired.”
“’Tis,” I admitted, just imagining what it might be like to fly with her in such a storm. To fly with her, period, soaring among the clouds in the moonlight. To know her beautiful dragon was all mine in every sense of the word, and no curse loomed over us anymore. Fighting a fresh wave of emotion, I revealed what was in my heart despite her already knowing it. “I cannae tell ye how happy I am to find ye still here with me.”
“Me too,” she confessed, her voice as thick with emotion as mine. “More than you know.”
The problem is, Ididknow because I knew she and her inner beast would do what was needed in the end, not just for her family and all of Scotland, but for me. While it would be brutal for me for a long time after she left, she knew I would still live a full life with my kin. Full of nieces and nephews who would thrive in Scotland as it should be going forward. And eventually, or so she prayed, I would find love again and have offspring of my own. Find the happiness she felt I deserved.
While hers was a noble, loving hope, I knew it would never happen without her. It couldn’t because she would be forever burrowed in my heart and soul. In my very being.
“There are so many things I want to say,” she said softly. “So many things I want to share...”
I closed my eyes against the pain in her words as she trailed off. The emotions I felt, too, because we knew our time together was coming to an end all over again. We felt a crushing grief hovering over us as we struggled to accept something so heartbreaking.
Losing each other in not one life but two.
Had anyone told me hours ago that I would ever let her go again, especially to the likes of Dugal, I would have said it wouldnever happen, and I still felt that way. Yet our inner beasts wereslowly doing what anyone who knew dragons and their fated mates would have said was impossible.
They were putting those they loved and the future of so many before themselves. They were taking comfort in knowing they would find each other again in another life. Comfort in knowing that perhaps it would be the one in which they could finally be together as they should have always been.
Where they could finally marry and have children.
“’Tis alright, lass,” I said softly, wrapping my fingers with hers. “Our dragons are bonded, so I feel everything now. All the years behind you and the life you’ve led. The person you are.” I gazed at her with adoration and respect. “Whether by my side or not, you arealwaysin my heart.” I shook my head. “And ‘twill never be otherwise.”
“Yet it should be,” she said softly, squeezing my hand, her gaze tender and understanding when she referred to me finding love again someday. “For me...so I know you’re okay.”
