I’d never said those words to anyone before, and I expected them to burn in a way that even a dragon was unfamiliar with. But they flowed like water filled with contentment.
Emme was silent for a few seconds, and I slowed the vehicle to give her my full attention. She stared wide-eyed and unblinking, her smile long gone. My heart clenched hard, and the fires raged in my gut as moisture once again clouded her icy-blue gaze.
“Are you okay?” I growled, hitting the brakes, slamming the car in park, and reaching for her. “What’s wrong?”
When she squeezed her eyes closed, I had to force my dragon down. Neither of us liked when she cut herself off from us. “Mate.” My rumble filled the cab. “Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”
She shook her head, a hint of a smile finally on her lips. “Some days it’s hard for me to believe we ended up here. When you forced the bond, I couldn’t imagine liking, let alone loving you. Yet here we are.” With that, she opened her eyes, and I was locked in her brilliant blue gaze which calmed the inferno in my gut. “I love you too, Talon Riverson.I love you.”
This was also the first time I’d ever heard those words said to me, and if anything in the world was going to take me out, it was this moment.Fuck.My chest ached like it was caving in but also exploding at the same time.
My voice was a whisper. “Say it again.Please.” Who knew that the day a dragon begged would be this one.Not fucking me.
Emme leaned over and pressed a kiss against my cheek, before moving down to my lips. Featherlight kisses, and between each one, she whispered her love.
With a growl, I reached out and yanked her over the center console and into my lap, trying to fit my limbs and mate all in the stupidly small metal box. “I would kill and die for you without thought, Sweet Honey,” I rumbled, hoping she heard the absolute truth in that. “Destroy cities, raze alphas to the ground, and crawl on my fucking hands and knees to reach you. You’re it for me, Emmeline Anders. You’re my one and only, and if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”
She leaned back so our gazes could connect, and when the moment extended for four long, tension-filled seconds, she lurched into me. Her fingers attempted to grip the short strands of my hair, and I held her face, forcing myself to be gentle. She was so fragile, and I had to temper my strength to ensure she remained in perfect condition.
I understood why my brother chose not to spar with her most of the time. It was terrifying to think that one slip of control…Never.
She groaned against my lips, and I demanded entry, my tongue brushing hers as I chased her sweet taste. Her wolf rose up to frolic with my beast, and he treated her with the sort of reverence he’d shown no other. This was what I’d searched for during my empty life: love, a mate, a pack.
I finally had something to fight for, and I would not let that witch steal it all away.
CHAPTER 2
EMME
Talon fucking Riverson.
He’d never needed a name to be powerful and enticing, but now that he had two—adopting the same family name as Slade—he felt even more magnetic.
I love you. Those words were on repeat in my head as he kissed the sanity out of me. Like, this man could freaking kiss, and considering I was the one and only shifter he’d ever touched this way, it wasallinstinct.
He’d told me he loved me. He. Loved. Me.
And I loved him.
I’d expected with our horrible beginning, those words would be hard to say, but they’d burst from me like I’d been holding them back for years. My feelings for Talon were strong and complex, and I already knew I couldn’t live without him. I couldn’t live without any of my mates.
When I pulled back from the toe-curling kiss, my breaths were ragged and heavy, and I tried to ignore the pulsing in my core. We had a bond that was ninety percent complete, and there was only one step left, which both of our beasts pushed us toward.
After a morning swept up in grief for Cora, Warrick, and their pack, it was nice to have a brief moment of normalcy.
“Damn,” I huffed. “That was perfect, Tal.”
His chest rumbled, and the dark planes of his gorgeousface briefly lit up as he smiled. “I could kiss you all day, sweetness.” His voice lowered. “And all night.”
I resisted the urge to rub up against his dark cargo pants, as the scent of my arousal spilled through the cab. Talon’s nostrils flared, and I cleared my throat while I scrambled back over to my side of the car, fixing my dress as I went. “Enough of that, mate. We have an appointment to keep, and since you are more than competent driving on a straight road, how would you like to try heading into the city?”
Talon never asked a lot of questions, as he generally trusted what I asked of him. No doubt that had a lot to do with the way he’d been trained to follow commands and never think for himself. “If you lead, I will follow,” he said, as if to reiterate my thoughts.
I shook my head. “That’s not how this pack works. If you’re not comfortable driving in the city, or if you’d like to observe the shifters in their natural environment, then I can drive us there.”
His big hands flexed against the poor steering wheel again; it was a miracle it hadn’t shattered yet under his hold. “Actually, I would like to observe. I have chosen my path in life, and it is you, but I still find myself curious of the reasons Fletcher wanted to destabilize everything.”
The death of Fletcher Davenport,aka evil asshole, hadn’t miraculously resulted in Talon completely abandoning the dead alpha’s philosophy. He still believed, to some extent, that falling back under a single alpha rule was the way for our species to prosper. A part of him would always worry that we were diminishing our animal instincts by domesticating into cities.
