Bloodstone Academy looks just like a haunted castle in the dim light. Its towers loom so high up, while the bloodstone underneath is glowing almost. The darkness of the forest just looks like a warm, comforting blanket around the castle. Black turns away from it. Instead of taking us back to the castle, he takes us to the far edge of the forest, right on the opposite side, landing by the edge of the cliff. I slide off him, my heart in my throat as I feel like I’m going down an actual slide before I thump onto the ground.
Black shifts back in a moment, standing before me with a smile on his pretty face. “That was impressive. You didn’t fall off once.”
“I still can’t feel my legs. They’re like jelly.” I gasp.
He laughs deeply, and I yelp as he picks me up, one arm underneath my knees and the other under my back, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “I can walk. I was joking about my knees.” Sort of. I’ll try actually walking on them in a moment when my nerves have settled.
“We’ll practice more. It’s important you feel comfortable in the air…just in case.” He’s walking us into the forest as he gently explains the need to scare me in the skies. I do understand, but the less logical side of me never wants to do that again.
“Where are we going?” I question as he carries me deep into the forest.
“There’s a place here that I used to come all the time to get away from people, because no one knew it existed. I want to show it to you.” He seems nervous almost.
“Okay.” I kiss his cheek, and he smiles at me, his shoulders lowering. After about a ten-minute walk, he puts me down. We are in a thick grove of the forest; it looks like absolutely nothing’shere. Black shows me how the trees and bushes hide a cave entrance and a secret path right behind them. Black holds a blanket of moss to the side as I step into the cavern. It smells like grass and damp, but nothing else, and there’s a blue light coming from the other side.
I have to duck my head down as we walk through together, Black’s hand clasping mine. I gasp when we come out the other side. It’s a lake, a really low-level lake. The water probably never comes up to more than my ankles, but that’s not what’s beautiful. It’s the millions of butterflies that are glowing and floating around in it. They dive in and out of the water, their wings the brightest blue, glittering almost. A few near us shudder away in fear, but there are millions. All the walls are glowing with their wings in every direction, and I can’t stop staring. I turn to Black, finding him looking at me instead of the beauty of this place. “How did you find this?”
Black doesn’t answer straight away, but he leads me through them, the butterflies parting as we pass, and we walk to the middle where there’s a small round, moss-covered island. Black sits down. I follow his lead, sitting at his side, resting my head on his shoulder as I watch. He whispers a spell, and music starts playing, a familiar song I’ve heard Black humming a few times.
“I needed an escape, and I found it by chance. I believe the goddess, or someone, knew I needed a space where no one would be scared of me. The butterflies don’t touch me—it’s like they know. I’ve always had an issue with animals in the forest—that they’ll come up to me by accident and then die. But the butterflies know. They just stay; they don’t judge or question me. They are not scared. Therefore, it’s the most peaceful place for me. Everywhere else I go, I’m the one they fear; they move away from me. I’m the dragon who can kill them with an accidental touch. Everyone has seen me like that except for my brothers and you.”
“I never felt scared of you, you know. I know it’s strange because I was told everything about you. I don’t know, I should have been terrified from the moment we met, but I just wasn’t. There wasn’t a single part of me that was scared of you,” I whisper, touching his cheek with my hand.
He quietly takes my hand and pulls it onto his lap. I look down as he clips a glittering bracelet onto my wrist. It’s beautiful. Amethyst, I think. Sparkling purple stones with a hint of blue in the core. Each of the stones is shaped like a star. It fits perfectly.
“I haven’t told you much about my parents, but they died when I was very young, in the war. I don’t remember them, but my mother, she wrote a letter for me just in case something happened. I guess she wanted to make sure that I had something of hers. Inside this letter was this bracelet, explaining that it was her mating gift from my father and that before her it was his mother’s, and before her, it was my great-grandmother’s and so on. It has stayed in my family for generations. She said a lot of things in that letter, things about how much she loved me and how I will find someone who will see past the curse…but this bracelet was her biggest hope in me. She saw me giving it to someone, having a future, and she believed in me. So…it’s my mating gift to you. I know that Maz already explained it with the anklet, but this is what I want to give you if you will accept it, Juniper.”
Accept me, he is saying. Oh, Black… “Black, it’s beautiful, and even if it wasn’t, the story behind it means everything to me. I don’t have family heirlooms. I was reminded constantly as a kid that I didn’t have any family, that I was alone, except for Melody, and that I would always be alone. The simple fact that you are giving me this just means a lot.”
“You mean everything to me.” He nudges my cheek with his nose, kissing my ear softly. “Come closer.”
I don’t need to know what he’s asking as I climb onto his lap. He looks at me, all sinful and gorgeous, and so, so knee-droppingly beautiful. His hands move around my shoulders, unclipping my cloak. It lies on the floor next to me. He unclips his cloak next.
“I want you as my mate,” he confidently tells me, brushing my hair off my shoulders, away from my neck.
Not a single part of me is saying no. I don’t even know what to say other than yes. Other than to ask him to touch me. Other than I want to know what it’s like to be his mate. To be his permanently. Because I have always been. His hand curves around my jaw, pulling me to him in a passionate kiss. He devours me with the kiss, pulling and tugging me closer, groaning at the taste of me, I think. Gods, he tastes perfect. He tastes like he’s mine.
He pulls our bodies flush together so I can feel the hardness of him pressing against my thigh. I can feel all of him. I know he can feel me too. He works slowly at my clothes, his lips never leaving mine as he undresses me bit by bit. He only pauses to pull my top over my head before his lips are back on mine, like he desperately needs to be touching me at all times. I need the same from him.
My hands fiddle with the bottom of his shirt, pushing up, and he stops, leaning back and pulling the shirt over his head. My eyes drift over his hard chest, his wide shoulders, thick arms. I blush when I meet his eyes and find him looking at me. “It’s going to be over if you keep looking at me like that.”
I smile wickedly. “Kiss me, Black, and don’t stop.” He growls before he kisses me again. All chance of control is gone now, because this is claiming. This is us. He lays me back down on the cloak, reaching for the waistband of my leggings and underwear and pulling them down together, kicking my boots off next.
When I’m completely bare in front of him, my cheeks blush red as he looks down at all of me. Black could have anyone if it wasn’t for his curse, and a selfish part of me is glad there is only me. But with us, he’s so much more than that. This is more than sex; it is us. There won’t be any barriers between us again after this, and goddess, Black is my world.
“I can touch you,” he murmurs, stealing my thoughts from me. His warm hands run up my thighs to where I’m needy, my core begging for him when I’m so sensitive I can barely think straight. His hands run past where I want them most and up to my breasts, cupping them and tracing his fingers over my nipples. My back arches, pleasure peeking through me, and I can’t breathe as he leans down, licking his tongue over one of my nipples and then the next before lowering his mouth to the middle of my chest, past my stomach and lower.
He finally gets to the apex of my thighs. My head bounces back off the ground as he drags his tongue straight through my pussy into me, and then back up to my clit. My moans echo off the walls, and I’m so embarrassingly close. I don’t think I can hold it in. “Fuck, you taste like you’re mine. I’ve never tasted anything this good. I’m going to eat this sweet, tight pussy all fucking night. You are mine.” His dirty words are firm, possessive, and I’m too turned on to be embarrassed. “Mine.”
Black, sweet Black, has a very dirty mouth, and I love it. Black that has never put any barriers between us. He’s been there for me through everything. Black, the dragon I’m so madly in love with. He makes me come without begging, his fingers sliding into me at the moment I come so he can feel me. I moan as I tighten around his two fingers, my cries echoing off the walls, and the butterflies flutter around in the air. But Black doesn’t stop, continuing to lick me, torture me, and I realize that he’s definitely not going to make me come just once.
When he gets me close to the edge of my third orgasm, he kneels back, undoing his pants and pushing them down. His boxers stay on as he looks at me, and I try not to focus on the very big outline of his cock. “Just so you know, I took contraceptive potion weeks ago, just in case. I’m not going to deny that the idea of you carrying my baby doesn’t turn me on, because it does, but not when we are at war. Not yet, when I’ve barely had time with you.”
“I’ve had a potion, too,” I admit, biting my bottom lip. “But I love that you prepared for this.”
“Are you sure you want this?” he asks, touching my knee. “Once we do this, I won’t just be able to be inside you without claiming you as my mate. There’ll be nothing between us. No one will ever get between us again. If you don’t want that, I’ll eat your sweet pussy all night instead of fucking you.”
I look at him with heated cheeks. He is dead serious. “I love you. I would never want to stop, Black, and I want you as my mate. I’m yours.”
