Wrapping her arms around herself, she turned slowly to peer at the arched glass door that led into the anteroom. “Where are we? I thought you were going to drag me back to myema.”She looked up, and in a softer voice added, “This place is beautiful.”
Vael moved behind her. It took several steadying breaths to drive off the impulse to wrap his arms around her waist and draw her back against his nude form.Just to hold her. To know she’s here. She’s safe.
Despite his restraint, there was little to be done about his errant tail. If ever dragons had atell,it was theirtail.The damn things always had a mind of their own. His snaked over his thigh to curl around her delicately wrought knee.
Mine,it said.And I’m not letting you go.
When she didn’t brush him off, Vael felt some of the painful tension in his shoulders ease. “This is my dwelling.” He paused, weighing his words, before he forced out, “This isourdwelling.”
“Now or later?”
If he could have punched the Vael from that afternoon in the side of the head, he would have. Instead, he firmly answered,“Always.”
Hele gave him another fathomless look. When she continued to say nothing, Vael ran his fingers through his spiky hair and let out a short sigh. He stooped to pick up her fallen shoe.
“Come on,” he murmured, gesturing for her to walk toward the sliding door. “Let's get you inside,t?ht.”
She didn’t protest as he led her through the door and into the anteroom. The back of his neck heated as that dark, twisty feeling of pleasure bloomed again.My mate in my nest.
It was where she belonged, and everything in him knew it. Finally, he felt like he could rest.
Now I just have to find a way to convince her to stay.
Looking at her now, when she still clutched at her sides and looked at him like she had no idea what to make of him, he wasn’t at all sure it would be an easy task.Fool,he thought for the thousandth time that evening.You could have had her here last night, if you’d just listened to what she was trying to tell you.
But that was the past, and Vael did his best to not dwell on what he could not change. It hadn’t brought his parents back to life, nor his grandparents. It hadn’t fixed his destroyed home. It hadn’t fixed his wings, or returned his voice.
Only moving forward brought peace. Only determination and loyalty won him happiness.
Why would it not be the same with his Hele? But first…
Vael circled around her, utterly unselfconscious of his nudity, to stare into her eyes. Brows lowering, he asked, “What happened tonight?”
She shrugged, quick and jerky. “Nothing.”
“Hele.”
“Vael.”
He lifted his hands, desperate to grasp her arms and draw her close, but forced himself to lower them again. Behind him, his wings flexed hard. “Did that elf hurt you? Tell me,t?ht.”
“Hurt me?” She made a face. “No. He only shook my hand before he— wait. How did you know I was on a date with an elf?”
He felt his temper bubble with the reminder that she was on adatewithanother man —who fucking ditched her! — but kept a ruthless grip on the desire to rage. It was what he’d pushed her to. What right did he have to be jealous?
Every right,instinct roared.She is my mate!
It was a common misconception that dragons became possessive of their Chosen mates out of some greedy desire tohoard.While it was true that his kind loved shiny and silky things, the acquisitive impulse did not translate to matehood.
Dragons were aggressively territorial of their mates for the same reasons other beings were, but also because when theyChose,the pathways in their minds that navigated the magnetic field of the Earth rewired to make their matehome.When he called Hele his north star, hist?ht,it was not just because of how she was brought into the world. It was quite literally what she was.
For a dragon, all flights led back to their Chosen. All comfort, security, and warmth could be found in them. Theywerethe roost, the nest.
Was it not understandable, he wondered, that they would have such a visceral reaction to a perceived threat or interloper?
But he was not just instinct and tangled neural pathways forged over millennia. He was a man, and though he was hard headed, he knew when it was imperative that he keep his cool.
Forcing the words out from between gritted fangs, he answered, “Your sister told me.”
