“No.”Vael cupped the back of her head and exhaled harshly.Calm.“No, this is…” If only he were better with fuckingwords.He was humbled by her very presence, by her beauty, by the pleasure of justbeingwith her, but he didn’t have the damn vocabulary to express it properly.
“Here, let me just show you.”
She was like a wet cat, clinging to him with claws and teeth, but he did eventually manage to unwind her arms from around his neck. He didn’t want her to stop touching him, but he needed to put some distance between their bodies.Quickly.With one hand cupping the back of her head and the other supporting her back, he slowly eased her into a floating position.
Hele’s expression was pinched with fear and her hand clutched at his forearm, but she didn’t fight him when he began to gently guide her through the water.
“I do not think I’m meant to swim.” Her voice trembled.
“Shh. I have you. You’re safe. There now,” he murmured, watching every minute shift in her expression. “Just relax,t?ht.Breathe for me. Good. Now loosen up— no, you don’t have to let go of me. I’m here. Just try to let your muscles relax. That’s my good girl.”
Hele’s eyes were locked on his face for several long minutes, her breathing choppy, but when she finally began to relax, her gaze wandered left and right. Watching her hair fan out around her in the water and the light ripple over her skin…
Vael knew nothing in the world was as magnificent as his mate.Nothing.
“That’s right,” he praised, voice rough as sandpaper, “look around you. See how beautiful you make the water, my Hele. I’ve never seen anything like it. Good. That’s it. Now give a slow kick for me. Yes, perfect. Look at that! You’re swimming.”
A startled look replaced her wary awe. “I am?”
He grinned down at her. “Yes. See? I’m barely holding you anymore. Just move your arms back and forth while you kick. Slowly.”
ChapterFifteen
WatchingHele discover new things was one of his greatest joys. Seeing her learn to swim, even just a little, was the same.
Slowly, he coached her on floating, then the basics of moving under water. Not all of his knowledge translated well, since he had two extra limbs and a tail with which to move, and she was leery about keeping her head under water for more than a few seconds at a time, but they made it work.
Whenever she learned something new, he rewarded her — and himself — with a slow, drugging kiss. Hele met him enthusiastically. It took willpower he’d never known he had to pry himself away from her again and again. Every time his lust began to cool, it burst to life again, hotter than before.
Eventually, they began to play games. It was mostly to distract himself from the way he felt like he was about to lose his mind, but Hele seemed to enjoy it, too. He playfully chased her around the pool, and he laughed himself to tears when she discovered the honest pleasure of shamelessly splashing an opponent.
His Hele wasn’t particularly graceful in the water, especially with her gauzy dress on, but as she became more comfortable, she transformed into the woman he knew — intense, competitive, and eager to play. It was a far cry from the sad creature on the curb, and even farther from the heartbroken mate on the beach.
Thiswas Hele.His Hele.
And then, slowly, the playfulness ebbed away. The chase came to a stop and the splash fights ceased. They began to simply twist in slow circles, arms loosely intertwined, and breathe each other’s air.
Hele’s eyes were half-mast when she whispered, “You did not tell me your story.”
Vael breathed deeply and rested his cheek on her damp hair. Sparks nipped at his skin. Each one was a tiny, sizzling kiss. “I don’t like to talk about it. It’s hard for me.”
Soft hands stroked his neck, his shoulders, and the delicate bones of his wings. He shuddered. “I understand. Sometimes I don’t want to talk about things. I don’t always know how. You don’t have to tell me.”
He was so damn lucky to have her. Gratitude thrummed through him as he hugged her closer, tighter, until he felt like he could breathe again.
In a hoarse whisper, he said, “I need you to know. I think it’ll help you understand why— the reason I was such a dick. Why I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to protect you.”
He lifted his head to gauge her expression. Hele stared up at him with her big, dark eyes. In a perfectly solemn voice, she said, “Explain. I will listen.”
He did his best. It didn’t all come out smoothly, and sometimes he had to pause for an extended period when his throat closed so hard he couldn’t get any words out at all.
But he did it.
He told her about his parents, how they had one of those precious, rare triads — two dragons and one prized arrant, his beloved mother, whose earrings he wore every day. His talismans and his reminders.
He told her about his grandparents, all three sets of them, and how they came over from the old country to escape the fury of the Collapse. Like most of the dragons now living in the UTA, his family fled the war that had consumed the dragonlands of the European continent, the complete destruction of hundreds of clans due to civil war and competition for mates.
His grandparents only got a few blessed decades of peace in their new home before war came for them again.
