“I’m sorry,” she said.
I didn’t like my mate apologizing to me. She should never have to. It was wrong.
“I didn’t know it meant that much to you,Casimir.”
This time I liked when she used my full name. It wasn’t meant to mock, but to show she understood. That I never wanted to be the tyrant to her. Just Casimir. Caz. Onlyeverher Caz.
Because I didn’t rule here. Between us, only one person was ever in charge, and it wasn’t me. I had known that from the beginning, from theinstant the mate bond blossomed to life. I would do anything for her.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said slowly, staring at her and wondering if my voice sounded as thick to her as it did me.
“That’s a stretch,” she said, patting my chest.
My dragon bellowed in triumph at the simple contact.
“How?”
“Because I can and will make mistakes too,” she said, crossing her arms.
My dragon went stock still at the sudden press of her breasts against her arms. Holy shit, she was perfect.
“I am not some sort of god. I’m a living, breathing person, who can screw up, thank you very much. You don’t get to take that from me. Got it?” She said it teasingly.
“Yes, goddess,” I whispered, without any mocking whatsoever.
“Oh, dear,” she said, covering her mouth. “I’ve created a monster.”
I smiled broadly, full teeth, letting her know she wasn’t wrong. “I’ll try to remember that. But it’s hard to imagine someone as perfect as you are having any flaws.”
She cocked her head. “Did you forget that I’m a grounded?”
There was no hesitation before saying it, noswitch. She had chosen her words from the start.
I grinned wider.
She groaned. “It’s longer than saying clippy and way more formal sounding too.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I told her, winking and pointing at my chest. “Me ice tyrant. Me make rules.”
“A monster,” she repeated again with light laughter that I echoed.
Our eyes met once more, but this time they locked on with physical force. A joining of something that scraped across my chest. If it weren’t for the euphoria that came after, I would have likened it to that same scale-tipped whip splitting me open. But the warm buzz that followed was the farthest thing from pain.
What made it all the better, though, was watching Anna go through the same thing. She touched her chest, between her breasts, with a gasp that went from pain to pleasure in a heartbeat.
Rubbing the spot gently through her shirt, she frowned at me. “What the hell was that?”
“I think …” I lifted my shirt casually to inspect. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” Anna clapped both hands over her face but not before I saw her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of pink.
She liked the sight of mewith my shirt up. I tried not to crow in victory, but it was hard, given the purple marks on my chest between my pecs. A thin violet line that vaguely resembled a horseshoe with its points downward was bisected by a thicker, flowing V-shape that spread its wings up and outward toward my armpits before fading.
“Mate marks,” I said, noting the size of them. “Just the start.”
My eyes dropped to her chest.
“But we haven’t even kissed,” she said, still stunned. “How?”
