Caz nodded. “Think of all the others who would suffer if I were to die now without an heir. Mirko would assume the throne, Anna. He and then his son would sit on it, and they would rule. If you think it’s bad now, you have no idea how much worse it could get. Who knows when someone would step up and try to change things again.”
“But Milly,” I said softly, not willing to let it go. Not yet.
“Anna—”
I pressed a finger to his lips, forging ahead. “Caz, you told me once that you didn’t care that I was wing-clipped. That I didn’t have a strong dragon. You swore it didn’t matter, that you didn’t care.”
“And I don’t care. You getting stronger is intriguing and I don’t think a negative, but it hasn’t made me care for you anymore or less. Your dragon’s strength was never who you were.”
“Exactly.” I licked my lips. “Which is why you’re going to let me do this.”
“What?”
“Because you told me I could trust you. And I did, and I’m happy I stopped hating you. But now, Caz, you have to return that. You have to trust me. Trust that I can do this. You would let another elite do it. Which means if you truly believe what you say, you can’t stop me either.”
His mouth opened to counter my argument but then closed. I saw it on his face when he came to the same conclusion.
“Look at me,” I said when he glanced aside, emotions clouding his normally clear eyes.
Slowly, with a slight judder, his head came back around.
“I want this,” I told him, reaching up to undo a button on my shirt while never losing eye contact. “I want you. And not just because of this.”
Caz stiffened.
“Ella pointed it out to me,” I explained, undoing the next button. His jaw twitched, but he didn’t look away. “She told me how much more I smile when you’re around. That I’m happier. That I don’t care as much about my past.”
“Your past doesn’t matter to me,” Caz rumbled,his lips barely parting. His dragon had to be riding him hard.
“I know it doesn’t,” I said, smiling and reaching for the next button. “That’s my point. I used to care about it a lot. Worry about it. Think I was nothing without the memories. Now … now I’m nothing withoutyou.”
His dragon whined. I didn’t know if I heard it, or just sensed it, but somehow I knew it.
“What are you saying, Anna?” Caz rasped, eyes aglow, on the edge of losing control.
“That this isn’t some spur of the moment thing. I had already come to the decision that I wanted this, us,you. Forever, until we fly west together one day.”
His mouth was hanging open slightly as I shucked the shirt from my shoulders, letting it slowly fall to the floor.
“Are you certain? There’s no going back from this. Once I bite you, I—”
His mouth slammed closed as I raised a single, solitary finger. I wasn’t done speaking.
“Claim me, Caz,” I whispered, my knees and hands trembling with excitement and a healthy dose of nerves. “Make me yours. Forever.”
He came at me in a rush, a mix of man and beast but all mine.
My dragon roared its approval, and we arched up to meet him.
Casimir, ourmate.
Thirty-Five
Casimir
My mate.My beautiful, perfect, impossibly stubbornmate.
I shredded her clothing in my eagerness to have her, to take her. She gasped but never shrank from the attack, instead leaning into it and ripping my clothing free until we stood in the middle of the room, panting, naked, and doing little more than staring into one another’s eyes.
