“I love you too, Eliel. More than anything in this world.”
“No, I mean, I love you!” I shouted the words, and I felt the compulsion shatter inside me. Dropping the dagger, I ran to him. “I love you, Raven!”
“Eliel!” Raventar scooped me up and hugged me tightly. “My mate. Oh, love. You did it.” He set me down to cup my face. “You broke the magic.”
“Love broke the magic.” I laid my hand over his. “I just had to focus on my love for you.”
His eyes shot to the ribbon on my wrist. With a snarl, he slid a claw between the silk and my skin and sliced through the fabric. The ribbon fluttered down. Halfway to the ground, theDragon King blew a stream of fire and incinerated the evil thing. Then he pulled me back into his embrace, and I felt the bond that had been started between us burst into joyful brilliance.
“My foundling.”
“Yes, you found me again, my Raven.” I nestled in closer and curved my wings around him.
“Please don't ever run from me, Mate.” He nuzzled my face. “Tell me if I scare you. If I must chain myself, I will. Whatever you need.”
“No, don't chain yourself for me.” I leaned back. “I need you free, no matter how savage you get. I know that you won't hurt me. It was just that particular act and the way you didn't notice how it affected me.” I grimaced. “You should have warned me about all that cum, Raven! An extended orgasm? That does not accurately describe what you did! Sweet Gods, I didn't know one man could produce so much.”
The Dragon King burst into laughter.
Behind him, his knights chuckled, their relief clear as they walked away to give us some privacy.
“It wasn't cum, Eliel. It was my essence.”
“Your soul,” I whispered.
“A carrier for it, yes. I wish I had warned you better.” Raven bent to brush his lips over mine. “I didn't know it would scare you. I thought you'd feel me in that essence. That my soul would speak to you and calm you.”
“It might have, if I hadn't been lost in memories of Bara.”
“Damn that bastard! He's dead and still plagues us.”
“No longer, Mate.”
Raven went still. “What did you say?”
“I won't let him come between us ever again. If I need to, I'll ask for your help. But he won't win.”
“No, the other thing. What did you say?” He grinned.
“Oh.” I grinned back and cupped his face in my hands. “I love you, Mate.”
With a joyous cry, the Dragon King kissed me and lifted me off my feet. My wings went out to balance us as we spun into an ancient dance of triumph and love. He was mine. Despite all I'd done to ensure the opposite, Raven was mine.
And I was his. Yes, magic bound us, but we had accepted it willingly. That made all the difference.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Um, why are all of you naked?” I glanced from the knights to the King.
“We shifted into our dragon forms to find you.” He waved his knights away, and they went to bundles of fabric that spotted the camp and unwrapped them—their clothes.
“Oh.”
Growling, Raven pulled out of our embrace. “Eliel, I need you. I'm barely controlling my urge to take you right here.”
“The mating,” I whispered as I glanced down at his erection.
“Yes.” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “Searching for you helped to push back my need, but I can't hold it much longer.”
