It was peace. As if being in Azh’s arms was fulfilling a glorious destiny she didn’t know was waiting for her.
“Tell me about being a dragon,” she murmured.
He pressed a lingering kiss against her lips before at last lifting his head to study her with a hint of amusement.
“What do you want to know?”
She studied his stunning features, abruptly acknowledging that she wanted to know everything. Every moment of his long life until this moment. His every thought and feeling. What made him happy, what made him sad, and his most cherished dreams. As if she could delve deep into his heart to discover his secrets.
Like a mate. A soul mate.
Dangerous, dangerous thoughts...
“Are you bored during your forced hibernation?”
He arched a brow, easily sensing she’d cowardly retreated from asking the questions that hovered on her lips. Questions that were treacherously intimate.
“Not really,” he finally said. “Dragons routinely choose to retreat from the world. Sometimes because we’ve been injured and need to heal and other times because we prefer a few centuries of peace. Even when we lived in our homeland the histories reveal that we had personal lairs where we could disappear when we wanted time alone.”
Wynn released a soft sigh. “A few centuries of peace in an isolated lair sounds perfect right now.”
“Agreed.” His gaze swept over her face, a hint of his beast flaring through the misty gray of his eyes. “As long as we’re together.”
An intoxicating heat brushed over her. Was the dragon reaching out to physically touch her? Wynn shivered, tempted to become lost in the sensuous pleasure that sizzled over her bare skin and warmed the blood flowing through her veins. Instead she distracted herself with more questions.
“What do you do with your time?”
“Personally or dragons in general?”
“Personally.”
His fingers trailed up and down the curve of her spine in a gentle caress. “I spend most days in the library or keeping a watch on the humans and their evolving technology. Occasionally I spar with other dragons, although not enough to please my mother. She believes brute strength is the only measure of importance in a leader.”
She studied him intently, genuinely curious. Despite the power of his dragon that thundered just below the surface, she’d discovered that Azh preferred to use his clever wits to overcome obstacles. Any bully could push around a weaker adversary, but you couldn’t always depend on being the strongest creature in every fight. It took brains to avoid the conflict in the first place.
“And you?” she asked.
“I believe that knowledge is power. I also believe that the future will belong to those who understand that trust and respect are mightier than fear. Dragons who are united in a common cause can’t be divided or broken. The only ones who can defeat us are ourselves. Something we have forgotten over the eons.”
She smoothed her hands over his chest, relishing the hard muscles beneath her palms. She admired his preference for brain over brawn, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate his raw male power.
“Very lofty goals.”
“Dream big, right?” He paused, studying her with a steady intensity. “What are your dreams?”
“I just want my life to go back to normal.”
“And then?”
She pasted a stiff smile onto her lips. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have. Not when she was still melty from her cataclysmic climax.
“I don’t know. I’ve always been a live-in-the-moment kind of gal.”
“There must be something you hope for the future,” he insisted.
“To know who I am.” She tried to divert him. “Or I suppose, who I was before I woke on the banks of the Thames. I’m not sure I can ever be that person again, but it would be nice to know if I ever had any family or someone who was worried after I ended up in the hands of the murderous witches.”
“We’re going to figure that out, Wynn. And then—”
