Before I could finish, the transformation erupted. One moment, Killian’s arms encircled me. The next, the black dragon gazed at me with pure devotion. His magnificent wings unfurled, their black and sapphire scales reflecting the rippling moonlight across his powerful form.
Mate,he called through our bond, the word resonating deep within me.
Yes, my dragon,I answered, and leaped onto his broad back. Sy should have seen how lithe I was.
Tyson launched skyward, the wind rushing past as we soared over the far side of the mountain. Countless stars crowned the peaks of the snowy range.
It was a breathtaking sight, and the crisp mountain air, scented with winter blossoms, filled my lungs.
Mate is…everything. More than gold.The royal dragon struggled with human concepts.More than sky.A vulnerable pause.This feeling…humans call it love?
Yes,Killian answered, his patience thinning.What else?
Then I... love. Dragon loves MATE.
A grin spread across my face as I pressed against his warm, scaly side.And Barbie loves her dragon back.
Killian had not yet said those words to me. Perhaps I needed to remind him.
Tyson’s joyous roar thundered between the stars as we climbed higher. In this space, there was only the dragon, me, and the endless sky. The sound of his beating wings in the profound silence brought a serenity I rarely knew.
I flattened myself against his back, my arms clasping his neck like an anchor. Two heartbeats drummed beneath me, Killian’s human pulse and the dragon’s deeper rhythm. They beat in sync with my own, comforting me more than anything ever had, until a shot of terror pierced my chest.
What if my father silenced those precious heartbeats forever?
My grip tightened.No!I would never allow it.
I’d do anything in my power to protect my mates, even if it meant betraying their trust and doing what I must do, what I was born to do.
I wanted to stay with them like this forever, but we couldn’t always have what we wanted. I burned this moment with them into my memory.
Tyson sensed my distress and rumbled, his warmth seeping into my skin as a promise of his protection.
I need to be with my mate,Killian’s thought vibrated through our bond.Descend now. Can you not feel her shivering? You might be immune to the cold, but she is freezing!
She has MY HEAT. MY FIRE.Tyson snarled back. Yet he obeyed, diving toward a waterfall that fed a natural spring at the base of a white cliff.
The dragon angled his left wing gracefully, creating a smooth slope. I slid down directly into the spring, its heated waters embracing me.
Another splash followed, and Killian surfaced beside me, water streaming from his chest. He had come naked, his clothes likely incinerated by his impatient dragon’s magic.
This man, this demigod, was perfection from every angle. My gaze dipped to the defined abs that made every woman want to trace them with her tongue, and I was the only woman who got to do that.
The dragon tattoo coiled around his chest and upper arm, its scales seeming to shift in the starlight. His cock jutted between his powerful thighs, massive, hard, and proud. I licked my lips involuntarily.
“You’re very naked, Killian.”
“And you’re observant,” he purred, prowling closer. “Now I have you all to myself, little scorpion. What am I going to do with you?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” I said in a low purr. “Or show me.”
He began to remove the armor Sy had created for me after we left the volcano.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted you alone like this, all naked and all mine?” he asked, his storm-blue eyes darkening with a lust that quickened my pulse.
I grinned. “You always want to get me naked.”
“When you were gone, I dreamed of having you beneath me, of being deep inside you and making you scream my name until the whole realm knows who you belong to.”
