“Fuck. We’re not charging nearly enough for this,” he groaned, making me laugh.
It thrilled me that he finally shared this with me, that he finally knew exactly how he made me feel.
“Have you…um, mated with someone before?” I asked, unsure if I wanted to know but unable to stop myself.
“I have,” he replied simply, and something inside me dropped.
I glanced aside, but he caught my chin with his fingers and turned my face back to him “Why does it disturb you?”
“It doesn’t,” I tried to protest.
But he’d become excellent at reading my emotions, even when he wasn’t connected to them through a tendril like he was now. His gaze stayed on mine, not allowing for any more lies.
“It’s…a human thing, I guess,” I mumbled, trying to explain. “It has no logic or reason. I know I shouldn’t be feeling like this, but…I just can’t help it.” I bit my lip, trying and failing at holding back the next question, “Who was she? The woman who…um…”
I couldn’t finish my question, but he understood me regardless.
“Her name was Valeni,” he said, his relaxed expression replaced by a frown. “She was my general when we met.”
“Did you…love her?” I asked quietly, afraid to ask what I really wanted to know. Did he still love her?
“I respected her, looked up to her, admired her. We served in the queen’s army together, defended the crown from its enemies together, traveled the kingdom together. Before we both realized what was happening, it was too late. The mating fever caught us off guard, not too far from here, actually.”
“Here? Do you mean Ashgate?”
“No. Back then, neither Valeni nor I knew the exact location of this city. We were searching for it way north of here, on the mountain side away from the ocean shore. Thevirutudragons have a colony on the ridge of the mountain there.” He sighed. “Something we also didn’t know about back then.”
His breathing had stabilized. His deep voice rolled much more smoothly now, and his muscles had relaxed under me. I rested my head on his chest where his heart was still beating erratically fast. Or maybe it was beating faster now as Timur was sharing his memories.
“We thought we were careful. We believed that we’d been keeping enough distance between us for the fever not to affect us. But that’s the power of attraction, isn’t it? We searched each other out without realizing it because we both felt more content in each other’s company than apart from each other.”
His words caused another bitter tug of unreasonable jealousy inside me. Timur blinked, clearly sensing it too, but I just waved my hand, urging him to go on.
“What happened then?”
“Then?” he echoed. “The mating fever came when we least expected it and weren’t prepared to deal with it. We managed to get away from the camp. But we had no time to build or even to find a proper shelter.”
He drew in a long breath, absent-mindedly running his right hand up my back. The claws gently stroked my skin through my dress, sending a shiver of pleasure up my bare arms. A light shudder rippled through his body in response.
“This is…incredible.” He stared at me in wonder. “So much pleasure from such a simple gesture.”
I smiled. “I’m just full of joy, ain't I?”
He ran the claws up my arm, then combed them through my hair, brushing it away from my face. Joy fluttered through mybody like a kaleidoscope of gossamer butterflies, reaching the very tips of my toes.
“Gods…” Timur exhaled a strangled moan, not of pain but of pure bliss.
I smiled. “It’s nice, isn’t it? I love your claws.”
“I had no idea how much you enjoy them,” he marveled.
I hated to pop our joyful bubble, but my thoughts twirled back to his story.
“Can you tell me what happened to Valeni?” I asked.
As long as he could talk about it, I didn’t want to have anything unspoken left between us.
“Yes,” he said somberly. “The dragon descended on us out of nowhere. In truth, it might’ve been circling above us for hours, for all I know. But I never noticed it. The need, the lust, the pain… It was all so strong, it overwhelmed all my senses. I didn’t see or hear anything. If the ground opened under me then, I don’t think I would’ve noticed that either. I only realized we’d been attacked when Valeni’s pain slammed into me through our tendrils. She was on top of me…”
