“Lydia.” I growl her name, loving the feel of it on my tongue, loving having the scent of her in my nostrils.
“You go on,” she says to the others. “I’ll catch you up.”
One or two of the females gives me long, searching looks, but they give her hugs and then take the exit for Darax’s sector.
My heart feels full at the way they treat my mate.
“What is it, Deus?” she asks.
“I…” My hand finds its way to the back of my neck, and I rub at my scales before giving my scalp a scratch. “There’s something I need to ask you.”
“Go on.”
“It’s just…I would…” The words I need are out of reach, stuck at the back of my throat, wanting to come and yet not arriving.
Lydia looks up at me, her eyes bright, her face so beautiful I know exactly what I want. I scoop her into my arms, kissing her lips until she squeaks.
“Do you want to dance for me, Deus?” she asks when I release her.
“How did you know?”
“My friends…they said the other warlords would suggest it to you…strongly.” She cups my cheek. “But I understand if you don’t want to…”
“I have never wanted to do anything more, my Lydia.” I capture her hand in mine. “I have been wanting to dance for you since we first met. I simply didn’t understand what it meant. I have never danced for a mate before.”
“You haven’t?”
“Do you think I dance for every female who looks in my direction?” I shove my face into her hair to inhale her scent deep into my lungs.
“No, but…”
“My sweet mate.” I lift my head to look in her eyes. “I have been given a second chance. I probably don’t deserve it, but I like to think it is because I do. Dylia was my mate, it is true, and when I lost her, I lost part of myself. But that was because I wasn’t looking. I became a shell and one which would do anything to recapture something which wasn’t possible. She would have hated what I became.” I trace my finger down her soft cheek. “But she would have loved you, and she would have loved what you made me into. That is all, my Lydia. Dylia is gone, and I have you in my heart, my whole heart, and more. You are my wings and tail, my shift, my growl, and my claws. I am one lucky male to have such a second chance, and I am not ever going to let you go.”
LYDIA
Deus’s lips brush mine and heat flows through me. It’s not a relief, it’s something else. It’s an acceptance, an understanding within myself, with myself.
I am not second best. I am Deus’s second chance, and he is mine. We deserve each other and we deserve to be happy.
We deserve a future.
I lean into his kiss, pressing my lips to his, letting my tongue slide into his mouth so it can tangle with his incredible forked one.
“I need to breed you, little mate,” Deus rumbles. “I need to be inside you, to hook you, to make you mine.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I run my fingers into his hair, scratching at his scalp.
Deus releases a strangled roar, and before I can say another word, I’m in his arms, and he is sprinting through the neutral zone. We’re in his sector, the warmth and earthy scents invading my nostrils, but he doesn’t take the route to the cabin. Instead we’re thundering through the forest.
“Where are we…?”
“I have alternative accommodation, my mate,” Deus says. “After all, this sector was supposed to be for my crew as well.”
The forest opens into a small clearing in which I see, in passing, a large blue pool with a waterfall dropping merrily into it, making a pretty gurgling sound.
“Wait…” I say out loud, but it’s too late. We’re already inside an almost identical cabin to the one looking over the valley.
“You really were good at this, weren’t you?” I say.
