Page 32 of Crash Landed with My Weredragon

"That seems disproportionate."

"It was a really long line."

Marina stood at the entrance. The warm air pressed against her skin like a hand. The golden light made everything soft, private, separated from the rest of the world by stone walls and heated water and the simple fact that nobody knew she was here except Athena and the man she'd come to find.

"I handled everything," she told him. "Peter's stable. Patel's with Melessra. Athena's doing security. The structural teams cleared the guest wing. The relay is restored. Rowan knows we're safe." She paused. "I've been responsible for six straight hours. I'm done being responsible."

"What do you want to be instead?"

"Yours."

The word filled the chamber, reflected by the water, absorbed by the stone. Toren stood. Water dripped from his feet onto warm rock. He crossed the space between them with a steadiness that cost him. She could see the effort in his jaw, the careful control of someone who wanted to move faster and was choosing not to.

He stopped in front of her. Close enough that the heat from his body mixed with the steam from the pools. His hand came up and touched her face. His palm was against her cheek; his scaled fingers were gentle against her temple. The texture was something she'd imagined for weeks, and her imagination hadn't gotten it right. Not rough, not smooth. Warm, alive, and unmistakably him.

"I need you to know something," he said. His voice was low, careful. "For Weredragons, this isn't casual. I'm not capable of casual with you. If we do this, it means something I can't take back."

"I know."

"The bond, the claiming bond; it may activate. I can't control it. If we're compatible, the frequency starts building, and once it starts, it doesn't stop. It becomes permanent. I need you to understand …"

"Toren."

"Yes?"

"I flew across a solar system on your back, survived an earthquake in your Colony, and told you I loved you in a hallway while covered in blood. I understand what I'm getting into." She put her hand over his on her cheek. "Stop warning me and kiss me."

He kissed her.

* * *

His mouth was warm, warmer than she'd expected. Weredragon body temperature ran several degrees higher than human, and the heat of his lips against hers sent a current through her body that rearranged everything she thought she knew about kissing. This wasn't a first kiss in the usual sense. This was two species who'd never done this before, and the novelty made every sensation sharper, brighter, more present.

She kissed him back with the urgency of someone who'd been waiting too long and the patience of someone who intended to remember every second of this. Her hands found the bare scales of his chest, palms flat against the overlapping rose-gold plates, and the contact made him inhale sharply. The scales were warm, textured, extraordinarily sensitive. She could feel fine vibrations beneath them, as if the surface of his body was responding to her touch the way a musical instrument responded to being played.

"Your scales," she murmured against his mouth.

"Thousands of nerve endings per plate," he managed. "Every touch is; it's a lot."

"Too much?"

"Not enough."

She traced the line of plates down his sternum with her fingertips. His scales flushed from rose-gold to deep copper; the color change spreading across his chest like heat through metal. His eyes closed. His wings opened behind him, involuntary, expansive, the translucent membranes catching the golden light and casting their shadows across the cavern walls like a cathedral window.

"I can't control that," he said.

"I don't want you to." She kissed his collarbone where the scales transitioned from heavy chest plates to the smaller, smoother ones along his throat. He shivered, and the shiver traveled through his body into his wings, and the wings trembled, and their shadows trembled with them.

They undressed each other with a slowness that was its own language. Her jacket first. His fingers were careful on the zipper and slightly clumsy with the unfamiliar mechanism. Then her shirt, and his hands paused at the buttons because Weredragon fingers were broader than human and the fine motor challenge was real. She helped with the last two, and the look on his face when her shirt came away was the same wonder she'd seen when he watched the whale movie. Discovery. Something beautiful that he hadn't dared believe was possible.

She was self-conscious for exactly one second. Then his hand traced the curve of her waist with a reverence that made self-consciousness impossible.

"You're warm everywhere," he whispered. "Humans are so warm."

"You keep saying that."

"Because I keep being amazed by it." His thumb moved across her hip, mapping the difference between her skin and his scales. "Your skin is extraordinary. It's soft in a way that nothing on Dobromia is soft."