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He walked me back until I was against the wall, his face close to mine. “You’re important to me, and I wanted you to have something special, something that would last, something that said you’re mine.”

“Oh, sexy mate.” I reached up and patted his cheek. “That sounds every bit like an engagement ring. Didn’t you know humans use rings this way?”

“Yeah. I did.” He closed his eyes.

I didn’t understand. He did know what a ring meant, but this ring didn’t mean that. Except he did want me forever. Why was he holding me back?

“I promised you I wouldn’t ask you to mark me again, and I won’t. But giving me this ring, do you understand how it’s giving a mixed message?”

“I do now.” It was all but a whisper.

He spent years believing he wasn’t allowed to have his mate. He lost his family, his flight, and his hoard. He’d been told he was useless, unable to be a good mate, all because he saved those babies and wore scars on his body as proof. None of that disappeared just because I told him that his flight was being freaking ridiculous. I understood why he was scared, and I understood that by breaking his flight laws, he ruined all chances of going back. Not that there ever were any, but the hope would always be there. Right? How could it not?

“Mate. You keep telling me you’re not allowed to mate, but I’m here, Radley. I already chose you. And it’s scary. I get that. It means forever. Your flight is gone. Like, closing the final door. But maybe, can you try to understand me and not give me hope like this again?” I was babbling, but it was that or do nothing, and I couldn’t watch him hurting like this any longer.

He dropped to his knee and took my hand, the one with the ring, and pulled the ring off. “When I got this ring, I knew what it meant. It meant a future, and maybe not marriage in the human sense, but I want to wake up with you next to me every morning. I want to come home and have you be there or be home waiting for you to get there. I want us to live our lives together. I want to raise a fuzzy rabbit with you. I want to close the last chapter with my flight and to complete our bond. I want you, Sheridan, all of you.”

“Oh, my sexy dragon. You already have me.”

“Not the way I want.” He kissed the spot on my neck that was a mirror image to where I’d bitten him. “Are you sure about this?”

“More than anything.” He pulled me close, mumbled against my skin that it was my last chance to say no.

I tilted my head to give him better access. He kissed me sweetly. Once. Twice. Three times, and then there was a sharp pain that instantly became a little sting. Then I felt it, the bond completing. Like it snapped something into place that was always there, just not where it was meant to be.

He was mine now.

I hadn’t really understood what they meant by the bond being half done until this moment. It was a feeling of warmth, love, and being home.

“No backsies. Now you’re mine.” He pressed a kiss to where I now wore his mark.

“I always was, silly dragon.”

“Did you want to get married, I mean, someday?” he asked. That proposal wasn’t for him. He was trying to give me the human equivalent of what we’d just done. It was so sweet.

“Honestly, a half-hour ago, I wanted it so badly. But now, I feel like we already are. It’s hard to explain, but when you marked me, the bond… it’s like it’s tangible. Much better than a wedding.”

He slammed his lips to mine and kissed me hard. When the kiss broke, we were both breathless.

“Now that you marked me, you’re gonna have to alpha up.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t want to live apart from you. And even though we spend most nights together, I don’t want to keep going like this.”

“Then you’re moving to my place,” he said. No questions.

It made sense. His rent was cheaper because he’d been here so long, his bed was bigger, and it had a better bathroom. We’d mostly slept in my place because of Pierogi, and I was already excited for a life with a decent-size bed. Although, I suspected we’d still be mushed together because we could.

“Before we make moving checklists, there’s something else we need to do,” I said.

“Is it something naked?” He winked.

“How did you ever guess?”

A few weeks later, we were still moving my things upstairs. When everything had been in my car, making sure all my items ended up inside was a quick chore. Having it not be such a rush had me very much not rushing. It turned out I owned more stuff than I thought. I blamed my new found love of thrift stores. Radley wasn’t exactly in a position to complain about anyone collecting things, though, so it worked.

We were halfway up the stairs with yet another load when we met Mrs. Munro on the landing.