by Kendal Davis
They could help him understand what it was to have a multitude of feelings all at once.
And they could keep their lives, growing old without falling to the sacrifice.
Laurel would help him. She was a talented witch, not only a village herbalist, but a mage who wielded as much power as any dragon I’d seen. Her acuity in understanding that the Gifts of the dragon Houses needed to be brought back together had been akin to genius.
Not her, my love. That was you.
“Indigo, stop.” I laughed up at him. “You are in human form now. You know I don’t mind that you can hear my thoughts. It has become something of a comfort for me. But you can just talk the normal way sometimes too.” I met his eyes with a grin, but the emotion I saw blazing from them startled me.
“I will talk in any way you like, my love. In any place, or time. As long I can have you at my side, I believe I can face anything now.”
“Of course you can, my Count. You are going to repair the ruptures in dragon magic for all of Elter. With your new knowledge, you will bring the dragon Gifts together, making your race whole again. You will be busy in the coming years, as you share that plan with all the other Houses.”
“I know,” he murmured, reaching a hand down to stroke my hair away from my face.
“You will, right? If you can show them what Laurel taught us, you can make dragons stronger and better. Nobody should be bound to only one trait, one course of action, for their whole lives. You can change, you can grow. Dragons will be able to do all that without losing themselves to madness again. Respecting the peasants’ humanity is what will allow you to keep your own.”
Indigo dropped his hands to my waist. He was very still as he held me against him. Was he worried that he might scare me?
He chuckled. “No, Olivia. I do not think there is anything in the world that scares you.”
Something about his words made me sad. I leaned my head against his chest. This ruler of dragons always thought the best of me. He saw me through a lens of appreciation that I had never experienced before. As I leaned against him, I felt the heat of his body and the powerful pull of lust that always existed between us. How could I leave him?
He held me closer. His hands traveled down along my back and his lips grazed my neck. His soft words reached my ear. “Tell me, Olivia. What will you do?”
I tried to answer in an even voice, but it came out as more of a stammer. “I...I will go home. We are cleared of the charges, right? Now that you know for sure that we didn’t use your portal illegally, doesn’t that mean we are free to go?”
Indigo’s warm breath caressed my neck, reminding me that in his other form, he was capable of breathing fire. I had been afraid of his dragon self once, but I did not think I ever would be again.
His voice was deep and husky. “You are free to go if you want to.” He stepped back, pulling away slightly. Had I offended him by asking? No, he was not angry. He was something else. Something that struck me as more poignant that his realization of what sort of Count he wanted to be.
He wanted me.
Out of all the women this immortal being had ever met, I was the one that he yearned for.
“Say you’ll stay with me,” he urged. His blue eyes were shining with feeling. They were, I realized, full of a deep love. “I want you at my side as I make these changes to my world. I cannot bear the thought of being without you, my darling.”
“As your human advisor?” I was teasing him now. What he was suggesting was an idea that I too had wondered about, but only briefly. I had discarded that hope when it seemed like we were too fundamentally different.
“As my dragon mate,” he answered simply. “We need not be different in that way anymore. I want more than anything to claim you as my lifelong mate.”
“Lifelong? You are immortal,” I said softly.
“Just so.”
“Would I ever go back? I am sure the others want to return to our world.”
Indigo smiled, emanating a sense of peace now that he had finally put words to his heart’s desire. “Two of your friends want to pass through the portal and return home. One does not.”
Voices rose in the hall as the dragons who had stayed in the town began to return. I turned and searched the crowd, thinking I would see Kat. She would be determined to stay here with Cobalt, I thought. The men would go home.
And I?
Would I stay?
I raised myself on tiptoe, bringing my face as close to Indigo’s as I could. No matter that the room was full of spectators now. They would follow his lead. He was their Count.
If the man wanted to refashion the magic of his entire race and rebuild the political and economic systems of his planet according to new ideals, then surely he could kiss his mate in public.
“I do want that, more than anything. I want to be your mate forever.” As my words hung in the air, I pressed my mouth against his, parting my lips to taste him. My Count held me tightly against his hard chest, leaving no doubt in my mind that he would keep me safe forever.
And you will guide me.
His dragon voice echoed in my head. Before I could answer, David and Sage crossed the crowd to stand before us. They were holding hands.
David said, with a calm smile, “I am going to stay too. Not as an immortal. That is more time that I need anywhere. But for the decades that I will have as a human. Sage tells me that I should expect a longer life here than at home. I plan to spend those years learning about this place. With him.” Sage nodded, unable to keep the happy curve from his lips, and the pair drifted off to talk to others.
Indigo was not at all surprised. How had he known about that?
“I know many things, my love. Sometimes not the most important ones, though. Not the world-changing ones. I leave that to you. But the smaller things, like the fact that David wanted to stay even before he knew he would be safe here. And that Cobalt will personally escort Kat and Andres back to their proper place in your home world. Those are things that I know.”
“I will miss Kat,” I whispered.
“Yes. But I promise that I will spend eternity in caring for you. We belong together, here in Elter. We have much to do.” He looked at me with a wicked grin. “First among those things is that I want to claim you as my mate, my dragon Countess.”
“Is that a ceremony here in the Great Hall?” I knew as I spoke the words that it wasn’t.
“No,” he breathed. His eyes were sparkling with heat. “It is an act we will perform naked, lying down together. It may take hours and hours.”
“I hope so,” was all I could whisper in answer.
With that, Indigo wrapped us together in a swirl of magic and transported us back to the lush, magical island where we had made love before. All around us was water, just for me. And in front of me was the dragon man that also, against all odds, was just for me.
He pulled aside his cloak. Without it, he was not a Count, but a naked man, his chest bare, his hips ready, the muscles of his arms and chest taut and powerful. He was many things, all layered together. And every one of them was mine.
He gently pushed me back onto the soft blankets, and I opened myself to him.
Forever.
I hope you enjoyed the first book in the Elterian Shifters series!
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xoxo,
Kendal
Also by Kendal Davis
Wind Ridge Shifters:
Stallion’s Gem
Dragon’s Aria
Wolf’s Treasure
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