“That’s one way to look at it.” Valerian threw a pair of boots toward Dragon.
“What are you doing here?” According to his internal clock, it was almost dawn, and when he looked back at the night sky, he saw the first orange and pink rays of Coral peeking through the clouds.
“Babysitting you.” His lieutenant’s answer was dry.
Dragon gave him a puzzled frown. He had been wounded worse in the past. “I’ve never needed you—”
“I know, but tell her.” Valerian looked over his shoulder, pointing at the slim shadow furtively stalking across the bridge. “And don’t worry, Gabriel had the planks patched right away because he worried about your mate falling into the sea.”
Dragon watched Jade as she came closer. She couldn’t see him standing in the middle of the ruins, and her expression was guarded.
“What’s she doing here, this early in the morning?” he asked.
“Gabriel made her promise that she would sleep inside for her and her guards’ safety, and in turn, she made me promise that I would guard you nightly and call her if you woke. For the last four days, she has stayed with your dragon until late at night and has come here at the first light of dawn. I’m glad you’re finally up because I’ve had enough of this nonsense.” Valerian brought his fingers to his temple and left. On his way out, he crossed paths with Jade and pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Dragon.
Jade’s eyes followed Valerian’s gesture, but her sight couldn’t focus in the darkness. Dragon saw how she squinted and tilted her head, looking for him. His heart rejoiced at the notion that Jade had been worried for him. He exited the ruins, slowly walking toward her as her pace became faster.
When she finally saw him, her entire face lit up, and she sprinted to reach him. “Dragon,” she whispered hoarsely, stopping in front of him. So close, yet ever so distant.
Dragon wanted to take Jade in his arms and never let her go but he had made a promise and wouldn’t touch her. “I’m glad to see you.” He hoped she would come to her senses soon because standing before her, inhaling her scent, and not being able to touch her was worse than any torture.
“You’re healed.” The clouds had parted, and her black eyes searched him, roaming over his body from head to toe.
He turned on his heels in a slow circle. “I’m fine. Are you and the baby okay?”
“Yes, we are.” Jade stood before him, rocking on her heels, her hands wringing the hem of her shirt.
In all their times together, her attitude had never been less than cocky. Even at her most vulnerable, Jade had never looked uncertain, and yet, she looked almost shy now.
It took all his willpower not to cradle her against him and kiss her senseless. “Valerian told me you’ve remained by my dragon’s side, practically day and night.”
“I was worried.” Her voice was so low, only his sharp shifter senses caught her words. “You took the brunt of the assassin’s attack for us—” she said, her eyes downcast. “And I couldn’t do anything to help you.”
“I’m tough to kill, but if anything had happened to you and our child, I would’ve died.” He stepped closer to her.
If she only tilted her chin up, he would lower his lips and taste her mouth. But she didn’t, and his hunger for her only grew more unbearable.
Jade shivered, hugging herself. “I wish you wouldn’t say those kinds of things.”
“And I wish we were making love, but life is unfair, and we seldom get what we want.” His next words were raw, but he couldn’t help himself. “I wish you never had an erasion and cut from your memories that night we spent in the Cove.”
“That was the only time we were together,” she said, raising her voice ever so slightly at the end in a question.
Nodding, he inched closer yet. “I felt whole inside you,” he whispered in her ear. “It meant everything to me.”
“We conceived our child that night.” She remained still, but her chest pushed against his when she took a shaky breath.
He hadn’t thought of that. His hand automatically reached for her stomach, but stopped at the last moment, hovering over her small bump instead. “We created a life that night.”
“I too wish I’d never gotten the erasion,” she said, her hand raising in front of him.
He waited and watched as Jade’s fingers tentatively reached for his chest. His breath stopped in his lungs when she pressed her palm against his heart. Without moving a muscle, Dragon rejoiced at her touch. He had longed for it, and it felt like coming home after a long voyage, tired and thirsty. Jade was his haven.
Before he could envelop her in his embrace, Jade stepped back.
9
Dragon’s mere presence addled Jade’s senses. She couldn’t deny any longer the destabilizing effect he had on her.
For four long days, she had kept vigil on the dragon, drawing comfort from the sleeping beast that seemed attuned to her moods. She talked to him, confided her deepest fears as she hugged the warm body, feeling safe. She even took small naps, hugging his feathery scales, relaxing for the first time in months.
But now, as she stood in front of Dragon, Jade trembled because deep inside she wanted him to break his word and take her in his arms.
“Tell me,” she said instead. “What happened that night?”
Dragon’s mouth curved in a small smile as he looked over his shoulder, at the pier that stretched behind him and ended at the destroyed gazebo. “Let’s take Gabriel’s gondola, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Jade couldn’t see the boat, but she knew it was moored behind the gazebo where the vampire had left it for her. She started walking and Dragon fell in step with her. The palest pink now colored the night sky and it lifted her spirit. She jumped inside the gondola and sat at the stern.
Carefully, Dragon lowered himself into the small vessel, then unmoored it and turned on the engine. Finally, he sat on the bench facing hers. She was both relieved and disappointed that even with his legs stretched, he didn’t come any closer to her.
A few minutes passed in complete silence as Jade took Dragon in. He kept his aquamarine eyes on her the entire time.
Only when they were far away from the manor did he speak. “Do you want to know how it all started between us?”
Jade nodded. Alone in the middle of the sea, just the two of them, she could feel her body thrumming from a deep longing for him, and she couldn’t trust herself not to betray her feelings by simply talking.
Dragon gently scooted at the end of his seat. “I wanted you the very first moment I saw you.”
“But I was trying to kill you,” she couldn’t help saying.
“And I thought you were a man. Still, I felt this insane pull toward you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The Goddess decided for the both of us. After luring you into a cave, I pinned you to a wall… My intention was to disarm you but the moment I caught a whiff of your scent, I swear I lost my mind. After that, I simply couldn’t function. Nothing mattered but you. I brought you home and tied you to my bed—”
Jade couldn’t help but widen her eyes in horror, but then saw her emotion mirrored in his stare when he saw her reaction and remembered all the times when he could have overpowered her and taken what he wanted but never acted upon his desire.
“I tied you because you were dangerous. You were still trying to kill me any time you had the chance, but I would’ve never—” he started to say, but she stopped him.
“I believe you.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “Please, continue.”
“I tried to protect you as best I could, but the Academy sent two different assassins, and I almost lost you. I had never felt so powerless in my life. But then you were alive, and something finally shifted between us. I couldn’t wait any longer to make you mine, and I brought you to the Cove,” Dragon said.
She could swear she felt a sensual energy wafting off from Dragon and engulfing her, making her feel warm and more confused than ever
.
“We spent the night together,” he continued. “I took you in the lagoon water and worshipped you until we were too exhausted to continue screaming our pleasure.”
Jade’s hands clutched the edge of her seat. The image he painted left her breathless. What would it feel like to make love to this man who lived life at its fullest? Would it shatter her world? But she had her answer already. He had altered her universe irrevocably, and she must have lost her center, betraying her sacred vows as an assassin to be with him. Otherwise why seek an erasion?
“During that night, I gave you myself, my heart, my body, knowing that there was no coming back once we had been together.” His voice was soft but reached Jade as loud as if he had been shouting.
Her muddied memories merged, and although she still couldn’t remember the reason behind her actions, suddenly, jealousy cut through her heart, searing her as if it were a dagger. “You weren’t free,” she said the first thing that came to her mind, her head swimming as she tried to snap out from her reveries.
Dragon leaned forward. “I would’ve never betrayed you. I’m yours forever.” His hand reached across the space between them, then lowered before touching her knee. “I had to let you go because I was terrified of losing you forever, but it killed me inside.” His haunted look broke Jade’s heart. “You know what my biggest regret is?” he asked.
Jade slowly shook her head.
“I wish I’d told you I would never marry anyone but you, that I’d made it clear before you left me.” He slid from the seat and kneeled before her. “Please, accept me as your mate. Be my bride.”
Without realizing she was doing so, Jade had leaned forward, but at his words, she jerked back and away from him. “I can’t be your bride.”
“Why not?”
“Because assassins don’t marry,” she answered.
“We’re about to have a child. We will be a family. I want you and our child to have the protection of my name.”
“I am a Master Assassin. The marks on my skin are as powerful as any name you or anyone else can give me—” It didn’t matter that Master Eon had stripped her of the title. People would always look at her in fear. Her hand caressed her stomach. “We don’t need protection.”
He visibly flinched. “It’s true. It’s me who feels the need to protect you. It’s in my nature, and I can’t fight it. You are my soulmate and carry my child. Nothing else matters to me. I will fight for us until you realize that what we had, what we can have if you would only let yourself feel, is precious.”
She remained silent, absorbing his words, being lulled by his soft rumble that reverberated through her.
“I don’t know many people who were lucky enough to find true love, but when they did, they didn’t shy away from the flames. They let the fire consume them.” He stared into her eyes as he spoke, stilling her heart with the intensity of his gaze.
It would have been easier to finally let go of any inhibition left and abandon herself to him, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Jade couldn’t give herself to him, but she could be honest with him. He deserved that.
“I don’t know why I had an erasion, and I might never know,” she said. “But one thing I do know. I must have felt strongly about you because whatever we had, it’s still in here.” She pressed her hand against her heart. “And it doesn’t want to go away. These last two weeks, I tried, and I thought I had succeeded.” She shook her head slowly. “But when you were wounded, I felt your pain as if it were mine, and I have no explanation for it. Gabriel made me retire at night, but I’ve barely slept an hour in that basement, waiting for dawn to arrive so that I could slip out and spend the rest of the day by your dragon.”
“When I shift, I can barely sense the outside world, but I feel my dragon’s emotions, and he was content, even peaceful. Now I know why.” Dragon smiled. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Jade said. “It was selfish of me. I couldn’t stay away from the dragon. I needed to touch him. He relaxes me, makes me feel safe.”
“It’s the soulmate pull.”
“I still can’t understand why it happened to us.” Jade shifted on her seat and hugged herself, shivering slightly.
“You are cold.” Dragon removed his shirt and handed it to her.
“I’m fine,” she said, automatically.
“My temperature runs high.” He pushed the balled-up shirt toward her. “I don’t need it.”
The muscles on his arms and chest flexed as he moved, mesmerizing her. Dragon made her feel small by comparison, but as with his large dragon, his size didn’t scare her. In fact, it was the opposite.
“Please.” He waved his shirt in front of her.
Jade relented and accepted his offering, putting on the large garment over her head. The warm fabric slid down her shoulders, blanketing her. His scent was everywhere, clouding her senses again.
Why am I affected by your smell alone? she thought but asked instead, “Why are you so protective of me?”
“You were shivering, and it’s written in my genes to take care of you.” He mischievously smiled. “And it’s the closest I can get to marking you and letting everyone else know you are mine.”
“Why do you need to mark me? If we are soulmates, as you say, why does it matter?” Raised in the Citadel, Jade didn’t know anything about courtship or relationships in general.
“How would you feel if someone else were to touch me or act around me in an intimate way? Would you like that?” Dragon asked.
At the image he painted, Jade’s heart drummed in her chest, and her hands again grabbed the edge of the bench to release her rapidly rising anger. She was ready to maim anyone who so much as looked at Dragon with the mere hint of interest.
“Not so pleasant, ah?” He chuckled softly.
“I’ve never before felt all those emotions…” She breathed in and out for a few counts. “It’s unsettling.”
“Talking of unsettling, imagine discovering that your soulmate is the woman hired to kill you,” he said.
She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “That must’ve been a shocking surprise.”
“If there ever was one—” He let the sentence trail, regaling her with another of his penetrating stares that sent fresh shivers all over her body. “But I thank the Goddess every day because she gave me you.”
She couldn’t bear his gaze and brought the conversation back to her original question. “And you would feel better if people knew I was yours. That’s why you mark and collar your brides.” When she was preparing to kill Dragon, she read that information about her target. At the time, she had wondered why his race needed to show possession of their mates in such a blatant way.
“It’s a tradition as old as the dragon shifters. When we still lived on Earth, there were more she-dragons than men. That’s how the triad marriages started, but giving birth to shifters was difficult even then. To make things worse, rival clans often kidnapped the fertile women to propagate their lineages. It was a harsh existence, but we protected our mates fiercely—”
“But why the collars?”
“Dragon shifters bit on their mate’s shoulder,” his hand touched his naked skin and showed her the spot, “to inject a substance that slightly changes the genes of the woman and makes it impossible for her to conceive with another man.” He raised one hand when she bristled. “Let me finish. It worked the other way as well.” To her puzzled look, he explained, “The woman bit her man, too, to insure his semen would only take root in her womb.” He smiled. “Of course, nowadays, it’s just for show, given that we need engineered brides to conceive, and my bite wouldn’t change you, but like any other species, we can’t let go of our traditions. They remind us of our origins.”
Jade found herself enthralled in his tale, wanting to know more about him, about his way of life, and why he acted the way he did around her. “I still don’t understand the need for a collar, though,” she said, her hand rising to her throat.
Following her movement
, Dragon’s azure pupils darkened. “The bite is given during mating, right when the couple is reaching climax, and it intensifies the pleasure to unbearable heights. It is the most intimate act for a dragon shifter, and the mark from the mating bite doesn’t fade, it remains on your skin forever, binding you to your soulmate.”
He paused and licked his lips, his large, naked chest expanding with each of his breaths. “At the beginning, the collars were necessary because women were attacked by shifters who thought their genes were stronger than the women’s mates. It was a futile attempt to change the women’s already altered physiology and resulted only in senseless deaths. To stop the marauders, our master craftsmen created an alloy that not even the strongest dragon shifter could destroy once the collar was sealed around the woman’s neck.”
Still kneeling in front of her, he leaned forward, coming close to brushing her lips but stopping a hairbreadth from her. “When we left our planet and lost our ability to conceive, we faced extinction and became attached to those traditions because we had nothing left.”
Dragon moved ever so slightly, almost touching her, and Jade gasped.
“So many things changed for us but the need to bite our mate is still strong.” His eyes caressed her skin, lingering on her throat where her hand still resided, growing warm under his gaze. “And I would never want anyone else to see my mark on your body.”
Jade swayed, his voice, his scent, his warmth, all conjuring images of the two of them locked into a sensual embrace, their bodies united, and their souls singing to each other. She had never been a romantic woman, never expected poetry to sweep her away, but she could see herself falling deep into the magic of his world. Then, as she caressed her smooth skin, a sudden realization hit her.
“You didn’t bite me,” she said. It was irrational, but the sting of rejection was hard to ignore.
For all the sweet tale Dragon had spun about his undying devotion for her, when he had the opportunity to make their union official, he hadn’t bitten her. Her unmarred shoulder said as much.
The Fifth Moon's Legacy Page 4