“I don’t want your money, Jasper. I’m ashamed of the way I acted after the war. You saved me, and this town. And I was too greedy to appreciate it. All I can do now is say I’m sorry, and tell you that you don’t owe me a damn penny for any of the treatments I gave you. And please, consider Julia’s treatment a gift, too. I know there’s nothing I can do to change the way I acted after the war, but I hope that by not charging you for Julia’s treatment, you’ll see that I’ve changed. I hope that in time we might even become friends. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I promise you I’m a changed man. I want to do what’s right, and to work for the side of good.”
Jasper was in shock. “I…I don’t know what to say,” he finally managed to stammer out.
Dr. Pasko smiled kindly. “You don’t have to say anything now. Just know that I truly am sorry, and I hope we can put all of this bad blood behind us. If there’s ever anything I can do to help you or Julia, let me know. I’m at your service for the rest of my life. No charge for you, Jasper. Ever.”
Dr. Pasko reached out to shake Jasper’s hand. In a daze, Jasper shook the offered hand and even managed a small smile. Then Dr. Pasko disappeared into the crowd again, and Jasper turned to look at Julia, who was beaming.
“I guess he turned out okay, after all,” she said.
Jasper shook his head in wonder, still not believing how this day was turning out. “I guess so.”
He reached for Julia’s hand, then, and started walking toward Jake and the other dragons, who had been separated from them by the thick crowd. Jasper wanted time to sit and talk with Julia, and tell her how much he cared about her. They still hadn’t had a chance to discuss their relationship, with all the craziness of the last twenty-four hours. But he knew he’d never have a chance to talk to her in peace here. He needed to get back to Torch Lake. He hoped Jake was ready to leave, too. They could all fly out together—Jasper, Jake, and the three new dragons. And Julia could ride with Jasper. They’d be back in Torch Lake by dinnertime. The thought filled Jasper with happiness. He could hardly wait to be home.
But before he could make it to Jake, Jasper was intercepted by Councilor Morgan.
“Jasper! We need to talk to you, please.”
Jasper’s heart sank. In all the excitement of the last half-hour, he’d nearly forgotten that he would still have to face the High Council and answer for his actions at the hospital. But couldn’t they at least wait until everyone was back in Torch Lake to come after him? He was bone tired. Wearily, he turned to face Councilor Morgan, who was joined by the entire High Council.
“Your Honors?” Jasper said respectfully.
“Jasper, I don’t think I need to tell you that we don’t condone breaking out of hospitals and kidnapping patients,” Councilor Morgan said.
Jasper nodded. “I know. I’m sorry for the chaos it caused. But, with all due respect, I’m not sorry for what I did. It was, quite simply, the right thing to do. Julia’s life and magic were at stake, and someone needed to take quick action.”
To Jasper’s surprise, Councilor Morgan smiled. “I agree. And we are very proud of you for taking that quick action.”
Jasper blinked in confusion. “You are?”
“We are. If not for you, we would have lost one of our most promising citizens. We are well aware of how far Julia has come, and how hard she has worked at the Advocacy Bureau. We know she has the potential to become a great Advocate Defender, and it would have been a tragedy to lose that—not just for her personally but for all of us in Torch Lake.”
“I completely agree,” Jasper said, glancing over at Julia to see that she was blushing deeply, embarrassed by the praise a High Councilor was giving her. He squeezed her hand and she gave him a timid smile.
“Because of your heroic actions, tragedy in Torch Lake was avoided. And, as a byproduct of your coming out here to Lost Garden and standing up to their High Council, we’ll be welcoming three new dragons to Torch Lake. The Torch Lake High Council would like to thank you for your efforts. Due to the emergency circumstances, we will not be bringing any legal actions against you for what you did back at the hospital.”
Jasper let out a huge sigh of relief. “It’s nice to have a High Council actually appreciate heroism, instead of prosecuting me for it.”
Councilor Morgan smiled. “I’m sure you know by now that Torch Lake is very different from Lost Garden.”
Jasper smiled. “Yeah, I’ll say. Thank you for coming out to defend me. It means a lot to me that the Torch Lake High Council flew out here to stick up for me.”
Councilor Morgan patted him on the back. “We’re a clan now. A family. We stick together. There is one thing I’d like to ask of you, though?”
“What’s that?”
“The hospital room Julia was in back in Torch Lake is quite damaged. I think the hospital would appreciate it if you gave them a hand in repairing it. It would be good for the city’s morale, too, to see a dragon taking care of our public buildings.”
Jasper grinned. “I can definitely help with the repairs. I’m happy to help, in fact. I do feel badly about ruining that room, but I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.”
Councilor Morgan smiled. “We know. And we are proud of you. We also appreciate your help in getting the hospital back in shape. You’re a good man, Jasper. A good dragon. And…it looks like you might have found yourself a good woman.”
Jasper realized then that he was still holding Julia’s hand, and that Councilor Morgan had noticed. Julia blushed, but Jasper merely shrugged.
“What can I say? I know a good thing when I see it.”
The Torch Lake High Councilors all chuckled, causing Julia’s blush to deepen. But Jasper just looked at her and smiled. “Come on, Julia. Time to go home. I have a feeling things are only going to get better from here on out.”
Julia’s shy smile warmed Jasper all over, and told him that she agreed. Better days were ahead for all of them.
Chapter Fifteen
Several hours later, Julia found herself blinking her eyes open on yet another unfamiliar couch. Disoriented, she sat up and looked around, relieved that at least this time she wasn’t waking up in intense pain. She felt quite good, actually. Once Dr. Pasko’s medicine started working, it worked quickly. If Julia hadn’t known better, she wouldn’t have believed she’d ever been so sick that she was on the verge of losing her life and her magic.
A few moments after she sat up, Jasper peeked his head into the living room.
“Hey! You’re up. How are you feeling?”
He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a gray t-shirt—a completely relaxed, casual outfit. But she’d never seen him look so sexy. She smiled, her heart doing a little flip-flop as her eyes met his.
“I feel great, actually. Where am I?”
His grin widened. “My house. You fell asleep on the way back to Torch Lake, and I couldn’t wake you up when we got here. Dr. Pasko told me that might happen. He said you’d probably need to sleep off the aftereffects of the medicine, but that you should feel good as new when you woke up.”
“I do feel good as new,” Julia said, sitting up straighter. She was still wearing the pair of jeans and the hoodie that one of the Lost Garden wizards had generously given her so that she’d have a fresh outfit after all the fighting in the courthouse. “It’s strange to think that anything even happened. It all feels kind of like a weird dream.”
Jasper grimaced. “Yeah, well, it’s a weird dream I hope I never have again.”
“Me too.” Julia looked down at her hands, and at her beautiful magic ring. It terrified her to think of how closely she had come to losing everything, and she looked back up at Jasper with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know how to ever thank you enough. You saved me, in more ways than one.”
Jasper smiled, and came to sit by her on the couch. “There’s no way I was going to stand by and let you lose everything that mattered to you. It’s funny, you know. When I first learned that you had worked as a
grunt level employee, I almost wrote you off. I thought you wouldn’t be able to handle dating a dragon, because I’ve had some bad experiences before. But you showed me how wrong I was to assume. You’re the strongest woman I know. The strongest woman I’ve ever met. And I’m honored that I was able to be there for you when you needed someone.”
Julia felt her heart pounding. Having Jasper so close to her was making her whole body tingle. She had a feeling that he was about to say many of the things that they hadn’t had a chance to say yet in the midst of all the chaos of the last two days. And oh how badly she wanted to hear him declare his love for her. Despite everything, she was still terrified that he wasn’t going to want to be with her. She had pushed him away at the beginning. She had thought her career was more important. Now, she realized that love was more important than anything else. And, oh, how she loved Jasper.
“Jasper, listen,” she said, feeling suddenly desperate to explain away her earlier rejection of him. But before she could say anything, he shook his head and put a finger to her lips.
“Wait. Before you say anything, let me. I want to tell you how I feel, and I want you to know that I feel that way regardless of what you decide to do about me, and about us.”
Julia bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.” She tried to take a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, but it was useless. She was on the edge of her seat, hoping that Jasper felt as strongly for her as she did for him. True, he had saved her. But he’d told the High Council that he’d done it simply because it was the right thing to do. Did that mean he would have done it for anyone, and that it didn’t prove that he actually had any strong feelings for her? Jasper was talking again, so Julia forced herself to quiet her mind and listen.
“Julia, I know I told you that if you didn’t want a second date, I’d leave you alone. And I’ll honor my word. I won’t bother you, or pester you for another date, if you decide you don’t want to pursue a romance with me. But I do need you to know that, even if you walk away, I never can. My heart will always be entwined with yours, and there will never be anyone else for me.”
“Jasper, I—”
“Wait. Let me finish, before I lose my train of thought.”
Julia nodded. She wanted to tell him that she did want to pursue a romance. But he had something big he wanted to say. Something that was very important to him. She forced herself to keep her mouth shut as he continued.
“We shifters have what we call lifemates. I know it’s an unfamiliar concept for many wizards. Have you heard the term before?”
“Yeah, Rachel has mentioned it. She said she and Jake are lifemates. It’s kind of like soulmates, right?” Julia’s heart was racing faster than ever now. Was Jake about to tell her that she was his lifemate?
Jasper nodded slowly. “It’s a little bit like the idea of soulmates, but even deeper than that. A lifemate is someone you’re destined to be with, from the moment you’re born. Fate works to bring you together, and usually once your paths cross you’re immediately attracted to each other. I know you were reluctant to date me at first, but damn, I couldn’t stop thinking about you from the moment I laid eyes on you, no matter how hard I tried.”
“If I’m honest, I was attracted to you from the start, too,” Julia admitted. “I just didn’t want to let myself fall for you, because I thought love would ruin my career. So I pushed you away.”
Jasper grinned. “That makes me happy to hear. It makes me even surer of what I’m about to say: Julia, I believe you’re my lifemate.”
Julia had suspected that this was where Jasper was going with his little speech. But even knowing that he was going to say it hadn’t prepared her for the feeling of relief and happiness that filled her when he actually spoke the words. He reached for her hand, and she found herself trembling at the warmth of his touch. The fire in his eyes seemed to reach throughout his whole body, and spread to hers. He took a deep breath and continued, and every word made the heat and happiness in Julia grow stronger.
“When you make love to your fated lifemate for the first time, you form the lifemate bond with that person. It feels like an intense warmth deep in your core. I felt that with you when we made love out on the lake, Julia. I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly planning to form a lifemate bond when I slept with you. I was more just overcome with the passion of the moment. You’re damn sexy, you know?”
Julia blushed.
“But when we made love,” Jasper continued. “I felt the lifemate bond form. I knew in that moment that you were my lifemate. My destiny.”
“What…what exactly does that mean?” Julia asked. She still wasn’t clear on exactly how lifemates differed from soulmates. But she was clear on the fact that she was overjoyed to hear that Jasper considered her his lifemate. And she’d felt a warmth when they made love, too. Had that been the lifemate bond? She’d never felt anything like it before, but it had felt amazing.
“It means that I’m bonded to you for the rest of my life,” Jasper said. “No matter what, even if you don’t want to be with me, there will never be anyone else for me. I’m yours, for all time. I will always be here to protect you and defend you. I’ll always fight for you against any evil that tries to harm you. And I’ll always love you. Yes, you heard me right. I love you, Julia. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know that probably sounds crazy to someone who isn’t familiar with lifemates, but to me it makes perfect sense. I promised I wouldn’t bother you if you don’t want a second date. And I’ll keep my word on that. But even if you don’t want me, I’ll never love anyone else. It’s only you, for the rest of my life.”
Julia felt the tears she’d been holding back spill over onto her face. “Jasper, I felt that warmth, too. I didn’t know it was a lifemate bond, but I felt it. And I love you, too. It does sound crazy, but I don’t care. I love you, and I believe we’re destined to be together. I’ve been hoping there would be a second date, and a third, and a thousand after that. I need you. You’ve shown me that I don’t have to choose between a career and a man. I can have a full, happy life. And I want that life to be with you.”
Jasper didn’t waste any more time on words. He grinned from ear to ear, and then leaned in and kissed her. His tongue slipped into her mouth, and danced with her tongue, and Julia felt like her world had exploded into a thousand beautiful fireworks. The passion behind his kiss felt even more intense than the first time he’d kissed her. But there was something even deeper than passion there now. There was love. And Julia couldn’t help but close her eyes and drink it all in.
The worries and stresses of the last few days faded away as Jasper continued to kiss her. His hands moved hungrily all over her body, taking her in as though feeling her curves for the first time. He moaned with happiness as he felt her shoulders, her breasts, her hips, and her thighs. Julia moaned, too. They were both so hungry for each other, and there was so much satisfaction in giving in to that hunger.
Jasper reached for her hoodie and started to pull it off, and Julia returned the favor by tearing off his t-shirt. Even though she’d seen his abs before, the wonder of them hit her anew as she looked now. Jasper’s body was toned, muscular perfection. She continued pulling his clothes off until he was naked in front of her, and he did the same for her. They kissed as they tugged at the offending pieces of fabric between them, not wanting to tear their lips apart for even the few seconds it took to remove clothing. When they were both fully naked, Jasper pushed her down on the couch and continued kissing her. She could feel his thick, stiff erection poking against her thighs as he ran his tongue over her tongue and over the roof of her mouth. Her insides were on fire, and she could feel that she was dripping wet between her legs. She wanted him, all of him. She wanted him inside of her, now. God, it didn’t even make sense to her how she could love someone so much. But she loved him, and she wanted more of him. Always more.
Suddenly, he pulled back with a look of concern on his face. “Julia, I didn’t even ask. Are you sure you’re okay with this
? Are you feeling alright? If you’re still too worn out physically we can wait until you’ve recovered more. I don’t want to—”
“Oh shut up and kiss me,” she interrupted. “I’m fine. And I want you now. I don’t want to wait.”
Jasper grinned, and moved his mouth down to her breasts. He chewed on her nipples, while reaching his hands underneath her to grab her ass. His body pushed against hers, both of them sweaty and trembling with the anticipation of each other. Julia felt like she was floating. Her body still burned with Jasper’s heat, and a strong, tingling pressure was already building within her. The pressure grew stronger with every squeeze of his hand, and every flick of his tongue. He drove her wild, and she could hardly stand to wait. She wanted him inside of her, now, and she pushed her hips up against him to let him know how she felt. He took the hint, and let out a low growl. Then he shifted so that his long shaft was right above her dripping wet entrance, and in one bold, strong movement, he slid into her.
She gasped as he filled her, amazed once again at how he filled her. His erection was huge, and reached into the deepest parts of her. The pressure she’d been feeling seemed to increase tenfold as he moved his hips against hers. The tingling and warmth intensified, until she knew she could not hold back any longer. And she didn’t want to hold back any longer. She wanted to give in to him. Her man. Her dragon. Her lifemate. She arched her back and thrust her hips forward to meet his, then let her release come.
“Jasper!” she cried out as the waves of pleasure took her. It was almost like drowning, but in wonderful, intoxicating way. Her body spasmed as her inner walls clenched around him, and he groaned as he continued to thrust deeper and deeper. And then, in the next instant, he joined her in the ecstasy of sweet release. He roared and stiffened, and then pulsed into her. She could feel the pulses of his body pushing against the pulses of hers. They were one in that perfect moment of passion, their love and their bodies both binding them together.
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