Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
VANDER
Gods, I can’t bear for her to look at me, to see my weakness. The shame she must feel, knowing that I’m her mate, that I’m the soul she’s bound to through all the eternities here and ever-after. I close my eyes, a cold breath of misery passing across my skin.
“Vander.” She shifts, the coins jingling as she scoots closer to me. “It’s not your fault.” When her palm grazes my cheek, I startle.
“What are you doing?” I look her in the eyes, the brown now sprinkled with flecks of gold the same shade as my scales. Tears wet her pale cheeks. I wipe them away, the guilt spearing me through the heart.
“Everything you told me—none of it was your fault. You were only a child. Of course you wanted to save your mother. I can’t imagine …” She swallows hard. “I would’ve done the same thing, Vander. The exact same thing.”
“You don’t know that.” I can’t help but touch her, run my palms along her thighs. Gods, just the sensation of her skin soothes the hurt that lives so deeply embedded it’s become a part of me.
“I do.” She looks up at me, earnestness in her voice.
“What happened that night—there was nothing you could do to change it, to stop it. I met Sela. I know what she’s capable of—was capable of,” she corrects herself.
Then she meets my gaze again, her eyes taking on a steely quality.
“I’m glad you ended her. You avenged your family.
You avenged me.” She lies her head on my chest, her ear just over my heart.
I want to believe her. My brothers have told me much the same over the years—that I did the best I could in an impossible situation.
But they weren’t there. “I can still hear her screams. My father fighting his attackers. I can still see it when I close my eyes. Every night, I wish I’d done something differently, made a better choice.
Did something to save my parents, to save the DragonLands and its people. To stop the curse.”
“The curse saved your life,” she says quietly.
“What?” I ask sharply.
She traces the bottom edge of the scales below my collar bone, her soft touch soothing the anger that wants to surge to my surface.
“I mean it. Think about, Vander. If the curse hadn’t happened, you would’ve been slaughtered.
You were greatly outnumbered. You were a child!
Do you really think you would’ve survived? ”
“No, but—”
“But nothing!” she says vehemently and leans back, staring me down.
“I know you’re a big dragon. Strong. Vicious.
Giant teeth. Fire breathing. All that. But you need to listen when I tell you what happened to you was terrible.
You weren’t in control of that situation.
You had no defense. The entire weight of your world fell on your shoulders in that one moment, and you made the only decision you could. You did nothing wrong. Nothing.”
I don’t speak. I can’t, not when she’s looking at me like this, her heart breaking for me. I don’t deserve her pity, her care. I ruined the DragonLands with my choice.
“Do you really think your parents would’ve wanted you to die with them that night?” She shakes her head. “Of course not. They would be glad you’re alive. That the curse gave you another chance. Don’t you see that?”
Silence again, my heart thundering in my chest. Gods, I can feel her certainty through our bond, the absolute fire of kindness, of righteousness that burns inside her.
Her brows draw together. “Are all DragonKin this stubborn?”
Something in her tone lightens the dark clouds swirling in my head, in my heart. “I can’t say I’ve met all DragonKin, but the ones I have … Yes, I do believe we’re all quite stubborn.”
“This isn’t something to be stubborn about. You have to forgive yourself. Don’t you see that? You can’t truly move forward until you do.”
Gods, how can she melt me like this? Just looking at her, having her so close to me, her skin against mine—all the terror, all the guilt, it seems farther away. As if maybe she’s right. But how could she be? She wasn’t there. She didn’t see what I did. How I failed.
“Don’t do that,” she says quietly. “Don’t turn away. Just trust me. Do you?”
“Do I trust you?” I ask.
She nods.
“With all that I am.” The answer is easy, the easiest things I’ve said in this entire conversation. “You’re my treasure.”
“Your treasure?” She leans over and runs her fingers along the golden coins beside us. Just the look of her hands on my gold, the way her fingertips stroke along its gleaming surface.
“I would ask you if all mortals are as distracting as you, but I’m certain they are not. There’s only you.” I watch her pluck an apple-sized emerald from the pile and hold it up to the light.
“I’m not distracting.” She shifts in my lap, my cock hardening at the sight of her.
The blanket falls from one of her small shoulders, and I catch a glimpse of one dusky nipple. She’s enthralled by the emerald. I’m enthralled by her.
“You like gems, my treasure?” I ask.
She snaps her gaze to mine, her lips parted. I could swear the golden flecks in her eyes dance.
“Anything you want. Anything you’ve ever desired, I will make it yours.”
“You already have so much.” She glances at the coins. “An entire cave of it.”
“Never enough.” I slide my hands to her hips. “I’ll build you a mountain of gold if that’s what you wish.”
She lowers the emerald and gently lays it on the bed. “I don’t know what I’d do with a treasure hoard.”
I scoff and pull her closer. “You don’t do anything.
You keep it. You fight whoever dares so much as look at it.
And if anyone touches what’s yours?” I run my fingers through her soft hair and squeeze lightly, pulling her mouth to mine.
“You destroy them.” I kiss her, unable to stop myself.
Gods, the way she touched that gold, her hand around the emerald—I’ve never seen anything hotter in my fucking life and I. Breathe. Fire.
She makes a surprised sound in her throat and grips my shoulders. Our bond snaps taut, the link between us still ephemeral. But it’s there, a tether that I want to wrap in my grip.
When I swipe my tongue between her lips, she opens for me, and I taste her sweetness. A low growl rumbles through me, and she slides her hands to my neck, her fingertips tickling along the edges of my scales. The bond flashes brighter, and I catch the scent of her arousal.
I flip her with ease, laying her on her back beneath me.
Her body is bare, every secret revealed, every gorgeous bit of her on display for me and me alone.
Jealousy consumes me. It’s what I feel when I catch the glint of gold on the ground far below, the desperate, thrumming need to make it my own.
But this desire grips me even tighter, somehow deeper.
It’s our bond, stronger than even a dragon’s love for its gold.
“My treasure.” I claim her mouth again, lowering between her thighs, my cock pressing against her hot sex. I could come right now. All the emotions, all the fucking turmoil—she’s erased it with her words, her touch. How does she have this magic?
“Do mortals have hidden magic?” I murmur against her lips, then press my tongue into her mouth. She arches against me, her hard nipples teasing along my skin. I already know the answer to my question. It’s just her. She has magic.
Her fingers twine behind my neck, and she answers my kiss, her tongue stroking mine. The bond flares again, growing hotter. Can she feel it?
I press my forehead to hers. “I need you, my treasure. I need all of you. Can I have you?”
She meets my gaze, her cheeks pink, her lips swollen from my kisses.
My hips rock forward, my cock rubbing along her wet sex.
I groan, barely able to stifle a roar. But I won’t take what’s not given.
Never. Larellin must choose our bond. I realize now I chose it when I saw her.
When I first clutched her precious life in my talons.
“Vander.” She gasps, her top teeth sinking into her bottom lip as I pulse forward again, my cock aching to be inside her. “I want to be yours.”
The sweetest words I’ve ever heard, and from the sweetest lips.
I kiss her again, urgent and full of need.
Gods, how have I resisted her this long?
She’s an intoxicating lure, a barb I want firmly embedded in my heart.
I can’t keep my lips from hers, our tongues caressing as I grow hotter, my scales glowing gold as I run my hands along her sides.
When I cup one of her full breasts, she whimpers.
And when I suck her nipple into my mouth, she cries out.
I run my tongue along the hard bud, feeling every tremor of her body, listening to her moans.
When she grabs my hair, her fingers pulling the strands, I smile against her flesh and move to the other nipple.
When she’s writhing and moaning, I kiss down her stomach, her body trembling. And when I get to the honey between her thighs, I open my mouth wide and lick her.
Her hips buck. I pin her with my forearm, holding her in place as I suck and lick, tasting my treasure and lapping up every bit of her juices. It’s ambrosia. It’s fucking nectar, and I’ll never get enough of it.
“Vander, please.” She grips the blanket, her hips desperately trying to rise from the bed. “I need you. Please.”
“My mate never has to beg.” I climb up her body, running my tongue between the valley of her breasts. Sharing her taste with her, I claim her mouth and align my cock at her entrance.
She spreads wider for me, but I feel the trickle of fear beneath her desire.
“I never want to hurt you.” I mean every word.
“You won’t.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I want to be yours.”
Gods. I ease my head inside her. The pressure, the unbelievable feeling of it—I have to breathe. I’ve never felt anything like this, not this much pleasure. And we’ve only just begun.
“I will be gentle, my treasure. As gentle as I can be.” I move forward, sliding deeper into her.