14. Kissed by Fire
14
Kissed by Fire
I t was everything he could do to continue, knowing the petal would fall at any moment now. He was simply t oo late .
He wanted to finish what he had begun to say before the pain had struck him. Eira still needed to hear what he had to say.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you, darling.”
“Oh,” she breathed but was clearly more concerned with his wellbeing. “Ryu, why are you crying?”
“I-I—” He didn’t know how to tell her, nor did he think he would ever tell her; he didn't want her to feel responsible for his failures. It was him who had not left his home sooner, at his father’s fears. Ryu was his own man, and it was him alone who needed to take sole responsibility for his failures. He could have slipped out of the village and left at any moment. Instead, fear of leaving his home, his village, had kept him from venturing to find his fated mate. If only he had left sooner. What hurt the most was, she was just right here …
“Ryu?” she continued softly when he didn't answer. “What’s wrong?”
Another tear fell while he thought of what to say to her. It was a simple act, one that made him almost dismiss the kind action, as it was something a person would simply do when they saw someone sad, but the second her light fingertip touched his tear, the true bond formed between them, her wet fingertip now touching his smooth cheek.
If he thought what he had felt for Eira before was strong … it had greatly paled in comparison to now.
Every feeling crashed around her at once when her skin met his. It was like everything tied her to the man in front of her, and in a single breath, she knew all at once that she couldn’t breathe a single second without him.
Fated mate.
If she didn’t understand what that meant before, it was now as clear as the ocean crashing into the cliff.
The strongest feeling she felt at first was love. While she had never been in love, she still could describe the feeling because it was similar yet extremely different to how she felt for her grandparents. People made love more complicated than it needed to be, as it meant you simply cared for someone who you’d do the littlest act for to make them smile. It was possible she had even loved him before this moment, as all she had wanted was for Ryu to smile … until she touched him.
Then that feeling of love grew tenfold, so intense that heat began to boil her insides. Everything about her suddenly wanted him, needed him, to get so close that their insides burned together in a scorching fire until they melted together as one.
It was the hunger in her eyes that matched his that gave her away.
Like a statue that looked like it had been carved in pain, Ryu stayed unmoving, still holding true to his honor.
“May I touch you now?” he asked like he was desperate for water after walking days in an empty desert and only she could satiate his thirst.
And just like he had promised her she would, she would beg for his touch if it came to it.
Desperate himself to finally touch her, Ryu not only wouldn’t make her beg, but he couldn’t. He needed her more than the air surrounding them. All he wanted was to satiate the hunger he had felt since the moment his eyes caught her sleeping form. So, when she softly nodded her head for him to touch her, he slowly raised his own hand to cover the delicate one that still rested on his cheek.
Turning into her palm, he placed a light kiss in the center that he was certain sent an electric current through her, as it did him. Then, with the electricity between them rising, he pulled her closer to him, wrapping her in his arms and holding her tightly, taking it all in.
Her sweet scent that smelled of the honey she frequently drank in her tea.
Her soft frame that he was scared of hurting if he held her too tightly.
It wasn’t everything he had hoped and imagined.
It was more.
Finally, he was able to run his hand through her hair in the way he had always wanted to, no longer needing to be so precise and delicate so he wouldn’t touch her. Finally, he was able to freely let the silky strands run through his fingers.
“You’ve felt this the whole time, haven’t you?” she whispered while tears slid down her own face as she began to cry.
Getting lost in her misty eyes, he returned the favor by wiping away the tears that rolled down her beautiful high cheeks. He could only nod, remembering …
Ryu had only just flown out of his village and crossed the ocean that separated his village from the outside world when the scent hit him. It was like every instinct had him on high alert as the pheromones of a woman below entered his blood stream.
It was his fated mate, and he knew it.
His magic kept him protected from being seen as he morphed and landed back on the earth in the small village just below. He couldn’t believe how close she must have been this whole time.
Following her scent wasn’t hard. He just found himself losing his breath in anticipation as he climbed the forsaken mountain. What was she doing up here, anyway?
When he reached the top, he spotted her at once as the sun shined down on beautiful locks of hair that glistened like fire in the sun. The orangey-red hue wasn’t a color seen in these parts of the earth, which made him feel as if he was imagining her.
Thinking she must be a visage, he softly approached to find her sleeping peacefully at the edge of the world. Still unbelieving of his luck, he inched closer, wanting to see her face.
And at the first glimpse, his breath hitched in his throat, and he found himself breathless.
The left side of her face had been scorched with the element that ran through his dragon’s veins. He stared at the pink and translucent branching veins; she looked as if she had been kissed by fire.
If a mate was ever made for a dragon, it was this one. Now he only needed a name, and a single touch, and then his lineage would be saved …
Oh, how easy he had thought that was going to be, but fate was a fickle, funny thing. It wouldn’t be until he returned to his village that he would know if they had mated before the last cherry blossom fell.