Chapter 41
Chapter
Forty-One
The second Luka got back to Izzy, he knew he’d made a mistake by leaving her. She looked completely spent. Dark rings bruised beneath her eyes. Even her scales seemed faded where they flickered over her pulse. And, almost more concerning, she’d withdrawn into herself.
Izzy answered questions. She said the right things at the right times.
She promised Ryland that she was okay and asked him to check on the boy from the market.
She told Shane—as his drake paced restlessly—that she would clean up at home and then report in at the castle to speak with the queen that afternoon.
She didn’t even try to suggest that she should attempt shifting, and she climbed quietly into Luka’s claws and let him fly her carefully out from the cave.
But the joyful, laughing woman of the morning was gone.
He settled her gently onto the street outside her home and watched as she unlocked the door and let herself inside before lumbering down to the side alley and shifting.
His beast went willingly, both of them needed to get inside, closer to Izzy, but he was exhausted, and the pain of cracking bones and contracting sinews left him breathless.
He also had no clothes or weapons—Shane had promised to bring everything back for him—and he ignored the shocked faces of shoppers and passersby as he strode, completely naked, into the market. He let himself into Izzy’s shop and locked the door before making his way up the back stairs.
She’d left the door to her personal quarters ajar, and he pushed his way quietly inside and climbed the narrow stairs. Her bedroom was cold. Days without a fire had left the air damp and chilled.
Izzy was busy laying out another set of Rayan’s clothes.
She reached into the wardrobe and pulled out a shirt to go with the trousers she’d already laid on the bed.
“You can take these for now.” She didn’t meet his eyes as she strode across to a narrow dresser and tidied the small collection of toiletries to make space around a washbowl.
“I’m sorry, the water’s cold, but there is some in the jug if you want to wash your face.
” She paused in her busyness and let out a frustrated breath. “Gods, what am I doing?”
“Iz?” He stepped closer.
She lifted her hands to her head as if it hurt. “This doesn’t even make any sense.”
“What doesn’t make any sense?”
“This.” She gestured, taking in the clothes, wardrobe, and dresser. “It would be much quicker for you to fly back to the castle. All your uniforms are there… and at least the water’s warm.”
He took another careful step closer. “I don’t want to fly back to the castle.”
“Oh.” A flurry of scales fluttered over her throat. “Okay. Then you might want these. It’s just… I don’t have any more boots. Maybe some thick socks….” She turned back to the wardrobe and peered inside.
Luka took the chance to step up beside her. “Izzy?”
She turned toward him, blinking as if her eyes were stinging, and he did what he should have done the first time he was here. He kissed her.
He stroked his hands up her arms and over her shoulders to cradle her face as he tasted her lips, falling into her scent. Her spine was stiff, her shoulders tense, but she didn’t pull away, so he kissed her again.
He kissed her mouth, her cheek, her forehead.
He pressed his lips to her smooth throat and inhaled the scent of her skin.
His beast purred loudly, delighted, and Izzy began to soften.
Her arms came up, her hands resting on his shoulders.
She winced as she moved, and he laid his hand over her wounded side, holding it, wishing he could take the pain himself.
Luka lifted Izzy into his arms and walked backward until his legs touched the bed.
Then he sank down, holding her in his lap.
He soothed his hands down her curves, his touch lingering on her silky skin.
He nibbled at her lips and smiled against her mouth when she drew in a shaky breath, but mostly he held her in his arms. He surrounded her with his body and held her tight; then he rested his forehead against hers and whispered, “I’m not leaving. ”
She swallowed heavily, her eyes locked on his. “Luka, you know that I love you—”
“And I love you.” He pressed another kiss to her lips, elated when her mouth twitched into a tiny smile, and then bereaved when it fell away.
“You don’t want this,” she continued. “But I… I want it all. I don’t just want one night. I never wanted that, and I can’t….” She let out a shaking breath. “I can’t spend the rest of my life watching you walk away.”
Scales flickered up his chest in agitated waves. “I’m not walking away. You’re my mate. I told you that in front of the gods, and I meant it.”
Izzy leaned back and pressed her hand to his cheek. “You thought I was going to die. We’d just lived through something horrific. The words you said down there don’t have to define the rest of your life.”
Luka held her eyes and forced himself to stay relaxed. The urge to get defensive—or worse, to run—was strong. But if he did either of those now, he would lose her forever. “I understand why you think that.” He kissed the side of her mouth. “But I promise you—I promise you—you’re everything I want.”
She shook her head, just a tiny movement, but enough to show her doubt—her fear—and he didn’t blame her.
Luka’s eyes prickled, but he held himself together so he could say the words he should have said long ago.
“I’m sorry, Izzy.” He sifted his hands through her hair, letting the softness soothe him as he opened his heart and let himself be utterly, completely vulnerable.
“I pushed you away, and I’m so very sorry.
But it wasn’t because of you; it was because of me.
I was terrified. I thought that if we were mates, when you left me, it would break me.
” He pressed another kiss to her forehead.
“But then I realized it didn’t matter either way.
You’re my mate wherever you are. Nothing is more important to me than you.
” His beast rumbled, and the vibrations passed through him to her.
“You’re not my mate because of some strange quirk of fate or random act of the gods.
You’re my mate because I chose you. Because I love you.
Because you’re the missing part of my soul.
You’re my mate because when we’re together, we can do anything. ”
Izzy bit her lip. “But… my shop… your responsibilities…. You said it was just for one night. How—”
He cut her off, rescuing her soft lip with a kiss.
“Last night, I stayed awake and watched you sleep. I thought about my life and everything I’ve done and all the regrets I’ve carried.
Being with you is the one thing that I am entirely, completely grateful for.
” He pulled her closer and pressed his face into her neck.
“I want to be with you. I want to find a way… if you’ll have me.
” He swallowed. “Please, Izzy, have me.”
This time she kissed him. Her hands settled on the sides of his face, lifting him up so she could meet his lips, and her kiss was no longer subdued or hesitant. It was full of hope and rising joy. “Really?”
“Yes.” There was no doubt in him. No doubt in his voice. “I don’t know the answers, but we’ll figure them out together.”
Her eyes searched his for long moments, and he held himself still, letting her look into his soul.
A small smile twitched up the corners of her mouth. Whatever she saw, she liked it.
He turned her onto her back, laying her down on her narrow bed so he could rise over her, already naked, wanting to feel nothing but her. He wanted to taste and touch and never let her go. Gods, he wanted those clothes off her.
Izzy grinned up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Do it. Cut them off.”
He hesitated. “How is your side?”
“It feels better when you kiss me,” she murmured.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She stroked her hands down his sides, leaving trails of fire on his skin. “I want to feel you. I want nothing between us.”
Let me, his beast growled.
Luka grinned down at the woman he loved, acknowledged his beast with a rough chuckle, and extended one lethal claw. He caught it in the neckline of her ruined bodice and sliced.
Izzy shivered as goose bumps broke out over her skin, tracking the slow progress of his claw as he dragged it down, smoothly slicing the soft fabric…
and scraping teasingly over her collarbone, along her breastbone, between her breasts, across the softness of her belly, and gently around her belly button.
He reached her breeches and waited until she was staring at him, breathing hard, and then shredded those too.
Izzy panted, back arching, the sapphire rims around her irises gleaming.
Luka followed the same path back up with his tongue, kissing and licking and nibbling as she shuddered.
He pressed grateful kisses over the scarred gray scales that had saved her life.
He kissed across the tender ridge of her ribs.
He found her breasts and tasted their sweet flesh.
Then he caught her nipple in his teeth as his claws scraped and tugged at the other side.
Her hands clenched on his shoulders, her claws pricking into his skin with every gasp.
Until finally, he left her nipples, glistening wet and dark, to continue biting and sucking until he was back at her mouth.
Her hands stroked over his ribs and came to rest on his shoulders, holding him close as she opened her mouth to kiss him back, tasting him as he tasted her, touching him as he touched her.
He nestled against her, hard and aching where she was blissful, molten joy. The connection between them burned hotter, even more magical than the call of the mountain. Nothing existed outside of the space where they fell into each other, where they breathed each other.
His beast rumbled a loud purr, and then hers did too.
A rising hum of joy vibrated through them both like a choir singing, louder and more passionately with every second.
Each slide of her lips on his was a swelling melody, intertwining with the drumbeat of his heart and the building intensity between them as they flew toward an inescapable crescendo.
“I love you,” he whispered between kisses against her smooth cheek and on the gleaming scales of her neck.
He sheathed his claws and stroked his hand down her body to circle slowly over her swollen clit.
His fingers slipped deeper, becoming wetter and hotter, always circling and coming back to tease and pinch as he used everything he’d learned about her pleasure to ratchet her higher.
“I love you,” she whispered back as she dragged his hand away, lifted her hips, and notched him at her entrance. “I want you,” she murmured as she wrapped her legs around his hips and dragged him slowly closer, ever deeper, until he was fully inside her. “Take me.”
Luka surged forward, hard and fast and desperate. Izzy met him thrust for thrust, lifting her hips and grinding into him. His beast roared wildly inside him. The world was made of exploding stars and Izzy. He had everything, and he wanted more.
He went up onto his knees, hauling her up with him so that she kneeled with her legs on either side of his.
He was even deeper inside her now, and his hands were free to caress her, to hold her close.
She tilted her hips, driving their pace.
Her cheek rested against his, smooth skin on rough.
Their breaths were ragged and desperate as they panted together, climbing together.
Izzy stroked down his arm to his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. Her claws were pinpricks on the back of his hand, as his were on hers. He slid his free hand to the place where they joined, where he could feel himself driving into her body, found her clit, and pinched.
She screamed, inner muscles spasming, head thrown back, glittering sapphire scales flooding over her skin. He roared with her. White-hot pleasure burned up his spine and through his veins—better than flying. Better than anything—as they soared into ecstasy together.
They collapsed into each other, tremors shivering over their bodies as they held each other, slowly returning to reality.
Luka gently pulled out of her and turned onto his side, his hand cradling her face.
Then his tears came—scalding, painful sobs of joy, fear, loss, relief, and everything he’d felt but never said.
All the desperate, lonely hours. All his terror when she was missing and horror when he thought he’d lost her forever.
Tears he’d held inside himself for so long that they’d almost become part of him, and new tears that had only just begun to crystalize.
Izzy wrapped her arms around him and intertwined her legs with his, her own tears gleaming on her cheeks.
Luka nuzzled into her neck and dropped his hand to hold her side, over her scar.
They lay in each other’s arms, no longer alone, as their sorrow eased.
Until they were both drained and exhausted, but also alive and peaceful.
Finally, they were home. Together.
“I love you, Izabel,” Luka murmured.
She smiled. “I love you too.”