Chapter Fifteen
Ari
Mine to Keep
I wake to the scent of dragon smoke and dark roast coffee. It’s oddly comforting. Warm. Solid. Like waking up wrapped in something ancient and dangerous, but safe.
I stretch slowly, eyes still closed, the blanket tangled around my legs. My body aches in the best way. Not from anything physical. Just ... from the sheer exhaustion of existing beside him.
Malichai. My dragon. Even though we set the mate bond, I haven’t said it aloud yet. I haven’t even dared whisper it into the stillness of night. But I feel it. Every breath. Every heartbeat. Every flicker of magic crawling across my skin like it’s being called home.
It’s him. It’s always been him.
The bond hasn’t fully clicked into place, not yet. It’s holding back because I am. But it’s there. Pulling at me. Warming me from the inside out. And last night, I let it. Not fully. But enough to give us both hope.
The bed is empty beside me. I sit up and look around. He’s not far.
Malichai is standing by my window, sleeves rolled to his elbows, tie gone, shirt half-unbuttoned. He’s sipping coffee like it’s a ritual, staring out at the street with that perpetual tension in his shoulders, like he’s waiting for the next threat to arrive.
He always looks like that. Like a god of war pretending to be a man.
“You’re brooding,” I say sleepily.
He glances back, eyes softening. “I do that.”
“You do it loudly.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.”
I get up and pad across the room barefoot. His gaze drops to my legs, bare under one of his button-down shirts that I may have stolen from my short visit to his place when he wasn’t looking.
His eyes darken. But he doesn’t move.
I stop in front of him and take his cup. Sip. It’s bitter and hot and exactly the jolt I need.
“I’ve never let someone protect me before,” I say softly.
“I noticed.”
“And I’m not saying I like it.” I look up at him. “But I’m saying I don’t hate it.”
That earns me a ghost of a smile.
I hand back the cup. “Any news on Ravik?”
“No movement last night,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean anything. He’s biding his time.”
“Let him,” I say, squaring my shoulders. “I’m not hiding.”
Malichai’s jaw flexes. “You’re not bait, Ari.”
“No,” I agree. “I’m the trap.”
He laughs, low and surprised. “You’re terrifying.”
“I’m a bartender with glitter nail polish.”
“You’re a half-fae with a dragon’s soul.” He leans down, brushing a curl behind my ear. “You were born to burn, little flame.”
My breath catches. There’s something about the way he says things. Like he sees all the parts of me I’ve been trying to hide and doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t judge. Doesn’t run. Maybe I’m not a mistake. Maybe I’m something more.
“I’ve been thinking,” I say.
“Dangerous.”
I poke his chest. “Shut up. I’ve been thinking about what it means to be yours. About what it would mean to rule beside you.”
His expression sobers instantly.
“I don’t want to just be your weakness,” I continue. “I want to be your strength. If I’m going to be your mate—if I’m going to be a queen in this twisted little underworld—you need to stop shielding me from the fire.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Stop trying.” I pause. “Teach me.”
That stuns him. And for once, he has no clever retort. No teasing smirk. Just awe. Just quiet, bone-deep reverence in those dark eyes as he cups my face in his hands.
“You really mean that?”
“Yes.”
His thumbs stroke my cheeks. “Then I’ll teach you everything. Power. Politics. Blood oaths. Territory law. And how to make a vampire cry.”
I snort. “That last one sounds useful.”
“It is.”
We stand there like that for a long time, drinking each other in. The sun creeps higher. The bond thrums quietly beneath my skin, no longer screaming—just waiting. I don’t know if I’m ready to claim it. But I want to be.
I’m ready to stop running and that’s a start.
After breakfast, which he cooked, surprisingly well, I sit on the edge of my windowsill and look down at the street.
There’s movement, fast and too quick for a human eye.
A shadow at the edge of the building across the street.
It’s gone before I can blink, but the magic it leaves behind is unmistakable.
Ravik’s watching. I should be afraid. Instead, I smile. Because I know something he doesn’t.
I’m not unclaimed anymore. Not weak. Not breakable. I’m the fated mate of the most feared dragon in the world. And I’m done pretending otherwise.