Page 89 of Fated for his Flame

“What’s that?”

“I want to make you my mate,” he said softly. “Officially. To properly link us.”

“You mean a scale bond,” I said nervously. “You want to bond with me.”

He nodded slowly, eyes thick and heavy as he locked gazes with me. “I want you, Chloe. For life. I’ll have no other.”

I licked my lips, stalling for a bit of time by lifting his shirt up over his head.

“You’re nervous,” he said.

“Yes.” I stroked his cheek, feeling the fuzz of his stubble under my fingertips. “It’s not that I don’t want to be with you. I love you, Silas.”

“I love you, too,” he said, the emotion pouring from his eyes as he looked down at me. “With everything I am and will be, I am yours.”

“Then take me,” I whispered, uttering the words before I could second guess myself.

Silas had told me about the scale bond a few days earlier. Letting me know what I would be getting into. I’d known it was the next step. Akin to getting married. My body wanted him. My heart couldn’t live without him.

But it was still terrifying to link myself to someone in a way that could only be undone by death. Marriage had those words, but the words could be reversed.

A scale bond could not.

I stared in nervous trepidation as his arm shifted slightly, scales replacing skin. As he did that, he used a claw from his other hand to peel one of the scales back, pulling it from his own body. A tiny flick of his eyes was the only indication of the pain.

“Are you ready?” he asked, holding the sale in his hands. It was the size of the top of a soda can.

“Yes,” I whispered, arching my back up toward him. “Make me yours, Silas. Become mine. Forever.”

“Forever,” he whispered and pressed the scale to the skin on my centerline just below my breasts.

White-hot pain lanced out from the point of impact as it adhered to my body instantly. Every muscle in my body locked up against my will. I couldn’t even scream.

Silas held me close, his body against mine, our skin touching.

And then, just like that, it was over. I collapsed down into the bed, breathing hard, shaken from the pain.

“Hi,” Silas said, and I gasped.

“You … I can … your mind. Your heart,” I stammered. “I can feel you.”

It was like a warm blanket to snuggle into on a cold winter’s day buried in the back of my mind. Comforting. Caressing. A promise that no longer had to be spoken.

Silas beamed, and my brain flooded with his joy. A joy my heart echoed, and a moment later, his smile grew.

“Now you’re mine,” he growled possessively. “For now and forever. I claim you.”

I shivered as the intensity of his words poured through our newfound bond. He meant it. With every fiber of his being, he gave himself to me.

“Make me yours,” I said, as his arousal threaded its way in as well.

“With pleasure,” he chuckled, sliding his way down between my legs.

As my eyes rolled back into my head from the first flicks of his tongue across my throbbing clit, I smiled to myself.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged. That I had a place to call my own.

A home.

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