Page 56 of Kidnapped Forced Mate

Stryder nods his concession with a sigh. “Then you must know that what is standing in front of me is the most important thing in my life.”

His admission warms my heart, leaving me speechless as I can only stare into his eyes.

“But, Stryder–”

“No,” he shakes his head, pressing a finger to my lips. “I told you about my inner dragon before, and now I understand why I’ve been intent on keeping you safe. It’s not just my intuition that tells me when something is gonna go wrong, but it’s the innate dragon that tells me that you, Olivia Jackson, are my fated mate.”

“F-fated mate?”

Stryder nods. “You are destined to be my mate by the divine gods. It crept up on me too late, but I realized I love you. All those times when I thought I was simply protecting you, it was because you were fated to be my mate. But when you left, I knew I loved you.” He takes my hand and sets it on his heart. “I love you, Olivia, and I will protect you at all costs,”

He turns, leaving me star-struck with his admission hanging over me.

“If what happens down there is important to you, I will take care of it,” he says, then suddenly shifts into dragon form and leaps off the mountain.

“Stryder!” I rush forward, watching him fly back toward the villa. I know exactly what he’s about to do, and there’s no way of stopping him.

Standing on the cliff with my heart in my throat, tears flow from my eyes as I feel the strength of his declaration of love. He’ll do anything to protect me, even going as far as entering the villa in his dragon form, fully exposed.

That’s when I realized that I love him, too.

Chapter 23 - Stryder

My heart pounds uncontrollably as I stare into Olivia’s eyes, seeing her soul for how pure it is and realizing that this is exactly what I’ve been denying myself.

The immense power I feel from admitting my true feelings is intoxicating. I feel invincible, capable of taking on the whole world if it means protecting the woman I love. The woman fated to me by the gods themselves, molded from the sands of the earth to perfectly fit my being.

In that moment when reality strikes, I feel every heartbeat of hers in the palms of my hands, like electricity coursing through my nerves. The floral scent I’d been addicted to before becomes distinctly soft and sweet, like the scent of jasmines. Olivia’s eyes become portals to her soul that open up to a field of the flowers she radiates. It’s even more profound than my brothers described it, and I know it’s because feeling it is entirely different.

It’s a feeling I thought I’d never experience, having dismissed the notion of fated mates despite what my brothers experienced. Perhaps, deep down, I thought that my punishment for my reckless behavior over the past few centuries would be my alienation from the fated mate phenomenon. Yet, before me stands the woman who’s fated to me.

I am honored. Everything in my life makes sense now, as if the stars have aligned perfectly to match the frequencies of our hearts. Hearts that have become one now, beating to the rhythms of our souls. Everything I’ve ever done, felt, and experienced, was all a build-up to this moment right here. Nothing else matters but Olivia Jackson.

That’s where I begin, and where I end. I will do anything for her, my fated mate. I will protect her at all costs, and deep down, I know I can’t let her be a part of what’s going on down there. My intuition warns me that something might go terribly wrong, and she’ll be caught in the crossfire.

Internally, my dragon does cartwheels in celebration of me finally understanding what it was all about. It wasn’t just love the way we’re told about in the fairytales digested in the mortal world. It’s nothing like the movies on their television screens – the ones that had me rejecting the idea of love when it meant the loss of one’s freedom. This feeling is electrifying, filling me with lifeforce I’ve never felt before, so freeing in its ability to make me see the world through a clearer lens.

I understand, in that moment, why Olivia cares so much for the mortal world. Her compassion, her empathy, make her a better creature than I ever aimed to be. The dragon shifters have hardly done anything to stop Earth's wars and everyday horrors.

That’s what we were put here for. Olivia might be just a human, but her purpose is far grander than what I ever hoped to achieve.

To prevent wars by putting the Italian man behind bars. A drop in the ocean compared to what’s going on in the rest of the world, but one that will cause a ripple effect, enough to make an impact of good.

I can’t do nothing while she’d chosen to do something. While she stares at me in disbelief at my declaration of love, I decide to do something good for a change.

“If what happens down there is important to you, I will take care of it,” I declare boldly, letting her go and turning to shift into dragon form before leaping off the mountain.

When she calls my name out behind me, I continue toward the villa without turning back. I know she’ll try to convince me not to step in, but I must. The thought of the Italian touching her all those times, kissing her lips when he had no right to, fills me with a need to exact my own revenge on him.

Along with wanting to avenge his wrong deeds, I’m determined, now more than ever, to do something good for the world. My mate is a human, and I should help where I can to better the human world. After today, nothing else will matter, because there’s one thing I’m sure of.

Olivia will never leave me again.

If she is my fated mate, it’s not just me who feels love for her. She loves me too, even if she hasn’t said the words. She didn’t move on; her body still burns for me, and her eyes cannot lie. Knowing there’s no way she can escape her true feelings, just as I couldn’t escape my feelings as much as I tried, fills me with pride as I glide down in front of the shed where the men have their guns drawn.

“What the…?” one man exclaims when he sees me, turning his pointed barrel at me. I turn my dragon head to the opposite group of men – Olivia’s allies – and nod in a gesture that they will be spared., and that I’m here to help them instead.

When I turn back to the group of Italians, I open my mouth and bring forth enough force in the heat of my fiery breath to shock them when hot flames lick at their weapons and melt the metal in their hands. Chaos ensues as the men yelp and scream from shock. Their momentary shock gives me a chance to shift into human form. I cannot, by law, take the lives of humans.

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