Page 70 of Kidnapped Plus-Size Mate

“You’re already doing more than you should,” I interject, but she shakes her head and turns to face me.

“I told you about my premonition,” she reminds me with raised brows.

Just last night, Camilla woke up in a cold sweat, begging me to check up on my sister, Kairo. Even though the two women hadn’t met, Camilla dreamed about her last night and was visibly shaken when she woke up. She thought Kairo was in some sort of trouble. Her dream was more like a nightmare, in which she had vivid images of Kairo tied to chains in a dark dungeon.

Though it was strange, even I became worried. It’s been more than a month since I’ve seen my sister, and I had to check in with her. That’s when I sent a mind link to Kairo, checking up on her in the darkest hours of the night. Kairo is still exploring the world, and she was simply enjoying a cappuccino in the streets of Rome, unharmed and joyful.

Despite putting both mine and Camilla’s worries to rest, she remains unsettled, even now, as she stares at me despondently.

“I like that I’m learning how to do all of this…” she gestures to the cauldron. “But making potions isn’t what makes a witch powerful.” She stares at her palms and sulks. “I can do so much more with my hands.”

“Have you been practicing your skills?” I ask with a hopeful tone.

Camilla nods, her eyes lighting up like starlights. “I can manipulate water. Not fully, but Abuela has been giving me lessons.”

I reach for her hand and nod at the window. “You have to show me.”

“Right now?” She glances hesitantly at her pot. “Abuela will be—”

Pressing a finger to her lips to hush her, I smirk mischievously. “Abuela isn’t coming in today. I requested she give you the rest of the day off. Besides…” I shrug. “Diego has offered to take her on a boat ride.”

Camilla’s shoulders drop when her tension eases, and she giggles. “Fine. I’ve been dying to show you, anyway.”

“Good,” I muse, pulling Camilla toward the window. “There’s something I’ve been dying to show you too.”

I don’t give Camilla a chance to question me, since I know how much she hates surprises. Instead, I get us onto the balcony, shift into dragon form, then sweep my mate into my arms and whisk her off to the top of Mount Aurora.

She gasps while we hover above the mountaintop, taking in the picture of perfection I was trying to achieve when I set up the picnic on a checkered blanket and spread-out flowers amongst the variety of snacks and foods I prepared.

Pride swells my dragon’s armored chest when she turns golden eyes of appreciation on my reptilian ones.

“You did all of this…?” she murmurs in disbelief.

I nod my dragon head, gliding to the surface and gently setting her onto her feet. She goes ahead to the picnic blanket, the gentle rays of the setting sun on the horizon magnifying her beauty as it kisses her tanned cheeks. My dragon is disarmed momentarily, taking in the sight with sore eyes in which tears surface.

A few months ago, I would have never guessed that Camilla would become the most important person in my life. Back when I only considered her a human woman, I could never truly understand what my brothers found with their mates until I felt it myself with Camilla.

My fated mate, my soulmate, has mefeelingmore than I ever thought was dragonly possible. She strokes the human side of me, unearthing the deepest emotions that have been buried for almost a millennia.

As I shift back to human form, I realize that I'd been hypnotized from the moment I first laid eyes on her. Not because she’s a witch, but because she’s just so unapologetically her. When I step forward on human feet, Camilla somehow manages to trip over her own two feet, but I catch her effortlessly and spin her in my arms.

I’d fantasized over this moment long before I met her, gazing deeply into her eyes while we swayed to the silence in which love filled our eyes like a gentle melody. Dancing on the mountain while the golden sun sets behind us, I twirl her around, then tug her forward into my arms while bowing over her.

“You are the air I breathe, the only sustenance I need to continue this life,” I profess, the words falling from my lips without much thought. Just feeling. “You deserve every grand gesture of love and romance, Camilla Torres, but I thought we’d start somewhere. I wish to show you the world, my love. Just as you have shown me the world through your eyes.”

Tears well in Camilla’s eyes, glossing them over with how immensely deep she’s moved by my claim. She reaches up and touches a hand on my cheek. “This is all I will ever need,” she smiles.

I lift her and steady her on her feet, sliding a hand through the dark curls of her hair as I press my lips to hers. My free hand settles on the small bulge of her growing belly as I keep the kiss slow and unhurried, wanting this moment to be as intimate as it should be.

When I pull back, Camilla is already flustered, batting her eyelids with deliberate intent.

Thanks to our bond, I already know where her mind is drifting. I take her hand and lead her to the blanket, guiding her to lie down before I spread out beside her.

“I love you, Camilla.”

“I love you too, Stryker.”

As I gaze into her eyes again, preparing to lose myself in them, I know I couldn’t be happier than I am right now.

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