Page 19 of Unexpected Mate

Slowly, he leaned down and sealed his lips against hers. His eyes were closed and his forehead remained creased with concentration. The glow from his chest flowed out from his mouth and into Tia, the light from his hands doing the same thing. The shadows moved frantically across her motionless body.

He stopped abruptly and pulled his mouth back from hers. His face was exhausted and his hands trembled slightly. Whatever he had just done was clearly not easy.His finger stroked her face softly. I sensed he was waiting for something, but I couldn’t understand what it could be.

The unnerving silence was broken by a sharp inhale. My heart missed a bit. Luke’s eyes opened warily, and Levi staggered to his feet, bewildered. A soft feminine moan was the next sound to fill the hushed air. It couldn’t be.

Damien’s joyful exclamation drew my attention away from the dragon shifter. Mithraheal was trying to sit up while Damien crushed him in a hug. If Mithraheal was alive …

I turned back toward the dragon shifter and stopped breathing. Tia’s eyes were open and she was studying the man holding her with wonder. She reached out a shaking hand and pressed it against his cheek. He nuzzled into her hand, breathing out heavily, the action more dragon than man. She pulled his face down to meet hers and slowly captured his lips in a kiss.

It was a kiss that went from sweet to sensual in three seconds flat. She had just died, and now he was kissing her like he was going to devour her. Maybe dragons didn’t do gentle? Her chest began to pulse with a blue glow, and his chest mirrored the action with the red glow from his chanted song. Realization dawned on me; this was their dragon fire. Their kiss had turned steamy, and by that I mean that literal steam came out with each exhale.

I wondered if we were supposed to do something, like get her medical attention and nourishment. I looked to the other mates, but Luke and Levi were thumping their tails into the dirt joyfully, clearly reveling in the fact Tia was alive. Mithraheal seemed a bit steadier and seemed contentto gather his strength and give Tia time to greet her new mate.

Tia tilted her head to the side, and the stranger kissed and nipped the length of it. Her eyes moved to each of us, catching our gaze for a moment, assessing our injuries. Overwhelming love poured into the mental bond from my mate. Then I noticed her eyes. Her pupils were reptilian slits that somehow managed to simultaneously unnerve me and turn me on. The mate bond was still strong; I could feel her love washing over me, but something was different.

I didn’t recognize her voice when she finally spoke; it was husky with a sultry tone that made a man think of long nights in bed.

“Hello, my drakon mate.” She purred the words, shifting her head so she could nuzzle his neck. Her movements were odd, as if they were slightly feral and not quite human.

His pupils turned to slits and he responded with a whisper: “Mine.”

I really wish the ancients had kept better records, because I don’t think anyone knew how dragons claimed each other and mated. Because based on my observations, that was what these two were about to do. I didn’t know if we needed to run for cover or remain still, avoiding the attention of the powerful predators currently at the top of the food chain.

I clung to the fact that Tia had recognized us even while in the dragon’s arms, and he had not burned us to a crisp when he first arrived. That had to mean something, right?

This was without a doubt the weirdest day of my life.

Ihad a mate.

My mate was a dragoness, which was shocking as females were rare among our kind. But the fact that she was also a royal made this completely impossible. The royals had been slaughtered. That had been a dark day for all dragons, and it was on that day that I had decided I no longer wished to be part of this world full of monsters who walked on two legs.

I was the last of the fire-kissed dragons. While every dragon could breathe fire, only the fire-kissed could command the fire in the sky and on the earth around us. My grief had sent me to the place I knew I would never be found: the heart of a simmering volcano. I sank my body into the molten lava and allowed it to wrap around my body. Outwardly, a dragon never aged beyond the appearance of a human in their seconddecade, but even among dragons, I was considered ancient. My age gave me strength and a control over my magic that few others possessed. I had begged my dragon nature to just let me sleep; I’d wished to never wake up. My powers had hummed across my scales before settling inside me, and I had fallen into a long deep sleep, my mind blessedly blank.

Until I heard the mourning death-cry of my mate.

This sound was one that a dragon always feared, and one that a mate could hear no matter how far apart they may be from their soulmate. It was like a flashing beacon. I soared into the air, lava exploding up out of the volcano behind me. I flapped my wings, adjusting to the sensation of flying again after so long.

A large metal bird nearly slammed into my side, forcing me to move out of its path. I didn’t have time to ponder this new species, or to hunt it - I had always enjoyed tasting a variety of foods that my fellow dragons refused to touch. My mate needed me. I bellowed my rage and began teleporting to her location as quickly as possible, the distance so great I had to pop in and out several times before reaching her.

As I burst through the clouds, I spotted her crumpled form in the dirt. A gravely injured werewolf curled against her side. I searched for enemies, but only found grieving faces. A second wolf lay on the ground. He too was injured, but not as badly as the first. A blood driven was bent over the fallen form of another blood driven. I inhaled deeply. The motionless man was a child compared to my age, but for the rest of the supernaturals he was considered old and powerful. Interesting.

A flash of purple caught my attention and I watched a newborn warlock frantically trying to shake off his powers. Yet another rarity among supernaturals. Here I was seeing a warlock being “born”. His power was unfurling, exploring its vessel and making adjustments as needed. What type of world had I awakened to? A warlock was coming into his powers, clearly having no idea what was happening and trying to rid himself of it. Warlocks were secretive about this experience, and few outsiders had ever been allowed to observe. I had been close friends with a great warlock many centuries past, and our friendship had granted me access to observe this twice. Someone was going to need to guide this young man.

I inhaled deeply, once more searching for the scent of enemies, but the scent was that of smoke and ash. The ashes of wizards.

I bellowed and dove for the ground. Now that I had accessed the situation and made sure there were no active threats, I could focus on my mate.

I covered her with my body, carefully touching my nose to her chest. My beautiful mate, so perfectly still. I merged my mind with hers and searched for the fatal injury. My heart ceased to beat when I found it.

This little female carried the dragon heart: a crystal heart that was now shattered in her chest. What had the fates been doing? Being a dragon was a challenge; the beast was exceedingly intelligent, but it’s were instincts still that of an animal. However, by comparison, our natures were that of a house cat, while a royal dragon was like a tiger. It took much longer for them to gain control, and at times, some young royals had evenallowed themselves to be caged until they gained control. Their instincts were too strong.

My mate was a royal dragoness carrying the weight of the dragon heart—more power than a dragon shifter had been asked to carry since the beginning of our species. Pride swelled in my chest; my mate was stronger than the world knew to be controlling such power. She should have been in an exhausted heap from the constant strain. Yet the sweet scent of dragon fire lingered in the ash around me, a sign she had been in the midst of this battle. I would have given a wing to have witnessed that glorious sight.

I knew what had to be done. I released my hold on the dragon’s form, allowing the smoke and shadows to twist and manipulate until I was in my human body. I wasted no time gathering her into my arms, my actions feeling stiff and awkward as I tried to adjust to the form I barely remembered.

I chanted the song of dragon mates, the one that called the soul to stay for the love of their mate. The fire in my chest smoldered, while embers crackled up my throat as I chanted. There was no guarantee that what I planned to attempt would work, but there was no other alternative. My shadows swept through her, gathering the tiny crystal pieces and fitting them back in place.

The warmth in my hands began to heat her chest as I worked with my energy to hold the crystal pieces. Then, I pressed my lips to hers. I wanted to savor the first taste of her lips, but I had to remain focused as I finished my task. I poured my fire into her, the heat intense as I worked with my element to meld together what had been destroyed.When the pieces were once again whole, albeit with delicate lines running between them, I sat back. I was exhausted.

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