Page 164 of The Dragon's Mate

“You don’t need to.” Bishop pressed a kissagainst Kaida’s cheek. “I’m going to find Ava and Gram.”

Kaida waited until the door was closedbehind the big grizzly before giving Bren a nervous look. “How are you?”

“Good. You?”

“Fine. I can shift again and my hand iscompletely healed.”

“I’m really glad to hear it,” he said.

There was awkward silence and Kaida said, “How’sTyler?”

“Doing as well as he can. It’s a lot totake in for a kid. We’re still waiting for the reporters to leave my place andnow Dad’s place. Once they’re gone, we’ll move the rest of his stuff from Dad’sto my apartment. He and Corey are going back to school tomorrow.”

“Good, that’s good,” Kaida said.

Bren picked at his nail. “Mara and Rolandare applying to be Corey’s permanent foster home.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I’m not. I guess they talked it over withCorey and when they suggested applying for it, he all but started crying. Hereally likes them both.”

“He deserves to be with good people,” Kaidasaid.

“He does.”

More silence. Kaida could barely hear herselfthink over the purring of her dragon. It wanted her to go to Bren, wanted herto touch him and kiss him and tell him that she loved him.

“Kaida?”

Her mouth trembling, the tears catching inher eyelashes, she stared mutely at him.

“I love you.”

She blinked away the tears, bringing Brenback into focus. “What did you say?”

“I love you,” he said simply. “I don’tcare about my father or your clan. Hell, I’ll take Elora’s invisibility potionand sneak into the clan every night if that’s what needs to happen to spendtime with you. But I promise that I’ll do whatever it takes to win your clan overand make them realize I’m not going anywhere.”

He took a step closer, his voice steady andcalm as he said, “I love you, Kaida. I want to spend the rest of my life withyou and only you.”

A sound came out of her mouth that washalf-laugh and half-sob. She lunged for him, throwing her arms around his neckand taking his mouth in a hard kiss. He returned her kiss before pulling backand grinning at her. “So… does this mean you love me too?”

“I love you, my mate,” she breathed againsthis mouth before kissing him again. “I love you.”

He rested his forehead against hers, hiswarm hands stroking her lower back. “I need to ask – is it both of you who loveme or just your dragon who’s infatuated with me. Because I -”

“It’s both of us,” she said immediately. “It’sbeen both of us for weeks now, but I was afraid to say anything. I was afraid itwould scare you off.”

He laughed. “Jesus, we really should havesat down and had a damn conversation. I was worried about scaringyouoff.”

She kissed him quickly. “I do not scareeasily, my mate.”

“No, you don’t,” he said. “I’m sorry Ihaven’t been by or called the last couple of days. I’ve been spending a lot oftime either at work or with Tyler and -”

“I know,” she said. “I know and I’m so sorryyou had to shoot your father for me. I can’t even imagine what -”

“Eh, it was barely a shooting,” Bren said.“He didn’t even need surgery.”

She laughed long and hard before kissingBren’s neck. “Now you sound like Bishop.”

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