Page 20 of Her Dragon Defender

Eden screamed until she ran out of breath, then sucked in a lungful of air and screamed again.

TWENTY-FOUR

The feeling of his mate clinging to his back...bliss. Well, it would be, if she wasn't screaming. Her fear doused his desire like a bucket of icy water.

He couldn't speak to her in this form, not unless the mating bond was complete. Then, legend said they'd be able to speak into each other's minds in a form of telepathy unique to fated mates.

If he could talk to her, he'd tell her there was no way she'd fall off, that his power would hold her steady on his back no matter what, because he couldn't let her go, now he'd found his mate.

Even in dragon form, his lip still burned from her bite.

The legends said a mating bite was the one wound that never healed, that would scar even a dragon shifter's scaly hide. But those few drops of blood exchanged in a mating bite would transform them both forever. There was the mind link, of course, but the legends also talked about rare bonds between shifters and humans, where the bond transformed the human into a full-blooded shifter, the equal of their mate.

Diana had done some research into human-shifter pairings, and she'd discovered that this was actually quite rare, and usually only when the human had shifter ancestry, like herself or the other girls at Mirror Academy, because ordinary humans couldn't be fated mates.

So if Eden truly was his mate, it was no surprise that by the time she stopped screaming, she'd also found a firm grip on his scales, perfectly positioned on his back to be sheltered from the worst of the wind, without fouling his wings or otherwise shifting his centre of gravity. Like she understood the mechanics of dragonflight perfectly, and was observing his technique so that she might emulate it, upon her own transformation.

A transformation Blaze could not deny her, for he'd give his fated mate everything. Blaze might not deserve a fairytale come true, but Eden did, and he was honour bound to give it to her.

The moment they landed.

TWENTY-FIVE

When they finally touched down on the ground, Eden was too lightheaded to see straight. Maybe the champagne had finally gone to her head – that, and the crazy flight from the top of the tower to wherever this was. Blaze's arms closed around her, carrying her inside out of the cold, and a door clicked shut behind them.

Her bare feet landed on the carpet of an upmarket motel room, all shades of grey and white that no one in reality ever would have chosen for themselves, because it was impossible to keep clean.

Her vision cleared, to find Blaze standing in front of her, gripping her arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked huskily.

She looked him up and down. A minute ago, he'd been a dragon, hot and massive and scaly between her thighs as they flew through the air, the wind whipping her hair. Now...

"You're naked!" It came out as a squeak. She instantly felt like a fool. "I'm sorry, it's just–"

She shook her head. God, this was so embarrassing. She was with the hottest – no pun intended – guy she'd ever met, who'd saved her from a sexual predator and an impossible situation. She should be thanking him, and more besides, when all she could do was stare at his...well, everything really.

One thing she did know for certain, though. Dragon or not, Blaze had saved her, and she was pretty sure that warranted another kiss.

"Can I kiss you again? I promise not to bite you this time," she said.

He laughed. "Eden, you can bite me all you want. The only problem is that the more you do, the more I'll want to bite you back. So you'd better be ready for that."

Eden wasn't sure if she was terrified or turned on. Maybe a bit of both, which made absolutely no sense.

She let out a nervous giggle. "I'm not sure what I'm ready for. This is all new to me."

He nodded slowly. "We can take things at your pace. I'd never push you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

Oh god, she was going to have to tell him. "That's the thing, I don't know what I'm comfortable with. I've never properly been with a man."

"Would you like to be with a man?" Blaze asked. He ducked his head. "Because if you allow me to, I'll worship you so thoroughly, you'll remember this night forever."

So sweet. Not the sort of thing you expected from a dragon, or any man, really. She'd only known him a few hours, but her heart was already melting. Possibly along with her underwear.

"Gods, yes." Eden took a deep breath and raised her eyes to his face. "That sounds wonderful, Blaze. If you really want..."

He grinned. "Oh I want you, Eden. And if you've never been with a man before, I need to make it special. You're beautiful, and deserve to be treated like a goddess."

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