Page 89 of A Witch and Her Dragon
Recalling the moment Raelan was handed over to them, bound in chains with his eyes covered in a blindfold, I whisper, “I know just how you felt...”
Slowly, I reach out from beneath my cloak, allowing my fingers to inch across the dusty couch cushion until they touch Raelan’s. And his skin is as warm as theflames. He spreads his fingers, allowing me to twine mine through them.
“I don’t ever want to be parted from you,” I say into the darkness. I’m not quite brave enough to look upon Raelan’s face as I speak; instead, I stare down at our fingers—his light bronze, mine a soft brown. “Please don’t push me away anymore. I don’t... I don’t think I can go through that again.”
Raelan turns our hands over, his thumb tracing my palm delicately. A shiver dances down my spine, and a light layer of frost forms on my skin, but it melts immediately beneath Raelan’s warm touch. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” he says. “For both of us.”
I finally look up at him. His brows are drawn low over his eyes, his lips pulled into a slight frown. A tremble returns to my hands as I reach out to touch his face. His eyes lift to mine as my fingers trace his jaw.
“And now?” I whisper.
His gold-flecked eyes search mine, trail across my face, my lips. They leave heat in their wake. “Now...” His jaw flexes beneath my fingers. He lets out a short sigh. “I’m tired, Alina. I don’t think I can fight it anymore, even if I should.” His gaze burns.
The emotion in his eyes reaches right into my chest, filling my heart until I feel it might burst.
“Then don’t.” I start to lean toward him, but he goes rigid.
“I don’t have my chain,” he says, starting to pull away. “I... I won’t be able to control myself.”
Despite his effort to keep space between us, I scoot closer, pressing my thigh to his on the couch. “I trust you. And I want you. All of you.”
He turns his face away, the muscles in his neck and jaw straining. “Alina, I—”
A sudden realization burns through me like a star shooting across the summer sky. I don’t question it, don’t try to hold it in. Instead, I allow it to fill me with a truth I know deep in my bones, in my blood.
I open my mouth and whisper, “I want you to claim me.”
Now Raelan’s head whips toward me. In the golden light of the fire, his pupils contract, and a few scales shimmer into existence across his neck and collarbones. But this time, there’s no chain around his throat, nothing to attempt to force him into submission. There’s only us, this quiet abandoned cottage, the deluge of an autumn rainstorm upon the roof.
“What?”
“I’m your fated mate.” I reach for him again, finding his cheekbone, cupping his face so he can’t turn away. “My magic wants you. Your magic wants me. I think we’ve both resisted long enough.”
His breathing is turning heavy, like the very thought of it already has his heart racing in his chest. “Do you understand what this means?” He lifts his hands to mine, trying to pry them away, but I hold fast, forcing him to look me in the eye. “Once I claim you, there’s no going back. We mate for life. It... It’ll change everything.”
I scoot closer. This time, Raelan doesn’t attempt to moveaway. “I understand.” Slowly, I inch my fingers around the back of his head, pulling him toward me. He allows me to press my forehead to his. “Claim me. I want to be yours.”
He squeezes his eyes shut. His body starts to shake. I lean away, catching my breath.
And when he opens his eyes again, they’re those of his dragon.
Chapter 39
Raelan
“CLAIM ME,” ALINA WHISPERS, THE words like an incantation spoken just for me. “I want to be yours.”
Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t resist.
I’ve spent months—years—trying to restrain myself, relying on the magic chain around my throat to control me around Alina. But it’s gone now, shattered under the weight of my anger, fractured into a hundred pieces. There’s nothing to hold me back.
A storm of thoughts rampages through my head: My mother and sisters. The king. My place in the guard. Every heated moment I’ve had with Alina. The nights I’ve lain awake, touching myself and wishing it were her. My dragon’s anger and grief at not having claimed her yet.
Claim me. Claim me.
I can’t unhear those words. She’s stirred my dragon into a frenzy. It thrashes inside, hungering for her. My body shakes, heat building just beneathmy skin.
My eyesight sharpens further as my pupils change. Despite the low light in the room, I can see everything clearly, as though the moon is right overhead, casting everything into brilliant clarity. My fingernails are next. They grow claws, their points so sharp I could pierce right through Alina’s soft brown skin if I’m not careful.
