Page 104 of Beneath Scales and Shadows
“What does it mean?” she asked, fingers brushing over the new scales with hesitant awe.
Ignis shook his head, a flicker of pride cutting through the bewilderment softening his features. “I do not know.” His finger traced the pattern again, sending pleasant shivers cascading through her. “But I like seeing it.”
The reverence in his touch made her heart squeeze. She leaned into it, savoring the quiet tenderness woven through every brush of his hand.
“There’s more of my claim upon you,” he murmured, voice dropping to a register that rumbled through her bones. “Marking you as my treasure.”
Once, she might have teased him for the possessive note in his voice—might have bristled at it without understanding. But that felt like a lifetime ago, before she truly knew what it meant to be treasured by someone.
His claim wasn’t ownership; it was devotion. Not possession, but protection.
Ignis’s hand wrapped around hers, tugging her gently toward the bathing chamber. “Let us bathe. We must cleanse the stench of our heat mating from us.”
The sacred pools welcomed them with steaming embrace, mineral-rich waters lapping at the stone edges. Sora sank into their depths with a grateful sigh, muscles immediately relaxing as the mountain’s natural healing properties seeped into her battered body.
Ignis joined her, but instead of settling across from her as he usually did—bathing her atop one of the naturally formed stone chairs—he moved behind her. His strong arms wrapped around her waist, drawing her back against the solid warmth of his chest. With a slow, deliberate motion, his wings unfurled, arching over them like a protective canopy, turning the bathing chamber into a private, sacred sanctuary.
“Let me tend to you,” he murmured, reaching for crystal vials containing fragrant oils. “Your body endured the fire of your first heat. Now it’s my hands that will honor you—to see you cleansed, refreshed, and cherished, until you gleam with the strength and beauty that have always belonged to you.”
She knew better than to protest—especially when his mind was set. Before she could even open her mouth, his hands were already working the cleansing oil into her hair with exquisite care. His talons had fully retracted, leaving only strong, calloused fingers to knead gentle circles against her scalp.
Sora melted into his ministrations, her body boneless with contentment. The contrast between this tenderness and the raw, almost violent passion of their heat mating struck her profoundly.
Through their newly strengthened bond, she sensed his pleasure in caring for her—not obligation, but genuine fulfillment in these simple acts of devotion. His emotions flowed into her awareness with crystalline clarity: pride in having satisfied her through her first heat, protectiveness as he tended her recovery, and beneath it all, an abiding love that felt as solid as the mountain itself.
“I can feel you,” she whispered as his hands worked lower, massaging oils into her shoulders where tension had gathered during their extended mating. “Your emotions. They’re so clear now.”
“And I yours,” he rumbled, his chest vibrating against her back. “Clearer than any in my clan have ever been. As though we are one.”
She turned in his embrace, facing him with wide, curious eyes. “Is that normal? This level of connection?”
His scaled lips curved, amusement flickering through their bond.“Nothing about us has ever been normal, little Luna,”he murmured, the words a soft caress against her mind. “But yes—now that we’re an established mated pair, what we once touched only faintly through our blood bond now flows between us without barrier.” His wings shifted slightly, drawing her even closer beneath their shelter. “Our connection will continue to deepen,” he went on, voice low and steady. “With time, it will grow stronger, more seamless. You’ll feel me as easily as breathing—and I, you.” Pride colored his mental presence, wrapping around her like the low rumble of a purr.
“Such bonds were once common between dragon and rider,” he said, a thread of ancient memory lacing his tone. “But rarely have other monsters and humans dared take the next step. Blood bonds, yes—those are needed to survive each other. But to complete a true mating bond...” He traced light, reverent patterns over her waist with his claws. “That is a choice few ever make. A choice to intertwine everything—body, soul, future.”
He nuzzled his nose along her temple, the tender gesture nearly reverent. “And you chose me, little Luna. As I chose you.”
“I like it,” she admitted, leaning to rest her forehead against his chest, inhaling his comforting scent. “I spent my whole life feeling disconnected from others. Even in academic circles where I should have belonged, I felt... apart.”
“You were always meant for this world. For me.”
“For you,” she agreed, the certainty in her voice surprising even herself. “And to help save our kingdom.”
The bond between them thrummed in response, as if her declaration struck some hidden, ancient chord deep inside him. She felt his pleasure surge through their connection—a fierce, unrestrained warmth that wrapped around her like a second embrace. It wasn’t just pride. It was awe, adoration, and the raw, unshakable gratitude of a male who knew he had been truly, irrevocably chosen.
Ignis’s arms tightened around her, his wings drawing her even closer, as if he could imprint her words into his very soul.
“And I could never thank you enough.”
When they’d bathed and dried, Ignis insisted on helping her dress in garments befitting her station. From an ornate chest that had somehow survived their passionate destruction, he withdrew a gown of midnight blue silk embroidered with silver thread that matched her scales. The fabric flowed like water through his hands as he draped it reverently over her shoulders—airy and almost weightless.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, crimson eyes gleaming with appreciation as he stepped back to admire her. “My queen.”
The title no longer felt foreign or unearned.
Something had shifted during those five days of heat—not just her body’s transformation or the deepening of their bond, but her perception of herself.
She wasn’t just Sora Valerith, Earth historian trapped in a foreign body. She was Luna, dragon-blooded omega, mate to the last pure dragon king of his bloodline.
