Page 53 of Beneath Scales and Shadows
She buried her face in her blanket, muffling a mortified groan—making him immediately miss it pressed against his forearm. “Ican’t believeI just asked that.”
A spark ignited in his core. Interest. Arousal. The urge to tease her, please her, and care for her—marking her essence upon his scales—once again.
“You forget, little Luna,”he murmured, lowering his head closer,“we aren’t bound by flesh, especially not when it comes to alphas and omegas. Dragons mate as dragons, but when they have human partners—”
She peeked up at him again, blue eyes wide.
“And when their bond is real… when the desire is mutual…”he explained slowly, watching her reaction carefully with amusement.“Everythingfits.”
Her gaze wavered. Lips parted, then pressed shut around a bitten breath as she worried her bottom lip, shaking her head slightly—like she was trying to make sense of something that wouldn’t quite fit.
He moved without thinking, compelled to reassure her.
One wing swept forward, slow and sure, curling around the edge of her bed—a shield—to protect her from her own doubts.
“I would ensure your body was fully prepared,”he added, voice gentling further.“The transformation you undergo changes more than your appearance. Your physiology adapts to accept any alpha. The silver scales emerging across your skin are merely the visible manifestation of deeper changes—perfect for a dragon mate.”
The tension in her shoulders eased first, subtle as a breath. Her fingers, clenched in the folds of the blanket, loosened one by one. Her mouth, once pressed into a line, softened.
“Would you be disappointed?” Her gaze hovered near his chest, as if she was afraid to meet his eyes. “To not have a true mating flight… if we were to complete the bond?”
The question caught him off guard, piercing something ancient and tender within. Her concern—not for herself but for what he might lose—stirred a depth of feeling so intense it bordered on pain. Even now, with her on the brink of a profound physical transformation, her focus was on his happiness.
His soul ached with the need to soothe her—to imprint himself upon her so completely that neither world nor fate could ever separate them.
Scent her. Claim her. Make her utterly and irrevocably his.
The wild urge surged through him with breathtaking force. His instincts roared with possessive hunger, demanding he mark her—and prevent any other from havinghistreasure.
The need to mount her, to drive himself deep within her heat, to fill her with his essence until their souls merged completely—the urge was nearly overwhelming.
Yet beneath that ferocious desire lurked something far more terrifying: the possibility of harm.
Even held in check, the sheer force of his body could crush her slender frame without meaning to. The size difference between them was not merely a practical concern but a lethal one.
Her transformation progressed rapidly, but incomplete adaptation meant vulnerability.
If he claimed her too soon—if instinct overrode judgment during the frenzy of mating—he could tear her delicate flesh, shatter her fragile bones, extinguish the precious life that had already become more essential to him than his own.
The devastating image of her broken beneath him, life flowing crimson across his scales, chilled his blood despite the fire perpetually burning beneath his skin.
No. He would rather endure another thousand years of solitude than risk her life to slake his hunger—not when they had time. Not when it was still her choice to be with him.
There were more important things to focus on—like their upcoming meeting with Celestoria and rescuing Coal. He couldn’t lose sight of his responsibilities as king, not at these trying times, no matter how delicious the omega in his forearms smelled.
“How could I miss what I’ve never experienced?”He leaned closer, his immense head dwarfing her delicate form, yet she showed no fear.“You’re more than enough, exactly as you are. More than I dared hope for.”
He brought his head closer, his breath warming her skin as he inhaled her changing scent, strands of her long golden hair tickling his snout—moonflower and cinnamon now held notes of smoke and starlight.
Increasingly intoxicating. Increasingly tempting…
The vulnerability in her eyes began to recede, replaced by something warmer, more certain. Her hand rose to touch the sensitive scales beneath his jaw, sending ripples of sensation cascading through his form.
“We would forge our own path,” he promised, closing his eyes as he leaned into her touch. “Human-dragon pairs existed long before the Great Sundering tore our worlds apart.There is no reason we cannot be together as they once did.”
“I wish the skies were safe,” she whispered, her fingers trailing from his scales to stroke the sensitive membrane of his wing where he had extended it beside her bed. The innocent touch sent electricity down his spine, stoking embers he’d barely managed to bank. “So your people could fly freely without fear. So fledglings could learn without hiding. So you could show me what it’s like—to soar without looking over our shoulders for arrows or royal guards.”
The wistfulness in her voice mirrored his own long-suppressed yearning—for open skies, for the winds of freedom across his wings, for the right to exist without persecution.
