Page 77 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
When he looked back up, his eyes were calm and focused.
“I want to know if you would consider taking my scale.”
I had suspected this was coming. It was no surprise. In the two weeks that had passed since the showdown with Cleye, I’d continued to learn much about dragons. The sacrosanctity of the scale bond wasn’t new information. I’d encountered it from the very start after seeing Noa’s scale embedded in his chest.
But what I hadn’t truly understood until more recently was how much it would mean to Cal to be bound to me. I’d expected him to want some time after finally shedding his first mate’s scale to want to renew that bond with someone else.
Apparently, I was wrong.
His needing time, however, hadn’t stopped me from knowing it was coming.
“I have considered it,” I told him.
“You have?” A tiny tremor revealed the nerves he was keeping under a tight leash.
“Yes. It’s impossible not to. It’s a big thing between mated dragon couples. I wasn’t sure when, but I suspected it was coming. So, to answer your question, Ihavethought about it. Is that the only question you have for me?”
We both knew it wasn’t. But I wanted him to ask me properly. For both of us. To a dragon, this was the equivalent of getting married. I didn’t want to be proposed to by being asked to “consider” marriage.
If he wanted me, he had to ask me.
Screwing up his courage, Callum spoke once more.
“Madison Page,” he said solemnly, not flinching from meeting my eyes. “Will you take my scale and bond with me?”
I smiled. “Yes, Callum. Yes, I will.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Madison
“By the way,” I said, bouncing into the main room in just my bra and shorts. “I have something for you.”
Callum looked up from his book, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head.
“Quite the outfit,” he remarked.
I looked down, taking in the bright red scale embedded into the skin above my breastbone. The fist-sized addition to my body was still a fun new addition, and I enjoyed seeing it at all times, hence the lack of a shirt.
“You like it?”
I didn’t have to ask. The interest and arousal at the sight of me had come through our new link loud and clear. I not only saw it on his face, but I felt the heat in my mind as he looked me up and down.
“Later, tiger,” I said, smiling. “First, your surprise.”
“Surprise?”
I nodded. “Yep. A surprise, just for you.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” he said, rising from the couch easily. “You’re all I’ll ever need.”
I shivered at the intensity of his statement and the emotions that backed it up. He meant it.
He grinned, enjoying my reaction.
“Still,” I said. “That’s the point of random surprises. You don’t need it. But I wanted to give it to you. You deserve it. I want you to have it.”
“Okay.” His eyes were on my chest.
