Page 112 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
He’s ours, his dragon insisted.
For centuries, Kitsuki had fought against his heritage. The Ariake lineage was notorious for its need for multiple partners, a trait his father, Tatsuki, had indulged with abandon. Kitsuki had sworn he would be different, had vowed he would never follow that path. When he found Auslin, he believed he had overcome his heritage, that one true love would be enough.
But his bone-deep certainty about Maseo was nothing like his father’s casual conquests. It wasn’t lust or novelty but a recognition of a piece of his soul clicking into place beside the space Auslin already occupied. Fate was as inevitable as the tides, and as necessary as breath.
His dragon stirred with newfound desires, urging him to claim Maseo and complete the bond that hummed between them. The urge to press his lips to Maseo’s almost overwhelmed him. His dragon craved their trinity, the sealing of their bond through physical connection. But Kitsuki held firm against his dragon’s impulses. Nothing would happen until they reunited with Auslin in Tiora.
Chapter 37
Maseo
Kitsuki’s arms encircled Maseo with a gentleness that belied his immense strength. The dragon king offered a sanctuary Maseo had never known was possible. The burning in his ruined eye socket pulsed with each heartbeat, while the injuries across his ribs and back felt like acid eating away at his flesh. Yet beneath the physical torment, a new sensation spread through his chest.
Safety.
The weight of the truth settled over him. After years of constant vigilance, of waiting for the next punishment, Maseo had emerged victorious against the man who had broken him countless times.
Kitsuki’s skin radiated heat against his own, the contact between their bare chests intimate in a way Maseo had never experienced with his previous partners.
His heart raced in response, and he knew Kitsuki could hear it. The thought made his face warm with self-consciousness, buthe couldn’t bring himself to pull away when each second in Kitsuki’s arms healed a wound he had carried all his life.
The scent of icicles and magic enveloped him, mingling with Kitsuki’s subtle spice. It was nothing like the stench of decay and corruption that had clung to his father. Instead, it spoke of power used in service of others rather than for domination. It evoked a sense of home Maseo had never associated with that word before.
Kitsuki cradled the back of Maseo’s head with such tenderness that he had to close his remaining eye against the sudden burn of tears. No one had touched him so tenderly since his mother, and even those memories had faded with time, leaving behind only a vague impression of comfort long lost.
Kitsuki trembled with emotion. That slight tremor stopped Maseo cold. The legendary Ice King of Valzerna should never falter at the possibility of losing him, yet he did.
Him. Maseo. The halfling bastard nobody had ever wanted.
But in Kitsuki’s arms, he felt valued beyond his skills as a warrior or his usefulness as an ally against Nasume. The dragon king held him as if he mattered because he was Maseo, not because of what he could do or provide.
That realization, more than the defeat of his father or the end of the war, threatened to undo him. The simple miracle of being valued for who he was rather than what he could offer felt so foreign, so unexpected, that it cracked the foundations of everything he had believed about himself.
The chains of his father’s legacy, which had bound Maseo for so long, loosened their hold. Even if his fate was to die in threeweeks, as the auramancer had said, at least Maseo would die knowing someone cared about him.
When Kitsuki drew back, the word “Wait” slipped past Maseo’s lips before he could consider its implications. His arms tightened around Kitsuki, holding the dragon king in place with a desperation that embarrassed him as soon as he recognized it.
Heat flooded his face as he realized what he had done, the impropriety of a halfling bastard asking a king to prolong an embrace. He released his hold, an apology already forming on his lips, when Kitsuki’s arms tightened around him once more, drawing him back against the solid warmth of the dragon king’s chest.
“You are safe,” Kitsuki murmured, his voice a deep rumble that Maseo felt as much as heard. “You did a remarkable thing today, Maseo. Through your bravery, you saved everyone from Nasume’s madness, including me.”
The praise washed over Maseo like warm rain after a drought, seeping into the parched soil of his soul. He had spent his entire life starved of approval. Now, it came from the king he didn’t feel worthy to breathe the same air as.
He allowed himself to sink into the embrace, accepting the comfort offered. Kitsuki’s fingers threaded through his hair in a soothing rhythm that made Maseo’s remaining eye flutter shut. The simple pleasure of being touched with kindness rather than cruelty was profound.
Each stroke against Maseo’s scalp evoked distant memories of his mother singing him to sleep, before pain and fear had become his constant companions. He leaned into the touch, craving more of the unexpected tenderness.
Was that what it felt like to be cared for? To be valued not for what you could do or provide, but for who you were? If so, Maseo understood why people fought so hard for love, why they wrote songs and poems about it, and why they risked everything to find and keep it. That feeling was worth any sacrifice.
He knew he shouldn’t indulge in such thoughts. Kitsuki’s mating bond with Auslin was legendary in its depth and strength. The moment of comfort was born of shared trauma and relief, nothing more. Yet Maseo couldn’t help the way his heart quickened with each gentle stroke of Kitsuki’s fingers through his hair.
He soaked in the care and concern like a man dying of thirst who had stumbled upon a clear river. Tomorrow would bring reality back in full force, with all its limitations and impossibilities. But if only for tonight, he would permit himself to feel worthy of such kindness.
“Your Majesty,” a guard’s voice called from outside the tent, shattering the peaceful silence. “The War Power is here to see you.”
Kitsuki’s body tensed at the announcement before they separated to create a respectable distance between them.
“Send her in,” Kitsuki replied.
