Citrine looked down at his mate, pleased with everything about her, as her dark, sensual eyes glowed with satisfaction and she bit her lower lip.

He’d taken care of the she-wolf inside her, and he hoped to be able to do it for the rest of their lives.

Thunder sounded overhead, and he heard light rain pattering on the window outside her bedroom.

“I love rain,” Robbie said, looking wistfully out the window.

Citrine stood up and gathered her clothes up, handing them to her. “Let’s go enjoy it, then.”

“Where?”

“The back deck,” he said.

“We’ll get wet,” she said. He gave her a smirk, and she flushed rapidly. “Stop that! Besides, someone might see us out there.”

“Your parents?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure anyone who sees us knows I want you. They may as well start getting used to the sight of us together.” He squinted. “I may be imagining it, but I think they’re actually on my side about this.”

She sighed. “You may be right.” She pulled on her clothing reluctantly as Citrine did the same. “But I do love the rain. We can go talk out there.

They crept downstairs, and Citrine was relieved to not see any sign of her parents.

He still wanted to be alone with her for now.

She led him to the back door, and as they walked out onto the deck, he took in the scents of a beautiful, wet garden and lots of clean grass.

Rain was only falling lightly overhead, and they took two cushioned deck chairs next to one another.

He looked up at the cloudy sky with a grin. “Ah, rain. Nature’s showering alternative.” A raindrop landed in his eye, and he grimaced, shaking his head.

“You look like a dog when you do that,” she said with a grin. “Maybe you’re actually a wolf? Some kind I can’t scent?”

He shook his head. “Anyway…”

“Right,” she said. “New topic.”

“New topic.” He agreed.

“Weather like this reminds me of Seattle,” she said.

“Is that a good thing?” he asked, lying back on the chair and looking over at her.

She nodded. Her creamy brown skin was still softly glowing, her dark eyes like shimmering velvet. Beautiful, curled lashes rested on her cheeks as she closed her eyes to think. When she opened them, her eyes were shimmering slightly. “Reminds me of freedom. Some of the best times of my life. Meeting you and the others as well. You were my favorite company to work for. I’m glad you were my last happy memory.”

He frowned. “Surely not the last happy memory ever.”

She curled up on her side on the cushions, tucking her hand under her head. Her hair was forming tighter curls as the rain dampened it. “No. I just meant with my work. With my time in the outside world.”

“If you truly love it there, I don’t see why you should have to leave.”

“I have responsibilities. Like you did at Date-A-Dragon. You understand.”

“No,” he said. “Not like this.”

“It was nice being out in the world, though. Living without huge, weighty decisions like the safety of my pack or myself. In Seattle, I could just be myself, do what I wanted, help people in whatever way I wanted to. I don’t think I was more selfish, but I was more myself.” She smiled at him wistfully. “But my parents have done everything for me. Raised me with responsibility for my pack. I’m happy to do just this for them.”

“What if they don’t want you to do this anymore?” he asked, feeling a tension headache forming between his brows at how inevitable she was making this sound, even when they’d just made love.

Didn’t she know he could make this all better? Was there something about Bryson he wasn’t understanding? He rolled onto his back in frustration, hating the resignation in Robbie’s voice. He’d liked it better when she was bossing him around, asserting her will, making what she wanted happen.

“When I saw Bryson at the mall when I was with Kelsey, I knew it was a sign that I had to come back. That I couldn’t run from destiny anymore.”

“Destiny?” he asked, cocking his head. “I don’t think so. You aren’t destined for Bryson. I can tell you that much for sure.”

“Then I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

“Sometimes that’s not a bad thing,” he said. “Sometimes destiny turns out different than you planned. Sometimes what you think is destined isn’t destined at all.”

“Then couldn’t you be wrong in thinking I’m your destiny?”

He touched his chest seriously, staring into her eyes. “No. I know it in a much deeper place than any logic or reason or responsibility can reach. I know it at the core of me, the base. I know it more than I know rain is wet or grass grows with water.” Her eyes glistened as she watched him. “I just know it.”

“I wish I did, too,” she said. “But that just isn’t how it works with wolves. Most of us can’t have some romantic idea of mates. Alpha females especially.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “I just don’t get it. To me, it’s simple. No one in this world should do what they don’t have to.”

“You haven’t ever done something you didn’t want to?” she asked. “Seriously?”

“Of course I’ve done things for others. Fought for things I wanted to happen. But this is different. We are talking about love, about something that changes someone’s experience for the better for their entire lifetime. That should never be forced.”

“Aren’t you forcing it?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “I’m being open with you about what I think, but I’m always aware of your choices. I think you want me. I see you watching me, like a kid with their face pressed to the glass of a store that holds something they can’t have. I’m determined to make all this possible. I’m just trying to introduce to your mind the idea that maybe things can work out all right.”

He left his chair to kneel in front of hers, stroking her face, and she closed her eyes, expression slightly pained. “I want to believe it.”

“Then do,” he said. He released her face and went to take one of her hands in his. “I like the part of you that always thinks of others. I admire it. But I don’t want to see it tell you that anyone else is more important. Robbie matters, too.”

She sighed and opened her eyes to look at him. “How are you so wise about things like this?”

He pulled his chair over so he could sit on the side of it and keep her hand in his. “I guess I have some experience in disappointing people.”

“How so?” she asked, sitting up to face him. Her curls were drawing up in tight, wet ringlets, and he wanted badly to pull on them, watch them bounce back into place. Resilient like she was.

“Just growing up,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I had good parents. But my mother and father were expecting something… different. I wasn’t as… masculine as my father wanted.”

“You? Not masculine?” she asked with a scoff. “You’re one of the most masculine people I know.”

“Not by the standards in my culture.”

“In New York?” she asked.

“I’m not really from New York. I just lived there. I can’t talk a lot about where I’m from because I can’t give away what I am, so I’m sorry, but I’ll have to speak in general terms.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “But I really look forward to the day when you can tell me anything.”

His heart skipped because her words, even if she didn’t realize it, meant there was a part of her that hoped for a day when they could be mates and share things like that. “Anyway, I was more into plants and gardening than the kinds of things other kids like me were supposed to be into.”

“Gardening is a great hobby,” she said.

“Well, I wasn’t considered to be fulfilling my potential,” he said. “My parents had… lofty goals for me.”

He closed his eyes, hating facing the truth even now. At first, his mother had treasured his gentleness, the way he preferred to help things grow rather than kill them.

But both his parents had thought he would grow out of it, become the powerful sun dragon that was expected of him. Dragons with powers like his could turn the tide of a war, destroy an entire nation… blind the world.

Yet Citrine had been born with an inexplicable peacemaking nature. Perhaps it was the deep-down knowledge there was something powerful inside him that had to be controlled. That great power brought great risks. That if he ever lost control, the consequences could be great. And growing up, he’d heard frequently just how strong his powers were.

But if his parents had expected him to turn into a despot, they’d been disappointed. Their constant bragging about his powers had only made him want to lock himself up that much more.

And he’d always been fine locked up. That was until Robbie had left. Now he supposed it was probably good he had a collar on, because he didn’t want to risk losing control of anything inside him.

“I don’t get it,” she said, resting her cheek on her hand. “I don’t get how anyone couldn’t love you just as you are.” She shook her head. “Besides, rough, overpowering masculinity used to take advantage of others is easy. Look at Bryson.”

“I could never be like him,” Citrine said. “My strength is for protecting others, not securing advantages for myself.”

“But you want to secure me for yourself.”

“Only if you want me. Only if you one day see the same destiny that is planted in my heart.”

She let out a little sigh. “That’s a beautiful way of saying it. And who knows? Things are changing. They’ve already changed so much in just a few days. My whole life, there was just this solid brick wall on the horizon. Now there are options. I guess I’m excited to see what happens, even if I’m a little scared.”

He came over to sit by her. “I’m glad there’s a part of you that can hope for something more.”

She leaned her head in against him. “Yeah. Me, too.” She let out a long, happy breath, and he wondered if she was thinking about what they’d just done in her bedroom. But he was determined not to read any more of her thoughts.

“Citrine?” she said in a quiet voice. “You really do feel like sunshine. Soft and warm.”

He smiled gently. For now, she needed a comforting glow. But he also knew that if anyone threatened her, they would suffer the other side of him, the incinerating rays of an angry sun.

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. After all, what could a wolf do to really challenge a dragon?