He’d trusted his Dragon wisdom to present his case.

Would his gamble pay off? Colson marveled at how much new hidden knowledge his Dragon had revealed to both of them. Sabra had accepted his Dragon, but she needed to accept his human side as well, or their mating wouldn’t proceed.

Allowing himself to know things without mental processing of information, Colson operated with the new understanding that the final stages of the mating were at hand. Sabra knew about and had accepted his Dragon. She alone held power to complete the mating by accepting him as her mate in this physical realm too.

Soft puffs of air tickled his chin as Sabra’s breathing registered.

“How are you?” he asked, hoping she wouldn’t have a rebound of denial as her rational mind tried to reassert its dominance.

Her reply was quick. “I’m surprisingly great. Wow—just wow.” She scanned him as if looking at Colson for the first time.

“Bria, I know this is a lot to process, so I’ll exercise a bit of restraint. Please, sleep on it, but tomorrow I’d like to revisit our situation. Now that you know about Ava, me, and my heritage, I ask you to consider being my mate.”

“But I already did.”

“No, my love. You accepted your eternal connection to my Dragon. We are one and the same, but each side must win your heart for the mating to be true and fully empowered.”

“I don’t need to sleep on that. Yes—a billion times.”

“I encourage you to sleep on it. You’re caught up in the moment. I’ll admit, my Dragon pulled out all the stops to woo and seduce you. That’s what we do as Dragons. I ask that you take some time to get away from the effect of interacting with my Dragon in the pure essence of the magic that binds us.” He needed her to slow down to make informed proclamations. “Please, Sabra, do that for me? Whatever you decide, I’ll accept. What I won’t do is allow you to make a hasty decision and live to regret it. That does neither of us any good.”

“You called me Sabra. Is that your way of trying to make me obey you?” She reached up and grabbed his chin with her delicate fingers to steady his focus as she said, “Remember, I do what I want, and I want to mate with you. I’m clear on what I want. Remember, you’re not the boss of me.”

“That I do remember, but you have to know that once you give your consent, there’s not too much that can keep me from pursuing you to consummate our mating. As we sit here, the mating thrall is consuming me.”

Ever diligent to watch him as if learning more with every second, she asked, “Is that why you haven’t been eating? I don’t like how tired you’re looking.”

“You noticed that?”

“Yeah and I don’t like it. I know through your Dragon that it has something to do with us, no with me.” She leaned in and brushed his lips with hers. “Is it the mating thrall doing this to you? Tell me what I need to do to help you regain your appetite.”

He considered her request. His Dragon wisdom pressed him to reveal the truth. “Yes, Bria, it’s the mating thrall. My appetite hasn’t waned, it’s shifted. Instead of food, I crave being with you.”

“I’m here, and if you’ll have me, I’m not going anywhere.”

His lips were on hers before thoughts caught up with the action. She opened to receive him in total surrender. Colson drank in the power their kiss generated. He pulled away understanding what came next.

“Bria, you don’t understand. I mean I need you in my bed. I need to mate with you through the act of sex to start to satisfy my appetite.”

She blinked a few times. This time he waited, unable to quiet the heavy breaths her silence wrung out of him.

“Isn’t that what I tried to do earlier in the shower?” she asked.

“No, that was different. We were caught up in physical desire, and I wouldn’t allow myself to allow it to go that far. You needed to know about the most important parts of me—my daughter and my Dragon,” he explained. “Our mating is forever binding. There’s no divorce or severing ties in a Dragon mating. Once it’s done, I’m your mate for life.”

Colson paused to let his words sink in and do their damnedest. Sabra blinked and waited for a moment as if expecting him to continue. When he didn’t, she spoke up.

“I’m still tracking with you, continue,” she said seemingly unfazed by the soberness of his words.

“There’s more. It’s said that the joining process can be excruciatingly painful for many females.” He attempted to drive this point home with a direct look. “Bria, if and when we mate, and you encounter discomfort, not only will I not be able to stop the pain, I won’t be able to stop myself. Once our joining begins, the mating thrall takes over until the deed is done. The consummation of our mating will result in a bond that links us in ways no mere human coupling can achieve.”

“Such as?” she asked seeming to ignore the part about her possible suffering through the joining.

He decided to roll with it and answered. “Your aging process will slow to match mine. And before you ask, yes, we age slower than regular humans. You’ll develop keener senses and take on some of my Dragon-related gifts.”

“That’s a boon. I’m not seeing the downside of our joining yet.”

“My hunger for you will intensify as we go through the honeymoon stage of being joined. I can’t say for certain when or if that hunger ever decreases. Can you live with a love-hungry Dragon wanting you all the time? Because that’s a real possibility.”

“Keep going.”

“As a Dragon, I have control over when and if I release my seed during sex.” The press of urgency to get to the heart of the matter pressed forward. “Bria, this is the most important part. Please pay attention to this will you?” He waited, and she nodded. “I must warn you that with our initial act of sex, our mating is completed when I share my seed with you. Listen to me closely, our joining could produce a child on our first try. Me implanting my seed deep within you is part of the joining ritual to bind us together.”

He allowed his words to settle in the air between them to grow and expand real possibilities of moving forward.

Sabra didn’t flinch or reveal any outward reaction. Times like this had Colson wishing they did have the mated bond so he could understand what went on behind those beautiful eyes of hers.

“My cycle has all but finished. Didn’t I read somewhere that it takes about five days for a new egg to get into position for fertility?”

“Ah, I see someone has been using Doctor Google. And, yes, that can be the case with some women in normal human interactions. I’m a Dragon, and as the top apex predator, our virility knows no bounds. A similar situation is how Ava came to be.”

“Yeah, about her, where’s Ava’s mother?”

Sensing they could quickly get off topic with this rabbit trail weighed on his desire to move forward. Sabra didn’t move as if waiting for him to bring her up to speed on Ava’s mother. Dragon wisdom prevailed. He knew that the need for his potential mate to have as much information as possible before making the next step had to be addressed. Colson obliged and launched into the story of how his precious daughter came to be.

“Ava’s mother and I were friends. She was a were-lioness.” He held up a hand to stop Sabra’s next question. “Yes, were-beings exist. Ava’s mother was one. We’d gone to medical school together and got along well.” He stopped to check Sabra’s reaction. She continued to look at him in anticipation for him to continue. “We were finishing our residency, and my mother passed from a heart attack.”

“I didn’t know Dragons could get heart attacks.”

“We can’t. My mother was human and was caught in a declining loop of mental health that my father couldn’t pull her out of. He went to help my Uncle in Europe to clear his head, and my mother descended into depression.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Sabra adjusted herself in his lap. “I thought you said she died of a heart attack.”

“I did, but it was brought on by her attempted suicide. She took so many black-market mood-enhancing pills in a cry for help to make my father return, that her heart couldn’t take it. My mother thought that if she could fix her depression, he’d come back. She took enough pills to kill any human, no matter how Dragon-strength enhanced.” He huffed out the acrid breath as if trying to excise the bad taste of the memory.

His next words were those fueled by the ones that continued to haunt him. His Dragon took the reins and guided him to look at his soon-to-be mate as he confessed to the long-held secret. “Bria, my mother died alone. I was a doctor able to heal, and she died alone of a broken heart and mental illness. I should have known. I should have been there to use my gift to help my own mother.”

Small, soft hands clasped either side of his face and held firm until Colson focused on the woman sitting here with him now.

“I won’t pretend to know how to relieve your pain, so I won’t. What I will ask you to do is not hold yourself accountable for your mother’s death. What I will also do is any and everything in my power to help. We’ve got this.” She lowered her voice to infuse it with a boost of intimacy and added, “It’s the least I can do as your mate, right?”

Her wink lightened the mood enough for Colson to pull out of his spiraling thoughts to continue with the course of events.

“My Uncle’s wife, my Aunt Ellie and who is also my father’s sister, was the first to know of my mother’s passing. She was the one to call my father and uncle back to the States. My aunt found her—not my father or me.” Colson stopped, needing a break to allow the memories time to pass through his recollection without getting stuck to cause any more emotional trauma. “In hindsight, I know that my parents chose to keep me in the dark about her illness, but emotionally I feel as though I could have done something to help.”

“You can’t live in the past with scenarios of what ifs. You’ve got to be here in the now. Ava needs her Papa to be fully committed to the present.” Her hand was soft and warm as Sabra placed it on the middle of his chest. “There’s no rush on my part either. Take as long as you need to unpack this with me. Remember, I’m here and not going anywhere. We can talk about this at another time.”

Covering her hand with his, Colson shook his head and continued. “Let me get back on the topic you originally asked about.”

Another deep breath taken in and Colson launched into relaying the events that would lead to his having a child to become a never-mated, single father.

“Ava’s mother was there the night I found out. She was there for me in the only way I knew how to grieve. Yes, I’d been with other women before and after her, but it was something about my emotional grief that allowed me to pass my seed to her. We weren’t mated in the act, and I didn’t know she’d conceived until almost a year later.”

“What? How?”

He let the breath out that had been lodged in the back of his throat. There was a reason he never did this. The memories and pain were too complicated to understand.

His internal knowing nudged Colson to continue. Sabra deserved to know everything.

He pressed on. “Right after our one-night encounter, it was time to go to our attending hospital assignments. Deena, that was Ava’s mother’s name, got an offer at a hospital in the northwest. I got mine here in Atlanta. We parted with me never seeing her after that night. In hindsight, I knew she didn’t want me picking up on the fact that she was pregnant.”

“How would she know that?”

“Dragon senses.”

“Ah, yeah. How could I forget about that crash course your Dragon gave me on your heightened senses?”

“Yes, I would have been able to smell her pregnancy.”

“Why didn’t she tell you?”

“I don’t know for certain, but I can assume that Deena didn’t want me trying to marry her when she knew we weren’t mates.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

“That’s the only story that makes sense to me anyway. It was a little over nine months later when I got a call to come to Oregon where she was. Deena had been in a terrible accident on her way into work. She was stubborn like that and was working up to the time she’d go into labor. A long-distance truck driver t-boned her car. She knew she wouldn’t make it and made the paramedic promise to contact me about the baby.”

“Didn’t she have a family?”

“Yes and no. Since she didn’t want to be part of the pride—yes, those are real—she was ostracized. There was no way the family wanted to take on a Dragon who would terrorize their sense of hierarchy and be too much for them to subdue. From what I knew about Deena, she was going to try to raise Ava by herself.

“I contacted them, and they relinquished all rights to Ava, saying that since she was a Dragoness, there was no place for her in their pride.” He tried hard not to allow the pang of sorrow for his daughter to show as he relayed that last part. “They asked me to never divulge their identity or whereabouts. They made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with Ava, me, or any other Dragons.”

“That is so sad. I can’t get my head around how she was going to keep the knowledge of your child to herself.”

“I didn’t say she was going to do that. I think she wanted to wait until I mated to let me know. I also know that lions like to feel like they’re at the top of the food chain. Having Dragons around as a reminder that they aren’t the true top is something they can’t reconcile. In my opinion, Deena did the best she could to make the situation work. She was a lioness trying to protect her cub, even if that cub was a pure Dragonling.”

“Oh—that helps me be okay with what she did a little bit, but just a little.” Sabra’s face didn’t release the look of distaste plaguing it, though. “Dragonling? That’s such a cute name for baby Dragons.”

“It is what it is. Ava shows every sign of being as strong, if not stronger than my Aunt Ellie.”

“Oh? I think you mentioned her before.”

“Yes, she’s Bronwyn’s mother-in-law by human standards, but the matriarch of our family. She considers us her children.”

“That’s so nice.”

“Yes, but she has her ways about her too.”

“Like?” Sabra’s curiosity shone brightly in her eyes.

“How about I let you figure that out for yourself. I’m sure we’ll be seeing her soon enough. That woman has a strong gift that most Dragons would give up their entire hoard to possess.”

“Which is? Come on, Cole, stop feeding me these tidbits. I have to know all the words, not sound bites.”

“How did we get off topic here? You’ll meet Aunt Ellie, and she can choose to tell or show you what she likes—that is if we complete our mating.”

“Bet on that.” Sabra seemed resigned to her word. “How about you finish telling me about Ava’s mother. It’s so tragic.”

Colson squeezed Sabra more to gather comfort from her than the other way around.

“Yes, where was I?” he asked knowing full well where he’d been but wanting to skirt over the trauma of Deena’s death.

“You were telling me your thoughts on why she didn’t tell you about Ava during her pregnancy.”

“That’s right,” he agreed, marveling at how well Sabra had kept up and how interested she was in knowing more of Ava’s coming to be.

“Go on, Cole. Based on what you know about strong women like Deena, sounds like she was prepared to go it alone. Do you really think she would have ever told you?

“We’ll never know. I’m glad she made the paramedic promise to contact me because she died in childbirth. I got there a few hours after to meet my baby for the first time.”

Colson saw the single tear fall from Sabra’s eye as she listened.

“I’m the only parent Ava has ever known. I’ve told her what I can about Deena, including the fact that she was a were-lioness. Ava’s still a bit young to fully grasp much about her since my DNA is so prevalent, but she tries to remember her with little items and thoughts.”

Sabra sat up and motioned to move back to the sofa. She threw her legs over into Colson’s lap and leaned back on a group of pillows.

“Now I want to shower Ava with lots of love to make up for so much.” Sabra’s tone softened. “I know what it’s like to grow up without a mother or father. My grand-aunt on my father’s side raised me until she died when I was a freshman in college. She was nice, but there’s nothing like your mother. Hearing about Ava’s situation, my heart breaks.” She sat up. “Cole, I know more than ever that I want, no I need to do this. If Ava is truly all right with me coming into your family, I’d love to do whatever I can to show her all the love I can give.”

“Hey, you’ll need to save some for me, too.” He stopped short realizing what he’d said.

“That’s a given. I don’t know how to say this, but after meeting with your Dragon, it’s as if ancient, forever memories of us have awakened within me. I feel like this is my goal. It has been all my life to end up back with you.” She offered a little smile full of serious undertones. “I don’t know why Ava came to us the way she did, but I’ll do what I can to help Deena by being there for Ava. Now, come here,” she said motioning with a finger.

“How’s your thigh?” he asked, already knowing she sent out no pain indicators.

“It’s great. You already knew that, so stop stalling and start crawling my way.”

Colson did as she asked, wedging himself between the sofa back and her. He pulled Sabra into the curve of his side and nestled into the warmth they generated.

“Now what,” Sabra asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do we go to bed to you know? Or to bed to sleep? What’s it going to be?”

He allowed the chuckle to flow. “Bria, you crack me up sometimes. No, how about we just be here together for a little while. I still want you to get a good night’s rest before we do anything.”

“Why?”

“Because I want your hamstring to benefit from the rehab we did earlier by giving it a night of rest. That, and I need to move you out of the medical suite.”

“Moving? To where?”

“To my bedroom.”

“Ooh, okay.”

“Don’t get all worked up. I need to stay close to you to make sure you don’t feel pain as you continue to heal. Ava is back home, and I need to be close by should she wake in the middle of the night. I might be a Dragon, but I can’t be in two places at the same time on Earth. So, we need to get you moved.” A thought from an earlier conversation with Bronwyn floated into his memory. “Hmm…,” he squeezed his soft mate as the thought continued to take shape.

“What?”

“I realized that since the mating thrall is active, your body is attuned to mine. That’s why the painkillers did little to help, and I had to keep sedating you.”

“So, you’re my pain medicine?”

“It seems that’s the case. Your body responds to mine and proximity plays an important part of that. I guess it’s the mating thrall’s way of making sure we bond.” A loosely connected thought zoomed by. “That also means I have to admit to Bronwyn that her theory is correct.”

“Which is?”

“That I’m the one who has to help you heal. The mating thrall blocks out everything else. She had an injury while in the mating thrall with Mac. Bronwyn insisted that it was only Mac’s closeness that gave her relief.”

Sabra turned her head to see him out of her periphery. “Like I said, she was right. You know, I need to give Bronwyn more credit. That woman works hard and knows a thing or two.”

“Yes, she does. But enough about other people, I want to continue explaining important things you should take into consideration.”

“Such as?”

“Any children we have will be Dragons, and you’ll need to have a lot of strength to endure the pregnancies. Also, your social life will shift to interact with the supernatural community. I think that might be a big adjustment meeting and interacting with shifters and other superhumans.”

“I guess I could see how that might be the case.” Sabra paused to consider what he said and came back with, “So, does this mean that most of the folks at Doctor Hassenberg’s event the other night were supernaturals?”

“Yes, I’d say all the attendees and many of the service staff.”

“Including Doctor Hassenberg?”

“Especially her. She’s an elder Dragoness in our community.” Colson had little remorse for divulging Nina’s heritage. “Before I forget, please, let me know if she ever tries to pry into your personal life. I’ll also ask that you don’t let her know anything about our mating.”

“Sure thing. Is there a reason why? You don’t sound so keen on her.”

“Yes, because she’s a meddling old woman who thinks she’s the rightful matchmaker of our Dragon community. Like my mate, I do what I want, and I know I want you. She doesn’t have the right to take credit for our mating.”

A smile big enough to light his soul on fire blossomed on Sabra’s face.

“Why Colson, I think this might be the first time I’ve heard you say anything about anyone in a not so flattering way. And you know what? I’m here for it.” She let out a contagious giggle that had both of them laughing.

He stopped chuckling to continue his briefing on the most pressing things Sabra should know.

“In case you didn’t already know, I would ask that you move in here with Ava and me. A mating is deeper than a marriage, but if you’d like one, I have no qualms with that. I understand you might need that for friends who might think our bond is less for not having the traditional human conventions.”

Sabra struggled to turn over to see him but managed and finally faced him. Taking advantage of their extreme closeness, she said, “Cole,” making sure she had his attention. “I know this might come as a shock to you, but I don’t want a wedding or marriage to muddy up our mating. I’ve done some thinking and research. I don’t like the energy that traditional marriage brings into the union. Then there’s the whole weirdness about me and any offspring we have becoming your property. It’s bad enough that I have to deal with the birth certificate, nationality, government ownership part of existing on this Earth, I don’t want to have that implied property of a man through matrimony hanging over my head too.”

Colson’s mind raced to keep up with her assertions only to realize that yes, she was correct. The verbiage and implications of a government certified marriage would indeed impose those rules over her and their children.

“Bria, you’re a brilliant woman, and I’d be honored to not marry you.”

The smile she gave him was tremendous.

“On one condition,” he continued.

Bria’s smile dampened.

“That you do the Dragon mating ceremony with me before my family and your friends as witnesses to our commitment. You can call it a personal commitment ceremony if that makes it easier for you.”

Her smile returned as she stuck out a hand and said, “Deal, as long as we keep it simple.”

They kissed on it. Colson liked how comfortable they’d become in such a short time. What he thought would take weeks to do had been done in a matter of a long weekend. He had to marvel once again at how accurate everyone had said a mating thrall worked.

He would have never thought Sabra would be so willing to accept how her life would change, or how considerate she’d been to his particular circumstances of coming to her with a ready-made family.

“Anything you want that I have is mine to give. Now, how about we get you moved into the bedroom?” he asked.

“Which bedroom is that going to be?”

“Mine and hopefully ours soon.”

He loved the smile that spread across her face.

“And, will you be sharing this bed with me?”

He paused but knew he had to be open and honest with her.

“Not tonight. I have to make sure Ava doesn’t get up in the middle of the night looking for water and come in without understanding that we’re mating.” A new thought came to him. “How about this? If after you wake tomorrow and you’re still set on mating, we do it after I take Ava to school? That way, we’ll have time to enjoy and be free.”

‘Never thought I’d be making an appointment to get my mating on, but yeah, that will work.”

“Welcome to the life of parenting,” he said understanding. “We’ll be able to have the house to ourselves from around nine to two.”

“Got it. Five hours to change our lives forever.”

The way she said it had Colson wanting to make sure she wasn’t pressed. Before he could say anything to that effect, she stopped him.

“Don’t do it. I’m fine, and yes, I’ll want to still mate with you in the morning. Even if we only have five minutes in the corner of the pantry, I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Bria, I’ll make sure our mating is everything you want and more.”

“As long as it can be done in five hours, I’m good,” she joked. “Now, help me hobble to the medical suite. We have to pack up all the stuff Bronwyn brought over, and I need to empty my bladder again,” she said, comfortable talking about her body functions as if they’d been together forever.

Colson stopped short. In a way, they had been together forever. Then he remembered her complaint about her privacy and let out a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing. Just noticing how you went from needing your privacy to announcing your bladder status with freedom.”

She positioned her body to stand, indicating that she was ready to get up. Colson moved the way he usually would now that she knew he was a Dragon.

“Whoa! Did we fall into a speed wormhole?”

“No, now that you know I’m a Dragon, I can be free to do what comes naturally too. You need to use the bathroom, and I need to get you moved. You go empty your bladder, I’ll move your things, and we can get ready for bed.”

“Together?” she smiled.

“Tomorrow.”

“Come on then. Time for me to spend my last night as a single woman.”

“You better believe it. This time tomorrow I plan to have you mated so hard, you feel it through your past.”

“Ooh, I can get used to this side of you, Dragon.”