Alek couldn’t believe Talia had somehow awakened him from the ice again—or that he’d fallen for Dr. Henrick’s lies in the first place.

He’d still been confused by his memories and only wanted to do the right thing.

But when Dr. Henrick had threatened Talia, Alek had immediately known and awakened. His heart hadn’t been able to let go.

Perhaps he was always meant to be here with her. Protecting her. Seeing to her safety. Perhaps it wasn’t up to him to save the whole world by being part of an experiment.

Perhaps he could just make his own world with her.

“I love you, too,” she murmured against him. “Why would you go with him? Why would you sacrifice yourself like that?”

He rested his head on hers, keeping the cold back, which was easy now that he again had control of his powers. He could bring the cold and remove it at will, and it had nothing to do with being lord of winter. He was simply an ice dragon, and that was enough. “He said I would make things unsafe for you. That I would hold you back and be unable to keep people from hurting you.” He brushed her hair back, melting any remaining snow. “I couldn’t let anything happen to you, and I didn’t have my powers back yet.”

“But you do now?” She looked up at him curiously.

“Yes. As you saw. They didn’t come back with my memories, but they came back because I needed to return to you. To help you. I guess that tells me where my place is.”

“I still can’t believe you are… I mean, it’s as unbelievable as anything. Those blood tests… I never could have imagined.” She shook her head. “Though, I’m grateful you were able to make him back down.” She looked into the woods nervously. “Do you think he’ll be okay out there?”

“He should be, but I don’t care,” Alek retorted. “He hit you. I should have killed him for it. No one will ever hurt you again.”

She wrapped her arms around him and sighed. “You can’t prevent everything. That’s not what I want from you. You aren’t perfect. You don’t have to be.”

He sighed. “Maybe not, but I still won’t let anyone hurt you.” He set her back from himself a bit. “We should get you inside, though, before we talk more. Do you know if you remember seeing any shelter on the way here?”

“There was a lodge a few miles back,” she said. “We could stay there.”

“Okay,” Alek said. She gasped as wings sprouted from his back, sending ice shards scattering everywhere. “It’s going to be a bit cold for a minute, but this is the fastest way to get you inside.”

And then he scooped her up in his arms and kicked off the ground, flying low over the forest, dodging taller trees, following the road until they got to the lodge Talia had seen.

When he set her down, she was speechless, and snow glittered in her hair.

“You okay?”

She nodded, still gaping. “I mean, I knew there was something… unexplainable about you. But I never knew you were made of pure magic.”

He laughed, pulling her in against him as they walked up the steps to the lodge. “I’m not pure magic, as you’ll see in a moment when we talk. But for now, let’s focus on getting you warm.”

They checked in, lucky a room was available. Alek let Talia handle things with the hotel manager, who kept looking at them curiously, and then gave them the keys to their room.

The only room left happened to be a suite at the back of the lodge, offset from any other rooms, with two stories and a huge window that looked out on the snowy landscape. Snow was falling quietly, illuminated by the lights from the balcony and the bright moon. Beautiful white on the ground as far as the eye could see.

And the bed was right in front of the window, the perfect place to sit with his mate.

But first, he had to make things even warmer here. He flipped a switch over the fireplace, recognizing it to be similar to the one in Talia’s apartment that the dragons liked to sit around at night.

As the fire lit the room with a warm glow, Talia sat on the bed and looked out the window with a sigh. Then she noticed the fireplace. “Will you melt?”

“I control the ice. I’m not made of it,” he said, smiling as he joined her on the bed. He pulled her in against him and flopped down so they were lying on their sides, face to face. “Talia, everything has been wonderful. But it’s been hard for me to not tell you that almost from the moment I met you, I wanted to make you mine.”

She flushed and brushed a hand through her still-damp hair, though most of the snow had melted. “I… I’ve wanted you for some time, too. I didn’t feel like I had any right to—”

“You’re my mate,” he said, cupping her cheek gently. “You’re the reason I awakened. The reason I broke the ice both times. I’m glad I froze in the past so I could wake up and be with you. You’ve given me a life I never deserved. In my past…” He felt shame wash over him. He didn’t want to remember, let alone say it aloud.

“Do you want to tell me?” she asked carefully. “Because I have to tell you it doesn’t matter to me who you were hundreds of years ago. It matters to me who you are now.”

He shook his head. “No. You deserve to know everything. I’m not who I thought I was. I was raised spoiled, the son of a king, told I would be the lord of winter. I was young when I was given my first village. I didn’t do well there. I was selfish and driven, and… everyone left.”

She simply watched him.

“I’d been isolated from everyone but Dmitri and Luka. I wasn’t raised to know any love. Without my identity as ruler of something, I didn’t know how to live. I couldn’t control myself. Something went wrong.”

She pressed her lips together. “It sounds awful.”

“I… accidentally froze myself. Dmitri and Luka, too. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were trying to help me. To let me know we could have a second chance. I was stubborn. I didn’t want to face my father.”

“But wouldn’t he have loved you anyway?”

Alek shook his head fiercely, pain lancing through him as he did. “No. It wasn’t like that for us. He loved what he thought I could do for him. How much pride I would bring when I ruled. He would never have accepted me. I think, deep down, I knew there was nothing left for me in that world. But still, I never would have intentionally hurt myself, Dmitri, or Luka.”

“And do they know about this?”

Alek grimaced. “They remembered the whole time. It makes me ashamed to think of it, how they have been protecting my feelings all this time. They are good friends, and I never deserved them.”

“Well, they seem to think otherwise. Because they stuck around, regardless.”

“They tried to save me when I lost control of my powers. I tried to tell them to go—” He closed his eyes in pain, still hating every time he recalled it. He sat up, rocking forward, and the bed rustled as Talia sat up beside him.

She grabbed his face in both hands and forced him to face her. “You have to forgive yourself. It was a mistake. After everyone else left, you said they followed you. You may not see the good you did for them throughout life, but they do. Trust them. Let them be with you, and be better to them from now on.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead, and it was so warm he felt he could actually melt. “That world is gone, and you can be who you want.”

He trapped her hands in his and brought them down to rest on the bed between them. “I want to be with you. I don’t want to rule anything. I don’t know if I ever did. That world, the people who left, the father who never loved me… You’re right. They’re gone. And maybe I was always meant to be with you. Maybe I needed to lose my memory to discover who I am.”

“And who are you?”

“Just a dragon,” he said. “Meant to mate with a woman named Talia and protect her forever.” He lifted her palm to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside. “Say you want to be with me, Talia, and we can make it forever.”

She nodded. “I mean, I’m human. I don’t know about mating. I don’t know about dragons.”

“Not much to know. The myths are true. We exist, and you’ve seen my other form now. I don’t imagine you’ll see it again, unless we go somewhere secluded to try it. So as long as you accept me as a man, that’s what matters. I’m the same man you’ve known since I woke up and wrecked your lab.”

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll try to accept that. Though, I don’t know how long I can resist the urge to study you.”

“I’m fine with that, at some point, as long as we’re careful about it.”

“Of course,” she said eagerly. “After all, the one thing Henrick was right about is that someone like you would be an oddity in our world. But even if I never get to study that side of you, I’m fine with where we are right now.” She sighed. “All I know is I love you, and I can’t imagine life without you here.”

“That’s enough for me,” he said earnestly. “We don’t have to rush an official mating. I’m not even sure how it works. We can just go about it like humans. I can take it one step at a time as long as every step is with you.”

Talia swallowed, choked up with emotion. “Sounds good to me. I’m a scientist. I’ve never taken leaps. Yet, even when I thought you wanted to go with Dr. Henrick, I couldn’t let you go. I was willing to risk everything in that moment, my career, my life. That should tell you everything you need to know.”

Alek nodded, realizing for the first time how much she had put on the line. “I’m glad you did that. We never spoke of our feelings, so I’m glad you feel the same.”

She curled a hand around his neck, moving closer. “I couldn’t have been with you like that if I didn’t. I’m not the type to get involved.”

“Why me, then?” Alek asked. “When I first woke up, I was insufferable.”

“But then you were strong and protective and sweet. And honest in a way many men today aren’t.”

“I see.”

“And I guess,” she said, moving in even closer, making his body heat up. “maybe it’s just that you’re magical, and the longer I was with you, the more I couldn’t resist being illogical for once in my life.”

“I’m glad,” Alek said, bringing his lips down close to hers, brushing against them so that she made a little shudder of anticipation. “Speaking of which, want to make a little magic now?”

She let out a soft breath, lips so close he could almost taste them, and then brought her lips against his with a soft, passionate kiss. “Yes,” she said against him, digging her hands into his shirt. “I need to feel you. Make me yours.”

Alek just laughed and kissed her back.

* * *

Talia knew she was out of control now, but since everything had stopped making sense, she’d decided to just go along with her feelings.

And right now, she just wanted to feel Alek holding her tight, pumping inside her, being as close as two humans could be.

She was glad she had taken on Dr. Henrick. Glad that Alek had come into her life and forced her to fight for something, to get her head out of her lab and really enjoy life.

She laughed to herself, thinking about the first time she’d seen him when he’d burst out of the ice. Or when he’d arm wrestled the entire football team.

Or when he’d turned into a magnificent shimmering dragon…

She knew she would want to see that again. Life with him would be filled with more wonder than she’d ever imagined.

She rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her as she struggled to get out of her clothes. “Take me,” she said. “I need you close to me now.”

He nodded eagerly, emitting a little growl as he pulled his shirt off over his head and then began to unbuckle his pants. They were in a race to get naked, to be skin to skin and bared to each other with nothing in between. She struggled beneath him to get her pants off, and he helped her before standing up to step out of his own.

Then he removed his underwear, chucking it to the side so he could get back on top of her on the bed. She’d gotten her bra off and left only her panties, and when she reached for them, Alek’s hand covered hers, a glimmer in his eye.

“Too slow, human. My turn.” He grinned as he hooked a finger into the waistband and slowly drew them down, giving her a long, heated look as he did.

His blue eyes gleamed and his pale hair looked beautiful in the firelight, slightly wavy from being in the cold.

When she was all the way naked, he grabbed her hands in his and intertwined their fingers, pushing her hands down at either side of her head. Then he kissed her, pressing his body against her, his hard thighs straddling her soft hips, his chest pressing hers, his perfect lips fitting to her mouth perfectly. She moaned and opened slightly, and he slipped his tongue inside with one smooth stroke.

She gasped as he continued to stroke every sensitive part of her mouth. She writhed against him and felt him let go of one of her hands so he could reach down between them. Then she felt his strong, capable fingers gently exploring her wet folds.

“Talia, you’re so perfect,” he said reverently, playing at her clit as she felt pressure build inside in response. “I could do this forever. Hold you forever. You’ll never be able to get rid of me for all time.” He pulled back and moved down between her legs, spreading them and hefting them over his shoulders. Then he tasted her between her legs.

She shrieked and writhed, utterly embarrassed, but he trapped her with both hands, not letting her go. His blue eyes were wicked as he teased her with his tongue, watching her writhe and buck, her eyes rolling back in her head at the intense pleasure. She dug her hands into the sheets, wondering how she was going to hold on.

“Not yet,” Alek murmured against her. “I want you to hold on.”

So she did, moaning and trying to fight back her orgasm as he continued to tease her, wondering how she’d gotten so lucky as to have Alek as a lover for the rest of her life.

Somehow, despite their short history, she knew they were going to be together. She knew it more than any equation or factoid. She knew it like she knew the sun would still rise.

“My sweetheart,” Alek said softly, running his tongue over her one more time. She arched back, not sure she could take it any longer, but then felt Alek quickly drop her legs and move between them.

She barely had time to gasp before he entered her with one long stroke. She sighed, nearly crying with satisfaction at being filled with his hardness.

She wriggled. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to hold on.”

He looked down at her, and she could see the same strain in his face. Though he’d been languidly pleasing her, clearly, he had been just as desperate all along. She could feel her body clenching around him in anticipation.

Then he pulled out and began to stroke, and the whole world seemed to light up.

“Oh, Alek.” She sighed, relaxing into the movement, letting her body adjust to the pressure, enjoying each slick thrust that brought them together. The light building inside her kept getting brighter and brighter, and she felt as if she would soon burst.

Just when she couldn’t take it anymore, she felt Alek pull out one more time and bury himself deep inside her, and her body finally toppled over the edge. She burst, feeling like a star gone supernova, shattering in his arms.

She wrapped her arms around him and felt him jerk in response. He found his release inside her, and she enjoyed wave after wave of pleasure as he called out her name and held her close as if he couldn’t ever let go of her. As if he never wanted to be out of her arms.

When he withdrew, pressing kisses to her neck and forehead, she smiled, drawing him down to rest against her chest. “God, the lord of winter is insatiable.”

“Only for you,” Alek said breathlessly. “I’ll never get enough as long as I live. I’ll love you forever, Talia.”

“I’ll love you forever as well,” she replied, cuddling into his arms.

They stayed like that for hours as the snow silently fell. And all Talia could think about was the magic of it. How two people from different worlds had found each other. How right the love between them felt.

Even in a world with ice-covered dragons, perhaps love was the most magical thing of all.

* * *

* * *

I hope you had fun reading this first book in the Frozen Dragon series! If you enjoyed Alek and Talia’s story, I hope you’ll leave a review to help other readers find it. Also let me know in your review whose story you are looking forward to next! I really love and appreciate all the support, messages, and fun posts you send me. I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have the most amazing readers in the world. All of you are awesome, beautiful people and I hope you know that every day.

The next Frozen Dragon book should be out pretty quickly, so please make sure you’re on my newsletter so you can be first to know when it releases!

Thanks again for sticking with me through this journey, or for new readers, thanks for giving me a chance. I hope your day is wonderful.

Sincerely,

Terry

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As always, I promise happy endings, no cheating, and zero cliffhangers!