Roc was scary. And lethal. And a whole host of other things, but one thing Razzy couldn’t deny was that he stirred her like no other man ever had. Try as she might to ignore the pull between them, there was something visceral and alluring about him that pulled her in. A sense of power and danger that thrilled her even though it should have warned her off, repulsed her even… especially when he’d dealt with his challenger so brutally.

It hadn’t. Instead, all she’d felt was excitement. Not at the damage he’d inflicted on his opponent, she wasn’t quite that bloodthirsty, but at the thought of all that power and brutality bent to another purpose… pleasure. At the thought of that big, powerful form above her, pressing her into the furs over his bed as he kissed every inch of her skin.

A shiver hit her, working across her body all the way from her toes upward. It heated her blood and made parts of her she’d thought had shut down completely tingle at being near him. Thoughts of touching him, that lean, hard body hers to explore made her bite her lip and she locked the thoughts away so she couldn’t act on them. He wasn’t hers. Wasn’t her mate. If he was, surely her dragon would have woken?

Her eyes closed, she lay in the furrow between his ridge scales as he climbed through the darkness up to his eyrie. She hadn’t missed the changes he’d made since she arrived. More furs had appeared on the bed and a fire raged constantly in the crude fireplace, banishing both the dark and the damp. There had even been rose petals on the bed the other day… the purple petals those of the northern rock rose, her favorite flower. They were a shy and elusive plant, only flowering at certain times of year and day. How the hell he’d managed to find them in the first place, never mind get them all the way up here, she had no idea, but the little gesture had been sweet.

They reached the cave entrance to his lair and he touched down, shifting in the same breath. Again, he somehow managed to come out of the shift holding her in his arms as he walked deeper into the cave system that made up his home. She hadn’t been able to work out how he did it, but it was one of the little things, in combination with others, that made her realize that her long-held belief that wyverns were antiquated relics was wrong. So far wrong, it was laughable.

Sure, they were big and brutal, their shifted forms like scaled and armored flying tanks, but the more she saw of them, the more she got to know Roc… the more she realized there was a feral beauty in the ferocity and a noble heart hidden under the brutal exterior. He hadn’t killed that male earlier, not even when all the others expected him to. Not even when she expected him to.

Instead, he’d used it as a lesson for the others.

As a king would.

And he’d done it to protect her.

As a king would protect his queen.

Another shiver hit her as he carried her through to the bedroom.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he murmured in his soft gravel as he laid her down on the bed like she was made of the most precious and delicate china. The care he took with her, in either of his forms, really did it for her. But how would he feel when he knew she was broken?

Wyverns were big and brutal… it was survival of the fittest up here, as Roc had just proved… a female who couldn’t shift, who couldn’t even access her dragon and was one step away from dying… Misery filled her. He was better off without her. But that didn’t stop her curling her hands around his arms when he made to get up and leave her on the bed.

“Please, don’t leave me,” she whispered, her eyes shut, knowing she sounded small and unsure. “Just stay with me, at least until I’m asleep.”

She felt his nod and then he was settling himself down next to her, his big, solid form warm and comforting against hers. A sigh escaped her as he pulled her into his arms. She felt safe with him, secure and… loved? She locked the thought away, letting the blessed warmth and the nearness of his wyvern lull her into sleep.

“Always,” he murmured, just on the edge of hearing as her limbs relaxed and her breathing deepened. “Whatever you need, my love. I’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered back, secure in the grip of almost sleep. “And thank you for the roses. I love rock roses.”

And with that, she drifted into sleep.

Razzy had fallen asleep in his arms last night. More than just fallen asleep there by accident, she’d wanted him to stay. Wanted the safety and security of his arms around her. And, well, who was he to argue with his beautiful little mate on such matters?

It sure as fuck beat sleeping outside as he had been, curled around the entrance to his lair in his scaled form… both to protect her in case his enemies had something else up their sleeves, but also to avoid temptation until she was ready to invite him to join her in her bed. He’d never forced a woman in his life. He wasn’t about to start with his mate.

So the feel of her in his arms all night, and the trust it implied, had him on cloud nine the next morning. There was a definite softening of her attitude toward him. Even this morning, when she’d almost-woken as he disentangled himself gently from her arms, she hadn’t pushed him away. Still half-asleep, she’d simply pouted, a soft sound of disappointment in the back of her throat before she’d turned over and gone back to sleep. He’d stayed for a while, watching her sleep, before leaving.

All day he’d been as hard as a fucking rock at the memory of her soft body against his and the delicate fragrance of her sleep-warmed skin wrapped around him. She was a siren, a temptress in human form, sent to enslave him to her will.

Far from running a mile, as he’d always said he would, not willing to be yoked to any woman’s will and desires, he couldn’t wait to make her totally his… and become hers. Instead of running, he was on cloud nine as he winged his way back from checking that the villages on the foothills were indeed being moved on by Alyx’s people, as the lion shifter king had promised. They had been, mostly, just one or two stragglers, one going the wrong way, that he’d left Arnor to check out.

Any dissent appeared to have died down since the challenge last night, the wyverns he passed offering him a nod or a cheery wing-dip in greeting. With the sun brightly overhead and the chill winds from the north replaced by warmer ones from the south, even the inhospitable mountain range they called home seemed pleasant and welcoming.

Things were, indeed, looking up. But never more than when he banked to wheel over his lair and spotted a delicate feminine figure dipping her toes into the clear mountain pool just behind and below the cave entrance. Shielded from even the day’s mild breeze, the little valley usually warmed quickly, but the water, fed from higher up, never did. Even for him, bigger built than she was, it was enough to numb his human body through to the bone. Usually he shifted, warming his scales from within to heat the water, and then switched back to swim as a human.

Near silently, he glided down to hide himself behind an outcrop of rock as he waited to see if she’d do the same. It wasn’t about seeing her naked human form. Although, he had to admit, the man part of him really wanted to see that, preferably spread warm and willing over his bed… but the main curiosity driving him was finally seeing his little mate’s elusive dragon.

She’d be delicate as well, he decided. Finely boned but sleek in the way dragons were, compared to wyverns at least. A lovely long neck, slender body and tail topped with powerful wings to keep up… he paused the thought right there as he remembered her accident. Gossip said she couldn’t fly. Had the accident left scarring… was that why she’d never shifted in front of him? Because she was self-conscious? He wanted to hold her tightly and never let her go at the thought. Scars or not, ability to fly or not, she would always be perfect to him.

She was his mate. How could she be anything else?

He hunkered down, looking through the gap between a couple of rocks when she looked up suddenly. He worried that his cover was blown before he’d gotten a chance to see her other form. Hand shielding her eyes, she stood upright for long moments, scanning the rocks near where he was hidden.

Roc lay flat, hugging the rock like some kind of moronic lizard, even holding his breath in case that would help her not see him. Shit, where was his tail? Could she see it? He daren’t move a muscle to check or switch his tail down into cover in case she either saw the movement or it moved some rocks and made a sound. Sweat rolled down his spine scales as he begged the gods he didn’t believe in to keep him hidden. He wanted to see her other form that much.

Finally, she dropped her hand and turned back around to the water. He sagged against the stone in relief for a moment and then picked his head up again as she shed the light fur she’d had wrapped around her and waded into the water.

For a moment his attention was caught by the sheer perfection of her naked human form, with its tightly packed curves and creamy, delicate skin highlighted by the fall of flame-like hair. But the man’s interest gave way to the wyvern’s as the water hit her knees. This was it, she was going to shift…

But she didn’t, a small yelp reaching his ears as she plunged into the icy water. He sat up in surprise, his eyes widening. What was the daft female up to now? She’d damn well freeze to death in that water without her scales. Not caring about dislodging rocks now, he surged out of his hiding place and scuttled down the small cliff face.

Change, you silly female! he ordered when she turned with a squeak, dipping into water that had to be turning her skin blue already. Or is this another attempt at trying to bloody well kill yourself?