There was a discreet knock at my door in the morning, hours after we’d finally stopped out of sheer exhaustion and fallen into a deep, happy sleep.

Keira had muttered something about round seven just before passing out.

She was on her side, spooned against me, my arm thrown over her. At the sound of that knock, she wriggled slightly in her sleep. Her bare skin rubbed against mine—everywhere, including areas I’d been certain wouldn’t possibly be able to respond after all the use they’d gotten, but I realized I’d been wrong.

“Mmm…” she groaned, wriggling again.

“Careful, now,” I whispered. “You’ll wake a sleeping dragon.”

“Very funny. Did somebody knock?”

“Yes. Unfortunately.” I slid from the bed, wrapping a sheet around my waist at random before doing to the door.

Another knock. “What?” I whispered, opening the door a crack. Alan was waiting out there.

“A call. From Mary. I would like you to be there.” He was at least wise enough to avert his eyes and stand back from the door.

“All right. Give me a minute.” I hurried through the process of dressing and told Keira I’d be back in a minute—the sight of her in bed, stretched out on her back without a stitch of fabric covering her body, was enough to make me regret Mary’s timing.

Then again, I’d never get enough of her. She was a drug I could easily become addicted to—already had, in fact.

Which meant I had to hurry out the door and down the corridor before the temptation to linger grew too great.

“Ahh, Tamhas.” Mary’s smile was a familiar one, and welcome. She looked out at us from one of the screens mounted to the wall in front of Owen’s seat.

“Hello, Mary. How are you?”

“Well, thank you. Busy, but that’s how I like it.”

“I know the feeling.”

Alan cut into our pleasantries. “Klaus sent a message out to Mary overnight, in regards to what we discussed outside.”

“Ah. I see.” I pulled up a chair. “What do you think, Mary?”

“I think it’s remarkable that this young woman bears the mark of a Blood Moon Priestess, seeing as how even I knew at the first mention of the name what Klaus referred to. A very known name, to be sure, but only in certain circles. And definitely not as well-known as it once was.”

“That was a bit before your time, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“Quite a bit,” she snickered. “Thank you.”

“Do you currently have the time and manpower to research the group?” Alan asked. “I’d hate to take you away from something important.”

“No, no, not a problem.” She looked around the room as it appeared on her screen. “Is she there? In the room? Just outside?”

“The witch? No.”

“Don’t call her a witch,” I warned Alan. “She was orphaned as a babe and has no knowledge of any of this.”

Mary ignored this little spat. “I only wanted to know what you planned to do with her.”

“She’ll live here, with us,” I announced, jumping in front of Alan if only to get under his skin. I couldn’t abide by his desire to degrade her, even when she wasn’t within earshot.

“I can’t pretend to agree with this,” he grumbled, setting his jaw.

Stubborn fool. It was a lucky thing my dragon was sated and resting after the night we’d spent with Keira, or I might have been more inclined to start a fight with him over it.

“It will work,” I assured him.

“I don’t see how it would be possible,” he argued.

“It’s possible,” Klaus spoke up from the corner of the room. “Look at the Appalachian clan. All six of them have found their mates and live with them, all of them together under the mountain. From what I recall from my conversations with Mike and Gentry, everything seems to work well.”

“I heard from Martina earlier today, and she confirms this,” Mary smiled. “It’s remarkable, really. They’re like a family. One of the girls even brought her little nephew, and he’s thriving with so many aunts and uncles to take care of him.”

“While this all sounds lovely,” Alan grumbled, “let us not lose sight of reality. This isn’t a fairy tale. Just because it worked there, for them, doesn’t mean it will work here.”

“It doesn’t mean it won’t, either.” Keira’s voice.

I didn’t realize she had been standing in the doorway. None of us had, judging from the looks of surprise on the faces of everyone around me. “I’m not sure what I have to do to get you to trust me, but I’ll do it. Whatever it is.”

I might have been imagining things, but it looked like Alan was blushing. In all the time I’d known him, I’d never seen him blush or even appear slightly flustered.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” he murmured. “I’ve not been leader for very long, you see, and it was under regrettable circumstances that I stepped into this role. I’m uncertain. This is all very new to me. We’ve never lived with outsiders, and I’m not as of yet accustomed to being in control of such crucial matters.”

If it bothered her to be referred to as an outsider, she didn’t show it. Her eyes were as flinty as ever. While this didn’t bode well for arguments between us in the future, I couldn’t do anything but admire her.

“So long as it’s nothing personal,” she replied.

“It’s not, I can assure you. I have a habit of assuming the worst, but once a person proves me wrong, I’m always the first to admit it.”

“That’s true,” I agreed. It wasn’t easy to hide my smile, but I managed it.

A woman had brought Alan to the point where he felt the need to apologize. It was nearly newsworthy.

“About time you stepped in,” he growled in my general direction.

“You can handle yourself, and she was certainly doing well on her own.” I stood at her side.

“Fine, then,” he sighed in exasperation, throwing his hands into the air. “But I do want to know everything there is to know about the Blood Moon Priestesses.”

“I should have information for you soon,” Mary promised. “I cannot guarantee that I’ll find them in a timely fashion, but I’ll have my team research where the known members of the coven spread out to.”

Alan nodded. “And when she provides this information, it might be a wise idea to form a team. I want to know where the Priestesses are—especially if any of them are still working together.”

I looked at Keira, wondering how she felt about this. The Priestesses would be her kin, no matter how distant the relation. She didn’t say a word, and her expression gave nothing away.

What was she thinking?

I had only to wait until we returned to my room—our room—before I found out.

She let out a long breath, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking up at me.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” she asked.

“Well, what do you think? I know you must have an opinion of what Alan wishes to do.”

“I have an opinion, but what does it matter?” she shrugged.

“What does it matter?” I went to her, sitting beside her with a hand on her knee. “It matters to me. Very much. It will always matter to me, how you feel about things, what you think about them. I love you. Yours will always be the most important opinion. The most important feelings.”

“Thank you for that.” She wound her arms around mine, leaning her head against my shoulder. That felt right. Very right. As though I’d only been waiting for the weight of her head all along.

“So? I do want to know.”

“It isn’t easy for me to put into words. Especially since there’s only one person who’s ever truly cared how I felt about most things.”

“Emelie.”

“Yes. And I won’t ever see her again.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“You don’t have to say that.” She looked up at me. “You really don’t. I know what this means, and I choose you. I don’t ever want to have you questioning whether I understand the gravity of what’s happening right now. I understand it. I know I’m here, with you, and I have no intention of going anywhere else so long as I get to be with you. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Because I never bought a return ticket to the States. Did I tell you that?”

“No.” I leaned back, looking her in the eye. “You didn’t?”

“Just in case I decided I wanted to stay.” She ran a quick hand over her cheek to pick up the tear trickling down. “I didn’t have anything real in my life except for my only friend. And I love her, I do. But I had no steady job, no boyfriend, no other friends. I lived in the cheapest apartment I could find that had room for my workouts. And that was it. Why would I stay when there was something so much better waiting for me out here?”

“You didn’t know that for certain.”

“You’re right. I didn’t—at last, not literally. Not in logical proof. But what was it you said to Alan last night? When you know, you know.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

She reached up, stroking my cheek. “I knew. I wouldn’t have admitted it out loud to anybody else for all the money in the world because I knew it sounded ridiculous and I don’t like to sound ridiculous. But I knew.”

I was certain I’d never been so happy. I didn’t know so much happiness existed, or that it would be available to me. She’d brought it. She was it.

“I love you.” I kissed the tip of her nose, both cheeks, her chin. “I love you, I do.”

“I love you,” she giggled between kisses. “And whatever happens with the Priestesses—whether they exist, or they don’t—isn’t my business. I don’t know them. I know you. I love you. And what matters to you matters to me.”

I wrapped my arms around her and wondered what I’d done to deserve anyone like her in my life. She was the sort of mate a man—a dragon—dreamed of. The perfect match for me in every way. Even though I felt like I didn’t quite deserve her, it only meant I’d keep working to earn her.

No matter how long it took.

“Can I ask you one favor?” She pulled back, cheeks wet with tears.

“Of course. Anything.”

She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile but failing at it. “Can you take me flying?”