“Ready, love?” my sexy mate whispered as he wrapped his arms around me and pressed my back to his front.

Ready. Was I ready? That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it. My life had changed in a whirlwind after I became a dragon. From college student to graduate; from an unknown legacy as a dragon hunter’s granddaughter to dragon. Not to mention finding my love, trying to build a life with him, and dealing with the whole Rhi and Sampson aftermath. Basically, down moments hadn’t existed, yet here I was, about to walk on stage and accept my scholarship—which came with the bonus side of speaking to a crowd. That should’ve been in the flipping fine print.

Not that it would’ve changed a thing. This scholarship was not the amazing full-boat I had been aiming my sights on. My thesis hadn’t uncovered some amazing new bit of evidence that got six people out of prison and put a now infamous lawyer behind bars. No, that was Levi Swartz. Good on him. My thesis only gave me an A in the course. My LSAT’s however, those earned me free tuition at Bartley-Keach Law School. It didn’t hold the prestige I thought I once wanted, but it was only a half an hour commute from Castleton, which was winning in my book.

“I think I’m ready,” I whispered back, only partly sure. I was as ready as I was going to be. “Which part has you unsure?” He kept his voice low. “I told you before we don’t have to mate tonight. We can wait all you need.” He was babbling. My sexy, sweet, tough, Alpha mate was nervous. It was adorable. As if mating was anything I was less than a bazillion percent on board with.

“Oh, silly mate, that is not what I am unsure about, unless you are referring to me being unsure why we waited this long.” I rolled myself in his arms until we were face to face, resting my head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. The sound I thought for a moment not too long ago that I would never hear again.

“You were human until a couple of months ago. I didn’t want you to jump into anything you might regret.” His lips graced the top of my head as he rubbed little circles into my back, giving me the comfort I so very much needed at that moment.

“Quit being perfect,” I teased before nipping him where I knew his scales still were and it wouldn’t hurt. I was going to miss them; although, their departure meant I was fully and completely his, making it a bittersweet loss.

“Not perfect. Far from it.”

“Perfect for me.” I pulled back slightly before standing up on my tip toes and giving him a chaste kiss. I wanted more, so much more, but this was not the time nor the place for that.

“Are you trying hard not to tell me what you are worried about then?” He knew me almost too well.

“Promise not to laugh?” I bit my bottom lip as I realized that my question pretty much guaranteed the opposite effect.

“Yeah, not so much.” His smirk: I both loved and hated it. “But it will be with, not at, so all’s good.”

“I’m nervous about giving my acceptance speech.” Nervous. Wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Barely was able to stand. Whatever.

“You are going to rock it, love.” He took my lips with his, and by the time we broke away at the sound of my name being called, I was breathless. So much for going on stage all composed and elegant. “Trust me.” He kissed me on my forehead and all but pushed me out of the wing of the stage and in front of the cheering crowd.

While I was honored to be the recipient of the scholarship, why they had to incorporate the awarding of said scholarship with their annual orchestral fundraiser was beyond me. Thankfully, all went well and I managed to sound worthy of said scholarship. More importantly, it was over and I could move onto more important things.

One more important thing, anyway. Mating.

“How are you feeling now?” I walked ever so primly off of the stage before bounding into his arms, wrapping my legs around him like a stupid romance movie.

“Relived and excited,” I said in his ear before nibbling down the side of his neck in the way I knew never failed to drive him crazy.

“Excited?” He wrapped his arms tighter. Naughty dragon.

“Yes, excited because in two hours I am going to be your mate in truth.” Waiting had been Knox’s idea, and I got it. I really did. I needed to finish school and adjust to being a dragon… blah blah blah, but my dragon wanted to be claimed in full and I didn’t blame her one iota.

“You know the mating’s not complete until after when we…” he breathed into my ear before kissing the spot just below my ear, the one that always set the butterflies loose in my middle.

“So is the dusk thing like a necessity or can we move it up?” Our vows were just for us in the place of his people and probably the main reason he wanted us to wait.

It took a long time before I was able to go back there and not envision everything from that horrible night. If the place wasn’t so important to the clan, I would just as soon never go there again, but it was, and for that reason I went there each time a new baby was born, when each youth flew for the first time, and each clan meeting. Each event filled the space with new memories with the exception of the far too tense trials of Sampson and Rhi, which all worked out the way they needed to. Tense, nonetheless.

Tonight, however, was going to be the best of them all. Tonight, Knox and I would exchange our vows as mates before the goddess. No other audience was needed.

I went back to nibbling on his neck, hoping my attempt at wooing would make him change his mind on the whole dusk thing, and as I heard the rumble of his dragon build in his chest, I knew victory was well within my grasp.

“Dusk is traditional, but I can get us there in a half an hour.” He was already carrying me out the back door. Good mate.

“We should’ve taken the motorcycle,” I mumbled as he put me in the front seat of his truck. The motorcycle was faster and allowed me to keep close, our bodies pressed against each other. Darn dress-up clothes.

“Best. Mate. Ever.” He punctuated each word with a kiss before making good on his promise to get us there in record time.

“Are you sure you are okay with this… here?” he asked before turning off the ignition.

“I’m sure. This place is important to our people. It is where I first became one of you and where we will present our first child to the clan. It is only fitting that it be here, that I vow my life to yours.”

Knox turned off the ignition, but said not a word. I waited in the silence allowing my words to soak in. When he finally turned around, his eyes filled with more emotions than I could begin to decipher. He brought his lips to mine before mumbling, “You’re perfect.”

Knox was out of the truck and around to my side, letting me out in moments. This was it. We were going to walk away from the truck as individuals and come back as one; our souls intertwined in a way I knew I had yet to fully comprehend. My dragon was so close to the surface, practically giddy, if dragons could be described as giddy.

Hand in hand, we walked to the center of the clearing, just us and our dragons. I wasn’t completely sure what to expect, I just knew it was going to change my life for the better. The college degree and scholarship were fine and dandy, but this? This was the reason life was worth living.

“Kallie,” Knox began, his voice reverent, his eyes glued to mine, “from the first time I saw you I knew you were mine. Unfortunately, I let the dumb part of myself convince me otherwise and I let you slip away, a mistake I will never forgive myself for. And then you did the most amazing thing and came back.”

His words weren’t new, he’d said them before, but never all together, never like this. My heart was soring and my eyes beginning to tear and we had yet to utter one vow.

“Kallie, before we say the words of our people, the ones that will start the intertwining of our souls, I’m asking you man to woman, dragon to dragon: will you be my mate?”

His hand extended and in it was a ring and not just any ring, either. This ring was forged by him, the stone sparking red and far too beautiful to be a ruby. It was something else. I looked up at him through my now tear filled eyes, to see his shirt gone, and along with the missing piece of attire was a missing scale, covered not so elegantly by a band aid.

The scale that used to protect my heart is now yours, for so is my heart. The only thing that could harm me is losing you.

His words echoed in my head as the tears fell, and I murmured, “Yes.” I jumped into his arms and covered his face with kissed until my dragon stole the moment and sunk her teeth into the crux of his neck, claiming him as her own… our own. The iron taste of his blood should’ve been creepy or weird, but as his dragon instantly took the message and did the same, there was only us, together, as one.

You went out of order, sweet mate.

His humor had my dragon letting go of her grasp on his neck. She was happy. Her part of the mating was over and she staked her claim. I was still getting used to having her, knowing she was there in the backdrop the entire time, but it was coming. And when she took over, so far it was always for the best. Claiming Knox being a perfect example.

Eh, my dragon had enough of your feet dragging.

He had no idea how many times I had to hold her back, especially when the kissing became more. She had wanted to claim him from her first day, but as a human I saw the value in waiting. Or at least I convinced myself I did. If Knox hadn’t sublet a small place near campus for us while I completed my classes, chances are I’d have claimed him before now.

Vows? Home?

His meaning behind home, and the completion of our mating not at all hidden. Not that I was any better. I wanted him so badly. Home seemed miles away.

Vows. Here?

I was being saucy. Can’t blame a girl now sporting a ring beyond all rings and about to become the equivalent of a married woman.

Naughty dragon.

Your naughty dragon.

Luckiest man alive.

“Vows?” I switched to verbal words as I peered down at my ring. His heart, it was now mine to guard for always, and I would, with all that I was.

“I, Knox Renouf, both man and beast, swear to love you, Kallie Theron, as my mate. Your needs are now my needs, your desires are now mine. All that I have is yours, my mind, my body, and my earthly belongings. Please accept all that I am as yours.”

I repeated the vows between ever glamourous sniffles and snorts due to my freely flowing tears, and when I spoke the last word, Knox leaned in, kissing my claiming mark and sending shivers down my spine.

I did the same to his claiming mark before stealing his lips and throwing every last ounce of feelings I had for him into it. The kiss became more, became everything, right there in the place of his ancestors. When we had completed all three parts of the mating ritual, I had expected to feel different. How could one not? What I didn’t expect was to feel whole for the first time in my entire life. I was whole. There was no way I deserved this bliss, but I was going to take it and hold onto it for dear life. Knox was mine as I was his. There was nothing more beautiful than that.