Victor

––––––––

Victor couldn’t believe his luck. His mate had agreed to marry him!

Overcome, he leaped to his feet and swept her into his arms. She gave a delightful startled squeak. Then he held her soft warm body to his chest, and bent his head to hers. She lifted her face up, and he caught the briefest glimpse of her eyelashes fluttering before they kissed.

Her lips were soft and yielding as rose petals, but her tongue boldly explored his mouth. She wriggled against him in a way that made his belly tighten and his breath catch.

“Beware,” he murmured. “Keep moving like that, and I might lay you down on the table and have you here and now.”

“You beware,” she shot back. “Or I’ll say, ‘I dare you to.’”

With those words, she moved against him again, pushing her body into his steel-hard cock. He let out an involuntary groan.

“I might not be able to wait till our wedding night,” he muttered. “In fact, I’m not sure I can wait another five minutes.”

She caught a lock of his hair and gave it a warning tug. “Oh, yes you can. And you will. I’ve waited this long to lose my virginity, I might as well go all the way. Wedding night it is.”

He blinked down at his mate in his arms, feeling dazed. “You’re a virgin?”

She stiffened, and her voice sounded a little defensive as she said, “If you’d seen the men I had to choose from in Boonville, Tennessee...”

“I can imagine them,” he said with the slightest of shudders. “Very well. We will wait. But I will give you a wedding night you’ll never forget.”

He set her down. Tossing a gold coin on the table, he said, “Come along. You must see the palace and meet my Aunt Agatha.”

And my dragon.

There was no way he could let her marry him without knowing exactly who—what—he was.

She’s my true mate, he reassured himself. That means she’ll love me, no matter what.

Of course she will, hissed his dragon.

But Victor couldn’t be completely sure until he actually showed her his other self. Hoping he wasn’t making a terrible, life-ruining mistake, he said, “But before we go to the palace... I want to show you something.”

Debbie shot him a wary glance. “Something like your mad first wife in the attic?”

“Certainly not! I have no other wife. Nor any secret love. Nor secret children. You are my only love, you will be my only wife, and the only children I will ever have will be ours.”

“Okay.” She still looked suspicious. “No secret wife, kids, or girlfriend, check. Secret identity as a master thief?”

“I’m a prince,” he pointed out. “I have a hoard—ah, a treasury. And I didn’t acquire it by dishonest means.”

She grinned. “I didn’t think so. Secret masked vigilante, roaming the streets of Rodica in the darkest hours to keep it safe from criminals?”

That caught him off-guard, it was so close to the truth. “Not exactly.” Then, as she opened her mouth to pursue that lead, he laid a finger against her petal-soft lips. “Hush. You will find out soon enough. Allow me to keep my secret for another thirty minutes.”

As he led her out of the café and along the road, she spoke more seriously. “This isn’t fishing for a hint, but I just want you to know that whatever it is, you shouldn’t be so worried about it. I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll roll with it.”

Victor certainly hoped so. But his mate’s words comforted him. True, it would be shocking for her to learn his true nature—let alone to see it. But she was his mate. Surely the mate of a dragon could not reject her true love for his own nature.

She will roll with it, his dragon predicted with immense confidence.

Debbie let out a delighted squeal when they reached his waiting carriage and he opened the door for her. “This is yours?”

Her reaction made him see it anew, as if through her eyes. It was a golden carriage decorated tastefully with dragons, drawn by a pair of coal-black horses without a single hair of white. Inside, the curtains and cushions of golden velvet made for a luxurious and comfortable ride. They sat together and looked out the windows, and he pointed out the sights of Rodica to her as the coachman drove them out of the city and up a winding trail into the forested hills.

Victor stopped the coach just short of the summit. “Please wait here.”

The coachman, who no doubt assumed Victor and Princess Eugenia needed the privacy because they couldn’t wait one more night for their wedding, gave him a sly wink as he helped Debbie from the coach.

Victor led her through the cool forest and into a sunlit glade carpeted by wildflowers. Now that he was here, his heart once again began to pound.

What if...?

Just show her, hissed his dragon impatiently. Let her glory in the sight of our magnificent wings!

But Victor couldn’t just suddenly spring a dragon on her with no explanation. She’d be scared half to death if a giant fire breathing creature out of legend suddenly loomed over her.

He took her hands in his. “I have something to tell you which may seem strange and hard to believe. But if you give me a chance, I will prove it to you. Perhaps you have heard the legends that the royal family of Rodica can transform into dragons?”

“Yeah, the cab driver mentioned it.” Debbie’s eyebrows rose until it looked like they were about to levitate above her forehead. “You better not be about to claim they’re true.”

“They are true.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Come on. What is it really?”

Frustrated, Victor heard his own voice rise. “It’s true. I swear it.”

Debbie now looked not merely disbelieving, but hurt. Then anger began to seep into her voice as she said, “Are you telling me that you brought me all the way here just to tell me some ridiculous lie about dragons? Exactly how stupid do you think Americans are?”

“I don’t think they’re stupid at all,” he protested. “And it’s the truth. Watch, I’m going to turn into a dragon.”

But before he could shift, he saw Debbie’s eyes begin to glitter with tears. When she spoke again, her voice was choked and shaky. “Was this whole thing with you and me a joke? Was it all some elaborate put-on to see how gullible the dumb tourist is? The marriage? The children?”

“No!” Victor was horrified. The worst case scenario he’d imagined had been him transforming and her screaming and running. This was so much worse.

“The love at first sight?” The tears overflowed and ran down her face. “I might have known it was all too good to be true. Stupid me, believing anyone would fall in love with me—want to start a family with me!”

“I do want to start a family with you!” he protested. “And it’s normal for dragons to fall in love at first sight.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled. Her tears stopped, and her face flushed red as fire. “I’m a human being, just like you! How dare you play with my feelings for the sake of a stupid joke!” Her voice dropped low, imitating his. “‘Dragons fall in love at first sight.’”

“We do! It’s because we can recognize our mates. They’re our destined true loves, the people we’re perfectly compatible with. And you’re mine—Wait!”

Debbie turned her back and began to walk away from him.

Shift, you idiot, hissed his dragon. And hurry! She’s getting away!

For a long, terrible moment, Victor was so horrified at how badly his plan had gone that he was unable to focus enough to shift. Then he forced himself to relax and think of what it meant to be a dragon.

The lust for gold.

The longing for flight.

The love for his one true mate.

She was one step away from the tree line when he completed his shift. Unable to think of a better way to alert her to what he’d done, he opened his mouth and roared.

Debbie jumped, lost her balance, and started to fall. Victor lunged forward, shot out his forefoot, and caught her.

She let out a scream, then twisted around to stare at him. Her eyes were huge, her body rigid against his forefoot. He could feel the rapid pounding of her heartbeat.

He wished he could communicate with her, but all he could do in dragon form was roar or hiss. Instead, he loosened his grip on her, slowly so she wouldn’t fall. She straightened up until she was standing steady on her feet with her back still touching his forefoot. Her head was tipped back, her eyes wide, her mouth open. He couldn’t tell if she was terrified, shocked, or simply amazed. But her tears had stopped flowing.

He lowered his head and delicately nuzzled her hair. For a moment she stayed where she was, still as a statue. Then she raised her hand. It trembled a little. But she reached out anyway to stroke his hide.

Victor thought of how brave she was and how much he loved her, and became a man again.

Debbie’s palm was on his cheek, her skin as soft as silk. They stood for a while like that, looking into each other’s eyes, poised like figures in a painting.

“Your skin is so hot,” she murmured at last. “I’d been wondering about that. It feels like you have a fever, but you’re obviously not sick.”

He shook his head. “It’s because I’m a dragon shifter. I suppose because we breathe fire.”

“Incredible.” Debbie let her hand fall, then wiped at her tear-stained cheeks. “I saw it—I felt it—but it’s still hard to believe. Dragons are real! I feel like everything I know might be wrong.”

“I don’t think so,” he assured her. “The only parts that are wrong are that dragons don’t exist, and shifters don’t exist.”

She stared at him. “Other... uh, shifters... they exist too? Like, werewolves?”

“Yes, there are werewolves. They live in the forests, mostly. At least, in Rodica they do. I believe in America they often live in cities.”

“There’s werewolves in America?!” Debbie exclaimed.

“As far as I know, there are shifters in every country. But in most cases they keep their existence a secret. Rodica and the countries nearby are unusual in that everyone knows about shifters.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t all been kidnapped by government scientists who want to study you,” she remarked.

“I am the government,” Victor pointed out. “As for scientists from other places, well, how did you react when Rodicans told you there were dragons?”

“When I first heard about it, I thought it was a cute local legend. When you told me, I thought it was a lie.” Her face crumpled. “Oh, Victor, I’m so sorry! I should never have distrusted you.”

“I understand that it was hard to believe,” he reassured her. “I was very worried about how I could tell you. And whether you would wish to marry a man who was also a dragon.”

Tremulously, she said, “So you really do love me? You really want to marry me—not just for convenience?”

“I swear it.” He caught her up in his arms and held her tight, savoring her warmth and sweet scent. “I love you and I want to marry you. Truly, I do.”

“I love you too. I guess even ordinary humans can fall in love at first sight. I felt it too, but I thought it was too good to be true.”

“Nothing is too good to be true for you. I will confess my love for you every hour, if that’s what it takes for you to believe.”

Debbie gave a little laugh. “That’s okay. Maybe once a day.”

“Once a day, for all of our days.” Victor kissed her, tasting the salt of her tears and vowing to himself that he would never let his mate cry again.

His heart was so overflowing with relief that he was nearly on the verge of tears himself. Now his mate knew everything. He had no secrets from her. She’d seen him as a dragon. And she loved him anyway.

Told you so, hissed his dragon.