“I feel like a bit of an idiot,” Leah admitted as she fluttered with the tea kettle and pulled two mugs down from the cabinet, her hands visibly shaking.

“Why should you?” Holden watched her carefully as he leaned against the counter. He hadn’t moved more than a few feet away from her since he’d arrived, and he didn’t plan to. He had known, even from a great distance, that Leah was in trouble. It was for that reason that he’d gone flying down the road, even though he hadn’t known it at the time.

“Because I should have known. When my senses are off, I can tell. They definitely weren’t off when I was picking up those visions about you, and I chose not to trust them simply because they didn’t make sense. It made me judge you unfairly.” She watched the steady flame of the gas burner under the kettle.

“Leah.” He moved so that he stood just behind her, his hand on her lower back. “There’s no way you could have really understood what was going on. It wouldn’t make sense to anyone, no matter what kind of powers they had.” Holden wished he could have just told her about it right away, but it had been too risky.

She pursed her lips. “Maybe most people wouldn’t, but someone who had met a dragon shifter before ought to.”

“What?” His voice was too sharp, and he cringed inwardly. But the other men had seen Leah back at The Parlor, and none of them had mentioned knowing her.

Taking a deep sigh, Leah turned to face him. “I knew a woman back in college. I’m friends with a couple other girls who have supernatural powers, and Naomi was one of us. But while I’m a psychic and two of the others are witches, Naomi was a shifter. She had the power to change from human form to dragon and back again.”

Holden’s eyes narrowed slightly. He knew he should believe her. There was no reason for Leah to lie to him, not now. But when he, the other three and the four dragonlings had been transported off of Charok, they had been the only ones of their kind left. “A female? I don’t understand.”

Leah shrugged. “She was just like you. She never said much about why she had that ability, and we simply accepted her for who she was.”

“Where is this woman? I need to talk to her.” If there was a female shifter on Earth, then he had to let the others know.

But Leah shook her head. “You can’t, not really. She died over five years ago. The only time we get to talk to her is when we hold a séance, and even then, her time with us is very limited.”

“Could I join you the next time you have one?” Holden’s mind was racing. It seemed completely impossible that another dragon had been here, and he only wished they had known about her sooner.

“Of course. I don’t think it would be a problem, and my friends would be happy to meet you.” Her face flushed an attractive shade of pink. “But it would be nice if I understood a little bit more about you and why you’re able to turn into a big red dragon who makes grown men piss their pants.”

Holden couldn’t help but laugh at that. “It’s a lot to explain, but I’ll try to keep it simple. We’re from another world. Our kind was threatened by a spell to the point of extinction, and we had no choice but to leave. A sympathetic warlock managed to send us here. We’re just trying to exist, like anyone else.”

Her cerulean eyes looked away for a moment in thought. “And your son?”

“He’s a shifter as well. Our queen had laid four eggs before she died, and we each took one. They hatched shortly after we came to Earth, and we’re fortunate that they seem to prefer being in their human forms. But I have to admit there are times that they express their dragon side, and it’s not always convenient.”

Leah laughed softly, a beautiful noise that made him want to be closer to her. “Typical kid, then, huh?”

He smiled. “Yeah, he seems to be. But I think you and I both know we’ve been dancing around what we really need to talk about.”

She had been looking at him, but she dropped her eyes to his chest. “I’m not sure I know what to say. It’s all so strange, but wonderful. First, I think I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Unable to resist the urge, Holden reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She looked so vulnerable, even though she wasn’t currently being threatened by some corrupt human with an odd sense of justice.

“For running out on you this morning and accusing you of being a liar. I didn’t trust myself, and it made me not trust you. I didn’t know what else to do, and I was just scared.”

Holden leaned forward and pressed his lips to her smooth forehead. His hands skimmed down to gently encase her hips and pull her toward him. “You didn’t know. It’s okay. I don’t blame you at all.”

Leah tipped up her head, encouraging his lips to meet hers. He didn’t deny her, fulfilling the need he had been feeling himself. “I have so many questions. There are some things that make a lot more sense than they did this morning, but I still feel like there’s more I should know.” She flicked her tongue out, tentatively.

He responded, deepening the kiss and pressing their bodies together. God, how he had longed for her. It had been less than a day since he’d had her in his bed, but it felt like an eternity. Holden resisted the urge to dig his fingers into her flesh just to prove to himself that she was there. He needed her more than he could ever explain, and if he had his way he would never leave her side. “We have all the time in the world to talk,” he said, moving his lips down her jaw line to nip at her ear. “But there’s one very important thing you need to know right away.”

“What’s that?” Her body trembled slightly. He didn’t know if it was from excitement or fear, but he wrapped his arms around her completely just in case.

“In our world, dragons mate for life. They don’t get to choose their mates; destiny makes that choice for them. They know when they’ve met the right ones because of their reactions to them, and the way they make them feel.”

Leah pushed gently at his chest, looking him in the eye. “What does that mean? Do you have someone at home that you’re supposed to be with?”

He smiled at her innocence and shook his head. “No. I never had the chance, and I didn’t know what that reaction felt like. But from the moment I met you, I couldn’t control myself around you. My body demanded that I shift back to my natural form. It was a challenge to fight it until I was fortunate enough to have you in my home. Then I felt so calm and relaxed, like I never had before. When you left, I couldn’t stand the thought of what might happen to you if I wasn’t at your side. I sensed the danger you were in, and I had no choice but to come. That’s how I know you’re supposed to be my mate. I hope that doesn’t scare you.”

She paused for a moment, thinking. “I was having a lot of difficulty with my powers. Nothing seemed to be working right. When I did that reading with you, it was like everything came flooding back to me all at once. It was scary, and it was so different that I thought there must be something wrong.”

“What about now? What do you see in me?”

Leah laid her hand against his neck, her thumb gently touching his pulse point. “It’s not as intense, but it’s still there. It’s like I can shut it down when I want to, but it’s never closed off to me like it had been.” She smiled, her eyes grazing up from his neck to meet his. “You balance me.”

“Does that mean you feel it, too? That we’re meant to be together?” His very life was poised on her next words, and Holden felt that if he leaned forward too far he would fall right over. No woman had ever made him feel so dependent on her. If he’d thought about it before, he would have imagined that he hated feeling such a need. But he liked it. A lot.

“I do, Holden. I—I love you.”

That was all he needed. The two sides of him that had been warring for space in his life suddenly converged. He didn’t need to be a human or a dragon. He was always both, not matter how he seemed to outsiders. Most importantly, he was Leah’s mate and protector, and Finn’s father. Holden looked down into her eyes and knew he could become happily lost in them. “I love you, too.”

Reaching behind her and flicking off the stove burner, he scooped his arms underneath her buttocks and lifted her from the floor. “And I need you. Desperately.”

She kissed him as he held her, their tongues explaining it all to each other. Leah twined her arms and legs around him, holding on tight as he carried her to the couch.

Holden knew he could find the bedroom in the small apartment, but he couldn’t possibly wait that long. He needed her now. He sat down on the cushions, her legs still tangled around him, and began pulling at her clothes.

Leah easily slipped out of her shirt, and Holden took a moment to admire her breasts while her black lacey bra still cupped them. He didn’t always understand humans—not yet—but he could certainly appreciate the way Leah dressed. Her softness was the antithesis to his hardness, and he wanted to bury every part of his body in it.

She seemed to understand, and as soon as his jeans were on the floor Leah pierced herself on him. She was warm and wet, ready for him, and her thighs tightened pleasantly around his as she moved herself up and down on his shaft. He grabbed her waist and watched the pleasant bouncing of her breasts as she worked, then he pulled her gently so that they smothered his face.

“I really was an idiot,” Leah breathed, arching her back to comply with his wishes.

“What do you mean?” He could never think of her that way. She was beautiful, smart, and knowing. She was everything, and he would never get enough of her.

“I might have deprived myself of this. If you hadn’t come back here, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to be with you.” Leah moaned as her core tightened around his member.

Holden grunted his appreciation. She felt so fucking good, and he had to admit he liked the idea of her being on top of him like this. He was the dominant type, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that he performed his duties as Leah’s protector and mate, but she could do whatever she wanted to him. He snatched up her nipple in his mouth, sucked it until it was hard, and then let it go. “I wouldn’t have let you. I couldn’t just let you run away from me. I would have done whatever it took to make you understand what I had seen in us.”

“Maybe that’s one of the reasons you’re so good for me. You see what I need even when I can’t.” She tipped her head back, and her dark curls fell enticingly down her back.

Holden took them in his hands, pulling gently. The action pressed her breasts harder into his face, and Holden felt the heat at his core increase. Leah cried out her pleasure. Her hair almost came down to her ass in this position, and he enjoyed the way her flesh bumped against the sides of his hands. He slid one finger down in the crevice between her cheeks, touching her in her most private place.

Leah’s body stiffened under his hands. For a moment, he thought he had made a mistake. But she clamped her hands behind his shoulders and pounded her hips down onto him, burying his sword to the hilt inside her sheath. She slammed into him, extracting her pleasure as her walls convulsed around him. He had worked her into a frenzy, and he was reaping the benefits as her juices flowed around him.

“I’m sorry,” she panted as she slowed down, holding onto him for dear life.

“For what?” he whispered against her neck. “For taking what you need?”

Leah nodded, small shivers running through her body as she continued to pulse slowly on his lap.

He could make her come again, and he knew it. If there was one thing he had learned from their experience the night before, it was that there was no greater satisfaction that pleasuring her. “Don’t be. You take everything you want, because I promise you I’ll take mine as well.”

With one easy movement, he maneuvered her off him and slid off the couch. Holden pulled her down onto the floor with him and arranged her so that she was bent over the coffee table, that round ass of hers in air. He punctured her from behind, moving slowly at first to make sure she liked it.

Leah reached back, grabbed his hand, and gently brought it around to rest on her center of pleasure. Holden understood, and he moved his fingers in time to the rhythm of his hips. As he had predicted, it took no time at all for her to come again. She was a ripe fruit, ready for him to pluck at any time. She called his name as she climaxed, letting him know that he was the only one who could do this to her.

He closed his eyes as her walls spasmed around him. Fully engorged, the friction between them was incredible. Holden felt his entire body tighten just before he exploded inside her. His muscles drained of all energy as he gave it to Leah, and she owned him completely.

They collapsed on the floor together, their naked bodies an enjoyable knot as they held onto each other. He brushed aside her hair so he could kiss her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, her nose. “Leah, I knew when I came to Earth that I would have to find my mate, the woman who could tame the dragon inside me and make me the person I was meant to be. I never thought it could truly happen with a human, but you’ve proven me wrong. So completely wrong.” He wouldn’t have admitted it to anybody else, but he couldn’t help but reveal his innermost secrets to her. With just a little more time, she would come to know everything about him.

She laid her head on his chest, and he could feel the contraction of her cheek as she smiled. “That’s quite a lot to live up to.”

“I think you can do it.”

Leah moved her head so that she could look up at him. Her eyes shone, and she was easily the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Even the sunrises on Charok couldn’t compare to her. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He stood and reached out his hand to help her off the floor, and she led him to the bedroom.