Chapter 7
Torrence gazed at his mate as she slept. He’d been up for a little while, but hadn’t wanted to wake her. He wanted her to rest as long as possible, since she was human and didn’t have his fast healing. In all his plans for the future, he’d never anticipated having a human as a mate, but having her in his arms just felt right. He felt like he hadn’t really been living before he met her, and it wasn’t just because he’d finally gotten his dragon. Her presence made him feel whole.
He wrapped a lock of her dark brown hair around his finger and rubbed the silky strands that had hints of red buried in the depths. She fit against him perfectly. He couldn’t imagine ever going to bed without her sweet scent in his nose and her soft skin against his.
She stirred and stretched with a sigh, smiling at him when she opened her eyes.
She glanced toward the cave entrance. “It’s night?”
He nodded. “The sun set just a little while ago.”
“I couldn’t stay awake. I wanted to, so we could talk some more.”
He chuckled. “Me, too.”
She wiggled to her side to face him and propped her head on her upturned hand. “I don’t suppose you have a phone tucked away in here?”
“No. It’s about an hour hike down to my parents’ home and you can use their phone. Do you need to call your family?”
“My parents died a few years ago in a car accident, so it’s just me. But my best friend Andrea was in the donut shop when you shifted and took me with you. I imagine that she’s pretty worried.”
“I’m sorry.”
She smiled. “I’m not. Well, I’m sorry that she’s most definitely worried, but I’m not sorry to have met you. It feels very right.” She tapped the space over her heart and his dragon practically pranced in his head.
“It does to me, too.”
“Well, you’re a dragon so you’re probably used to seeing this kind of thing.”
“Actually, not at all. What happened between us isn’t normal.”
Her brows rose. “What do you mean?”
“I told you about the fruit?”
Her brow quirked. “The mating fruit?”
He nodded. “Every October, when the mating fruit is ready to be harvested, all the clans in the area gather on this mountain to see if any of them are mates. The males and females line up across from each other, and then the males eat the fruit. The male’s dragon leads him to his mate, if she’s there, and then they walk up to one of the caverns, make love, and then the male shifts for the first time. The dragon marks the female with his venom, and the two fall into a mating sleep.”
“You don’t shift until you find your mate?”
“We don’t participate in the mating ceremony until we turn twenty-five. It’s the shifting age for our people. Some males don’t find their mate right away. My dad was twenty-eight when he mated my mom.”
“I don’t understand the fruit. Is it magic fruit?”
“I guess you could think of it like that. It’s what awakens our dragon and prepares him to find his mate.”
“A male eats the fruit and then if he doesn’t sense his mate, what happens?”
“He doesn’t get to mate his female and claim his dragon. He’ll try again the next year.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and looked past him to the cavern wall. She didn’t say anything for several moments, and then she met his gaze. “Are we really mates?”
His dragon snarled at the statement. “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“We didn’t do this in order at all. You almost died from the mating fruit, and I’m definitely not a dragon. What if your people don’t think I’m right for you?”
He put his hand on her arm, spreading his fingers across the mating mark. It was a beautiful design, and he loved seeing the same design on his arm. They were a mated pair with matching marks, and he’d claimed his dragon. There was no way that anyone could say they weren’t really mates. The proof was undeniable.
“I don’t know why things happened the way they did. To be honest, I thought I’d never get a chance to claim my dragon. My parents and clan elders searched through the history books more than once, to see if a male had claimed his dragon and mate without the fruit. There was no precedent for it, or for a dragon having an allergy to the fruit in the first place.” He cupped her cheek and let his dragon out enough that he could feel the beast humming under his skin. His vision sharpened, and he knew his pupils had elongated and the irises had turned gold. “You’re mine, Cecily. You’re my catalyst. You brought out my dragon. It was an uncontrollable shift. It doesn’t matter that you’re human, that I’m allergic to mating fruit, or that we did things out of order. It only matters that you’re mine and I’m yours.”
He released his hold on his dragon and his vision returned to normal. She smiled and kissed him, then rolled to her back. The blanket slipped down her torso, revealing her beautiful breasts and tight nipples.
“Make me yours again,” she murmured, sinking her fingers into his hair and drawing him to her lips.
“As my mate wishes,” he answered. “Again and again.”
* * *
After making love to Cecily twice, and discovering that he couldn’t get enough of the sweet taste of her climaxes, he picked up the knapsack and emptied the contents onto the mattress.
“It was nice of your mom to pack for us,” she said, taking the tunic and leggings and finding her own panties and bra on the floor. “I guess they were surprised to see us both?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Definitely.”
“Why did you bring me here? Couldn’t we have stayed on the mountain?”
“I wanted to come here because it was safer for both of us.”
“Safer?”
“The pack wasn’t too thrilled to have a dragon back in town.”
“Why?”
“It’s a mostly-wolf town. In case you didn’t notice, dragons are a lot bigger than wolves, and bigger for shifters means dominant.”
“But you weren’t able to shift.”
“I didn’t tell them. It was better if they believed I was a shifter than basically a human.”
“Are dragons generally thought of to be dangerous?”
“Like any shifter group, we’re only dangerous to those who would come against us, but there are always stereotypes for different groups, and they usually tend to be true. Like wolves are generally considered jackasses with giant egos.”
She grinned. “I would agree with that, at least for the guys. What about dragons?”
“Territorial, which is very true.”
“Do dragons have a treasure they guard?”
“That’s fiction. We do claim a home for ourselves, and normally it’s where our family and clan are. It’s tradition for males and females to live with their parents until they find their mate, then they move into a home with their mate.”
“I think it was good that you brought me here, because you’re definitely right about wolves being jackasses. They would have assumed the worst.”
He hummed in agreement. “I couldn’t talk in my shift, so if your friend went to the pack and told them you’d been abducted, they could have come up the mountain to save you and I wouldn’t have been able to explain.”
She looked at her arm and then smiled at him. “I was also passed out. That wouldn’t have looked good.”
With a nod, he said, “Yeah. I’ll apologize to your friend for making her worry, but it was the best choice considering the circumstances.”
He dressed and sat down, sorting the food and handing her a bottle of water. His mother had packed trail mix, crackers, cheese, and sliced pepperoni. Cecily’s stomach rumbled loudly, and her cheeks pinked. “I’m a little hungry.”
“Me too,” he said. “We can eat a real meal when we get to my parents’ house.”
“A shower would be nice, too.”
He nodded. His thoughts immediately turned to playing with her in the shower. “Tell me about your job. Since it’s called Cecily’s Donuts, I assume you’re the owner?”
She took a bite of a cheese and pepperoni topped cracker and chewed thoughtfully. “Yes. I’ve always loved baking, and after my parents died, I used their insurance money to go to culinary school. I sold their trailer and put a down payment on the lease for the donut shop – there’s also an apartment on the second floor which is where I live now. I do all the baking and Andrea handles the customers.”
“How long have you been in business?”
“Just two weeks. It wasn’t a great start, but it seems to be okay now.”
She told him about the alpha’s son who seemed to believe she was his mate. “I met Jerris,” he said. “He’s a walking asshole.”
She snorted a laugh. “He sure is.”
“He’ll get the hint quickly that we’re together now. I don’t understand why he would keep pushing since you’re clearly not his mate.”
“I don’t know either. I’m just glad that the alpha is keeping a leash on him.”
“He won’t bother you again,” Torrence said. “That’s a promise.”
“It sounds like a little bit of a threat,” she said.
“If it must be, it is.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re my mate. No one messes with you, period.” He took a drink of water and then said, “You must be anxious to get back to your shop.”
She finished another cracker and then brushed her hands together to get rid of the crumbs. “I am, but I guess we need to talk about that.”
He cleaned up the trash and put everything back into the knapsack. He faced her, taking one of her hands and holding it. “I was fine with living in Tomb when it was just me and I thought I’d be alone forever.”
“But now?”
He hesitated for a moment and decided he didn’t want to have any secrets between them. “My dragon feels at home with my clan.”
“I think there’s a reason I never met a dragon before you, huh?”
“We like to stick together.”
She seemed to be fighting a frown. He touched the corner of her mouth with his fingertip and she gave him a small smile. “I want to be with you.”
“Good, I didn’t have plans to let you go anywhere without me,” he said, smiling. “But your shop is important to you. I wouldn’t want you to give up on your dream because of me. But I do like being on the mountain. Would you consider moving into my cabin? I can drive you down to the shop every morning and help out.”
Her mouth fell open. “You would? What about your clan?”
“You’re my clan now, Cecily. Where you are is home, period. If you wanted to stay here, that would be fine, but you have a life in Tomb and that’s fine, too. In case you haven’t figured it out, I really want you to be happy.”
“I want you to be happy, too.”
“I am, I promise.”
“Will your parents be upset?”
“I’m sure they’re just happy that we’re together. They’ll understand, and we can come here and visit them anytime. Flying by dragon is a lot faster than driving.”
Her sort-of smile morphed into a full-blown one that was so lovely he wanted her to smile all the time. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m only sure that we belong together. Everything else is just details.”
After deflating the mattress and rolling it back up, he put the knapsack on his back and took her hand, leading her out of the cave.
“Oh, it’s beautiful up here,” she said, pausing as they left the cave.
He looked out over the mountainside. The forest below had spots of yellow and orange as some of the trees changed color, amid the dark green of the pine. “Fall is my favorite time of year,” he said. “I think it’s watching how the world slowly changes and gets ready for winter.”
“It’s mine, too.”
They began the walk down to his parents’ home, and along the way he told her about dragons, his family, and what he hoped their new life together would be like. He could tell she was still worried about him regretting not being able to stay in the mountains with his clan, but he was perfectly okay with returning to Tomb. It was the town of her childhood. She’d been raised there, she had a business there, and also her best friend. He’d always planned to live with his clan forever, but his destiny had taken a left turn when he’d been unable to mate with a female dragon and now found himself mated to a human who had ties to a community that were important to her. He’d ask his dad to transfer territorial rights of the mountain to him and Cecily, so they could start their own clan in Tomb.
He could be at home anywhere, as long as she was with him.