Galen’s dragon felt as if he had been chopped up, chewed up and spat out. His wings were torn and bleeding, as was most of his body. There were patches of scales simply missing, ripped off in the fighting, with bloody gashes littering his body.

But he was alive.

He was still flying.

And Alexis loved him.

He hadn’t explained the dragonstone pendant to her, but it was a traditional gift that all dragons gave their mates. It would help a dragon find their mate if she touched it and if she were missing, providing a way to track her down if any harm ever came to her. In times of great emotional distress, however, there had also been rumors that a dragon could hear his mate’s thoughts.

And he had heard her think to herself that she loved him.

It was all he needed to keep fighting. All he needed to know that he would be victorious, no matter what.

Though he had never been close with his brothers, they were still his blood. He would never kill Georg, but there could only be one victor in this and he had decided that he would not allow victory to be stolen from him. He had to become the Alpha, both for his own sake as well as for Alexis, and the landmark they both loved and revered.

Of course, all of it paled in comparison to knowing that she felt as strongly for him as he did for her.

Gingerly, he touched down on the ground, the massive legs of the dragon almost buckling under him. He couldn’t fold back his wings properly and gave up trying as he felt control slipping and the dragon retreating, too wounded to tolerate holding onto the shift for any longer.

Galen fell on his knees as the transformation was complete, his clothes tattered on his body, wounds bleeding openly. He grunted out a wince of pain, but as he looked up, the torture seemed to drift away.

Alexis was running to him.

She fell to her knees in front of him, her beautiful face lit by the moonlight, tears on her cheeks.

“Don’t cry, my love,” he said, bracing his hands on his thick thighs. “I am alive.”

“You’re… Galen… You’re so wounded,” she said, biting her lower lip, her brows knitted.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, knowing truly that he would be.

Just one look at her radiant face told him that everything would be all right. There could be no other way.

“I’m so sorry this happened,” she whispered, her heartbeat seeming to reverb through him, as if they had been joined already and their hearts beat as one.

“I love you,” he said abruptly, looking up at her. “I love you, Alexis Davies, and I always will.”

“I love you too,” she whispered back, a blush coming to her cheeks, lighting up her face.

Without thinking about it or giving much reverence to his injuries, Galen reached out abruptly and pulled her into his arms, cuddling her close. He never wanted to let her go again.

In the back of his mind, he was aware that Grear and Icarus were checking up on Georg, whose dragon had shifted back as well. He was still alive, this much he knew, and it was all that he could really care about as far as it came to his brother at the moment. It was a duel he didn’t want to have, but forced into it, he knew he would win. There would be no other way. Not with the threat of losing Alexis along with the good name of his family at risk.

They stayed there for a long time, kneeling together, before Icarus came to find them. Galen had not the strength nor the words to tell Alexis the breadth of his feelings for her at the moment, and she seemed content to simply be in that difficult moment with him.

“The moon is right now,” Icarus said softly, lowering himself down on his haunches next to Alexis and Galen. “If you still want to do the bonding, it would be time.”

He spoke calm, low.

“Is Georg all right?” Galen asked, glancing up at his uncle.

“He’ll be fine. Perhaps not his ego, but the rest of him. We sent the girl away. She wasn’t much for blood.”

It gave Galen a slight chuckle, seeing how Alexis’ dress was marred with his own dark blood.

Taking her hands, he looked into her gorgeous eyes, wondering how he’d gotten so lucky to be there with her.

“Alexis, would you do me the honor of being my mate, my soul, my other half?” he asked, swallowing dryly.

Instead of hesitating, she beamed a bright smile and nodded quickly.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to do this. If we can still have the ceremony then I want to do it.”

“So it shall be then,” Icarus grinned. “You won’t be the first dragon to be mated when he’s barely hanging onto life.”

“Nor the last,” Galen commented, before leaning into Alexis and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

At the beginning, he’d thought all of this would simply be a distraction, a kink in the road in the tedium of life. In the scant timespan of two weeks, however, he’d learned that there was a whole other side of him, one that loved and yearned to be loved back. One that would do anything for his mate.

And now he’d found her.