Julian knew he shouldn’t have broken down Autumn’s front door. He could have just tried to call her, or even Beau. But the desperation that flooded his body was impossible to ignore, and he didn’t have time to explain or ask permission. And now that he crouched there in an unused guest bedroom, seeing Naomi underneath the bed, he knew it had been worth it.

She had stopped screaming, and he reached a hand out to help her up. “It’s okay. It’s just me. But how are you here?” He wondered for a moment if he had gone crazy and he was just hallucinating. Or maybe it was just someone who looked like Naomi. But his body told him otherwise.

“How are you here?” Naomi was still the same as she had always been. There was no mistaking those brilliant blue eyes and her dark, straight hair. Even a little disheveled and shaken, it was absolutely her. The touch of her hand was like fire against his skin, and as he pulled her to her feet, he could feel his wings burst through the skin of his back.

She responded in kind, her almond eyes elongating even further as her face stretched to a muzzle and her hair turned to a cascade of spikes along the curve of her skull. He watched with fascination as her wings unfurled, taking up half the space in the room. They were the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen, and she was an even more magnificent dragon than he had remembered.

Julian had been so fascinated with Naomi’s transformation that he had barely noticed his own. The sensation was nothing compared to the way this woman made him feel and the animalistic urges she had been inspiring in him even before he had truly known that she was here on this planet. As unreal as it had seemed, his instincts were right. She really was back.

She studied him, her clawed hands reaching out to run down the smooth scales on his cheek. “It’s you. It really is you. He said I would find you here. I didn’t believe him, and it took so long that I thought he must have been wrong.” Her voice was quiet, musing.

“Who?” None of this made sense. Just seeing her at all was confusing enough.

“Varhan. He’s a wizard who helped me get to Earth. That’s what I was doing when I left. He said the energies here would heal me. I couldn’t tell you because I knew what it meant to have associations with one of his kind. Even if you understood, I didn’t want anyone to blame you.”

It had been so long since he had heard that name spoken aloud that for a moment, Julian didn’t know who she meant. But a vision of the little round man in the middle of the woods soon came leaping to his mind. “Varhan. Varhan!? But I knew him. I worked with him all the time, even before you and I started seeing each other. I never would have been upset about that. It’s because of Varhan that I’m here, along with three of my friends.”

She smiled, a beautiful look on a dragon, and she reached out to touch his face once more. “He said that the spell to bring me here would change the lives of others. I suppose he meant you and your friends from Charok.”

As suddenly as his heart had lifted at the sight of her, it fell like a stone into his stomach and all the fire in his chest quickly extinguished. She couldn’t possibly know about Tazarre and the spell of poison, or the fact that all the other dragons on Charok were now dead, and he’d have to be the one to tell her. “Possibly. But right now, I just want to know how you got here.”

Naomi nodded and looked up at him. “I lived here as a human for several years after Varhan sent me. The spell worked, and I felt much better. But it was lonely, especially because I was the only dragon here. Eventually, I made friends; I suppose you’ll meet them when they come back. But five years ago, I was killed in a car accident and my soul was sent to another realm, a place unlike any I’ve been to before. But my friends hold special gifts and were able to use their powers to bring me back. Actually, I’ve only returned to Earth a few hours ago.”

“I know your friends,” he whispered. “There’s so much that I have to tell you. It’s going to take a long time of just sitting and being together.” How could he explain that all the dragons on Charok had been purged and that he and the other men, along with the eggs they had snatched, had been the only survivors? It was more than she should have to hear about right now, but eventually, he would also be able to explain that her friends and his friends were all very well acquainted.

“That sounds wonderful.” Naomi butted her head up underneath his chin. “For right now, just let me know that you still love me as much as you did when we knew each other before.”

“Absolutely.” He closed his eyes as he leaned toward her, her scales where he touched her smoothing out to soft skin. The waterfall of her hair showered across the back of his hand as he cupped the back of her neck, and he felt all the tension that had been building up in his body immediately dissipate as his lips met hers. He wanted to melt into her and become part of her, never having to give her up again.

Instinctively, his hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her up, pulling her close as he deepened their kiss. The raging instincts that had brought him to the house were now a craving in his veins, and he was finally getting to satisfy that craving after all these years. His fingers drifted underneath the hem of her t-shirt and up the smooth planes of her back.

Naomi’s arms had wrapped around his waist, but she leaned back in his grasp to lift her shirt over her head. She hadn’t been wearing a bra, which made sense since she had been wanting to sleep, and she revealed to him the pearlescent mounds of flesh that he needed so badly.

Julian laid her down on the bed. His mouth drifted down the hollow of her neck, slowly tracing the curves there, until he made his way to those gorgeous breasts. They were soft and sweet in his mouth, her nipples growing hard as his tongue flicked across them. Naomi groaned pleasurably and ran her fingers through his hair, pressing him harder into her.

This was so much more than Julian had imagined, even in his wildest fantasies. He had been so certain that he would never see Naomi again, yet he had allowed himself to envision what it would be like if he had. Now, having her right her in his arms and in his mouth, he wasn’t sure he would be able to contain himself long enough to enjoy it.

“Oh, Julian,” she breathed. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” He was nuzzling her neck again. There was no square inch of her body that he didn’t want to explore. “The other dragons I’m here with paired off with their mates, but I knew I could never do the same thing. There was only one woman in the universe for me.” As he nipped her earlobes, his hands drifted down her long, lean body to the waistband of her shorts. Naomi arched her back as he pushed them away, making it an easy task. Her simple cotton panties came next.

Julian sat back on his knees to admire his mate. She was glorious in her nakedness. Her tumble of straight hair was dark against her snowy skin, the rosy buds of her nipples like delicate flowers on a teacup. Her waist tucked in underneath her ribs before the spread of her hips. Julian moved down toward the end of the bed, eager to explore the new frontier he had just discovered.

He ran his hands down her thighs as he gently pushed them aside, bending to kiss the delicate folds. She gasped and pulled away at first, but as his hands gently cupped her buttocks, she relaxed and spread her legs a little bit wider. He investigated her thoroughly, thrilled with the way she squealed and bucked underneath him.

“I want you,” he heard her whisper. “Please, Julian. It’s been so long.”

These were the words he wanted to hear, and he instantly rose to his knees and maneuvered himself on top of her. She took him in with her body and with her soul as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and he sank down into her depths, the heat of her core blazing against him. He wanted to just stay like that forever, but his body had other plans. His hips moved, and hers easily picked up the rhythm. Their mouths and tongues entwined, and they were like one creature caught in a spiraling moment of ecstasy.

He felt her breathing come more rapidly as she undulated around him, suddenly even wetter and hotter than she had been before. He moaned into her mouth as he came, the years of loneliness and frustration exploding out of him as stars danced around the edges of his vision.

Afterwards, he lay next to her on his side, the back of his finger grazing against her cheek as she smiled up at him. “I know it’s you. You’re right here next to me, and you’re the exact same person I’ve been dreaming about all these years. But even making love to you doesn’t seem like enough to make it real. I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and find out that this has all just been an amazing dream.” Julian didn’t even want to fall asleep for fear that he would have to come back to reality eventually.

“I understand.” She reached up to touch his hair. “I’ve spent far too many years wondering where you were, and if you were even alive.”

With those words, Julian realized it was time to tell her all the things she hadn’t been around to see. “Listen, I need to share some things with you. I don’t even want to, but it’s not fair to leave you in the dark.” Doing his best to give her a full account without focusing on too much detail, Julian told her of the War of Storms and how the wizards had jumped in with the ogres to fight against the dragons. He explained the spell that Tazarre had cast and why they could never go back to Charok. With a mix of hope and worry in his chest, he explained how he had come to be the foster father of Kaylee, how the other men had children of their own, and how her own friends’ fates were intertwined with the dragons’.

By the time he was done, her pillow was soaked with tears. “I’m sorry that I’ve upset you, Naomi. I know it’s a lot to take in, but you needed to know.”

She nodded and wiped at her eyes. “I knew about some of this—vaguely. While in the Otherworld, I sensed that many of the dragons on Charok had been destroyed, and there was a group of dragons who had escaped to Earth, but I didn’t know the entire story. And I didn’t know that you were one of the dragon refugees.” She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to the ceiling, blinking away her tears. “At least I have you, and that’s more than I’ve had in a very long time. And I suppose, from what you’re telling me, I’ll have a daughter as well.”

As much love as Julian had found in Kaylee and Naomi individually, it was nothing compared to what he felt at the idea of having them all together as a family. “Yes. You will. And I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

Naomi looked as though she was about to respond with something equally mushy, but the look in her eyes suddenly changed, hard and aware, her irises like blue stones.

“Julian. You have to get out of here.”

“What? No. I’m not leaving you. Not for anything.”

But she was off the bed and yanking her clothes back on, standing still as she listened. “You are. And now. There’s no time to mess around.”

Getting dressed himself, Julian reached out to her. “Naomi, it’s been a long day. I think maybe you just need a little bit of rest.”

She slapped his hand away. “No. You need to go. Now. It’s for your own safety.”

“But if there’s some sort of danger, then I should stay.” Julian, however, sensed nothing of the kind.

“Okay, okay.” Julian finished dressing, wondering what he had done wrong. But it was clear that Naomi wasn’t in the mood to answer such questions. He would give her time. That was probably what she needed more than anything. “I’ll leave for a bit, but I’ll be back in a few hours, Naomi. I need you to know that. I love you.” He desperately wanted to kiss her, but the sharp look in her eye stayed him. He left, feeling a heavier weight on his shoulders than he had felt in a long time. He did his best to rig the door shut so it would still be safe while he was gone and exited through the back of the house.