Once they’d stepped outside the circle of light surrounding the eating area, Zayd slowed his long-legged stride to allow Niva to catch up. She felt his proximity like heat in the air and how he waited for her to approach with those black unblinking eyes.

She watched his back muscles as he walked, the rippling bulk transfixing her and filling her with the desire to reach out and run her hands down his body. The black markings she had mistaken for tattoos, which held in his expansive wings, were even more beautiful now that she knew what they contained. Powerful sunset-colored wings that could carry her above the clouds.

When she caught up, he didn’t say anything, but he slowed his pace. They walked side by side to the western ridge, a flat triangular area where the stone wall leading up to the next plateau met the cliff edge. It was a dangerous area, someplace she hadn’t wandered before, the idea of falling too terrifying to risk. But with Zayd at her side, she stayed calm. She believed in the deepest part of her that, if she were to fall, he would dive down to rescue her.

He didn’t talk, but she sensed him relax the farther they walked. It was like she could feel his emotions in her bones. Like she knew his state of mind just by being near him. She wondered if this was an effect of having ridden his Draqon form. Every time he glanced at her, she heated up, wanting nothing more than to feel his hands on her and claim his mouth with her own.

If she could feel him so strongly from just one ride, what must it have been like for him with his mate? And he’d lost her. The depth of that grief was unimaginable. Just the thought of being sent away or never being allowed to ride again filled Niva with a feeling of loss so overpowering it was like a black hole bursting into being at the center of her soul. But to lose a mate? To lose his fated rider forever? Even though she didn’t know the details of Sotu’s death, it was no wonder Zayd behaved the way he did.

“It feels like the edge of the world up here, like if you took a step, you’d fall off into the sky and float off into never-ending space.” He walked right up to the edge of the cliff and stared at the auroras above them. Shooting stars flew across the mountains.

The night air was crisp, and Niva wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm as she came up beside him. The air felt like tiny needle pricks against her skin. “You’d just spread your wings and fly right back if that happened.”

Zayd gave a noncommittal sound, his arms hanging down his sides as he looked out over the cliff edge. They were so close to the sharp drop-off that Niva couldn’t help the vertigo rising in her stomach. She wanted to reach out and grab his hand, hold on to him for stability, but there was still a distant wall of energy about him she couldn’t break through.

“I know you miss her,” she said. If Sotu had been on her mind, she’d certainly been on Zayd’s. “I know flying with me must’ve been hard for you. I’m sorry you had to come get me.”

Her words hung in the air between them, her breath condensing in front of her. The cold air swirled above them, and snowflakes began to fall. This far from the springs, Niva had to clench her teeth to keep them from chattering.

“It wasn’t,” he finally said so quietly she almost missed it.

“What wasn’t?” She peered up at the side of his face. His light hair hung down so she couldn’t see his profile, but the slope of his shoulder was relaxed, not hunched in angry tension as she’d expected. If anything, his posture seemed completely at peace.

“Flying with you. It wasn’t hard at all.” His deep voice echoed like a buzz deep inside her body. Her heart sped up and bounced around her chest as his words registered. “I sensed you so deeply I can still taste your joy in the back of my mouth.” He turned to look at her, his eyes dark against the night sky, his scars stark in the shadows of his silver hair. “You’ve never been freer than you were in those moments, have you?”

Niva’s heart pounded. How did he know? Had he sensed her that deeply? Did he feel the same connection between them as she felt? Ever since she’d sat astride him and flown through the air, she’d thought she could sense him. And somehow, he knew this about her, knew the happiness she’d felt on his back was the happiest she’d ever been in her entire life.

There was nothing she could do but shake her head.

“Neither have I,” he said.

Her mouth hung open as she waited for his words to make sense. He’d never felt that way before? What about with Sotu?

The difficult growling man whose emotions seemed to flicker from warm to cold faster than she could blink looked at her with such open intensity it sent a shudder through her entire body. Her stomach flipped, her nerves sparking with raw energy. When he looked at her like that, she thought she was already free-falling over the cliff edge.

Her voice trembled as she asked, “Zayd? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He stepped toward her, and she backed away until she hit the rock wall behind them. They were completely alone, and while it should’ve been terrifying, it gave her an exhilarating sense of freedom. She felt like she could do anything, fight any war, so long as Zayd was there with her, looking at her like this. When his eyes dipped down to her lips, a thrill shot through her heart and pulsed down into her core.

The memory of riding on his back flashed through her mind. The feeling of his muscled, scaled body rubbing between her legs made her arousal return.

Zayd sniffed the air, and the snowflakes landing on his shoulders melted on contact.

Niva let out a whoosh of air she’d been holding tight in her lungs.

He stalked closer, reaching for her body and slamming his mouth against hers. He kissed her with a hungry passion, his tongue and teeth begging her to let him in.

She opened her mouth immediately, relishing the taste of him and remembering exactly how good he’d felt the first time they’d kissed. He smelled wild, a storm brewing on her horizon. She felt his joy as he released the tight reins he kept himself under, and his passion flowed over her like a tidal wave, sending her crashing beneath the surface. The only thing keeping her from drowning was the feeling of his lips on hers.

She breathed him in.

His hands roamed over her body, hungry and desperate as if searching for something. If only Niva knew what it was, she would happily give it to him. She was ready to give him anything.

She reached up and pushed his hair away from his face, revealing the scars that marked the right side of his jaw and neck.

He stilled, and she sensed his fear, his self-loathing, his terror that she would think him a monster, when all she saw was a brave, passionate man. She ran her fingers along his ruined cheek and jaw, pouring everything she felt for him into the touch, hoping he could feel her the way she felt him. She cupped his chin and pulled him closer.

“Zayd…” she moaned onto his lips, running her fingers along his scars and waiting for him to let her in.

He shuddered, the wall he hid behind buckling under the weight of their connection. He interlaced their fingers together before pulling her arm above her head. He traced his fingers down her other arm before taking her wrist and pulling it up to meet the first. One large hand clamped them together as Niva gasped and leaned her head back, exposing her neck to him. He nipped and licked his way down to her shoulder, sucking on the sensitive flesh along her collarbone.

His free hand came between them and tugged her halter at the center of her chest, ripping it away and exposing her breasts to the wintry night air. She cried out and her nipples hardened from the chill, but his hot mouth covered her breast, sucking on the small, tight bud as his hand caressed her side. He tasted her flesh, and she felt like an electric shock shot across her skin, sending spasms of pleasure through her entire body. His roaming hand skimmed over her side and hips, pushing her harder against the wall at her back so he could grind himself against her.

Moaning, she wrapped one leg around his. If she could have managed it, she would have climbed up his mountain of a body and straddled his hips. Instead, she pulled against his iron grip on her wrists. Sure she would die from pleasure, she rolled her hips against him, begging for attention to her desperate, aching pussy.

He lifted her up against him, and she wrapped both legs around his waist. His hard, massive length rubbed against her core. He was huge. The feel of him made her delirious with need. She bucked against his hand’s hold on her wrists, desperate to drag her fingers along his flesh and feel as much of him as she could, but he wouldn’t release his grip. Instead, he growled and slammed harder against her, mashing her lips with his teeth and tongue as if he might devour her whole. The rock wall at her back ripped into her flesh, adding pain to her pleasure, but she couldn’t care. She would accept any consequence just to have this moment last forever.

Niva surrendered to his touch, crying out as he stroked against her. With her legs around him, his cock lined up perfectly against her. Each time he slid against her, his hardness pressed against her clit, pushing her further toward oblivion. She hadn’t felt this free in her entire life. For the first time, she gave herself over to the moment, not asking for anything more than the pleasure coursing through her veins.

“Please,” she moaned as he pulled his mouth away and released her hands before pushing his body tighter against hers as if he could meld their skin together.

His eyes went completely black. The pupils had blown to the point that no white remained, much like the appearance of his Draqon form. The thought of him losing control and wanting her so desperately he couldn’t restrain himself thrilled her. His grasp on control was tentative at best, and she wanted nothing more than for him to give in, to take her body with his and show her just how much he needed her. With her hands free, she clawed at his shoulders, scraping her nails along his neck in her desperation to bring his head down to meet her lips again.

He half shoved, half carried her to the ground. His weight landed hard on top of her.

She arched up against him, her hands exploring his chest, raking over his sensitive nipples. She wanted to kiss every part of him she could reach, but he held her down with his massive bulk. The weight of him grounded her, made her feel safe as she surrendered completely.

Niva knew that as much as she longed to touch him, Zayd needed her. He needed someone to show him he wasn’t a monster. She wrapped herself around him, shoving her hands into the back of his tight leathers and gripping his ass, pulling him tight against her.

He reared back with a hiss, shoving his hips forward against her, sending a jolt of pleasure through her so strong it sent flashes of white across her vision.

She pushed his leathers down, kicking them off with her feet, and snaked her hand between their bodies to grip his pulsing, velvety erection.

His chest rumbled with a growl as she wrapped her hand around his cock. It was the largest she’d ever felt, thick, long, and uncut. She longed to kiss it, to wrap her tongue around it and lick him until he spilled down the back of her throat.

As she stroked him, she used the drops of pre-cum he leaked to slicken her touch. She pulled on the soft, sensitive flesh as it dragged along the steel rod beneath. He brought his lips back to her mouth, and Niva welcomed him, caressing his lips with her tongue to taste every part of him she could reach.

But he had no time for a slow exploration of their bodies. He growled again and kneeled back, staring down at her, his black eyes disappearing against the night sky. He reached for her hips and wrenched her leathers from her body, nearly ripping them in his haste to bare her entry to him. When she was free of the clothing, she spread her legs, not shy beneath his needful gaze, and reached out for him.

He stilled for a moment. The laser heat of his gaze set fire to her flesh as he stared at her lower lips spread before him. He placed his hands on her thighs, inching his fingers closer to her core where her pulsing clit wept for his attention.

“Zayd,” she begged, running her hands up over her face and fisting her own hair in an attempt to maintain her sanity.

When his hands reached her hips, he pulled her up and flipped her over, pulling her ass back into the air and fisting her hair with one hand. He pulled softly, bringing her face up so her back arched as she was pressed into the ground on her hands and knees.

She let out a small cry. Being so totally at his mercy left her unhinged and shaking.

Before she lost all control, he plunged deep inside her without warning.

She clawed the ground in front of her, gritting her teeth around her surprised cry. The size of him stretched her beyond anything she’d felt before. Searing heat caused her to clench down on his cock, making him buck his hips, driving in deeper. When he was fully seated within her, he paused, both their bodies shaking.

The world fell away, and for a moment, Niva was sure it was just the two of them flying through the air again. Her heart beat in sync with his, bringing them into perfect harmony. All his gruffness and distance gave way, and she finally saw the deep scars that ran through his heart. She wanted to reach out and smooth them away, replacing each one with a kiss.

“Do you feel that?” he asked, his voice raw.

She only moaned in answer, too lost in the sensation of soaring with him, of him buried inside her body. Inside her mind.

“You’re mine,” he growled.

He set a slow and steady pace, his breath heating up her body as the snow fell around them. Niva pressed her forehead against the ground and she placed one hand over his in her hair, wanting to feel his skin.

“So fucking gorgeous.” He ran a hand down her back and over her ribs, cupping the swell of her breast.

Niva needed to feel more, wanted the burn of his cock slamming deep inside her. Now that her body had adjusted to his size, she loved the way she could feel his every ridge and vein inside her, the drag of his cock’s head against her inner walls. She pulled away and then slammed herself back against him, pulling a raw shout from his throat.

They rutted together, fast and desperate, heat swirling in the snowstorm that had broken through the sky. Zayd leaned down over her back to run his face along her skin, the scratch of his jaw’s stubble setting off a chain reaction of need in her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and found her clit, stroking her with unforgiving fingers as his cock drove into her again and again.

She reared up, bucking up against him, begging for more. Nearly blind from the sensations of his touch, of feeling his heartbeat in her head, of sensing his half-mad lust for her, she took the pounding of his cock deep inside her as he demanded her orgasm, not drawing it out of her slowly, but taking it, stealing it as if it had always been his.