Even as I held her in my bed, with my dragon and hers conversing in a way that only our animal souls could, deep down I knew that any second she was going to wake up, angry and loud and hating me with every scale on her dragon body that she had yet to see. I had to admit, I was as curious about Kallie, my mate, in dragon form as she was, maybe more. I’d been waiting for her my whole life.

“How come you have scales? Am I going to keep some scales after I change? What if there’s a big scale on my face!”

She’d woken while I was self-absorbed and was now facing me, stroking the scale that just wouldn’t go away. I assumed that it would after I changed with her, but I wasn’t sure. Maybe it would just fall off like a scab.

“This is because it took a while for you and me to make a decision to be together. I guess I made that decision for you, didn’t I?”

I couldn’t help myself and ran a finger down the length of her arm and let it skip down to her lovely hip. She shuddered beside me. I knew what kind of effect I was having on her—it was probably half of the one she was having on me.

“Do you feel her now? You two getting acquainted?” I teased, now rubbing a lazy circle on her chest.

She linked her finger in mine. “Yes? I’m not sure. It’s like someone is talking to me, but in the background from a distance. She’s keeping her distance on purpose. I’m not sure she likes being my dragon.”

I chuckled a little, but then sobered. It couldn’t be easy for her to know how to deal with this being my mate—our mate—and having another being inside you.

“There’s not a chance in hell that she doesn’t like being yours, just like there’s not a chance in hell that I don’t love being yours. It’s just in our nature. We are perfectly content being yours.”

She raised up to rest her head on her hand. “Oh? Just perfectly content?”

She teased me so well. “No,” I bent down to whisper in her ear after curling her hair over her ear. “Personally, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve waited for you all of my life. And now that you’re here and you’ve accepted the mating, I couldn’t be more complete.”

She smiled and the blush crept form her cheeks to the top of her chest.

“So, what now? What do we do now? What do I do now?”

Before speaking, I took her hand and placed it over my scale, the one that guarded my heart. “There’s a few things. Do you want to know the dragon things or the mating things?” Her blush increased and it was all I could do not to pin her down and teach her rather than tell her.

“Mating things first.” She was almost breathless, and I hadn’t even explained anything to her yet.

“First we would, almost like a human wedding, say some vows. That’s the tamest part of the mating. Then, you would… you would have to bite me and mark me as yours.”

She didn’t seem as shocked as I thought she would. “Okay. Then I’m assuming we…”

“Yes.”

“But… as humans, right? I mean we don’t have to… as dragons?”

I laughed so hard and loud that she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled over—she was pissed off. “Don’t be mad. I’m in love with your candor. Your truth. Your brutal honesty. We mate as humans, but that probably won’t stop me from being frisky when we are dragons. Does that help you?”

She nodded, still pretending to be angry, but she wasn’t. I could feel her now, her feelings and her desires coursed through me like blood through my veins.

“When do we do all that?” She looked back at me.

“Anxious?” I waggled my eyebrows and got another slap on my bicep.

“We take things slow. Whenever you are ready, we can move forward. For now, we are fine and I am more than happy with this, for now. You are my mate and there are no vows that can make that more permanent to me. You are mine for always and I am yours. The rest is just-formality. Plus, I am the Alpha, so you will be announced as the Alpha female.”

Her brown eyes showed alarm. “Do I have to do stuff? Are there like responsibilities? I still have to finish school, Knox. There are still things I need to do.”

“Hey, none of that will change.” I hooked my finger under her chin to gently make her look at me. “Everything you had planned is still first and foremost. After you are finished with school and more settled, if you want to take on some clan responsibilities, you may. If not, there are other people who can and already are handling them. You priorities are my priorities now. I’m not sure you understand.”

With her hand now on my waist, she pulled me toward her. The heat from our bodies joined as our dragons reveled in the new coupling.

“Explain it to me. How did your father explain it to you?”

“He said, ‘Your mate is before yourself. Her needs come before yours. Her desires become your own. Your hearts are joined as one and your lives become inseparable. For you, there will be nothing more important than making her happy because in her happiness you will be the king of the world.’ ”

Her eyebrows bunched together. “But what about your dreams and wants and needs? What happens to those?”

My father never told me the answer to that question, but I knew it. “The same is true for you. If we are both the most important things to each other, then nothing either of us needs or desires will ever be overlooked. As the mating bond grows stronger, you will feel me and know what I need. It becomes easy.”

“I can already.” I heard her just above her heartbeat.

“It will grow stronger.”

She tried in vain to quell a smile. “Like right now, I know you are almost dying to kiss me, and still a little afraid?”

Well, damn it all. She had me nailed to the wall in less than a week of being a dragon.

“Yeah, I’m still afraid the human part of you will run screaming any moment now.”

Before I could mutter another word, my mate’s soft and warm lips were on mine. Her fingers were in my hair at the base of my head, pulling me down further, closer to her. She turned her head a little as I got closer and with one swipe of her tongue deepened the kiss while she shocked me by hooking her leg over my hip. One rocking of those hips and I was almost done for. She pulled away sooner than I would’ve liked.

“Does that help? What do I have to say to make you know?”

“Say you love me.”

She giggled. “I do, Knox. I love you. “

That’s all I needed to hear in that moment.

“Want to meet your dragon? Because mine is more than ready to meet his beautiful mate on his terms.”

“I’m more than ready. Where do we go? Where do dragons go to fly around here?”

On the way to the cliff outside my home, I explained to her about flying up toward the mountains, not below where humans had prying eyes. I held her hands during certain parts, not sure if she would be weary of the changes that would occur.

“Knox?” she asked when we were side by side looking over the cliff.

“Yes, darlin?”

“Does it hurt?”

That was the question I’d been avoiding. “The first time it will hurt. I’m sorry to have to say that to you, that I changed you into something that would cause you pain. But it will only hurt the most the first time. As you get used to the change, it will get easier, I promise. The upside is… you can fly and breathe fire. That counts, right?”

She smiled, but only with one side of her mouth. “It’s definitely a plus. Let’s get this going. I noticed your clothes shred when you changed before and you took your clothes off when you first showed me your dragon. I’ve got to strip for you, right?”

Odin, this female would be the death of me before I’d even mated her properly. Hearing her say the word strip undid me.

“Yes. I have to strip too; you won’t be alone.”

Piece by piece, she teased me as she took off every item of clothing and folded it before moving on to the next one. I did the respectful thing and looked at her face the entire time. There would be a lifetime for me to appreciate the curves and dips of her body, but this time, it was about my mate and her dragon getting acquainted.

“Okay. What now?”

I held her hands between us. “This is the easy part. Reach inside yourself. Reach toward that voice that seems so far away. She will reach back, and when she does, you must allow her to be the primary and you will move back into the shadows.”

She squinted and squeezed my hands. She was trying too hard. “Relax. Your body is now attuned to her. It’s a simple exchange of consciousness. You become submissive and she becomes dominant. There’s no giving and taking, it’s a trade between you and a different part of you.”

“There’s nothing happening,” she said, already frustrated and stomped her foot.

“I think I can help. Hold on.”

Following my own instructions, I connected with my own dragon immediately and he took over, eager to get this process moving along. In a transition faster than I’d ever experienced, he was in front of our mate and with his dragon voice, called to hers.

Mate. Mine. Fly.

Can’t.

She answered him like a desperate breath.

Can. Voice. Dragon. Now.

At the command of her mate and Alpha, Kallie looked at me in shock as the change slowly tore through her.