Not one more minute, not another second. Steele would not wait any longer to claim his true mate.

His heart nearly beat out of his chest and flew into the sky to declare to all that Fleur had agreed to be his.

He knew he would still have to work to win her trust, her love, and be allowed into the soft vulnerable part of her soul, but he would do it. He would do everything for Fleur.

The first thing he’d do for her was mark her and claim her, putting her under his protection for ever more. Then they’d celebrate with a few rolls in the hay, or grass and leaves, as the case may be.

To mark Fleur, he’d have to draw his mouth away from her tasty tits and his lips were protesting that idea. They were thoroughly enjoying being attached to her soft rosy nipples.

Just one more taste and he’d work his way up her silky skin to her neck. He flicked his tongue over the hard bud.

“Ooh, yes.” Fleur’s hands pushed into his hair, keeping him in place.

He loved how she wasn’t afraid to direct him to give her the most pleasure. She’d done it last night in their shared dream, and he wanted to satisfy every part of her greedy body.

He scraped his teeth across her flesh and she arched her back wanting more. He’d promised to taste her all over tonight, and he would. After he made her his forever.

He gave her one last tug with his teeth, loving her moan, and then kissed his way up her chest and to the supple skin between her shoulder and neck. She laid her head back and to the side, giving him more room to explore and find exactly the right spot.

Just above her collarbone her skin tingled in his mouth, and he knew he’d found where her body wanted to be marked.

Steele spread her legs, reached between them and stroked her pussy. She was already wet for him. “You are mine, mate. The one created for me and me alone. I give my heart, my soul, my love, and my life to you. Wear my mark and show the world that we belong only to each other.”

Her eyes were liquid heat, dark pools of green and black. “Yes, Steele. Make me yours. Be mine.”

He bit down, grasping her skin between his teeth and at the same time he pushed his cock into her.

Her body squeezed him tight, her muscles pulsing around him. He could hardly wait to feel her coming on his cock.

“Mmm. Steele. You feel so good inside of me.”

The dragon part of himself chanted inside his head. Mine, mine, mine, mine.

She was his, forever.

His dragon wanted to fuck her and come inside of her. Steele wanted to make this good for her, make sure she knew how much he cherished her and her body. He corralled the animalistic need. He slowly withdrew and pushed back in, setting a slow steady rhythm to drive her crazy.

Fleur moaned and wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs and her arms around his shoulders. He would stay this way forever if he could, wrapped in her body.

The world around them lit up with the glow from his shard and her necklace, the light danced in swirls around them, played with her flowers and blew through the trees.

With each thrust, he sunk his teeth a little deeper into her skin, the dragon pushing him to finish it, mark her, claim her. The connection between them was so evocative, and it coursed through his body, urging him to move faster, take her harder and deeper.

Joining with Fleur was so powerful it overwhelmed him. The way her body not only accepted his, but needed it. Her sweet moans and the way she whispered his name. Everything before this was pure play, practice, pretend compared to this. It was as if his own soul was pouring out of him. But, he wasn’t losing it to her, he was sharing it, bonding the two of them together as one.

Fleur ran her fingernails over his back. “Please, Steele. More, I need... please, more.”

This was exactly where he wanted her, so close to coming, needing him to push her over the edge into ecstasy. He moved his hands down, cupping her ass and tilted her body up, setting up a new angle he knew would propel her toward coming.

He thrust deeper into her, the head of his cock grazing the roof of her channel, rasping across her g-spot.

“Holy Mount Olympus, yes, yes. Gods, yes.” Fleur threw her head back, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he had his own bruises from her grip on his shoulders.

He wished he could whisper in her ear, tell her to come for him, but there was no way he could remove his mouth and teeth now. After he marked her he’s spend the next few hours telling her all the dirty things he would do to her, and then he’d do them all and more.

“Oh, don’t stop. I’m so close. Please make me come, Steele. Now. Make me come.”

The tight grip her pussy had on him squeezed and fluttered around him. Fucking hell, he wouldn’t last any longer the way she was milking him with her sweet sex. His balls gathered tight, ready to pour into her. He pounded his cock into her, out of control, and his dragon took over.

Now, she is mine.

He bit down, his dragon fangs extending, piercing her skin. The coppery taste of her blood melted across his tongue and his dragon roared out.

Both of their bodies let go, Fleur seizing around him as he pounded into her, shooting his seed deep into her, coming hard, skyrocketing into bliss.

They lay tangled together, her body still convulsing around him, her body holding him tight. Both were breathing hard, and Steele’s mind wanted only to hold on to the warm pleasure of her body. But, his teeth were still embedded in her. He withdrew his teeth and his cock at the same time.

“No, not yet,” Fleur whimpered.

“Shh, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” He licked over the wound he’d given her and blew a puff of Dragon’s breath to speed the healing.

Before his eyes, the blood and bruising mixed and mingled, transforming into a permanent shape that resembled a miniature version of his own dragon tattoo.

His mark.

He kissed the new symbol of their connection on her skin and made his way up her neck and to her lips. They kissed deeply, both needing to extend their connection a bit longer.

A shiver rolling across her body reminded them that they were out in the nighttime forest with wolves and who knew what else roaming around. He’d claimed, marked, and made his mate come. Now it was time to protect her.

Steele raised his head, reluctantly breaking their kiss. “Hello, beautiful mate. Let’s get you home and warm.”

Her eyes were sleepy and satisfied, but her arms were covered in goosebumps and another shiver moved across her body. She sighed in a way he hoped to hear a thousand more times in his lifetime, and smiled at him, nodding.

He sat up, pulling her into his arms and rubbed his hands briskly across her skin. There was one last thing he wanted to do before they left their mating spot. He wasn’t sure how or why he knew he needed to give his soul shard to Fleur, but he knew with his entire being that it was important that he did.

Steele slipped the cord that held his soul shard over his head.

Fleur gasped and pressed the talisman against his skin. “What are you doing? The last time you weren’t wearing that, you died.”

“Fleur, you saved this for me once before. Will you save it for me now, and forever?”

She shook her head, a panic in her eyes. “I don’t understand. It’s a part of your soul. How can you live without it?”

“You are my soul. Take this part of it and keep it safe, as I will keep you safe.”

The shard vibrated against his skin under her fingers. Her eyes went wide and flicked between her hand and his face. She lifted her hand and the shard glowed brightly into the night. Then it floated up from his skin, reaching toward Fleur.

Fleur’s own necklace lit up and drifted off her neck. “Whoa.”

Steele took the small tree-shaped charm in his hand. It disintegrated into twenty or so multi-colored dragon scales that lifted into the air, swirling around his shard, drawing it from him to Fleur, and placing it around her neck.

Some of the light from the crystal flowed into the dragon mark on her skin, turning the bruising into a shimmering ink-like tattoo.

Steele’s own dragon tattoo, the literal representation of the dragon part of himself, thrashed on his skin in response, absorbing another fraction of the light, and reveling in it.

The power he’d felt in the parking lot when he’d put his shard on for the first time after meeting Fleur, flowed through him again, reigniting in him.

He grabbed Fleur and held her tight against his chest. The power building inside threatened to overtake him and his dragon pushed to the surface. Until Fleur raised her hand and stroked his cheek.

He looked down into her eyes and saw his own soul reflected back.

“Shh, dragon of mine. Your soul is safe with me,” she whispered and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

Yes. Only with her.

Steele kissed her back, wanting to take her again, reaffirm their new lives together.

A hot whoosh of air and clapping of hands behind him stopped that idea dead in its tracks.

“That’s was quite a show you two put on. A little vanilla for my tastes. I would have had her plump ass in the air, fucking her hard, dragon style, but to each his own.”

Steele whipped around, pushing Fleur behind him. His dragon shimmered near the surface ready to defend and attack whoever thought it was funny to invade this intimate moment.

A man, only partly visible in the shadows, leaned against a nearby tree.

“Who the fuck are you?”

His dragon writhed under the surface, fighting to get out. Something was very wrong with this stranger. He wore no shard, and had no light in him. He didn’t just slip between the shadows, he was a shadow.

Fuck. Demon Dragon.

The stranger plucked one of the many white flowers that had sprung up from Fleur’s desire manifesting itself. She squeaked and a mountain of leaves swirled around them, covering her from the neck down and Steele from the waist.

Her layer of protection might guard them from the demon dragon’s view, but not much more. This was no ordinary hellion. His human form was too real, his speech too precise and natural.

Fucking dumbass move to be so vulnerable when he knew demon dragons were in the area. He should have taken her home. His mate lust had put her in danger.

The demon sauntered toward them, twirling a jeweled dagger through his fingers. “Too bad you gave your little whore nymph that shard.”

“Stay behind me.” If he told Fleur to run he knew he could keep this demon occupied long enough for her to get away, but there could be others lurking. Where were the rest of the dragon warriors? Shit.

He lowered his voice. “Fleur, do you know how to get back to the scenting circle? I need you to find the wolves or any other dragon. They’ll protect you.”

“Now, now, don’t send her off. The others are all busy fighting or fucking. Let’s just keep this between us, shall we?”

“I’m not leaving you to battle those things again without me.”

“You must. I can not risk your life.”

“Screw you and that. I’m not risking your life, ya dumb dragon. You’re mine now.”

Any last bit of doubt that Fleur wanted to be his mate disintegrated in the heat of her words. Yeah, he was dumb, for her.

He couldn’t afford not to use his head and every other resource at his disposal to protect her.

“Listen to your whore, dragon. If she runs, you die. Turn over your shard to me now—”

A tree branch slapped the demon dragon in the head, then another and another. “You can’t have it, fucktard, it’s mine.”

That dirty mouth of hers was fucking hot, and the perfect distraction. He jumped out of the pile of leaves, ready to let his dragon out.

The creature transformed into a mac truck of a black shimmering dragon. Jesus, he was big.

Too big to be a normal demon dragon.

A young green branch wrapped around Steele’s waist and sprouted a barrier of leaves over him like a loincloth.

Fleur dodged a finger of dragon’s fire spurted at her. She and her pile of leaves rolled behind a tree while she shouted to him. “Protect your junk. I’m fond of that part of your anatomy.”

He’d like to keep his dick intact too and almost hated to shift since she’d been adorable trying to protect him. But, shift he did.

The roar from the beast in front of him shook leaves from the trees.

Steele let the dragon part of his being loose, growing just as big as the black brute. Before he’d fully taken on the form, he lashed out with his tail, catching the demon dragon under the chin, snapping its head back.

It spit blood from its mouth, sizzling on the ground where it landed. “I see the First Dragon has granted your powers, boy. Enjoy them while you can.”

The black dragon lifted into the air, spraying fire in a wide arc, creating a circle of flames on the ground and in the trees around Steele. It fanned the air with its wings, growing the fire, increasing the temperature to volcano hot with each stroke.

The blazing wall separated him from Fleur.

“My love, are you safe?”

“I’m fine. Got any marshmallows?” Her voice wavered the tiniest bit, and for that alone, Steele would roast this black dragon. The flames would become his funeral pyre.

Steele should have been burning to death himself. His scales shimmered, deflecting the heat. Hells to the yeah. He’d take advantage of every new power the First dragon had given him.

He jumped into the air, bursting through the flames and rammed the black dragon. They both hurtled to the ground back inside the circle of fire, creating a crater with their impact. Steele landed on top of the black dragon and used his size to pin it to the ground.

“Get him, Steele. Break his face.”

The black demon dragon struggled, trying to escape. “You’ve got a bloodthirsty bitch. I can hardly wait to see her scratch and claw at my demons when I give her to them.”

Steele slashed out, his claws shredding a layer of scales and exposing the flesh beneath. He didn’t bother to respond to the black dragon’s empty threat. No one would ever take Fleur from him. Certainly not this dirt bag.

Blood dripped from the dragon’s wounds. On Steele’s next swipe he’d kill this demon dragon and send its worthless stain of an existence back to hell.

“Steele. Reinforcements are coming. Dragons and wolves.”

The moment that Fleur yelled the black dragon snapped his teeth down over Steele’s arm, crushing the bones in an instant.

“Gah.” He fell back, lashing out with his tail.

The bastard rolled out from under Steele and launched into the air once more.

No way was he getting away. Steele spread his wings to follow and the demon dragon attacked, biting and tearing through Steele’s wing before he could lift off.

That sneaky-ass move wouldn’t stop Steele. He clamped his own teeth around the black dragon’s lower leg.

It screeched in pain, kicking, trying to get the lock of Steele’s jaw off. Even with the strength of its wings, it couldn’t drag a huge dragon like the one Steele had become.

Five dragons swooped down through the sky above them. The gold used the wind to propel the other four at breakneck speeds toward the battle, then followed, monitoring the air.

The blue fired off spouts of water and ice shards, putting out the fire. The two reds, Daxton one of them, focused in on the big black. As soon as they got their hands on this devil, it would be nothing but a stain of oily residue on the forest floor.

The final dragon was none other than Jakob Zeleny. Seeing his leader imbued him with strength he’d thought he’d lost during the battle.

He’d be able to introduce his mate to his Wyvern, the dragon he trusted above all others to battle by his side, and the only other dragon to have a true mate.

Steele yanked on the black’s leg, pulling him to the ground. “You’re mine now, evil piece of shit.”

He didn’t need the reds to kill this enemy for him. He’d do it to protect Fleur, and to make his Wyvern proud. The First Dragon had gifted him with strength and size, and who knew what else. He’d say thank you very much by ridding the world of another abomination.

The dirt beneath his feet swirled with green leaves and vines. They wound up his legs and filled him with more than the gifts of the First Dragon. They charged his being with love. Fleur was with him, but safe, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Back to hell, you evil spawn.”

“Not today, ignorant little green.” The black dragon slipped from Steele’s grip by transforming back to a human form. It darted through the fire, right toward where Fleur was hiding behind the tree.

“Fleur, run.”

“Ste—” Fleur’s cry cut off mid-word.

Steele pushed his dragon self back inside and ran to the spot where Fleur should have been.

The only thing there was a faint green from where she’d been stolen.