She woke with a start many hours later.

Well, not with a start. But with a tongue. A giant tongue.

A large dragon was once again hovering over her, the tip of its forked tongue all up inside her business.

Oh, God, she thought. Here we go again…

“What are you doing?” she groaned, even as her eyes closed, and her hands began running over her breasts. Had all that heat sex with Xenon’s shell been nothing more than a dream? An incredibly long and nasty birthday dream?

But then Xenon’s dark voice said, “You have taken my seed, Reverence. I am merely tasting the pregnancy.”

“And, how is it?” she asked breathlessly.

“It is good,” he answered, voice pleased. “Not so faint as with Golden Son. The seed is well planted this time, and very strong.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Fensa said, trying to keep her voice as casual as his.

A beat passed, then, “Are you wishing for me to continue with this, Reverence?”

And despite Fensa’s sore everything, she nodded frantically.

“I would have your words, Treasure. I find I much like of the sound of you begging for my honor.”

Apparently, she was too damn tired and sex drunk to bother with pride because she immediately answered, “Oh, God, yes, Reverence. Keep going. Please, keep going.”

So he did. And soon after, her hands clawed in the grass as a fresh new orgasm washed over her.

Like a brand new day, she couldn’t help but think, even if technically this one wasn’t over yet.

“So I guess you’re not bound to your human when your mate is pregnant like wolves are,” she said a few minutes later while they both cleaned off four days of intense sex in the hot spring.

“Recall, Treasure. My human form is merely a shell, not a binding as it is with you.”

“But what I mean to say is…you’ve decided to remain a dragon?”

It was strange how much easier it was for her to look upon him in this form now. She watched him carefully as he stilled.

Then something wrapped around her waist. It was his huge tail, pulling her forward until she stood in front of his massive dragon body. “I told you what it would take for me to return to my shell, Treasure.”

Her trust. All of it.

Now it was her turn to go completely still.

“Do you believe I am your drakkon?” he asked. “That I burn yellow for you as I never thought a drakkon could?”

Fensa nodded.

“Then why do you continue to refuse to believe my solemn vow?”

As so often happened between the two of them, she tried to look away, but he wouldn’t let her. His tail arced up, blocking her cheek before she could turn her head any further. It then slipped back gently under her chin, forcing her eyes to remain on his as he said, “Treasure. I am your dragon. I protect you. I revere you. I would never break a promise to you. And I vow I will not ever attack your father, his family, or his village.”

Fensa crooked her head up at him. “But don’t you see? My father only said the fated mate spell to escape dying like his brother did. If what you’re saying is true, wouldn’t I have disappeared from this timeline? I mean, if you never attack the village, the logical conclusion is my father would not have chosen to flee into the future, where he subsequently met and mated my mom. But I’m here. Still. So I can revere you. I can even love you. Yet no matter what you promise me, I don’t think—” She paused, closing her eyes against the conflicting emotions she hadn’t known were lurking while she spoke. “I cannot trust you.”

A heavy silence fell…followed by the removal of her dragon’s tail from beneath her chin. He’d effectively withdrawn his tail to withdraw from the conversation.

Fensa wasn’t surprised, but she was surprised to feel a hand cup the side of her face. A human hand. She opened her eyes to find Xenon reshelled in his human skin, his Native American-meets-pirate gaze soft on hers. “I, too, have wondered why you are still here,” he said. “But this I vow: I will make no attack on your father’s village. My vow is binding, unbreakable. Understand this.”

A new feeling washed over her. One she’d never had before. With him, her parents…not even with Ola.

“Your flame burns a new strange color. Tell me, Reverence, what new feeling is this?” Xenon asked inside her head.

Fensa swallowed as if bracing her mind to push back the answer. “Quite possibly the most elusive, and most easily damaged emotion of all, at least where I’m concerned. Trust,” she answered. “I believe you, Reverence. Despite all evidence to the contrary. I believe you.”

And that was when Fensa made another surprising discovery about dragons. That despite her past assumptions, and under the right circumstances, dragons were quite capable of facial expressions. Because hers smiled. Like a real smile…before dipping his head down for a kiss. One that all but guaranteed a happy ending for them both during this lifetime, and the next.