Tenia gasped, but he smelled no fear. “We could have just taken it off,” she said.

  “Mine,” he growled, so lost to his wolf that he couldn’t even form a sentence. With nothing between them now, Skender licked her skin, starting at her shoulder, over to her collarbone and then up to the spot on her neck where she’d wear his mark. His heart beat so hard in his chest he could feel his blood pulsing through his veins. With every breath, her body pressed closer to his. The desire that he’d tried so hard to keep trapped burst forth like a broken dam. His lips closed over her flesh, and his teeth pierced her silky skin. Tenia’s blood filled his mouth, and he pulled deeply on the wound. She was a decadent feast to all his senses. Her taste, her scent, her touch, the beauty of not only her body but of her soul. The sounds coming from deep within her encouraged both man and beast to take what belonged to them. Skender only allowed himself two more swallows of the precious liquid and then pulled his teeth from her.

  “Don’t stop,” she said, her voice husky as she tried to tug his head back to her neck.

  “It is enough, soarele meu.” Skender turned her head so he could see her face. “Look at me, Tenia.” She opened her eyes with languid blinks. “It’s your turn.”

  A small smile graced her face. She ran her hands down his neck to his shoulders and tugged at his shirt. “I’m pretty sure we’re both overdressed for this whole mating thing.”

  Skender chuckled. He pushed back and braced himself on his knees, then reached over his back, pulling his shirt up and over his head. He turned to toss it to the side and heard Tenia suck in a sharp breath.

  “Your markings,” she whispered and sat up, her legs still between his.

  “They’re on my back, but they’ve moved up to my neck since meeting you,” he explained. His wolf perked up from the lust filled stupor at the mention of their markings. I want to see her markings, his beast demanded. Skender needed to see his claim on her just as badly as his wolf, but he tried to be a little more tactful about it.

  “As my true mate, you will have matching markings on you,” he told her and knew his eyes were glowing as his wolf tried to take over.

  Tenia looked down at her still fully clothed body. “I haven’t seen any.”

  He chuckled. “Then perhaps you need a second pair of eyes to check you over.” A grin spread across her face, and it sucked the air from his lungs. “By the goddess, you are beautiful.” He leaned forward and gripped the bottom of her shirt. He met her eyes, raising his brow in question.

  She nodded. It was all the permission he needed. He peeled the torn shirt from Tenia’s body. His eyes drank her in, but Skender forced himself to be patient. It wasn’t easy. He wanted to rip the rest of the clothes from her body. “No markings here,” he said, his voice gruff with his need to make her his.

  Tenia reached behind her back, and Skender held his breath as the straps of her bra loosened and fell down her shoulders. Tenia’s eyes didn’t leave his as she took the garment off and tossed it aside. He was frozen, unable to move for fear that if he did, he’d wake up from a dream.

  “I think your neck is going to need to be a little closer to my mouth.” She held out her hand to him.

  Skender moved without thought, his body covering hers, skin against skin, warmth mingling as he wrapped himself around her. With his hand behind her head, he guided her mouth downward. “Don’t think,” he rumbled. “Just bite. Hard.”

  Her lips placed a gentle kiss, and then he felt her teeth. Tenia didn’t hesitate; she did exactly as he told her. She bit him so hard he grunted at the pain. But as quickly as the pain came, it was gone. In its place was a pleasure he hadn’t known could exist.

  He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so that she laid on him. His hands roamed, petting, tugging at clothes, memorizing his mate. Skender paid attention to every sound she made when he touched her, noting particularly sensitive areas and filing that information away for later. “Enough, love.” He breathed and pushed her gently from his neck. When she finally pulled back enough that he could see her face, she looked euphoric, lost in a high that he now completely understood.

  Skender finished undressing both of them, his lips trailing over every piece of flesh as it was exposed. When he pulled off her pants and she shifted her hips, he finally saw his markings on her skin. In the blink of an eye, he flipped her over, placing Tenia on her stomach. His left hand ran up the back of her left leg, starting at the bend of her knee and moving up her thigh. She sucked in a breath as he continued caressing her buttocks and on until he reached her waist where the mark ended.

  “Skender?” she asked, sounding breathless.

  “They’re beautiful.” He let his fingers trace the markings again. “My mate, my love.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the top of the mark on her waist and then began trailing them down her flesh.

  “Skender,” she said again, her voice higher and louder.

  “Hush,” he commanded gently. “Let me love you,” he said before going quiet and taking control of her body. She submitted to him, moving with him and whispering encouragement when he pleased her. Skender let himself soak her in. He grew drunk on her as they made love and knew that he could never walk away from her, no matter if he wasn’t worthy of her. The bond snapped into place, tight and strong as their bodies became one. “Mine,” he whispered again before sinking his teeth into her once more.

  Pressing his head closer to her and holding tight as if she’d never let him go, she agreed, “Always.”

  Chapter

  Twelve

  “Sometimes I think we make things so complicated when they should be simple. Over the course of my existence, it has become pretty obvious that the answer to any problem is love. That’s what it always comes back to. Who do you love more? Yourself or someone else? What do you love more? Things or people? What are you willing to do for love? I didn’t say that following through is easy. Just that the answer is always right there in front of us.” ~Nick

  * * *

  Peri sat on a rock watching Torion and Galan chasing each other in the forest clearing. Maybe she should have been concerned that the adolescent dragon might accidentally stomp on the kid or knock him over with his tail. But so far, Galan had managed not to kill Torion, so Peri figured worrying was a waste of time. Peri wondered how long the boy’s mother and Skender would need to handle their private business. She couldn’t deny that she was envious of the couple. Though they would have tremendous obstacles to overcome, they would overcome them together. That’s what true mates were meant for, to have someone to lean on, someone who would stand by your side no matter what. And Peri had thrown that away. Not because she didn’t love Lucian. Quite the opposite, in fact. She’d pushed him away because she loved him, and she’d already known that she was going to be the one to destroy the Order. Knowing that her death would also mean his was more than she could stand. Lucian had suffered so much while being trapped in the Dark Forest for all that time. And if that wasn’t enough, she had his nephew to think of. Fane had lost plenty already; he didn’t need to lose his uncle as well.

  “True mates are not meant to exist without one another,” her subconscious whispered. No, that was a lie. It wasn’t her subconscious that was speaking. It was her soul. Ever since the bond between her and Lucian had been momentarily opened, her soul, the other half of his, had relentlessly nagged her. “Did you have the right to decide for him whether he would live without you?”

  She didn’t have to answer the annoying voice because her attention was suddenly grabbed by Torion’s high-pitched giggles. She watched him trying to climb Galan’s leg. The draheim stuck out his snout and lifted the boy until Torion was perched atop Galan’s back. Peri growled and stood, holding out a hand. She pushed an invisible barrier around the young draheim. When he tried to unfurl his wings, they bumped into the barrier with a thud.

  He looked in her direction and gave a growl.

  “Free my wings, fae.”

  “What are you doing?” Peri asked, ignoring his command.

  “The boy wants to fly and so do I.”

  “Not gonna happen,” she replied.

  “I will not let the child fall,” Galan said. He shifted his enormous feet and tried to stretch his wings again, but Peri’s magic kept them still.

  “The child’s mother doesn’t want him going on a joyride,” Peri said. “And though I would normally be fine with disregarding the parents’ wishes, especially if they’re wolves, I promised no harm would come to him. I can only assure that if he is within my reach.”

  “You could come with us, Peri,” Torion suggested, his voice full of excitement as if it was the greatest idea in the history of ideas.

  She planted her hands on her hips, tilted her head, and stared at the two troublemakers. Peri assumed it would be some time before she could take Torion back to his parents. What else did she have to do but sit around and listen to her soul pining after Lucian until it drove her crazy?

  “What the hell?” Peri threw her hands in the air. At the same time, she removed the magic that kept Galan grounded. She took a few steps and then bounded up onto the draheim’s back, just behind Torion. Peri wrapped an arm around the boy and pulled him tightly against her. “Have your takeoffs gotten any bett—” Her words were cut off when the young draheim launched them into the air, his powerful wings beating rapidly to help him climb up into the sky. His body rocked from side to side, and Peri used her power to keep her and Torion still so they wouldn’t roll off the side of the beast. “Guess that answers that question,” she muttered.

  After several minutes, Galan finally stopped climbing and leveled out. His wings spread out on either side, allowing them to glide, using the wind currents to float through the air. Every now and then, he would give a lazy flap of the giant wings to keep them in the airstream.

  Torion threw his hands in the air. “WHOOOOP!” Laughter bubbled out of him. “Isn’t this awesome?”

  Peri opened her mouth to answer, but Torion shook his head and said, “Never mind. Don’t answer that. You’ll ruin the awesomeness.”

  Her brow rose. She leaned closer so she wouldn’t have to shout. “Believe it or not, there used to be a time when I was awesome.”

  Torion turned slightly and narrowed his eyes. “Prove it,” he challenged. Then he turned back around and continued to howl with glee.

  “I cannot believe I’m letting a child manipulate me,” she said under her breath as she lifted her hands. Gathering the power inside of her, she shot pulses of light upward in varying colors from her hands, one after another. The pulses exploded in dazzling starbursts of color above them. Humans would have called them fireworks, but Peri didn’t need fire in order to create a light show in the draheim realm’s sky.

  “Yes!” Torion threw his fists up in the air as if he’d won some glorious victory. “Is that all you got, the mighty Perizada?” he asked.

  “Bloody hell.” She groaned but then continued to throw out huge balls of fire that exploded, one after another. Soon there were so many that Galan was dipping and dodging the falling sparks from the explosions. The acrobatic flying only made Torion shout louder as his excitement grew. Apparently, the fae boy was an adrenaline junkie.

  They flew for a half hour before Galan slowly started making his descent. Peri looked down and saw that the draheim was heading for a clearing where his mother, along with several other of the beasts, gathered. Thankfully, his landings were much smoother than his takeoffs.

  As they landed, Peri flashed herself and Torion from the dragon’s back to the ground. The fae boy turned around and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “Thank you so much,” he said. He released her and ran to Galan. The hug was so quick it caught her off guard. Peri was still processing it when Serapha sidled up next to her. Peri noticed again how the draheim moved with eerie quietness for such an immense beast.

  “You’ve finally decided to grace me with your presence?” Peri asked the elusive draheim.

  “I don’t know why you have such a hard time finding me. It’s not like I can hide behind a tree,” Serapha goaded.

  The image of the huge female dragon attempting to conceal herself by a mere tree nearly made Peri laugh. She felt a little carefree after the flight with Galan and Torion, and a little more alive. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, considering Peri hadn’t fully decided that being alive was what she wanted. “Then it’s a good thing it doesn’t matter what you want,” her pesky soul whispered through her consciousness. Peri ignored the inner voice. Perhaps if she stopped acknowledging it the voice would go away. “I’m your soul, moron, not a stray dog.” “Good grief, am I really that obnoxious?” Peri asked out loud despite the fact that Serapha wouldn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

  “Do you really want an answer to that question?” the female draheim asked.

  Peri held up her hand. “I already know the answer. I don’t need confirmation.”

  Serapha settled next to Peri, her colossal form resting gracefully on the ground.

  “Are you going to tell me what you meant when you said I had been saved by a draheim?” Peri asked. She wasn’t hopeful Serapha would give her an answer.

  “When it is time for you to know, then the knowledge will be revealed.”

  Peri rolled her eyes. “That’s a non-answer. Non-answers suck.”

  “You seem to be more yourself as of late,” the beast noted. “It has been good for you to be here.”

  “How would you know how I’ve been? You’ve been off gallivanting around while I’m trying to figure out the meaning of my life and how I will go on now that I’ve made a right mess of things back in the human realm.” Peri was whining. She heard it in her voice and wanted to kick her own ass for it. Maybe she was beginning to reclaim a little of her old self.

  “What do you think that will look like?” Serapha asked. “You walked away from those you cared about because you were afraid to lose them. So, you essentially made your own fear come to pass.”

  “Are you striving for the Captain Obvious award?” Peri muttered.

  “You’ve now realized,” Serapha continued, not bothering to acknowledge Peri’s comment, “that your rash decision led to rash behavior, and none of it was what you wanted. You let your emotions control your actions. So how do you correct it?”

  Peri clenched her jaw. She seemed to have a permanent headache since she’d released the cold fire, as if she needed the reminder that what she’d done had been the wrong course of action. “I just take the next step in the right direction,” she finally said after several minutes. “I walked for a very long time in the wrong direction, and the only way I know how to start over is to turn around and walk away from the path I am on back toward the path I should never have stepped off.”

  Serapha’s large eyes bore into Peri. The high fae wondered what the draheim female saw. “I think that’s a very good understanding of where you are and where you’re going.”

  “I need to make amends.” Talking it out seemed to help Peri feel grounded and less like a lost child with no one to guide her. “I need to show with my actions, not just my words, that I will put them first. My mate, my friends, my family, and pack. Basically, I’m going to be shoveling in very large quantities of humble pie.”

  “I’ve heard of all the pies you could possibly eat, it’s much better than the consequences of the others.”

  “True. Humble pie won’t give me an ass the size of Jen’s or cause me to have a sugar high and run around like a cracked-out Thia.” Peri smiled at her description. She missed her friend and even her weird child.

  “What’s a cracked-out Thia?” Serapha asked.

  Peri scrunched up her face and shook her head. “It’s really better if we don’t talk about it. It’s kind of like speaking of the devil. Say her name too many times, and she just might show up.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” the draheim said and then turned her attention back to Torion and her offspring. “Galan has asked if the fae child can stay here with us,” Serapha said. They watched as Torion patted the young draheim’s snout. Peri sensed Serapha was attempting to distract her from her thoughts, and for that, Peri was grateful. It was very easy for her to get lost in her own mind and chase rabbits that would offer no answers or comfort.

  “He realizes the child is not a pet, right?” Peri asked at the same time that Galan told Torion to sit and stay.

  Serapha chuckled, her voice rumbling deep in her chest. “Yes, he understands that. But he has come to think of Torion as his charge. Galan believes he is the boy’s protector.”

  “Galan will have to take that up with his mother. She’s awake.”

  “Why don’t you sound happy about that?” Serapha asked, showing more astuteness than Peri expected.

  She stood quietly watching Galan and Torion play, carefree and safe without the threat of vampires, evil fae, or corrupt elf kings chasing them. “Because time is running out.”

  “Even if she hadn’t woken, your mate and his mismatched pack are knocking on our proverbial door,” Serapha pointed out.

  “Is that what you call it when a group of powerful supernaturals attempt to tear your veil open? A knock?” Peri smirked.

  “They don’t mean me or mine harm,” Serapha said. “They want you. Your mate discovered your location because a soul cannot hide from its other half for long. And he is going to do anything to get to you. The question is—”