So beautiful.

  Another wave of release rocked her, and Mara just held him close, never wanting this experience to end. Never wanting to let go of this man that made her feel things she never thought possible.

  By the time she’d opened her eyes, Konar had carefully pulled out of her, and he sat down on the chair again, cradling her in his lap.

  When she looked, his eyes were focused again, a far cry from the overwhelmed monster she’d seen when he’d been coming a second ago. And while she watched him, he busied himself with trying to pull her bra back on and her dress back up her shoulders, noting without dismay several tears and rips in the fabric.

  But Mara couldn’t give a damn about the condition of her dress or how presentable she appeared. Not when the man of her dreams, a dragon of all things, held her so sweetly and tenderly it could make her cry for joy.

  She felt like one of the girls in her shifter novels. Like a dream had come true. Though, perhaps that was just all the excitement along with the afterglow.

  When he was finished, he pulled her into his chest, holding her like she was a princess as he nuzzled her ear.

  “I’ll never let you go. Never,” he said, clutching her tight to him.

  But before she could respond, there was a loud rap on the door to the bathroom.

  “What the hell is going on in there?” a loud, male voice that sounded like Felix called to them. “I told you two to lie low and clean up, not make a mess.”

  In the same moment, Mara looked down and saw water pooling on the floor, most of it finding its way to the drainpipe but some of it leaking beneath the door. When she looked over, a pipe beside the sink looked bent in half, like Konar must have kicked it while moving around and carrying her, causing it to leak furiously.

  Konar just picked Mara up, still holding her, and shrugged as the pounding on the door continued.

  “I meant what I said just now,” Konar said gruffly. “About not letting you go.”

  Mara didn’t even know how to respond. She wasn’t sure if what he meant was possession or something more like love.

  She’d never been in love before, but she thought she might be now.

  And nothing could have prepared her to feel such powerful things for a man who threw axes first and asked questions later.

  A man who turned into a dragon.

  A man who she still knew very little about and who still hated her world.

  But before anything else could happen to break the magical spell between them, Konar unlocked the door and strode out into the hallway, past a half-angry, half-amused Felix.

  “Come on, big guy. Come upstairs, and we will call you guys a cab,” Felix said, looking like he was trying to stifle a laugh. “How am I going to explain this to the dragons?”

  Mara just cuddled into Konar’s chest, already ready to be back in his castle with him, though she’d had an amazing day with her friends.

  After all, there was still something out there after her.

  But with Konar around, she’d never feel afraid.

  20

  That night, Mara fell asleep in Konar’s bed.

  He’d carried her straight there from the club and didn’t seem open to brooking any opposition.

  And she didn’t mind. After the night she’d had, after being out in the world, it felt good to just be next to him. To fall asleep knowing he was there to keep her safe.

  And waking up the next morning, seeing his strong back, his handsome face when he turned over, and the gleam in his eyes when he saw her, wasn’t too bad either.

  They spent the morning making breakfast, and then she went to her room for a shower, taking extra time to put on a bit of makeup after, along with soft, blue sweats and a white tee shirt that looked good with her curves.

  Willow and Becky had been texting her all last night and this morning about what had happened, and while Mara had only answered in the morning, she was glad her friends seemed to be doing okay and still were excited about shifters.

  They were okay with watching the shop too.

  Mara looked down at the mark on her hand, seeing with a sense of cold dread in the pit of her stomach that it had changed again.

  Was it really what the double dragons thought? And did it really mean something was coming?

  And whatever it was, could Konar truly face it?

  She was fretting about it when a knock sounded on her chamber door, and then Konar came through, pushing it open.

  “What’s the point of knocking if you’re going to come in anyway?”

  “I could sense you near the door,” he said.

  He looked gorgeous in a black tee shirt and jeans, with stubble on his perfect jaws.

  “You look nice,” she said, flushing, remembering him throwing the ax when they were at the club with perfect precision.

  His warrior’s body really was something to behold, in any type of clothes.

  “You look gorgeous,” he said, coming forward to catch her around the waist and spin her in against him, holding her so tight in his big arms that she could barely breathe.

  “Konar—I can’t breathe—”

  “Risks of being held by a big, sexy dragon,” he growled affectionately, releasing his hold slightly. He nuzzled the top of her head, and she could barely believe this was still the ferocious man she’d met so long ago in his forest when he’d just woken up. “So what do you want to do today? Tour more of the castle? Visit the secret springs?”

  “Springs?” she quickly asked, excited.

  “A beautiful area of the castle installed by one of our wizards for warriors to rejuvenate after battle.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Naked.”

  She frowned, arousal moving through her even as she knew she was still slightly sore just while walking. “Uh—”

  He grinned. “Anything you need healing?”

  She was quiet but knew her bright-red, flushed face was giving her away.

  He picked her up in his arms, making her feel tiny as always. “Let’s go then, though I regret wasting the care you took with your appearance.”

  “Konar, I can’t—”

  “We won’t do anything,” he said. “I just want to be with you. You know I can be gentle when I want to be.”

  She did, and it was getting hard on her heart, which was supposed to stay distant from him.

  He was just supposed to protect her.

  He carried her across the courtyard to the other side of the castle and then walked through huge stone doors into a room that astounded her.

  She wouldn’t have thought it possible had he not stated it was created with magic.

  It was lushly decorated with exotic dark-green plants she didn’t recognize, which rose over small, vivid light-blue springs that seemed to glow from within.

  Konar walked to the biggest one in the very center and stopped at the edge of it, setting her down so she could take off her clothes.

  Looking up, she noticed it was a solarium, and the ceiling was glass here, looking up at a cloudless blue sky with a bright sun overhead.

  God, this castle was magical.

  Konar was staring at her with a gleam in his eyes, pulling his shirt over his head to bare powerful muscles.

  She swallowed, then began to remove her clothes as well, unsure how she would be able to hold back from him once they were both naked.

  She shivered slightly when completely undressed, just from the heat in his orange eyes, so hot they looked lit by flames.

  He strode toward her, totally naked, and she felt like she could pass out until he swept her up into his arms and stepped down into the spring.

  Instantly, hot, delicious water with a scent kind of like plumeria, sweet and tropical, surrounded her entire body as steam rose over both of them.

  He sat down on a shelf that served as a seat, keeping her in his lap.

  She blushed, feeling that he was hard, but he simply gave her a relaxed smile and kept her utterly supported in the water.

  “I can feel your emotions, mate, as I said,” he said, brushing her hair back and then returning to holding her close. “I know you need to rest. That I overwhelmed you.” He smiled, more gently, more tenderly than she could have imagined, and she nearly melted into the spring right there.

  “Thank you,” she said, relaxing back in his arms to look up at the plants and the ceiling above her. “You’re really something, Konar.”

  “In a good way?” he asked. “Like you’re ready to be my mate?”

  She laughed. “Not exactly. What is a mate anyway? You keep mentioning it.”

  “It means you would be mine and mine alone, and I would be yours,” he said.

  “Like marriage?” she asked.

  “But more serious,” he said. “No divorce. You could leave me, but I would never find another. I would pledge my life only to you.”

  “That is serious,” she said, pushing gently to move off his lap and onto the shelf to sit next to him.

  She needed to think, and being pressed to his amazing muscles wasn’t helping.

  “What do you think?” he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “Ready to commit to a barbarian dragon?”

  She folded her hands in her lap, then looked up at him hopefully. “You said you couldn’t love.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” he asked.

  “Everything,” she said, twisting her hands. “I couldn’t live in a world without love.”

  “So what, you want me to protect you from the monster and then you’ll leave me?” he asked. “I told you I didn’t know how to love.”

  “I think you aren’t giving yourself enough credit,” she said. “You… you’re much better than you give yourself credit for.”

  He recoiled, like something about what she was saying stung him rather than pleased him.

  “I must keep my warrior’s edge,” he said. He reached for her hand, gently lifting it, and turned it to kiss the palm right above the mark, careful not to touch it. “If I am to protect you, mate.”

  She laughed nervously, pulling her hand away. “I’m not your mate.”

  “You have another mate you’re considering?” He folded his arms, wading to the middle of the spring to face her. “Tell me where he is, and I’ll challenge him.”

  “No!” she said. “It’s just… you’re amazing, Konar. Hot. Strong. But love… that’s kind of the whole point of commitment for me.”

  “Not just being safe?” he asked, looking shocked. “Being my queen?” His lips turned up in a smirk. “Being in my bed?”

  She shook her head slowly. “Though, all of that is amazing.”

  He sat down again, dejected. “Hm.” His eyes met hers. “I will protect you, Mara. But I can’t be what I’m not. I won’t lie to you about it either.”

  “If you’re being honest, then can you tell me what’s coming for me?”

  She saw in his eyes that he considered it, but then he shook his head.

  “I can’t. I don’t want to scare you. There is no point in you knowing.”

  “I mean, I should know what to expect.”

  He shook his head again. “It is already tracking you, being drawn by your energy, feeding on it as it gets closer to attacking. Don’t give it your thoughts as well.”

  She shuddered. “That’s so creepy.”

  He walked over and put his hands on either side of her head, staring into her eyes. “I’ll be there, Mara. I promise.”

  Her heart stung, just seeing the sincerity in his eyes. She bit her lower lip, then dared to ask what she was dreading.

  “But then… you’ll conquer my world?” she asked.

  “Some of it at least,” he said. “But look, if not me, someone else will. Everything is falling apart.”

  “You could help!” she said. “Like you did last night—”

  “I’m your dragon,” he said. “I’m not protecting the world, just you and those you care about.”

  She pouted stubbornly. “Then I care about the whole world.”

  He chuckled, coming in closer until their noses were almost touching. “Nice try, little one. It would take more persuasion than that to make me help this shitty planet.”

  She made to push him away but gave up, simply loving the feel of his hard pecs under her hands, so large and powerful.

  She looked up at him again, and when their eyes met, tension zinged between them.

  She saw the way he looked at her. This was no mere fling. It never had been.

  But how to tell him what he didn’t know about his own heart?

  And what if she were wrong? Perhaps he really was as cold as he said, and she was just caught in wishful thinking.

  “What would it take?” she asked.

  His brows came together, and he drew back from her, standing in the middle of the spring and folding his arms. “For me to help this planet?”

  “For you to forgive,” she said.

  “No one has even apologized,” he said. “I was woken up rudely, with a request.”

  “That’s true,” she said. The water really did feel healing, and her body felt totally rejuvenated. Relaxed in a way she’d only felt a few times in her entire life. Perhaps that’s what gave her the courage to push the topic. “But do you remember why they locked you up? Maybe it was for more than you thought.”

  His brows lowered. “I do not remember, though I have tried.”

  “Do you want me to ask Troy and Jack to look into it?” she asked. “Maybe you could forgive easier if you knew what happened.”

  “A hundred years,” he said. “Do you have any idea how long that is?”

  She swallowed, her heart breaking for all the time he’d lost. “I do. But, Konar… as much as I know you were born to conquer, they can’t just let you.”

  He frowned. “I never said they had to. I remember coming here to rest from battles in the fae realm. That is all. I do not recall trying to conquer anything.”

  She bit her lip. “It does sound like a mistake. And it shouldn’t have happened. But, Konar, isn’t the only thing left to forgive? It’s just going to make you unhappy.”

  “Make me unhappy?” he asked. “Getting my ancestral ax in my hands finally? This is what I’m born for.”

  “But… won’t you just be proving they were right for locking you up?”

  He glowered darkly, clearly caught in a foggy past. “I don’t care what they think. They can die for all I care.”

  Her heart twisted as she realized this man truly would never see the world in the same way she did.

  She stood. “I think I need to go back to my room.”

  His eyes widened. “You aren’t angry, are you? How can you take their side?”

  “I’m not,” she said, feeling so frustrated she could cry. “It’s just… I like you so much, Konar. And I’m terribly sorry for what happened. But I just—I want a better life for you than always fighting. And always full of hate.”

  His brows lowered. “You just don’t understand the ways of a warrior dragon.”

  “You’re right,” she said, crawling out of the spring and ready to be alone for the moment.

  When they’d been in her world, it had been easy to get caught up in her own dreams.

  But that would be unfair, forcing Konar to be something he wasn’t.

  Regardless of how much she wanted him, she needed to pull back.

  As she got up out of the spring, she felt his large hand gently helping her, holding her hip.

  He hopped out alongside her, but she put up a hand.

  “I need some time alone,” she said, taking a moment to study his gorgeous face and body. “I recommend you start trying to remember what happened before you were put to sleep here. To see if you really have a right to hate.” Her hands tightened into fists. “Because it seems like something that is only going to hurt you, Konar. Don’t lose another hundred years.”

  And before he could make a retort, she grabbed her clothing, pulling it on as she fled into the courtyard.

  When she was back in her room, she heard her phone ding with a text.

  Who could that be?

  21

  The text was from Troy and Jack’s number, and it told her they needed her to call.

  Mara sighed, locking her door and flopping back on her bed, still wet from the springs but not minding it.

  The bigger problem was falling in love with a dragon who had only conquest on his mind.

  And if he was incapable of love, then that truly meant he only wanted her for her power.

  Power she didn’t even know about yet.

  Needing to connect with something less emotionally draining, she picked up the phone, dialed Jack and Troy, and put it on speaker.

  Jack’s pleasant voice picked up. “Hello?”

  “Hi,” she said, hoping her emotion didn’t show in her voice.

  “How are you doing?” Jack asked.

  “He hasn’t hurt her?” Troy’s gruff voice was nonetheless full of concern.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Konar is… surprising. Do you know why the oracle locked him up?”

  There was silence for a moment.

  “About that…” Troy said. “There really does seem to have been a mistake. Konar deserves an apology. With his smoke, he was mistaken for a chaos dragon. No questions asked when it comes to chaos dragons because even talking to them is dangerous.”

  Mara blinked, hurt washing through her as she realized Konar had suffered for nothing. “Oh no…”

  “How mad is he?” Troy asked.

  “I’d be mad as hell,” Jack said. “Though, he was causing havoc in the fae realm. Seems odd that they didn’t correct us about him being a chaos dragon.”

  “Odd indeed,” Troy said.

  Mara put a hand through her hair, frustrated. She wasn’t sure which would have been worse: if he hadn’t done anything or if he had and was justly punished.

  The whole thing just sucked.

  “Should I tell him?” she asked.

  “I would,” the dragons said. “Tell him the oracle is willing to meet him personally. Apologize. Grant any wish he might have, if he’s willing to fight on Earth’s behalf in the upcoming war with the things coming through the barrier from the fae realm.”