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“How is your back?” he asked, releasing the fistful he had of her hair to tickle her side with his claws. “I thought being on our sides might be less painful for you.”

Her heart melted in tenderness at his consideration of her.

A small laugh quivered out of her. “I am fine, Geryon.” Then she wiggled her backside, stirring his cock inside her while his wings pet her arse. “I really like having your wings around me.”

“You do?” he asked with a huff of humour, rubbing the underside of his jaw against the top of her hair. “I was not sure if you would enjoy being confined by them, but if you like, you can sleep in them every night.”

Valerie sighed contentedly.I would like that very much.

Geryon usually woke each morning with a rush of worry that he would find his bed empty of his woman, and he wouldn’t be able to track her inside the palace. Geryon still couldn’t shake the fear that Valerie would try to run from him again, and he often fell asleep gripping the long length of her wavy brown hair.

He was always relieved when he found her still tangled with him in bed. This morning, however, he gave a huff of contentment when he woke and felt a soft and lax woman caught inside his arms and wings.

Last night, they’d both returned to the ballroom after he had claimed her and taken her against the wall. They hadn’t gone completely unseen, a couple stumbling across them mid-act. They had both frozen at being caught – which was difficult for him, being moments from coming inside her warm channel.

Valerie had tightened in tension when they were spotted, squeezing him so wonderfully that he had to tell her to stop if she didn’t want him to keep thrusting while people passed.

Since they hadn’t been alone anymore, she’d given him that cold stare, hiding her pleasure-filled face behind her mask once more.

Helpless against the power she somehow had over him, he hadn’t been able to stop from pumping himself into sweet oblivion. He completely forgot about the people in the hallway hurrying past as he drove into her, chasing bliss.

It wasn’t the first time they had been caught being intimate out in the open. He was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

What Valerie didn’t know yet was that Geryon had come across many others doing the same thing in the years he’d been here. It even occurred in other kingdoms before his stay in Bradwick’s. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence; one he wouldn’t be shy about. If he wanted his woman, he would take her.

Back in the ballroom, he could tell she was uncomfortable with the pain in her back from his claiming flames. Still, she held her features as calm as ever, and he hadn’t been able to stop his chest from puffing in pride at his chosen female.

It was deeply satisfying to watch her flit around the ballroom, knowing she had accepted his marking and was now claimed as his mate.

His memories of when he returned to their suite made his lips curl back from his fangs in a grin. It crinkled the scales around his cheeks and eyes, and he felt rather sated and satisfied.

The poor bed was now littered with claw marks; he didn’t know how they were going to explain them – not that he truly cared.

He’d taken her twice more before they’d both begun falling asleep, the night long and late. She’d never taken his knot, but that just made him more excited for the next time they were intimate while he was a Dragon. There was something new for him to experience, and after how much she seemed to have enjoyed everything, he hoped she grew addicted to taking him like this.

He would just simply love taking her throughout the day as a human in every corridor of this palace, while at night they could be private and free enough for him to be his Dragon self. He was hoping Valerie would be the key to getting him back in touch with this side of who he was, an important part he’d been largely ignoring. It had been severely weighing on his thoughts.

He brought her closer and tightened his wings around her. Even his tail had curled around the leg she was laying upon, since it was straight. She was trapped, and yet her soft snores said she was as comfortable as she could be.

She was naked, facing away from him while deep in slumber. He revelled in being able to sleep with her on their bed while in this form.

His eyes lovingly swept over the parts of her exposed body he could see. She often kicked the blankets away because of the natural heat he emitted, and it meant he could always hold and see her freely.

He’d seen his burned palm prints on her back when he had taken her from behind.

Now, those marks had turned into a large, tribal Dragon, as though it was flying up the centre of her back. The tail started from the middle of her spine, its body where his palms had been touching. Its head was where his thumbs had been between her shoulder blades, with two great wings open over them.

It looked like she had her own Dragon wings.

She does admire my kind. I do hope she likes how I have marked her.It was exactly how he imagined it.

She rolled in his arms to escape the sunlight hitting her face from the window and nuzzled the scales between his neck and shoulder. Tranquil peace fluttered tenderness into his chest as he watched specks of dust float above her.

His life was finally where he wanted it to be.

The loneliness he’d begun to feel crawling into his lungs over the years, trying to choke him, was lifted away. He had his hunting grounds, a task he enjoyed, and now, a woman to keep him happy and sated.

He knew she would always interest him, and already, he could tell watching her from afar while he performed his duties gave him great enjoyment.

She also liked to play tricks and games with him in front of the court, who had no idea of her antics.

Some of them were like the game she’d played with him while dancing. Others were versions of how much she could blatantly ignore his existence until she irritated him into leaving his post. It would only make him fall deeper in love with her when she’d freely, although quietly, giggle for him when he caught her.

Finding her when she wasn’t with court was also entertaining. Sometimes, it was just because he wanted to be in her presence. Other times, it would be to touch her, and she would deny him just to get him riled and pent-up for later.

Geryon adored her for it.

Holding her in his arms, he tickled his claws over the claim, knowing now that it had changed into a dark marking, it would no longer hurt her.

It is a fitting mark for a Witch who has the heart of a Dragoness inside her, and the woman who has won mine.