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Actually, he was likely to possessively rip the eyes out of anyone that even dared to look upon her beauty.

He started to follow her when she kept backing away, like she could escape from this when she couldn’t. His mark would never fade, and he couldn’t mark another now.

She covered her face with her hands, and the sound of a shuddering sob came from behind them. He hated the pain he could hear in her voice and hated the way it choked him.

“And Iwill notallow you to forsake me,” he growled as he stalked her.

Hewouldn’tallow his own mate to abandon him, to spurn him!

“But I am a Witch! You are supposed to be mated to your own kind.”

He gave a quiet growl as his anger rose further the more she tried to deny it.

“It does not matter that you are a Witch. I have made my decision.”

She will accept my claim!He had saved her.Her life is mine. She ismine!For all of eternity.

“You do not want this!” His steps slowed and his head twisted in confusion when her hands flung away from her face to hug her stomach. “You told me you did not want a mate or hatchlings! You did this to save me and have trapped yourself to me in doing so. You should not have if it meant you would have to suffer this. You do not want this from me!”

Rurik realised then that she didn’t understand. That her tears were not for herself, but for him. She thought he’d felt cornered and would regret what he’d done.

He came forward with swift determination to wrap one arm around her back while the other pushed through her hair to fist it.

He pushed her against the wall.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” he said, forcing her to face him. “I would not have done this if I did not want you as my mate. You fulfilled part of that prophecy, Amalia.”

“N-no, I did not.” When she tried to avert her gaze, he shook her head and made her look into his eyes. “I-”

“When you shoved that blade into yourself, you took my heart, but not in the way they thought.”

“What?” Her eyes widened in shock as a gasp ripped from her.

“Every time I look back on that moment... Every time I remember what you did to save me, I know that is the moment in which I made my decision.”

He’d had to fight through his confusion, had to defeat Strolguil and save her first, but the more he thought on it, the more it moved him.

And it wasn’t something he wouldeverforget.

The smell of her sweet copper blood. The sound of the blade giving impact and the small gasp of pain she’d made. The tinging sound the blade made each time it hit something solid before it cluttered against the ground was like a ringing in his ears.

The more he thought about it, the more he realised that the tender and caring emotions inside him he hadn’t wanted to accept had been turning into something for her. He’d lacked the trust in her to see it and would never have accepted her without it.

When she’d shoved that blade, she’d brought back the trust in her he had lost and then viciously shoved it over the edge. He’d fallen for her in one swift move.

On the night of the black moon, Amalia had indeed stolen the WitchSlayer’s heart.

“You will not try to feel regret for me when I do not feel an ounce of it!” he yelled with such a deep sense of unwavering doubt it couldn’t be ignored, not by her, not by anyone. Her tears started to slow, and she made another gasp when he gave a sharp tug on her hair. “So, you are going to tell me when you want to fulfill the second half of that prophecy.” He moved his hand from behind her to snake it under the tunic to rest it against her stomach. “You are going to give me that child, but I will be the one to father it. To protect it and cherish it just as I will you.”

He moved his hand up to wrap it around the back of her neck, his other hand using her hair to pull her head to the side so he could lean forward. He placed his lips against her throat, sharply nipping at her skin with his teeth.

“I am going to fill you with my seed whenever I want, and I do not care what you do with the magic that comes from it.” He came forward a little more so he could thrust his hips against her so she could feel his hardening cock. “And I would do so now if you were not so weak.”

He didn’t care that she was still covered in her own blood and hadn’t bathed. She still appeared remarkably lovely to him.

“And even if it means you will have to learn blood magic, we will find a way to extend your life, because I will not have my mate wither into old age and die hundreds of years before me!” He gave a growl against her throat when he could scent her arousal growing. His lips continued to move over her throat and the mark he’d put on her. “Even if you have to take it from me, or yourself, or another Dragon, I will have you with me until I fade from this world.”

He will not let her become corrupted, but they would find a way.