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I ’ve heard stories my whole life about what it feels like when a Dragon meets his mate.

The fire.

The ache.

The sheer need to be with her, skin to skin, soul to soul.

But nothing— absolutely nothing —prepared me for her .

For Casey.

She’s not just beautiful.

She’s mine .

And now that I’ve had a taste of her kiss, now that she’s looked up at me with those golden-brown eyes full of invitation and heat, I can’t hold back.

I won’t.

When she tells me she wants to spend time alone with me, the words hit harder than they should.

Because it’s not just about sex.

Not just about sating a physical need.

It’s about being chosen .

And the woman I’ve waited a hundred years for just looked at me like I’m the one she can’t resist.

Yeah. That’s fuel on a fire that was already burning out of control.

We make it through the trees with sunlight glinting off the ranch in warm gold. I want to savor this— her hand in mine, her soft giggle when I tug her closer —but the beast inside me is pushing at the edges.

And when we reach the porch of my cabin, I can’t resist anymore.

I spin, caging her between me and the door. Her back hits the wood with a soft thud, and I brace my arms on either side of her head.

“One last chance to change your mind,” I rasp, my voice already thick with everything I want to do to her.

Casey looks up at me, eyes bright and brave. “Not a chance.”

That’s all it takes.

I crush my mouth to hers, kissing her like I’ve been starved for centuries— and in a way, I have.

She melts into me, fingers digging into my shoulders as I lift her up. Her legs wrap around my waist on instinct, and I carry her inside without ever breaking the kiss.

We stumble through the door, laughter and gasps between kisses, my hands roaming every soft, tempting curve.

I need to feel her beneath me. I need to hear my name fall from her lips again and again.

I carry her to my bedroom, lay her down on my bed like she’s the most precious thing I’ve ever held— because she is .

“Oh God, Zeke,” she whispers, breathless, as I slide my hands under her shirt, peeling it away inch by inch. “You make me feel?—”

“What, Petals?” I ask, voice low and rough, thick with awe and lust. “Tell me.”

Her fingers curl into the bedsheets, her body already trembling under my hands.

“So good,” she breathes. Just two little words, but they rock me.

And gods help me, I vow right then and there— she will never feel anything less again.

I kiss my way down her body, slow and reverent, like she’s my prayer and my salvation all wrapped into one delicious, maddening package. Every soft inch of her is sacred.

Every sound she makes, a hymn I’ve waited my entire life to hear.

Her cherry-red bikini slips from her hips like melted sugar, revealing skin so warm and soft I forget how to breathe.

And then I kneel.

Not just for the view— though that alone is enough to bring a lesser man to his knees —but because this is it.

The moment. The reason I’ve been burning from the inside out.

My Dragon coils in the shadows of my soul, watching her through my eyes with barely leashed reverence.

“Please,” she whispers, her voice cracked open with want.

Her thighs part like petals blooming at dusk, her eyes locked to mine like she’s seeing the man and the monster and accepting both. Even though I know that’s not possible.

“Do you know how fucking beautiful you are?” I rasp, my voice unsteady, the truth of her beauty leaving me undone.

She shakes her head.

That lip catches between her teeth, and I groan.

Fuck .

That lip. That mouth. I swear, everything about her turns me inside out.

“You got me wild for you, Petals. So sweet. So goddamn perfect. You make me forget who I am.”

My fingers brush her thighs, my thumbs tracing reverent circles as I lean in, brushing a kiss just above the place she aches most.

She gasps. I smirk.

“I want to taste you again,” I growl, “but if I do, I won’t last.”

She shudders, whimpering my name like a prayer.

I rise over her, my weight pressing her into the mattress, our skin hot and slick.

Her hands slide over my back, her thighs wrapping around my waist like they were made to hold me.

“Zeke. Need you.”

The sound of her saying my name like that— needy, breathless, reverent —breaks the last of my restraint.

Our eyes lock. I reach for the invisible thread that’s been burning beneath my skin ever since I met her.

I grip my cock, loving the way her gaze flicks to that hard and ready part of me and I stroke myself twice.

“Zeke,” she whimpers, and I inch closer, sliding my dick through her sopping wet folds.

“You’re so wet for me, aren’t you? You want this? Want me to fill you? Make you come?”

“Y-yes. God, yes.”

The growl I’ve been biting back spills from me then. I can’t contain it any more than I can contain what’s about to happen.

“Good girl. Now open those legs for me, Petals, and hold on,” I growl as I plow into her fast and rough.

I freeze, allowing her to adjust to my size and girth.

Fuck. She’s so tight. Perfect. Hot and wet.

Her pussy squeezes my cock just right, making me see stars.

The sounds of our heavy breathing fill the air-conditioned room, but we’re working up a sweat, just running on instinct and heat and need.

Her softness cradles me. I am hypnotized by it. A fucking addict for it, as I touch, rub, and drop plucking kisses on every inch of her beautiful skin.

“Nothing ever felt like this,” she whispers, like it’s a secret.

And I know how she feels.

“That’s because you and me are meant to be, Casey,” I confess.

“W-what do you mean?”

“You’re mine. Tell me.”

She gasps, her breath is shaky.

Our hearts are pounding a tattoo that sounds a whole fucking lot like the drums of war from days of old.

“Mine, Casey. Now, tell me I can keep you. I need you to say it.”

“Y-you can keep me. Zeke. You can have all of me. Anything you want,” she whispers.

And then I let go.

I let her see it.

My eyes flash violet.

Not just a trick of the light— this is my Dragon .

It’s my power, bleeding through. The air thickens with heat.

My skin shimmers with faint iridescence.

The low rumble in my chest? Not human.

Casey blinks, startled. Her breath catches in her throat, her lips parted in awe.

The light from my eyes flickers violet and gold, casting shadows over the room like a living flame.

She sees it— feels it —and doesn’t run.

Doesn’t scream.

Doesn’t doubt.

“What’s happening?” she whispers.

My throat works around the words, thick with fire and longing.

“You woke the Dragon, Petals,” I rasp. “And he’s claiming what’s his.”

A flash of uncertainty flickers in her gaze, but it melts beneath the heat building between us. I touch her cheek, my thumb tracing the line of her jaw, and she leans into it.

She trusts me.

That’s all I need.

I start to move, slow at first, every inch of me sliding into her, and the room shifts— tilts —flares.

My control splinters as her heat envelopes me, as our souls brush in that other place— the one hidden just beyond sight.

And everything heightens.

Every gasp from her lips sounds like thunder in my ears.

Every clench of her body feels like fire dragging down my spine.

The taste of her skin is richer, sweeter, like fruit ripened under a hundred suns.

It’s communion.

Her hands dig into my shoulders, anchoring us as we rock together.

Her thighs wrap tighter around my waist, her back arching like a bow, lips parted in a silent cry.

My Dragon roars inside me

But I keep him leashed— barely .

This is ours, not just his.

Pleasure spirals between us, ricocheting like lightning from her into me, and back again.

We’re a closed circuit now.

A storm contained in flesh and flame and stardust.

Every movement, every thrust, draws us closer to something ancient— something permanent.

Her eyes lock on mine, wide and shimmering.

“Zeke, I’m gonna come!”

That’s it.

The sound of her voice cracks something wide open in my chest, and I fall forward, bracing on one arm while the other cradles her neck.

“I’ve got you, Petals,” I whisper. “That’s it. Come for me. I got you and I’m never letting go.”

She moans, body trembling beneath me as I drive deeper, faster, chasing that one impossible moment when everything will converge— pleasure, magic, destiny.

And when it hits us, it’s not quiet.

It’s cataclysmic.

She shatters around me, crying out my name, and I follow with a roar that’s not quite human.

Fire bursts behind my eyes.

Her scent sears itself into my memory.

I bend my head, fangs descended, and I bite the place where her neck and shoulders meet.

Her blood hits my palette, sliding down my throat like the sweet nectar it is.

My soul stitches to hers, thread by blazing thread.

And the Dragon?

He roars.

Because we are home now.

Because she is ours.

Forever.

“I’m yours. Body. Soul. Fire and flame. I’ve waited my whole damn life for you.”

My voice breaks at the end.

It’s not just desire anymore—it’s everything.

And she sees it.

I know she does.

“W-what happened?” she asks eons later.

“I marked you,” I whisper, forehead pressed to hers. “Not just with my body. With my fire. With my soul. You’re my mate, Casey. My Dragon’s rose.”

“I don’t understand. How is this real? How are you real?”

Her lips tremble. But her hands are steady as they rise to cup my face, her thumbs brushing beneath my eyes.

I let him out a little bit then. My beast. He is so eager to greet our mate.

And Casey? She doesn’t flinch from the Dragon. She leans in.

“Oh, Zeke,” she says. “I see him!”

And just like that, the last tether holding me together snaps.

I kiss her.

So fucking grateful and humbled.

I’m not careful.

My kiss is claiming. It’s raw. Possessive. Reverent.

It’s forever.

My fire curls around us both and my cock hardens still inside her.

I can’t stop if I try.

I move my hips, driving into her, sealing our bond with the blessing of the Fates themselves.

She is mine.

And I am hers.

“Es meus,” I growl as her pussy clenches.

I follow my sweet mate, falling with her into sweet oblivion. And for the first time in my very long life, I feel content.

I feel whole.

All because of her.