Page 32 of Fire’s Resonance (Hearts on Fire #1)

Mental barriers dissolve between us. Her pleasure ricochets through me, doubling my own. Her emotions flood my awareness—wonder, desire, acceptance, and something deeper that I dare not name, yet even as I feel it mirrored in my own heart.

Mine. Protect. Cherish. Forever.

I move within her, finding a rhythm that makes her gasp and clutch at my shoulders. The scales along my back ripple with sensation, hypersensitive to her touch. Each stroke brings her closer to the edge, her pleasure becoming mine, driving me higher.

With each thrust, memories flood between us—her first experience working with fire, the way the glass seemed to sing under her hands; my childhood training sessions, determined to prove myself despite the mockery; her lonely nights in the foster system, creating art that felt like the only home she knew; my solitary patrols along the sanctuary boundaries, staring at the human world with forbidden curiosity.

The intimacy of these shared memories, more than even the physical joining, threatens to overwhelm me. No one has ever seen so deeply into my soul. No one has ever known me so completely.

“Spark,” I growl, her name a prayer and a claim combined. My hands slide beneath her, lifting her hips to change the angle, driving deeper with each thrust. Her internal muscles clench around me, drawing me further into her heat.

The claiming builds between us, fire and need and destiny combining into something inescapable. I feel her pleasure mounting, coiling tighter with each thrust. She teeters on the precipice of release, her muscles tightening around me.

“Come for me, female,” I command, my voice rough with need and dominance. “Let me feel you break apart.”

Her response is immediate, her body arching beneath mine as her climax crashes through her. The sensation cascades into me, triggering my own release in a wave of shared pleasure that seems to go on forever, each pulse of completion echoing between us, amplified by our connection.

But my dragon half snarls in resistance—not enough, not complete, not fully claimed.

When her first wave of pleasure subsides, I flip her onto her stomach in a swift movement that makes her gasp in surprise.

My larger body covers hers completely, my chest pressed against her back, my cock driving deeper from this new angle.

The position is primal, possessive—dragon claiming his mate.

“Mine,” I growl against her ear, feeling her shiver beneath me. “Say it, Spark. Tell me who you belong to.”

“Yours,” she gasps, the word punctuated by a moan as I thrust deeper. “I’m yours, Raak.”

When the claiming nears completion, my dragon instincts take over completely. My teeth find the junction of her neck and shoulder, fangs pressing against the sensitive skin there.

“Yes,” she hisses, understanding the significance even without me explaining. “Mark me, Raak. Make me yours.”

My fangs pierce her skin as our shared climax crashes through us both, the taste of her blood sweet and perfect on my tongue. The Guardian Bond solidifies, unbreakable now, our essences permanently intertwined.

Her nails dig into the furs beneath us, her body trembling with the force of our shared pleasure. The scales along her spine glow with internal fire, copper-red with hints of my silver-gray where our bodies connect.

The pleasure is so intense it borders on pain, consuming us both in a conflagration of sensation. The protective flames around us flare blindingly bright, reflecting off the crystal formations throughout the chamber in a cascade of rainbow light.

For endless moments, there is nothing but us, joined, completed, transformed.

When I finally collapse beside her, my larger body curling protectively around her smaller one, satisfaction pulses between us. I pull her against my chest, unwilling to break physical contact even for a moment. My dragon half rumbles with contentment, finally satisfied with our claiming.

“Mine,” I murmur against her copper hair, the word no longer desperate but certain. “My mate. My guardian.”

Her fingers trace patterns across my chest, following the lines of scales with fascination. “That was...” she begins, then laughs softly. “There aren’t words.”

Her wonder washes over me, her satisfaction mirroring my own. But beneath it runs a current of confusion, of questions not yet voiced. I brush a strand of copper hair from her face, studying the flush that still colors her cheeks.

“What is it?” I ask, her emotions as clear to me as my own.

She meets my gaze directly, amber eyes still glowing faintly with internal fire. “Did you know it would be like this? This... intense?”

I shake my head, my thumb tracing the curve of her lower lip. “No one could have prepared me for this. Guardian Bonds are rare enough that most of what we know comes from ancient texts. And none of those texts mentioned bonding with a human female.”

“Half-human,” she corrects, a smile tugging at her lips. “Apparently.”

In the aftermath, as we lie tangled together on the furs, new abilities begin to manifest. I notice it first—the way my scales shift to cover her when a draft moves through the chamber, responding to her needs without conscious thought.

Protective scales spread from my body to hers where we touch, a living armor that would shield her from harm.

“Look at this,” she whispers in wonder, tracing the pattern where our scales meet and merge. “They’re protecting me.”

I close my eyes, yet still see the chamber—but from her perspective. The angle is different, the colors slightly warmer, the details softer, but the emotions sharper.

“I can see through your eyes,” I murmur, the discovery sending another wave of wonder through me.

She gasps, her fingers tightening on my arm. “And I can see through yours—everything’s sharper, more detailed. I can see heat signatures in the walls!”

Together, we discover more—when we focus simultaneously, a protective fire barrier forms around us both, a sphere of silver-crimson flame that deflects both physical and magical attacks. The Guardian Bond has created abilities neither of us possesses alone, making us stronger together than apart.

“The ancient texts were right,” I say, awe coloring my voice as I trace patterns across her flushed skin. “Guardian pairs develop unique defensive abilities based on their elemental affinities.”

“And ours is fire,” she says, creating a small copper flame in her palm that dances and twines with my silver-gray one when I join her.

She sits up slightly, propping herself on one elbow as she studies the flames that now come naturally to me. “Your flames,” she says. “They’ve changed. Not just gray anymore.”

I extend my hand, summoning flame that dances across my palm—no longer the ashen gray that marked me as defective, but brilliant silver shot through with crimson streaks.

Power thrums through it, stronger than anything I could produce before the bond’s completion.

My dragon half stares at the transformed flame with disbelief, with hope so painful it burns in my chest.

Not broken. Never broken.

The realization crashes through me with the force of a physical blow. All these years of shame, of hiding, of fighting to prove my worth despite my “defect”—and it was never a defect at all.

“My ‘defect’ was never a defect,” I explain, watching the transformed flame with a mixture of wonder and vindication. “Gray flame is Guardian potential waiting for its mate.”

The realization lands heavily—all those years of mockery, of being treated as lesser, of fighting to prove my worth, when all along I was meant for this rare, powerful destiny.

My throat tightens with emotions I’ve never allowed myself to feel—rage at the wasted years, at the unnecessary pain, at the deliberate lies that kept me ignorant of my true nature.

But stronger than the rage is the vindication, the fierce pride that after everything, I found her. My guardian. My mate. My true purpose.

“They knew,” she says, her eyes narrowing with sudden understanding. “Someone in the clan leadership knew what gray flame really meant. That’s why they treated you as less. They feared what would happen when you found your Guardian mate.”

The insight resonates with truth, pieces falling into place. The systematic marginalization, the dangerous missions away from the clan, the constant undermining of my position—all designed to prevent exactly what has happened between us.

“The Gray Guardian,” I murmur as ancient knowledge surfaces in my mind. “That’s what the old texts called it. A protector who emerges in times of greatest need, when corruption threatens from within.”

Her hand comes up to cup my face, thumb tracing the edge of scales along my jawline. “They were right to fear you then,” she says, fierce pride in her voice. “Because we’re going to burn their corruption to ash.”

The conviction in her voice, the absolute certainty that we face this threat together, shakes me to my core.

My entire life, I’ve stood alone—the outcast, the defective warrior, the gray flame no one wanted to claim.

Now this female—this impossible, perfect female—declares herself my partner in battle as naturally as she became my partner in bed.

I pull her close again, a new hunger building despite our recent claiming. Need pulses between us, a physical ache that demands satisfaction. Her body responds instantly, already preparing for me again.

“The texts mentioned this too,” I growl against her throat, breathing in our mingled scent. “Newly bonded Guardians need frequent physical connection to strengthen the bond.”

She shivers as my fangs graze the mark I’ve already left on her neck. “How frequent?” she asks, voice husky with renewed arousal.

“Very,” I rumble, rolling her beneath me again. “Especially in the first days.”