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TWENTY-SEVEN

When Eden's vision cleared, she found herself draped across Blaze's muscled chest, the coppery taste of blood on her tongue. She blinked, only to see a shallow bite mark on his shoulder, at the base of his throat. Her hand flew to her mouth. "Did I do that?"

He grinned lazily. "Indeed you did. I marked you, too." He tapped her shoulder, which stung a bit. How had she not felt him bite her? "Don't worry. I didn't bite too deep. It will heal fast now the bond is complete."

"The...what?"

Gods, he was still inside her. Hot and hard, like he was ready to pound her into next week. Was it wrong that she wanted that?

"The fated mate bond. I didn't believe they existed until you bit me the first time. Then I tasted you, and you bit me again at the peak of your pleasure, and I knew. I probably didn't need to mark you a second time, but no one will see the mark so high up on your thigh. And if they do, I'll have to kill them for daring to look at my mate in such an intimate place. Tremotino's lucky to be alive. If we'd sealed the bond back in the tower...I would have torn him apart for just looking at you."

She sat up, so she could look him in the eye, then couldn't help moaning as his cock rubbed all the right places. "You think I'm your fated mate? I thought that was only a shifter thing."

"You are my fated mate. See? The bite marks have healed already." He brushed his fingers against her thigh, where she could see the faint mark of where he'd bitten her earlier. Her shoulder looked a little red, but the skin didn't look broken. And his shoulder...despite the blood on his skin and on her tongue, it didn't look like she'd broken the skin there, either.

For a moment, her heart soared, then plummeted. "But I'm not a shifter. I can't possibly be your fated mate. I don't even know who my parents were!"

"It doesn't matter who they were. You're my fated mate now, and mine to protect for as long as I live. I would sooner die than let anything happen to you."

Eden allowed herself to hope. "So if I'm your fated mate, what does that mean, exactly? What do I have to do?" She hoped it involved more hot sex with him, though she was less enthusiastic about the flying.

"Well, there's a customary ritual among my kind, but I will only do it if you want to. Most girls come to Mirror Academy looking for love, but becoming a dragon is not something that happens very often. In fact, the only time I know of a dragon who successfully mated with someone who wasn't another full-blooded dragon, she was a very powerful witch. We believe the magic in her blood was as potent as a dragon's, which is the only reason the mating was possible. So unless you're secretly a witch, your parents must have been shifters of some kind." He reached up to cup her breasts. "Gods, but you're beautiful. I can't believe you're my fated mate. I want to make love to you all night, and into next week." He rocked his hips, making her moan with longing for more.

"What sort of ritual?" she asked, only half caring as his cock set off waves of sensation deep inside her.

He grinned. "I'll tell you about it in the morning. First, I want to see how many times I can make you scream my name before you need to sleep. Dragon stamina is legendary, I'll have you know." He wrapped his arms around her and rolled, until her head hit the pillow and he was on top of her. He thrust deep into her pussy and she could think of nothing else except Blaze, his cock and her rapidly approaching orgasm.