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“B ut if I take it off , we break up?” she asks after a long silence I can’t decipher. “If that’s the right word?”

“I suppose. But you could expose yourself to terrible danger like that, Angela. Don’t take it off until we know Genovese has turned his attention to something else.”

“You want it back so you can give it to your real mate?” Angela asks, her head twisting away from me. “Like... All the feelings we shared, the stuff we did—Oh, God. That was like a spell?”

“No! No, no, no. No.” I reach for her, but she pulls her hands back. I think of all the convoluted explanations I could offer. I could tell Angela more about my reservations about humans, or how the way the amulet is working overtime to find my mate, or my sketchy connections to a guy who knows a guy who knows Genovese, or even the ancient lore from my family or dragons in general—but I skip all of it. “I want you to keep it on because I want you to be my mate. My... wife. My wife.”

Angela’s head whips up so fast that I wince, imagining her fragile human bones snapping.

“But I know that you’d never agree to that so quickly. You are on the run from one arranged marriage, you wouldn’t launch into another so soon, not that this is exactly arranged. Assisted. Amulet assisted matchmaking,” I babble.

“That was different. He didn’t want me. I didn’t want him.”

That’s different, she says. Does that mean she does want me? “I want you,” I reassure. “I’ll prove it to you.”

“I... I don’t know what to say.” Angela clutches the amulet, but her eyes are starting to fill with tears while her lips tremble into a smile. “Are you serious?”

I slowly change back into my full dragon form, causing her to jump back a little, avoiding my sudden shift in size. “I asked for the right to call you mate. I freely give you the strongest protection I have. I would tear the scales from my side.”

Angela smacks into my side, arms wide, too-small body hugging my too-large side. “Okay, okay, you’re serious!”

“And tomorrow night—we’ll go to the mall. Okay, princess?” I offer. “I will court you in words and deeds. In return, you accept me in all of my forms.”

“That doesn’t seem like an entirely fair trade.” Angela’s hands massage over my hide, catching on some loose scales. With a hard tug, she wrenches one off, then massages the skin around it. “All I have to do is accept you while you save my life?”

“That’s for now. Until I woo you and win you on my own, amulet or no,” I say. “Then, I want something else. Something even more precious.”

Angela looks at me as she runs her hands over my hide, slow and sensuous. I have an idea that if I told her that I wanted her in any and all of my forms, she’d agree. I’m sure there are ways a couple could enjoy each other even with such mismatched sizes, but I shelve those thoughts for now. I rake my back talons down my side, loosening scales, and Angela goes about tugging them free. Each time she pries one loose, she pecks the skin beside it.

So gentle. So sweet. My flightless wren, my wingless angel.

God, I’m smitten.

Angela plinks the scales into the jar, then holds it up high to admire the moonlight on the shining scales as they pile like purple jewels in the glass.

“What could be more precious than someone you love? At least, that’s what I think marriage is supposed to be about—love.”

“Agreed, but for a while, I focused on a match with a dragoness and nothing else. Love didn’t even enter into it. I didn’t think I should even consider a human mate because it would hurt the family line.” Honestly, when I think of my time in the CrossRealms, when I think of all the fights my father had with other clans in the region, we’ve probably done more to hurt the family than marrying a human ever could. “I realize that’s silly now. I have a human form, too. What really matters is... Would my wife accept me in every form? Would she accept the risk of having a child that’s not fully human?”

Angela is quiet. “Is that all you want someone for? To have your kids? Pass on your genes?”

Her questions hit me like an arrow in my exposed side. “I think it was .”

“Oh. I see.” Her voice grows calm and cold, but her hands are still gentle, and her soft kisses still fall.

“I thought it was the best thing I could do for my family. I’m a disappointment to my clan, you know.”

“What? Why?”

“I took after my father. Hot-tempered and impulsive. Smart, but refused to go to university. Willing to start a business, but didn’t stick to it. Came to this nice little paranormal community of Pine Ridge, which is full of British expats, and couldn’t even stick it.” My head droops, and I stretch out in the grass, the image of a miserable, worthless dragon. “But if I had a son or daughter for my clan—they’d make up for all my failings, see?”

“Oh, babe. That’s a lot to put on a kid. And what’s to say that he or she would turn out any better if you feel like such a failure?”

“You’re right. But when I think about my future... I pause, and my body shrinks as my heart swells. I stop at halfling form and lie in the grass. Angela slowly kneels beside me, the glass jar in her hand. “When I think about the future, I think about a family.”

Angela lies across my chest. “Why?”

Why?

I wrap my arm around Angela, and everything inside of me that I’ve been missing surges up, all the dragon instincts I’ve berated Ian for “abandoning” as he lives a simple, successful life are bursting forth. The desire to protect and defend. The feeling of honor and loyalty.

You don’t have to defend the entire castle—just your own particular princess.

My talons score her shoulder lightly as I kiss the top of her head. “Because after twenty-odd years of searching for my treasure, I’ve found it, and now I can’t get enough.” I roll on top of her in the dewy grass and resist the urge to take her again. “I want you and the children that come from you. My children. Our children. Our treasures. If they don’t come, they don’t come, but you said to be honest.” I nudge my abdomen to hers. “I covet you, and I want to be the one who claims you as a mate. I want to be the one who sires your children.”

She doesn’t slap me. Doesn’t push me off.

“You save my life, so you get to spend it with me?” Angela sums up the deal.

“Yes.”

I can feel the amulet growing hot between us. I swallow hard and wait. I’ve said so much. Probably too much.

Angela rubs the spot on her chest where the amulet rests. “Is it just this thing making me want to say yes?”

I wish I knew the answer to that.

***

B EFORE DAWN, MINEGOLD collects the jar from the mailbox. I get dressed, too full of adrenaline to sleep, rampant like a horny bull below the waist, and aching with dozens of tiny cuts above it.

I feel confident (maybe falsely so) that nothing untoward can happen with the supernatural community on high alert and Angela wearing my amulet.

Your job is to convince her to give you a chance to do more than just protect her.

What does one do to win a mate?

A heroic battle would be nice. But in the meantime...

How about a moonlight flight?