by Abigail Owen
…
Despite the way his heart clenched in both need and fear, Finn grinned at the sight of his mate laid out for him like a feast, already glistening and slick with need. For him. The fact that she was strong in every aspect of her life but submitted to him here had him aching and hard.
“Touch your breasts, your nipples.”
She kept her gaze on him as she lifted her hands to knead those white mounds, plucking at her dusky nipples, biting her lip at the sensations she was causing in her own body. Finn’s hand went to his cock, squeezing and tugging, and she watched him, expression rapt, even as her hands never stilled on her own body.
Gods. He could get off just from this. From watching her.
Finn tipped his head back and drew his fire out of his mouth, just a sudden puff, enough to heat his tongue.
He dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed and pulled her toward him, then speared his hot tongue into her. Her sweet and spicy scent filled his senses, her taste thick on his tongue.
Her hands flew to her sides and she arched. “Fuck.”
Exactly.
He licked his way up to her clit and circled that nub, already stiff and swollen for him. He kept that up, adding fingers inside her, until she was practically sobbing.
When her body fluttered against his hand, he knew she was ready, as ready as he’d been since the second they took off for this place.
He pulled his head back, and she glared, pulling a chuckle from him. Never had sex made him this light in his soul. This happy.
He came up on the bed between her legs and positioned himself at her entrance. There he paused. “You’re sure?”
“Stop asking,” she ordered.
Finn wanted to laugh, to swing her into his arms, to pound into her. He decided to go with that last option and slid into her body.
Immediately he set up a driving rhythm. She wrapped her legs around him, tipping her hips so he slid deeper. Her insides gripped him, and he grew even harder.
Damn he was already close.
Finn paused. He took her hands and twined their fingers together on either side of her head.
My mate. Please let the fates be kind this time.
In this moment, solidifying his relationship with the strong, feisty, fighter of a woman, happiness tried to burst from his seams. At the same time, darkness lingered. Not doubt, but fear. Terror.
Please, please don’t let it happen again.
He wouldn’t survive it. Not with Delaney.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
She nodded. Finn put a hand to her cheek, taking in her beauty. Her gold-shot hair spread over the pillow in a cascade of waves and her wide dove-gray eyes looked back at him with the kind of warmth he’d only dreamed of experiencing with a woman.
Despite the fear tainting this moment, Finn stoked the fire inside his body. “I love you.”
Delaney stilled beneath him, then smiled, more radiant than dragon fire. Glowing. For him. “I love you, too.”
Smiling, he sucked in a deep breath, the sound of swirling fire roaring through him in a torrent, then placed his mouth over hers, kissing her one more time, unable to not taste those lips, before he released the flame. With one more prayer to the gods and the fates whispering through his mind, Finn pushed his fire into Delaney.
This was it. Either death would separate them, or they’d be joined for life.
As he watched—dread and expectation warring within him—Delaney’s gray eyes widened. Her entire body clenched in what looked like an overload of pain.
No. Oh gods, no. Don’t let this happen again.
“Delaney. Talk to me,” he choked.
She opened her mouth, but instead of a scream or worse, she moaned with ragged pleasure. “I’m going to come, Finn. With or without you.”
Elation and relief exploded from his heart outward, pain evaporating in the flames. Finn grinned, and leaned down to kiss her, sealing their mating as he moved inside her, slowly at first, stoking that fire, then faster, until he pounded into her.
Her body arched, and she screamed, the orgasm ripping through her and toppling him into his own. Tingling pleasure slammed up his spine and outward. As she milked his cock with each wave of her orgasm, Finn threw back his head and roared, more of his fire flowing into her body as he came inside her.
Eventually, they slowed and stilled, both breathing raggedly. Finn leaned up and smiled down into the face of his destined mate.
“I finally found you,” he murmured.
She smiled. “Yes. You did—”
Suddenly she hissed, her face contorting with pain. “Ow!”
“What?” Could she be dying this late after—
Her hand flew to the back of her neck. At the same time, a shard of pain lanced through his head, like someone had shoved a red-hot poker between his eyes.
The bond.
Some couples took months for the bond to solidify, for the mating brand that matched her lover’s family symbol to show on the back of the female’s neck. At the same time, heat pulsed through his chest centering on his heart. Tipping his own head back, Finn opened his mouth in a silent yell as the shards of his soul knit together again, the missing part of him not returning. That’s not what it felt like. More like the hole was filled with something else.
With a rush that flowed through him, like the feeling of dropping toward the earth, he could suddenly feel her—with him and yet inside him, part of him.
Delaney.
A sense of wonder lifted his entire being as he dropped his head to stare down at her. “You’re…happy you’re mine.”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “So are you.”
Finn tipped his head back and laughed, letting that happiness out. “Let me see.” He rolled her to the side and slid back the fall of her hair. He ran the pad of his finger over the swirling design there, a design that matched the one on the back of his own neck. She shivered at his touch, gasping.
“My mate.”
She lay back and pulled him down for the sweetest kiss, before releasing him. “You’re stuck with me now, boss,” she whispered.
Epilogue
Finn stood in the war room, Delaney beside him, her hand in his.
She nibbled at her lower lip, the only sign of her nerves as they waited to connect a video call with the Alliance.
He squeezed her hand. “I won’t let them take you, and the team won’t obey any orders to arrest us. If we have to, we run.”
She tipped up her chin and gave him that brave smile, the one he hated because he knew she was only putting up a front. “Don’t do that,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows. “Do what?”
“Pretend. Not with me. You don’t ever have to pretend with me.” He took her chin between his fingers. “Do you understand?”
Delaney pulled out of his grip, then leaned forward and kissed him. “Yes, boss.”
Finn snorted, perfectly aware that she both meant it and didn’t mean it. She’d do as she pleased if she thought she was protecting him.
The soft click of the door had them pulling apart. They turned to face all of his men who’d entered the room, standing behind them in a wall of solidarity.
Levi’s expression gave nothing away.
The call came up. The first face Finn saw was Ogun, the Alliance representative from the green clan. As soon as he saw Delaney at Finn’s side, her hand in his, the man glowered. Here it came.
“We’ve discussed your treasonous actions with all the Alliance members and the Mating Council…” Ogun started.
And? Fucking get on with it.
The snick of an opening door sounded over the speaker, and suddenly Deep’s familiar face appeared. He nodded at Ogun, and then faced the screen.
Ogun’s lips flattened, making him look like a pissed off duck. “The Council has decided that, in the light of the fact that your mating was successful, and your clan brand remains, showing your loyalty to dragon shifters, as well as your stella
r record with the Huracán Enforcers… We will allow it.”
Relief punched through Finn. Along with a sense that his faith in the system had been semirestored. Dragon shifters were a suspicious lot, and the rules were the only thing keeping them from degrading into all out shifter war. Today at least, they’d proven they could let logic and the evidence of his actions, hell his entire life, outweigh those ironclad rules.
He was going to give Deep a big sloppy kiss for whatever part he had to play in this. His presence there guaranteed he’d put in some kind of word on their behalf.
“Thank you,” he said.
Delaney gripped his hand, happiness practically vibrating through her. “We get to stay?” she asked.
Ogun smiled—the son of a bitch actually smiled at his mate, and Finn had to hold back a growl. “Yes. As long as he remains loyal to the clans, Finn will remain leader of this team, and you will stay as his destined mate.”
Finn didn’t miss the caveat, and the warning that came with it. The Alliance had no idea how his new king situation would shake out.
“And the Mating Council…?” Finn needed to know.
“Will record this as an official mating.”
With that the screen went black. They didn’t ask about her missing mark, not that it was missing anymore. His mark on the back of her neck was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen, in fact he found himself a bit obsessed with the sight of it. Still, no way was he bringing that up voluntarily. If they found out, he’d deal with it in whatever way kept her safe and at his side.
Finn yanked Delaney into his arms, kissing her with all the relief pent up inside him.
Levi clapped him on the shoulder. “Congrats, boss.”
Finn pulled back from Delaney, though he kept an arm around her to face his men. “Thanks. I’m honestly shocked.” He’d fully expected to have to run.
“They couldn’t lose the best leader of the best enforcer team out of all the colonies.”
Finn laughed at that. “And you?” He directed a look at every man in the room. They’d know he was asking whether they supported what he’d done.
“We’re with you, boss,” Levi responded for the group, and several of the men nodded.
Finn hoped so. They all loved Delaney. She’d fit in with the group like a custom-made glove. Like him, not all of them had happy experiences with mating, but hopefully they’d accept the first of their mates among them.
…
Delaney isn’t mine.
Not his to mate, not his to kill anymore either, because she’d proven herself worthy, mating another dragon.
But another mate still had possibilities…
He lingered in the shadows of the trees close to the farmhouse on the winery. Inside, the lights blazed and there were no coverings over the windows, allowing him to see inside. To watch Sera with her boy.
She was a good mother—loving, attentive.
He’d already tried and lost several mates, but this potential dragon mate could be the one, and none of the team had figured out what she was yet.
With Delaney, he’d known because of Graff. Levi’s research hadn’t turned up much about the shifter, but he’d done his own research and found out who and what Graff’s mother was. A fire Djinn with certain abilities, including somehow tracking down dragon mates long before they showed dragon sign. He had no doubt she’d identified Delaney for her son, feeding his obsession to take a mate.
But he didn’t need Graff this time. He’d seen the dragon sign in Sera himself, this new potential mate’s eyes shifting briefly snake-like. Just once, but he’d seen.
He’d learned from his experience with Delaney. He had to go at this one faster.
Sera would be his, or she’d be no one’s.
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Acknowledgments
I get to do what I love surrounded by the people I love—a blessing that I thank God for every single day. Writing and publishing a book doesn’t happen without the support and help from a host of incredible people.
To my ever-fabulous readers… Thanks for suspending reality to go on these journeys with me, for your kindness, your support, and generally being awesome. Finn and Delaney gave me a run for my money. They both came from such broken places, but Finn especially, needed his faith restored, and that was a process. Good thing Delaney had enough for both of them. I hope you fell in love with these characters and their stories as much as I did. If you have a free sec, please think about leaving a review. Also, I love to connect with my readers, so I hope you’ll drop a line and say “Howdy” on any of my social media!
To my always incredible editor, Heather Howland… What can I say? The longer we work on the books in the Fire’s Edge and Inferno Rising series, the more I love working with you. Hours of brainstorming and edits to make sure we are getting everything just right have resulted in books I know are some of my best. I couldn’t do this without your support.
To my Entangled team…I don’t know how you guys do it, but you’re awesome. From the various stages of editing, to production, to marketing and publicists, I’ve had nothing but support and help along the way. Y’all rock!
To my agent, Evan Marshall… Thank you for your belief in me and guiding me through every crazy idea and new opportunity. You are a delight to work with!
To my writing partner, Nicole Flockton… I don’t think I could keep the pace I’ve set without your love and support every day. My stories would be much worse off without your brainstorming sessions. I am so glad we met at RT and turned the internet into our writing playground.
To Anna Stewart… Thank you for your awesome feedback which always turns my stories into better stories. You’ve been inspiring me since the day I showed up at my first Sacramento Valley Rose RWA meeting, and you continue to inspire me as an author, a friend, and an all-round human being!
To my support team of beta readers, critique partners, writing buddies, reviewers, RWA chapters, friends, and family (you know who you are)… I know I say this every time, but I mean it… my stories wouldn’t come alive the way they do if I didn’t have the wonderful experiences and support I do. And that’s all because of you.
Finally, to my own Prince Charming and our 2.5 awesome kids… I love you so much. My love for you is what I write for my heroines and heroes, and what I wish for every person to experience. You are my inspiration and my heart. My dreams don’t come true without you in them, and I thank God for putting you in my life. No one could be luckier.
About the Author
Award-winning paranormal romance author Abigail Owen grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She loves to write witty, feisty heroines, sexy heroes who deserve them, and a cast of lovable characters to surround them (and maybe get their own stories). She currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal hero, her husband, and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.
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