by Chant, Zoe
“A part of me has always been afraid that I might mess up. That I can’t give kids what I’ve always missed,” he admitted very softly. “But not anymore. I feel like together, we can do anything. You make me believe in myself.”
Her hand rose to cover his own, her fingers warm against his skin. She leaned into his touch, and finally he gave in and pulled her into a kiss once more.
She melted against him easily, all of her luscious, soft curves fitting just right against him.
And then her mouth opened for his. He forgot everything but the taste of her, the sensation of her gorgeous mermaid hair soft as silk against his cheeks, and the scent of crushed grass and flowers all around them.
Chapter Seventeen: Chiara
“I want it,” Chiara breathed when he finally drew back. “I want you, just you. My mate.”
Very gently, he pushed her down into the carpet of wildflowers. Not far away, the ocean of clouds was still rolling against the lower end of the small valley.
It felt as if they were all alone in the world, far away from the dark dragon who had hunted them, surrounded by the serene beauty of this tiny valley.
It was only she and Jared here. Only the two of them.
At his touch, she felt all of her earlier worries melt away.
The fact that neither her dad nor her friends had believed her had left wounds she’d tried so long to ignore. But now, for the first time, she felt the painful memories fade away.
Perhaps, if she had a chance to introduce her dad to the shifter world, they could make up and forgive each other.
And perhaps she could find new friends. People like Ginny, who could appreciate her for who she was, and who wouldn’t try to turn her back into the desperately unhappy call center agent with her boring, unfulfilling life.
Because for the first time since her encounter with the werewolf, she felt utterly at peace. Jared had done that. He’d seen her, the real her—and he still loved her.
And he’d showed her his own wounds...
She ran her arms over his broad shoulders, pressing herself closer as he kissed her once more. Despite his strength, he moved slowly and gently, and she loved him even more for that.
If she asked him to wait now, he’d draw back. He wouldn’t rush her—even though she could feel him against her thigh even now, his erection hard as a rock.
There was no doubt at all that he wanted her desperately. And no doubt either that he’d never push her into it.
It has to be done willingly. This mate bond—we both have to want it.
That was what he’d told her. And she could feel that it was true. This strange connection between them drew her to him—it had from the start. But it couldn’t force her to do anything.
It was all her own choice.
Not only a choice—but a chance. The first chance she’d ever had to be truly, completely happy.
And the new Chiara wasn’t going to let any further chances slip through her fingers.
“I love you,” she said, feeling the pull of desire low in her belly. “And I want you as my mate. Here. Now. Why not?”
She laughed softly. Why not? That was her new motto, and it hadn’t yet let her down.
No more waiting for chances that would never come. No more fear and exhaustion destroying all of her hopes to become more than just a tired, bored cog in the hellhole that was her former job.
This was real. For the first time in her life, she had something that was really real, that made every inch of her feel alive.
And she’d never let it go again.
He huffed a surprised laugh against her lips.
“Why not?” he repeated, his eyes a deep blue, dark with desire. Then he grinned, his eyes gleaming. “You’re absolutely right. I’m your mate, and you are mine. And there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be mated.”
She made an approving sound and slipped her hand beneath his shirt, slowly, appreciatively sliding it across the flexing muscles of his stomach. “I don’t see any evil dragons in the sky, and until that changes...”
“Until that changes, you’re all mine.” There was hunger in his words.
In answer, Chiara felt her own desire surge, her panties already wet as she moved against him. She trailed her hand higher up, his muscles hard like steel as they shifted beneath his skin. Then she gave his shirt a frustrated tug.
“Off,” she demanded, reaching out for her own shirt.
She couldn’t bear to part from him. Even drawing back for a few seconds just so that she could wriggle out of her jeans was almost too much when every inch of her skin craved the heat of his body pressed to hers.
Her nipples were tight with need, aching for a touch. When he at last pressed her back into the soft grass, gloriously naked, she gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Mine. All mine,” she said, which made him laugh again.
“All yours,” he agreed as he ran his hands down her arms. Then, slowly, his fingers trailed back up, teasing her sides, then cupping her breasts.
He kissed her again, slow and unhurried despite the way she pressed against him—and despite how hard he was.
She gasped as his thumb teased one of her nipples. Everything inside her felt tight and hot, aching with need.
Then his mouth found one of her nipples.
His tongue caressed her gently as she moaned. She buried her hands in his hair, her head falling back into the soft pillow of wildflowers. Not far away, the ocean of clouds was gently rolling against the mountain, while above, the sun shone brightly.
But she had no eyes for the beauty surrounding her. All she could think of was the feeling of Jared’s body against her—and the sensation of his erection against her thigh.
And this time—this time she’d actually feel him.
At the thought, the need inside her burned even brighter, her body pulsing with it. She ran her hands over his broad shoulders again, appreciating the strength of his hard muscles, then gave him a little tug.
“Come on,” she breathed, “don’t make me wait...”
“Pushy.” He laughed softly, already just as breathless as she was. His eyes were gleaming, shining with an inner light, as bright as the sky above him.
He looked glorious, his hair tousled by her hands, a golden mane that surrounded his head like a halo.
“Yes. And you better get used to it.” She grinned at him, feeling impossibly happy.
With her former boyfriends, there’d always been nerves at this point. She hadn’t wanted to disappoint.
With Jared, she felt so giddy with happiness she wanted to laugh. For the first time in her life, everything felt absolutely right.
“I’d hate to disappoint,” he teased, kissing her again until she sighed into the kiss.
And then, at long last, she felt his shaft against her folds, her breath escaping her in a soft gasp as he slid inside.
He was large. He pushed in slowly, but even so she was overwhelmed by the sensation.
It was incredible. She could feel him stretching her open, but she was so wet that it was easy to take him.
Every thrust filled her to perfection. She found herself clutching at his shoulders, desperately trying to hold him even closer.
His skin was hot against hers. With every thrust, pleasure burned higher and higher, and still she was aching for more.
When she closed her eyes, she could see the golden light again. It pulsed in time to her racing heartbeat, stronger now than it had been before. Even with her eyes closed, she could see Jared above her, his gorgeous body outlined in golden light.
Then the light wound tighter and tighter around them, like ribbons binding them together.
Gasping for breath, she opened her eyes again.
She could see the light even now. It wound around Jared’s body and her own—and wherever their skin touched, it shone more brightly.
It was the most incredible sight she’d ever seen.
But even so, as pleasure kept r
ising, she couldn’t look away from Jared. Through the haze of pleasure, she saw the ecstasy on his own face—and the way he never once looked away from her, as if he was desperate to drink in every single moment of her pleasure.
She could feel him now, she suddenly realized with a gasp. Not just him, inside her—but also his need. His love. The heat within that made him burn.
His emotions came flowing into her through the bond of light.
And with each of his thrusts, the pleasure inside her kept rising until she felt as if she was carried away by a wave of heat, driven further and further.
His lips found her throat again, his kisses burning on her skin. As she arched against him, she dug her nails into the skin of his shoulders, holding on to him for dear life.
Her body felt tight and hot, as if she couldn’t possibly contain the ecstasy burning inside her. And still it kept growing and growing until her skin was damp with sweat, her breath coming in panting gasps, her nipples drawn into aching nubs that kept rasping against Jared’s hard chest.
And then his hand slid in between them again. His mouth found hers at the same time as his fingers found her sensitive, swollen clit.
At the first touch, climax broke over her like a wave crashing against the shore.
She cried out into the kiss, arching against him again as she felt herself pulse around his hard length—and then he followed her. His thrusts became more erratic as his heat filled her, his groan muffled against her own lips.
It took long minutes until she could even think of moving.
Fortunately, Jared recovered a little faster and rolled to his side. He pulled her with him so that she could nestle against him, her head resting on his shoulder.
She could smell the wildflowers they’d crushed in their passion. The clouds had moved a little deeper into their small valley, not far from where their bare feet were resting in the grass. From above, sunshine fell in, warming their naked skin as their breathing slowed.
Chiara had never felt happier in her life.
When she closed her eyes, she could still see the golden light, a bright ribbon that connected them. And through that bond, there came the reassuring flow of Jared’s emotions: his warmth, his love, that endless capacity for humor, the chivalrous need to protect her.
“Now I’m truly yours,” he murmured, sounding incredibly satisfied—and incredibly happy.
Warmth blossomed inside Chiara at his simple pronouncement.
“And I’m yours.” She sighed happily as she wrapped her arm lightly around his side.
Who’d have thought that turning your life upside down and letting go of everything that made you normal would lead to this?
She probably wouldn’t recommend it as a good course of action for finding the love of your life. And not only because most other people would probably find it difficult to find an evil shadow dragon to hunt them down.
But this—this simple connection between them, the intimacy of getting to know Jared not just as a person, but down to feeling his soul, the deepest secrets of his heart—that made it worth any danger.
If anything, werewolves and evil dragons were a small price to pay for holding him in her arms right now.
Chapter Eighteen: Jared
It took until evening for the chimera to summon them once more. Meanwhile, Chiara and Jared had used the time to shower and nap, and then had spent another two hours hunched over Ginny’s laptop.
They’d been able to narrow it down to two different mountains. It was hard work, trying to convert the tiny symbols on the golden disk into a map. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of mountains from which they’d be able to see all the star constellations in two days, and which also featured a distinctive, curving river scratched into the gold.
“I could just fly there and check out both,” Jared said when they’d made it back into the council chamber. “We’d be cutting it close—it’ll take me at least half a day to fly from one to the other. Still, I could—”
“I found something,” the chimera’s voice came echoing from the shadows. “An old legend—very old. A place of power. We don’t know if it’s connected to the fifth elemental dragon, but at this point, it’s all we have. If there is a new elemental dragon, and he has managed to hide from us for so long, he must be powerful indeed.”
“I found something as well,” Chiara said into the silence that followed Gareth’s words.
Jared gave her a surprised look.
Chiara pulled out her phone, grimacing a little as she stared at the screen. “So I know you think that all this conspiracy theory stuff is ridiculous, but...”
“But?” Jared asked in encouragement.
Chiara took a deep breath. “I asked my friends. My online friends,” she added, looking nervous and determined at the same time. “About that symbol. Most had never heard of anything like it—but there’s one person who said that his grandparents had seen it before. And that they told him tales of strange creatures living in the mountains near their home. Strange beasts flying in the sky. Of course he now thinks that there used to be a secret army base in the mountains where the government did experiments with alien DNA to create monsters. But in truth...”
“In truth, his grandparents saw dragons,” Jared finished in excitement.
Chiara shook her head, swallowing as she looked at him. “No. Not dragons. From his description, I think they saw... They saw griffins. There were griffins living on that mountain, Jared.”
“Griffins,” Jared repeated mechanically, his mind reeling.
All along, there’d been the small hope that by finding the mysterious fifth elemental dragon, he’d find out more about his lost family as well.
He hadn’t dared to believe in it. After so many years, he’d given up hope that they might be alive, or that they’d want to see him if they were. After all, they were the ones who’d abandoned him.
But now, with more and more pieces of this puzzle coming together, hope began to bloom inside his heart once more.
Hope was a terrible thing. As a child, he’d hoped that any day, his parents would reappear, that there would be apologies and explanations, and that he’d be swept away to a new life.
He’d loved his adoptive parents. And he’d loved Gregory, whom he still thought of as a brother.
Still, for a child, it had been impossible not to dream of those things.
Of course, that dream had never come true. His real parents had never appeared. He’d never known if they’d ever loved him, or if they’d simply wanted to get rid of an unwanted child.
Now that he was an adult, he knew better than to dream.
At least that was what he’d always believed. But that old wound was still there, deep inside his heart, aching once more as he tried to imagine what his parents had looked like.
He was too old for dreams. He knew the secret amulet wouldn’t lead them to his parents. It was a new elemental dragon they were looking for—not an aging couple of griffin shifters.
Still. Still.
At last, he’d know the truth...
If there really was a connection to his parents. If the dragon shifter they were looking for had really known them.
But there were too many coincidences. There had to be a connection. Even if they were dead. Even if they were alive and wanted nothing to do with him.
If they found this mysterious dragon, he’d at last know the truth.
And then he could let go of this old pain and this family that hadn’t wanted him and concentrate on more important things.
Things like his own family. The home they’d build together. The children they’d raise.
Chiara’s hand against his arm finally pulled him out of his shock.
He gave her a grateful look when he felt her concern and love for him come through the bond.
He hadn’t thought that it would affect him so much.
So many years had passed. He was an adult, a powerful shifter in his own right.
But all of a sudde
n he knew that this would have been so much harder without Chiara by his side.
At least now he knew that whatever awaited them on that mountain, he had a family of his own to return to.
***
“You don’t have to come along,” Jared said for the fourth time.
This time, Chiara didn’t even bother with an answer anymore. The look she gave him told him everything he needed to know.
“I know you’re worried,” she said, “but I’m the one with the map in the first place, remember? And at least half of the new map is mine.”
He smiled a little. There was relief in the thought of having her by his side—but at the same time, his griffin hated the thought of carrying her into danger with him.
“We made it out of one mountain, we can face a second.” She pulled the golden disk up, which she was still wearing as a necklace beneath her shirt. “And there’s a reason we found this together. Even the chimera said so.”
“Yes, well, he has no idea what it’s like to have a mate. He wouldn’t understand.” Gareth was one of the rare cases of a powerful shifter who hadn’t found his mate in time, but who hadn’t lost his life or his sanity as a result.
Jared shivered instinctively as he thought of Gareth’s fate. Maybe insanity—or death—would have been better than what Gareth went through. What he was still going through.
“Are we or are we not mates?” Chiara stared at him, hands at her hips.
Her eyes were narrow with determination, gleaming fiercely. Her lips were pressed together, she’d tied about ten different charms around her wrists—just in case, she’d said—and Jared knew that there was no one else he’d rather have by his side.
“If you two lovebirds have a moment,” the chimera growled at them from his shadows.
Chiara turned and marched towards him, unfazed. Jared found himself smiling helplessly as he followed her.
For all that she’d claimed to hate the shifter world when they’d first met, he’d never seen anyone get along so well so quickly with the chimera.
