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I cup his cheek and nod. “Of course. I’m sorry if this was upsetting for you.”
“My father was an arrogant, volatile, and merciless king. The people found it hard to love him, and in the end, so did his family.” He presses a kiss to my lips and strokes the back of my neck. “But it’s all in the past now.”
It is, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel pain. Something terrible must have happened for a country ruled by ferocious dragonriders to crumble.
Zabriel goes on stroking the nape of my neck and gazing at my throat, and he murmurs, “You’re so beautiful here.”
“Is this a Maledinni preference? Necks aren’t something human men have a preoccupation with, as far as I know.”
“Your bare neck is beautiful, but there’s another reason too.” He slowly strokes a finger up the back of my neck, and my whole body tingles. “That’s your mating gland, where I’ll bite you when we’re joined. My teeth marks will remain visible in your flesh for the rest of your life, especially when you’re in heat.”
So that’s why the teeth at the corners of his mouth are pointed like that. I touch the teeth marks on his forearm. “You’ll bite me like you bit yourself here?”
He glances at his arm which is covered by his sleeve right now. “I know it sounds frightening, but it won’t feel frightening when it happens, and I won’t do it until you ask me to. Until then, it’s going to be all I can think about. Biting you. Marking you. Claiming you. Sending a message to other Alphas that you already have a mate, and I will rip their throats out if they lay a finger on you.” Zabriel grows taut with fury at the mere suggestion. “While you’re unmated and unprotected, I worry that another Alpha might get his teeth into you.”
“You’re the King of Maledin. Another Alpha wouldn’t do that. Your dragonriders respect you too much.”
“I’ve seen it happen before,” he says through his teeth. “An Alpha I knew bit another man’s Omega, for no other reason than to be cruel. It destroyed all the love between the pair. She was so ashamed that she bore another Alpha’s teeth marks in her flesh, and he was devastated that he couldn’t protect her.”
Zabriel was upset when I grazed my hands running from the Brethren. I hate to think how devastated he’d be if one of his own hurt me. “What a terrible thing to have happened.”
“You want to know the worst part?” he asks, and I’m not sure that I do, but I nod. Zabriel stares at me for a long time, and I can tell he’s wondering whether to tell me or not. “It was his own sister.”
I suck in a breath. “This Alpha…bit his own sister?”
“He raped his sister,” Zabriel says, his eyes flaming an angry red. “In a full rut, before her true heat. It was violent and bloody and cruel. One of the worst things an Alpha can do, if not the worst thing.”
I’m only just starting to understand what heats and ruts are, but all the same a sick feeling spreads through my stomach. That poor woman to experience such suffering at the hands of someone who is supposed to love her.
“It’s why I’m overprotective of you right now,sha’len. This is a vulnerable time for you.”
I stroke my fingers down his forearm to comfort him, and he turns his hand palm up and spreads his fingers, inviting me to take his hand, and I do. He wraps his fingers around mine, completely engulfing me.
“What happened to that Omega?”
He gives a gusty sigh. “It’s very sad, I’m sorry to say. She threw herself from dragonback and died. The pain was too much for her Alpha and he went on a suicide mission and never came back. He was my best friend,” he adds bleakly.
My heart turns over in my chest. Zabriel is such a happy, vibrant person, and he must strive not to show how much he’s suffered in his life. “I’m so sorry. And the Alpha who raped her?”
“He ran. I went after him. I wanted to kill him, but I never found him. Then we were all sealed between the mountain, and he perished hundreds of years ago gods know where.”
Zabriel grinds the heel of his hand into his eyes. He’s ashamed, I realize. He tried to punish a wrongdoer, but he wasn’t able to, and even though it was hundreds of years ago, he still feels responsible.
My heart hurting for him, I take Zabriel’s face between my hands. “You can check my neck as often as you want to. And I’ll be careful. I won’t make you worry about me.”
Finally, Zabriel returns from his dark memories and gazes into my eyes. “What did I do to deserve you,sha’len?”
I don’t know if I’m that much of a prize because I’m not a very good Omega. It doesn’t sound like his father would have approved of me. “I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”
“Have you and Esmeral been bonding lately?” he asks, changing the subject.
“She follows me around sometimes. I expect she’ll lose interest in me now she has Scourge.”
“I promise you she won’t. You’re just as important to her as her mate is. What do you think about learning to fly?”
I hesitate, trying to find a way to tell Zabriel that I don’t want to without hurting his feelings. “That would mean being around Stesha, seeing as he’s the dragonmaster. It’s better that I stay away from other Alphas.”
“I trust Stesha around you, but that’s fine if you don’t want to associate with him. I’ll teach you to ride. Your bodyguards know a great deal about flying as well, and I trust them with you. Flying is one of the greatest pleasures a Maledinni can have. I want my mate to know what it feels like to bond with her dragon and take to the skies.”
