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Clive huffed, then followed the sounds of Merwin’s feet, echoing off the close rock walls.
Chapter 17
Sten lay with his arm propped behind his head on the pillow.
Marli slept, curled over his side, her hair in wild disarray, tickling his chest and shoulder with every breath.
Reluctant to wake her, he carefully slid his other arm around so that he could gently brush the hair aside.
As much so that he could see her sleeping face as to relieve the tickle.
Something in him eased, but not in the way he’d expected.
In the beginning, Sten was sure that once he got her into bed—or wherever—the drive to have her would fade, like it always had in the past with other women, be they humans, other paranormals, or dragons.
He’d also expected her to indicate he should leave once she was done with him. That was also the norm with Aeleftherian dragonesses. Human women were often the opposite, but none of them held his interest for long. He wanted someone that would understand him; like another dragon.
Unable to help himself, his fingers trailed down her silky smooth skin, along her arm, around the bent elbow, toward her fingers splayed on his chest.
I can’t believe I said that.
‘Only yours. But you have to say it. And only if you mean it.’
And she hadn’t laughed in his face or sent him away.
It hadn’t occurred to him to offer her his heart. The words were out. Spoken from elsewhere. Uncontrolled. A piece of his youthful self had surfaced in that moment. Sten drew a deep breath, noting that he didn’t regret it.
Deep in sleep, she was utterly vulnerable.
The contact of her warm body against his added to the odd wobbling sensation in his gut that threatened to work its way up into his chest.
He’d never allowed himself to relax into thoughts of this kind of contentment—not since his youth.
Too dangerous.
Marli had wriggled into some unknown crevice, poked the raw parts of him that should hurt like hell, but instead soothed him and his beast. She wasn’t soft. Not gentle and nurturing in any obvious sense.
Once she got past the need to thrash him for being her enemy, she just gave him the space to be.
Another new revelation to him.
To just be.
Sensing the change in his body, Marli stirred. Her thick black lashes swept upward. Her golden gaze swept his face and smiled. She sighed, nuzzled her cheek against his chest, and planted a kiss over his heart. Her fingertips trailed over his skin and traced the tattoos across his chest. “What are these?”
“Emblems of different tribes I spent time with in my early days before Kargassa invited me to the mountain.”
“You don’t have one for the mountain?”
“No, I don’t. Never thought to have one done.”
“And this one?” Her finger traced along the name inked across his ribs.
He sucked in a breath.
Tell her or not?
His heart pounded. “My youngling.”
