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Another long day over, Marli lay in her bed, enveloped in Sten’s powerful arms.
She and Sten and Eamerson were still in charge of the mountain lair.
The funeral planning was nearly complete.
There were no further leads on whoever had freed Clive and Merwin.
There were still bickering males posturing throughout the mountain, though some of the reported instances seemed like petty disturbances being blown out of proportion.
Each night, Marli took Sten’s hand, inviting him into her room. They hadn’t mated since the night before Clive and Merwin’s escape, but they had shared her bed since the morning she’d awakened to find Sten and Goliath guarding her door. They just kissed and talked and slept.
She learned a lot about Sten and his mountain; from the things he shared, and also in the subjects he hedged.
Though her magic was doing its best to heal the injuries, her movements were still ginger.
His touch was always tender.
Every time he brushed the hair away from her face, his fingers would caress the strands, marveling at their silkiness. She’d close her eyes and revel in the sensations he elicited. Goosebumps would rise on her skin and he’d smooth them out with his warm hands.
Marli sighed, cradling his arm. These last few days were a waking dream; scenarios she might have seen in a movie at Black River’s little cinema. This simply wasn’t reality in her world. Male and female dragons weren’t tender. They didn’t linger. They didn’t snuggle.
Is this what it’s like for Kymri and Jori?
For Elora and Jonathan?
None of the other Aeleftherians ever hinted at this sort of softness to their mating experiences.
It was always a thing to be done—enjoyed, yes—but not… this.
Whatever this was. She had no name for it.
And Sten? Her former enemy, her personal rogue turned tender lover.
Not like the human males she’d taken to her bed in past years, or other shifters, or even occasional dragons.
He was… different.
“What are we going to do?” Her whisper was loud in the silence of the room.
His lips slid along the shell of her ear. “I don’t know.” He pulled her so that her back pressed to his chest. “What do you want to do?”
Her breath caught. “No one’s asked me that before.”
“Duty.” He sighed, lightly resting his chin on her crown.
She nodded against his chin.
Their phones vibrated.
Marli reached for hers on the table beside the bed as Sten pulled his from his pocket.
“They’re coming back.”
Marli groaned, “Thank dragongoddess, I hate being in charge.”
Sten chuckled. The sound rumbled through his chest against her back.
She leaned into him again.
