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“I hated myself, not you,” I whispered. “I hated believing that one day, you’d think I’d groomed you for this day. That I’d been nice only because you were my mate and that, when you were old enough, I’d take you to my bed. I needed you to be free to make a choice, Veronica. To want me. Not because Fate told you to, or because you felt like I influenced you in any way. I wanted you to have the right to choose for yourself.”
She gulped, her throat working as she absorbed my words. The reasons why I’d pushed Veronica away for so long were vast and numerous.
“But...”
“But what?” I asked. “You have to see it from my angle. A grown man who worked out that a beautiful child would one day be his wife. It didn’t feel right, and the only thing I could think to do was push you away.”
I shook my head. That had been a bad day.
“But what about now?” she asked, tears glistening in her eyes. “Does my presence still make you feel like it’s all wrong? Like you still hate yourself? Is that why you pushed me away when I wanted to stay close to you? On the couch.”
“Oh, my beautiful...” I crushed her to me, holding her head to my chest and hugging her tight. “God, no. How could you even think that?”
She didn’t say anything. But she nuzzled into my chest as though creating a home.
“I let my father drag you away because otherwise I would have shifted and hurt you, maybe myself or my dad, too. I could barely control my dragon around you. He wants you so bad.”
I rested my chin on the top of her head, then dropped a kiss on her long blonde hair. “God, I don’t hate you. I adore you.”
She lifted her head and stared up at me, then she whispered, “No you don’t. You’re just saying that.”
Oh, so that was the crux of her issue? She believed I was only saying these things because Fate decreed that I should want her. Not because I actually did. But because Fate was forcing me to feel it.
I lifted my hands and cupped her precious face. I had dreamt of it every night since she went away. “Princess Veronica, I have adored you for years. But I didn’t want my feelings to force your hand. I needed you to feel as though you had a choice in our union.”
Even though I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Wanting Veronica was as natural to me as breathing. I’d never wanted any woman the way I wanted the dragon princess.
She bit her lip, looking fragile for the first time in her whole life. “I do... I think.”
I kissed her forehead then the tip of her nose. Her eyes closed as I tilted her head to the side and pressed my lips to her left cheek, then her right. Her skin was as warm as sunshine.
I stared down at her, my heart in my throat. This was it. The moment I’d been fixated on for years. The moment when I had the opportunity to finally tell my mate the truth. And it was more heart-wrenching—more nerve-wracking—than I’d ever prepared for.
I took a deep breath and the words rushed out of me. “I love everything about you. I love how stubborn you are. I love how you fight for what you think is right. I love how much you love your family, and your loyalty knows no bounds.”
Her lips parted as she took a breath.
I wanted to kiss her, but I needed to say more. “I love that you are fierce, and protective. And I love that, despite how afraid you were, you punched Anthony in the face and made him read you to find where I was. You saved my life, Veronica.”
What other woman would fight for her man in such a way?
She smiled, the edge of her luscious lips curling up in an enchanting way.
Then she shrugged, like the whole lifesaving thing was no big deal.
I tilted her chin up with my fingertips and lowered my head, slowly moving in and kissing my mate on the lips for the very first time.
The first touch was a mere butterfly kiss. Testing the waters and seeing if she was going to allow more.
The next kiss was led entirely by the dragon daughter and her unexpected hunger. She grabbed my hair with two hands and hauled me down to crash upon her shores in a far stronger way than I’d started.
I wrapped my arms around her and breathed her in. Her lips opened and I swept my tongue in to taste her. I could have stopped, at our first heated kiss, if we’d simply left it there.
But then she did something that pushed past the thin veil of control and choice I was trying to hang onto.
She moaned. In the most seductive way possible.
And my need for her took over.
