Page 94 of Hoarded By the Dragon

Rose arches her brow. “They are only withering because of neglect. That doesn’t change the fact that the memory of the ones you’ve lost includes your happiest times as well as the worst times. You’ve refused to make room for other things. It’s not about letting go. It’s about having the courage to add to them. To let the most volatile part of yourself thrive.”

Her next words strike my very core. “You’ve wounded yourself, but wounds can be healed. The pain won’t go away, but you can add sweetness to it still.”

Sweetness… it’s such a simple word for what she means. I can have a mate again. I can have Katarina as my mate.

“And this just takes me accepting my dragon?” I ask, my voice hoarse. I don’t know where to even begin.

Rose gives me an understanding smile as if she understands my conundrum. “To start, it will be you working not to suppress your dragon. It would help the process if you spend time in your original form—”

“I can’t,” I cut in. “I can’t leave Katarina while she’s vulnerable.”

“That makes sense.” Rose nods but doesn’t look pleased. “We can set up appointments where I act as a guide and… hurry the process along like I just did. It would take some time to untangle your being, especially if shifting isn’t an option, but it won’t always be as painful. It all depends on what you want in the end.”

“Thank you,” I say, my eyes on her hands while my thoughts brew. It should be a simple thing to agree to. I want Katarina as my mate, and through this process it will become possible, but there are other effects that will come from becoming “aligned” with my dragon.

The last time we were one, my dragon burned down the countryside in anger and loss. Should a being like that really be accepted in our daily lives?

“Now stop touching my mate and go back to your own,” the kraken grumbles. Rose narrows her eyes at him, but drops my hands all the same.

“You can call me when you decide what you want to do,” Rose says.

I swallow and nod. Gideon comes up behind his mate as if he can’t wait for me to be out of the room before touching her again.

I turn to leave, not needing the sight of the happy couple to stir even more conflicting thoughts in my mind, but stop when he calls out to me.

“Dragon.”

I turn back.

The kraken’s face is stern. “It’s worth it.”

I bite down on the reaction to tell him that he doesn’t know my pain, what I’ve lost, because that doesn’t matter. This is one immortal speaking to another. He has what I want. A mate carrying his young.

To him, any pain, or destruction, is worth that.

What’s more, Katarina deserves to have a mate that is connected to her very soul, who can offer her forever.

She’s stolen a portion of my heart, and I ache to gift her the rest of it.

31

KATARINA

I’ve gota couple of bites left of my peanut butter toast when Kalos enters the kitchen.

“Good morning—” he cuts off his greeting and lasers in on my food. “What are you eating?”

Maggie hides her smile behind her book. We’ve already talked about this craving, and the conversation ended with a puzzled shrug from her.

I pull my breakfast closer to me. “Toast.”

He sniffs the air with a frown. “With cayenne pepper on top?”

I shrug. “It doesn’t really change the flavor, just the heat profile.”

And each bite causes a spark of delight that has me doing an excited shimmy. He should be glad it isn’t something like pickles and ice cream.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” I ask to distract him. Work is how he’s gotten out of the talk we were supposed to have after our intense night at the bathhouse.

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