Page 4 of Hers to Keep

Pricilla murmured that they would talk about the wards later and moved off with Willow in tow.

“I’m sorry I bonded you without your permission,” she said softly, after a few minutes passed.“I guess it’s just a thing I do now.”

“No, bavi.”He kissed the top of her head.“The bonding is mine.The instant you freed me from my cage, I felt it snap into place.You are my True Mate, as I’ve said all along.”He curled his fingers into her side and pulled her closer.“The magic trapping me prevented the bond from taking hold.”

The marking on her back suddenly made much more sense.He had claimed her.The goddess purred contentedly.“So, what does that mean for us?”She didn’t know anything about dragons or how they bonded.No one had even seen a dragon in centuries, as far as she knew.She was going to have to do some reading.

“Little has changed in that regard on my end.I will defend you and any offspring you bear to the death.”

That sounded ominous.“Are you going to try to kill the others?”

Dohal chuckled into her hair.“No.Dragons naturally form mating groups around a single center.Having others to defend you is a boon.”He dropped his voice into a lower register that rumbled through her, “And I very much enjoy watching them pleasure you.”

Her heartrate kicked into a higher gear.She became aware of how much of his bare body rested against her.Her magic that had been languid all day surged through her in a blaze of heat.

Dohal hummed.“That’s better.”He tipped back her head so she looked up at him.“I was a bit concerned that fixing me might have broken you.”

She felt more like herself than she had all morning.“I think I just needed some time close to you to recharge.”

“Whatever you need from me, you are more than welcome to it.”He ran a hand over her hair and smiled.“You expended a large amount of magic to free me.How did you manage it?”

“Most of that wasn’t mine.The goddess was keeping it somewhere, and as soon as she knew what it was for, she offered it up.”

His thumb skated over her bottom lip.“She is a clever creature.”

The goddess preened under his praise but stayed silent.“What do we do now, Dohal?”

“The Old One will come.There can be no doubt of that.But we have more tools at our disposal to fight him than I thought.”His eyes drifted to the door across from them again.He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, “He is a feathered serpent, perhaps the only creature in all the realms rarer than me.”

Something tickled the back of her mind about feathered serpents, but she couldn’t remember anything specific.“What are we waiting for him to decide?”

Dohal’s expression turned sad.“If he wants to live.”

Chapter 2

Maritriedtosurgeto her feet, but Dohal easily held her next to him with a hand on her hip.“Let me go.We can’t just leave him alone if that’s what’s happening right now.”

“It is a decision he must make on his own, bavi.”He lowered his voice.“Enough choices have been taken from him already.This one can only be his.”

That brought her to stillness with a start.Tears welled in her eyes.“It just seems horribly unfair that he’s alone.”

“He knows I am here.And I do not intend to leave until he has made his choice.”

“And if he decides not to live?”

“I will see that his end is painless.”There was a note of such profound sadness in his voice that she clutched him tighter.

She had to try three times before she managed to ask what was on her mind with a shaking voice, “When did you decide to live?”

“The day you called for my help against the incubus.”He drew in a deep breath and sighed.“The first time I saw you in the flesh and knew that you were real and not some fevered hallucination that I had invented in my prison of isolation and anguish.”

With a sob, she pressed her face into him.How close had she come to never knowing him at all?Her heart ached for him.“I’m so sorry.I had no idea.”

“Of course you did not.”A soothing sound something like a purr rumbled through her.“And I would never have told you if not for this, because the knowledge that you hold my life in your hands is not something you should be burdened with.”

“Oh…no…” She lost all semblance of control over herself and ugly cried into his chest, because she understood exactly what he wasn’t saying.

Then he dropped his head and confirmed her fears in a soft murmur that cut her right to her soul, “I will not outlive you for long, little rabbit.”

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