Page 82 of Guardian's Dilemma

“Well you can treasure it again tomorrow. It needs some recovery time.”

Glimmer followed me into the shower cubicle and pressed me against the tiles the way I’d pressed against him earlier.

“Just so you know, you’ve got some of my healing ability now. Your ass might be ready for another round sooner than you think.”

“Really?”

I did not need to examine which of those things I was most excited about.

Glimmer nodded, pressing his body closer against mine. “We’re bonded now. We share everything: our lives and our power and our healing. That’s what makes mates stronger than other people.”

He licked at my throat and I knew he was breathing in my scent and tasting me. I smelled of sweat and musk and sex. EvenIcould smell me.

And then I realised I could smell him, too.

I pressed my nose into his hair, trying to smell him again.

“I can smell you.”

“Yes, that happens when you’re mated. You’re the only one who can. Do you like it?”

I leaned into him again, sniffing. It was a faint scent, since my senses were only human, but it was nice and sexy and it felt like a secret we shared.

We stood like that, sniffing each other in the tiny cubicle until I felt him shiver against me.

“You cold? Let me put the water on.”

I reached behind me to turn the shower on but Glimmer whined. “Then I won’t be able to smell you like this any more.”

“You can smell me like this again tomorrow.”

He didn’t pout but I could feel the sulky agreement, which made me laugh.

“I told you, my ass needs a rest. Unless you want to offer yours up?”

I hadn’t even been serious. Everything I knew about dragons indicated that they were dominant, unwilling to admit weakness, unwilling to submit… so it was a surprise when Glimmer brightened and asked, “Do you want that?”

I had to remind myself that dragons weren’t exactly what I’d been taught. And Glimmer especially wasn’t anything like that.

Smiling, I said, “Let’s get clean first.”

We washed each other and I took the chance to run my hands over Glimmer again. And again.

My mate was so beautiful. And it felt strange to call him my mate, even in my head, but it was true. He had claimed me. We belonged to each other now.

This time, when we finished, we managed to dry off properly and make it back to the bed without leaving a trail of puddles behind. I’d barely settled down when Glimmer was beside me, pressing himself into my side. I wrapped my arms around him exactly the way I had for the past twelve nights. Even with the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window, I felt my eyelids grow heavy. I was tired and my body was sated and I had my mate in my arms.

I was dozing, feeling content, when Glimmer suddenly sat bolt upright and gasped, “Seren!”

In my sleep-muddled state, I sat up too, scanning the room for danger and processing what Glimmer had said.

I knew I shouldn’t be jealous of Seren because he was Glimmer’s cousin and he was in another clan and he was mated and he wasn’t Glimmer’s greatest treasure,Iwas, but that didn’t stop the bite in my voice when I asked, “What about Seren?”

“If I’ve been reported dead, he’ll be devastated. I need to call him and tell him I’m alive.”

“Do you have a phone?”

We looked blankly at each other. His phone had been left behind when he fled. My phone had been crushed, by him, when I’d used the emergency signal.

---