Page 105 of His Greatest Treasure

Blaze didn’t seem to find it weird at all because he smiled and sank down into the nest, leaning back against my scales and murmuring, “Thank you for looking after me, my darling.”

I ran my nose over his red hair and his shoulder, pressed it against his claiming bite, and told myself I must remember to tell him in the morning that he was worth looking after. Even if I shifted back right away, it was too late to tell him. Blaze was already asleep, his breaths deep and even.

I was proud that he trusted me enough to sleep. I knew he often liked to burn instead.

Curling tighter around him so he was protected from everything by my big form and thick scales, I finally closed my eyes and slept beside my mate.

Chapter 42

Blaze

Icouldn’t believe I’d slept all night. I hardly ever did that, but I must have been tired. I had felt safe, nestled between Alfie’s large scales. His breaths played on my head, ruffling my hair.

I didn’t really want to get up but we needed to. Alfie had a lot of responsibility now and he had to check that his clan were alright.

It took a while for him to shift back to his human form. He wasn’t used to shifting in and out, and he struggled. I tried to help but maybe I was being a bit selfish, too. I stroked his big cheek, feeling the smooth golden scales beneath my fingertips, and I pressed kisses to his nose and laughed when he snorted in irritation that he couldn’t kiss me back.

Chuckling, I said, “You can kiss me if you shift. Don’t you want to touch me, my darling?”

I loved calling him that. I might say it too often but it was how I felt about him and I loved to claim him just a little but by reminding him that he was precious to me.

My teasing worked. Alfie shivered and shifted back into his human form, and then I had an armful of mate, pressed to my front and kissing me deeply. I wanted to stay there with him, locked together like that, but he pulled back and looked at me, scanning my face carefully.

“You’re not frightened of me, are you, Blaze?”

“Why would I be?”

“Because I killed people.”

“So did I,” I pointed out.

“True… but I don’t want you to think I’ll hurt you.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think that, my darling. I know you’ll always look after me.”

He pulled me back into his arms and we kissed again. I had to hustle him into the shower to wash away the dirt that we hadn’t washed the day before. He kept the bathroom door open so he could look out through the glass, straight intothe bedroom, and see me. Steam escaped and I backed away, not liking the wetness of it, but I made sure I stayed in my mate’s line of sight.

Partly to burn off any lingering traces of grime on myself, and partly to make sure that Alfie could see me through the misted-up glass, I slipped into my flame form and burned like that until he had finished.

When we got downstairs, we met Matilda about to enter the dining room. She hesitated, then bowed her head.

She didn’t seem to know what to say. Neither did Alfie.

His hand squeezed mine because, yes, he’d taken hold of it as we left our room and I was hoping that he’d always hold it.

I smiled.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Lord Somerville. Good morning…”

She didn’t know what to call me.

I smiled at her again, trying to reassure her. “You can call me Blaze. Is that alright with you, my darling?”

Alfie nodded. “And you can call me Alfie. Lord Somerville is such a mouthful, isn’t it?”

We all knew that wasn’t the reason he didn’t want to be called that, but we all let it slide for the time being.

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