Page 48 of Scaled Hearts

I want to chuckle but it comes out more as a cough.

When she sets me down, she does so gently. What she does next is anything but.

Kelly puts a foot on the small of my back – now bare from my clothes being melted off of me – andyanksthe axe straight out of my body.

A choked groan leaves my lips while my body flops back down onto the ground. I feel my skin start to knit itself back together almost instantly.

“Angurus?”

I groan at her.Whywould she do it likethat?

“You’re still with me!” she drops to her knees next to me.

I lift my head just enough to turn it towards her, my eyes blinking open in order to show that yes, indeed, I am still alive.

She lets out a surprised laugh with tears shimmering in her eyes. Her fingers come up to caress over my cheek and the fringe of my hair near my horns.

“When he put that axe through you, I—” her words are cut off as she swallows hard.

“Shhh,” I tell her. “I’m alright.”

“But you weren’t.”

I smile slowly. “You saved me.”

This seems to startle her. “I don’t know how I did that. It just happened.”

Neither do I, but I’m not going to question the logistics of our bond so near to us both almost dying. For now, the subject can be put on the back burner until we are in the state of mind to be able to sort it all out.

When it gets easier to breathe, I slowly push myself to sit up. There is a large scar on my chest from where the axe had punctured through, which I can imagine is also mirrored on my back.

I roll my shoulders, my body feeling almost as good as new.

Kelly leans forward to place a hand on my chest, covering up my scar.

I grab it and instead, lift it up to my lips to kiss it.

“I’m alright.”

“I was so scared when I saw you fall. I never thought you could be taken down.”

Her words are so sweet that I kiss each and every individual finger. My pride as a dragon has been hurt because I was taken down by filthy naga, but her wanting me to pull through so badly warms my stone cold heart.

I turn my head to look at the havoc that she’d wreaked and find that the molten rock has since started to cool down and harden. While I can’t see the naga that are now trapped and buried under all of that fresh magma, I know that they’re there for all of eternity now.

It makes me smile. She really did all of this for me?

Perhaps my heart isn’t so stone cold anymore.

Turning back to Kelly, I cup her face and pull her into a deep kiss. She moans against my lips and leans her body weight into me. I shift back on my heels and hold her in a tight grip. I never want to let her go. Not now, not ever.

She drags her fingers through my hair, causing me to groan.

How twisted would it be if I laid her down right here and had my way with her? Would she let me?

Her body against mine tells me all I need to know.

Kelly tightens her grip in my hair and physically forces our mouths apart. I pant and laugh at her, knowing that my thoughts aren’t far off from where hers are also going. Too bad we have other obligations to attend to.

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