“Perhaps you could get dressed, dear.”
Maddie jumped.
“Mother. Why are you here? Good God.”
She dropped the frame and luckily caught it mid-fall with a freezing spell. Plucking it from the air, she set it back down.
“I wanted to tell you how proud I am. Of course, I thought you might have clothes on. Oh, wait, does our dragon have clothes on?”
Maddie slapped at the air where her mother was, straining her neck looking for him.
“Mother.”
She laughed. “He wasn’t your mate when we first saw him, so you can’t blame me for admiring the scenery.”
“But he is my mate now. You can’t. Ugh. Just stay turned around in the corner. Can we have a heart-to-heart when I’m dressed?”
Her mother floated around the room. “Of course. Of course. Please stay safe, sweetheart. I’ll be back soon.”
Mom was such an odd duck. She knew she’d die in a house fire and hadn’t sugar-coated things for Maddie. She’d also prepared Maddie for it for years. This house must have been part of the plan.
There was always a damn plan.
Maddie had left months before the fire. She’d broken all the ties she could. Anything to run away from the pain that was coming. Maddie had told herself she was leaving to get away from the fact that her mother wouldn’t let her have any adventures or any mystery in her life, but it had been to try and run from the pain coming. Her mother had said there are some things you can’t and shouldn’t change.
That hadn’t mattered though. She had wanted to change something. She had wanted guarantees that her mother would come back as a ghost even if she died. She had wanted guarantees in life that she could change things. Ghost hunting had shed light on some things, but it never filled the void her mother's hugs left.
In the end, it had been a fire started by a strike of lightening that kill her. How odd that fire was now Maddie’s friend.
Strange how life worked.
Maddie held out her palm and went to cast a fire spell. Instead, the fire appeared as she thought of it. The little flame danced on her hand.
Studying the little wick, she truly didn’t understand.
Best she find Kal.
Listening into the night, his voice filtered in from out back.
“Perhaps we should bring them back to the ship as quickly as we can?”
Listening, there were no other voices.
Stepping into the backyard it took a minute before she found his shadow in the corner.
The small patch of grass tickled her feet before they reached cold stone. When was the last time she’d gone outside barefoot? Is this what freedom felt like?
When was the last time she’d gone outside naked? Never. That was a big never. Well, she could cross that off the list of things to do before you die.
Kal nodded as Maddie reached out to him. He took her into his embrace, pulling her in, and she allowed him.
Of course, she allowed him. This was home. Wherever he was; was home. It took a minute to realize the familiar ache in her heart, the one that never seemed to ever really go away, had finally quieted.
“Yeah. Sorry, Eadric. I’m fine. You’ll like her, promise. Okay. Report later.”
Snuggling against his shirtless torso, it occurred to her, he didn’t seem to hang up anything.
“Who were you talking to?”
The light of the moon cast a glow around him as he looked down to her.
“My brothers. I’d ignored their calling all day. Eadric had reported I’d been turned into a bird.”
She kissed the skin of his chest.
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I wasn’t looking for anyone, and I really hate settling down. It wasn’t a good time. The bird might have been a little extreme.”
“A chicken.” He shook his head.
“Well. You walked into the Drunken Rooster. It was the first thing that came to mind.”
His chest vibrated with laughter. “Too bad for me I didn’t walk into somewhere more manly then.”
His hand slipped below her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. “I hope that things have changed? Your view on love and perhaps this idea of settling down?”
Opening her mouth, she closed it again. Love. What exactly was this? Flashing back to her lust drunk-high on magic state didn’t help. She’d said she was his. And she’d meant that. But love? What exactly was love?
He kissed her forehead, then her cheek.
“I see, mate, that you have not replaced your clothing.”
He bent to kiss her.
Maddie’s hands found their way up the muscles of his stomach.
She giggled as he reached around and grabbed her ass, lifting her up.
He pulled her against him, his cock pressing against the pants he’d put on.
She reached between them and stroked through the fabric. “Already?”
He smiled. “I am always ready for my mate.”
8
The smell of something delicious woke him from the world’s worst dream. If he ever pissed off Maddie again, goddess help him. He never wanted to feel powerless like that again.
Stretching, his hand searched for her. Maddie was gone. His dragon sniffed at the air, and realizing there was no reason to panic, went back to relaxing.
Kal smiled. She wasn’t far and after last night and this morning and all the other times she wasn’t going to leave.
He knew that sating his mate would take a few hundred years, but no one had mentioned it also meant that it would take a lot of willpower to keep her off of him.
He liked it.
What he didn’t like was waking without her in his arms.
Scanning the room, he grumbled. For fuck’s sake, where were his pants? He needed to talk to her. Perhaps clothing was a good first step.
His stomach growled. Sex didn’t feed a dragon, although it did make for a very docile one.
Kal rubbed at his chest. He needed to go flying soon. Being caged didn’t make them happy, but at least the mate helped.
Lifting
