“I… I do not know the human courting rituals, only those of the Creckels,” Janelle continued, the redness of her cheeks cranking up another notch. “You exceed everything I ever hoped for in a mate. I was going to wait until I was more recovered before expressing my wish to claim you. I don’t have anywhere as much to offer as you. I am damaged,” she said, her fingertips brushing over the port of her optical aid. “And I am—”
“Perfect,” I interrupted with a slightly angry tone. “Perfect is what you are. You do not have to try and convince me to be with you. I was yours before I ever even laid eyes on you.”
She frowned, understandably confused by that statement.
“We, Dragons and Xian Warriors, know beyond any doubt the moment we meet our soulmate,” I said, still unable to believe I was finally blessed with my own. I took her hand and pressed it to my throat where my swollen mating glands were throbbing and torturing me. “The bump you feel right now is one of my mating glands. Only one single female in the entire universe could make them awaken.”
Janelle’s lips parted in awe. She stared at my neck while her thumb gently caressed the swelling. “Me?”
“Yes, my darling, you,” I responded softly. “I have searched for you my whole life. Don’t you ever say you have little to offer. Do you not realize how amazing you are to have survived all these years from such a young age, while caring for so many others? Do you know how many people would have lost their minds or taken their own lives in such circumstances? Not you, my mate. You are a fighter and a leader. When the Zebiers attacked, most civilians would have panicked. Not you. Not my beautiful Janelle. You kept your cool and helped us disable the trap. When Stran was losing his mind, you appeased him and got him to communicate rationally so that we could understand the situation. And then you assigned tasks with assurance and confidence that had all of us jump into action.”
“I didn’t mean to be bossy,” Janelle said sheepishly.
“You weren’t bossy, my darling. You were perfect. And you made me proud,” I said with sincerity. “So, back to your original question, I want to be with you wherever you choose to call home. For as long as I draw breath, everything that I am is yours.”
“And everything that I am is yours,” Janelle repeated, smiling although her eyes misted.
Unable to resist, I leaned down to kiss her, stopping only a hair’s breadth from her lips. My mate wrapped her arms around my neck and lifted her head to close the short distance. A bolt of fire exploded in the pit of my stomach. Breaking the kiss, I lifted my head to look at her. Her smile reassured me. I dove right back down, claiming what was mine.
I had never kissed a woman before. My Dragon blood forbade me any form of intimacy with any other but my soulmate. Now, I gave free reign to my Dragon instinct. My tongue teased the seam of her mouth, and Janelle’s lips willingly parted. Clumsy at first, our tongues slowly made each other’s acquaintance. She tasted sweet, like mulled wine, and I wanted to get drunk on her.
My lips traced the line of her jaw, down the crease of her neck, while my hands slipped under her short nightgown. Janelle shivered as my palms caressed a path up her back, lifting the gown in the process. Although she had raised her arms to help me rid her of the garment, my mate suddenly started covering her now bare chest with her arms when she noticed me looking at her. The embarrassed expression on her face cut me deep.
“No, my darling,” I said in a soft, but firm voice. “Do not hide your beauty from me. Yes, beauty,” I said forcefully when she gave me an uncertain look. “You are beautiful to me as you are. And you’ll be even more beautiful when you are fully recovered. But even if your body were to remain as it is today, you would still be perfect in my eyes.”
I pushed my consciousness into her psychic mind. She shivered as my emotions flooded through our psychic link. There was no hiding one’s true feelings through such a connection.
“My mate…” she whispered with a trembling smile, opening her arms wide.
I answered her call willingly while releasing my pheromones. As I voraciously reclaimed her mouth, my chest began to vibrate, startling me. I had known of my mating chant, but I hadn’t expected it to instinctively trigger. Janelle gasped, and her pupils dilated as the effect of the subtonal vibration made her nerve endings extremely sensitive, enhancing every touch, every sensation. With my hands and lips, I worshipped my mate’s frail body, her pleasure oozing in droves through our psychic link.
Ignoring the increasingly painful pressure of my loin plate on my confined shaft, I stripped my mate of her underwear. My lips trailed a path back up her legs up to their apex, where I finally claimed my prize. Janelle cried out when my lips closed around her engorged little nub. My head was spinning from the heady scent of her musk and the tart taste of her essence as I feasted on my woman. My shaft ached, begging to be freed, my glands burned the back of my throat to release their mating fluids, and my fangs ached to descend and complete the bond.
But tonight was not the night.
My mate was still too fragile to complete our union. And, truth be told, I had no doubt once unleashed, my passion would be wild and unbridled. But I would see my woman sated. I would hear her scream my name.
And scream she did, moments later. Her back arched off the bed, her hands savagely fisted my hair, and her legs trembled over my shoulders. I lifted my head to watch her beautiful face dissolve in an expression of pure ecstasy, my fingers continuing to rub her clitoris while she rode the waves of her climax.
Crawling back next to Janelle, I drew her body, still shaken by the last spasms of bliss, into my embrace. She held me fiercely, her nails digging deliciously into my back.
“My Reaper…” Janelle whispered, burying her face in my neck. “My Sun…”
“My mate,” I responded.
With my arms possessively tightening around my woman’s slender body, and consciousness wrapped around her soul, I watched over my mate until sleep claimed her before surrendering to oblivion.
12
Janelle
Walking out of the shower, I stood still while Reaper took his sweet time, drying me. Multiple times, I had to playfully swat his wandering hands. I loved how he touched me, and I couldn’t get enough of exploring the perfection of his body. We hadn’t gone all the way yet. I didn’t think we would for a few more days, maybe even weeks.
Despite my curiosity and eagerness, a part of me was grateful for the opportunity to regain my strength while we got to better know each other and discovered our sensuality together. It pleased me beyond words that he was as inexperienced as I—although he could have fooled me—and that we were embarking on this journey on equal footing.
Although we had officially declared ourselves to each other three nights ago, I still couldn’t believe he was mine. I’d been trying to work up the courage to ask Jessica tips on courting a human but that felt too bold. Creckels didn’t beat around the bush when they found the one they wanted to claim as their mate. However, I wasn’t a Creckel and needed to keep reminding myself that behavior I considered normal might be perceived as inappropriate. Thankfully, my Reaper had spared me further unease by staking his claim.