Chapter Two
HILLEVI
Opening the wardrobe, my breath hitches. It is as if it’s been frozen in time. I am transported back to five years ago. Chewing on my bottom lip, I close it almost immediately. Turning around, I face Quest.
He has his head back against the stone, his eyes closed. “Can you take me back to my home so that I may gather my personal effects?” I ask.
Quest opens one eye, but not the other as he watches me for just a moment. “Why? What mementos do you desire?”
“Just my things. We can get my table and chairs from there too,” I suggest.
He doesn’t know it, probably doesn’t even realize it. Years ago, when we met, he gave me something. I haven’t worn it in years, but I still want it. It’s a necklace, a metal design of a dragon.
“Very well,” he sighs. “You can make me some food when we arrive?”
Smiling. “Yes, I will make the evening meal,” I whisper.
With a grunt, I watch as his dark hair disappears and his body morphs into a dragon. He snorts, jerking his head up. Climb on. He says with a demand. I narrow my gaze on him, but do as he demands.
Once I’m on his back, he doesn’t hesitate to run for the opening of the cave before he jumps off. His wings expand and the wind whips my hair around my face as he soars. Closing my eyes, I enjoy the moment, enjoy the way that it feels washing over me.
I will never tire of this, not ever.
It doesn’t take us long to arrive at my home, our destination. The city of Attleview passes by. I live on the outskirts of town, near the woods, so Quest slowly lowers us just a few feet from my home.
“You knew where I lived,” I murmur as I slide down from his big body.
He grunts, and I watch as he quickly transforms into a human. “I did. I have always known where you were, every step of the way the past five years, Hillevi.”
Pressing my lips together, I shake my head once. I don’t want to ask him how, but I have a feeling he’s going to tell me anyway. I wait for him to speak, but he doesn’t. Instead, he walks past me and straight into my cabin.
QUEST
Walking into her home, I look around. Inhaling deeply, I close my eyes as her scent surrounds me. I inhale an even deeper breath, searching for the scent of a man. The only other human male’s scent that I recognize is Aaric’s.
“Are you sniffing my house?” she asks as she lights a candle.
Turning around, I grin at her. “I needed to make sure you hadn’t been receiving any male visitors,” I explain.
“And, then?” she asks.
Grinning, I take a step toward her. “I would have had to take you here, mark my territory with my scent—our scent.”
Her lips twitch into a small smile before she clears her throat, and it’s gone. “There have been no men here, Quest,” she says.
She turns from me, but I don’t allow her to walk away. Reaching for her, I wrap my hand around her waist from behind and tug her backward, so that her back collides with my chest. Dipping my chin, I touch my lips to the side of her neck.
“You have not taken another man, I cannot smell another man in your home or on your body,” I murmur against her neck. “Why?”
“Why?”
I hum, my lips kissing her soft flesh as I wait for her to answer me. “Because I am a foolish woman,” she states.
“Nei, you are not even close to that, Hillevi. The truth?”
She doesn’t say anything right away. I don’t force her to either. Instead, my lips taste her, as I just simply enjoy being this close to her. She sighs, then spins around in my arms. I do not let her back away from me, my hands immediately wrap around her waist as I firmly hold her.
“Because I still love you, you terrible beast of a dragon,” she snaps as her eyes fill with tears.
I watch as the wetness falls from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. Dropping my chin, I touch my lips to the wet tracks, tasting her salty tears. I think about not telling her, of letting her think whatever she wishes to, but then decide against it.
“There has not been another since I let you go,” I rasp.
“Quest?” Her eyes are wide, her cheeks immediately turn pink. “Five years.”
“Já, do not remind me,” I grunt.
Her lips curve up into a small smile and she laughs softly. “I feel the same way.”
“So, does this mean that we can start in earnest? A new life, a new beginning?”
She doesn’t say anything right away. I expect her to turn me down, to force me to earn my way back between her legs, into her soul, her heart, and her body. Hillevi surprises me, as she so often has since I’ve met her.
“Yes, Quest. I believe that we can begin anew.”
Chapter Three
QUEST
I do not question her.
I do not stop her either.
She rises to her toes and her lips touch mine.
I do not send her away.
Instead, one of my hands slides up her waist, my fingers twisting in her hair. My other hand glides down to her plump rear and I grab ahold of her there, picking her feet from the floor before I turn our bodies around and head toward the bed.
She whimpers against my mouth. When I slip my tongue inside of her, thrusting it into her mouth, I can’t hold back my own moan as the scent of her desire fills my nostrils.
Setting her down on her feet at the side of her bed, I break the kiss slowly. I ache to be inside of her, my body will not be able to hold off for long. All I want is to be home within my fated mate.
She doesn’t know that although my people play with others physically, we only hold one single fated mate. I knew that she was mine the moment I stumbled upon her in the woods all those years ago.
Turning her around, I quickly unfasten her dress. It is a surprise to me that I can work the buttons so effortlessly after so many years. “Quest,” she breathes.
I hum, dragging the dress all the way to the floor. She is in her undergarment dress, and I grin at the sight of her skin through the fabric. The crevice of her backside, hiding an entrance of her body that I very much enjoy, one that I have only taken from her once.
“No, Quest. Not until I trust you completely again,” she whispers.
Touching my lips to the base of her neck, I nip the skin there. “You will, Hillevi. I swear it.”
She removes her own undergarment dress, exposing her naked flesh to me. Slowly, she turns around to face me. She lifts her head, her eyes finding mine before her lips turn up into a soft smile.
“I need you, Quest. It has been too long since you have touched me.”
“Já, I feel the same,” I rasp.
HILLEVI
Quest’s rough hands wrap around my hips and slowly slide up my waist, cupping my breasts. When his thumbs slide across my hardened nipples, my head falls back and I let out a long moan.
It seems as though it has been a lifetime since I’ve felt a man’s touch. As if I was possibly even a different person when I was last in Quest’s arms. He dips his head, cupping the bottom of my breast before he lifts it to his lips.