Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Really, it was no wonder that mages throughout the ages had fallen for dragons so completely. How could you not when they loved with such fierce devotion? It was hard to resist them.
It was certainly hard for Samuel. Hell, it was hard for him to remember why he was resisting in the first place. Dimitri brought that old quip to mind: I didn’t fall in love, he tripped me.
Dimitri heard his soft snort of amusement. Cracking open an eye, he asked softly, “What?”
“I think I really do want a time machine,” Samuel answered, going back to his earlier thought. “I need to kick every historian in the ass. Not one of them accurately described what a dragon is like when they’ve found their mage.”
“Well, in those days, it was common knowledge. Why write down what everyone already knew?”
“This does not excuse them. I will have words with all of them. How dare they set me up like this.”
“Oh, I see, this is now personal.” A smile grew on his face. “Does that mean you do understand you’re my mate?”
Samuel was more than a little scared to admit to that. It was easy for Dimitri—he had dragon instincts backing him up. Samuel just had fifteen years of bad dating history. Not exactly helpful.
Still, he couldn’t refute what was in front of his eyes. His own reservations aside, Dimitri was solid confidence. There was no arguing that.
“I do see it, yes.”
Dimitri blew out a huge sigh of relief and promptly rolled onto his side so he could hug Samuel tightly around the waist. “Thank you. I was afraid I’d have to argue with you for weeks to get you to see it.”
A blind man couldn’t miss this. Samuel didn’t try to continue, just let the moment be.
"I guess the bigger question is, do you even want to be my mate?”
Samuel smirked at him. “Do I get a choice in that matter?”
Dimitri winced. “Yes and no. Whether you want to be or not, we’re mates. Fated. Chosen by a power greater than us. Or whatever. But if you don’t want me, if I don’t make you happy, I can’t force you to stay with me.”
He was too emotionally raw to know what to say, really. What was offered to him, right now, was being wholly loved. To have the perfect life partner. It was nothing short of the love of a lifetime.
It was everything he’d ever wanted in a romantic partner. He wanted the loving, accepting happily-ever-after that Dimitri was waving in front of his face.
More than just being a dragon’s mate, he wanted to be Dimitri’s mate. He wanted to be Dimitri’s Sam. God, he even wanted to be his Sam-I-am, Sam-a-lam, Toucan Sam, and Sir Samalot—not that he would ever admit that out loud.
The problem was it would be Samuel’s lifetime and not Dimitri’s. That was the rub. That’s what Samuel instinctively fought against.
Knowing what it would do to Dimitri in the long run, what kind of irreparable damage Samuel’s death would do to him, he just couldn’t bring himself to agree. How could he return such love and devotion with selfishness?
But a dragon had only one mate. In their entire lifetime, they would only meet one mage meant to be their mate. If Dimitri was so rock sure Samuel was his mate, then—shit. Shit, that meant that even if Samuel tried to refuse him now, it wouldn’t do any good. It would consign Dimitri to being single forever, no chance of a partner in the future.
Fucking hell. Rock, meet hard place.
If there was a good way out of this mess, some way that would let them come through it without breaking both their hearts, then Samuel wasn’t sure what it might be.
No, that was wrong, he saw precisely one path. He absolutely had to find the Sousa Clan and their spells. The only way he could stay with Dimitri properly was to fix his core.
Determination unlike any other rose up within him, damn near choking him. Samuel leaned forward and gently kissed the top of Dimitri’s arm. As he did so, he silently vowed that, come hell or high water, he would fix his core.
He absolutely would not let Dimitri suffer.
Something of this must have translated in his body language or his extended silence because Dimitri squeezed him lightly in reassurance.
“It’s alright. Dragons always know before their mages. Humans take a bit longer to catch up. I can wait for your heart to come to me. We’re still getting to know each other and this is not my first idea when it comes to courting,” he said, motioning toward the forest around them.
Falling for Dimitri would happen much sooner rather than later, Samuel ruefully acknowledged. He was half in love with this man already.
“I suppose, having waited for five hundred plus years, you dragons know how to be patient.”