Because she and Hunter were mates?
Zoey was slowly starting to believe, to accept, from the power of her reaction to that single touch, that was exactly what they were.
Quite what that meant for them, for her future, she had no idea.
But the one thing she felt absolutely certain of was that Hunter would never, could never, hurt her.
She moistened her lips a second time. “I… Would you kiss me?”
Fire instantly flared in the depths of those dark eyes, telling Zoey that she hadn’t imagined seeing that blaze of gold in his eyes earlier when he spoke of the gems and gold in a dragon treasure. “What is that?” she whispered as she continued to watch his eyes in total fascination. “I saw red flames flare briefly in your eyes just now. Earlier today, they were silver,” she explained at his questioning look.
“Ah.” He nodded. “My brothers and I have the ability to control the elements of fire, earth, water, and air. I am also a snow dragon, which would explain the silver flames you saw earlier. The red flames of just now are because we can all, if necessary, breathe actual fire.”
“Like the dragons depicted in myths and legends?”
“Yes.”
That ability probably also explained why, to Zoey, Hunter’s scent was of pine needles on a forest floor, burning leaves on an autumn day, and a brisk salty sea breeze.
Well, at least she hadn’t been imagining that!
Even if she still wasn’t one hundred percent convinced about the existence of dragons.
“May I kiss you now?” Hunter requested in a deeply husky voice. Both his hands had returned to normal now, with fingers rather than talons.
“How do we… I know I was the one to ask for this, but…do we just kiss? Or is there something I should do or that I need to know before we—” Her words were cut off the moment Hunter swept her up into his arms and his mouth claimed hers.
Earth-shattering.
Zoey could think of no other word to more accurately describe how it felt to have Hunter’s mouth on hers as he kissed, ravished, and thoroughly explored every inch of her mouth with his relentlessly hungry lips and probing tongue.
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but Hunter’s tongue seemed longer and rougher than a normal one as it licked and claimed her mouth.
As he tasted.
Possessed.
But it also felt as ifshewere claiming, tasting, and possessing Hunter.
As if, in that moment, he became just as much hers as she became his.
Mate.
Zoey jolted back as that word, spoken in that rough and yet purring voice, soundedinsideher head. “What the hell was that?” she gasped as she pulled out of Hunter’s arms.
Hunter gave an apologetic grimace. “My dragon has no doubts as to exactly what we are to each other.”
“But I heard him speakinsidemy head!”
“And I apologize. That was unforgivable.” He released a long sigh. “My dragon is impatient for his mate. But that is not an acceptable excuse for an intrusion of such intimacy.”
Zoey’s gaze moved searchingly over Hunter’s face, once again overwhelmed by how strikingly handsome he was: his face was all sharp angles, and his eyes were that intense brown bordering on black. “Will we—will there be that mental link between us if we become mates?”
“Yes.”
That sort of connection, intimacy, sounded incredible to someone who had felt so emotionally alone and isolated since her parents died.
Edgar was a cold man, and although the household staff had tried to be kind—such as making her favorite meals when she was home—they couldn’t replace her parents or fill that gaping hole in her chest that wanted someone to love her.
