Tristan growled. “The doctor cleared me. Wild sex in the forest will have to wait, but I’ve spent all week thinking of the many different ways I want to fuck you. I’m tired of only having you in my fantasies.” Then his expression relaxed and took on a hint of worry. “Unless the baby is giving you trouble? Do you need to sit down? A drink of water? Some tea?”
She smiled at his concern. “The baby is behaving. For now, at least.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
She cupped his cheek. “Nothing is wrong, but before we have hot, earth-shattering sex, I have a surprise for you.”
His eyes flickered to slits and back. “A surprise?”
She laughed. “I knew that would get your dragon’s attention. Samira told me how dragons love surprises.”
He grunted and she found it endearing.
She patted against his chest and pushed. He let her walk free and she retrieved the large, blue box from the coffee table. She turned toward him and took a fortifying breath. This was it. There was no turning back from this, but she didn’t care. This was what she wanted.
She took a step toward Tristan and said, “My very first night here, at the First Kiss ceremony, your dragon sensed I was your mate.” He looked curious, but nodded. Of course he would choose now to not interrupt her and let her talk. She took a deep breath and continued, “In the rare cases when a dragon-shifter finds his mate, it is not guaranteed that the male or female will accept the claim. I could walk away if I so choose, and you would have to let me go.”
He frowned. “Yes, but—”
She interrupted him, afraid she’d lose her nerve. “Let me finish, Tristan.” He nodded and she said, “I know it’s only been about a month since we first met, and we’ve both been through hell and back, but as much as your dragon is possessive as hell about me, I’m starting to feel pretty possessive myself when it comes to you.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Is that so?”
She resisted the urge to tease him. She needed to get the words out. “Yes. And I want to make my claim official.”
A flicker of longing flashed in Tristan’s eyes, giving her the courage to open the box and say, “I accept your mate claim, Tristan MacLeod. Will you accept mine?”
He moved in front of her. “Will I? You bloody woman, do you even have to ask?”
“Hey, be nice. You haven’t even looked at the arm cuffs. I went through a lot of trouble to get them engraved.”
~~~
When Melanie had opened the box to reveal a pair of traditional dragon-shifter mate bands, Tristan’s dragon had roared inside his head at the same time as happiness had flooded his body.
He could hardly believe it. Melanie wanted to be his mate.
All he wanted to do was take the box from her hands and toss it aside so he could kiss her and hopefully fuck her, but the frown on her face was adorable. Combined with his inner beast’s dying curiosity—dragons really did like surprises—he couldn’t resist looking down at the open box to get a better look.
Inside were two silver arm cuffs. One was larger and meant for him, while the other was more feminine. On his larger cuff was engraved, “Melanie’s” in the dragon-language. His name was similarly engraved on hers.
Tristan had never imagined he would wear a human female’s name on his arm, but now he couldn’t picture anything else. Melanie Hall was his, and soon would be forever.
He traced the designs on the bands. In addition to the names written in the dragon language, they were also engraved with the bold, thick lines similar to Stonefire’s chosen tattoo markings. The clan’s silversmith, Dylan, must’ve made them. How Melanie had convinced Dylan to engrave these so quickly, he’d never know. But then his mate was always a force to be reckoned with.
She’d gone to such lengths to honor his people’s traditions, and it touched both the man and the beast. For a split second, he wondered if he deserved her, but then his dragon said, Of course. She is ours and we are hers.
Aware that he’d been quiet for a while, he decided to find out how his human had known how to propose a mating. He looked up. “How did you know what to do? Since we only wear mating bands to celebrations and special events, their existence isn’t common knowledge.”
She lifted her chin and he resisted a smile at her sass. “You’d better start thinking more of my intelligence and resourcefulness, Tristan MacLeod, or I may just take the arm cuffs back.”
A possessive streak roared through him. He wanted, no needed, to put his name on her arm. “No, love. I won’t allow it. You’ve offered the mate claim to me and I’m taking it.” He removed the band meant for him and snaked it around his tattoo-free bicep. It was snug, but not uncomfortable, which was fine considering it was only for special occasions.
His dragon crooned at having their mate’s name around his arm. The other males would now leave her alone. She belonged to them.
More like we belong to her, he said to his dragon and his beast didn’t disagree with that.
He removed the cuff meant for her and motioned toward her arm. “Melanie Hall, will you do the honor of becoming my mate?”