Her Dragon Captor (Her Dragon King Duet 1)

He’s let me go. Because he sees it.

And suddenly….

I see it, too. How amazing these last three months have been once we stopped battling. And what we could be if I choose him like he’s chosen me.

A ride-never-die couple. An epic love story.

The happy ending my soul has been craving all along.

No, I didn’t ever make any promises to him that I would feel obligated to keep. But I didn’t have to.

My heart…he was right. From the moment our eyes met, it belonged to him. I belong to him. We belong to each other.

Vows…no need. Him and me are the fucking vow.

It’s been a while since I had access to thought commands, but somehow, I immediately know what to do. “System Power Down,” I say both out loud and inside my head, then I swipe my eyes sharply to the left to push enter on the command.

By the time my eyes swing back, my dragon king’s expression has gone from determined to shock. “You turned your biosystem off.”

“Yeah,” I answer inside his head, just as shocked as him. “I turned it off.”

His eyes suddenly drop down my body. “And your flame…it is burning yellow. Does it…?” He looks back up at me, his eyes tender and scared. Like he’s afraid to hope. “Does it burn yellow for me?”

I nod wordlessly.

“But why, Reverence? Why have you decided to bless me in this manner?”

Still not a crying bitch, but there’s definitely some sheen in my eyes as I look up at him. “I guess it’s like you said. This love. Us. It wasn’t ever a decision. Not really. I think you’re right about us being fated mates, even if we didn’t do the whole gate thing. And if my people come, this ends. Right here. Right now. I don’t want that. I want you. For the rest of my life, just like you promised. So now, I’m making you a promise. We’re going to make this work, you and me. We’re going to kill this family beef, so that we can get married in front of my wolves and your drakkon, just like you envisioned. You’ve got my promise on that, and I never, ever break my promises.”

“Oh, Reverence…”

His beautiful, perfectly symmetrical face…how could I have ever thought it as cold as a statue? It’s now soft with gratitude, disbelief, and all the other things that make up that ineffable feeling called love.

“You are my fated mate,” he says, taking my face in his hands. “The most perfect female in all galaxies. And you honor me. You honor me so verily with your flame. I promise you as you have promised me, I will do whatever it takes to make both your wishes and mine come true.”

Okay, well, I’m descended from a whole bunch of crazy epic happily ever afters. So I know what comes next.

This is the part where after having both finally gotten out of our own ways, my love and I uncomplicate everything and simply resolve to be together forever. No more drama. No more misery.

The dark night of the soul has passed. Damianos has proven himself to me. And now we get to kiss the hell out of each other, knowing that no matter what his subjects and my family think, this happily ever after will be forever.

Damianos isn’t from around here, but I can tell he gets it too by the way his eyes glow as he looks down at me, adoring and intense.

“I love you, baby,” I say quickly, wanting to get in those final words before we do this happy ending shit.

“And I love you, too, Reverence. My flame will burn yellow for you until the day it extinguishes.”

“Wow, you are so much better at sweet talking than me. Will you just get down here?” I grab the front of his shirt to pull him the rest of the way down for our final kiss.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what I said before about wanting drama-free love. I know that this is the opposite of that—not to mention all kinds of wrong.

But it feels right.

This wrong love is what I want.

What my soul needs.

And I close my eyes as we make it happen.

Only to open them again a few seconds later, when the kiss never comes.

The sweater Damianos was wearing…it’s now hanging slack in my arms. And there are a pair of pants lying in a pool on the floor along with topsiders and socks.

What the Fenrir Wolf?

I look all around, sure this is some kind of joke. A really bad one, that I’d probably be laughing at right now if my heart wasn’t hammering in my chest due to the sudden disappearance of the male I just pledged to love forever.

But Damianos is nowhere to be seen in the kitchen. Or the living room.

Okay, what the Fenrir Wolf? What the Fenrir Wolf? What the fucking Fenrir Wolf.