"No. But answer me this—has it ever felt so easy, so right with another male this quickly?"
She could lie, but it wasn't as if she made a convincing liar anyway. "No."
"Exactly. It's because you've always been meant to be mine. And no, not as a mere possession, but my partner in all things. One with as much free will as any dragon-shifter has under ADDA, at least. Although I can't force you to stay with me always. It will be your choice."
If she did, it meant ADDA would place a lot of new restrictions on her if she agreed to stick around. Ones that would mostly keep her from her friends and family.
Before her mind whirred with all the possible changes, Jose moved a hand to her lower back and rubbed it in slow circles. The longer he did it, the less nervous she felt.
Seriously, dragon-shifters must have some sort of powers of seduction or something.
Giving herself a mental shake, she focused on the possibly life-changing situation at hand. "Say I accept your claim that I'm your true mate. What happens next, step-by-step? And before you tease me, I hadn't really memorized everything in that section of the book since I didn't think I'd be hanging out one-on-one with dragon-shifters any time soon."
He brushed a section of hair off her face. "You should've expected it to happen. Even in a room of a thousand females, a million, I would've noticed you above the rest."
His words made her relax a fraction. Maybe they were bullshit, but her gut said not.
True mates were serious things to dragon-shifters.
"Okay, so you noticed me and reassured me I won't be a sex slave. And if I stay, ADDA will put me under a bunch of new rules. But what else? I sense there's a part of it you haven't explained yet, something important."
His pupils flashed to slits and back—what was his dragon telling him?—before Jose finally answered, "The condensed version is this—I kiss you and it kicks off a mate-claim frenzy where we have sex until you're pregnant."
She resisted blinking. That was it? "So far, that was the aim of this anyway. So what else is there?"
For the first time since she'd met him, Jose hesitated a beat. But the expression vanished so quickly that Victoria doubted she'd seen it at all.
He said, "Once I kiss you, my inner dragon is bound to come out. Not in his dragon form, but rather he takes over my mind and controls my human body. However, dragons are more animalistic, possessive, and act on instinct. He may be rough. No, fuck that, I know he will. And that scares a lot of
humans."
The fact the tall, imposing male worried she'd run because of his horny dragon half did something to her insides. Even knowing it could scare her, he was revealing it all to her.
And for the first time, she wondered if she could see a future with him. Oh, she still didn't know him well beyond the fact he knew how to make her orgasm, but she'd heard tales of how a dragon's true mate was rare, a blessing of sorts, and it could be the best thing to happen to someone.
Not necessarily a guarantee, but better odds than with anyone else.
She finally raised a hand to touch his cheek, loving his late-date stubble against her fingers, needing to touch him right now. "Then let me talk with your inner dragon. If I do it now before we kiss, then I won't be scared when he comes out in the frenzy."
Yep, it looked like she'd signed up for the frenzy already.
His pupils flashed right before he said, "If I let him out now, and he kisses you, he may be the first to claim you, not me. Is that something you could handle?"
She searched his gaze. "So, a stranger would just pin me down and have his way with me?"
He shook his head. "My dragon is part of me, not a stranger at all. Even if this half of me isn't in control, both halves make up one male named Jose."
She tried to wrap her head around it. "That seems just…weird."
He snorted. "It's not the easiest thing for humans to understand." His gaze turned heated. "But if you let me kiss you, then you're going to get a one-on-one crash course on how it all works."
As his fingers strummed the skin at her waist, she relaxed a fraction.
She could either have Jose kiss her now and then face his dragon when the time came, unsure of what to expect. Or, she could have his beast come out to show her what happens with the other half in control and then possibly have the dragon-possessed man kiss her and go all instinctual on her.
Could it be that bad, either way? The book on dragon-shifters had been lovingly dedicated to Melanie's dragonman and children. And the few video clips she'd seen of some of the other British dragon couples had shown just as a devoted pair.
Maybe, if she jumped, she'd fall right into the fantasy she'd always wanted.