Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

moment that I, too, had gone mad.”
    I smiled and rubbed his knuckles against my cheek. “I had no idea you were real. You were watching the past?”
    “Yes. I do sometimes. Usually, it’s too painful.”
    Anguish appeared to rise within him at the memory, and once again, I was helpless against it. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him against the pain, wanting to bring only light to his darkness. “It saddened me, too, seeing them—us—so happy, knowing how things ended.”
    “Nothing has ended,” he said, his mouth moving across my temple with gentle little kisses that almost left me weeping. “You are here now. Life has begun again.”
    I turned my face into his neck, kissing his pulse point, but saying nothing.
    The car stopped in front of the house, and I took a minute to gaze around before allowing Baltic to escort me inside. The grounds were pleasant, if a bit bare of anything but a tennis court and a hint of a swimming pool in the back.
    Baltic led me inside, turning back for a moment to speak with the driver. I looked around, curious as to whether this home would be as soul-satisfying as the other. The entry hall was done in shades of white and egg cream, with white tile on the floor, an elegant staircase in white to the right, and a magnificent crystal chandelier. It was very pretty . . . and completely barren of warmth or soul or heart.
    “Come,” Baltic said holding out his hand, having finished with the driver. I noticed that he, too, set the security alarms before escorting me to a room that opened onto the entryway.
    I ignored his hand, needing a little distance to keep my mind—not to mention libido—under control. “So, this is—ack!”
    He leaped on me, positively leaped on me, pulling me down onto the couch, his mouth hot on my skin.
    “Baltic!” I shrieked, trying to push him off me.
    “We will now mate,” he announced, just like that was the end of the story.
    “Like hell we will!”
    He kissed me then, kissed me with enough fire that my feet were burning by the time he was done.
    “Whoa,” I said, gathering my wits together enough to push him back. “I can’t do this. You have to give me some time. Besides, there’s something I haven’t told you about—”
    “There is no time,” he interrupted, sliding his hands beneath my sweatshirt. “I must claim you as my mate now, before another can do so.”
    “Now hold on here a minute!” I seized his wrists and stopped his hands from moving farther. “I agree that we have a lot to talk about, and I’m ashamed to say that I enjoyed that kiss more than I should have.”
    “There is no shame in what we do,” he interrupted again. “We are mated.”
    “We are not mated. We may have been mated in the past, but that was before you died. I don’t know for sure what happened to me, but—”
    “You died, as well.”
    I stopped and stared at him. “You knew that?”
    “You died right before me.” Pain filled his eyes and he closed them for a moment, his face twisted with remembered agony. Without thinking, I moved closer, putting my hand on his chest. “I was in the tunnel beneath Dauva. Kostya had turned traitor and was trying to kill me. I was just about to disembowel him when my heart stopped, and I knew you had been killed, knew that bastard Constantine had finally made good his threat and destroyed you rather than let me have you.”
    “Constantine killed me?” I asked, goose bumps rippling up my arms and legs. “But . . . he said he loved me.”
    “He swore that if he could not have you, I should not. And without you, I would have no life.” His eyes opened and tears filled mine at the depths of pain so visible on his face. I pressed myself against his body, wanting to comfort him, wanting to ease the agony that time did not lessen. “My heart died with you at that moment, and I knew I would not survive. So I let Kostya kill me. It was easier than surviving the few remaining hours I had.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said, blinking back tears.
    His mouth brushed mine in a gentle acknowledgment of what I offered. “It wasn’t your fault. I know now that you were only trying to stop the war. But you were once my mate, and you will be so again, now, this minute. I must claim you, Ysolde. We must mate as dragons mate, so that all will know you are truly mine once again.”
    I slipped out of his arms, my stomach sick and cold. “If things were different, if my life had not turned out as it had, I would accept