Page 53 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
“That’s a mate mark,” he growled happily. “Your mate mark.”
Struggling to keep my breathing under control, my body alive and on fire with the need for his touch, I could only nod. Itwasmy mate mark.
“Ella,” Dirk said, his voice the rumble of a distant waterfall. “I would very much like to take you somewhere pretty and kiss you. If you could be up for that.”
Kiss? Him? Me?
All at once I was back on the mountainside. In his arms. His lips on mine, lighting up parts of my brain I didn’t know could be lit. Did I want that again? With him?
“Yes,” I gasped, barely able to get the word out. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Take me there. Kiss me, Dirk.”
Dirk stepped forward, scooping me into his arms, and ran from the landing field.
So much for asking for more time.
Twenty-Five
Ella
Halfway to theedge of the field, Dirk seemed to change his mind.
“Hold on,” he said, and before I could react, wings sprouted from his back.
“Uh.” That was all I got out before he crouched his legs and jumped.
With awhooshof air, gravity tugged me down, but Dirk held me fast to his body as we soared high above the landing field. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on for dear life, my head resting on his chest.
His marked chest. I stared at the skin that moments ago had been pristine but was now covered in swirls.
Somewhere in my mind, I could sense my dragon, but it was murky. Distant. Yet for the first time since the mountains, I had proof of life. She was still there, like Dirk had said.
Dirk was currently grinning like a maniac. Not that I could blame him. This was momentous, and I knew it had to feel good for him. He had proof he wasn’t rejected. That he was mine after all, so I didn’t begrudge him the wild grin.
Or the way his arms held me firmly. Or the press of his cock through his pants against my ass, sparking a matching reaction between my legs. He shifted me in his arms as we circled the tyrant’s tower, and I tried not to moan as the motion rubbed sensitive things in a very pleasant way.
At last he found what he was looking for, and we dropped easily onto a balcony, his legs flexing to absorb the impact. He didn’t stop, though. The smile faded into something more intense, something heavy and focused. Masculine.
“Now I’m officially yours,” he growled, striding across the balcony until he could pin me against the wall.
My legs closed around his waist, and my arms locked behind his neck, feeling the taut steel cables of his muscles.
“Just kisses,” I managed to get out a moment before his lips crashed against mine.
He was slow and thorough, and my body was putty in his hands. But he never once tried to push me further. He did grip my ass, but I put that down to him needing to keep me off the floor.
Maybe it was an excuse. In the moment, I didn’t care. Dirk was the only thing I wanted, and I knew I was putting a terrible amount of trust in him. The burning of his marks along my side and the dull throbbing between my legs were overwhelming. If he wanted to take more from me, I doubted I would say no in the moment.
“Nothing more,” he growled, moving my hand back to his neck as it slipped free and edged downward.
“Okay,” I said, moaning as he found my neck, kissing, nipping, and sucking the extremely sensitive skin until my fingernails dug deep into him.
I returned the favor, each kiss bringing with it fresh mate scent. It was incredible. And all for me. I knew enough that no one else would ever smell him the way I could, and just knowing we shared that one thing, that nobody else would ever have, was as powerful an aphrodisiac as the constant twitching of his cock in his pants.
It was amazing that a dragon as powerful as Dirk, as attractive as Dirk, would desire someone as broken down as me. A used-up shell who …
Dirk’s smell went flat and the burning in my bloodstream disappeared. I blinked, drawing in a breath, but it was still gone. Now it was just us. Dirk and me.
It took another second for Dirk to realize something had changed.
