Page 47 of Cops and Robbers

He took over and pounded into her without inhibition, bellowing his release. The rawness of the moment broke through her and ripped the tears from her fragile grasp.

Raz didn’t know if he would survive Kate.

The wetness of her tears on his neck obliterated his heart and curbed the need to Mark her. He cradled her in the hotel room bed, him still sheathed inside her as he tickled his fingers up and down her back. She relaxed into him, but her emotional turmoil drowned him over their link.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, swallowing hard.

Her fingers padded against his chest like a friendly tarantula crawling over his skin. “I’m sorry. I’m such a sap.” Her sigh tickled his chest hair. “I’ve never had someone accept all of me. Even the delinquent and childish parts.”

“Is that why you assumed I’d rejected you after we had sex?”

He felt her wince against his neck. “Not very many people have wanted me. Especially for the right reasons. You even accept my obviously worst-timed giggles.”

“You’re confident from head to toe, and that’s what bothers you?” He nuzzled into her hair—the complimentary lemon shampoo and her natural scent made her hair smell like lemon cookies. “I happen to like them very much.”

“I know. I feel your intentions across our connection.”

“I hope they’re mostly pure. Can’t speak well for my cock.”

She chuckled.

“Normally, dragons can Mark humans with their spirit energy so that other dragons know that they are trusted with the knowledge about us. But this link is like a Mark where both of our spirit energies combine.”

She nodded. “My spirit energy claimed yours as much as yours did mine.”

“Supposedly we were one being that was cleaved in half when we fell to Earth, so we have to find each other to return to our prior existence.”

A cacophony of emotions flew across their link. Raz’s head was spinning with the deluge, and he could only imagine how Kate felt.

“Are you fucking serious?” She shook her head in disbelief. “The dragons are the answer to Fallen returning to heaven?”

“We believe so.”

“How do you know so much?”

“We aren’t the first pair, and apparently it was left in our history that was hidden ages ago.”

“Okay, so we gain this link…and then what?”

“If I link with you once more, your spirit won’t be able to disconnect from your human form. You’ll gain immortality and be able to collect the feathers you lost when you fell.”

She jerked away from him. “I can’t travel in my spirit form? That’s terrifying. Especially considering we don’t know what’s going to happen on the mission.”

“I know. Don’t worry.” He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss in her palm. “It’s instinctual, but I can be a good dragon.”

“I’d doubt that. But then again, I’ve read your spirit.”

He nibbled her palm. She gasped before tearing it from his grasp.

Sighing, he said, “I hope you’ll let me see all your flaws. Accept all of you.”

Her eyes darkened. “When this ends, I hope you still feel that way.” She rolled from the bed, walking to her duffel bags, naked except for what mattered most.

The darkness she’d buried in her mind nagged at him. She was hiding something, and the wiggle of doubt was enough to make him wonder if he really could trust her. He hadn’t been able to vet her like everyone else in his life, and the need to confront her before he risked his team pushed at him.

“Kate.”

She didn’t turn back. “Come on. We have to meet up with everyone else.”