Free Matching Dragons Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 6 by Rachael Slate Page B

he lowered his lashes. “Xur is gone, so I don’t have proof.” He shook his head. “It’s the only way,” he murmured to himself, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I have to protect you. Xur may be dead, but every living dragon will hunt you until they claim you. They will kill everything in their path. Your sister would not be safe.”
    Every dragon? “What about you? You haven’t—”
    “I would.” The ice in his voice raked across her skin. “Make no mistake, Kadence. Now that I’m a dragon once more, I will covet you. Fiercely.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I’m a dragon, and one thing you should know about dragons is that we love treasures. You, Kadence, are the greatest of them all. You’re a flaming pearl. The only weakness a dragon has.” His eyes swirled, blue mixed with black. “The greatest transgression for my kind is to kill one of our own, but we would massacre each other to get to you. Until you are claimed, you will never be safe. If you are claimed by the wrong dragon, you’ll be locked away. Forever.”
    Claimed. Wrong dragon. “You’re going to claim me.” Kadence clamped her hand against her mouth. She tried to swallow and couldn’t, the air frozen in her lungs. After he claimed her, how exactly was he planning to protect her from himself? “You’re planning to sacrifice yourself? No. You can’t do that.” This was crazy talk. The worst plan she’d ever heard. “I won’t let you do that.”
    Setting the vial atop the chest, he took one step forward. Then another, stalking toward her. “And I won’t let you sacrifice your freedom.” Leaning in, he inhaled against her hair. “You have no idea what it would be like to be mine.”
    She tilted her chin, a shudder quivering across her skin. “Try me.”
    ***
    Her pouty pink lips offered Lok a challenge he couldn’t resist. Suppress and deny as he might, he wanted Kadence. He craved the flaming pearl, but he yearned for the entrancing human female.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a dragon? I would have kept your secret.”
    “I wanted you to choose me. Not the dragon or the pearl, just Lok and Kadence.” Speaking the words solidified his resolve. He’d come to care for her, deeply, and he would do everything in his power to protect her.
    Even from himself.
    As her rosy tongue swept across her lush lips, moistening them to a glisten, his reasoning abandoned him. Lok snared his hand around the back of her head, drawing her mouth to his.
    Her sweet gasp and moan sang in his ears while his tongue delved inside her silken mouth. He flicked his tongue against hers, savoring her sweetness, then pulled back. “Would you grant a dying dragon’s last wish?”
    “What is that?”
    “To love you.”
    “Oh, Lok. Yes.” She tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged his mouth onto hers. Kadence was passionate, as fiery as the flaming pearl pulsing inside her. He tasted them both and savored the sweet fragrance of pure power flowing through her veins.
    How ironic, to have lived this long, only to die to protect the one thing he would have lived forever for.
    Death for a dragon wasn’t the same as for a human. Like Xur, he would explode into a thousand tiny particles to be reabsorbed into the universe. No reincarnation. No Dìyù —eighteen levels of Hell—to redeem him for rebirth.
    Death was the ultimate end. And yet, his siblings hadn’t even been granted their rightful end. Since Xur had torn out their hearts, their bodies had been left to decay like mere mortal corpses. A vile insult added to the villainous transgression.
    Kadence didn’t have to know Lok’s fate. For this moment, he would cherish her as a dragon yearned to. He would commit to memory every second, and if the gods were merciful, their love would form a sparkling cloud in the atmosphere.
    She clawed at his shoulder, pressing their bodies closer together. His hardness rubbed against her, desperate to connect.
    Funny how the verge of death brought