Page 93 of Feathers and Scales

Daxton groaned with a chuckle.

“I believed I needed dragon fire to take Fotios down, and so, I proposed that I’d heal Serephina for it. I ended up healing her more than I planned, and then when I heard about you…I couldn’t leave.”

He brought her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “I’m lucky you were here.”

“Yes, well, Silas has been breathing down my neck. He locked Simon in the library. If he dares touch Simon’s memory—”

He bit her shoulder through the blanket. “So protective. You’re beginning to sound more like a dragon every day.”

“You must be rubbing off on me.” She yawned.

He chuckled. When her breathing slowed, Daxton’s heart ached. This was the second time she’d chosen to fall asleep with him in her human body. Closing his eyes, he drifted to sleep, a smile on his face.

Daxton awoke in his bed. His heart thundered, fear and bewilderment disorienting him. It took a few heart-stopping moments to figure out that the emotions came from the link.

Izzy sat with her back against the headboard next to him. She gazed at the wall as if she were awake but a million miles away in her spirit form. He rested on his elbow and ran his fingertips down her arm, prickling her skin. Her mouth twitched, curving slightly as she glanced down at him.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“The link. I feel whole again. But—it’s just—there might be adverse effects. Benefits always come with risks.”

“What’s wrong?”

She blew out a breath, stood, and paced alongside the bed. “Simon shared a theory with me. He thinks…” Her mind moved like pages, turning too rapidly for him to follow, making him dizzy. “When Simon tested your blood, he found that your spirit energy was fused with your biological blood. My recent human blood sample showed similar results, and Simon thought it was cross-contamination. But now, he doesn’t—and I also don’t think it is. It’s been getting harder for me to separate from my body. Not because of my enjoying humanity, which I am. It’s…physically harder and more taxing because my spirit energy is fusing with my body. I think…I think you’re the saving grace.”

He leaped to her. Grabbing her arms with shaking hands, he stilled her long enough to guide her onto the bed. “What are you trying to say?”

“What if…when we link our spirit energies again, or I don’t know how many times…what if my body and spirit become one? I’ll age like you and can collect my feathers to return to Heaven.”

Return to Heaven?His heart drummed in his ears.

“It’s what I’ve wanted for so long, but to tell you the truth, I’m a little scared now that it’s a possibility.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not prepared to give up my life and return.” Her gaze pierced into his, and she swallowed hard.

He struggled to breathe. “Even if we completed the link, it would take time for you to collect your feathers anyway, right?”

“Yes. Right now, it would also be dangerous for me if Fotios is still around. If he took out my theorized Fallen-and-human-fused form, it would send me straight to Limbo and give him my power. But I’m trying not to overthink this.” She pressed into him and licked her lips, an invitation that warmed his body.

The link vibrated as a gentle flow of energy caressed the line, and his dragon held its breath. It was almost as if she were trying to connect them.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Choosing you.”

His heart melted, turning his blood to liquid lava. But something still tugged at his mind, and he forced himself to protest even as she leaned into him. “Izzy…we don’t know the consequences.”

“Not without experimentation, we don’t.”

“And what if we are linked for life?”

“Good.” She brushed her lips against his, shy and tentative. “I want this to work between us. I know the danger we face. But I feel safe. It’s a feeling, like many others, you instill in me. I don’t want fear or uncertainty to rule my life anymore. I want to live. Enjoy my humanity. With you.”

Her gentle flow of energy reached his dragon. He closed his eyes, accepting her offering. The link flexed, and the joining forced them into a wicked flux of pleasure, muscles clamping and spasming as warm euphoria poured in.

He kissed her like a desperate man, a man glad he had given something to her. She had given him a way to control his other side, fire to his life, and such joy every time he stood in her presence. She kissed him back like a wild animal that had been set free from captivity.