Claimed by Ice by Eris Sage

his face.
    Then he pulled her close, swamped her in his hold, and the dam of emotion that she’d kept welled up inside broke. After her first broken sob, she seemed unable to stop them, and they came one after another, each wrenching from her, giving power to the next.
    But through them all, he held her, kissed away her tears as fast as they came.
    Jane felt weightless, then saw that her feet were no longer on the floor. Exander held her now, cradled her against his chest as if she were the most precious thing he’d ever held, a treasure to be protected. Jane stilled in his arms as he went to the small fire escape, and by the time he reached it, his dragon had returned. Jane gripped him as tight as she could, lay her head against his scaled chest.
    And then he jumped, the sound of his wings flapping, the thud of his heart against her ear, pushing everything else away.

Chapter Nineteen
    “ S he still sleeping ?” his father asked.
    “Yes,” Exander replied.
    “Good. She needs her rest,” he said.
    He’d been trying to console him all evening.
    It wasn’t working. Only seeing Jane, knowing that she was really, truly okay, would.
    “Sebastian is with the sister?” Father asked, voice brimming with scorn that didn’t nearly reflect back what Exander felt.
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t understand that, doing a thing like that to your own blood. And Janie, that sweet girl. Does she know?”
    “I think so,” he said. “But I haven’t talked to her about it yet.”
    “And what will you do?” Father asked.
    “I have my wishes. But it’s for Jane to decide,” he said.
    Father nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. “You know she’s your mate, don’t you, son?” he said a few moments later.
    “Yes. Yes, I do,” Exander said, the urge to see her suddenly too strong to resist.
    He turned and left without saying good-bye, the need to see her overriding everything else. As quickly as he could, he made his way to the bedroom where she slept, slipping in as quietly as he could manage. His heart lifted when he saw her at the same time as his stomach began to churn. The memory of that knife against her throat, the realization of what could have happened, what he might have lost, what they might have lost, squeezed all the air out of his lungs.
    To think that he’d been so blind, so foolish to have resisted for as long as he had, to not accept what she meant to him and then to have almost lost her…
    He peeled off his clothing and then lay beside her, wrapping her tight in his arms.
    It had been close; he’d almost lost her. And in that moment, he decided he’d spend the rest of his existence proving to her how much she meant. Promised that if she let him, he would hold her forever.

    J ane came awake instantly , the memories of earlier flooding into her mind at once. And just as instantly, panic, intense, unrelenting, gripped her.
    “I’ve got you, Janie,” Exander whispered.
    Only then did she notice his arms surrounding her, feel his body behind hers. She calmed instantly, the panic and fear receding with her next breath. Just as she’d prayed, he’d come for her. And he was with her now. She let herself fall into the comfort he offered, knowing that she could face anything with him.
    They lay entwined, Exander’s fingers tangled with hers as she burrowed in his embrace for Jane didn’t know how long. But with each second that passed, she felt stronger, certain.
    Safe.
    “I knew you’d come,” she finally said, hating to break the quiet peace but feeling compelled to speak.
    “I hope you didn’t doubt it for a single instant,” he said. Then he turned her in his arms so that she faced him, his eyes soft with the naked affection that Jane now wondered how she’d missed. “Not a single instant. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Janie. If you know nothing else, know that.”
    His eyes clouded a bit, and Jane could guess the direction of his thoughts. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I