Dragonmark by Sherrilyn Kenyon

will find you the sweet dragon I thought you were. That is the one whose heart I crave to hold and keep safe.”
    His breathing turned ragged. When you say such things, I want to believe you.
    â€œYou can. I promise. After all, you are a huge, giant beast of a dragon and I’m one unarmed woman. What could I ever do to harm you?”
    He laughed bitterly. Your actions have already cut me deeper than any blade. Others left scars on my body. But when I thought you’d helped your brother against me … it scarred my soul. Cut me deeper than any battle wound or insult. After all, the deadliest wounds aren’t the wounds you see, Edilyn. They’re the ones that bleed internally. And yours was damn near fatal.
    Those words brought tears to her eyes as she fisted her hand in his tunic. “Then you should know that I could never be such a duplicitous creature. I don’t work in secret. That’s not my nature. When I’m angry, you will have no doubt of it. For like you, I rain down my wrath for all to see. And I can hide it from none.” She leaned toward him and impishly wrinkled her nose. “Just ask my brother. He still limps from it.”
    Illarion let out a silent laugh as her words finally set his pain to rest. I’ve missed you.
    She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest as she hugged him. “Missed you, too.”
    Closing his eyes, he rested his cheek against the top of her head and inhaled the precious scent of her hair. His rose was ever the sweetest thing he’d ever known. Honestly, he never wanted to let go of her. This was all he ever needed. To be with her and feel like this.
    If the price for it was his dragonstone, then he could live with it. He would have made the bargain with her brother. He just wished the kikimora bastard had asked and not taken. It was the theft that set so ill with him.
    There was nothing in life he wanted so badly that he’d let it make a thief of him to possess it. Such treachery was beyond his comprehension.
    Sadly for his kind, the rest of the world didn’t feel that way. It was why the gods had been forced to use his brethren as guardians throughout the centuries to protect and oversee their sacred objects and ensure their safety. But he didn’t want to think about that right now.
    He only wanted to lose himself inside his dragonswan.…
    More than that, he wanted to bind himself to her.
    Edilyn gasped as Illarion pulled the towel from her body, exposing her to his gaze. There was a light in his eyes that was so ferocious it actually scared her. This was definitely the feral dragon part of him. He literally stalked her and pinned her back against the wall. The kiss he gave her this time was unlike all his previous ones. It was intense and demanding, and it left her breathless—gasping for breath.
    More than that, it made the blood rush through her body. He dipped his head to gently tease her breasts, then he was inside her so fast that it stunned her.
    He lifted his head to capture her lips as he made love to her furiously. It was raw and consuming. And when he pulled back to meet her gaze she saw the true depth of his emotions.
    She lost herself to the vulnerable pain she saw there. Hissing as he thrust against her, she smiled up at him. “Did you really mope in my absence?”
    He ground his teeth before he drove himself deep inside her. I grieved every second I was forced to endure without you .
    Those words brought tears to her eyes. “You will grieve no more.”
    Illarion tightened his grip around her as he buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled the scent of her skin. He let it fill his head until he was drunk with it. Her nails dug into the flesh of his back and sent chills over him. She was his sustenance.
    Damn, he owed his sister a debt that could never be repaid. Xyn had saved him from his own stupidity. She’d been right. He couldn’t live