15. Zara

The mirror seemed to be lying to me just this same as my mind. I twirled in the layers of light gauzy fabrics in a rainbow of greens. The one color on the bodice that was the most prominent was a near emerald that reminded me of Tarek's eyes.

"You look lovely, Zara. My Tarek is most definitely goddess blessed."

I smiled at the woman. Tarek's mother. It was impossible to wrap my head around who she could be to me. But mates? I didn't even know the man or dragon. What was he?

The fabric slid under my fingers as I ran them down something I would have called old-fashioned from a description. But the thing was, there was nothing remotely Earth like about this.

"Thank you, Thalassa. I would never have been able to get this all on without you. Corsets? Really?"

She smiled, but her dress had a similar fashion.

"Corsets are making a comeback. Even on Earth, men were wearing them. I just never saw myself wearing anything like this."

She smiled and loosely pinned up a loose strand of my hair.

"You are welcome, dear. The corset is very fashionable and so much softer than they used to be. But look at the way it forms around your natural waist, and, well, Tarek will not mind your other assets."

She winked at me, and I couldn't stop my giggling. I liked her and that scared me just a bit.

"Although my son has not officially marked you." She cleared her throat and pointed to a small spot on my exposed skin and the heat that crept up my neck was instant.

"Oh my god. Is that a hickey?"

Thalassa shrugged. "I am not sure what that is, but here we would call them star bites. You should be proud that he is respecting your pace and not marking you with the mate bite. This is still his way of telling all males you are otherwise engaged."

I glared at the mark in the mirror. It was rather bright on the pale skin of my breast that peeked over the neckline.

"Wait, mate bite?"

Thalassa smiled and stretched her neck. Her long hair shifted out of the way to show a rather defined and healed mark. I studied it.

"They bite you?"

I watched her move to the mirror as if she admired it, and it was then that I really noticed how young she looked. Not much older than me, but that didn't seem possible.

"They do. It's part of the process of mating."

I swallowed.

"Part? What is the rest?"

She smirked and looked back at the bed that I had failed to make at any point today.

"I believe you might be acquainted with the other half. You'll know soon enough. It is impossible to ignore the mate bond. It would be foolish to do so."

That didn't sit right. I paused from smoothing down the layers of my dress.

"Foolish? It sounds like getting married, and frankly I had no want to do that on Earth. Not sure it would change wherever I am now."

Tarek's mother took a large breath and let it out on a sigh.

"Think of this as deeper than marriage. Deeper than any human connection. I would be lying to say that I would not push you to complete the bond with my son. But truly, it is a gift. To be with the one that can understand you to your soul. In fact, you and he will be one complete whole."

Biting. Soul deep connections. It was a lot to process. The numbers I'd depended on for so long seemed to struggle to remain. I hated the way my heart tugged within me, as if it understood the pull and wanted to give in.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to stand up straight, as if that would bring clarity. Nothing did though. Nothing was making my brain figure out that this was all real. And if I couldn't grasp this as reality, I wasn't sure I wouldn't give into whatever this otherworldly bond was. But what if I just let myself believe that I could belong here? That I could have, maybe not what I lost, but something else that would dull the ache.

"I never did so well with men back home. They all seemed to want things I couldn't give. Worse, they wanted things for all the wrong reasons. And me? I don't know that I ever really felt loved."

I stopped though as my throat tightened.

I'd never felt what Tarek had shown me. Not just the mind-blowing sex. But the way he looked at me. It was like he saw me. He not only could see into my soul, but the way he did see me felt like he'd never laid eyes on another woman before. Like he would never want to lay eyes on any other woman ever.

"Zara, I will be honest. The human mind struggles to process all that is in the dragon world. It never really made sense to me or any of my sisters." She smiled as she watched the shock on my face.

"Not in blood, sweetheart. But what you all become when you mate with a dragon. You and his hoard will become family. You will never be alone again. The goddess knew what she was doing when she made these beautiful males." Tarek's mother was behind me. Her hands resting on my shoulders as she watched us both in the mirror.

"What she didn't design into them was the ability to give up. So I suggest you wipe the shock off that beautiful face of yours and come with me. My mate has sent word that they are almost here to escort us."

What did it mean that my stomach flipped at the idea that Tarek would soon be here? It meant I really understood lust. Nothing else. Except, I also was starting to understand what it meant when he looked at me like he did.

"I'll meet you downstairs when you are ready," said Tarek's mother.

I blew out a breath.

"Wait. Tell me it's not crazy to believe in love at first sight."

Her face lit up and a smile spread over her lips.

"Oh, sweetheart. Love at first sight has nothing on fated mates. The goddess has given you a chance at not just love but at your soulmate. No one judges anything here. I was born and raised on Pyroth, but if the stories are true about Earth, don't you believe in love at first sight?"

I raised my hand to my chest as something squeezed tight. Fear? Excitement? Whatever it was, I'd never felt something this strong.

"See you downstairs, dear."

Instead of following her, I watched the woman in the mirror. Me. But it was a version of me that didn't look tired. A version of me that didn't look sad or worried about what was going to be the next shoe to drop. Well, actually, I was still waiting for the next shoe to drop, but I didn't look it. How had I been here only a few days and I already looked healthier?

I stepped toward the mirror, trying to make my brain understand that this was me. This was Zara Mathews, and she was wanted. She was beautiful. She wanted someone. I traced the outline of my face. Even the dark circles under my eyes seemed to have almost disappeared, along with the bruises from the abduction.

I let out a single laugh at first. Abduction. How the hell was that something that I suddenly knew to be true? Once one laugh had escaped, more followed, like I had truly lost it.

I'd been abducted and scared to death and yet I now had a massive man in my bed who chased away not only the nightmares but the loneliness. He chased away the sanity too because nothing about any of this was real.

A man cleared his throat from the doorway. I shifted my gaze to the door and couldn't stop the smile that spread over my own lips.

"Tarek."

He smiled back, and the man went from sexy to a wet dream in seconds. I had no idea how someone with a perfectly chiseled jawline, a perfect nose, or eyes that I got lost in could possibly look any more sexy, but he did, and I should have hated the way my body reacted. A storm of want and need flowed through me.

"I've come to take you to the ball. Are you ready, mate?"

The dress flowed around me like clouds. I couldn't comprehend anything about this planet. But if it was all a dream, I didn't want to wake up.

"I'm ready, I think." I glanced around the room to look away from him. I needed the heat flushing my entire body to slow the hell down.

My head whipped around as strong hands slid around my waist.

"Zara," he said.

I turned in his arms.

"Yes, Tarek?"

A shiver chased along my spine as his hands gripped my hips tightly.

"I cannot, in good faith, take you to the ball like this."

I sucked in a breath a second before his lips were on mine. I wanted to ask what was wrong with how I looked, but the moment his lips claimed mine, nothing made any sense anymore. Nothing except him.