Epilogue

Three Days Later

Rose

I stretched my limbs to see how sore they were and was pleasantly surprised to find I felt perfect. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that Magnus was working his way down my body while his fingers drew lazy circles on my skin.

"We can't stay in this bed forever, you know."

"We can. I am the new king and thus can make anything happen."

I rolled my eyes. "You are getting a big head over the king thing."

"Maybe. But if it keeps you in bed where I can worship you like this at will, then call me whatever names you choose."

"I'm sure Isaac and Kitra would like us to surface sooner rather than later. It's not their job to take up our slack. Don't we need to figure out what comes next?"

He lifted his gaze to mine and I took in the storm clouds brewing in his gorgeous dark green eyes. We'd both needed this time. Him to fully heal, and me to adjust to—well, everything.

Pregnancy, a new world, an insatiable mate who refused to stop giving me pleasure. I giggled at that.

"And what exactly do you think is so funny?" His hands were wrapped around my thighs as he settled between them. "Do you not want the orgasm or three I was planning for?"

My laughter died instantly as my muscles tightened with want. If he was insatiable, I was damn near crazed. And probably the real reason we'd yet to surface. I craved him, like I craved air. It never seemed to stop. He said it should have waned by now, but I'd seen no signs of change.

One minute I was normal, and the next I was not.

"Maybe I'm not really pregnant," I drawled, wiggling in his grasp without really trying to get anywhere other than closer to him and his wicked mouth.

"Oh you are. Your scent changed almost immediately. It's so damned good." He licked his lips. "But maybe—" he leaned forward and pressed his nose into the juncture between my legs and inhaled deep. "Maybe there is a second egg that has yet to be ripened by my seed."

"What?" I jolted upright, pushing at his hands and actually trying and failing to get free this time. "Let me up. You had better be joking. Is something like that even possible? And your seed ?" I made a gagging face at him. "You make it sound so gross when you say that."

"I would never jest about something like that, and you don't look disgusted when that knot takes hold and you start screaming my name. It may be pleasurable, but what the hell do you think it's truly for?"

"You need to learn how to talk to a lady," I sassed back, still debating whether I was going to shove him off the bed or not.

He grinned wickedly and without another word, my heart skipped a beat. That flash of need washed over me again, doing its level best to distract me from any qualms I might have.

"Two though. Really? I could never?—"

"Of course you could. My mother had three."

I felt the blood drain from my face as a shudder worked its way down my spine. How could he be so nonchalant when he said things like that? As if three sons were no big deal. I could barely handle one overgrown dragon, let alone three of them. "If there is more than one, it is you who will become their mother and I will serve as king."

One hand trailed slowly down the inside of my thigh, and back up again until his fingers feathered lightly—teasing—against my entrance. "You think being King would be easier?"

"Hell yes," I gasped as two of his thick fingers slid inside. And then all other words died on my lips because he was reaching for parts of me that I hadn't dreamed of before him. My head fell back on the bed and a moan gurgled in my throat. There was no longer anything lady-like about my reactions or gentlemanly about his.

I wasn't still in heat, but the hormones responded like I was.

"Mine," he said, his eyes glowing gold while he bared his teeth. Something had definitely snapped in him and there was nothing between his thick, desperate erection and my eager body to slow us down. Thank the Goddess.

"I love you, little flower, but I can't wait any longer." If he hadn't said the words, all the tiny growls coming from him one after the other were more than enough.

As he lifted and came over me, he brought one of my legs with him, opening me further. "I know the thought scares you, but a second babe would be a miracle."

"You just want bragging rights, and—" He thrusted heavy and hard before I could finish, again wiping away everything but my most primal thoughts as my nerve endings fired hot and insane at the sudden invasion.

Pleasure and need sizzled through my veins as my brain struggled to catch up with my body.

"I want everything. You know this. But in return I give you the same. We will be equals in all ways, no matter what anyone else says. You want to play the king? I will happily give you my throne." He grunted as he plunged deeper before settling there, our gazes locked together.

Every emotion flooding through me was reflected back in his gaze and it tore at any restraint I had left on my heart. Although who was I kidding? Watching him die had already taken care of that.

"Rose..." The emotion filling his voice wrapped around my heart and squeezed. Heat warmed my chest and burned through my veins. "Rose..."

"I know, I feel it too," I gasped. "As if someone is carving your name into my very being."

"The bond. It's magic. It will never be broken. No matter what happens."

"I love you, Magnus."

He pressed his lips against my face. "I will be here for whatever you need. I swear it. I would die a thousand times for you," he whispered a moment before he moved, stroking in and out of me in a more leisurely manner than I thought either of us was capable.

"Oh yes," I moaned. "More of this." I clawed at his back because the pleasure was building and I didn't know what else to do. The fiery need, the primal drive, it all coalesced into almost too much as his pace quickened with the demand for more.

The sound of his hard breaths filled my ears as the first orgasm crested over me. I clenched his shoulders and wrapped my free leg around his waist, silently begging for him to give me even more all while it felt like I was holding on for dear life. And for that one moment it never seemed like I could get enough of him until I felt him swell inside me. Locking us together as his own breaths turned to groans as the tip of his barb sent an electric shock of pleasure rocketing through me.

"Magnus!" I screamed until an earth shattering, bed vibrating growl tore through him and into me as his climax broke and a beautiful wave of warmth and love blasted through me, once again sending me into an abyss of pleasure like no other.

I was flying. The wings at my back breaking free and lifting us from the bed.

"Damn, Rose. You're glowing and it's fucking beautiful."

I couldn't focus. He'd done something to my heart, and I now felt a connection that seared my soul. It was glorious and beautiful and completely real. I could suddenly see all the connections between us, the loose threads knitting together. "It's perfect," I sighed, wrapping my arms tight around him until we collapsed back onto the bed still as locked together as before.

"If there's another egg in there, I'm pretty sure I got it that time," he gasped, sounding as breathless as me.

I swatted at his arm. "If you start talking about your seed again, so help me."

He huffed with laughter. "No. I got the message. Be more human in my sex talk."

I shook my head and laughed along with him. That wasn't exactly what I'd meant, but I was riding too high to argue semantics with him. Besides, I wasn't quite ready to tell him that he was right. There were going to be two. I'd seen them both. But he'd find out soon enough, and we both knew what a monster he would be about being right.

My dragon was a beast. A beautifully scarred, perfect beast who now shared my soul and my heart.

After three glorious days holed up in our private sanctuary as Magnus recovered, we finally emerged, to face the world beyond our bedroom.

By the time we arrived at the village center, it was mid-morning and the marketplace bustled with activity. There were people milling about everywhere, some finely dressed in beautiful gowns and suits while others dressed in flowing dresses and even some in what looked like fighting clothes made from leather or suede. It was an eclectic group of people and I wondered?—

"My king!"

We turned toward the shout to find what looked like the entire village now staring at us. At first no one moved and a sliver of fear worried through me that I was about to be rejected as his mate. We'd made the decision not to hide my ears ever again. The realm would have no choice but to acknowledge what I was.

My breath caught in my lungs and waited.

Until a small boy broke free from his mother's grasp and ran over to us.

"Torlin!" the woman I presumed was his mother yelled. He ignored her and ran harder until he stopped just short of where we stood.

"My king," he exclaimed as he dropped to the ground on both knees in an awkward bow. "Welcome back."

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling as Magnus glared at me with a twitch at his right eye. It seemed as serious as a moment as it did humorous and it looked like my mate wanted to flee.

"Come to the marketplace, you said. No one will bother us, you said." He grunted, but with a slight tilt of his lips as he hid a smile. He still struggled with the weight of his new title, but this was the easiest way I could think to ease him into it.

"He's just a sweet little boy," I whispered so no one else heard. "Don't be rude."

"Fae children are not sweet. They are precocious little troublemakers with magic they don't yet know how to wield." I looked back and forth between him and the boy, not at all certain he meant what he said.

"Just so you know, you are not selling me on this idea of multiple dragon babies."

He smirked. "Our children will be different."

"Of course they will," I barked with laughter as I tried not to snort. "Because dragons are so well behaved."

He wrapped his hand around my waist and pinched my backside. "I'd be happy to demonstrate."

"Magnus," I cried out much louder than I'd meant to. I quickly covered my mouth and glared at him to keep from saying anything more. But the slight shaking of his shoulders informed me that my outburst had meant more than the daggers I was now throwing at him with my glare.

The worst part though was the way my body had immediately come to life. Apparently, this heat cycle as he kept referring to this incessant need that continued to grow like a monster, was not yet sated. My skin was tingling and I could feel my borrowed magic rising to the surface.

"She's glowing," the boy now looking up at me in awe called out.

All eyes turned to me with open curiosity as mortification swept through me. It was my turn to want to turn and run away. A sensation that only got worse as Isaac and Kitra stepped from the crowd to approach us. I wasn't about to have this conversation with them either.

I grabbed Magnus's hand. "I've changed my mind. We need to get out of here. Now."

He started to say something, and a bright flash of white light filled my vision, blocking everything and everyone out. I squinted against it to find Magnus, but the only tether still holding him to me was his hand grasped around mine.

A blast of heat sizzled through my veins, hot enough to catch my breath. A scream bubbled in the back of my throat and quickly died as the heat and light disappeared as quickly as it came.

I blinked several times until my vision cleared and I found Magnus standing next to me, not in the butter suede pants and tunic he'd worn to the village and me no longer in the flowing gown. We were as we'd been before, him wrapped waist down in a towel and me standing in a robe together. I looked around, a lightheadedness making me a little woozy.

We were back in his bedroom...

"Rose, what's wrong?" Magnus gripped me by the arms and pulled me close. "Are you ill? Is it the baby?"

My hand went to my stomach, a little more heat still centered there. "Maybe."

"Are you okay to make the trip to the village or should we postpone?"

I shook my head. "It happened again."

His forehead wrinkled in concern. "What did?"

"It! Time. We were just there. Already dressed in those clothes," I pointed to the outfits hanging from the wardrobe doors. "There was a little boy..."

"What the hell?" His muscled tensed, ready to spring into action. "Were we attacked? Did I die again?"

"No. No. Nothing like that. You just triggered..." I didn't finish the sentence because my entire body turned flush from the images that had gone through my head. "It doesn't matter."

"Everything matters when it comes to you. You are everything." My stomach dropped at his words. I was never going to get tired of hearing things like that from him. The big mean dragon had such a soft heart. Not that he would admit to that if I said those thoughts out loud.

"I think Ensley was right." I pressed my right hand to my stomach.

"What?" He stroked his hands up and down my arms. "Right about what? You aren't making a lot of sense."

"I know. But when you were fighting for your life, she was talking to the rest of us about our baby and how the magic that is allowing me to change time might be coming from the baby instead of me. Which makes sense, considering it didn't start until after..." I didn't need to finish that thought. We both knew when I got pregnant.

"That's too fast. Dragons develop quickly, but not that quickly."

I shrugged. "I guess you would know better than I would. But it sure feels like something new is happening to me. And if the magic is coming from the baby, then I won't have that power forever. We'd only have a short-ish window to go back and get everything done."

"Babe." He shook his head. "You're talking in riddles again. We have the rest of our lives to figure this out. And if this magic does belong to our son, then we will spend his childhood teaching him and molding that power. It's surprising, of course, but I'm pretty sure we can get through this."

"No. No. No. That's not what I mean." That was all I could get out before a commotion of noise sounded in the hallway.

"What the hell?" Magnus growled, his skin beginning to glow with magic and his scales coming to the surface.

I took several steps back. "Shit. Is there enough room for that in here?" I rasped, imagining him busting through this house exactly as he'd done mine.

"It was built to accommodate, barely," he growled the words as more magic built.

"It's just us," Kitra yelled from the hall a second before she and Isaac burst through the door.

"Stand down," Isaac roared. "We've come to help."

"Help with what? Why is everyone talking in fucking nonsense? What do we need help from?" Magnus asked, his voice barely back to human as his magic seemed to hover over his skin.

"Kitra said you needed us. That the time magic erupted again."

"It did." That was one way of putting it. "Now I know why." I curled my hand around my stomach as if I needed to protect my child from what I would say next.

"If someone doesn't tell me what's going on right fucking now, I'm going to destroy a lot of shit."

We all turned to Magnus, his beautiful body aglow with his dragon magic and a warrior's expression stamped across his face. He was ready to defend me from his own family if he thought it necessary. Goddess, I loved him.

"We're going to go back. As soon as we can." I said quietly. "We'll use the time magic and we'll fix everything. We must."

Kitra and Isaac turned to me slack jawed as Magnus continued to glare.

"It won't work. Magic like that takes time to develop. And it doesn't work between realms. It won't work," Kitra repeated.

"I'm going." I didn't need their permission and I sure as hell wasn't going to accept I could do nothing. Everything in me said this was what had to be done. Their help would have been nice, but either way I would figure it out. I had to at least try. There would be no settling here if I didn't at least do that much for my mate.

"Not without me."

A tight smile lifted the corner of my lips. My mate had my back.

"I simply won't allow it," Kitra snapped. "You can't open that portal without me."

"Sure, she can." Ensley chose that moment to appear. "I'll help her.”

Isaac shook his head. "Son of a bitch. I told you that demon was nothing but trouble."

***

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In the meantime…

If you missed the first two books in the series, you will definitely need to read those before THE FATE OF THE DRAGON. Both THE CURSE OF THE DRAGON (book 1) and THE SOUL OF THE DRAGON (book 2) are available now.

If you are curious about the shifters related to this series in the modern world be sure to check out the Southern Shifters series that begins with Shifter Marked . And while it takes a while, the Ferguson dragons do make a return to America in Ian and Cordelia’s daughter’s story in One Crazy Wolf . A lot of time has passed and so much has changed. And there is more to come.

The Fate of the Dragon is coming soon…