A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Chapter 8 | At Last

His hands were sliding down the sides of my neck, scooping under to cradle my cheeks and when we finally broke apart we left only the smallest of spaces between us as our noses touched gently. He softly kissed my face, tasting the salt of my tears and my eyes slid shut as I relished in his touch, part of me still unable to believe that he was really here, that this was really happening. It just seemed too unreal.

His cheek rubbed against mine and I felt the soft scratch of facial hair on my skin. He was warm and he smelt so good. His body was solid under my wandering fingertips and I felt him shudder, his muscles twitching with pleasure.

"I have been looking for you for so long, you don't know ... what I have done, what I have gone through, just to find you. And you fall into my lap, completely by chance. It's almost agonizing."

I was less focused on his words and more on his voice; I never thought that I would hear that voice again. I had forgotten the things that he could make me feel with a few choice words spoken in that delectable tone of his. I bent my head, resting it on his shoulder, my nose nuzzling into his skin. That I was hearing him now, after believing him gone forever, was enough to make my heart swell with emotion, prompting a fresh round of tears.

His arm wrapped around me, holding me for a while again until the crying ceased. I leant back a little, wiping my face and trying to control my emotions. It was just so hard. I noticed then that he was sitting up, which reminded me of the reason that I had approached in the first place and I immediately felt stupid.

"You're hurt."

"It doesn't matter right now and it's not that bad anyway, it'll heal."

Wiping my face again I looked at him and bit my lip. I still couldn't seem to take him all in at once, I felt as though I needed to separately analyse each feature of his face, just so I could begin to piece him together again, before appreciating him as a whole.

Ignoring his remark, I moved down to his leg and he sat up fully, supporting himself with one hand while the other wrapped around me, drawing his chest to my side as he buried his face in the crook of my neck and breathed in deeply. He made me shiver but I couldn't pull away and tried to concentrate as best I could as I un-wrapped the bandage around his leg.

I cringed at the sight of the wound, it was deep and ugly, although it looked clean which was surprising and I noticed that the skin around the edges was already beginning to heal.

"How did you get this?"

His voice was muffled as he spoke into my neck, his lips sending tingles through my skin. "Animal attack," His answer was vague but I wasn't in the mood to press any further, I was still trying to grasp the fact that he was alive.

I silently healed the wound, the task draining a little more energy from me than it normally would due to the absence of both Anthemin and the pendant. We both watched as, under my skilful hands, the skin and muscle knitted itself smoothly back together, leaving a long, ugly scar where smooth skin should have been.

I frowned. The scar should have disappeared too, only a wound inflicted by a Dragon could leave a scar once my healing was done. I was tired though, and a little out of practice.

Obsidian saw my hands pause and caught them up in one of his own, bringing them to his lips. "It's fine, thank-you."

"But the scar-"

"It doesn't matter, another to add to the collection."

I looked at his face and his lip twitched in a half smile.

"Can you stand?"

"Shall we find out?"

In one swift movement, he rose to his feet, bringing me with him and almost automatically my legs wrapped around his waist, holding me against his body. One of his hands cradled my ass and the other rubbed my back as his face tipped upwards and his lips connected with mine once more.