Page 24 of 3013: Hellion

She laughed again as he flew them toward the closest isle. They made love again under a cascading waterfall that spilledinto a cavern filled with gems. And when the conversion was complete, they were secure in the knowledge that even though the dream was coming to an end, their life together was only just beginning.

Chapter Nine

Xian woke slowlyfeeling more relaxed than he’d ever been before. He wanted to stay there cuddled up with Jaya for a few hundred years, but the reality of their situation intruded into that fantasy.

The sound of the flowing water feature in the center of the maze had lulled him to sleep. But now, the rushing water was growing louder until it sounded like a massive waterfall. The volume continued to increase until his head pounded with pain.

“Relax, mate. You just need to modify your hearing so it does not sound so loud.”

That made his eyes fly open.

Some of his panic eased the moment he saw Jaya staring back at him. She reached out and stroked his face, and he turned his head to kiss the center of her palm. That made her smile, and seeing her happy made his own mood lighten. Damn, he really was totally and completely enamored with his little mate.

Distracted by her beauty, it took him several heartbeats to realize that he no longer heard the sound of rushing water.

“I adjusted the volume of your hearing for you since it was causing you pain.”

Feeling slightly disoriented, he sat up. Before they had left the dream, she had reminded him what would happen now that he’d gone through the conversion. As a result of completing the mating bond with her, he was no longer the Krytos-D’Aire hybrid he’d always been.

He was now a Dragon Warrior.

Xian thought he’d been prepared for it, but there were obviously some things he still needed to learn. His vision was sharper, his hearing more acute, but those weren’t the only changes. His bronzed skin now had a soft glow to it like hers did,and he could connect with her through their new bond without any effort at all.

When he caught her staring at him, he sighed.

“My eyes are glowing, right?” When she nodded, he sighed again. “How freaky do they look?”

“They are not freaky. I think they are beautiful.”

She sat up and lifted a hand, creating a mirror in front of him that allowed him to see his own reflection. While his mate might think his eyes were beautiful, he wasn’t sure he could agree. One eye glowed a brilliant blue while the other was a blazing red with a swirling black ring.

“I like them,” she insisted. “I think your eyes are unique and truly special. But if you do not, you can always change it. Like I do my hair color.”

“Silver is not your real hair color?”

She shook her head. “I like to change it up every so often. It was purple before the silver. And it was red before that.”

“That’s something to consider.”

Strangely, knowing he had the option to change it made him feel less self-conscious about his weird eyes. The moment he glanced away from the mirror, it disappeared. Shaking his head, he realized that he was going to need a lot longer to get used to the whole magic thing.

As he glanced around, he saw it was still dark out so they couldn’t have slept long.

“We were asleep for a few hours,” she told him. “I thought the conversion would take longer, but you handled it quite well. My sister’s mate is taking a lot longer, but that is due to his injuries.”

He frowned. “Did the robots attack them?”

“Nay. He has old injuries that are taking a while to heal. According to Jecca, his leg is being repaired and so is his skull.”

Xian’s mouth dropped open in shock. Zack Keller had lost his leg and part of his skull during his last mission as a StrikeForce Team member. Even after countless surgeries and months of rehab, Zack was still recovering from what had happened to him. But now, all of that was being magically reversed. That had to be a total head trip for him.

“Is your sister feeling better?”

“Aye, she is. But right now she is with her mate in their own dream world while he recovers. They will fix the damaged power cell when they awaken.”

Since she was still gloriously naked, Xian’s blood heated as she got out of bed and stood up, stretching her arms over her head. He wanted to toss her back on the bed and make love to her until the sun rose, then he wanted to do it all over again. As if hearing his thoughts, she glanced at him over her shoulder and sent him a seductive smile.

“While I would love to join you back in bed, we have our own tasks to deal with.” She used her magic to dress herself in a black leather vest and matching pants. “It was nice to take a break from all of the zombie killing, but we should check on our trap.”