Afterwards, for long minutes, they rested in a sweaty tangle on the silken sheets, gasping for breath.
Finally, when Naomi had recovered enough to tiredly allow Gregory to roll them around and cuddle back against his chest, she sighed against his skin.
“That was some good and proper ravishing,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his chest, right where Gregory’s heart was beating with reassuring steadiness. “But, just to make sure that we really got it right, we should probably try it again tonight. You don’t want any mistakes in your ravishing.”
Gregory chuckled tiredly against her hair. His arms came around her, holding her close,
so that she made a sound of exhausted happiness.
“Anything you want, my mate,” he murmured proudly, nuzzling at her ear. “I promise. We’ll practice every day, if we have to.”
Forever, she thought a little smugly, understanding his dragon’s possessiveness at last.
She might not care all that much about gold or jewels, or even the beautiful mansion—but this was something she wouldn’t give up, not for anything in the world.
Her mate. Her dragon. And soon... Her family.
Chapter Sixteen: Gregory
The alpha ceremony took place only one week later. Gregory had thought about waiting until the council had finished its week of emergency meetings to judge the fate of the enemy dragon—but the people of Mountain View couldn’t be argued out of having the ceremony as quickly as possible. And truth be told, Gregory didn’t want to wait either to show off his beautiful mate.
Fortunately, as the victim of the attack he’d been a witness in the case, and so had no part in the judging. Which meant that except for two days he’d begrudgingly spent telling the council all he knew, he’d been free to spend every single second left with his gorgeous mate.
Naomi nudged his side. “There was a suspicious amount of children’s toys and clothes sitting in boxes in the living room today,” she whispered.
Gregory’s lips twitched. “Aunt Jess claims she’s been cleaning the attic and rearranging the storage rooms, to make place while the repairs in the tower are going on.”
“So she claims.” Naomi bit back a little laugh. “But I don’t think I’m wrong if I read a different intention into it...”
“Not wrong at all,” Gregory replied, his grin widening. “Little does she know that we’re already doing quite well on our own without any encouragement.”
Naomi’s hand slid into his. “It can never hurt to try. We don’t want to get it wrong, after all.”
A laugh escaped Gregory, just before the little procession at last began to move.
“If there’s one thing I’m sure of,” he whispered back, taking the opportunity to steal a final, quick kiss, “then it’s that we’re getting the ravishing part very, very right.”
Before Naomi could reply, they’d stepped out from behind the curtain that had kept them hidden from view so far.
In front of them, the town’s children were milling around, scattering colorful petals. It was supposed to be a sort of procession, but the children were too excited to keep in line. The air was filled with laughter and excited cheers. Gregory could smell the scent of flowers and sugar carried by the breeze. It came from the far end of the square, where little stalls had been set up with all sorts of fairground treats for the children.
Naomi’s hand tighten around his. When he turned to look at her, he found her eyes wide, her face flushed with excitement as she tried to take it all in.
“This is incredible,” she breathed.
Then she gasped, her eyes raising towards the sky just as a big whoop erupted from the gathered crowd.
From above, confetti came raining down. Little bits of paper were falling like snow, glistening and glittering in hues of silver, gold, and blue. There were also red balloons soaring into the sky, colorful little dots drifting in the breeze. With a smirk, Gregory nudged the wind just a little to keep them gracefully circling the square.
And above the confetti and the balloons, two eagle shifters were beating their wings, their talons clutching now empty baskets.
Gregory felt his heart fill with warmth as he raised his hand to give them a grateful wave.
This was his home. These were his friends. And now—now, at last, he’d raise his own family, and find the happiness everyone here had been telling him he’d find one day.
“Wait until you see the banquet they’ll have prepared for later,” he said.
Naomi was looking gorgeous. She was wearing a dress of silk and lace—a dress she’d discovered when she’d looked through one of the storage rooms with Gregory’s aunt Jess. It had been the dress Gregory’s grandmother had worn a long time ago to an alpha ceremony that must have looked a lot like this one.