Two crescents of little rubies fitted in slightly pink and swollen flesh. Mairwen's bruises had faded in the wake, but the mark of my bite was still fresh, blood occasionally welling as she stretched or turned her head, drawing my gazeback, as well as my lips and my tongue to soothe the spot.

"Does it hurt?" I rasped, ringing my tongue around the marks.

"Not when you do that," Mairwen murmured. I frowned and lifted my head, and she offered a smile. "It's a little sore, that's all. The books about the mating ceremony say it doesn't last long. And you're doing exactly what you ought to to help it heal."

I stiffened and then groaned, dropping my head down to Mairwen's bare chest. "Damn. I forgot you mentioned a ceremony. I should've⁠—"

"Should've taken me out to the village square, stripped me bare, anointed me in oils, and then mounted me from behind as the isle feasted and watched you bite me?" Mairwen asked. I growled, and she laughed. "I prefer our rather more private method. The ceremonies fell out of fashion before mating did."

I sighed and started to settle back against my mate—she'd been stroking her hands through my hair like she might to a house cat, and I was not ashamed to admit I loved every second—when she sat up suddenly, nearly knocking our heads together.

"Oh, Ronson! Mating is illegal. We've done something illegal," she gasped, hands flying up over her mouth.

I grinned and rolled onto my wings. "Ahhh, I see I'm not the only one who was forgetting something important. That one I did remember."

She slapped me gently on the chest. "Why didn't you say⁠—"

"I'm the alpha, Mairwen. I hereby declare mating legal again," I said, sweeping my arm out in a grand gesture. "There, all settled. No one even knew that law existed anyway."

Mairwen's eyes narrowed, and she snorted. "I'm sure Niall won't have anything to say once we tell him." I blinked at that, and her lips twitched. "Ah-ha! You didn't think it through, did you? Bet you thought you could just keep it all a secret, as if no one would notice I wasn't aging—Ronson!" she squawked as I tackled her back into the pillows, wrestling my arms around her and glaring down at her flushed and magnificent face.

"Keep it a secret, mate?" I growled. Mairwen's lips pressed together as she realized what she'd said. "Keep you a secret? Not tell the island, the entire world how proud I am to be yours? To have you at my side for my life? To have my mark on you so they all know what you are to me, what you mean to me? Not likely, Mairwen."

She'd mellowed as I spoke, and she reached between us now, fingers traveling gently back into my hair. "Of course," she said, leaning up and kissing my jaw. "Of course not. Silly of me."

I purred and then curled up on top of my omega like the oversized feline she apparently knew I was, resting my cheek on her chest, sighing as we settled together once more.

"We do have to tell Niall, though. And it won't be so simple as just announcing to the island that I'm something most of them have never even heard of," Mairwen said. "If we're lucky—if we're going to get away with it—none of them will have heard of mating."

I sighed and nodded, but I refused to open my eyes. "Tomorrow," I bargained. "We'll tell Niall and Beatrice tomorrow." Let me have you today, mate, I begged privately.

Mairwen was quiet, the path of her fingers slow and steady, soothing me towards a nap. I felt calmer now. And while I was still quite tempted to cup and squeeze and roll Mairwen's breast that sat just out of the corner of my eye, to draw it to my mouth and make a feast, there was less of the sense of lust riding and possessing me and my actions now. Mairwen was mine and I loved and craved every inch of her, but I loved this too—holding her, resting with her, having her scent and her touch around me in a moment of calm contentment.

"Tomorrow," she murmured as I pet a hand over her hip.

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Chapter Thirty-FiveMAIRWEN

Iheld my breath, my hands clasped firmly in Ronson's where they rested on his lap. We sat side by side at Ronson's desk as Niall and Beatrice gaped at us across the table. Actually, Beatrice didn't look even half as surprised as Niall. She'd been there with me when I discovered the connection between the bite marks and the mention of mates. She'd seen the way Ronson had been soothing an impulse we didn't understand by gnawing on me anytime we were alone.

Niall, on the other hand, had not seen this coming.

He'd been studying Ronson through the whole conversation, aside from one quick confirming glance at the healing marks on my throat, his face slowly paling, eyes widening then narrowing, lips flattening. He stared at Ronson now in silence, and the only thing I could read on his face was shock.

Then he shook his head and looked at me. "I trusted you," he said.

I startled in my seat, looking at Ronson who scowled at his brother. "Niall," Ronson growled.

Niall held up a hand, head shaking, but he didn't look away from me. "Him? No. From him, this…this…this thing I'd never even imagined makes a kind of sense. But Mairwen, you? You were my sensible one."

"Niall!" Ronson repeated his warning as I garbled out the start of an apology and then swallowed it down.

I wasn't sorry I'd mated Ronson. I wasn't even sorry we hadn't discussed it with Niall first because that moment was ours. Mine and Ronson's.

He loves me, a cheerful voice reminded me for the hundredth time since he'd said the words. I glanced up at Ronson at my side and found myself smiling. I caught his eye, and he relaxed back into his seat, answering me with the same as he squeezed my hand.

I turned back to Niall. "What makes you think our mating isn't sensible?" I asked instead.

Ronson huffed out a laugh, and Niall glared at him, but I thought the corner of his lips were twitching. "Persuade me to your case," Niall said.

"W-what?" I asked, rearing back.

"Mairwen is—" Ronson started, more prepared than I for Niall's prompting, but Niall cut him off with a raised hand. A shame, because I would've liked to hear Ronson's argument.

"Tell me what makes the bonding sensible," Niall said to me.

Ronson's chest swelled, his scent growing rough, and I thought he might start an argument with Niall he would later regret, so I spoke.

"There's several mentions of mating bonds creating the strength of two dragons, just as an heir would."

"In texts society has no access to," Niall pointed out.

"It would be easy enough to take them to a printer," I answered, sitting up. "There's more research to be done, of course. We still don't have a clear picture of why it vanished in history."

"You're talking about something that's going to take a great deal of time, and the pair of you already are mated."

"Yes, we are," I said, bucking my chin up. "And I also have the texts that talk about what it takes to resist a mating urge. A dragon is barely capable of focusing on anything but his mate until the bond is satisfied."

"I can attest to this," Ronson said, smirking at Niall, who rolled his eyes.