---
I didn't know whether to stare or run.
She rose—slow, unhurried, like a flame dancing in moonlight. Fully naked. Every step she took forward was deliberate, elegant, and terrifyingly beautiful. Her body glowed with soft traces of embers beneath her skin, curves shifting like molten gold under smooth stone.
My breath hitched.
This wasn't just a woman.
This was power incarnate.
She stopped just in front of me, eyes glowing like a dying sun. "So he's the one," she murmured, more to herself than to me.
"The… one what?" I managed, still taking shaky steps back.
She tilted her head. "You held my egg. Carried it through danger. Poured your soul into protecting me. That bond… it chose you. You're my mate."
My mind stalled. Mate? Like… dragon mate? I wasn't even sure if I should feel honored or horrified.
She turned, walking back to the center of the cave and settling onto a smooth, fire-warmed slab of black stone. Her legs folded beneath her, posture regal yet inviting. "Come," she said softly, beckoning me with one finger. "I've been trapped for five thousand years. Alone. Cold. I need warmth to awaken… and you're the only one who can give it to me."
I hesitated.
Every instinct screamed at me to flee. But something about the way she looked at me… not like prey, not like a servant—but like something precious—rooted my feet in place.
She noticed my hesitation.
Her lips curved into a smile, and she blew out a breath—not quite a sigh, not quite a flame.
A gust of heat washed over me. And in an instant, my clothes ignited. They didn't burn painfully—they vanished, crumbling into ash in a flash of golden fire.
I flinched, cupping myself instinctively.
Her brows lifted slightly. "I need the warmth," she said again, more firmly this time. "Your skin to mine. That is how I reignite. That is how I remember who I am."
I swallowed thickly. My heart was racing. My thoughts a blur.
But I stepped forward.
She opened her arms. "Fold me. Hold me like the world might end if you let go."
I moved closer—each step heavier than the last. Until finally, I reached her.
Her skin was alive—warm, pulsing, like the surface of a sun caught in mortal form. I knelt in front of her, then, slowly, wrapped my arms around her waist.
And she folded into me.
Not shy. Not reserved. She wrapped herself around me like a second skin—arms around my neck, thighs sliding over mine, body pressed so close there was no space between us.
I gasped at the contact. It wasn't just warmth—it was overwhelming heat, coursing through me, lighting up every nerve like kindling.
Her curves fit against me like they'd been carved to cradle my soul. Her back arched as I held her, and her chest—gods help me—pressed against my face as I stumbled into her embrace. Soft. Impossible. Like velvet clouds wrapped in fire.
I couldn't breathe. Didn't want to.
She stroked my hair as I buried my face deeper into her, whispering ancient words I couldn't understand, but felt.
Her flame wrapped around us—gentle this time, like a cocoon.
And for the first time since I found that egg, I wasn't afraid.
Only hers.
Only warm.
Only alive.
---
I don't know how long I held her like that.
My hands never left her body—gripping her waist, cupping her backside like I was terrified she'd vanish if I didn't hold tight enough. And maybe I was. Because every part of her felt made for me. Sculpted from fire and desire and divinity.
Even after the warmth faded to something bearable, even after her flames dulled, I didn't let go.
It wasn't just lust. It was need. Ancient. Instinctual.
And then she moved.
Her head tilted down slightly. Her voice entered my mind—not spoken, but felt, like a whisper in my soul.
"That's enough, little flame. The time has come."
She rose from my arms, and I watched in stunned awe as her skin shimmered—first like ripples of heat, then light, then fire.
And then… she changed.
Her body rose off the ground, levitating in a vortex of swirling embers. Her arms spread wide. Her hair flared out like a burning halo. Wings of pure flame erupted from her back, stretching impossibly wide—each feather a blazing plume of golden fire.
Her legs merged, lengthening, stretching, her human form cracking apart at the seams of reality.
I shielded my eyes as the light engulfed her—and when it faded, I looked up…
And saw a dragon.
Not just any dragon.
A goddess of fire and scale.
Her body was massive—easily twenty meters tall, longer than any dragon I'd ever seen. Her scales gleamed like molten ruby, layered in patterns that seemed too elegant to be natural. Wings like a cathedral of flame arched above her, casting shadows that danced with embers.
Horns curved from her crown—regal, glowing at the tips. Her eyes, glowing amber slits, stared straight into me. And when her mouth opened, it wasn't sound that came—it was a voice in my mind, thunderous and commanding.
"Climb on, my mate. We have much to see. Much to reclaim."
I didn't argue.
I ran forward, and with surprising grace, vaulted up her leg, gripping the ridges of her scales as she lowered a wing to help me up. Her back was warm, solid, and yet it pulsed with life. As soon as I settled between the rise of her shoulders, her wings flared—and we soared into the skies.
The force of her takeoff nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.
Clouds broke beneath us like waves of mist. Forests turned to blurred smudges of green. Mountains shrank into toy hills. The wind howled past me, and yet her warmth shielded me from the chill.
We soared—free, wild, untethered.
But I could feel it—through her body, through our connection. She wasn't at full strength. Not yet. Not even close.
And then we began to descend.
She circled downward, slower this time, until her claws touched down at the edge of a ravine beside a lake. As soon as I slid off her back, the transformation began again—this time in reverse.
Her dragon form shimmered. The fire receded. The air warped.
And then she stood before me—naked again, her hair long and tousled, flames still licking across her shoulders like a shawl of heat.
I turned away quickly, cheeks burning. "Uh… do you always plan to walk around like that?"
She chuckled—a low, sultry sound that danced across the water.
And then fire coiled around her body, wrapping tight and weaving like silk until it shaped into a garment.
Or at least… something that pretended to be a garment.
A flame-forged dress clung to her curves like a second skin, cut high along her thighs and plunging dangerously low in front. It shimmered like red crystal, thin enough to tease, thick enough to barely satisfy decency.
Before I could say a word, another coil of fire wrapped around me—startling me as it shaped into a sleeveless crimson tunic, loose pants, and boots that felt impossibly light but strong.
She stepped closer and extended a hand, her golden eyes glowing.
"I am Vera," she said softly. "The Dragon Queen. The last of my kind… and now reborn through you, my chosen mate."
I stared at her, heart thundering.
Vera. The name echoed with power.
The fire in her eyes wasn't just heat—it was destiny.
And I had just stepped straight into it.
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