again.” She gave another uncomfortable scrub of her hands up and down her arms.
Vladimir chose his words carefully. “The itching may possibly stop once we are mated. If we are mated,” he corrected when Tanya gave him am unmistakably panicked glance. “I will never force you, Tanya. Ever. But I do believe we need Dylan Pendragon to do bloodwork on us both, don’t you? He’s become something of an expert on the subject of dragon mating since he and his brothers found their human mates.”
“But you said you’re different to the Pendragon dragons.”
“In some ways we are, yes, but not all.” Vladimir’s intense need to serve Tanya, to fulfill her every need, had never been described to him as being part of the Pendragons’ mating. “Are you agreeable to my asking him to visit us to do the necessary tests?”
“I really don’t want to,” she admitted heavily. “But I think we need to know the truth, once and for all.” She was deliberately keeping her gaze above his waist.
Vladimir no longer had the slightest doubt Tanya was his mate. If he’d needed any more proof, those few minutes of flight away from her just now, when he’d wanted nothing more than to return to her side, to their bed, had been all the confirmation necessary. Tanya was his mate.
“Of course,” he agreed lightly. “To put your mind at rest, I didn’t find any intruders outside.”
He deliberately omitted the footprints he had found near the tree line, which the falling snow hadn’t yet had time to completely fill in and obscure. Male footprints, from their size. And confirmation Tanya had indeed seen a man standing amongst the trees earlier and looking in the direction of the dacha.
Vladimir had also detected a male’s scent in that same area. An acrid scent that spoke of bitterness and anger. It was a scent Vladimir had encountered only once before today.
He had been unable to spot the male, despite having flown in a mile-wide radius hoping to catch sight or fresh scent of him. When Vladimir failed to come up with either, he could only conclude that their intruder had hidden himself deep in the cover of the forest, his scent hidden by the heavy blanket of snow.
Vladimir saw no reason to mention any of that to Tanya right now. Her emotions were already in enough turmoil.
“In the meantime,” he murmured as he stepped close enough to be able to take her in his arms. “Shall we go back to bed for an hour or so, and then I’ll make us a late breakfast?” He desperately needed to reestablish the tenuous bond that now existed between them.
To that end, he lowered his face to the warmth of Tanya’s neck, breathing in her unique perfume of flowers and spring rain to dispel the intruder’s pungent odor.
Tanya chewed on her bottom lip as she glanced up at him uncertainly, her hands resting lightly on his bare shoulders. “Can I make love to you this time?”
Vladimir was aware of his heart skipping several beats at the suggestion. “Is that what you wish to do?”
The color deepened in her cheeks. “Yes.”
Vladimir studied her closely. “Because you feel obligated to do so after I gave you pleasure last night?”
“Well, of course that’s part of it,” she acknowledged. “But that isn’t the only reason.” Her lashes lowered.
“Tanya, look at me,” he encouraged as he straightened. “Better.” He nodded once she raised her chin and met his gaze. “I’ve waited a thousand years for you, and despite what happened between us last night, there’s no rush for us to continue the intimacy between us if you aren’t ready for that.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I can’t even begin to imagine being alive for so many years.”
“If you become my mate, your longevity will equal mine.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m going to look pretty awful at a thousand years old!”
Vladimir chuckled at her horrified expression. “Do you think I look pretty awful right now?”
Her lids narrowed. “Is this a trick question?”
Vladimir chuckled. “No, of course not.”
“Then right now, you look thirty-five and gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” He gave a tilt of his head at the compliment. “It pleases me that you find my appearance attractive. Once we are mated, you will remain looking twenty-five.”
“Always?”
He nodded. “Always, if that is your age at our mating. Thirty-five is when all dragon shifters cease to age in appearance.”
“So when your parents were alive, they still looked thirty-five too?”
“A little disconcerting, I admit, but yes, that was the case.”
Tanya’s