His arms tightened as I tried to move out of his embrace. ‘‘It’s a curse. Our sept was cursed by Baltic. Until the day when a black dragon is accepted as a wyvern, no mate will be born to any of its members.’’ His lips curved into a smile, and I found myself watching his mouth, remembering just how delicious he tasted.

Suddenly Gabriel whooped, and scooped me up in his arms, spinning us around in a circle. ‘‘But you’re a doppelganger, May! You weren’t born!’’

‘‘I’m not quite . . . I don’t understand—’’ I stammered, confused as to what on earth he was so excited about.

‘‘Good lord,’’ Aisling said, getting to her feet, a huge smile on her face as she hurried over to hug me despite the fact that I was still being held by Gabriel. ‘‘You’re a wyvern’s mate! Gabriel’s mate! I never thought I’d see the day!’’

‘‘Gabriel’s . . .’’ The sentence dribbled off as I looked with astonishment at the man who was beaming at me.

His dimples deepened, his eyes alight with a wicked glint that made me feel like I was drinking dragon’s blood again. ‘‘A mate at long last. My mate.’’

Oh, gods! Now what was I going to do?

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

‘‘Mate—’’

‘‘Will you please not call me that?’’ I interrupted, backing away from the silver-eyed dragon who could kiss all semblance of wits right out of my head.

‘‘You are the wyvern’s mate,’’ the woman in black said suddenly from behind me, causing me to spin around. I felt trapped, surrounded by all number of threats, and I wanted nothing more than to slip out into the night and find a dark corner to sit and think about what had happened.

Everyone knew that it was impossible to take a dragon’s fire and live . . . unless you were a dragon’s mate. Wyvern’s fire was supposedly more potent than a regular dragon’s, and the fact that I’d kissed Gabriel without being burned to a crisp seemed to indicate that there was, in fact, something going on between us. But I was a doppelganger! I’d never heard of one being a wyvern’s mate. . . . I shook my head at my foolish thoughts. The question of whether or not a doppelganger could be a mate diminished in importance when there were so many other things claiming my attention.

I took a step toward the woman. ‘‘Look . . . er . . . I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.’’

‘‘This is Maata,’’ Gabriel said smoothly, coming forward to do the introductions. ‘‘And that is Tipene. They are members of my guard.’’