His voice was back to being velvet and satin. I opened my eyes, looking down from where I rested against his chest, a thousand little muscles inside me still quivering with exultation. ‘‘I’m not hurt. You were right about that, although I still don’t know how we fit together.’’

He laughed and shifted me up higher, so my head rested on his collarbone, his hands splayed wide across my back. ‘‘You have the most delightful mind. I have never met a woman like you.’’

‘‘Nor are you likely to, unless someone you know is sleeping with a demon lord,’’ I said dryly.

‘‘I’m sorry if the mating frightened you,’’ he said, his voice a lovely rumble in his chest.

I hesitated a moment, picking my words carefully. ‘‘It startled me. I wasn’t expecting such intensity. You seemed so powerful, so . . . forceful.’’

‘‘Like an animal?’’ His voice was light, but there was an undertone that had me pushing back off his chest so I could peer at his face.

‘‘You’re not an animal, Gabriel.’’ One corner of his mouth went up. ‘‘Well, not in the traditional sense of the word. You’re a very enthusiastic lover, but you seem so human, it’s just hard to remember that this isn’t your real form.’’

‘‘I am still the same being no matter what form I wear,’’ he said slowly, his eyes filled with warmth. ‘‘And you are my mate, the woman who has completed my life. Dragons frequently shift in the throes of sexual ecstasy, but if my dragon form makes you uncomfortable, then I will endeavor to control it.’’

I bit my lip, hating to make such a big deal about it, but at the same time, pathetically grateful that he would stay in human form. ‘‘I’m sure it makes me the worst sort of bigot to say that I’m uncomfortable around something that doesn’t look human.’’

His dimples popped into life. ‘‘Do you know that you shadowed at your moment of climax?’’

I gazed at him in surprise. ‘‘No! I did? I didn’t feel it. Are you sure?’’

‘‘Sure that the woman I held in my arms suddenly became almost entirely transparent? Yes.’’

‘‘I’m sorry,’’ I said, feeling the need to apologize. ‘‘Did it unnerve you?’’

‘‘No. There is nothing about you that I could ever find disagreeable.’’

I held my tongue, not wanting to ruin the moment of intimacy, allowing him to pull me back down against his body, still hot, but now dampened by our experience.

Lazy fingers drew patterns along my back, slowly moving up to my shoulder. A sensitive spot of skin reminded me of the burning sensation. ‘‘What was that brand you burned into me?

He traced out a pattern on my shoulder blade. ‘‘It is the mark of the silver dragon. It signifies you are my mate.’’