by Riley Storm
Jax was still lost in thought, staring off into nothing. Sarah looked away slowly, meeting Aaric’s eyes. Giving him a little toss of her head and a flick of her gaze to the door, she managed to get her point across to the other dragon.
Looks were exchanged around the room, and the others left. When Jax realized what was going on, he turned to her for an answer. “Where are they going?”
“To leave you to think,” she said, reaching out, taking his hand in both of hers, caressing the top of it with her thumbs, feeling the power in his body.
“Are you going too?” he asked nervously.
Sarah shook her head. “No Jax,” she said softly. “I’m going to stay. With you.”
She felt the tremor move up his arm, and squeezed it tighter, trying to reassure him that this was no act. Her own hands were shaking. She was terrified of opening herself up, of admitting the truth beating within her. But she couldn’t hold back. Jax needed it, his brothers needed it. And if she was honest with herself, Sarah probably needed it too.
“I’m going to stay as long as you’ll let me,” she whispered, lifting his hand to her chest, so he could feel the frantic thudding of her heart there, broadcasting her nerves to him as clear as daylight. “And do you know why?”
Jax shook his head but didn’t speak. She stared into his face, admiring the square, hard lines of it, but ultimately, as always, falling deep into his odd, yet fascinating eyes. The little lines of copper in the iris seemed to swirl and spin, drawing her in further and further. Sarah never wanted to leave.
“I’m so scared,” she continued, somehow finding her voice. “This terrifies me, Jax. It’s been so long, and now here I am, moving so quickly. Yet it feels so right. How is that possible?”
“You feel it too,” he whispered. “Fate.”
“Fate?”
“It works in mysterious ways but has always been the ally of the dragons. Our bond is strong with our mates. To the point of being tangible. It’s okay to be scared.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
A second hand reached out, covering both of hers. Suddenly, Jax was the one doing the reassuring. He squeezed gently. “I am. But if you aren’t ready, then I underst—”
“I love you, Jax,” she said, the words spilling out. Even as they did, every nervous twitch and beat of her heart stilled as one.
She’d said it.
All the barriers were gone, and she was completely and totally open to him. A raw nerve, exposed for the first time in many years, to a man she’d met barely two weeks ago if that. It was insane.
“I love you too, Sarah Mingott,” Jax rumbled, never flinching, his eyes never straying from hers as he spoke.
Insane. Yet it felt so right.
“You’re going to that meeting,” she whispered. “I hope you know that. You’re going to go there, and you’re going to show your brothers why the magic woke you. You’re going to show them why earth dragons are the talkers of your species. You’re going to march into that Council, and they are going to listen, do you understand me?”
Jax nodded. “I will.”
“Good,” she said, nodding both to him and to herself. “But you can’t do it with any jitters. You have to be calm. Collected. Thoughts only on the meeting.”
“I will try.”
She slid his hand down from her heart to where it could cup her breast. “You’re going to do more than just try, mister. You’re going to get every other thought out of your head before the meeting.”
Sarah forced herself not to laugh as sudden understanding of the point she was making blossomed across Jax’s face.
“And you’re going to take as long as you need to ensure that,” she instructed him with a devilish smile.
“But of course,” the earth dragon said, and pulled her into him tightly.
33
She fell into his kiss, and with a twitch of her body had Jax on his back on the spacious couch. A quick glance showed that Aaric or one of the others had been thoughtful enough to close the door on their way out, giving the two of them some privacy in the lounge area.
“I’m going to need your entire focus on me right now,” she said, sitting up straight, slowly peeling her shirt off, revealing her covered breasts for his hungry eyes. “I mean your entire focus,” she said throatily, grinding her hips slowly against him, watching his face tighten.
“Trust me,” he said, licking his lips as she reached behind her back. “You have it.”
“Are you sure?” she demanded, letting the bra’s clasps fall free, but using one arm to keep the fabric over her breasts.
“Oh yeah,” Jax rumbled, his eyes fixated, waiting for her to set them free.
She teased him for a few seconds further, moving her hips continuously until Jax’s fingers tightened around her waist. Then she dropped the bra, enjoying the way his eyes drank in the sight of her body despite its curves and cellulite. Jax had always made it clear he appreciated her womanliness and now was no exception. She could feel him grow harder as he looked upon her, and that was a powerful feeling indeed.
“You had better give me your best efforts tonight so that you can give the Council your best efforts tomorrow. Am I understood?”
Jax frowned playfully. “And here I thought that I was the boss.”
Sarah laughed. “You just like to think that. But let’s be real, I’ve had you wrapped around my finger. After all, who chased who down the hallway at first sight?”
The big shifter looked mildly chagrined, but he wasn’t giving up yet. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said innocently.
“Oh, is that so?” Sarah asked, arching her back and letting her body sway side to side.
Jax’s eyes moved like a pendulum, perfectly in tune with the motion of her breasts. She laughed again. “I thought not.”
“Not fair,” he pouted, his hands climbing her sides slowly.
“Who said anything about being fair?” she purred, lowering herself down to him, kissing her man thoroughly.
My man. Sarah liked the sound of that. She liked it a lot.
Underneath her, Jax growled, his hands sliding over her back and gripping her backside firmly.
Sarah liked that sound too, she decided, working her hips and biting her lip every time Jax groaned some more. It was like a drug, and she wanted to hear his pleasure. Seeing his eyes roll back every time she ground against him just right was filling her body with fire. A fire only he could quench.
Jax seemed to sense that the time was coming, and he casually stood up, holding her tight to his body, a display of strength that left her body shivering in anticipation and arousal. She had never in her life been so easily manhandled, and it was hot.
He could have ripped her clothes off and plunged deep into her right then and there, and Sarah would have begged for more. But Jax wasn’t in such a rush. He kissed her body, hooking his thumbs under her waistband and dragging her pants down with agonizing slowness.
“Stop it,” she begged as he settled between her bare legs, only the warmth of his breath actually reaching her peak, doing little more than stoke her fires and build anticipation.
“Stop what?” Jax asked, purposefully pausing every motion, including the delightful run of his fingers up the inside of her legs.
“Teasing me,” she growled, reaching out to grab the back of his head, trying to pull him closer to her aching, throbbing clit. Just a bit of pressure. Just a bit…
Jax resisted most of her strength, but that didn’t stop her from thrusting her hips at him. He realized this a moment too late, and suddenly she was right there, her clit an inch or two from his face, and she knew she had him. After all, Sarah wasn’t the only one who enjoyed giving.
She moaned loudly as he wasted no more time, his tongue sliding its warmth across her opening, finding her clit and circling it playfully, wracking Sarah’s body with shakes each time he went up and over. He knew just where to go, and just how to play her body, and the pressure buil
t swiftly.
A moment later, a finger slid deep inside her, and shortly after a second followed. Her moans doubled in intensity as she writhed against his face, practically riding him as he did his best to stay with her.
“Holy fuck,” she cried out as a third finger entered her. It stretched her slightly but felt so good. “Faster,” she said, slapping at that same arm as he moved it in and out. “Yes, like that, like that. Oh, God.” Her cries became wordless as her body swiftly built to a climax.
Clamping a hand over her mouth, Sarah tried to keep quiet as she came, shuddering violently. Jax’s other arm was wrapped around her inner thigh and his strength kept her clit where he wanted it, and even as she crashed through the orgasm, he didn’t stop. The pressure lightened, but he moved faster with his tongue.
“Wait,” she moaned, barely able to breathe, her vision blurred. “Jax, wait, I…”
But he wasn’t waiting. He wasn’t stopping. Her body couldn’t take it for long, and in seconds she knew she was going to cum again a second time, back to back.
“Holy fuck!” she half-shrieked as the orgasm tore through her body like a shockwave, a thunderous roar that blinded her and blasted the air from her lungs, leaving Sarah as little more than a shivering, gasping ball on the couch.
Jax stood up, and in seconds, her eyes—only just returning to working function again—watched him undress in a flurry. His cock was already rock hard, stiff and thick, and she moaned in mixed anticipation and dread as he gently pushed her legs apart. How much more could she take?
Then he entered her. Sarah’s eyes rolled back into her head and she nearly went limp. It felt so good, but a different good. A fullness that reinvigorated her body. She could handle this.
Jax thrust deep, and she moaned loud yet again. A hand clamped over her mouth. Looking up, she saw Jax shaking his head.
“You need to keep quiet,” he rumbled, his fingers barely leaving room for her to breathe through her nose.
He was in complete control of her now, and Sarah surrendered herself willingly, letting him do whatever he wanted to her as long as she kept getting his cock. Her body was his playground, and Jax made it do as he wanted.
At one point, he turned her onto her side, leaning over her, still keeping her quiet. She shivered at the thrill of being his, and that shiver strengthened as he thrust into her, picking up speed now, the head rubbing against her just right as he pulled way back.
Her hands came up, fingers trying to tear him away from her mouth, but he was too strong, too overpowering. Even that too was hot, and she came hard, her scream dying against his palm as he rode her into submission.
It seemed Jax couldn’t handle much more either, because just as she sagged into post-orgasm weakness, he tightened his grip on her, and she felt him swell. Nodding frantically, she urged him onward, moaning loudly as he filled her with his warmth. The feeling sent tremors through her body, nearly causing her to orgasm one last time.
But they were both spent now, and seconds later Jax collapsed over her, breathing hard, unable to speak.
She had no words either. No sarcastic saying about his focus being unbelievable, or that he had better give the same effort to his speech as he had to fucking her. Nothing, because her brain wasn’t working properly, and even if it had been, she was too happy.
Far too happy.
As she let herself realize that, and accept it, Sarah found a few words did come to her. Three, in fact. Just three.
But they would be enough.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Jax twisted his head to the side, looking at her out of the corner of one eye that for just a moment appeared very dragonlike.
“I love you,” he replied.
Sarah sighed happily.
Yes, they could do this, she thought to herself, feeling a confidence she hadn’t felt earlier.
They could do it. Together.
34
Jax stood outside the Court with Sarah at his side.
“The ride home is going to be a lot rougher,” he said quietly, trying to dispel the awe he felt looking up at a building that meant so much to his kind.
Not just dragons, but shifters as a whole.
“We’ll make it,” she assured him, though he could feel the nervous tremble in her hand. Not from what was to come in the building, but after.
The dragons had come up with a plan that had worked. His three brothers, risking much, had taken to their dragon forms during the day and lifted into the sky. They had stayed low, wings working harder than normal as they skimmed along just above the treeline.
Shouts had been heard, but Jax hadn’t paid them any attention. He had waited behind the wall on the western edge of the property, hoping they wouldn’t be discovered. Then, using much of his power, he had opened the ground around them.
The earth had swallowed them up. They had dropped down, but eventually, the downward momentum slowed, and the cavern they inhabited had shifted, moving sideways under the wall.
By that point, he was beginning to tire. His physical strength remained intact, but his brain was starting to lose focus. Moving himself through the earth was tough, and he tried not to do it for very long, for it took a great amount of mental strength.
This time, however, Jax had been moving more than just himself. He’d taken Sarah along for the ride, and he was trying to move their method of transportation.
Never before had he tried to move a car through the earth, but despite the toll it had taken on him, it had worked. They had emerged on the far side and taken off, the car rumbling to life and carrying them toward the hall, with the vampires none the wiser.
I think.
Nobody had chased him, but Jax was still nervous about how they would get back into the Keep after the meeting. The vampires would surely realize at some point that the flight of his brothers was a ruse.
“Are you ready?” Sarah asked, stealing him away from his memories of their escape and presenting him with his next challenge.
The Shifter Court.
“I am,” he said, feeling his confidence flow through him.
This was going to work. He knew it was going to work because there simply was no other choice. If it failed, they all died, and Jax had to put his faith in not only himself, but the awareness of the other rules inside the chamber to see such a truth. To recognize that he wasn’t lying.
“Let me handle all this,” he said, taking a step forward. “It might get nasty.”
“I thought you said you had your speech planned?” Sarah asked uneasily from his side.
“Oh, yes. That I do. I meant this,” he said as five figures stepped out of hidden crannies on either side of the large double doors.
“What’s this?” she whispered.
“A welcome party,” he rumbled as the two bears, two wolves and feline shifter—tiger if he didn’t miss his guess—arrayed themselves in front of him.
“This building is closed,” one of them said. “Condemned.”
“Is that so?” Jax said cheerily. “Then tell me, why is the scent of shifters rank? Why do I smell a mix of all types except one? Is there a secret meeting going on in this condemned building?”
The shifters looked at one another, suddenly uneasy about the entire thing.
“I am Jax Drakon. I am an earth dragon. I am here on behalf of High House Draconis and I will speak to those inside,” he growled, taking a step forward toward the door.
The ground rumbled ominously under the shifter guard as he made his point clear.
“High House Draconis?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” Jax said, stepping forward, pushing his scales to the surface. Though he usually chose to cover himself in metal in combat, like every dragon he could summon a coat of scales to protect himself as well. He did so now, to prove his claim to those in front of him.
“The meeting is already in session,” one of the bear shifters said.
“I’m aware. I had…difficulty, getting here,�
�� he said. “I must speak to the Court as one about it. It affects us all, and I fear that time is of the essence.” He paused. “If I’m not too late already.”
“I’m so going to get in shit for this,” the same bear shifter muttered, but he stepped aside.
One of the wolf shifters spoke up. “It’s okay, Knox, I’ll have your back.”
“Thanks, Landry,” Knox muttered, and the shifters stood back.
“But she’s human!” the other bear shifter started to protest.
Jax’s growl forced all the others back a step. But he didn’t have to say anything. Knox whirled and fixed his comrade with a glare. “Shut up, Konine. Okay? Just shut up.”
Marching past them, Sarah at his side, Jax pushed open the doors into the Shifter Court.
He was at the back of a large room. At the far side were eleven chairs arrayed in a line. Off to the right sat another chair, a twelfth. Jax wasn’t sure what that was for, as he did not recall there ever being a twelfth.
Three in the center sat empty, the backs of the stone chairs lifting high into the air, carved into the relief image of a dragon. To the left, the three chairs with images of bears on them were filled, the center one occupied by a woman who radiated command.
That would be Kaelyn, then, he knew, Queen of House Ursa.
On the right of the empty chairs that belonged to Draconis sat three men. The tallest in the center would be Logan, King of House Canis.
Two more chairs one either side of the High Houses were filled. To the very right sat King Benjamin of Panthere, which meant to the left…
“What are you doing here?” Tarryl, King of House Raptere snarled, getting to his feet as Jax approached.
“I am here with a message for all shifter kind. A message you would not listen to,” Jax replied.
“You are not welcome here,” Tarryl said, managing to restrain his anger. “Nor is the human.”
“She goes where I go,” Jax said, unfazed by the angry greeting. “And as a representative of High House Draconis, not only am I welcome here, but I believe I am mandated to be here.” His eyes flicked to the three empty chairs in the center, a reminder to the others of who had once ruled this room.
