by Riley Storm
If they didn’t know that was wrong, how could they know anything? They’d been asleep for a century as well. Who knew what could have happened while they were gone!
“Okay,” she said, stifling her own fears and taking his hand. “Come on then. If we’re safe here, we need to get some sleep. We’re of no use to one another in this condition.”
Dragging him along, she managed to find her way back to his quarters, only using one wrong door along the way. Once inside, she pushed him over to the bed.
“Get in. Sleep,” she ordered.
“Where are you going to go?” he wanted to know with a frown.
“The couch.”
His features fell. “Oh.”
That surprised Olivia. Had he been expecting her to join him in the bed? Was that what he wanted? She’d assumed he was done with her in that capacity. That he was saving himself for his mate whenever she appeared.
Did she want to be the other woman? Did that even matter with dragons? She knew so little about their culture, about their beliefs.
“I don’t want to upset your mate,” she explained in a small voice, trying to hide her own disappointment. “If she knew that we were sleeping together…”
Aaric shook his head. “You act like she’s here. Like I know who she is. But you’re wrong, Liv.”
It was the first time he’d ever called her by the short form, and to hear it now was somewhat shocking. Were they that close that she was comfortable with that? It wasn’t something she normally was okay with, but…but Aaric was different.
Besides, it sounds nice coming from him.
“You said you were done wasting your time,” she pointed out.
“I…Yeah, I guess I did,” he admitted, sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed. “It’s just a lot of pressure, I guess. I’ve been dealing with it ever since they woke me, and I haven’t been dealing with it well.”
Olivia went to his side against her better judgement, putting an arm around him. “I can’t begin to understand how you feel, but I get why you do. The fate of your race on your shoulders. But Aaric, I believe in you.”
He smiled sadly. “I’m not lost for faith in myself. I’m a dragon after all; we’re born with a bit too much of it. No, it’s the fact that I can’t do anything until I’ve found my mate. It takes both of us to bring another dragon to life.”
She ignored the dual way that statement could be taken. They weren’t talking about babies, she told her ovaries, reminding them they were prepared to birth humans, not tiny lizards. This was way beyond her despite what they were trying to say.
It doesn’t work that way. Why would you suddenly like the sound of that now, after all these years?
It didn’t make sense, but then again, nothing made much sense lately. Dragons, and vampires, and shifters.
Oh my.
The last came as Aaric pulled her down into his lap. “I…listen. Liv.” He fell silent.
She kept playing with his hair, giving silent encouragement.
“Will you stay?” he asked, the words slightly strangled.
“With you?” she asked softly.
“Yes. With me. Tonight. I…I could use your company.”
Olivia bit her lip, considering his words, her options, and the fallout of it all. “I don’t want to be used,” she said gently.
Shaking his head Aaric looked up at her. “That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to use you.”
“Then what did you mean?” she asked.
They both knew, but he was going to have to say it. Olivia needed to hear it from his mouth, off his lips. She was already uncomfortable, but there was no denying the chemistry between the two of them. Mate or not, she, like Angela had warned, just might have it bad for this guy.
Not that I’ll ever admit to her that she was right. That just can’t be allowed.
Aaric shivered slightly as he straightened, meeting her eyes. That strange golden light lined the outside of his pupils as he gazed straight at her.
“I want you to stay,” he said.
They both blinked in surprise at the strength, the passion of his words. She’d hoped he would say it, but she’d expected it to come out softer, less sure. Judging by the way his eyes widened slightly as he spoke, so had Aaric.
Interesting.
“Then I’ll stay,” she said, letting herself mold her body into his lap, relaxing into his embrace. “For the night.”
Aaric nodded. One of his lips may have twitched slightly, but he stayed solemn. “For the night,” he agreed.
His eyes, on the other hand, were definitely twinkling.
Then she saw nothing but stars and golden scales as he leaned in to kiss her, covering her mouth with his. Olivia welcomed those lips, the warm, sensual touch a reminder of their earlier frenzied lovemaking.
No, not lovemaking. That was fucking. Lustful fucking. Not lovemaking. There’s no love here.
A mild bitterness filled her taste buds as she reminded herself of the truth of it, but Aaric’s tongue washed that away a moment later as he pushed between her lips, exploring her mouth the way his hands were exploring her body.
Casual strength gathered in his arms, and he swung her around onto the bed without trouble, setting her back among the comforters. She watched with tender amusement as he got on top of her. This was very unlike the Aaric of before.
“Come here,” she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in close, elbows settling on either side of her head.
She enjoyed this, the pressure of him above her, the embrace of his arms and legs, holding her tight.
That’s also not bad either, she thought to herself as the stiffness of his cock rubbed against her, igniting a fire she’d thought quenched for the night.
This was different though. Not the burning, desperate need for relief of earlier. No, this was something else. Deeper, and more intimate, but still a desire for him.
For Aaric.
Their clothes came off slowly, each stripping the other, rolling around playfully on the massive bed as they struggled to remove everything without disengaging their touch. In the end, the last of her clothes came off with Aaric above her, sinking back onto his haunches.
Olivia eyed his delightful body, the low light of the bedroom emphasizing the lines between his muscles, from his pecs down to just above his…her mouth curved upward in a grin.
“Are you laughing at me?” Aaric teased, lifting his hands above his head. “You don’t like this?”
“Oh no,” she said. “Trust me, I very much like it. Very much. I was just eyeing a certain part of you and smiling in…well, anticipation.”
“Good,” Aaric replied, bending over to kiss her some more.
This time though, he trailed those kisses across her cheek, down to her neck. He paused there, gently sucking and biting at the skin while one of his hands slid up her leg with painful slowness.
By the time his fingers found her peak, parting the soft flesh to gently circle it, she was breathing hard, desperate for more.
“I’m glad you decided to stay,” he whispered into her ear, gathering up some of her increasing wetness and using that to gently slide two fingers over her clit simultaneously.
Olivia shuddered, eyes glued shut, one arm around his neck, the other grabbing her breast. “Me too,” she gasped. “Me too.”
The pressure between her legs built and built until she felt ready to explode. All at once, it disappeared. Her eyes flew open to see Aaric looking at her with a mischievous glint to his eyes.
“Why did you stop?” she complained, taking a moment to catch her breath and lick her dry lips.
Aaric didn’t reply with words, however. He just bent his mouth to her neck and kissed it. Then he moved to her collar bone, leaving several soft impressions there. Slowly, inch by inch, he made his way down her entire body.
By the time he reached between her legs, Olivia was little more than jelly in his hands. His strong, powerful hands, that slipped under h
er legs, fingers wrapping wide around her waist, holding her down, pinning her in place.
If she’d thought his fingers felt good, his tongue, as it reached out and played its warm caress across her, was nothing short of pure ecstasy. Olivia moaned and writhed in his grip, unable to move and loving every second of it.
Aaric kept her pinned in place while he alternated licking with gentle sucking, driving Olivia wild. She needed it. Needed him. She begged him to go just a little faster, a little harder. But he didn’t. He refused.
“You’re such a tease,” she panted, on the edge, but not quite able to tip over. “I want it.”
Aaric’s eyes glowed at her words, sparking an idea in her head. “Please,” she said, biting her lower lip, watching his eyes grow brighter. “Please, Aaric. I want it.”
Almost there, she could tell. Then she understood what he wanted to hear.
“I need it,” she gasped. “Please give it to me.”
Although he’d never stopped, his tongue pressed a little harder, slid a little faster across her throbbing clit, giving it just the extra bit of attention she wanted. Needed.
The room grew brighter and her body trembled, muscles and joints locked in place. Olivia gasped and arched without meaning to, one long cry tearing from her throat as pleasure slammed into her body in one single spark of an instant. Waves upon waves of it crashed over her like breakers at the ocean’s edge.
She twisted and turned, but Aaric held her still, his tongue never wavering, never stopping. His name poured from her mouth, mixed with wordless moans of blissful, ecstatic pleasure that conveyed just how masterfully he’d brought her to climax.
When she was finally done, Olivia sagged back into the bed, her body still not responding to commands. It was spent, she had no energy left to command it. Her brain was mush, unresponsive, lost in the afterglow of an orgasm unlike anything she’d experienced before.
But Aaric wasn’t finished with her yet, she realized through the haze as he got up, shuffling his knees until they were aligned with her hips. Gentle hands spread her legs, exposing her most vulnerable areas to his gaze, and also to his—
Something pushed between her legs and she hissed as Aaric entered her for the second time that night. Holy shit, I’d forgotten how big he was.
It took longer now for her to adjust. After the roughness of earlier, she was still somewhat tender, but Aaric moved slowly, and by the time he was completely inside of her, Olivia was past the pain, lost completely in the unique pleasure of sex, something that, try as companies might, could never be recreated with something silicone.
Aaric lay over her once more, this time in the act of lovemaking and rocked his hips back and forth.
This is lovemaking, she thought, differentiating it from before with ease. Soft, sensual, exploratory. They were into one another’s bodies, their skin, their hair. She explored him, and he explored her right back. Wandering eyes, hands, mouths. She took in his scent, his taste, felt his skin grow warm and heated under her mouth.
All the while, he slipped in and out of her, just like his tongue. Slow, rhythmic, never changing, and continuing to drive her wild.
“I’m going to come again,” she announced an unknown amount of time later, lost completely in the act. Her body was shuddering ever so slightly, and she knew the slightest touch was likely to set her off. But she wanted something different this time.
Aaric must have known by the light of her eyes, because he nodded, his movements, for the first time, stiff, constrained. “Me too,” he announced in a tight voice. “I can’t hold much longer. You’re too much. Too beautiful. Your body, being inside you…” He trailed off, his eyes closing. She felt him tighten, his body clamping down, trying to hold it off.
Reaching up, she grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. “I want it,” she said. “Together. I need it.”
All at once, her body revealed that was what it was craving, what it was missing. Aaric. Inside her.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, losing herself in the golden sunburst of his eyes as they went wide, a groan slipping from his throat, replaced moments later as he cried out her name and released.
The instant his warmth filled her, Olivia went over the edge, her own pending orgasm finally given what it needed. She scraped at his back, thrusting her hips upward, trying to capture every last bit of him as he thrust into her harder, emptying himself.
She shivered and lay back, thinking it was passed. But Aaric kept moving against her, and abruptly, without warning, she tightened, a powerful secondary orgasm ripping free. It wasn’t as strong, but the surprise factor left her gasping and lightheaded.
“Holy shit,” was all she managed to get out before they both collapsed backward, Aaric lying on top of her, holding her down, keeping his body tight to her. She basked in that, enjoying it while it lasted.
“Wow,” Aaric whispered into her ear. “Liv, that was amazing.”
She bit her lip, enjoying the way his voice sounded when it said her name like that. “Yes, it was,” she agreed as her body shivered with a reminder.
“By the way,” he said tiredly, kissing her neck softly, then her cheek. “I got it.”
She frowned. “Got what?”
“I know what I have to do next.”
She rolled her eyes. Leave it to a man to have an epiphany during sex. “Why were you thinking about that while we were together?”
Aaric’s head pulled back at the accusatory tone in her voice. “I had to do something to stop from losing control halfway through. When you did that thing with my ear and your tongue,” he added when she looked confused.
“So, you thought about the vampires?”
“What’s more unsexy than a vampire?” he challenged defensively.
Olivia’s memory went to a hugely popular story about a vampire that was quite sexy. “Nothing,” she said quickly. “I get it. So, what do we have to do?”
“We?” he asked carefully.
“Yes. You think I’m going anywhere without you, dragon boy? Don’t forget, this vampire sent his men to my office. You’re my guardian angel. You even have the wings,” she teased, running her hands over the back of his shoulders.
“You’re staying here,” Aaric stated strongly.
Olivia just arched her eyebrows. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 29
“So, your epiphany was to go to this property you wanted so badly?” she asked.
Aaric glared over at Olivia where she sat in the passenger seat. He almost told her again that she should stay at Drakon Keep.
Almost.
But his brain dutifully reminded him of the tongue-lashing he’d gotten the night before, and then again in the morning when he’d suggested she stay there. She wouldn’t be alone, he’d argued. Francis would be there, and the Keep’s defenses were impressive, if hidden from the normal eye. She would be safe, he’d argued.
Olivia had argued that she wouldn’t feel safe. Not even remotely. She’d also pointed out that she could be of use. A second set of eyes, looking for things he wasn’t thinking about, wasn’t expecting. Things that didn’t belong in modern human construction.
The last was the selling point, what had finally caved—it definitely wasn’t a fear of her wrath if he forced her to stay; nope, not at all—and so they were on their way over to the property now.
As soon as he fired up the engine, that is.
“I’m coming with you,” Olivia said gently, squeezing his arm. “So, stop delaying and start driving. We slept in late, so we’re short on time, mister.”
That was an understatement, he knew. It was already three in the afternoon. After waking up, another round of lovemaking, showering, eating, they’d wasted most of the day.
Vampires, like shifters, were vulnerable to two things. Other paranormal creatures, and radiation. Unlike shifters, however, it was the radiation of the sun, of ultraviolet light, that hurt vampires. Not the kind found in depleted uranium, nuclear weapons
, and the like. That was deadly to his kind if applied correctly.
Which meant, given that it was fall, they had perhaps four or five hours of daylight left before things got dangerous. The factory was a large place and he wasn’t going to risk them being there past dusk if he could avoid it.
Recognizing defeat, Aaric punched the ignition button and the SUV rumbled to life, its engine growling throatily. Although speed was fun, he hadn’t been willing to compromise on her safety entirely. The modified triple-row SUV was an armored beast that Francis had procured from who knew where.
But it was bulletproof, had thick lower body protection against IED’s, and several other features built in that, if they found themselves in a jam, would help immensely.
That’s all assuming I don’t get a chance to unleash hell myself.
The SUV was, admittedly, more for Olivia than it was for him. Just in case, he’d said.
The vehicle picked up speed and they exited the garage and headed up the ramp and driveway to the edge of Drakon Keep, and then out the gate and toward the city’s edge, where their destination awaited.
“Is this where you finally tell me why you were so adamant about not selling the property?” Olivia asked as they neared the halfway point of their drive.
“What do you mean?”
“Is this like some sort of sacred ground to you dragons or something? Why this place, of everywhere in town?”
Aaric shrugged, one hand on the wheel, one hand on the center console. He ached to reach over, to rest it in her lap, but now wasn’t the time for that. They weren’t focused on one another, but instead on what lay ahead, and he didn’t want to distract her.
And you shouldn’t distract yourself either. This vampire could be bad news, even to you. You know this. Don’t fuck around. Both your lives depend on it.
“No particular reason,” he said, focusing on the issue at hand. “Except that it called to me. I looked at the listings, and this one…it just felt right. I don’t know how to explain it,” he added at her confused look. “There was just a need for that to be the property I developed.”
