But when she lifted her head again, her eyes were sparkling. “Yeah. That will work. Sounds… fun.”
Jord relaxed again. He let his hands drift over her body, and then he dropped his head to one of her bare breasts. He sucked her nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it until it became a hardened point. Then he moved to the other, loving the sound of Hazel’s moaning. Her hands tangled into his hair, tugging him closer.
He moved his arms to circle her back, lowering her gently to the air mattress that Vindr had pulled over. Hazel let out a small, surprised sound, but relaxed quickly. Watn brought over a few pillows for Jord to rest himself on, to stop from putting undue pressure on his injuries. As Jord spread Hazel’s thighs and removed her panties, the others hastily undressed.
But for that moment at least, Hazel only had eyes for him. Warmth spread throughout his body even as he tightened harder. For a moment he was tempted to just forget his injuries and take her right then and there, but he forced himself to keep thinking. She hadn’t even been prepared yet, after all.
A shudder ran down her spine as he stroked her with his fingers, watching her face to know what pressure she responded to best. Jord loved the look of her naked body, of the other Hunter’s hands caressing her form. Their eye contact was broken when Hyrr bent to suck one of her breasts. Jord took the opportunity to lower his head. His tongue laved across her clit, earning him a cry and a tremble in her thighs. He grinned and did it again before burying his face in her.
She responded just as he wanted her to, by bucking her hips into the air and increasing the contact between them. It wasn’t much longer before her whole body was shaking. Jord grinned as he thrust his tongue deep into her, making her mewl. He loved the taste of her and would have continued going if it wasn’t for the strands of impatience he felt in the bond with the other Hunters.
He moved back to find Watn in Hazel’s mouth, with her hands stroking Hyrr on one side and Vindr on the other. Their hands were gentle on her. Watn glanced up at Jord and he nodded before retreating to the side of the room. He was so hard it was painful, but he was determined that he wasn’t going to give in. Not just because of his wounds, but because he still wasn’t certain if he could keep his emotions separate. Best to just watch and lust than risk that intense physical connection…
Watn took his place between Hazel’s legs while Vindr moved to her mouth. Both of them entered her at the same time, and Hyrr let out a strangled growl. The sound made Hazel jump, but she was soon moaning as Watn thrust into her. His hips moved slow and steady, the muscles bunching. Jord watched as Hazel’s breasts bounced in time with the easy rhythm. Watn’s face was screwed up with concentration, his gaze locked on Hazel’s face as she sucked on Vindr.
Jord undid his zipper and pushed his hand into his pants. He squeezed himself, more to try to relieve the ache of pressure than to pleasure himself. Hazel clutched the airbed with one hand, the other moving rapidly on Hyrr, whose head was thrown back. He moaned deeply. Vindr was holding Hazel’s head gently, smiling at her as he held himself still, so she could choose how deep she took him.
It took several minutes, but eventually, Watn’s movements became jerky. He thrust hard into Hazel a few times before letting out a deep growl. He dropped over her, feasting on one breast then the other as he kicked his legs and his whole body trembled, a sure sign he’d finished. Vindr removed himself from Hazel’s mouth as Hyrr pushed Watn aside.
Hazel’s back arched and she let out a cry as he rubbed her clit vigorously. Her whole body started to shake and her eyes widened. Watn caught her mouth in his as Vindr quickly moved down to knee between her legs.
“Let’s turn her over,” Hyrr grunted, his voice guttural. “Gods! None of us are lasting long tonight. We’re going to owe our lady an apology.”
Hazel caught his wrist, stopping his ministrations to her clit, and gave a slight giggle. “Trust me, no apology is necessary. This is… good. Especially for a first time.”
Jord couldn’t wait until they were able to leave her absolutely breathless.
They waited a moment for her to release Hyrr’s wrist, and then the boys turned Hazel over to her hands and knees. This time, Watn kept his arms around her, helping her support herself, while Hyrr moved to her mouth. He winked down at her.
“You don’t have to do anything, sweetheart. I know exactly what I want to do with that mouth of yours.”
Hazel grinned back at him and supported herself with one hand as she took him in the other and pulled his head into her mouth while Vindr entered her from behind. Unlike Watn, he set a fast pace. So fast that Hazel was soon rocking back and forth, battered from one end by Vindr and the other by Hyrr. Jord watched closely, making sure she showed no signs of wanting to stop. Watn held her and, from time to time, pushed against Hyrr’s chest to let Hazel breathe. Every time he did that, Hazel let out a soft whine, like she was protesting even though she knew it was best for her.
Vindr’s face turned beet red as he thrust into her, grunting and cursing. Jord almost laughed as he squeezed himself harder; Vindr, always in control, had a mouth like a sailor in the throes of lovemaking.
He finished into her with an explosive roar, toppling backward. Hazel let out a sharp cry and they all froze. After a second, Vindr crawled to her other side and swept her fiery hair from her face and peered down at her in concern.
“Did I hurt you?”
Hazel slowly sat back on her heels. Both of her hands rubbed her hips as she gave Vindr a soft smile. “It hurt a little when you came out, but I’m fine.”
Jord started to move forward, concerned, but Hyrr spoke before he could. “If you don’t want to continue—”
“I’m fine, honest.” Hazel put an arm around Vindr’s chest and pulled him closer. “I’m fine. It was more surprise than anything else.”
Guilt still swamped Vindr’s face, but he nodded. For a moment the three of them cuddled close together, gently stroking each other’s bodies. Jord wanted to join them. He felt the others tugging on the bond, encouraging him to come as well. But he stayed back. Hazel glanced over at him and cocked a brow. He smiled at her, shaking his head.
A hint of disappointment came over her face, but it didn’t last long. Hyrr came up behind her, easing himself inside of her as she knelt there. Vindr suckled one breast, Watn the other as Hyrr thrust, gently at first but with increasing speed. He held her tightly with one arm while reaching for her clit with the other.
It wasn’t long. Then Hazel climaxed for the first time. Her whole body shook, as though it was trying to tear itself to pieces, and she let out a scream that had them all startled. Hyrr laughed as he continued to vigorously rub her clit. She collapsed back against him, her head falling to her shoulder. Jord wanted so badly to go to her, to taste her mouth, to explore her body. To enter her welcoming heat. The desire was so strong that he couldn’t stay.
Moving quietly so not as to disturb the others, he slipped from the cave and headed a little ways into the woods to take care of himself. If he had thought that this was going to turn the feelings he had for Hazel to pure lust he was mistaken—everything had just been heightened. And he didn’t know what he was going to do about it.
Chapter Eight
Hyrr
“You should have just joined us.” Hyrr shook his head at Jord’s foolishness.
The lovemaking with Hazel had lasted several hours. He’d felt Jord’s desire through their bond, and had more than once encouraged him to come have his turn with Hazel. She wanted him to; after he had left the cave, she had brought him up more than once, asking if they ought to go after him. Even though the others had reassured her that he’d be fine, Hyrr could sense Hazel’s disappointment.
“I’ve already told my reasons for hanging back.”
Hyrr grunted as he peeled off the bandages over Jord’s chest. The wounds were scabbed over, shiny and pink, but when he prodded one of them, Jord flinched. The penetration of magic through Earth wasn’t as high as it w
as back from where Byrelmore had existed. It was increasing, but until then their fires weren’t quite as hot and their dragons not quite as strong. Which meant that their healing abilities weren’t quite up to snuff, either.
“Not only do we have to deal with irrational people, but they’re irrational people with guns,” Hyrr grumbled. If Jord was going to be an idiot about Hazel, at least they could agree that the FBI agents were completely out of line. “Guns! I like the idea of them, but the actual use? No, thank you. Having a weapon that you can distance yourself from the kill? Bows and arrows are one thing, but these… it makes it easier to kill. Dehumanizes your target. If you don’t have to look in their eyes…”
Hyrr rooted through the medical bag. His hands shook slightly as he remembered the way Jord had crumpled. It wasn’t like dragons were invincible. Even back with the level of technology he was used to, humans were able to kill them. It just never had been so easy before.
Was this how it felt for humans? Knowing that dragons could kill them on a whim? It didn’t matter that the majority of them weren’t killers—it only took one. Just as now, it only took one human with a gun.
“Guns are only effective against us if we’re in our human forms. Our scales protect us as dragons.”
“Everything’s just so different now,” Hyrr whispered. Bandages weren’t necessary, but he wound some around Jord’s chest anyway, as a reminder that he couldn’t overdo it. “I hate that we’ve been split up from Watn and Vindr. I know it was the best thing, I just… I’m uncertain about this new world, Jord. And our group, it’s the only thing I know for certain is going to stay the same. But with guns, we could be killed far easier…”
Jord put a hand on Hyrr’s shoulder, stilling him. “I am not dead.”
“I know that.”
“The others aren’t dead.”
Hyrr looked away, a muscle twitching in his clenched jaw.
“I know that the world we know is changing. It’s changing faster than we can keep up almost. I’m afraid, too.”
Hyrr snorted. As if. Jord was never afraid of anything. Well, perhaps from time to time. But he was always in control of his emotions, he was always able to keep himself centered. It was one of the reasons Hyrr had always looked up to him, from the time they were children and before they were bonded to each other. It was also one of the things that made him so good at being a leader. Jord kept his wits about him, even in the direst of situations, and was able to impart that calm to the other Hunters.
With a sigh, Jord punched his arm slightly. “Listen. The world is changing, but it’s not anything that we can’t handle. Us four Hunters, we’re stronger than the whole world. You got that?”
“Yeah, sure.” Hyrr tried to sound petulant, but a reluctant smile tugged at his lips as he slowly relaxed. “But I hold to what I said. You should have joined us last night. You ended up going walking around which was just as likely to open up your wounds but not nearly as fun.”
Jord rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t feel like having actual sex. It was fun enough to watch you guys and Hazel have your fun. Besides, I’m not really so certain that she could have handled four disappointments.”
Hyrr’s pale skin turned red as he let out a choked protest. “Hey! We didn’t disappoint her. She said it herself. And she finished. At least four times before we were done.”
Jord smiled, but Hyrr’s scowl deepened. So that was what he was going to play at, huh? It wasn’t just that he was having his struggles, but he wasn’t even going to talk about it? Hyrr helped him into his shirt, then rocked back on his heels. He wasn’t always that great with saying what he meant. Lots of times it came out wrong or accusatory.
“I can sense your confliction.” His leader fixed him with a firm stare. “I’ll try to take whatever you say in the spirit it was intended.”
Hyrr nodded, though a frown still marred his brow. “We all know that you’re struggling with emotion when it comes to Hazel. But you’re not saying anything about it to the rest of us.”
With a scoff, Jord looked away. He got to his feet and started tidying up the cave, as though rearranging the cans was something that needed to be done. “I can handle it.”
Sometimes he could be very dense. Hyrr stared at him, his hands clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Now that he had permission to speak out, he wasn’t entirely certain that he wanted to say what had been bouncing around in his brain for so long. But if not now? With the way things were progressing with Hazel, they needed to get it in order before everything fell apart like a house of cards.
“If you weren’t so hung up on your own emotions,” Hyrr snapped, his tone far more aggressive than he intended but too late change it, “then you’d see that we are all struggling with emotion.”
Jord turned shocked eyes on him.
“Maybe I’m not as sensitive as you or whatever bullshit is going on, and maybe Watn is physically passionate and Vindr is more worried about keeping us all on the same page than he is about figuring out what his feelings are, but we are all falling for her. Maybe not as intensely as you but it’s more than lust with us. Yesterday was proof of that, if you bothered to pay attention.”
Jord’s jaw hung slack. He looked on the verge of arguing, but Hyrr didn’t let him.
“You think you’re the only one that sees the way her eyes light up when she sees us? Or the way she gets that smirk when she’s about to say something clever? Or that cute little twitch of her nose when she’s trying to think of ways to diplomatically disagree with someone?”
His mouth closed and he glanced away.
Hyrr waited another moment before snorting. “When Hazel is with us, and I don’t just mean sexually, I mean when she is physically with us, it finally feels… balanced. The four of us always seem to be doing this dance to make sure that we stay even, but with her around, we don’t have to.”
Jord sat on the edge of the air mattress, a look of contemplation coming over his face. “We do, don’t we? I guess I didn’t notice… we’ve been fine with just the four of us so long.”
“Fine, yeah. She makes it great, though.”
Jord’s expression turned to a full-out grin. “Yeah. She does. Well… that’s something I hadn’t—”
He cut off, his head whipping around. Hyrr heard it too. A twig cracking in the forest and a sudden silence. Not the kind that would be caused by a large animal moving carelessly; they wouldn’t care about making noise and therefore wouldn’t stop. And this was far too close to be a coincidence.
His nostrils flared as he breathed in the surrounding scents. The trace of human came to him, so faint that, at first, he wondered if it was just leftover from Hazel. He turned to Jord and cocked a brow. If they were sneaking up on them, they had to be enemies. But was Jord in a state to fight?
Jord considered for a moment before gesturing to Hyrr to stay back. Shock rippled through him; surely Jord wasn’t planning on going out there on his own? His hands clenched and he hissed between his teeth. Jord gestured again, more insistently this time and with a pulse through their bond insisting that he obey. Reluctantly, Hyrr fell back.
He watched on-edge as Jord inched to the cave entrance. He kept himself to one side of the mouth, sheltering himself from any bullets coming from the outside, and called out.
“We know you’re there. Who are you and what do you want?”
After a beat, Antonio’s voice came through the trees. “Return Hazel to us safely and this doesn’t have to get ugly.”
Hyrr snarled under his breath. Did he really think that they were just going to hand Hazel over to the slaughter? He started forward, but a hard pulse from the bond stopped him in his tracks. His hands clenched and unclenched as he waited.
“Why would we give you Hazel when it’s our duty to protect her? Your men attacked us, Antonio. How can we trust that you won’t hurt her?”
Another beat. “I’m going to come out, unarmed. We can talk peaceably, right?”
“Yeah,” Jord replied.
“Just know that if you make any move that might put her in danger, I will not hesitate to fry you.”
Hyrr made his way across the cave to the other side, so he could peer through the entrance. Antonio emerged from the trees, his hands in the air. He wore a heavy suit of modern bullet-resistant armor, his head in a dark helmet with a face shield. It was more effective, Hyrr had to admit, than the old steel suits.
Antonio slowly approached, until he was standing in the mouth of the cave. He and Jord eyed each other for a long moment before he lowered his arms.
“What’s this about my men attacking you?” He sounded angry and defensive, but not surprised.
Jord explained what happened. As he spoke, Antonio’s expression became more and more hardened. Once he was finished, Antonio closed his eyes and rocked back on his heels. Deciding whether or not to believe him? Hyrr tapped his foot anxiously as the silence stretched out longer.
“I wish I could put my trust in my men,” Antonio said softly. His eyes were dark when he opened them. “But that meeting that called us away was bogus, and thinking back, the reason they gave to turn around was flimsy at best. The story they told when they got back to headquarters… Well, it was quite different from your version. And much less believable.”
His shoulders slumped, and for the first time, Hyrr felt sorry for him. Antonio seemed like a hardass and maybe not that interesting of a person, but it was clear he took his job seriously. And right now, Hyrr didn’t think he was the enemy. In fact, judging by the expression on his face, he had just been stabbed in the back by the people he trusted.
“We’ve sent Watn and Vindr with Hazel back to Byrelmore,” Jord said. “Now that you’re here, Hyrr and I will join you. Or…” He cocked his head. “It might be best if Hyrr flies you back while I go with the rest of your men here. I’m not really in a state to fly, but both of our superiors will feel better hearing from you as well as us.”
The Dragon Hunters' Temptation Page 5
