Ash Bringer (A Storm of Fire: Paranormal Dragonshifter Romance Book 1)

by Courtney Leigh

  “Well, what is it you want?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I thought I wanted to join the rebels, but look what that got me. Do you see what I’m seeing? Draven’s whole reason for messing with me is Taurus. The Falcons almost killed me because of Taurus. What am I supposed to think here? How long can I defend him before it actually kills me? And you want to know what else? After everything, the only person that made me feel safe, even for one tiny second, was Draven. Gods, I hate him,” I said through my teeth. “So why would I even...how can I...” I began to pace, the cool tile soothing on my feet as my blood boiled with alcohol and emotion.

  “Everly, what exactly are you trying—” Keera began.

  “I need security, too,” I cut her off. “I’ve told people my whole life that I’m fine. I’m a loner. I don’t need anyone. Except maybe I do. I’ve been moving this whole time and I want to stop. I want a break,” my voice cracked. “I want something to hold onto because I’m falling so fast I think I’m going insane.”

  “Can I do anything for you?”

  “Ugh,” I grumbled, subtly picking up a knife from the table and slipping it into a pocket on my cardigan. “I need...I need some air.”

  I walked around the dining table to the doors, leaning on the doorframe to catch my balance before venturing down the hall. Every step was an effort and not entirely because of the alcohol. My head was spinning for plenty of other reasons, but at least I was getting somewhere.

  Gods, I was stupid for drinking. I’d never liked alcohol, but I did it anyways. It made me vomit words I didn’t want to voice. Even the stupid manner in which I spilled them to Keera felt like a relief, but I regretted saying anything at the same time. Now it was all out there in the open.

  I walked down the passage and up a couple floors, barely aware of where I was going until I was already there. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the knife, holding it up against the back of my forearm as I approached a thick, mahogany door. It was cracked, so I pushed it open the rest of the way and peered inside to see Draven’s form standing by the edge of the bed, shirtless and newly washed with just a pair of cotton pants covering the lower half of his flawless figure.

  The grey light from outside seemed to touch only the things surrounding him, because Draven himself looked like gold. My heart skipped and, angered, I walked into the room, glaring at him with emotions I wasn’t sure even had names. He noticed me immediately and turned, grabbing me with his eyes.

  I felt utterly ashamed and completely overwhelmed by the feelings stirring inside of me, but there was no denying they existed now. At the very least, the last hour or so had brought out my deepest desires. Ones I had been afraid to face. Perhaps it was partly the alcohol. Partly the recent trauma. Everything combined had me spiraling. I wanted to act instead of stew in harmful thoughts.

  Draven turned his body slowly to face me, his head inclining subtly with what appeared to be interest. He stepped toward me, taller somehow now that I was feeling so small inside. He towered, his chest still a bit damp from a shower.

  “Did you come by to talk?” Draven said, his voice a smooth rumble. He leaned in, keeping his eyes on mine as his hand gently drifted down my arm toward the knife I had concealed in my grip. “Or are you here to release some frustration?”

  He smirked a bit when he touched the cool silver, but before he could take it from me I raised it abruptly to his chest, the sharp tip pressed into his skin. He didn’t flinch. Instead he lingered, tilting his head even further as if to say “really?” I sighed, knowing any attempt on his life would just end in frustration.

  Draven reached up, taking my wrist, and pulled my hand to the side. As he did, the knife slid into his skin, making an incision across his chest about the length of my finger. I watched the blood pool and drip in a single tear down his bare flesh as he pulled the knife from my hand and leaned over to place it on a nearby dresser.

  Once I was disarmed, he walked back to the bed as if he was getting ready to climb into it, but before he did, he turned to face me again and sat down on the edge of the mattress, not a single care for the cut now painted on his chest. He watched me, something in his gaze telling me to come to him, and like the wickedly uncertain woman I was, I stepped forward. I kept going, slowly placing one foot in front of the other, until I was standing within Draven’s reach. I wasn’t sure why I approached him, but I did. I wanted something and my body seemed to think I’d find it being close to him. I looked down at him and all the while I was unable to settle on what I was feeling. All I knew was that my heart was suddenly beating a million times a minute and I couldn’t stop it.

  25

  Draven

  . . .

  Everly was a sight. I heard her coming down the hall and half-expected a screaming match, but when she appeared I could tell words weren’t at the forefront of her mind. She was stressed. I could smell bourbon on her. She wasn’t as present as I wanted her to be.

  Despite the alcohol, her fresh scent seeped into my lungs, feeding a desire that I had been keeping buried inside for days. Now it was alive and hungry. I wanted to throw her under me and take her right there. I wanted to hear her screaming my name so badly it was making me hard with anticipation. When she stepped into a stream of light from the window, however, suddenly all my ideas of ravaging her virgin body were transformed.

  The light from outside was a muted grey that turned Everly into a picture of feminine charm. The faded lavender of her hair turned almost metallic in the dreary dusk. Her eyes lit up silver, the faint, green specs giving her gaze a depth that turned my plans sideways.

  My body wasn’t the only thing craving her now. Something else was pulsing and thirsting to touch her in more ways than one. The neckline of Everly’s loose night dress dropped low toward her braless chest. I could see her pulse thrumming just under her skin at the base of her neck. She was nervous and afraid. She raised her chin, looking down the bridge of her nose at me with a shudder in her breath as she exhaled. She moved closer, her thigh pressing against my knee, feeding the firmness of my cock beneath my cotton pants.

  “You’d think the thought of killing you would make me feel better,” she said, unblinking. “It’s just starting to frustrate me because it’s something I’ll never actually do.”

  “I can tell,” I said.

  I saw her jaw muscles tighten. Her eyes narrowed. In that split second, another knife dropped from her sleeve and into her palm. She swept it horizontally across my throat, barely nicking the skin as I leaned away from her swing. She didn’t waste a second before she brought the knife back down toward the artery on my neck.

  I reached up, grabbing Everly’s wrist just before the metal was able to plunge into me. She came at me with her other hand. I grabbed that wrist as well and restrained her. She scowled at me, staring with animal aggression. I almost allowed her to put up more of a fight purely for the sake of my own entertainment, but something in me just wanted her fight to end.

  Just as Everly pulled away, I used her own momentum to throw her down onto her back atop the bed beside me, rolling myself over her. She struggled, trying to break free from a hold she had to know she couldn’t counter. Growling, she tried to buck and knock me aside. It was like trying to restrain a wild beast.

  I stared down at her, watching as her fight started to calm. On the surface, anyways. I could feel the fire raging in her pulse, even as her body stopped struggling. One of her legs was caught beneath me. The other, however, was raised along my hip, her night dress lifted high on her thigh and leaving her skin bare. Just the thought of being between her legs—of touching her warm flesh.... I was certain she could feel my eager erection pressed against the inside of her leg. Curious what she’d do, I slowly released her wrists, watching her cautious expressions move subtly across her face.

  I didn’t think for one second that she wouldn’t seize every opportunity to cut me again. Part of me wondered if she did it just to watch me bleed, since killing me wasn�
��t quite an option. Like I suspected, she quickly raised the knife to my throat, her teeth clenched, eyes ready to rip me open, but she didn’t quite finish the move. Instead, she lingered, pressing the blade hard beneath my chin, but not breaking the skin. I felt a need to test her and watched as she contemplated spilling more blood. The longer she waited, the more I wanted to claim her in every way I could.

  “You can’t kill me, but you won’t stop trying,” I said. “I admire that.”

  “If I don’t put up a fight then I’m submitting and I can’t do that.”

  “You think you’re submitting? To who? To me or to yourself?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. As her eyes drifted down my body, I knew. She was hungering for me as much as I was starving for her. Her body was growing hotter each second she fought it.

  “Do it,” I said.

  “Do what?” she asked.

  “Let go of yourself,” I whispered, slowly reaching up once more to take her wrist, “and do something unexpected.”

  I held her lightly this time, letting her do half the work as I slid the blade out from under my chin. She resisted, but hardly. Her heart began to pound as I slowly leaned in toward her. She kept the knife tight in her hand, making her body rigid as I advanced toward her lips, breathing her in with every inch I closed between us. She reached up, flattening her other hand against my chest, but she barely pushed against me. She was fighting herself now more than she was fighting me and I reveled in that thought.

  I raised Everly’s other hand above her head until it was just slightly over the edge of the bed. Our lips were so close I could almost taste her, but she pressed once more against my chest, hesitating. Trembling. She stared up at me, vulnerable and confused. Stripped to the absolute depths as if she’d shed every bit of armor she’d ever worn.

  “Don’t hurt me,” she whispered, her voice so soft even I could barely hear it. “Please.”

  Her words rang in my ears so sweetly and so pure that I could barely tell this was the same woman. I found myself answering without even giving a response any thought.

  “I won’t.”

  And I was being truthful. I didn’t want to hurt her. I regretted hurting her in the first place. When our lips met, there was an almost immediate response that coursed through her muscles, like she was melting beneath me. I released her wrist and kissed her with more vigor. As I did, I could hear the knife drop to the ground with a heavy, metal clank. Testing her willingness, I pressed my tongue to the seam of her lips and was elated to find her welcoming me. I felt her hand spear through my hair as our kiss deepened and I suddenly realized something.

  It had been ages since I’d wanted to kiss a woman. Since I’d wanted to claim a woman like I did Everly. Gods, I was almost afraid of how badly I desired her. Our kiss became something far more personal than anything I’d shared with anyone in many years.

  As our lips danced, my other hand traveled down the length of her body to the skin of her thigh. I rocked my pelvis against her, making sure she knew exactly what she was getting into. I slid my fingers beneath the hem of her night dress and raised it further up her leg. When she still didn’t struggle away, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to devour her. Taste every inch of her body. I wanted to feel myself inside of her and I wasn’t sure if anything could stop me from taking her now.

  The way her heart changed tempos was like poetry to my ears. The way her cheeks flushed nearly destroyed me. The way her body moved beneath me was erotic and irresistable now. She was human, but vastly untamed and wild, filled with a fire I found absolutely mesmerizing. I drew back to see her face, searching for regret, but all I saw was an almost terrified excitement.

  Skating my fingers down between her legs, I felt the thin cotton of her panties damp with need. I smiled, pleased to know her body couldn’t lie to me like her words could. Everly didn’t shy from my touch this time. In fact, her heart picked up as I slid the cotton aside to feel her slick sex bare against my fingertips. Her breath shuddered. A sound that sent electricity coursing through me. I could smell her sweet desire in the air around us and hungered to amplify it, sliding one finger gently inside her narrow confines. She let me, her hips adjusting as if to take me deeper.

  This was torture. I wished I could just rip her clothes off and own her body, rough and chaotic, but a large part of me wouldn’t allow it. Scarred and rigid as she was, right now she was vulnerable and soft and more fragile than she would ever admit.

  As one small drop of red blood dripped from the already healing cut on my chest and onto the white skin of Everly’s breast, I felt an overwhelming desperation explode in my veins. I was ravenous at that point and only one woman could sate that hunger. Everly saw it in my eyes and before I could make a move, she threw her hands behind my neck and pulled me into another hard, aggressive kiss.

  Her body was writhing beneath mine in ways that would destroy any simple man’s control. I was taken aback by her sudden straightforwardness, denying it was real for a second. Her kiss was different. It was layered with curiosity and pain. It was instinctive and raw. I could tell that her emotions were overwhelming and she expressed the stress by escaping to a place she’d never experienced. To me. Despite what she really wanted out of this visit, I couldn’t deny her nor did I want to.

  As I slid my hands along the curves of her body, I could feel the intense heat rising from her skin, penetrating the thin fabric that lay between us. My presence inside her head was spreading her wide open before either of us was even undressed. I was in her veins. In her mind. I could hear her heart beating to mimic my own like they were engaged in a waltz. I caressed her thigh, savoring the smooth flesh of her leg under my hand. It was like silk against my fingers. Aside from the rugged, tattooed scars that ravaged her back, she was a canvas of flawless, untouched flesh. Grasping her underwear, I slid them gently down her legs, dropping them off the side of the bed.

  Everly breathed with a quiver that sent chills through my bones. I raised my hand up her body further, reaching beneath her clothes where I could feel her breast against my palm. I kneaded it, rocking my hips between her legs until I felt her answering me with movements of her own. Her back arched toward me and I couldn’t take it any longer. I couldn’t be patient. What she had awoken was primal and greedy. I pulled from her lips only to continue kissing her neck as I maneuvered the waistline of my pants down off my hardened cock. Everly pulled her other leg from under me, hugging my hips with her thighs in a powerful embrace. The way she moved was so perfect and natural. Her body responded to mine as if we’d done this dance a hundred times.

  Feeling the wet warmth of Everly’s sex made my core swell with an animalistic craving. I guided my cock to her entrance, looking into Everly’s eyes once more in search of doubt. What was about to happen couldn’t be turned back and we were about to cross a threshold that would quite possibly change everything for her. Perhaps even for me.

  There was no hesitation in Everly’s eyes. Her gaze was the color of a rainy sky as she held my stare. She was fearless. Almost challenging. Taking Everly’s wrists in my hands, I raised them both above her head, opening her body to me until she was completely powerless against the things I was about to do to her. She’d be unable to fight me even if she wanted to, but she most definitely didn’t want to. She surprised me with a bold nip to my chin and I surprised her back with the steady press of my cock into her. It was controlled and gentle. A move I wanted to last. Her mouth opened with a slow, sensual gasp that I could have savored for hours.

  Gods, she was tight. I could sense her pain when she tensed her wrists beneath my hands, but her voice said she could barely distinguish it from pleasure. She was absolutely perfect in that altering moment when my body penetrated hers and yet there was an instant when I almost felt ashamed to be the one to break her. She’d waited twenty-seven years to give herself to a man and I had somehow become that man. She had one moment in her mortal life to have sex with someone for the firs
t time and this was it. After everything that had happened, she chose to hand herself over to me. I couldn’t understand it, but there she was, a captivating, female specimen of strength and endurance wrapped around me in ways that made my body scream for more. My shame was fleeting and overwhelmed with the hard need that multiplied in my soul like wildfire.

  I withdrew slowly, but then thrust hard and deep without warning, entering her completely in one, direct plunge. Her gasp turned to a whimper as her hands closed into fists. Her eyes pried open and she looked up at me, but not with fear or disappointment. Not anymore. She looked at me like she was curious. Like the pain had awoken a dormant intrigue. I withdrew, watching her expression change as I stretched her open with another thrust. I could see the excitement in the back of her thoughts like the flicker of a candle in the dark. I could feel it in the static tingle her body was feeding mine. I thrust deep again, the feeling of her around me setting my core ablaze. There she was, completely surrendered to me. This combative, unyielding woman had come to me and was allowing me to take her body in more ways than any man ever had. It was mine. She was mine.

  I leaned over her, kissing her neck as I began to adopt a commanding rhythm. Everly moved her lips along my shoulder and then bit down on it with her blunt, human teeth, startling my senses just enough to drive me completely wild with pleasure. I released her wrists, bracing myself on the bed to hit her harder with each following thrust. She moaned, the barrier between pain and pleasure shattering until she began to sink into the unexplored pool of her body’s deepest sensations. It was stunning to watch, like a fledgling finally spreading its wings and taking to the air. Each rock of my hips drove me deeper and she took me without resistance. Without pause.

  The pleasure built with each stroke. Everly held me to her, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and tangling her fingers in my hair. I ran my nails along the outside of her thigh, grasping her knee and raising it high on my waist. She cried out, throwing her head back in a song of feverish exhilaration as I changed tempo, filling my movements with more vigor.