by Tara West
Safina frowned. “I need to heal you.”
“No, you’re too tired, and you need to get dressed.” His gaze lingered on her bare legs. “Your beautiful body distracts me.”
Safina blushed. After turning from a dragon to a human several times over, she decided it would be easier if she remained in a thin shift, just in case she needed to change again. Never had she thought he would find her distracting. The notion sent a trill up her spine and warmed the center between her thighs. She squeezed her legs together to quell her growing desire.
She was torn between wanting to strip off her flimsy fabric and let his eyes feast on her nude body or covering herself up completely.
“You need to get used to my body if we are to be mates.”
“I don’t think I could ever get used to such perfection.” He smoothed a hand down her bare arm, causing her skin to pucker and more warmth to flood between her legs. In that moment she decided she’d very much like to couple with Gabriel, but it would be difficult unless Gabriel had full use of his legs.
She leaned so close she could smell the ripe coconuts on his breath. “I need to heal you, Gabriel. I think I know a faster way. Do you trust me?”
He stroked her cheek. “Of course, I trust you, Safi.”
Reluctantly, she pulled away from his heavenly touch. She picked up the discarded stick, breaking it in half. Stepping away from the fire, she threw the pieces in the sand and slipped out of her shift, tossing it beside Gabriel. She repressed a smile at his low whistle, then made the change into her dragon form.
As she stared at the broken stick, she sent a silent prayer to the Almighty Mother that her idea would work. Then she stoked the embers of her dragon’s breath, searching deep within her bosom for her healing strength. She blew out a slow and steady fire, amazed when blue and crimson flames shot out of her mouth. When she was finished, the broken stick was again whole.
Almighty Mother, it worked! Now for the true test of her skills. She tried to push back the fear and doubt that cast a dark shadow over her soul. She was no longer a backward hatchling. She would not fail this time.
She turned to Gabriel, letting out a long, shaky breath. Don’t be afraid, she said through thought, though the seeds of worry still threatened to sprout within her mind.
He craned his neck, blinking up at her. “I’m not afraid of you, Safi.”
Safina didn’t know if she wanted to roar with delight or weep at the trust he put in her. Take off your clothes.
He obediently followed her orders, straining and grunting as he lifted his hips, pulling his trews down his legs. Safina sucked in a hiss at the sight. Though his legs looked far better than before, they were still too thin, lacking any muscle or definition, and they bowed outward, as if they’d snap if he tried to stand.
Her healing magic yester-eve had hardly done much good. Again, doubt crept into her soul.
What if my magic isn’t strong enough? Or worse, what if he cannot withstand the heat?
“I’m ready, Safi. Are you?”
One look into Gabriel’s wide, hopeful eyes, and Safina knew she couldn’t deny him. Closing her eyes, she summoned the magic deep within her bosom, inhaled a slow, steady breath, and then slowly released her healing fires. Gabriel made not a sound as she showered him with her strength and love. Safina only stopped after she had run out of air, releasing the last of her flame and sucking in a huge breath. After the smoke cleared, she was amazed at the sight.
Gabriel stood below her, flames from the bonfire casting warm shadows across his glorious naked body.
She changed to her human form. Mouth agape, she took in his beauty for several heartbeats.
A slow, languid smile spread across his face as he took one step toward her, then another. “Safi!” he cried. “I’m walking!”
“Oh, Gabriel!” She brought her hands to her mouth as tears stung her eyes.
He took a few more steps until he was standing before her, and for once, Safina had to crane her neck to look up at him. He looked down at his thick legs. “Look how strong I am.”
She grasped his hand, lacing her fingers through his. “You’re perfect, Gabriel. An angel.”
He brought her hand to his lips, feathering a soft kiss across her knuckles. “It is you who are the angel.” His chest rapidly rose and fell as he looked at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “Thank you, mi amor.”
She squeezed her legs together as desire coursed through her, and she lost herself in his smoky gaze.
Then his full mouth tilted in a wolfish grin. He nodded to the crashing waves on the shoreline. “Beat you to the water!” He released her hand and took off at a run.
She spun around, heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. “Gabriel!”
But he didn’t slow down. He hit the water with a splash, racing into the current and then diving.
Safina ran to the edge, scanning the water, momentarily rooted to the spot as memories of her ocean prison came racing back. The dark sounds, the endless solitude, her mother’s hot, stagnant breath and heart-wrenching grief. Safina knew ’twas foolish, her fear of the water. She’d conquered it yester-eve when she’d rescued Pedro. But that was when she had the sun as her guide. As the moon dipped behind the clouds, the night sky was so dark, the water an inky black, just like her ocean prison.
If you can save Pedro from a shark, you can go swimming with Gabriel.
She moved forward until the waves lapped at her toes, but then she could go no farther. Her breath hitched. Her heart raced. Gabriel still hadn’t surfaced.
She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Gabriel!”
What if he’s hurt? What if he’s drowning?
Fear fueled her movements as she raced into the water, pushing through the current with all her might. She screamed when Gabriel sprang up beside her, laughing as he shook droplets from his drenched hair.
“Gabriel!” she cried, her throat tightening as tears cascaded down her face. “How could you?”
Deep lines marred his brow as he grasped her shoulders. “Safi, what’s wrong?”
“I-I thought you’d drowned,” she wailed before burying her face against him.
“Safi, look at me.” He lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I’m fine. I couldn’t help myself. Forgive me.” He wiped her tears as his lip turned down in a pout. “Please don’t cry, mi amor.”
She sniffled, nodding, but was unable to speak.
His eyes darkened as he pulled her against him. “If you don’t stop crying, I will have to kiss you."
Safina moaned as her nipples pebbled against his wet skin. When his lips claimed hers in a soft, sweet kiss, she snaked her arms around his neck.
His hands roved her back, digging into the soft globes of her bottom and pulling her flush against his groin. Instinctively, she lifted a leg, wrapping it around his thigh.
“I know we aren’t yet wed,” he breathed into her ear, “but I very much want to make love to you right now.”
“I want you to make love to me, too, Gabriel.” Safina didn’t care about hand-fasting or a wedding, for she knew in her heart they would be bonded after their mating.
Without saying another word, he hoisted her into his arms and carried her to the beach. He knelt down, laying her on a bed of soft sand, and with a tender kiss, he sank into her welcoming embrace.
* * *
Fiona knew not where Safina had gone, only that she’d gone far, very far, for though their hearts were still tethered, the bond between them was stretched so thin, she could not see where it ended.
After she’d so foolishly slapped her daughter, she let Safina run, thinking they needed a few moments apart. Still exhausted from her powerful healing, Fiona lay back down and shut her eyes, hoping for a few moments reprieve. But when she awoke, dawn had broken, and she could not sense her daughter nearby.
Fear pumping wildly through her veins, she raced to Señor Cortez’s home, only to find him sitting in solitude on his front porch, watching the f
ish-mongers pass by, their carts heavily laden with the morning’s catch, while he chewed on an unlit pipe. The first thing she noticed was that his countenance was not sad and weary, as it had been before. His eyes were alight with something else, fear perhaps, and for the first time, she thought she read the promise of a new dawn in his crooked smile.
Fiona knew his satisfaction did not bode well for her. She stormed up to him. “Where is my daughter?”
He pulled the pipe out of his mouth, looking up at her with a long face. “She’s not here.”
“I know that,” she snapped. “Where is she?”
He shrugged. “Can you not sense where she is?”
’Twas an insult, she knew it. What kind of games was this mortal playing? “You know I can’t, else I wouldn’t be asking you! Where is your boy?”
One bushy grey brow shot up. “Which one?”
Fiona resisted the urge to throttle him. “You do not play the fool well, Josef. Where did he take her?”
Josef heaved a sigh before leaning back in his chair. “He was gone when I awoke. I’ve already sent my grandsons to find him.”
A futile mission, and well they both knew it.
Just then, Fiona spotted his grandsons walking down the road, pushing an empty wheelchair.
Fiona clutched her throat and stumbled back, falling into a chair.
The empty wheelchair could only mean one thing: Safina had fled with Gabriel. Shock turned to sadness, and sadness turned to rage.
The oldest of the boys, tall and lean with a bushy dark moustache, warily eyed Fiona before rolling the chair over to his grandfather. “We could not find them. We only found this.”
Fiona turned her face to the sky and let out a mournful wail. “Safina!”
Her precious child! Drawn away from her bosom by an undeserving mortal. What had he done to her? Had he claimed her innocence? Had he bonded with her so that he might secure his own immortality?
She jumped to her feet and scowled at Josef. His image was blurred by a sheen of raging, hot tears. “Almighty Mother help him, Josef. If he used her, I swear on my royal blood, he will know the might of this dragon’s wrath.”
* * *
Safina heaved a satisfied sigh and rested her ear against Gabriel’s chest, transfixed by the steady thrumming of his heart.
She smoothed a hand up his abdomen and toyed with the fine hair on his chest. “I can feel your heart beating as if it were my own.”
He kissed her forehead. “And I can feel yours.” His voice was laced with wonder. “It’s as if I can see into your soul.”
She lost herself in his strong gaze. “And what do you see?”
He feathered a kiss across her nose, then her lips. “Everything I already knew but more so. That you are gentle and kind and frightened, very frightened.” He pulled back with a frown. “Why, Safi?”
She looked away, reluctant to admit the truth, that ever since she’d left the safety of her mother’s bosom, she had felt like a raft out at sea with no paddle or sail. “I’m afraid of the unknown.”
He smiled, stroking the crook of her arm and sending chills racing up her spine. “You don’t have to fear when you’re with me.” He sat up and placed a hand over his chest. “Look into my heart. See my words are true.”
Safina couldn’t help but smile, for she had already looked and seen the love of a gentle, kind soul. She threw her arms around his neck and sank into him. “Oh, Gabriel, I love you.”
He tenderly stroked her back while nibbling her ear. “I love you, mi amor. I never want this night to end.”
“Then don’t let it end.” Desire coursed through her at the thought of coupling with Gabriel again, for when their bodies were joined, she was on the precipice of heaven, their hearts and souls entwined as one.
His lips lingered on her forehead, and she could feel his heartbeat quickening as his conscience warred with desire. “You’re weary. You need rest.”
“Just love me once more,” she begged, her hungry lips searching his for another kiss.
With a growl, he rolled her over, whispering sweet words in her ear while sinking deep inside her welcoming heat, stoking the embers of their love in a timeless dance of pleasure and passion.
END OF BOOK ONE
Dragon Storm by Tara West (December 2015)
A brave and troubled dragon-slayer searching for peace…
A beautiful and spirited dragon-shifter seeking revenge…
One grievous night of passion alters the course of their lives. Will five centuries of penance be enough to change their hearts? Or will their love perish in the tempest of bitterness and betrayal?
Dragon Storm cover credits:
Art by Maiarcita
Cover design by Renée Barratt
Photography by Marcus Ranum
A message from Tara West…
Dear readers, I hope you enjoy my new fantasy series. If so, would you please be kind enough to leave a review where you purchased it and tell all your friends about my books? Indie authors like me depend on readers to spread the word. It’s how we can afford to quit our day jobs and keep writing. ;)
I have a lot more romance in store for you in 2016, so please subscribe to my newsletter for updates.
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Thanks!
BOOKS BY TARA WEST
Dawn of the Dragon Queen Saga
Dragon Song
Dragon Storm (December 2015)
Eternally Yours
Divine and Dateless
Damned and Desirable
Damned and Deceived
Something More Series
Say When
Say Yes
Say Forever
Say Please
Whispers Series
Sophie’s Secret
Don’t Tell Mother
Krysta’s Curse
Visions of the Witch
Sophie’s Secret Crush
Witch Blood
Witch Hunt
Keepers of the Stones
Witch Flame, Prelude
Curse of the Ice Dragon, Book One
Spirit of the Sea Witch, Book Two (releasing 2016)
About Tara West
Tara West writes books about dragons, witches, and handsome heroes while eating chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. She's willing to share her dragons, witches, and heroes. Keep your hands off her chocolate.
Tara West's young adult and new adult romances have been Kindle bestsellers. A former high school English teacher, Tara is now a full-time writer and graphic artist. She enjoys spending time with her family, interacting with her fans, and fishing the Texas coast.
