by Anna Lowe
I will do anything you wish, she imagined the dragon whispering. I will worship you for the rest of my life.
She was probably just imagining that, but hell — her body was high on the best drug of all. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t see straight.
He pumped back in, and she unleashed her cries into the pillow. Kai’s eyes grew brighter, his face fiercer with each successive thrust. Faster, too, until his rhythm became just as jerky as hers had before.
“Tessa. Tessa,” he grunted, slipping out of control.
Sweat glistened on his brow and chest, and the drop that fell to her chest might as well have been lava, the way it sizzled on her skin.
“Yes… Yes…”
The ache inside her grew and grew, and this time, she felt herself tipping right over the edge.
“Kai,” she cried, spasming around him.
He pumped again — Two times? Three? — then went stiff all over and released inside her with a low groan.
Tessa tipped her head back and closed her eyes, hanging on to the high. Kai’s shoulders were rock-hard under her hands, and his ass was immobile under her heels. But he might as well have still been thrusting inside her given the way her body shuddered again and again.
She mumbled. Cried. Pleaded with her body to let her ride that wave of ecstasy a little bit longer.
“Tessa,” Kai whispered, dropping down over her.
His body pinned her in place, but even that felt good. She arched against him through another two aftershocks of pleasure, then slowly melted away.
Surely, the games she’d played with other men didn’t count as sex. Surely, she’d been doing something wrong in the past. Well, she sure got it right this time. She and Kai both.
“Amazing,” Kai murmured, kissing her hair.
She hugged him fiercely, arms and legs reaching as far as they could to wrap him in an embrace, and listened to Kai pant.
“Good for you, too?” she whispered, needing to know it wasn’t just her who’d felt the earthquake.
He huffed into her ear. “Are you kidding? Great.”
She laughed out loud, and he chuckled, too.
“Thank you,” she murmured, kissing his ear. “Thank you.”
All the confidence that had left her after the attack in Arizona poured back into her soul. The backbone she was worried she’d never find again. And trust — the most precious gift of all. She could trust Kai. Not just with her body, she sensed. With more. A lot more.
He shook his head. “Thank you.”
He rolled to his side and scooped her into his arms, stroking her hair while murmuring those two words again and again.
Tessa closed her eyes and let herself drift on a velvety cloud of bliss. Had she really been mad at Kai a short time back? Had she really doubted him? She couldn’t remember why any more. Only that her fears had all been illusions. Her doubts, unfounded. Her hopes, confirmed.
“Just a second,” he said eventually, peeling away. “I need to get rid of this.”
She didn’t want to let him go, but he had to dispose of the condom, so she released her grip and rolled onto the warm spot he’d left, lying on her stomach like a turtle on a beach.
“Hmm,” he said, coming back. “You’re giving me bad ideas.”
She smiled into the sheets. “Great minds think alike.”
He touched her back and combed her hair with his fingers. “Just give me a minute to admire you first.”
She sighed with pleasure at his touch. Seconds ago, he’d been all power, all raging force. Now he was gentle and soft.
“Mmm,” she hummed as he started massaging her back.
He brushed her hair to one side and kneaded her right shoulder.
“Oh, my God. Heaven,” she sighed.
He chuckled then moved to the other side, rearranging her hair to continue. His hands moved smoothly, then abruptly stopped.
She waited a moment then lifted her head from the pillow. “Okay?”
He massaged her shoulders in a rush. “Yeah. Sure.”
So why was his voice an octave lower? Why were his movements suddenly sloppier than before?
“Sorry,” he murmured, evening out again. “I thought I heard something for a second.”
She tipped her head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Probably nothing,” he said gruffly.
His hands worked their magic again, and she went back to that blissful, boneless state beneath him, purring like a cat.
He stopped long enough to sweep a thumb over one spot low on her right shoulder. “Have you always had this?”
Her mind was so hazy, a minute ticked by before she understood what he meant. The birthmark her grandmother had tried making her feel better about by calling it a secret gift.
“Yeah. I have another one down there,” she sighed, bending her leg to show him the one on her calf.
Kai didn’t seem too interested, though. Only on the one on her back. “Sorry. I thought it was a burn at first.”
She chuckled, feeling drunk from all the endorphins coursing through her body. “I never burn. Didn’t I tell you?”
“Oh, right,” he murmured, touching the birthmark gently.
If he’d kept that up a minute longer, she might have wondered why, but then his voice went all smooth and soft, and his hands turned her to putty again.
He worked his way down her back. So low, she started to spread her legs in hopes of Kai touching her more intimately again. But he slowly worked his way up her body, and after one final kiss on the back of her neck, he sat up.
“Listen, I need to check in with Silas.”
She groaned. “You’ve spoiled me already. Now I want to chain you to this bed.”
He leaned in and whispered into her ear, so low and rumbly, her body shuddered with need. “You won’t need chains, Tessa.” Then he kissed her once more and stood up. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. And, um — well, I’d say, get some rest, but you’d probably get mad at me again. Not that I’d mind if the same thing happened…”
“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “How about we try it without the angry part next time?”
“Next time, for sure,” he promised.
Turning her head, she watched as he retrieved his clothes and pulled them on again. First his pants, then his shirt. She sighed inside. A damn shame, covering all that skin up again. But if she got a next time, she supposed she shouldn’t complain.
“See you soon?” she whispered, trying not to sound too needy.
He crouched in front of her and kissed her forehead, then touched her nose with a finger. “As soon as I can.” When he stood, his eyes slid sideways, to some point on her back, but then he yanked them back to her face. “As soon as I can.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kai forced himself to walk, not rush, out of the guest cottage. He desperately wanted to stay and spend another hour — another day, or even better, a year — wrapped around Tessa, but his mind spun with what he’d seen. If that birthmark was what he thought, it changed everything. Everything.
He speed-walked up the path, swatting low-hanging branches and palm fronds out of the way. He nearly swatted Boone, too, when the wolf came sauntering along, sniffing deeply and blocking Kai’s way.
“Ooh, la la. Someone feels better, I see.” The wolf had the good sense to dodge Kai’s arm and step aside before he was bowled over, though. “What’s the hurry?”
“Have you seen Silas?”
Boone laughed. “Never seen a man in such a hurry to leave his mate for a grouch like Silas.”
Kai stopped in his tracks and spun. “What did you just say?”
Boone shrugged. “Come on, we all know Silas is a grouch, so—”
“Not that part.”
Boone cracked into a wry grin. “Ah. The part about your mate.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“It’s obvious, man. Your eyes glow every time you look at her. Not the angry glow. The glow Silas used to have
when…” Boone trailed off, and they stood in awkward silence, eyeing the path up to Silas’s house. “Anyway,” Boone continued a second later. “It was obvious the second you brought Tessa here. Don’t tell me you’re still kidding yourself about that, are you?”
Kai took a deep breath. No, he wasn’t kidding himself anymore. Tessa was his destined mate. And yes, his soul had told him as much the moment they’d met, but he’d been trying to deny the attraction for her own good.
“Like you’d be any different,” he scowled at Boone.
The wolf shifter laughed out loud. “Me, I’d know my mate the second I met her. Except, of course, I never will.” For a moment, his jaunty tone broke and his eyes dimmed. But then he grinned, playing the jokester again. Good old Boone, master of hiding from emotions he didn’t want to face. “So, you and Tessa finally—”
Kai cut him off with a growl. “I need to talk to Silas. Right now.”
“Yeah, well. Good luck convincing him, man.”
Kai clenched his teeth and strode up the steep path toward Silas’s place. Like his, it stood high on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea. But while Kai’s place was all clean angles and open space, Silas’s house was all arches and curves. The house belonged to the owner of the estate, who’d had the place built by some up-and-coming architect specializing in open-design masterpieces made entirely of bamboo — as in, three-story treehouse style, a cross between the Sydney Opera House and something out of the Jungle Book. Since the reclusive estate owner was never around, Silas lived in one wing.
A stream gurgled, paralleling the path Kai followed as his stomach knotted with emotions. He’d never really believed he’d find a mate, and damn, he was practically bumping into things out of sheer joy. Joy and terror, because what if something happened to Tessa? Or worse, what if she rejected him?
Mate loves us, his dragon assured him. She knows who we are.
He clenched his fists. Would that change when he confronted her with the truth? Could she handle finding out who — and what — she really was?
The last few steps, he took two at a time, climbing briskly until he stepped onto the lowest patio of the place. No need to call out for Silas, because his cousin was already there, arms crossed, scowling.
Kai folded his arms and scowled back, hiding his instinctive gulp.
“I tell you to learn more about that human, and you disappear with her for most of yesterday. I tell you to investigate her background, and instead, you go flying all night, and nearly get yourself killed.” Silas started pacing around Kai. “I tell you to—” He came to an abrupt halt by Kai’s shoulder and sniffed. “You smell like her. Damn it, what have you done?”
Kai gritted his teeth. It had to be crystal clear what he’d done. He hadn’t showered after leaving Tessa — and even a shower probably wouldn’t have washed off the scent of sex. Not after the way he’d marked her body as his. All that nuzzling was instinctive, as his inner dragon marked Tessa as off-limits to any other man.
“Listen, Silas—”
“No, you listen to me,” Silas barked. “We agreed to help because Ella asked us. We agreed to keep Tessa safe — but not for any longer than necessary. You know the rules. Damn it, you helped make those rules. No humans.”
“What’s more important — some rule or destiny?”
“Destiny?” Silas’s voice filled with scorn. “You think she’s your mate?”
“I know she is.”
Silas stepped closer, his eyes blazing. “The stories we were raised with were a bunch of lies. Destiny isn’t benevolent, Kai. Destiny is cruel, playing games with our hearts. With our souls.” His voice filled with the anger and pain he usually kept simmering beneath the surface.
“What happened to you wasn’t a trick of destiny, Si—”
His cousin shoved him and prowled closer. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you. Destiny fucked with your parents. Now it’s fucking with you. You know the risks of taking a human mate.”
“She’s not human. Not entirely,” Kai cut in.
Silas jerked to a halt. “What?”
“You were right about why Morgan wants her.”
“She’s a fire maiden? How can you be sure?”
Kai shook his head. “Not just a fire maiden. She’s part dragon. She carries the brand, Silas. The brand of the Baird Clan.”
Silas went still at the mention of the legendary dragon clan. “Are you sure?”
Kai nodded slowly. “It’s just like the stories say.” He made a butterfly shape with his fingers. “This big. Right here, on her back.” He motioned over his own shoulder.
“A descendant of the house of Baird,” Silas whispered. “You’re absolutely sure?”
Kai nodded, and for a moment, the only sound was that of the wind whispering through the trees.
Silas studied him from head to toe. “Could just be a birthmark.”
Kai scoffed.
“All right, if she’s a fire maiden — and not just any fire maiden, but one descended from the house of Baird — every dragon ought to be after her. Desperately.”
Kai tilted his head. What was Silas getting at?
“I didn’t feel a thing,” Silas said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Kai snorted. “You haven’t felt a thing for years. Ever since Moira—”
Silas cut him off. “Don’t.”
Kai didn’t know exactly what had happened between Silas and the dragon female he’d been betrothed to. Only that it had ended badly. But, damn it, he had to get the truth into his cousin’s thick head. “You still love Moira, don’t you?”
Silas’s eyes swirled red, and a growl rose from his throat.
Kai went on nonetheless. “Fine. Keep pretending whatever happened didn’t happen and that it didn’t affect you. But don’t let it keep me from claiming my mate.”
“Moira has nothing to do with this.”
Kai went on, undeterred. “You still love Moira.”
“Of course, I still—” Silas started, then cut himself off, aware of what he’d just admitted.
Kai pressed on. “That kept you from being attracted to Tessa. But I noticed her from the very start.”
Silas stepped forward. “Fine. So you’re attracted to Tessa. Like I said, destiny plays games. Morgan wants her, too. Does that make her his fated mate?”
Kai looked at his feet. Shit. Was his interest in Tessa purely physical?
No! his dragon roared, giving him a thousand other reasons to love Tessa. Reasons Kai struggled to put into words.
“I’d never force her. I’d never lock her up,” he started.
Silas shrugged, unconvinced.
“I feel her moods. Even from a distance.”
Silas huffed. “I swear, when that woman gets mad, everyone on Maui can feel it.”
Kai felt his face contort in something between a grin and a scowl. Tessa sure did have a temper — deeply buried, but when it was ignited…
Very dragon-like, his inner beast hummed.
“Can you feel it when she’s happy?” he asked Silas. “Do you want to make her happy? Do you go to sleep wondering what you can do to make her smile the next morning, or how many times you can make her smile?”
Silas raised his eyebrows. A long, thoughtful moment later, he nodded softly. “Maybe you really do love her.”
Hearing someone else say it made Kai pause. Wow. Did he really mean all those things? He thought back over the past few days and decided, yes. Absolutely. Yes, he did.
“Tessa may have dragon blood, but I love her for her. She’s my destined mate.”
His shoulders lifted as if a weight had been taken from him. A weight he’d put there himself and only now shed.
Silas pursed his lips. “Well, if she does have dragon blood, it’s no wonder Morgan wanted her.”
Kai growled. “He’s not getting her.”
Silas gave a curt nod. “You’re right. We can’t let him have her. We need her.”
Kai stepped forward, glowerin
g. “Quit that. Tessa’s not a thing, Silas. She’s a woman. Her own person.”
“I know that. You know that. But Morgan sees her as a treasure — the kind of treasure he would kill for. Morgan, and enemies far more powerful than him.”
Kai showed his teeth. “Let them try to take her.”
Silas made a face. “They already did. Twice.”
Kai winced. Morgan had already locked Tessa up in Phoenix. If Ella hadn’t rescued her, Tessa would still be Morgan’s prisoner. The thought made Kai sick. He would have gone on with his life not even knowing his destined mate was out there — not knowing she needed his help. And Christ, Tessa would be living in hell. Morgan would force himself on her and—
Kai swallowed hard and forced the horrifying images away. No way would he allow anything to happen to Tessa. No way.
“Last night shows that he’s moving in,” Silas muttered.
“Let him move in,” Kai snarled. “I’ll kill him the way I killed those no-good scouts of his.”
Silas threw up his hands. “What if Morgan comes with double the help? Trained warriors, not a couple of scouts. Are you going to take on a whole army by yourself?”
Kai worked his jaw. Yes, he’d take on a whole army if he had to. But Silas was right. If he was outnumbered by stronger foes, one little mistake could cost him everything. It would cost Tessa everything, too.
“By myself, huh?” He glowered at his cousin. His whole life, he’d been taught that he had to stick to what little family he had. Silas had said it a hundred times. Was Silas really going to leave him on his own now?
Silas thumped Kai’s shoulder. “I’m with you, you idiot. Of course, I’m with you. But even the two of us — plus the others — may not be enough.”
“You really think Morgan has that much power? He’s rich, but he’s not Drax.”
Silas grimaced. “No, he isn’t. You’d better hope Drax doesn’t know about Tessa.”
Kai scraped the flagstone underfoot, making a low, screeching sound.
“I’ll kill Drax, too.”
Silas’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “No one wants to kill Drax more than me. But we’re not ready to take him on, Kai. Not yet.”
“So if Drax comes after Tessa, we let her go?” He glared at Silas, letting the fury show in his eyes.
