Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  “Figures.”

  “Does that upset you?”

  “No, I expected that. I did what I could to do the same before our meeting.”

  “Good, always vet before you meet.”

  “Gotcha. Back to what I was saying. We’re at that point. It’s odd that I’m the one pushing for us to join. It’s like a role reversal from yesterday. What gives?”

  “There’s so much you need to know to make an informed decision about what I’m offering you.”

  “Dude, this isn’t a logical decision. What we’re embarking on is a matter of the heart. You know, that area that makes no sense?”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I just don’t want you to get into our relationship as my bond mate and have second thoughts.”

  “So, what if I do. I’m giving you my word and heart. Life is for that purpose, to work out our crap as it comes to the surface. I know you in here,” she said pointing to her heart. “Let’s do this.” Silence settled in as he placed a hand on her foot. “I still sense hesitancy from you. Why?”

  “You’re my heart too. As a Dragon, once we know who our mates are, the bond starts immediately. I look at you, your foot, that bruise on your chest—yes—I saw it yesterday—and all the other pain you’re going through, and it’s hard to put you through more just to be with me.” Anguish clouded his eyes, “I don’t want to cause you any more pain. It hurts too much to see you in any type of discomfort.”

  “Oh, my Dragon, I do love you.” She didn’t try to edit or amend that proclamation. It was true. He smiled, recapturing her heart yet again. “But, you’ve got to stop being such a damn wuss when it comes to me. I’m strong and can endure a lot. I would think that the wisdom I always sense when I’m around you is the same wisdom that allowed us to be together. Don’t you trust it enough to know you won’t break or hurt me?”

  “Now who’s being the wise one?” he asked, allowing some of the rigidity ramrodding his shoulders to soften a little.

  “Yeah, baby, that would be me. Hey,” she waited until she knew she had his complete focus again. “I’m ready to be with you for the rest of my life.”

  He paused as if considering whether or not to tell her something else.

  “Spill it, Dragon.”

  “What?”

  “Whatever you’re mulling around in your head. Tell me. I can handle it.”

  “It’s not something to handle as much as know. As part of the joining, your body will most likely change to behave more like mine.”

  “I’ll have the ability to turn into a Dragon?”

  “No, I don’t think so, but your aging process will slow down to match mine. Your immunity will strengthen and healing ability probably speed up.”

  “Then why are we waiting around. Let’s join so I can get this cast off.”

  “Whoa there, not so fast. It takes time for your body to change. Over time you’ll begin to see the changes.”

  “I could stay young for a long time?”

  “Yes.

  “Wow—that’s a crazy benefit. You should have led off with that yesterday. I would have taken your offer hook, line and sinker.”

  “Now you tell me,” his laughter filled the room, making her laugh hard too.

  “Told you, I’m gonna be Chocolate Wonder Woman.”

  “Seriously though, can you stand to be around me when my thirst and need for you is all consuming? A lot of the rumors and tales about Dragons are true. For all the wonderful things you think you know about me and my kind, there are hundreds of downsides.”

  “Such as?”

  “We’re moody, selfish, demanding, driven to fixation on that which we treasure the most, a tendency to horde and amass wealth and values without thought of how that affects others, overbearing, over protective, temperamental, and the list goes on. By the way, having a bond mate is the greatest treasure we can possess. Yes, I know, you’re not a thing, but to my Dragon, you are life, breath, and being. When we join, you’ll have to find a way to deal with my bouts where I’m all-consuming, overwhelming, insatiable, irascible, and all the other Dragon downsides that will arise. There’s no backing out once you’re in. Oh, and if you birth my children, they’ll be like that too. Imagine raising a Dragon? Yeah, I’m going to let that marinate in your mind for a moment.”

  The idea of having him as her mate, bearing his children, and being loved so deeply he could feel her pain was the answer to her prayers. All her life she’d wanted a family. Everything she did was so that one day she’d be able to find her mother and show her she was worthy of being her daughter and with her. A chance at having her own children and mate who would never leave her was as if the heavens were finally calling her number.

  There were a few things she did have to establish with him though. She might be caught up with having her Dragon in the flesh, but she still needed to be able to be herself.

  “Mac, I want this. I also want to know that you’ll honor my wishes on things I need to feel complete and whole in who I am.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I need time to myself here and there. If I’m having one of those days or weeks, know that I’m fine, just need to get away and recharge. Can you and your Dragon handle that?”

  He considered it, took a moment, stared at her for another one, then said, “Yes. I’m smothering with my affection but not obsessive.”

  “Is there a difference?” she asked, allowing laughter to perfume the room.

  “Yes! I’m able to pull the brakes if it seems I’m at that crazy stalker stage. But in all seriousness, I won’t ignore your needs, as long as you agree to tell me what you need, when you need it. Even though we’ll grow in our ability to sense each other, we won’t and can’t read each other’s minds. Don’t try to make me become a mind reader. That won’t ever work. Tell me what you need, how you want it, and when you want to have it and I’ll do my level best to make it happen.”

  “Done. Also, about my business. Just because I’m here recuperating doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore my business.”

  “I don’t expect you to. You’re a business owner. We don’t abandon our businesses.”

  “Great you see it that way. With that, I work with men, all day. I can’t have you getting jealous of what my clients ask of me.”

  “Can I help you hire and train a staff of professionals to provide direct services to your clients? You appear to be at the level where it’s time for you to leverage your time and talent.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We can discuss this later, but I notice that you have a definite way in which you provide service to your clients. If you like, we can sit down and figure out a process and framework to make it teachable. Then you can train others how to give your clients the same experience. If you want, we can turn it into a franchise as well.”

  This man!

  “Wait, hold up. Let this braingasm you just gave me pass so I can retrieve my mind into my body. Mac that is the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me. Hell yes, I want you to show me how to do all that stuff.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Bronwyn returned to the singular focus on having her Dragon. “But, after we join and figure out the immediate things we need to make our relationship work and hum along.” She still wanted to stay on track to get him mated to her.

  “Agreed. Pardon me for the interruption. Carry on,” he said with a mock business voice.

  “You’re funny. As I was saying, as long as you don’t act like an obsessed, jealous cuckoo and can handle the fact that I have an identity outside of being your mate, I want us to do this.” He was still with her, nodding agreement. That was a great sign. “So... yes?”

  Silence.

  “Can I still have the right to do check-ins when you’re at work with those bozos you call clients?”

  “No. I’m yours, you’re mine. They pay me, you have me.”

  “Fair enough. Hey, a Dragon’s got to test his boundaries.”

  She put up two fingers wi
th a narrow width. “When it comes to my business this is your boundary. Like my hair, respect it. Got that?”

  He nodded again, laughing.

  “Good. Don’t make me have to handle up on you for trying me?”

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “Pray you never have to find out,” was all she said about that. Needing to make it plain to him that this joining was happening, she added, “Whatever comes, Dragon babies, pain, or peril, I’m good. Why? Because I know you’re not going to leave me when things go bad. You’re my stick and stay. I want to be that for you too. Can we make that happen?”

  Before she could comprehend how fast he’d moved, Mac was lowering her back down to the bed, placing sultry, hot kisses along her neck and inching his way down.

  “Mac—what the hell?”

  “Shh, it’s time for the joining to begin.”

  “Oh! So that’s going down for real, right now?”

  He nodded as his hands managed to get her pajama top up and over her head. Bronwyn didn’t waste energy or attention on where the piece landed in the distance. Her goal was to survive the onslaught of emotions—good and scary—coming straight for her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  BRONWYN

  “Remember to breathe my love.” Baritone vibrations whispered across her bare skin as his voice floated up to her ears.

  Close as he was, comprehension was still hard to manage. Following his instruction, Bronwyn released the breath caught in her throat as Mac placed delicate kisses along the bruised area of her chest. Wherever his lips landed, flutters of energy surged through her body. Without him saying a word, she knew he was infusing his kisses and touch with magical healing power.

  If this was powerful, hot as hell, and beyond loving she was so not ready for when his tongue flicked one of her nipples. Coming up off the bed, she arched into his waiting hot mouth as he devoured one nipple and then another. Mac pleased her with the skill she’d only heard of as a dark fantasy by some of the women co-workers she used to talk trash with during lunch breaks. Never could she imagine the dexterity of his tongue or the skill of his approach, much less that she’d be on the receiving end.

  Her fists balled the sheets beneath her, looking for relief from the intensity of sensations assailing her body.

  “Mmm...” the sound formed and left her body of its own accord. Mac hovered over her sucking a taut nipple into his hot mouth.

  “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

  “I, uh, I...” scrambled thoughts, disjointed desires, and heightened senses warred for attention. She’d been rendered mute and dumbfounded by the pleasure he’d already wrung from her body.

  A wicked grin crawled across his breathtaking features. “That’s what I thought. Relax and let me take you to places only we’ll ever experience together.” Kissing the tip of her beaded nipple, then giving it what it needed with a swirl of his tongue and hard suck, he added, “Do you trust me?”

  Frantic nodding was the only answer she could give with any hope of being understood.

  “Good. I’ve got you, dear one. I’m going to learn every inch of your body, explore what you like and then you’re going to do the same to me.” He moved down her body, never neglecting to place kisses in his sensual march down to what she hoped would be her pussy.

  Stopping at the mound that held her secret space no man had ever known, he took in a deep inhale and smiled.

  “Exquisite, I’ve wanted to taste you from the moment I first saw you.” With a kiss on that mound searing enough to pierce through her pajama bottoms, he raised up on his knees and adjusted her body to lay cross length the bed.

  Large, strong hands removed the offending pajama bottoms to expose skin so sensitive, the air around them sent shivers through her body. Not sure what she wanted to do with herself, Bronwyn remained still, waiting for his next move. She didn’t have to wait long as he parted her thighs wide. His caress of her inner thighs might as well be a maestro and his instrument for how she responded. Over and over, he touched the soft inner skin of her thighs with varying pressure and speed of strokes and rubbing only a master could administer.

  “Open your eyes and watch me,” he commanded. “Let me see those beautiful eyes of yours, my love.”

  Unaware that she’d held her eyes tightly shut, Bronwyn gave into the moment and opened her eyes. Before her he sat on his haunches looking at her with so much love and appreciation, the force of it threatened to overtake the last of her ability to remain still.

  He worked, massaging, kneading, and lightly pinching until her body writhed with pleasure. When the mounting pleasure of his touch built to the point that teetered on pain, a sound so primal it startled her erupted loud and sure.

  “There you are, my mate. Hold nothing back. This is our sacred space and time.”

  The words bypassed her brain to infiltrate her heart, soul, and body. Obeying his call to release, Bronwyn moved against his artful touch, creating pleasurable friction. His hands had worked their way up to the outer folds of her pussy. Continuing to use the same expertise as before, he rubbed, stroked and massaged her pussy until it gave forth its nectar.

  Ragged with arousal, his voice cut through the electric sexual impulses cocooning them together. “I love how much you respond to my touch. I could do this to you all day. You’re my greatest treasure, my love.”

  Unable to respond through voice, her answer was to open herself more. The tip of his finger traced the outline of the seam of her pussy lips. His touch light and exploratory, she breathed in and out determined to stay with him. Reclaimed in his intense gaze once again, she yelped in surprise as his finger plunged into her opening.

  Then he stopped.

  “Bronwyn?” Tentative, he removed his finger, parted her folds and moved down to look.

  Unable to fathom what he was doing, she propped up on her elbows to see. “What?”

  “Oh, my Goddess.” Looking back up at her, he said, “You’re a virgin.”

  Defensive despite her intention to remain cool, she said, “And? Is that going to be a problem?”

  He remained still and quiet. Not sure what he was doing, she tried to sit up, only for a massive hand on her lower stomach to push her back down.

  “Lie still.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. I’m in awe. I mean, you’re a virgin. I have to go about this differently.”

  “Why, is there a problem?”

  “No. If I don’t do this right, you could have more pain than necessary.”

  “Here we go again?” she said, throwing her hands up above her head.

  “Stop that.” He climbed up the length of her to settle himself between her legs.

  Seizing the opportunity, she looped her legs around his thighs again. “Gotcha!”

  “Yes, always,” he said, placing a kiss on her lips.

  Taking a chance to return him to his exploring, Bronwyn rotated her hips against him. Pleased to feel the length of him through his pajamas was still ramrod stiff, she smiled.

  Instead of him cautioning her, or admonishing her to behave, his body answered, plunging in to meet her thrust.

  “Ooh!”

  “Trust me, I’m doing everything I can to hold back from taking you hard right now.”

  “Why don’t you? I promise I won’t break.” She took his head between her hands as she said the words that finally seemed to come in a bit of coherence. “I’m yours, you’re mine. My body has been waiting for yours all my life. I couldn’t see my way to give my treasure to any other man but you.”

  “This is my treasure. Never forget that.”

  Nuzzling his nose, she said, “Yes, yours alone. Please, don’t hold back. I want all of you. That’s what we agreed on, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Before he could make any more protests, she arched up, allowing her body to move against him in sensual attunement. A growl so low, deep, and long, she had to wonder if that was possible in his h
uman form, rocketed through them both. As she continued to test her movements, his head dipped to kiss and suck the curve of her neck.

  “You feel so good. Stop before I hurt you.”

  “Never, I want to touch you back, making you feel as good as you’ve made me feel.” Her whispered statement was met with him pulling her up and into his waiting arms. Amazed her foot no longer her, she wrapped her legs around his waist in the process, she sat down smiling at the indention of his hard, large cock beneath. “Take them off.”

  “What? Not yet,” he whispered, continuing to nip and suck her neck.

  “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

  Bronwyn pulled out of his embrace to snatch at the drawstring of his pajama bottoms. She ignored the wetness from her pussy that had saturated the front. In silent obedience, he rose, granting her access to pull down the pants. Close, the musky-spicy scent of his body had her mouthwatering to taste the tip of his huge cock.

  So, she did.

  Salty and warm, the precum wept from his tip as she enrobed it with her mouth. Never having given a blowjob, but confident of the technique from what she’d picked up here and there, Bronwyn made sure to breathe and then take more of him in.

  “Bronwyn—fuck!”

  She paid no mind to his words concentrating on taking more of him into her mouth. When she had quite enough to work with, her tongue made a loop around the thickness. She began to move her head back and forth, remembering to breathe and relax with a loosen her jaw.

  “You’re going to kill me dead if you don’t stop. I can’t hold onto control much longer.”

  Ignoring his words, she grabbed the base of his long shaft and began to gently pump, paying attention to how he reacted. Adjusting the pressure while increasing the speed and coordination of her mouth and hands, she moved in a rhythm that amazed her. And, it felt good. He felt good. Bronwyn managed to take more of him into her mouth marveling at the sensation of his tip hitting the back of her throat. Never one to learn slow, she adjusted the angle of her head to allow his shaft to slide down her throat.

  “Oh Goddess, stop!” he yelled. “You have to stop.”

  She paid no heed to his words, continuing until her body was picked up and almost slammed back onto the bed. Connecting with his face again, a cross between agony, pleasure and erotic energy rode his face as he took her legs and placed them on each of his shoulders.