by Amelia Jade
Corde groaned with pleasure at every cry and noise she made. His enthusiasm for her was undeniable and it amplified her own enjoyment, ensuring that she didn’t feel it necessary to put on a show for him.
When at last climax washed over her, coursing through her veins like water bursting forth from a dam, she lost all sense of control, her body contorting and writhing as beautiful agony pounded at her brain. Every fiber of every nerve was lit aflame and for a long moment she couldn’t breathe, so intense were the sensations.
Shakes turned to shivers and all at once every muscle turned to soft Jell-O, leaving her little more than a lump on the bed, lungs gasping for air. It was a struggle just to smile up at him as he picked her up and moved her into the center of the bed.
“You are mine, Kylie Johnson,” he whispered, his eyes glittering with dancing flames, yet another sign of his undeniable more-than-human blood.
Her throat dried up at his proclamation, but that was about it. Spreading her legs wide around his powerful legs, she eagerly greeted him and the next act. This was what she’d been waiting for, though the warmup had been unexpectedly intense. Now, as he lowered himself to her, their mouths once again finding each other, she practically shook with pent-up need.
“Take me,” she told him, letting him know that she still wanted it. Wanted him. Every rock-solid inch of him.
Corde entered her with a slow deliberateness, a tease and yet necessity all at once. She was so aroused that despite his plentiful size and girth, only minimal time was necessary for her to adjust to having him inside. Skin met skin as their hips touched, and she moaned loudly before nipping at his ear in excitement.
They stayed like that for a bit, Corde thrusting into her, alternating between furious kisses and magnetic eye contact, reveling in the pleasure displayed on both their faces. It wasn’t without a bit of reluctance that she hooked her leg around him and rolled over, but Kylie always had enjoyed being on top.
Now she rocked her hips back and forth, basking in the attention Corde was paying her with his eyes and his hands. Fingers ran across her stomach, not shying away from the plentiful curves, leaving no part of her skin untouched as he bit his lips, eyes wide open.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Like an angel sent from heaven.”
She smiled sweetly. “You’re just saying that because I’m grinding against your hard cock and it feels...mmm, great.” He’d gripped her hips tight as she spoke, and the sudden thrill of excitement stuttered her speech.
Corde shook his head. “I thought that from the moment I saw you. This is just an extremely pleasurable added bonus,” he finished through gritted teeth.
“You really mean that, don’t you?” she asked, leaning forward so that her breasts hung closer to his face as she rode him.
He nodded, meeting her eyes for a moment and letting her gauge the truth held within. Then he closed them and took first one then the other nipple into his mouth, teasing them until they were hard.
Eventually Corde took back control, turning her over so that she was on all fours. He gripped her waist and moved into her from behind, pulling her back even as he thrust forward. Kylie’s head was buried in the comforter shortly thereafter as her arms gave out, the pleasure too much to focus on using them.
Fingers made their way between her legs of their own will, and she started to play with herself while Corde fucked her hard, his groans telling her loudly that he was nearing the end.
Her own efforts drove her forward, the pressure building once more.
“Don’t stop!” she hissed between cries, her brain shutting off as once again it was overwhelmed by the ecstasy erupting from between her legs.
At the same time Corde shouted her name and spilled himself deep within her, thrusting through the throes of both their orgasms, his hands holding onto her hips for dear life as she bucked against him.
Spent at last, they fell back together, him still inside her. The bed thumped loudly with the dual impact, prompting giggles from both of them. There was no way Vanek couldn’t have heard that last part, if not more.
Kylie settled into his arms as they rested on their sides, her back pressed into his chest. She absolutely loved being “little spoon,” and when his warm hand slid over to cup her breast and simply hold it, she sighed.
“I could get used to this.”
Corde stiffened slightly. “As could I.”
Kylie wanted to say more, to ask about his reaction, but at that moment the endorphins hit. Her entire body began to glow, warming sensations pooling out from her core. Content in his grasp, the heat from his skin soothing her and lulling her into peaceful tranquility, she soon fell asleep.
They could talk again after her nap.
Or not…talk. She was game for whatever he had in mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Corde
When he awoke to Kylie snuggling up tight to him in the morning, a smile spread across his face, and didn’t leave for a long, long time.
The night before had been no dream, he realized now. It had happened. All of it. At long last he’d pushed forward with his mate. This time it hadn’t been him doing the initiating. She’d wanted him, and that truth buoyed his spirits like nothing before.
Now all he had to do was tell her everything going on, including the fact that she was his mate, and that they were going to be together forever, and it would be all right. Oh, and the part where he had to go off and fight some monsters to help save humanity. There was that bit too. But he could handle that. That was the easy part. Gaining Kylie’s trust, making sure she realized he was the real deal, that had been the hard part.
Right?
“Good morning,” she mumbled from next to him.
Her generously curved body stirred from its position next to him as she awoke as well. Neither of them had remembered—or cared—to close the curtains, and now the sunlight was calling them to wakefulness. Though they had slept little, he doubted they would be going back to sleep now.
There were still the events of the night before to consider. Lots to be done. First though, he intended to take every advantage he could.
“Well, it has the potential to be a good morning,” he growled, rolling Kylie onto her back and climbing on top.
“See that it is,” she told him with a smile, reaching up to pull his face down to hers.
***
Later, showered and dressed, they finished breakfast together, eating at the kitchen bar. They looked out over the city all the way to the mountains, the tops of the tallest ones still just barely covered in snow, even in the dead of summer.
He was working up the courage to talk to Kylie some more about what he was, and what that meant for the two of them when she began to speak.
“I’m going down to the fire department this morning,” she said. “They’ll want to talk to me I suppose.”
Something that Corde had never noticed before just clued in to him. He’d been about to ask how they hadn’t been in touch yet when it suddenly became apparent. “You don’t have a cell phone.”
She shook her head. “No money. Work refused to cover it, so when mine broke a month ago, I couldn’t afford to get it fixed.”
“I’m a dragon who’s been asleep for a few centuries, and even I have a cell phone,” he stated in astonishment.
Kylie rolled her eyes. “There you go with your fabulous stories again. One of these days I’m going to figure out just what is going on with you.”
He smiled. “You’re going to be either sorely disappointed, or surprised, when you find out that I’ve been telling the truth all this time. I’m just not sure which one yet.”
Laughing, his mate kissed him on the cheek, grabbed their plates, and put the dishes in the dishwasher. “Me neither. I’ll see you later, okay?”
Corde’s neck straightened and he twisted around on the barstool-like chair. “I’m going with you,” he told her.
“Um, aren’t you forgetting about this lit
tle thing called community service? You still have like, four hundred and fifty hours or so, don’t you?”
His mouth opened to brush it off, telling her that it was nothing compared to making sure she was safe, but the warning look in her eyes told him that would have been a Bad Idea. Capital B, Capital I.
“Uh,” was all he could manage.
“That’s what I thought. Someone will be there to replace me. I already called the office this morning while you showered to let them know. I’m off for as long as I need.” She frowned. “A rare case of empathy on their part, but I’ll take it. But you,” she pointed her index finger at him, “you’re going, and you’ll act just as you would if I were there.”
He wanted to argue so badly, to tell her this was a terrible idea, that she shouldn’t be going alone. But he couldn’t. All along he’d known just how much it meant to her that he complete his punishment, and prove to her that he was better than most of the others who came through. That his being arrested really had been a mistake, a misunderstanding. If he skipped going to community service now, he’d just be proving to her that he was everything she feared he was.
“Yes ma’am,” he said, caving in, but making it very clear that he wasn’t happy about it.
“Thank you, Corde.”
“But you’re doing something for me,” he said.
“What?”
“Taking Vanek’s phone. You’re not going to be somewhere I can’t reach you. Not with Jose and his gang still unaccounted for.”
Kylie seemed ready to resist, but it was such a small request that there was no feasible way she could get out of it, and after the night before, it was obvious she might unexpectedly need it.
In the meantime, he would use the time alone to work out how he was going to tell her the truth about their relationship, and also prove to her that he was a dragon, and that everything he’d said was true. Although he’d wanted to do so that morning, he could see it in her violet orbs that now was the wrong time. She was holding it together, but just barely. The events of the past week were wearing on her, and she might crack at any time.
“Okay. But promise me that you’re going to go to community service, Corde, and that you won’t sneak out and follow me around to try and protect me? I’ll be at the fire department, and then I’ll either come straight back here, or come meet you. That’s my promise.”
“You know me so well,” he grumped. “It’s not fair. But okay, I promise I will go. For the full day,” he added before she could say anything. “Just like normal. But you promise not to make fun of me if I text you a lot to ensure you’re okay. Normally I swear I’m not possessive, but I’m just a little worried.”
He hated the idea of letting her go alone. Detested it. If she got into trouble, he would be way too far away to be of any help.
But as important to him as protecting her was her need to know that he was fulfilling his end of the bargain. It made him chafe at the fact he had to follow all these rules, despite potentially being one of the warriors who could help save the planet, but in the end Corde would do anything for his mate.
“Thank you, Corde,” she said, walking back over and giving him a long, gentle kiss. “I appreciate it.”
“You’re going to take a cab everywhere, right?”
“Corde, I’m stubborn and independent. Not stupid. Absolutely. Cab to the fire department, where you can rest assured I’ll be safe with all those big sexy firemen.” She laughed as his face clouded over. “I’m sorry, I needed the humor!”
“Of course. Continue,” he said with a false glare.
Kylie chuckled a little more first. “And a cab back here, or if I feel up to it, out to meet you. Happy?”
“No, but it’ll have to do,” he said honestly, returning the kiss she’d given him, with interest attached.
After calling cabs for both of them he escorted her down to the parking garage and watched her leave. Once she was safely gone he smiled. With their early rising and her departure, he had nearly an hour before he had to report for community service. That meant he could go on his little side mission and still show up on time so that he didn’t disappoint her.
Climbing in, he directed the driver to Kylie’s place. Getting out, he gave the charred ruins a once-over. At some point, possibly from the force of the water, the rest of the house had collapsed in on itself. The roof was gone, turned to ash or otherwise resting on what remained of the floor, or in the basement. Blackened framing timbers showed where the exterior walls of the house had been, but the place was so old many of them had simply given way.
Caution tape was wrapped liberally around the property, attached to stakes driven into the lawn. It would have been a simple task for him to jump over them, but Corde wasn’t interested in the house itself. What he wanted was, possibly, still outside the building.
The fire had been started close to the center of the house, and because it was an older building, it hadn’t spread to either side before the fire crews had gotten it under control. Corde thought back to the night before and his positioning at one point, and then hurried over to the cracked and broken black cement that was supposed to be her driveway. Weeds poked up through it in various places, and the “garage” was little more than an old shed.
Shaking his head at the conditions she’d been living in, he inspected the ground until he saw exactly what he was looking for. The shards of glass scattered around that he’d thrown through the window at one of their attackers. He’d heard the person shout in pain, knowing he’d hit him with at least one makeshift weapon. Unfortunately none of them were covered in the blood he sought.
“Damn.” He paced up the driveway closer to the garage, but nothing caught his eye.
Angrily he shook his head. They had to be somewhere nearby to have reached the house so quickly after him and Kylie. The neighborhood to the east was far rougher than this one, and that’s where his suspicions lay. But without anything to help track them down, he wasn’t going anywhere.
Reaching the garage, which was mostly untouched beside some charring and burn marks on the roof, his eye caught some marks on the ground. Dropping to his knees, he grinned. Blood. They moved back to the far side of the garage, and he paced slowly in that direction, hoping to get lucky.
“Aha!” he shouted triumphantly. There, buried in the weeds at the corner, was a large piece of glass, covered in blood. Apparently his aim had been pretty good.
Lifting the glass, he inhaled deeply. There wasn’t a lot left to track, but his dragon senses helped him pick up the faintest traces. The trail led back behind the garage, and he followed it at a run. Up one street, down another and through a walking path into a park. He jogged through it, ignoring the looks the local toughs gave him.
The area was growing worse. The park was littered with graffiti—the swings missing, with their chains and even part of the wooden playground set ripped apart and tossed into a barrel for firewood. Cars rusting in driveways grew more prominent and eyes watched him from windows.
Corde blocked all that out, focusing on little more than the scent of his quarry. All at once he skidded to a halt as the scent both changed directions and grew stronger. Much stronger. He looked to the right at a small two-story rundown house.
In front of which were parked two cars he remembered distinctly, including the faded gray paintjob of Jose’s vehicle. He stood on the street for a long time, watching the house, analyzing it. Nobody moved inside, which was somewhat surprising, but perhaps they were sleeping, or elsewhere.
He glanced at the end of the street, where a mesh-wire fence ran perpendicular as far as he could see. Beyond it was the freeway, running aboveground, though the noise still easily reached his ears of cars roaring past in both directions. Something about it called to him, grabbing his attention. There was little visible besides construction debris and trash dumped there by the locals. Nothing moved or was obviously visible, but he couldn’t shake the itch.
Finally he shook his head and turned his att
ention back to the house. Taking a deep breath, he headed toward the side gate.
I’m just looking around. Not going to fight anyone. Kylie wouldn’t like that, and she needs to trust you right now.
Halfway up the side of the house the front door slammed open at almost the same time as the back. Corde spun, putting his back to the wall. Shit, they were home.
The sun showed him a shadow of the man coming around the corner in the backyard, and the silhouette of a gun in his hand was very noticeable. Corde wasn’t about to fight them, not here and not now. That meant only one other option. Run.
Cursing silently, he pushed off the house toward the front. He dove over the fence, rolling to his feet and barely slowing down. Multiple guns barked and he heard a bullet hit the tree a split second before he ducked around it. Other rounds whizzed by. Obviously in this part of town they didn’t worry too much about whether the police would show up to take their guns.
Although he didn’t run as fast as he could, he still covered the ground at a speed they would be hard-pressed to catch up with. Another jump had him sailing up and over the mesh fence at the end of the street and into the area under the freeway. Gravel crunched beneath his boots as he jogged across. The guns had stopped, and a quick glance behind him showed that the thugs hadn’t gone past the end of their driveway, opting to let him go instead of give chase.
That was smart of them. If they’d been too persistent, he’d have had no choice but to ensure they couldn’t follow him any farther. He relaxed and started to explore, moving between concrete barriers and abandoned corrugated metal buildings. Most everything looked plenty abandoned.
He poked his head inside one shed that had its door banging idly in the breeze, the sun-faded green metal rectangle clanging against the gunmetal gray exterior. His eyes had just begun to adjust when a shadow lunged up at him, slamming him backward with enough force that he blasted through the side of the shed behind him, taking down both walls as he exited the far side before bouncing and rolling several times.
