“In any case. I’ve got a ride waiting on us. We’ll talk on the way.”
Ryan and then Dana stood. Quinn sat, however, stubbornly unmoving from his spot.
“Take care of her,” he said. “You can do it better than me.”
“No, Quinn,” said Ryan. “That’s not how this works.”
Quinn wouldn’t move. Dana pursed her lips and remembered Ed’s words. Like catnip. Quinn couldn’t refuse her, could he?
She held out her hand to him. “Come with us,” she said.
Quinn closed his eyes as if fighting within himself. But the delayed departure caught the attention of the people in the diner. The other patrons trained their eyes on the three, and even the state police office turned in his seat to them gauging whether or not there was trouble.
The trooper pulled a cell phone from his pocket and answered it. Though he looked away briefly his eyes were back on them, his eyes squinting with suspicion.
“Now,” hissed Ryan with urgency.
Quinn glanced at the state trooper, and nodded. Grimly he stood, and they made their way to the door.
“Don’t you want your food?” said the waitress. She held the plates in her hands with an expectant expression on her face.
“Sorry, we’ve got to go,” said Ryan.
They exited and Dana spotted a black SUV ahead with the engine running. Ryan had his hand on Dana’s shoulder urging her to hurry. Quinn was at her side and she spotted him looking over his shoulder.
“Shit,” he spit in a low voice.
“Halt. State police!”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Quinn
Quinn whirled to face the trooper but Kaur caught his shoulder and turned him back to the direction of the SUV.
“Get in the car,” he insisted. “We’ll smooth over the problems with the troopers another way.”
“Halt, or I’ll fire,” shouted the trooper.
“Now!” spit Kaur. He pushed both of them to the SUV and Quinn saw Dana stumble from the rough treatment. He stepped forward to catch her from falling. Kaur walked forward calmly, with his hands outstretched and palms upward speaking calmly. But the officer didn’t budge from his stance, and Quinn felt Dana’s heart speed up and sensed her growing alarm that melted into his own.
Quinn grabbed Dana and pulled her around and to the opposite side of the SUV. He swept her off her feet and bolted forward. With his only thought of getting Dana away from this dangerous situation he leapt and shifted. His wings pulled them into to air taking them away from state troopers with guns and shifty industrialists that had no business showing up suddenly.
But Dana’s fright did not subside and this worried Quinn. What could he do to assure her that he meant her no harm? The answer came to him and he did not like it.
He’d have to let her go.
There was one place to go where she would be safe. Not him. No. He wouldn’t be welcomed anymore, not for the long term. But the most important thing was making sure Dana was out of danger. He’d take her back to Parris Island. But first, he wanted to speak with her, to have just a few minutes before he had to say goodbye to her forever. Quinn thought of the cave where he took her the first time and applied his will to take them to that place.
He fell holding on to Dana tightly and passed through dark and cold until the atmosphere whined in his ears. He swooped by the entrance first, strained his senses to see if danger lurked within. Satisfied no one or beast was present he landed on the ledge.
Quinn shifted and lowered Dana to the rock ledge. The sun peeked up over the uneven mountaintops with a rosy glow. He shivered.
Red in the morning, sailors take warning. His foster mother said that any morning that the sky was tinged with red or pink. It forecasted a storm.
Certainly, one brewed in Quinn’s heart.
“What’s going on?” she said.
“I’m taking you back to Parris Island. But before I do that, I want to explain some things first so you don’t think I’m some sort of kidnapper or ever intended you harm. I didn’t.”
“I,” said Dana. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I know you don’t. You don’t have to say anything. And it’s lousy how it worked out. I don’t know how to fix any of this. And you deserve to have your life back.”
Defeat hung heavily in Quinn’s words but it was all true. She didn’t remember and was afraid of him. Whatever that old dragon did to her messed them both up. But she didn’t have to suffer.
“What are you going to do?” Dana said.
“Like I said, take you back to Parris Island.”
“No. I mean you. What do you plan to do for yourself?”
“Not sure. Don’t know. But’s it’s all changed. I can’t stay here and be a Marine. And I don’t know enough about being a dragon to keep me let alone you safe.” If he could say anything different, he would. But there was no other way he could see things working out.
“I know you are trying to do the right thing,” said Dana. “And I can’t explain it, but it feels wrong for you to leave.”
Quinn’s heart caught in his throat. It was hard enough for him to leave her behind without her saying that.
“There is nothing for it,” he said, “especially since you don’t remember.”
“Remember? You keep saying that. What is it that I don’t remember?”
“This,” said Quinn. He gathered her into his arms and slanted his mouth toward hers catching her lips. He poured all his desire for her sparking the memories of their shared time together that seemed long ago only a couple days. He leaned the long length his body into hers with all the passion in his soul. His very essence burned to possess all of her. There was no woman he ever did or ever will want more.
She trembled in his arms and her mouth opened to answer as his tongue swept her lips. Quinn devoured her mouth in a desperate hope to quench the need he had for her. He knew he had to leave. It was futile to want more for her than she could give.
She broke away suddenly with her eyes wide.
“Oh!” she gasped. Dana stepped back, her body taut as if she fought against shattering into pieces as tears filled her eyes. She blinked and swallowed hard as her teardrops glinted in the morning sun. Quinn stood mutely at a loss as to what to do. In the broken connection, they shared he felt her pain but didn’t understand where it came from.
With a rush, she flung herself into his arms. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” she said. “How could I forget? Oh, Quinn!”
She kissed him in many places, his cheeks, his eyes, and his neck as one apology after another fluttered from her lips.
“You remember?” he said, not believing his good fortune.
“Yes. Yes. Oh, baby. That Ed is such an evil dragon. He tried to get Abalon to take me as his seneschal. He made me forgot you to do it. I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, hey,” he said laughing in relief. “Baby, don’t be so hard on yourself. There is so much we don’t know. But I do know one thing.”
“Yeah,” she said. “What’s that?”
“That I never want to be without you again.”
Their lips met. There was never any question that they wouldn’t. Fierce need swept through Quinn to claim this woman. He’d want to do it again and again, until anyone who met them would understand this she and he were irrevocably joined. Not just as dragon as seneschal, but as man and woman. One heart. One soul.
He pushed her backwards into the cave. The morning sun cast enough light where he saw the bed of straw he made for her. She deserved more, so much more, a lair as fine as a castle. Riches spread at her feet. He would make sure she was happy. Whatever it took, he would do it, for her.
Dana stared into his eyes as if she were seeing deep inside him to the singular place that defined him. And he found that place in her shining blue globes. They were eyes that held the entire world. Playfully Dana pushed him against the wall next to their makeshift bed. Quinn gave her lips a playful bite, just enough to make her gasp, then rai
ned nibbles down her slender neck. The taste of her intoxicated him and the only in the world right now was him and her locked in their embrace with arms and legs tangled.
Quinn swept her around, pushing her against the cave wall. He pressed his shaft, impossibly hard and incredibly greedy against her. Dana tangled her hands in his dark hair and pulled him forward for a searing kiss that sent an effervescent rush through his body. He sank to his knees and pushed up her skirt and buried his face in her red curls. Quinn lapped her tender flesh and lavished attention on her bud hard and swollen under his tongue.
Her breath hitched and she let out a little moan.
“Baby,” she breathed. “So good.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Dana & Quinn
Dana writhed under Quinn’s tongue. He licked and suckled that marvelous place. She bucked into his lips and he reached for the globes of her ass and pulled her into his mouth. Pleasure surged through her with the kinetic force of a wave crashing on the shore. She arched her back as white fire surged through her body.
“Quinn!”
He pulled her down onto the pallet he made covered with a blanket, and pulled at her skirt to slid it off her legs. The rough heat of his hands on her body incited a storm of desire. He lay over her and Dana looked in his eyes, half-lidded with need, and pulled him to her.
“Baby,” she said. “I want you.”
“Dana,” he rasped before he kissed her. His hands slid along her body inciting another aching storm between her legs. He pulled apart her knees and met her eyes. She nodded.
“Please, Quinn.”
He smiled and guided his shaft to her soft folds, letting the tip of him meet her entrance.
“You’re so wet,” he said.
“All for you.”
He smiled and eased into her and she sighed. His cock filled her in a delicious way and grazed her g-spot with the promise of pleasures to come.
She raised her hips and breathed a breathy moan inviting him to take more of her. He breathed a long sigh and thrust into her again curling a long frisson of pleasure through her body. Dana wrapped her legs around him and he clasped her hips and he plunged deep in shattering series of thrusts. Each slide inside her sparked tingles of pleasure that grew in intensity as he took her more forcibly. She moaned at the sensations that wove into spirals of white heat that destroyed all self-control. Dana met him as he slammed into her, arching her back and calling his name. His cock seared her as she came into an explosion so intense that she couldn’t breathe.
“Dana!” he cried as the warm rush of his seed pulsed into her.
They held each other tightly as their breathing calmed. She took his gorgeous head between her hands.
“How could I ever forget you?” she said in wonder.
“Well,” he smirked. “Don’t let it happen again. Or I may have to spank you.”
She giggled low and sexy. “And who says I wouldn’t want that.”
“Okay, are you two done now?”
The rude voice came from the outside of the cave, and Dana and Quinn struggled to cover themselves. Quinn snatched up a backpack he’d left behind and hurriedly grabbed and put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He stood and strode to the cave.
“And who the hell are you,” said Quinn. “What the hell are you doing here?” He stared at the unfamiliar and standing at the mouth of the cave.
“Ah, there is the lovely seneschal,” said the man speaking in a distinctly English accent.
Dana stepped forward.
“What are you doing here, Robert? How did you find us?”
“I’ve come for you, my dear. After all, grandfather did give you to me. And as for finding you? I’m an old dragon and I know a few tracking tips.”
“You can’t have her,” snarled Quinn, “she’s mine.”
“Too bad,” said Abalon, “that I’m not into sharing. That might be fun. But no. I don’t share my toys.”
“Dana is not a toy,” snapped Quinn. “Stay away from her.”
Abalon snorted as if that was highly unlikely. He held out his arm.
“Come along, Dana.”
“No. I’m not going with you.”
Smoke curled out of Abalon’s nostrils.
“Of course you are.”
“Look, you overgrown lizard,” snarled Quinn. “She said she wasn’t going with you. So get going.”
“Or you’ll what. Wyrmling? You are barely hatched. I am centuries older and stronger.”
“Yeah, but I got something you don’t.”
“And what’s that?” sneered Abalon.
“Someone to live for.”
With that he lunged forward and grabbed Abalon and fell off the ledge. They grabbled as they fell, but Quinn shifted and rose as Abalon tumbled to the unforgiving earth. Abalon shifted and trumpeted so load the trees on the mountain shook and bird took flight around them.
Quinn swooped to pick up Dana, but Abalon rose between him and the mountain blocking the cave entrance. He belched and a hot yellow fire erupted from his mouth. Instinctively Quinn ducked and the flame shot over his head. But he felt the heat and shivered when he realized that if any of it had touched him he would literally end up dragon toast.
He tried again, but Abalon belched more flame. The English dragon formed an impenetrable defense frustrating Quinn’s attempt to retrieve Dana.
Quinn roared disturbing more birds that made a mad rush into the sky for safety.
“MY MATE!” he trumpeted, and though that came out as a deafening roar, the meaning was clear. Abalon snorted in a series of short burst reminiscent of laughter and this enraged Quinn. He rushed at the dragonhead first and battered him into the face of the cliff. A stunned Abalon sibilantly hissed as he slid down the face of the rock and Quinn took his opening. He swooped up to grab Dana.
Pain lanced through him up his spine through his tail. A glance down confirmed his fears. Abalon clamped onto his tail with his fierce jaw. But he seemed more interested in using Quinn as an anchor to keep from hitting the ground than destroying his tail. Quinn’s talons futilely gripped the edge of the rock ledge, but dirt and rock slid from under his talons. Gravity and the desperate dragon clutching his tail would pull him to disaster. He took one last look at Dana who stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.
I love you!
I love you too! Forever!
Quinn opened his jaw in a dragon grin and then loosened his precarious grip.
And fell.
Immediately he dropped on top of the dragon below and they twisted in a desperate dance to gain the upper hand. The ground rushed up and Quinn intuited that this crash would damage one or both of them irrevocably.
A panicked Abalon clutched onto him desperately like a drowning man wrestling with a lifeguard. And in a flash he saw the reason. One of Abalon’s wings hung limply to the side uselessly. Quinn could only imagine the pain Abalon was in, and understood why the dragon couldn’t think through his own rescue.
Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
A fierce shot of adrenaline sang through muscle and sinew, as Quinn understood what he had to do.
It’s a matter of will.
Quinn blotted all thoughts out of his mind but one—a place where Abalon would feel safe. Because if the dragon didn’t stop struggling, they’d both die.
In an instant they were in Virginia and another over the skies of Abalon’s home. Quinn made sure they arrived in a place high enough above it so Abalon could see where he was. Abalon stared at surprise and then stopped struggling allowing Quinn to regain control of the flight. With aching wings, he leveled their flight and glided to the earth. Feet before they landed he released Abalon who thumped to the ground with a heavy thud.
Quinn flapped his wings to move him away from Abalon, but then landed and shifted.
Abalon, rolling on the ground, shifted as well. He stood shakily clutching his shoulder.
“You okay?” asked Quinn.
“Why did you do that?” demanded Abalo
n.
“We’re brothers. I don’t know what means to dragons, but I never had a brother before. Maybe I didn’t want to see him die at my hands.”
“We have many brothers,” rumbled Abalon. “But I’m glad I got to meet you.”
“Good. But I’ve got to tell you. Try to mess with my mate again, and I won’t be so nice.”
“No,” said Abalon. “I won’t. It was just—nice to sit with a seneschal again.”
“I’m told that a new generation of seneschals were born,” said Quinn. “Maybe you’ll meet one that’s for you.”
“Maybe,” said Abalon doubtfully.
“Well, in any case, try not to start any new wars or I really will have to come here and beat your ass again.”
Despite the pain on his face, Abalon chuckled. “You got lucky, brother. I highly doubt you can “beat my ass,” as you Yanks say.”
“We’ll see,” said Quinn.
“Yes,” said Abalon. “I suspect we will.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Dana
Dana sank to the ground as tears fell in a great wet stream down her face. Abalon was killing Quinn, clutching like a writhing weight on Quinn. She peered over the edge watching the deathly dance of dragons as they fell tumbling against the rock face.
Adored by The Dragon: (The Dragon Lord - Book 3) (The Dragon Lords) Page 10
