by Cecilia Lane
His scent drew her in. The tightening of his arms quickened her pulse. She wanted to get drunk on him, revel in the possessiveness that radiated off him. It matched her own inner demand to bite and claim. Her wolf, trapped away for her entire life, was determined to jump snout first into life.
Adrien pulled back suddenly and bit off his growl. “We should stop. Talk.”
“Done waiting,” she growled back. “Been inside my head for days. Need you now.”
She chased his kiss. Her hands fisted in his hair the moment his lips touched hers. Sparks sang along her limbs. There was nothing to talk about. Nothing to consider. He was hers. Had been the moment his dragon woke her wolf.
And like a dam, his resolve broke.
Adrien growled and rose up from her side. He urged her up with him, steadying her on her feet when she stumbled.
He held her at arm’s length for a long moment, lust heating his eyes by the second. Rory felt her cheeks warming under his intense look but she met him eye for eye.
He took a step to the side, then behind her. She twisted to watch his progress around her body.
“I want to see my mate.”
His fingers brushed over her bare shoulders. Her deep green dress was loose and the only shape came from the braided gold belt tucking in her waist.
Thick fingers plucked at the belt and he let it fall. Rory bit her lower lip. Her nipples tightened with what would come next. She’d slept with men before, but none made her want as much as Adrien. His words alone filled her with need and instinct to mate him drove her on.
Adrien sifted her hair to the side. His natural heat bathed her through the dress but it was his lips on her shoulder that set her on fire. He undid the laces at her back, one by one, until her dress pooled at her feet.
Then he stepped away.
Rory tracked him with her eyes. Frustration built in her middle when he took a seat on the bed. A smirk lifted his lips and darkened his eyes with lust.
“Turn. I want to see you in all your glory.”
She blinked. Quickened breaths lifted her breasts, and he zeroed in on her chest. Her heavy flesh ached for his touch. She wanted her nipples between his fingers and his lips, his hands cupping her breasts. Him across the room was not what she expected.
He threw off his shirt and unbuttoned his tight jeans. A quick shove pushed them down his hips and his cock sprang into his hands. She licked a slow line across her lower lip as he pumped his fist over the hard length.
“Rory.” The sternness in his voice zipped her eyes back up his body. “I said turn for me.”
She worked hard to swallow the lump in her throat. He was a big, dominant man, her dragon. Her wolf trembled inside her. She ached to please him.
Slowly, she slid one foot to the side. Her hair swished as she rolled her hips with each step. Inch by inch, she twisted herself around for his perusal, never taking her eyes from his face.
Adrien groaned and tightened his hand around his cock. A drop welled at the tip.
“I can smell how much you want me, gorgeous,” he said thickly. “Touch yourself.”
Without hesitation, Rory slid her hand across her stomach and between her thighs. She traced the inner edge of her thigh, then trailed a finger up her slit. By the Broken, she was soaked. His kisses and his looks alone made her ready to combust. Her lips parted with her anticipation for his touch.
“That’s it, princess. Show me how you like to be touched.”
Rory licked her lips. There was no shame between them. Her dragon’s lust-darkened eyes dared her to keep stroking her fingers into her wet heat and spreading her arousal up to her clit. Her fingertips pressed the sensitive button back and forth until her breath came in quick pants.
And her dragon watched her rapturously. Every pump of his fist was in response to the pleasure she drew out of herself.
Her dragon hooked a finger. “Come here.”
Rory closed the space between them. Heat warmed her flesh the closer to him she stepped. It was like entering a hot shower after a long day of work. Every tight muscle in her body went limp with relaxation.
He grabbed her wrist and brought her hand to his face. He took her fingers between his lips and swirled his tongue over each digit. Rory bit back the noise that threatened to spill from her lips.
Adrien growled again and moved quickly, dropping to his knees and steadying himself with his hands on her hips. His eyes, completely black, trailed a line of fire down her skin until he dropped his gaze to her sex.
“Fucking beautiful.”
The desire in his tone thickened his words and whipped heat through her. She fought not to move. She wanted his love and the pleasure he promised with his eyes. Her wolf demanded his worship. But the roll of power radiating off him stilled her movements.
He exuded strength. It made her mouth water.
His fingers trailed from her ankles to her knees. He splayed his palms against the backs of her thighs and crawled slowly to cup her ass. He tightened his grip the moment he dipped his mouth to swipe his tongue through her slick folds.
On the next pass, Adrien dipped his tongue into her core. A wordless sound of appreciation reached her ears. Good gods above, she felt sexy. Desirable. The man kneeling before her couldn’t get enough of her taste. The surge of emotion and the pleasure he caused were a heady mixture.
He flattened his tongue and dragged it up her slit. Again. Again. Each time accompanied with a groan from her mate and a breathy moan from her. Then he speared her with his fingers and took her clit between his lips. Rory lost sense of herself as bliss dominated her every cell. Her mate pushed her toward pleasure faster and harder than anyone before. She knew, absolutely knew, her release would mark her as his forever.
She inhaled sharply and let the crashing waves consume her with a cry.
Gentle licks brought her back down where she panted and clung to Adrien’s shoulders. Her eyes lifted halfway open and she watched him from under her lashes. His eyes were closed, her arousal wet his chin, and mesmerizing rumbles still vibrated in his chest.
In a fluid motion, he rose to his feet. He licked her lip, spreading her flavor over her skin. “Touch me. I want your hands on me.”
Rory obeyed. She planted her palms on his shoulders, then slid them down his chest. She fingered the indents that cut his muscles into visible slabs. He was strong, her mate. Strong enough to take on her pack and steal her away.
Lower still. Deeper dents of muscles paved the way to her prize. A light dusting of hair also helped lead the way. He groaned the moment she fisted his cock. It was her turn to appreciate him.
With firm, hard strokes she tended to her mate and learned how he liked to be touched. His head dropped to her shoulder and his hips bucked into her hand.
Eyes fixed on his face, Rory slid to her knees and licked a line up his erection. The moan he let past his lips curled heat in her center. That was sexy. She liked knowing she caused that noise, almost as much as she liked hearing him taste her.
One more slow lick and she drew him between her lips. His hands fisted in her hair, but there was no pull or push. His head dropped back and his eyes slid closed. Tight cords of muscle tightened in his neck and her name came to his lips on a thick groan. “Rory.”
More licks, more strokes. He tasted like heaven and fire. His hands tightened in her hair and his control slipped. Little jerks of his hips surged him between her lips, like he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to fuck her whichever way he could manage.
Adrien growled and pulled his cock from her mouth. In a flash, he had her off the ground and back into bed. A hard knee butterflied her legs open.
With a groan, he sucked on her lower lip. Deep rolls of his hips ground his cock against her cleft. Nothing separated them. Just a little shift and he’d enter her.
“Mine,” he whispered against her lips. He pushed into her a fraction of an inch. “My mate. My princess.”
Rory wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, una
ble to find the words. Her wolf prickled under her skin everywhere Adrien pressed against her. He made her feel whole. He filled the missing part of her she always ignored and could never satisfy.
He was her mate, her other half, the one destined to match her in every way. And she couldn’t wait to begin her life with him.
Adrien thrust into her on a fluid roll of his hips.
Slowly, oh so slowly, he slid his cock in and out of her core. Rory gasped with each sweet invasion and groaned on every retreat. He filled her completely and stretched her to new heights of pleasure. They owned each other’s bodies.
Responding to her inner urge, he kicked up the pace. Rory dragged her nails down his back. His shortened thrusts hit her where she needed, keeping him trapped deep within her body. Fire prickled along her nerve endings and black dots spotted her vision.
“Come for me, princess,” her dragon growled against her throat. “Need to feel you fall apart before marking you as mine.”
His words were accompanied by a tiny bite of pain, right where he’d sink in his fangs. She buried her face in his neck, where she’d place her matching bite, and held on for dear life as her inner muscles tensed with each stroke.
He pounded harder into her. Faster. His dominant side had him in its grasp and she reveled in the feel of him taking her. Making her his. She writhed under him, panting and struggling to find the right words to whisper in his ear and drive him even more wild.
She teetered right on the edge and with one last hard thrust, Adrien pushed her over.
His fangs bit into her skin and she chomped down. Her wolf whined in her head but she didn’t listen. She needed to claim, human teeth or fangs, it didn’t matter. Warmth flooded her core and her mouth as they claimed one another.
She spent her entire lifetime knowing she’d never take a mate. The Shiftless Princess broke her curse.
Chapter 9
Adrien dangled his legs over the ledge and looked across the Wolfden territory. Behind him and further into the cave, Rory still slept. He reached out with his senses every few minutes just to reassure himself that she still breathed. He couldn’t bear losing her again. Especially after sealing their bond with fresh mate marks.
He knew he should wake her and urge them away from the enclave. Something held him back. It was the same deep instinct that wouldn’t let him leave with Damien or the others. Fate wasn’t done with either him or Rory. They were still needed for some final part of the play.
He warred with himself. It was dangerous to stay in the caves. The Conris would find them. But he still couldn’t spread out his wings and fly his mate to safety.
Which left one option: see for himself what the enclave still had in store for them. If the others were still around, he would send them. With Damien gone, scouting to protect Rory fell to him. It was another war. He wanted to stay by her side.
Movement below caught his eye. He focused where he last saw a flash of color between trees and waited.
They were good, the wolves that tracked near the base of the mountain. Stealthy. And drawing nearer with each silent pad of their paws.
His dragon rose up to the surface of his mind and his senses increased tenfold. There were four. No, five. An enormous red wolf led the others. The beast within Adrien growled at the threat they posed.
He wouldn’t let them take her back. The princess was his.
Adrien knew he had to lead them away.
Scales rose over his arms and the tips of his wings pushed through his back. He let the dragon surge forward as he dropped off the ledge. The rest of the beast’s body burst out of his human form with the first flap of his wings.
His scaled belly skimmed over the top of trees. He quickly found the pack of wolves and flew past them by several hundred feet. He needed to keep them from nearing the caves that held his mate.
Adrien found an opening between trees and let fire fly from his maw. A howl rose in the distance, quickly followed by another. He certainly grabbed their attention.
With the push of his wings, Adrien rose up into the sky again. He spied the wolves rushing towards the fire he set. Then the red wolf skidded to a stop and the others followed his lead. He shook his great head one way, then the other and his four wolves spread out.
Adrien wanted to growl in frustration. The thinning line of wolves turned on their heels and ran straight for the caves again.
His dragon roared fury at the little animals and another line of flame ignited the land.
The giant red wolf sprinted towards the line of fire. In a graceful motion, his back legs bunched underneath and launched him into the air. Paws as large as Adrien’s human head dug into the dirt to slow his pace and turn him away from the dragon. The others hung back, not approaching and not straying further towards his mate.
Adrien brushed aside the magic that kept his form hidden and lifted his lips in a snarl that the wolf matched. He expected the little beast to run but he held his ground. Adrien’s throat clicked with another ball of flame building inside of him. If the wolf wanted a fight, he’d get one.
The furry beast still didn’t back down. With a shimmer, his shape changed. Fur melted back and bones shrank. Deep red hair that matched Rory’s lifted to reveal her brother’s face.
“My sister wouldn’t want you to kill me,” Finn said with all the haughtiness of royalty. “We need to talk, you and I.”
Adrien didn’t shove back his dragon. He didn’t cover his fangs, nor did he land. The little wolf wanted to talk, then he could talk. Adrien wasn’t convinced he posed no threat to his mate.
Finn lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “You’ve really gone and stirred up the hornet’s nest, haven’t you? The entire enclave is demanding your head.”
He began to pace, never taking his eyes off the dragon that hovered above him. “You threatened our safety and stability with your little stunt. My parents are desperate to find my sister’s body and give her the rest her soul deserves. It has been their singular focus. They have summoned your clan leader and demanded your head. But there’s more to the story, isn’t there? Why would Rory’s murderer come back to steal her body? It’s a question they won’t hear. She still lives, doesn’t she?”
Adrien killed the rattle in his chest and lowered his lips. He still didn’t let the man take the place of the dragon but he listened. In his dragon form, the connection to Rory was strong. He could almost feel her frame against him, chest rising and falling with the soft inhales of her slumber. He refused to even look toward the mouth of the cave where she rested after their night together.
By the Broken, he learned so much of her in the dark hours. How she liked to be touched when he wanted to please her, where to wiggle his fingers when he wanted to tickle her. Her hopes, her dreams, her pains. They bared themselves to the other.
“They spent the first day and night to themselves. No advisors, not even me. None were allowed in their chambers where they whispered like thieves. Yesterday, their new guest arrived.” Finn’s voice turned hard. “The fae queen who cursed my sister has been invited back into our lands. The weakness of my parents has enslaved all of my people and the fae queen rules in their stead.”
Adrien snapped his wings to his body and fell to the earth like a stone. His claws barely dug into the soft earth before his human side took control. He brushed dark hair out of his eyes. Hazy red anger filled him. “Speak your mind, wolf. Why did you come find me?”
“I think we want the same thing. The fae witch holds lives in her hand and has hurt those we care about. Shouldn’t something be done before others suffer?”
He couldn’t care less what happened to the wolves. The fae queen, though, deserved death. She cursed Rory. The moment that all shifters looked forward to, finding their true mate, would forever be soured because of her actions. The moment his lips touched Rory should have been a joyous occasion. He’d always remember it with fear and anguish.
The fae queen threatened his mate once. She wouldn’t be allowed a second o
pportunity. His dragon demanded blood and vengeance.
“Where?” he demanded.
A murderous grin broke across Finn’s face. “She won’t be easy to catch.”
“Where?”
“Follow me.”
Adrien hated traipsing through the woods. He wanted to spread his wings and take to the sky. But there were too many groundlings for him to carry and Finn insisted he wouldn’t be able to find the fae queen’s hideout from above. So he grumbled and jogged after the four-legged beasts. At least one of them loaned him a pair of loose shorts.
A sense of wrongness invaded his head. He couldn’t identify where the feeling originated. The wind still blew and insects still chirped. No unusual odors invaded his nose. The wolves hunted with a single-minded focus. It was one he shared but he still couldn’t shake the hesitation that wanted his caution.
One by one, the wolves in front of him shook their heads. Then it was Adrien’s turn to cross an invisible line. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he felt as if he’d been doused with cold water.
Magic.
The three species that came through a tear in the veil all had magic in their blood. Vampires survived on blood and lived until they met the sun or the sharp end of a stake. Shifters had their inner animals. But fae were the only ones who could wield the elements and more.
They needed to proceed with caution. Adrien was sure the barrier they crossed would be warded. The fae witch would know of their arrival.
With a glance from the red wolf, Finn’s companions disappeared into the trees.
Nothing changed, but Adrien was even more on guard.
The wolf eyed him momentarily before continuing along a narrow path. With a frustrated growl, Adrien trailed after.
The path wound through the trees and he caught an occasional glimpse of the other wolves. Then Finn pulled up short. His ears rotated to catch the sounds around them before pointing straight ahead. Adrien listened and heard nothing. He followed the wolf’s example and made his steps as silent as possible as they rounded the next curve.
