Drakon's Prey (Blood of the Drakon)

by N. J. Walters

  Birch shook his head. “It was your father and mother’s decision to allow Valeriya to go her own way. You were so strong they didn’t think they needed anyone else. You were born to rule the Knights.”

  It was the truth, but didn’t make her feel any better. “Just get it done. And keep looking for my sister. If she’s still out there, I want her before one of the other Knights finds her.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tarrant rested his hands on the stone countertop as he kissed Valeriya. He knew she was confused about their relationship. She had deep feelings for him. Hell, she’d said she loved him. And they’d only known one another for a short time. Then there was his history and identity to muddy the waters.

  The wonder was she wasn’t demanding to be released. But she was kissing him back, sliding her tongue between his lips, drawing a groan from them both. They’d both been working for hours and hours. He was used to it, but she wasn’t. She’d fallen asleep at her desk.

  He had to keep reminding himself she was human and therefore much more fragile than he was. She was still recovering from the blood she’d lost and the trauma to her body. Yes, his blood had healed her injuries, but she’d been pushed hard since the moment she’d met him. Stress could take a huge toll on the body.

  And she was dealing not only with physical stress, but emotional as well.

  He placed hot kisses along the line of her jaw and worked his way up to her ear. There was a little silver hoop there. There was a matching one in her other ear. He noticed she never removed them. He caught it and lightly tugged.

  “I’m going to start the shower running,” he whispered. She nodded and tilted her head to give him easier access. He obligingly ran the tip of his tongue over the whorls of her ear.

  Valeriya gasped and gripped his biceps.

  Fully aroused, he put one hand on her lower back and dragged her right to the edge of the vanity. His erection pressed against her stomach. It was more torture than relief. If he didn’t move soon, he’d end up taking her on the damn counter. Not a bad idea for another time, but right now they both needed to get clean. Valeriya also needed to rest.

  He pulled away and stalked to the large shower stall. He felt her eyes on him the entire time. Her attention made his jeans even tighter. It was damn uncomfortable.

  He swore and unzipped them. The relief was instantaneous, but it didn’t last more than a second. If anything, it was worse now that the warm air in the room brushed his swollen shaft. He gritted his teeth and started the water running.

  When he turned back around, Valeriya was still sitting where he’d left her. Her fingers were wrapped around the edge of the counter. Her knuckles were white.

  He prowled back toward her, feeling every inch the beast on the hunt. She was such a tender morsel he wanted to eat her up in one bite. Her gaze fell to the opening in his pants. His cock was standing at attention.

  A tiny smile played around the corners of her mouth. “Are you always this horny?”

  She would think so, since he was always hard around her. He gripped the hem of her sweater and dragged it over her head. She raised her arms to make it easier for him.

  “No,” he told her. “It’s you.”

  Her eyes widened, and she swallowed. He lifted her off the counter and then stripped the remainder of her clothes off before removing his own. When they were both naked, he picked her up and carried her into the shower.

  “Before you say it, I know you can walk,” he told her. “But I like carrying you.” He set her down in front of him. She raised her face to the warm spray and let the water cascade over her.

  “I wasn’t going to say it,” she teased. He wasn’t so sure about that, but he enjoyed their banter. Valeriya relaxed him in a way he’d never felt before.

  She raised her arms and shoved her hair out of her face. It was still braided, so he took care of that. He tossed the elastic onto the built-in tiled shelf and threaded his fingers through the silky mass. He loved her hair.

  She glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

  Tarrant had to have her. He felt his dragon rising to the surface and forced him back. He couldn’t have her if he shifted. That reminder was enough to have his beast subsiding.

  So far, he’d rushed every time he’d taken her. Not this time. He grabbed the bottle of his body wash and squirted a dollop onto her back.

  She jerked and then laughed. “That’s cold.”

  “I’ll warm it up,” he promised. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to spread the soap mixture around. It lathered and bubbled on her soft skin. He moved his hands lower, running them down her spine and lower back. He cupped the mounds of her full ass and squeezed.

  She made a small squeaking sound and went up on her toes. “What are you doing?”

  “Washing you.” He went down on one knee and continued down the backs of her legs. They were strong and supple from all the walking she did in the city. She jerked and laughed when his fingers grazed the backs of her knees. A ticklish spot. He’d have to remember that. When he reached her ankles, he started back up her calves again, and worked his way to her shoulders.

  She had both arms out in front of her, using the tiles to support her. Her head was bowed, and the water showered over her. Her breathing was ragged.

  He needed to see her face.

  He turned her around. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted as she dragged air into her lungs. The water washed the soapy bubbles from her body. It swirled around the tiles on the floor before being sucked down the drain. She opened her eyes and blinked several times.

  “I’m just getting started,” he told her.

  “I may not survive.” He knew she meant it as a joke, but neither of them was laughing.

  “You will.” He’d make sure of it. He leaned her against the wall so she was out of the direct spray. The steam from the warm water and the scent from the body wash created a tropical oasis. He didn’t have to worry about her getting chilled.

  He was hot enough to burst into flames.

  Valeriya reached out to wrap her hand around his dick, but he caught her wrist and shook his head. “Not this time.” She made him hotter than a teenage boy with his first woman. If she touched him, he’d be inside her in a heartbeat, and he wasn’t done playing yet.

  He caught both her hands in one of his and raised them over her head. She licked her lips, and the small gesture shot straight to his groin, leaving him panting. “What are you planning to do?” she asked.

  Tarrant growled and lowered his head until their lips were almost touching. “I plan to taste every inch of you.”

  She trembled against him, and he caught the sweet scent of her arousal. He licked water droplets from her collarbone and followed them down to her cleavage. A drop of water was poised to fall from the tip of one nipple. He caught it on his tongue before it could plummet from its precarious perch.

  Valeriya moaned and pushed her breast closer to his mouth. He lapped at the tip with his tongue before taking it between his lips. She was so damn sweet and giving. She never held anything back, didn’t know how to play sexual games.

  She was everything he’d stopped wanting thousands of years ago. He’d never allowed himself to believe he’d ever find her—the one woman who both man and beast desired with equal fervor.

  She was dangerous to him. Made him weak. She also completed him and made him invincible. With her by his side, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

  He used his mouth, lips, and tongue to tease her breast and then gave the other one equal attention.

  Her breath was coming in big gasps when he finally knelt before her. “Tarrant.” She gasped his name, but he wasn’t stopping. Not now.

  He traced a path down her wet torso with his tongue, dipping into her navel. She tasted sweet. His hands followed the curve of her waist and hips. He loved her figure, full and feminine.

  “Part your legs.” He wanted to see and taste her.

  She lowered
her arms from over her head and touched his hair. He looked up. Her pupils were dilated, and her lips swollen and moist from his earlier kiss. Her hair hung like a dark curtain around her shoulders.

  She slowly parted her thighs, sliding one foot over the tiles. Satisfaction filled him. She was his, now and forever.

  He leaned forward and inhaled deeply, drawing the perfume of her arousal into his lungs. It calmed and excited him at the same time. It was intoxicating.

  She gripped his short hair as he leaned inward and flicked his tongue over her clit. She gasped, and he smelled a fresh rush of arousal.

  She was hot and wet and his. He slipped two thick fingers into her core. Valeriya went up onto her toes to evade him, but he simply followed.

  …

  Valeriya wanted to come, but she didn’t want to come. Not yet. There was something different about Tarrant this time. His sense of urgency was missing. He’d certainly taken his time washing her back. There wasn’t a single inch of her skin he hadn’t touched or caressed.

  And the man had outstanding hands. Big and strong, yet gentle as he’d soaped and stroked and aroused her.

  Now he was on his knees in front of her, touching her in the most intimate way a man could touch a woman. He was giving her something she’d never had before. He was putting her first.

  He’d let his friends know she was his. He’d saved her life, given her his blood. He wanted her forever. Or so he said.

  She was still almost too afraid to believe it. That kind of love was for fairytales, not reality. Tarrant was a creature ripped from the very pages of myth and legend, except he wasn’t the villain to be defeated, but the hero.

  He started to slip his fingers from her core. She didn’t want that, so she followed, coming down off her tip toes. It had been too much when he’d suddenly thrust them into her. Now it wasn’t enough.

  He wrapped his lips around her swollen clit and growled.

  “Oh my God,” she gasped. It was like having a vibrator attached to the sensitive bud. He thrust his fingers back into her sheath, and she came, melting around him in the most delicious way.

  Her thighs quivered and her knees went weak. She was grateful for the support of the wall behind her. She wanted to close her eyes but couldn’t take them off Tarrant as he brought her the ultimate pleasure.

  When he was done, he raised his head. He didn’t smile, didn’t look smugly satisfied, as he had every right to be. No, there was a warm tenderness in his gaze that made her heart stutter and then race.

  He stood, caught her around the waist, and lifted her all in one motion. Then he bent his legs and slid his cock into her still-pulsing depths. They both shuddered and groaned as he pushed his thick shaft inward.

  Her inner walls stretched to accommodate him. Already sensitive after just having an orgasm, they rippled around his hard length.

  He held her easily with one arm and slapped his other hand against the tile. “You feel so fucking good.”

  She wanted to tell him how amazing she felt but couldn’t manage to speak. They were intimately joined, and it was primal and beautiful.

  He caught her chin in his hand and grazed his lips over his. It was such a contrast to the pounding rhythm of their hearts and the heavy pulsing of his cock.

  “Tell me you love me,” he demanded.

  She froze and shook her head. Not because she didn’t love him, but because she didn’t want to be the only one to make herself vulnerable.

  He began moving, pumping his hips up and down, moving his shaft and stimulating every nerve ending in her sheath. “Tell me.” He was relentless. There was no give in him. He would have what he wanted.

  His lips were still gentle as they caressed her cheeks and chin before returning to her mouth. The heat grew between her legs as he pumped in and out, going deeper with each thrust. His hips moved faster and more frantically.

  Caught up in the wild ride, she knew she was close to coming yet again.

  “Valeriya.” Beyond the command, she sensed a deep need. And loving him as she did, there was only one thing for her to do.

  “I love you.” She whispered the words. A normal man might not have heard them over the rush of the water, the pounding of their hearts, and the gasping of their breath. But Tarrant was anything but ordinary.

  He stilled and then began to pound into her with increasing ferocity. She held onto him as he drove them both over the edge. He called her name as he came. His shaft rippled inside her and pushed her into another orgasm.

  Heat and pleasure swamped her even as she buried her hurt at his not returning the words to her. Maybe he couldn’t. Actions, she reminded herself, spoke louder than words.

  Then why did he need the words from her? Why wouldn’t he return them?

  There was no time to think. Tarrant raised his head, and this time there was satisfaction stamped on his handsome face. He nuzzled her neck as he liked to do and then carefully withdrew. He was still full and thick, so it wasn’t easy.

  He grimaced and she gasped. “I’m sorry.” He kissed her cheek. He moved her back under the water and began to wash her. There was no lingering this time, only quick, efficient movements. When he was done, he quickly washed himself. She tried to leave the shower, but he simply wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back beside him.

  She was yawning by the time he turned off the water. She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. “I was going to do that,” he told her.

  “I’ve got it.” She needed some distance after such a mind-blowing, heart-melting encounter. She’d given him everything. And Tarrant…he’d given her everything but the words.

  She ran the towel over her body and then over her hair. Her stomach growled. It had been hours since they’d eaten steak and eggs. She had no idea how long. Tarrant’s lair really was the land that time forgot. With no sunlight or darkness to mark the passing of time, and no clocks visible anywhere, she had no inkling of what time of the day or night it was.

  Tarrant frowned as he dragged a towel over his broad chest and rippling abs. The muscles in his biceps flexed and moved as he worked. He really was gorgeous.

  “You’re hungry.” It came out as almost an accusation.

  “That happens when you don’t eat for a while.”

  His scowl deepened, and he caught her by the arm and practically dragged her into the bedroom. She dug in her heels. “I’m not done in here.” It was time to start laying down some ground rules if she was going to be staying with him. While she didn’t mind him carrying her from time to time, she wasn’t a rag doll.

  She told him as much, then she shooed him on. “You can go if you’re finished. I want to comb my hair.” Since they weren’t in her room, she couldn’t moisturize her skin. Mostly, she needed a few minutes alone. Tarrant had an overwhelming personality. It would be easy to get lost and subjugated by it if she wasn’t careful. He wouldn’t mean to do it, but it would happen.

  “I’ll change the sheets on the bed,” he announced. “And then make something for us to eat.”

  She grabbed a dry towel and used it to blot the water in her hair. “Good idea to change the sheets.” She had no trouble with him doing that. “As for food. I want a sandwich. Something with cheese.” She didn’t want a meal with a lot of red meat and eggs. That was more protein than she needed.

  “You need to eat well to regain your strength.” He tossed the towel over the rod to dry. Valeriya almost swallowed her tongue as he ambled toward her. It was like watching a tiger stalk toward prey. He didn’t walk so much as flow.

  And he was naked. How could she not be distracted by that? And he was still aroused.

  What had she been saying? Oh, yeah. “I can’t eat like you, Tarrant. I want vegetables, fresh fruit, cheese, yogurt, and maybe crackers. But for now, I’d like a sandwich.”

  “You didn’t like the steak?” His voice was neutral, but she caught the thread of hurt.

  She put her hand on his chest. “I loved the steak. I enjoy re
d meat on occasion, but I eat more chicken and fish, and then only a couple times a week.”

  Tarrant frowned. “Is that enough?”

  He honestly had no idea, but he was trying to understand and learn. That meant everything to her. “Yes, it is. Our metabolisms are much different. It’s understandable you’d need more food and more red meat in your diet.”

  He nodded abruptly. “Come to the kitchen when you’re done.”

  She was left looking at the open door. Tarrant detoured by the closet long enough to grab a pair of jeans and haul them on. Then he stripped the bed and got clean sheets from the closet.

  Valeriya couldn’t stop staring at him, so she closed the door and leaned against it. She got lightheaded and allowed herself to slide down and sit on the floor. What was she going to do?

  She was going to love her drakon. They obviously had a lot to learn about one another. Unlike most new relationships, they didn’t have the luxury of space or time. They’d been thrown together in a life-and-death situation.

  He was trying. And her love seemed to mean something to him. It was enough. It was more than she’d ever had. The words would be nice, but she no longer needed them. He’d saved her life, given her his precious drakon tears, and claimed her in front of his friends.

  For a man like Tarrant, that was everything.

  Her drakon might not say he loved her, but he did. He might not even realize it.

  That understanding propelled her to her feet. She pushed upright and leaned against the door until the room stopped spinning. Her body had been through a lot. She needed a good meal. She also needed to find out what time it was so she could get her body back on some kind of schedule.

  Then it was time to start making a normal life with Tarrant. Or as normal a life as it could get between a human and a drakon with a secret society hunting them.

  Chapter Twenty-Four