by Thalia Frost
“Yes. Now. I mean it. Otherwise, you won't like what I say...in public company.” Her eyes flashed cold fire at him.
“Sorry. I have...a work project thing we need to discuss. I have to go. I'll be back later, Skye.” Niall sighed.
Her face fell. He hated seeing that he was the one who was letting her down—the woman he loved and wanted to mate with. He was more sure of that than ever now. And they had been so close to talking, to truly knowing each other.
She doesn't believe this is about work. I wouldn't either.
“Fine. I have to write anyway.” Skye turned her back on him and sat down at her computer.
“Skye, I promise. I'll be back as soon as I can.” The flowers seemed like a sad attempt to get her to notice him now.
“Don't bother. I have things to do.” Her voice was flat, devoid of the passion he had heard only moments before.
Morighan cleared her throat loudly. “Now! Niall.”
Hanging his head, he followed her outside, feeling as if he were going to his doom.
* * * *
They ran, he out of rage, and Morighan, possibly out of a similar emotion.
“Why the fuck did you come there?” He stopped as they reached a clearing.
Morighan motioned him into a small cave that no one would stumble upon. It was hard to even see at all, unless you were a dragon and knew cave entrances like your own face.
“Because I'm letting you know, you're going to be mated to me—forever.” Her eyes flashed that icy fire of blue.
Niall groaned, feeling his cock stir. She turned him on, and the residual passion from his encounter with Skye didn't help any. The woman he loved really brought out the dragon in him, and it had been a fight not to shift during the last few minutes with her.
“Morighan, I like you. I care about you as a sister, but I can't. As soon as I saw this woman, I knew. It was like—fate. This wasn't some arranged mating thing like we have.” He avoided her gaze.
“Look at me, you coward,” she snarled. “You don't have to love me. We are doing this for our clan—to hold it all together. The sex is good, and that's enough, along with our friendship.” She slid over onto his lap in a fluid movement, before he could protest.
“No, I don't want to.”
But she was already sucking on his neck, and heat built inside his chest, a sure sign of the shift coming on. Morighan knew how to change him—fast. She had experience.
“I can feel that you do.” She laughed and rubbed against his cock with her ass.
“The dragon inside of me does, but I love another woman.” Niall ground the words out as she continued to massage him.
“That's fine. Like I said, I don't give a damn about love. But you are going to be my mate. It's decided. The clan is more important than luuuuve.” She bit his neck and sucked hard, and he shouted.
A vortex spun behind his eyes—colors of fire merging.
I'm shifting. I'm lost.
He rose with a roar and breathed fire. He was full of rage and lust. Niall pushed Morighan against the cave wall, pressing her face against it. She hadn't shifted.
What game is she playing?
He didn't know and didn't care. All he knew was that he had to have her—had to mate, or he would burst.
She laughed as he peeled her pants down. “Take me. In less than two months, we will be together, formally.” Morighan pushed her ass against his hand as he cupped it.
Niall groaned, his erection painful, even as he hated himself.
Morighan had caught him unguarded and already turned on. It was a terrible combination.
“Not going to happen.” He lifted her ass and rubbed his hard cock quickly against it. Niall wasn't going to be gentle. He didn't care about her pleasure. Niall only wanted to relieve the lust that had built inside of him and to punish her for hurting him—for hurting Skye.
“Take it out on me.” Morighan laughed.
Niall pushed his slick, scaly, shimmering cock into her. She was wet and ready.
She enjoys this. She likes to hurt people and get a reaction.
He pounded into her pussy as she shouted with pleasure. He wouldn't hold out long between his rage and lust.
“Pull out and come on my face. Mark me as yours,” Morighan commanded, sliding away from him.
Niall puffed with anger and want. He would do as she said, in spite of his rage. Not to do so wasn't his style. He didn't keep going when a woman wanted something else during sex.
He slid his cock out of her and grabbed the length of her lithe body, pulling her roughly to the rocky cave floor.
“Ooh,” Morighan said, licking her lips.
Niall didn't even want to look at the expression of victory on her face. “I'll come on your face, but only because you took advantage of my situation. You know it.” He grasped his thick cock and stroked it fast.
Morighan sat up, licking the head as he stroked, mashing it against her face. “We'll see about that.” She sucked the plum of his cock--hard.
Niall exploded, roaring with rage and release. The sound reverberated through the cave as he spilled his wet seed on her smiling face.
* * * *
Skye tried to write, but the words wouldn't come. She found herself waiting for Niall.
He's not coming.
She knew now that the woman she had seen twice was his lover. There was no doubt about it. She had seen the electricity that passed between them, the looks that said they knew each other quite well.
“I'm such a stupid idiot, as usual.” A tear dripped onto her laptop. Skye brushed it away angrily. “I will not cry over him. I hardly know him. It doesn't make any sense.”
She typed listlessly, a sentence here and there until the sun flamed out in red, orange, and violet streaks.
“Skye! Let me in. I'm sorry.”
He's here. What? Does he think I'm a total moron?
“No. I'm busy.” Her voice shook. She didn't look toward the door.
“Please. We have to talk. We're linked, you and I, in ways you don't understand.”
She laughed snidely. “That's a new pickup line, but try harder.”
He banged on the door. “Please, please. I'm sorry about Morighan.”
The sentence was heavy with meaning.
“I don't care. What does it matter to me?” The wall she kept up was back.
I don't have time for this. I can't let myself go...not even for him.
“Let me in. It's cold out here. Just give me a chance. I won't leave until you do. It's that important, Skye.” Niall sighed loudly.
She stood, stretching, giving him a show as she arched her back. “Okay. Five minutes. Then, you have to go. I'm busy.”
I'll stick to it, too. He can be left wanting this time—like he left me, the wannabe two timing bastard.
Skye opened the door, noticing his disheveled hair and a bite mark on his neck.
Yeah. It's obvious what Morighan needed him for.
He pushed inside the cottage.
“Um, okay.” Skye watched him, mouth agape.
“Take off your pants.”
“What?” She spit the word at him, hands on her hips.
Is he nuts?
“Take them off. I don't want to molest you. I need to show you something.”
“Yeah, sure. I don't get you.” Skye laughed, anger in the tone. “You come here and make a play for me. Then, you leave with your girlfriend and come back, asking me to undress for you. This is charming.”
Niall shook his head. He looked so tired, she noticed now.
“She's not my girlfriend. Not at all.”
“Oh yeah? So, you just sleep with her? Friends with benefits. I see.” Skye crossed her arms.
“Skye. We don't have much time. Take off your pants. I swear to you, it's for your benefit...and mine and not in a sexual way.” He gazed into her eyes, his emerald ones flashing like something not human.
She couldn't ignore the pleading and seriousness of his voice.
“I don't know why I'm doing this. I wouldn't ever do this for anyone else.” She unbuttoned her pants and let them drop, shivering with the chill of evening coming on.
“You have the mark—on your inner thigh.” His voice shook as if with reverence. Skye had never heard a man's voice hold that note for her.
Her fingers went to it instinctively. How had he known? “I don't know what you mean.”
Niall stepped toward her. “Yes, you do. You've known all your life you were different. You've held yourself back, away from men because of it.”
Skye swallowed hard, terrified now. She took a step back from him, feeling exposed in her white bikini briefs. “No. I don't know what you're talking about.”
He touched her face. “Yes, I know you do. I knew it the moment I saw you, Skye.”
“I--”
Niall pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.
Colors swirled behind her eyes, and blood rushed to her clit. She had never been kissed like this before. It was all consuming—like being transported to another world where men and beasts coexisted and where legends were true.
Skye returned the kiss, entwining her tongue with his, and running her fingers through his hair.
I must be insane.
She pressed her body against his, her panties wet with need of him.
Niall groaned in response and ground against her, the length of him painful against her.
She thought she might faint from the feel of his cock, hard and ready for her. Rising behind that feeling was the fear of the change that was beginning inside of her.
It's like there's a beast inside of me.
Skye wanted to roar, to grab him, to take him. Her breathing was heavy and hot, heat growing inside of her chest.
Maybe I'm having a heart attack.
Niall ended the kiss, leaving her panting for more, feeling as if she would die if he didn't touch her. He was silent for a moment, and her pulse slowed a bit as he held her arms gently. The feeling that she had to jump on him and have him inside of her slowly subsided.
“Sit down, please.”
She nodded mutely and sat next to him on the sofa in the den.
“I have to tell you something. Please listen.” Niall gazed into her eyes, his own the hue of an ocean spawned at the beginning of time.
Skye waited. It felt like standing on a precipice—like the most important moment of her life so far.
How could it be? You've only just met this man.
Her world tilted and went hazy when he spoke again.
“Skye, you're a dragon shifter, and more importantly, you're going to be my mate.”
Find more of my books on Amazon.com. Visit my website at www.thaliafrost.com or Facebook: ThaliaFrost.
Thank you for reading! The next Dragons book (Dragon Me to the Flame) is coming in August and will soon be up for pre-order. It will tell the more of the story of Niall and Skye, as well as some of Roland's story—the dragon clan's most ambitious member.
