His eyelids flickered open. Even that seemed to take too much effort, and he let them drop.
There was a soft touch to the back of his head, just a whisper, yet it sent another shot of pain shimmering through his brain.
He groaned, raising his hand to bring it to the back of his head. His palm was captured. Soft gentle skin seemed to melt into his.
“Hold on, big guy,” she whispered.
It brought back to him where they were. On an island after his boat had capsized, which was how he’d got hurt.
He hadn’t realized how bad the injury had been, not even when his head had spun as they had swum through the storm. He’d been too focused on pushing ahead, keeping up with his dragon to notice.
It wasn’t until they’d come to shore that he’d let the sickness pull him under.
“This is going to hurt.”
That was the only warning he got. The sting of antiseptic radiated out from the back of his head.
“Putain de merde!” The sound of his own voice grated against his nerve endings.
The caustic bite of the disinfectant faded away as quickly as it had rushed in. The pain settled to a dull throb.
He pushed up on his arms, biceps trembling with the effort of holding his body up. Her arms reached around his shoulders.
He found himself being turned around, his head cradled to her chest.
Her face hovered over him, lips bitten in worry, color pale under her tan. “You didn’t tell me you were hurt.”
He coughed. “I didn’t realize I was hurt.” His jaw felt sore.
She raised a coconut shell filled with water to his lips. Its rind was uneven against his tongue as he sipped from it. It slid down his throat, soothing away some of the roughness.
He glanced around at their surroundings, taking in the thatched roof, the mud walls, the dirt floor. They were in a shelter of some kind. He was on a bed.
“How did you find this place?” The makings of a massive headache crawled up his neck. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from groaning.
“Went looking for shelter when it started to rain.” She jerked her chin to the window where the rain battered the pane. “The island is connected to the mainland by a bridge which is broken. Whoever lived here is long gone. I couldn’t scent anyone here or around the place.”
He forced his muscles to relax. At least for now they were safe. No one could harm her.
She clutched at his sodden shirt, her fingers wringing the material. “How did I miss that you were wounded?” She banged her fist on the bed. The frame shuddered with the force of impact.
The jolt vibrated through him. It clanked around in his head, setting off a fresh wave of pain. “You really are hurting me now.” He grunted. His shoulder muscles bunched. It felt like he had run into a wall.
The breath rushed out of her, and what color was left leached from her skin, leaving her even paler. “Did I open the wound? I didn’t, did I?” She moved around him to examine the back of his head.
“Hey, kitten.” He placed his palm against her cheek, a smile pulling at his lips. “I was just kidding. It’s kinda nice to see you like this.” He dragged his thumb down to make lazy circles over the pulse that fluttered at the base of her wrist.
“Like how?” She hung her head so her lank hair, stiff with sea salt, fell across her face, hiding it from him.
She was at a loss for words? His dragon queen, alpha of the dragons, was embarrassed and stumbling to redeem herself. “You know, all concerned for me, instead of being all prickly.”
“I’m not prickly.” Her lower lip jutted out. “And I am concerned about you, all the time, you big oaf.” She raised her hand as if to touch him, only to let it fall. “I care for you.” Her shoulders slumped.
She looked shocked, hearing her own words. She peered up at him from half-closed eyelashes, her teeth worrying her lower lip.
He swallowed a chuckle.
Maybe it was the pain that made him punchy and light-headed, but just then, as she looked at him, nervousness leaping off her skin, she was the sexiest thing he’d seen.
Ignoring the growing throb at the back of his head, he reached for her hair. Winding the strands around his fist, he tugged her head toward him.
Her eyes widened, flecks of gold glinting back at him. The pulse at the hollow of her neck quivered. She didn’t protest or pull back.
That told him she was more upset than she’d let on.
He wanted to fold her to him and kiss her, possess her like his lion had been wanting to since he’d first set eyes on her.
Her attention fixed on him. She rubbed her nose, and that gave her away. She was nervous and embarrassed that she had been too caught up in her own competitive spirit.
It sent a pulse of affection through him. “You never accept what you are told and getting you to agree to anything is always a fight. You are willful and stubborn, and sometimes you stir me up so bad I can’t decide if I want to smack you or kiss you.”
She thrust out her chin, her eyes narrowing.
Pain thumped at his temples. The back of his head throbbed. He pushed away the discomfort. “You’re not as cynical a leader as you think you are.” He pulled her close so her breath seared his cheek.
She pushed aside a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “Careful, you sound like you almost like me.” Her lips twisted in a smirk.
He chuckled, the sound without humor. “It’s not that simple. Nothing about us is simple, Evie, or haven’t you figured that out yet?”
The pain turned up another notch. A groan rolled up, and he couldn’t stop it.
Above him, Eve swore. He heard her fumbling around.
She thrust the pills she’d found in the medical kit toward him. “Painkillers.”
Urging him to open his mouth, she placed the tablet on his tongue. He swallowed it down with the rest of the water.
Cradling his back to her chest, she dug her fingers into his shoulder muscles and tugged. A knot of tension dissolved, sweet emptiness sprawling out in its place. A groan, this time of pleasure, was drawn out of him.
“Don’t stop.” He pushed back into her touch, letting as much of his skin rub against her as he could. His lion quivered, soaking in her gentleness. His voice sounded drowsy even to his own ears.
A light rustle as she rubbed her cheek over his head.
A sound rumbled up his chest—he was purring. But he couldn’t stop himself. Warmth bled from her, over his shoulders, sinking into his skin.
Sleep tugged at the edge of his vision. His eyelids fluttered down.
“I’ll watch over you.”
19
Eve
A sound penetrated the haze of tiredness that had dragged her under. She’d fallen asleep with her hand on Cain’s chest.
His arm brushed her as he thrashed around, sweat glistening over his lips. She touched Cain’s forehead. He was burning up. Fear wrenched her gut. She surveyed the room, wondering how to help him.
He was a shifter, he should have healed himself by now. Why had his condition worsened? Was the wound more serious than it had seemed?
A crack of thunder drew her attention to the window. Walking to the closet, she rummaged inside and drew out the last remaining piece of cloth. She stepped into the rain and let it soak the cloth. Back inside, she placed it on his forehead, wiping his face, his arms, then his chest.
He muttered deep inside his throat and turned his face to the side. His hands curled into fists as he clutched the bedspread.
Fear churned her stomach. This wasn’t helping. If the fever continued to rise this way, his life would be in danger. She had to do something.
At this moment it didn’t matter that she was a dragon shifter and could only bond with another dragon. She had to save his life.
Instinct made her reach for his hand and grip the big palm between her own. He gripped it with surprising strength. It seemed to quieten him a little.
Taking off her clothes,
she hung them out to dry on the bed frame. Then moving back, she slid into the bed and pulled the sheet over both of them.
Putting her arm around him, she placed her head on his shoulder. Let that sunshine smell of his surround her, reel her in.
She placed her hand on his chest and shut her eyes. Tiredness made her limbs heavy. She allowed herself to fall into that space deep inside where a shadow of her dragon still lurked. That pale lavender swatch unfurled and rushed to meet her.
She willed it to cool, to deepen to a blue, then channeled the healing energy through her fingertips into him.
The energy flashed out of her, merging with him.
On the psychic plane, the amber fire of his lion was a bright crimson.
His lion was literally burning up.
The blue swirled over the crimson, soothing it. The red lost its angry hue. His temperature began to subside. She stayed that way until exhaustion claimed her.
20
Cain
Her psychic presence swept over him. The crimson blaze that raged inside lessened, enough for him to fall into a dreamless sleep.
Or it may have been the fact that she’d promised to watch over him that allowed him to let his guard down.
He’d never trusted anyone else with his life before this, not even the immortal Ascendants. But his lion sensed this woman would never let anything happen to him. He’d always been the protector. For the first time, he tasted what it meant to put his faith in someone else.
He wasn’t even consciously aware of doing it. His lion, usually always on alert, stopped pacing and settled. Even then, the rational thinking part of his brain that he’d trained to be vigilant did not switch off completely.
It was that which prompted him to come awake, eyes springing open.
It was dark. His eyesight adjusted to make out where he was.
The rain had stopped. It was still but for a drip-drip sound in the distance which had him turning to the window. Pale starlight shimmered outside. Rainwater that had collected in the gutters dripped from the eaves.
The scent of lilies touched with wildfire teased him. Her face was pillowed against his shoulder. She was curled into his side, one leg bent and flung over his thigh, one hand over his chest.
When she’d been in a coma, he had sensed her, but the essence of her had been buried as if behind layers of fog.
In natural sleep, that restless energy which vibrated around her was subdued but still palpable. Her dragon was waking up and was close to the surface.
His gaze traced the curve of her lips, following the angle of her jaw, down the column of her throat.
His lion rubbed up against his skin. He sensed the violet energy of her dragon stir at his nearness.
He’d felt the veiled force of her sleeping dragon in the past. But this was different.
This was real, more grounded, like her dragon had grown stronger in the last few hours.
Perhaps the intensity of fighting the storm to stay alive, then racing through the waves to get there, had pushed her dragon to wake. For the first time, he understood the true power of being a dragon shifter.
The strength of her beast called out to that feral part of him that was coiled under his skin.
His lion tossed his head.
He had met his match, there was no doubt. She was his. He was going to claim her.
That thought had his skin tingling. His lion quivered.
That’s was when he noticed she’d stripped him of his clothes which were hung out to dry on the bed frame. Next to his shirt and jeans were her T-shirt and pants.
Very carefully, he brought his attention back to her.
She was naked to her waist, the sheet bunched over her stomach. Her hand covered her breasts from his view. Her shoulders sloped up to meet the creamy skin of her neck.
He followed the line of that stubborn chin to where her eyes were open, and she was watching him.
He held her gaze, saw the precise moment when the sparks burst to life in her irises.
Was she aware of how radiant she was? Her dragon wasn’t even fully awake, yet his senses throbbed with the awareness of being so close to her essence.
He very much wanted to close the distance between them, to slant his lips over hers, slide his touch down her side, over the slope of her breasts to where her nipples were pebbled for him. Matching the lust of heat that shot through him, making him hard.
“Eve…?” He wasn’t sure what he wanted to tell her.
She’d made it clear she couldn’t mate with him.
But being with her like this was hell. He wanted to lean in and kiss her, follow the curve of her breast, down her side, over that dip of her waist that drove him mad.
If they spent any more time together he’d end up making love to her, making her come…claiming her.
Just thinking of it sent another pulse of desire racing to his groin. He had to move his legs to accommodate his growing arousal.
Her gaze dropped to where his hardness tented the sheet.
A shudder seemed to ripple down her spine. She licked her lips, and her fingers curled.
His nostrils flared as the dark scent of her musk laced the air. Oh, she was aroused, too.
“Your choice, kitten.” He raised a finger to her cheek.
21
Eve
Eve caught his hand before he could touch her.
Since she’d woken from the coma to find him at her bedside, a part of her had assumed he’d always be there to take care of her. Finding him hurt and helpless had obviously sent a rush of fear through him. She wanted to be there for him, too.
She’d been too focused on herself all along. Her needs. Her wants. Yes, of course she’d been through a near-death experience, and that was bound to turn anyone’s head. Still, she couldn’t forgive herself for not realizing that he was wounded.
Didn’t change the fact that they were both awake, without clothes, in bed.
Had she set it all up so they had to face this chemistry that had swirled between them?
She glanced over the hard ridges of his chest. Abs which invited her to run her fingers down toward where hair arrowed into his briefs. His thighs were pure sculpted muscle.
The ink she’d seen running up one arm covered almost the entire side of his chest and stretched down to this thigh. The tattoos were intricate and interwoven with designs she couldn’t quite tell apart. They seemed to have themes of Earth and trees knitted with that of a majestic lion. It was a clan mark, she guessed.
The starlight slanted over him, throwing into relief the shadows between the ridges of his chest.
Dense heat from his skin slammed into her chest, holding her immobile.
Molten want sparked low in her womb. She wanted to touch him, kiss him, run her tongue over his chest, down to where his hardness pushed against her waist.
She wanted all of him. Not just his body—she wanted him to see her as she was. Not a dragon or an alpha, just a woman consumed with the rightness of what was there between them.
In that moment, she was very close to the edge.
If she said the word, he’d take her, make love to her. It would be lovemaking, not just sex. Whatever they had would leave neither of them unchanged.
But it would make him resent her, for they were here to find his sister and rescue her.
“Serena.” She dropped his hand, yanking up the sheet to her chin. “You should focus on getting better.” She rose to her feet.
Wrapping the sheet around her, she walked to her pants, and under the cover of the sheet managed to slide into them. She shrugged into her T-shirt, making sure her back was to him.
Her pulse was fluttering like she had run a mile. Her blood pumped. Heat flushed her skin. Her mouth went dry. Her dragon was close to the surface.
Her dragon.
She dropped inside herself to find a swirling, violet-gold energy pulsing with life.
Turning, she ran to him, dropping to her knees next to him. “My dragon,
she’s waking up.” She threw her arms around him.
Her dragon surged toward him, and the rightness of it slammed into her chest with all the force of a punch.
She tore herself from him, raking her fingers through her hair. Her shoulders heaved. Lips quivered. Every part of her came alive.
Her dragon didn’t care he was a lion or that the impact of mating with him would kill him. All her dragon could feel was the pull on the psychic plane. His soul resonated with hers, the way no one else’s would.
It only convinced her even more that sleeping with him was not a good idea.
Reaching up, he cupped her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
She swallowed. Cain as a dominant, protective lion was a breathtaking sight. But like this, when he was gentle and open and easy to be with, she could see him not just as a lover but as a partner.
He’d respect her and walk beside her. He was potent.
She placed her hand over his. “You’re nothing like I expected.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, the skin around his eyes crinkling, the amber in those eyes a simmering gold. “Friends?” His features lit up, making him even more appealing.
The force of his personality was a seductive charm. There was no way she could resist him.
She rose to her feet.
His hand dropped away.
Walking to the door, she paused, half turning her head. Just enough to see him over her shoulder. “A truce. For now.”
22
Cain
It took everything in him to not follow her out.
His shifter healing powers had kicked in during the night, and he was feeling stronger by the second.
His lion rumbled and pushed against his skin, asking him to go to her, to watch over her, make sure no harm came to her.
The man he was knew that would not work.
Obsession: Paranormal Romance : Dragon Shifters, lion shifters, immortals and wolf shifters (Dragon Protectors Book 2) Page 8
