“You’re not trusted yet. You won’t be until you’re placed.”
“Placed? Like in a job? I’m told I have pretty good leadership skills.”
He let her in and she crossed to him. After a second, she rubbed his neck with her pointer finger, and he shivered. Perhaps he didn’t have to worry about their experience being a one-time thing. He didn’t know who had dictated her touching him, whether Princess herself had initiated it or Amanda had come through again, but his body responded. His cock hardened.
Not that he intended to act on it at that moment. One advantage of being forty-one instead of twenty-one was that he didn’t have to act on every sexual impulse that occurred to him. He’d wait to take Amanda again when the time warranted it.
Somehow.
“I mean a pairing for you.” Princess walked around him. “A dragon you will become.”
“Lady, I’ve got news for you—I’m not becoming a dragon. Not in this lifetime or any other. When I say never, I mean it sincerely.” He could tell her the absolute truth in this instance. Becoming a dragon didn’t feature in any future for him.
“Oh you all say that.” She bent toward him and he got a fantastic view of her cleavage. He’d not gotten enough time with Amanda’s breasts earlier. Next time he would feast. “But we get all of you.”
“I know a little bit about people. I’ve had to. You see, the thing is that I really just wanted to fight battles. Like my father and his father before him. Once, before you came here, my family had a tradition of military service. I only know the tales they’ve told me. I never lived in the world before you. But someone had to lead us. And although it had never been my dream, I rose up to do so.”
She twirled a piece of her hair in a move he knew Amanda would never make. She didn’t do “girly-girl”. That much he knew for sure. “Why do you tell me this story? Am I to feel sorry for you?”
“No.” He pulled the hair out of her hand and slipped it behind her ear. “I don’t want your pity. I only wish to make myself clear. I wasn’t born really understanding people. By nature, I prefer to hunt them, kill them or end their lives on behalf of my people. Yet my job has forced me to acquire new skills and I’ve become quite adept at it.”
“Yes? And?” She narrowed her eyes, temper flaring behind her brown irises.
He spoke very softly. “You’re nervous. I can see it. You’re not entirely certain I’ll turn, are you? Or that you even want me to? I’m a mess in your otherwise spotless house of human prisoners.”
“But you will be clean.” She dug her nails into his chest. He could feel the sensation through the lightweight cotton shirt he wore. “When I’m through with you.”
He shook his head. Princess didn’t warrant a response. Just the fact that he dared to not be impressed by her made her nuts. He knew her type. She liked to be the center of attention.
“Go to bed. It’s lights-out.”
Dean walked past her toward the bedrooms. The other humans at dinner had explained to him that until he had a dragon, he had to sleep with the servants, the non-joined humans who lived with them. Apparently, the humans who were joined had to go to wherever their dragons were resting. That location was kept secret. He didn’t get to know about it. Or that was what they’d said.
What they didn’t understand was that he’d know it by the end of the night. Every human here would be leaving with him, dragon-fricking-free.
Chapter Five
Princess lay down next to herself, snuggling against her dragon body. She smiled. So few got to live as she did. Days spent in her human body. Nights in her dragon. Never tired, never overwhelmed. Always in charge.
She let her consciousness drift from Amanda’s vessel into her own. Her dragon stood up. She stretched her front and back legs, letting her wings flap back forth while she did so. Everything worked the way she wanted it to. Her bodies never failed her. She’d picked well.
Her eyes drifted down to where she’d left Amanda asleep. Her human body would remain deep in dreamland, unable to rouse until she returned for her. And if for some reason she didn’t come back, then Amanda Sugar would never wake again. Damn that Dean Andrews. In all her years of existence, on this planet and the one they’d come from, she’d never considered death. Why did that infuriating little man have that effect on everything around him?
If he didn’t join well, he’d be destroyed. She pushed the doors to her room forward, letting them swing behind her as she exited. This part of the castle, the most highly guarded in the whole of the place, worked like that. Nothing required the use of purposeless human hands—not when her wings could bang them and make them do as she wanted.
With two easily taken strides, she exited through the open window into the night sky. The wind blew under her wings, giving her lift, and she flapped gently, letting it take her where the mood moved. She had no plans for that evening except to enjoy it. All thoughts of Dean Andrews would fade with the moonlight on her scales.
She grinned. Although she’d not planned it, perhaps a burning raid on some unprepared village would fill her up.
* * * * *
Amanda drifted. She sat on a white beach under a tree, letting the warmth spread inside her. Leaning over, she took a sip of her drink, which tasted sweet. Too sweet. She gagged and rested back against the tree.
This wasn’t working for her tonight. She’d never been on a beach. Ever. All the time she’d spent on the run with the kids, they’d never stumbled upon paradise. The dragon shoved her into these dream places to keep her content while she flew around in her own body for the evening.
Nice, comfortable surroundings were meant to be satisfying. Except they weren’t. She stood up. Awareness that she was sleeping did something to negate the restorative power of the act.
Amanda rolled her eyes. She’d had too many years with Princess in her head. Once she’d been able to speak her mind, plainly and clearly. Even if the way she spoke had left something to be desired, she could tell folks what she wanted when she wanted it. Now? She talked in riddles and used big words meant to be impressive.
Would there be a time soon when Princess took over everything about her? When Amanda wouldn’t be around at all anymore?
She couldn’t let that happen before she had a chance to help Dean to get back to her brother and sister. Then whatever happened, she’d deal with it. Until then she had to fight as she hadn’t in years. At what point had she given in to Princess’ demands?
She needed to wake up. Pacing back and forth in front of her tree, she tried to figure out how she could accomplish such a thing. When Princess left her to sleep, that was what she did until Princess said the time to wake up had come.
Sex with Dean had let her break from her prison once. It would work again. The only problem was that she couldn’t conjure Dean from thin air and force him to come and have sex with her unconscious body. She shuddered at the idea. It would be a little bit like making love to a corpse. Somehow, she suspected Dean would object even if she were to ask for such a thing.
“So I can’t exactly get him in here to have sex with me.”
But maybe she could think about it and that would do it for her. She lay down on the ground and tried to picture Dean in her mind.
He’d been so handsome when she’d been a child, even if she hadn’t known it then. Her parents had disliked him immensely, but then strong personalities frequently came to blows. When Dean had objected to her parents’ illegal and not accidental pregnancy, they’d taken their first chance to skedaddle in the middle of the night.
Her parents had been right about their babies. But she knew from what Dean had told her years later that he would eventually have calmed down—nothing would have happened to the kids. Watching him bluster with Princess, she knew he could bark as loud as any dog. But his kisses were tender. He had a big heart in his perfectly sculpted chest.
Her parents had never given him the chance to take back his anger.
Not thinking at all about what cou
ld happen to them in the wilderness on their own, they’d moved around constantly—farther and farther from New Strauss. It had seemed like a great adventure until the reality of starvation and danger had set in. She’d asked to go back many times in the beginning. How bad could mean Dean Andrews be? He’d always been nice to the kids around the township.
She hadn’t seen him again until the day she’d stolen the bread, gotten caught and been kidnapped by the dragons. Yet he’d still raised her brother and sister.
Amanda closed her eyes. And hell’s bells, his fucking body. She could still remember the way his skin had felt under the pads of her fingers. It had been rough. The man worked outside, spent his days in defense of his people. He didn’t feel as if he spent a lot of time worrying about whether he’d moisturized and exfoliated his skin as the men were made to do here.
In her imagination she could still feel him with her. The way his four o’clock shadow had rubbed against her. She shivered.
Alone in her dreams, she could do as she wished. Who would ever know? And even if someone found out, she didn’t really care. This existence trapped in her own head constituted her whole life.
Unzipping her khaki shorts, she let her finger find her clit. Dean had played her like a finely tuned instrument. She’d been touched before, but never like that. Could she manage to do the same to herself? Living with Princess inside her head hadn’t left a lot of time for self-gratification.
Dean had found her clit much faster than she was able to, which made her roll her eyes. How out of touch with her body did that make her? Or how experienced did that make him?
She tossed out the idea of Dean with other women. Those weren’t the images she wanted in her head. He’d only had eyes for her when they were together. That was how he’d look at her now.
As she rubbed and stroked the bundle of nerves responsible for so much pleasure, she saw his fingers doing it instead of hers.
“You okay?” he whispered in her ear. The scene unfolded before her. Instead of the beach, they were alone in a bedroom. Darkness provided a cover for them. Outside, the sounds of the desert filled the evening air. A coyote howled his evening prayer and she shuddered.
“I’m better now that you’re here.” He’d been gone for hours. “I miss you when you go on runs.”
“I’d rather not go but you know how it is.”
“I do.”
He slipped his finger inside her and she moaned. “You’re so damn wet for me. I’m not sure I’ll make it very long.”
She laughed, surprising herself with the low, sultry sound of it. Sexy women sounded like that. Not her. “You always say that and you always manage to perform just fine.”
“Glad to hear it. But a guy can worry. Especially an old man like me.”
She swatted at his shoulder. “You’re not old.”
His skilled fingers stroked her clit. He knew her rhythm. Not so slow as to be tedious but not so fast that she couldn’t keep up with his pace. Amanda liked to ease into it, savor each moment.
Her muscles contracted. She wanted him to fill her up. Usually she could come just with his fingers but he’d been gone for days. She wanted the whole thing. Amanda’s body would settle for nothing less.
“On top.” He rolled her over on top of him. “I feel like watching you ride me tonight.”
Her mouth stung from where she’d bitten down on it. Someday perhaps she’d tell him how much it turned her on when he ordered her around. If she made it too easy for him, the game would change.
“And we should do what you want? Because you want it that way?”
“That’s right.” He leaned up on the backs of his arms. “I’m in charge. Of all things. Didn’t you know?”
Dean spent his days caring for others, even if he didn’t realize that was exactly what he did. He would have said his life consisted of putting out fires before they started. In any case, she wanted to take care of him. All the time.
Especially in bed.
“Maybe for tonight.”
She climbed on top of him until she straddled him. His hard length poking up at her made her mouth water. Dean’s cock, erect, thick and deeply veined, brought her more pleasure than she’d ever known possible.
“Grab a condom.” His neck muscles clenched. “Unless you’re ready.”
A baby. She smiled. “Sure. If you are.”
“I’ve been. As you know.”
They’d never been together skin-to-skin before—she hadn’t wanted to conceive. Something had changed. A baby who looked like him, with her eyes. Or a mixture of them both.
She climbed on top, putting him inside her pussy. She was still wet from when he’d touched her earlier, and he slid in easily despite his largeness. If she didn’t get ready for him, taking his penis into her warmth could be a challenge, since he had quite a large member. But not this time.
His eyes were hooded, his voice barely a whisper when he spoke. “Amanda.”
“I love you.” She spoke the words on rare occasions. He knew she felt them. Words were just words. Too many spoken, not enough meant. Yet at the moment when his unsheathed cock touched the sensitive skin of her pussy, she felt she should say them to truly bring solemnity to the moment.
“I love you too.” He stroked the top of her leg.
She rode him, her muscles clenching around him with each thrust. His hips came up to meet hers, movement for movement. They’d done this dance before. Somehow, it still stayed fresh. Amanda knew better than to question why. Good things came and went from their lives. When everything was perfect, she didn’t tempt the fates.
Amanda quickened her pace. On top, she could really rub her clit against him, which sent jolts of pleasure up and down her spine.
“Hell.” Dean hissed in a breath. “Sweetheart. How do you do this to me?”
She couldn’t answer him. With her eyes closed, she reached up to stroke her breasts, pulling on her nipples. Dean liked to watch when she pleasured herself.
“Faster,” he ordered her.
She did as he said, speeding up her pace to a frenzy. They were both panting. Pressure built from deep inside her until it exploded outward. Dean called out her name seconds before the warmth of his seed shot inside her.
Amanda fell forward and Dean caught her in his arms. His cock still inside her, she jolted with every movement his hard length made.
“You’re going to kill me, woman. The death of me in your arms. It’ll be quite a way to go.”
Amanda’s eyes flew open. Gone was the beach and also the room she’d made up in her mind for her sexual encounter with Dean. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around.
The room remained empty except where she lay on the floor. As far as she could remember, she’d never been in this room without her dragon. Or, she amended, not awake in it. Princess would be out for the night doing whatever she did.
In the beginning, Princess had shared her memories of her nightly jaunts. Perhaps Amanda had not been interested enough in them or impressed in the way Princess wanted. The stories had stopped.
She stood up, wobbly on her own feet. Her brain had forgotten how it felt to be left to its own devices. She moved like a toddler learning to walk. Her feet tingled.
Still, she managed to get to the window. The sky, fully dark, told her it would be a while until Princess returned. Plenty of time to help Dean in any way she could. If only she knew what he was currently doing or where he was.
Well, there seemed no choice. She’d have to find out. Her feet stayed under her a little more steadily as she made it to the door.
The dream she’d had of Dean haunted her movements. She’d wanted to picture him naked, to stroke herself to climax so she could awaken. In no fashion had she anticipated just how detailed a scenario her warped brain would create.
“Shit,” she muttered to herself. Could she have made up anything worse? Wife? Babies? What the fuck? Why couldn’t she get off like a normal person and just want hot, sweaty sex with the finest man she’d
ever known?
The dragon guard down the hall snored. She hadn’t even known they posted one. It didn’t surprise her that he napped on duty. Why should he worry? Humans couldn’t move when their captors were out, except for the servants, who were tagged. They wouldn’t get far even if they could scale the walls. Most of them remained in such a state of pain from their daily work that they couldn’t have scaled the walls, with or without the equipment.
She walked right by him. He never stirred. Amanda couldn’t remember his name. Princess knew them all but outside the joined dragons she wasn’t concerned with them. They barely registered on Princess’ radar. Her joined dragon would sacrifice them in a heartbeat if need be. With all the hell in her life, Amanda couldn’t waste time remembering the names of lizards that would be gone as soon as she learned them.
Amanda moved quickly. She’d check the barn first. If Dean had been there, he’d have taken the equipment. The dragons kept it there in case they needed to send a joined human out without them. They were controlled, sent right back home when they’d finished their task.
Princess had never sent her on that kind of run. But Amanda had watched Princess send others to handle external tasks. Most never returned.
She crossed the courtyard and headed to the barn, running hard, stopping only when she got inside. Pitch-blackness assaulted her senses. When was the last time she’d used her eyes at night? She blinked rapidly, trying to see something inside the hangar.
“Who’s there? I have a knife and I’ll slice your throat right open.”
She swallowed. The same voice she’d fantasized about minutes earlier. “Dean.”
“Amanda.” A light illuminated the room. “Hell. I could have killed you.”
The matchstick he held showed her that he hadn’t lied. He did have a knife in his hand. If he’d wanted to, Dean Andrews could have slit her throat. Probably would have too.
“How did you get the light?”
“One of the servants. They’re happy to help us.” He walked toward her. “We’re all getting out of here.”
Dragon Joined Page 5
