“I’ve been waiting since we met to hear those words.” Alex stood up, his strength returning.
“To sleep,” Sapphi told him firmly.
“For now.” He flashed her a wicked grin that only his mate saw, since everyone else was caught up in the moment, watching mother and baby reunited.
“We will see you in a few hours,” Sapphi said, leading Alex out of the kitchen.
“You look as if you need more than a few hours’ sleep,” Fiona said critically.
“I feel as if I could sleep for days,” Kim admitted.
“Then go.” Harlan reached out for Archie. “We can look after your son for the day. He won’t be far away.”
“I don’t want to leave him again.” Kim hung on to Archie.
“You aren’t leaving him,” Harlan said gently. “But you need to look after yourself. Archie needs his mom healthy. And that means sleep and food.”
“I know you’re right.” Kim kissed Archie on the head. “Will you stay with Harlan while I sleep?” Archie snuggled against her.
“Come on, Archie. Shall we go and find Harlan Jr.?” Ruby asked brightly, and Archie went to her. “They’re best friends.”
Kim nodded. “It’s such a relief he was well cared for while I was gone.”
“He was, and he won’t remember a thing,” Fiona said kindly. “So, stop feeling guilty, and go and get some sleep.”
“What if Neil calls with news?” Kim asked, still reluctant to leave the room.
“If he does, I will wake you. I promise.” Harlan walked over to Kim. “We’re here for you, Kim.”
Kim nodded, her eyes fixed on her son. “I’ll show you to Ruby’s room,” Sapphi said, breaking away from Alex.
He instantly wanted to pull her back to his side. He longed to crawl into bed with her, and hold her close, to lie with his mate in his arms while they slept off the long night.
And to wake as twilight descended and make love to her beneath the stars.
Chapter Seventeen – Sapphi
Dreams of dragons, of starlight above her head and clouds beneath her feet. Sapphi lay in Alex’s arms as they slept, after their mad dash home. Where her mate had found the strength from, she could only guess. The need to reunite a child with his mom, to make a family whole. If only they had found Jayden, too.
She woke. Disorientated, Sapphi turned over and searched for her clock which stood on the nightstand. Nine o’clock. It took her a moment to acknowledge it was nine in the evening, not the morning. Outside, the light was leaving the sky.
“I thought you were going to sleep all night and into tomorrow morning,” Alex’s voice was soft in her ear.
Sapphi rubbed her eyes. “I think I could.”
“But you are not going to.” He stroked her shoulder, his fingers igniting a fire across her skin.
“Did you have something else in mind?” she asked hoarsely.
“I might.” His lips replaced his fingers, kissing her soft skin.
“Tell me.” She turned around, facing him, gazing at him in the twilight.
“I’d rather show you.” His hand cupped her breast through the T-shirt she had thrown on when they collapsed into bed that morning. His fingers tweaked her nipple, and she bit her bottom lip as sensations filled her body.
“Teach me,” she whispered in his ear.
“You already know everything you need to know.” He kissed her chin, his tongue trailing along her jawline.
Sapphi slipped her hand down between their bodies. He was naked, and her hand closed around his hard length, stroking him as he groaned his approval. Alex was right, she did know everything she needed to know. Mating was as natural as flying to a dragon shifter. The intricacies she would learn with practice. After all, each person was different, and Alex had as much to learn about her body as she did from his.
Each touch, each stroke of fingertips across flesh, created a different sensation. Unique to each person.
Braver now, she stroked him in a rhythm that made him grit his teeth and gasp. His finger and thumb twisted her nipple, while his other hand stroked her belly, moving lower, to the center of her need. She anticipated the first touch of his fingers across her clit, but his fingers trailed lower, along the length of her thigh, and then to the crook of her knee.
He slipped his hand under her knee, and drew her leg up, higher, resting it over his strong, well-muscled leg. Sapphi trembled as he stroked her inner thigh. She was exposed to his touch, open to his exploration. And she wanted him to explore her, to navigate his way around her body.
“Oh.” She breathed in as he trailed a finger along her wet sex. Alex didn’t pause, he moved toward his goal, rubbing her clit lightly before sliding back toward her sex. His touch was light, never dipping inside her, even though she ached for Alex to probe her with his fingers.
Her focus shifted completely to hone in on each small movement. Every time he trailed over her clit, she inched her hips higher, as if trying to capture his fingers, willing him to touch her more intimately. Alex was playing with her, increasing her arousal to the point where she was about to go insane.
Just when she could stand it no longer, he flipped her onto her back and knelt between her thighs, his cock erect and proud before him. Alex reached for the hem of her T-shirt and lifted it up toward her head. Sapphi raised her arms and he pulled it off, throwing it to the floor.
“You are beautiful.” Alex caressed her skin, following the contours of her body, the swell of her breasts, the softness of her belly, before lowering his head and kissing the tips of her nipples each in turn. She shivered, wanting more, wanting him.
Sapphi reached for his hard length and massaged him with her right hand, while her left hand stroked his body, the hardness of his chest, his taut nipples, daring to tweak them as he had tweaked hers. The result was the same, a sharp intake of breath, hissing between his teeth.
Alex placed his hand under her breast, cupping it, and then his mouth closed around the sensitive bud and he sucked hard, torturing the turgid flesh with his tongue. Around and around, he circled his tongue, while the ache between her thighs grew in intensity. She needed him, or she would explode.
Sapphi wriggled up the bed, just enough to angle his cock toward her sex. Alex eased himself backward and let her explore the feel of him against her aching core. She rubbed the head of his hardness along her sex, pressing herself down on him, but not penetrating herself.
Alex watched the expression on her face as she toyed with him, making him want her, until at last, he could stand it no longer. His hand covered hers and he took control, brushing himself along her wet sex, before guiding himself into her. Her breathing stopped, and she tensed.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked with concern.
“No,” she whispered.
Alex eased himself inside her, letting her adjust to him as he breached her outer lips and pierced her innocence. She writhed as he pushed deeper, trying to adjust to the girth of his cock as it stretched her inner walls. Alex took his time, for they had all the time in the world, and eternity to explore each other’s bodies. He was her mate, the only man she would ever know so intimately.
She gave herself to him completely. He was hers, and she was his, forever bound together.
Alex filled her slowly, her inner walls yielding to him, as he buried himself deep inside her. He was big, bigger than she imagined, but he eased the ache inside her core, moving slowly, creating an incredible friction between their bodies. Skin against skin, two souls joined in an act of love.
Alex strained, his body tense as he paused, buried inside her, impaling her on his hard length. Sapphi stroked his chest, tensing her inner muscles, gripping him tightly. Alex gasped, his body twitching. Did she do something wrong?
The strain on his face was intense and he fought for control. He liked it. She released her muscles, and as he relaxed, she tensed them again.
“Fuck. I’m going to come.” He breathed heavily.
“I tho
ught that was the whole point,” Sapphi whispered in his ear, her breath caressing his skin, sending goosebumps across his flesh.
“Not. Yet.” He eased himself out of her, and she felt the loss. Was he going to stop their lovemaking while he recovered? No. He slid out of her until only the head of his cock was inside her, then he moved, small movements, circling his hips. It felt good. Really good.
Alex cupped her breast and licked her nipple, resting his weight on one elbow as he angled his body away from her. In an act of contortion, he slid his free hand down between their bodies and rubbed her clit with his fingers, pinching the sensitive bundle of nerves, bringing her to the brink of her own orgasm. But to come, she needed him to fill her, to stretch her inner walls once more, to satisfy her.
Sapphi urged him to bury himself inside her. Surely, he wanted this, too?
He did, and slid into her, impaling her on his cock. This time he didn’t let her adjust, he lunged harder, faster, the tension between them incredible as they raced each other like two dragons across the sky, toward their climax. Alex’s body teased her clit, his hand sliding around and under her bottom, to hold her in place while he thrust into her.
Every sensation merged into one, his mouth on her breasts, his hard length inside her. Pressure mounted, it needed a release, and then she came, her inner muscles gripping Alex tight, pulsing around him, setting off a chain reaction in his body. He came, his seed erupting as he jerked into her. Filling her, completing their mating.
Alex had claimed her. And she had claimed him right back.
They lay together in the afterglow of their lovemaking. The light in the room faded completely, leaving them in darkness. Alex stroked her skin, placing light kisses on her neck and breasts.
“We should go and eat,” Sapphi said at last, not wanting to move from this spot, but her stomach rumbled, complaining at the lack of food that had passed its way in the last twenty-four hours.
“I could eat you.” He drew his hand across her thigh and along her aching sex. If he wanted her, she was his, ready and willing to take him again and again.
“You could.” She inched her thighs wider, and he slipped a finger inside her. Sapphi closed her eyes, reveling in the sensations he evoked in her. No man had ever kissed her down there. No man had ever looked at her down there. The heat between her thighs grew.
“Maybe it would be okay if we slept a little longer.” He ducked under the covers and nestled between her thighs, his breath warm, sending shivers of anticipation through her body.
Her anticipation fell short of reality. When he flicked his tongue across her clit, her world rocked, stars exploded. Alex slipped his hands under her knees and rested her thighs on his shoulders, there was no escape from the assault of his fingers and mouth as he sucked and licked her clit.
“Alex.” Her fingers threaded through his hair, and she pushed her mound into his face, while she writhed on the bed like a wanton woman. His tongue lapped at her, his teeth grazed the sensitive bud, while his fingers explored her inner walls. He didn’t plunge them in and out but hooked them, so they grazed her most sensitive of skin. The pressure inside her built up, until she could stand it no longer, and she came, her inner walls gripping his fingers, pulsing around them as they moved.
“I have longed to taste you since we met.” He kissed her inner thighs and her stomach, moving up to kiss her breasts, sucking her nipples lovingly as she cradled his head.
“I think I’m experiencing sensory overload.” She closed her eyes and absorbed every sensation in minute detail.
“Good. Because I want you to remember this night, this day...” He pulled the covers off her body and hooked his arm around her waist.
“What are we doing?” she asked, as he placed her in on all fours before him. “Oh.”
“I need to fuck you, Sapphi. The taste of you is like an aphrodisiac.” He guided himself into her, one long thrust, and she buried her face in the pillow to drown out the guttural groan that escaped her. Making love to Alex in this position was different. The angle of their bodies changed, allowing him to thrust deeper inside her. With her knees farther apart, she was exposed to him and he stroked her clit in a rhythm that matched his thrusts.
With one hand on her hip, he thrust in and out, circling his hips to stretch her, the ache of her inner muscles compounding the intensity of each movement. Alex’s thrusts became more frantic, he was about to come, and she was ready to go with him, over the edge, to soar above the world with her lover, her mate.
She would follow him anywhere. They were one, bonded mates. About to begin their lives together.
Chapter Eighteen – Alex
“Are you sure you’ll be okay here without us?” Alex asked Kim a couple of days later as he and Sapphi prepared to leave. They were all completely recovered. At least physically. Mentally, it was going to take time for Kim to get over the events of the past couple of weeks.
“I’m fine. Sapphi’s family has been incredible.” Kim held a wriggling Archie in her arms. “I hope Sapphi doesn’t mind me borrowing her room while you are away.”
“No, she’s relieved you are staying here with her family. I don’t think she would be willing to come and visit my parents if you were alone.” Alex steered Kim toward the back door. It was early evening, dusk was settling over the land, and the sky called to him.
“Maybe when you get back, I’ll have news of my own.” Kim remained hopeful that Jayden would appear in Bear Creek, and her family would be complete.
“I hope so, Kim. I really do.” Alex kissed her cheek. “Neil said there’s every chance he is making his way here.”
Kim pressed her lips together, not allowing herself to speak of her doubts. Alex had asked himself the same question many times over the last couple of days. If Jayden was okay, why hadn’t he made it to Bear Creek? Unless he was walking every single one of the three hundred miles to get here, he should have arrived by now.
The protection racket Jayden had infiltrated was gone, destroyed by the evidence he had amassed during his time undercover, culminating when he finally pieced together the murder of his own mother and father. Several police officers had been taken down, too, their badges stripped from them, and their liberty taken away.
“He’ll get here. As soon as he’s able to.” Kim hugged Alex. “Now, take your mate and go and visit your family.”
“I am going to bring you back one of the biggest jewels from my treasure,” Alex promised.
“We don’t need anything more from you,” Kim insisted as they joined the other dragon shifters. “You risked enough to help me.”
“We’re insisting,” Sapphi said. “Archie is an honoree dragon shifter, since he’s stolen our hearts.”
“We want you to have the best fresh start a dragon’s treasure can buy,” Alex agreed. “And we will be very offended if you say no.”
“And you don’t want to offend a dragon,” Fiona pointed out.
That was enough for Kim. “Okay, you’ve persuaded me. I know better than to upset a horde of dragons. Or whatever you call a dragon collective.”
“I like the word horde. Since dragons like to hoard their treasure.” Alex hugged both Kim and Archie. He was going to miss them, but he looked forward to some alone time with Sapphi. Not to mention he longed to tell his mom they were not the last of the dragons. His arrival, with Sapphi by his side, was going to send her into raptures.
“So we’re a horde, who like to hoard,” Ruby said as she hugged her sister goodbye.
“Make sure you look after our horde while I’m gone. When I come back, I intend to start my new business.” Sapphi had spent the day yesterday explaining to Alex what her plans were. Which was when he’d decided that a visit to his mom should happen sooner rather than later. He had a large quantity of small gems he planned to give his mate as a gift. Alex wanted Sapphi to succeed in her own business and loved her creativity.
As they walked away from everybody, preparing to shift, Sapphi pulled a penda
nt from her pocket and showed it to Alex. “I made this for your mom. Do you think she’ll like it? It seems weird giving a dragon with a huge amount of treasure such a small trinket.”
“She’ll love it, because you made it,” Alex insisted. “She’ll love everything about you.” He kissed her cheek. “My mom was reluctant to let me leave in case I came home with a lesser shifter, or even worse, a human.”
“It sounds as if your mom would get along well with mine.” Sapphi turned and waved to her family.
“They are similar. Firm, but fearfully protective.” Alex looked sideways at Sapphi. “My mom and dad will both love you. You are everything they could ask for in a daughter-in-law.”
“Hey, we’re not even engaged yet,” Sapphi reminded him.
“Maybe it’s time that changed,” Alex told her cryptically.
“I’m ready to fly.” Sapphi didn’t sound convinced about his mom loving her, but it was true. His mom wouldn’t really care if Sapphi was a lion, tiger, bear or human. As long as Alex found his mate, she would be happy, she knew the loneliness of waiting for a mate, alone, while the world grew older and changed around you.
Alex shifted first, and took off into the gathering night, heading over the mountains. As the darkness gathered, they would make their way to the coast, passing unseen, keeping well above the cloud cover, and then fly fast over the ocean. A couple of stops in remote locations, including setting down on a deserted island where they would sleep, and they would reach the mountains his parents called home.
As he flew higher, he sensed Sapphi catching up with him, and relaxed, settling into a rhythm that she could match for the long flight. Their plan was for Sapphi to fly the first part of the journey, but then ride on Alex’s dragon’s back over the wide-open ocean. It was a long distance, and his dragon could fly much faster, making it safer for both of them. If he tired, she would shift and fly some of the way herself.
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