by Donna Grant
They had accepted it. Or had they? Hal hadn’t fought against the love he felt for Cassie. He had fought for Cassie.
Guy hadn’t really understood what Hal went through before, but he was beginning to. It wasn’t like Guy to skirt his duties as a Dragon King, yet every time he thought of Elena, the first thought that came to his mind was to protect her.
Against his own. Never before had he felt that. It unsettled him, just as Elena did. Her mere presence in the mansion drove him to distraction.
“Who doesna like the kiss of a pretty girl?” Guy replied when he realized the others were waiting on him to answer.
Banan lost all trace of anger and peered closely at Guy. “You feel something for her, do you no’? Is what happened to Hal happening to you?”
“Nay,” Guy said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly, by the way Con narrowed his eyes at him. “It’s been five months since the Silvers moved. Five months since the spell preventing Hal from feeling for a human ceased. That’s five months as proof that our dragon magic used for the spell still holds. None of us have been drawn to humans since Hal.”
Con tapped his fingers on the desk. “Five months is a blink to us. I’ve worried since Hal fell in love that our dragon magic had cracked somehow. That worry hasna left.”
Guy watched his leader, the King of the Kings. Their history as Dragon Kings was long and bloody. The dragons they once commanded were gone, and because of a human betrayal, they had used their magic to never feel anything deeply for humans again.
Too much was at stake for Guy to lie to his friends. They might have won against one of their own and saved mankind that fateful day several millennia ago, and though Ulrik had been stripped of his ability to talk to his Silvers or to shift, he was still out there.
The silver dragons caged in their mountain had moved five months ago, something that had never happened since they were forced to sleep. Not since the Dragon Kings had sent the other dragons away and took up post guarding the Silvers.
Guy locked his gaze with Con’s. No, he couldn’t lie to his friends, his brethren, or himself, but especially not his King.
“I want her,” Guy admitted. “I willna lie about it.”
Con’s lips flattened. “How badly do you want her? Is it because you have no’ had a woman in a while? Or is it more?”
“It hasna been that long since I took a woman,” Guy answered.
Rhys sighed loudly. “Maybe you should stay away from Elena.”
“Nay!” Guy shouted.
He backed away at his outburst, more stunned than the others. What was wrong with him? He had no reason to snap at Rhys for a suggestion Guy himself probably would have made.
“Fuck me,” Banan mumbled.
Con slowly rose to his feet. “I admit, Guy. I’m worried. I prayed it was only Hal our magic had ceased to affect, but I’m beginning to think it was more than just him. He was the first to fall for a human. You may be the second.”
“And if it’s all of us?” Rhys asked.
Banan’s mouth twisted with concern. “Then we’d better stay at Dreagan.”
“We used our magic because we didna ever want to be betrayed again,” Guy said. “We made that decision thousands of years ago, but nothing has changed. We still hide what we are from the world, now more than ever. We’re no closer to returning the dragons here now than we were the day they were sent away.”
“I know,” Con said wearily.
Could Guy chance being the one who fell for a human who betrayed them? It was only a matter of time. He knew the longer Elena remained, the more he’d be drawn to her.
He’d touched her, felt her body against his. And kissed her. It would be a miracle if he could stay away, and it had been a very long time since he’d seen a miracle.
“The longer you keep Elena, the worse things could get,” Guy told Con, as much as it pained him to do it. “You’re keeping the rest of the Kings in the mountain. She’ll hear something eventually. How are you going to explain the roars?”
Or the dragons flying in the sky, Guy thought to himself. It had been weeks since he released his dragon and took flight, and just thinking about it made him want to feel the wind around him.
“You’re right,” Con agreed. “We had to trust Cassie because Hal had fallen in love with her before we realized what had happened. If we had known before, we might have prevented all of it. Cassie proved herself, but I’m no’ in any hurry to go through that again. Let’s see what Sloan was looking at in the cave and then get Elena home.”
Guy left Con’s office, knowing they had made the right decision, but the thought of her being taken away from Dreagan—from him—left him cold.
He stopped on the stairs, his breathing labored as he fought against going to Elena.
“The more you fight it, the worse it’ll be,” Rhys said.
Banan snorted. “Hal didna fight it, and he fell in love. Do you really want that emotion?”
“Nay,” Guy said. He didn’t want to fall in love, didn’t want to be bound to a mate.
But he wanted Elena, needed her with a hunger that took his breath away. It shook him, this unwavering longing for her.
“I promised I’d bring her food.”
Rhys slapped him on the back and continued down the stairs. “I hope you know what you’re doing, my friend.”
Guy hoped he did as well. He’d thought Hal a fool until he saw the love shared between him and Cassie. Guy was under no illusions. There was nothing like that between him and Elena.
With them, it was all physical. And that he could deal with.
He changed directions and went to the kitchen to order her some food, and then Guy found himself taking the stairs three at a time to get to her.
When he knocked, she didn’t answer, and he feared she might have tried to escape. So he wrenched the door open and stormed into the room.
Only to be drawn up short by the sight of her silhouette through the clear shower curtain as steam billowed out of the bathroom through the open door.
She stood with her back to the water as she smoothed her hands over the long strands of her hair to rinse it. The motion caused her back to arch and her breasts to push outward.
Her slender arms moved slowly, sensuously over her face and hair. Guy let his gaze rake down what he saw of her silhouette. Small waist, flared hips, and beautiful breasts.
His balls tightened as he took a step toward her. He watched her lather her body with soap and then slowly rinse it away.
There was a grunt, and then Elena cried out. Guy’s only thought was to help her. It wasn’t until he’d shoved aside the curtain and held her very wet, very naked body against him that he realized what he’d done.
Her sage green eyes were wide as she stared at him. For long moments, they simply looked at each other.
“I heard you cry out.”
“My … my ankle,” she said after clearing her throat. “I put too much pressure on it.”
“A bath would have been better.” He was valiantly trying to keep his gaze on her face, but it was difficult with her pert breasts against him and her bare ass beneath his hand as he held her up.
“Probably,” she whispered.
He knew he should let her go. The shower was soaking him as well as getting the floor wet. However, nothing mattered but Elena.
She drew a blunt nail across his cheek. No matter how he fought it, the overwhelming need to taste her eclipsed everything else. His head dipped toward hers.
When she lifted her face, it was his undoing. As soon as their lips touched, Guy released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.
His mouth nibbled hers, licking and tasting all that was Elena. He angled his head and slid his tongue past her lips. A groan tore from him when her hands plunged in his hair as she opened for him.
He deepened the kiss, the need pushing him, urging him to take more. He was blinded by desire, but it had never felt so good, never tasted so special before.
It w
asn’t until her hands touched his chest that he realized she’d unbuttoned his shirt. He gripped her wrists and held them from him as he looked at her.
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded with swollen lips. “Please, Guy, don’t stop.”
The same hunger that ran through him had taken her as well. What kind of man would he be to leave her with such need? Guy kissed her again and released her hands.
She pushed off his shirt and then reached for the waist of his jeans while he kicked off his boots.
He closed his eyes and tilted back his head when she ran her hands down his chest and knelt before him to slowly push his jeans down.
Her soft touch was driving him insane as her fingers touched the head of his dragon tattoo that came over his right shoulder and the fire that it breathed across his chest. He fisted his hand to keep from taking her, but it wasn’t enough. He had to touch her.
His fingers slid into the wet strands of her blond hair. He looked down to find her lips inches away from his cock. Guy couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe as he waited for what she would do.
With the water beating at her back, she leaned forward and kissed the tip of his arousal before wrapping her lips around him.
It was the most exquisite torture Guy had ever endured. Her hot mouth sliding over his cock was pure decadence. He rocked his hips against her, but the pleasure was too much. He would peak too soon at this rate.
He took her shoulders and pulled her up to take her mouth in a kiss full of need, of longing as he stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut.
His kiss was rough, but she returned it with all the fervor she had. With her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her amazing body against him, Guy wished he could stop time.
He ran his hands down her side so that his thumbs caressed the undersides of her breasts before sliding lower to her trim waist and then over her hips.
For an instant, he held her hips still and rocked against her. She moaned, her fingers digging into his shoulders. It was just the beginning of what he had planned for her.
Guy kissed down her neck to the valley between her breasts. With the hot water cascading from behind him over them, it heightened their pleasure.
He shifted his shoulder so that a spray of water would hit her nipple. Elena gasped, her eyes flying open. He held her gaze an instant before he bent his head and took that same turgid peak in his mouth.
With her nails piercing his skin, he teased the nipple until she was rocking her hips against him. And then he moved to the next.
Her body shook with need, but he wasn’t yet ready for her to climax. There was still so much more he wanted to give her.
Guy followed the path of his hands and kissed along her stomach to her hips. He knelt before her and looked up at her as she had done him.
Her lips were parted, and her glorious sage green eyes were filled with passion. He slowly lifted her injured leg and placed it over his shoulder. His hands grabbed her hips to keep her steady.
And then he licked her sex.
She cried out his name, her head thrown back. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Guy found her clitoris and continued to lave his tongue against the tiny nub.
Her body trembled, her moans filling the small bathroom. But those moans turned to cries as he moved a finger inside her.
She was so damned tight. He couldn’t wait to fill her. Guy could taste her pleasure on his tongue and knew she was close to orgasm. He moved his tongue and fingers faster, propelling her onward.
He had only thought he’d seen radiance until he watched the pleasure erupt on Elena’s face as the climax hit her. He continued to lick her, dragging out her pleasure as long as he could.
When he leaned back, Elena’s eyes were closed, her head back against the shower as the water flowed freely over her. He took her injured leg and held it as he slowly stood.
Her eyes opened, and the smile she gave him made something move in his chest. He wrapped her left leg around him before he grabbed her hips and lifted her.
The smile vanished as desire flared once more. Their lips met, breaths fused as he lowered her, slowly, onto his aching cock. She released a sigh when she was fully seated.
* * *
Elena smoothed back the dark strands of Guy’s wet hair from his face so she could see him. The longing and need she saw reflected in his gaze made her stomach clench.
He rocked against her, stretching her as he had filled her. She held on to him, her body no longer her own. It belonged to Guy now, and she feared it always would.
His fingers dug into her hips as he slid in and out of her. Each plunge of his thick arousal sent her higher, her body tightening once again. Their lips met again with their tongues colliding in time with his thrust.
The orgasm took her by surprise, flinging her skyward as her body was swathed in the bright glow of pleasure. She clung to Guy, his hips jerking as he quickened his pace.
She watched, spellbound, as he threw back his head and gave a shout as he climaxed. He looked at her before drawing her into his arms, and for long minutes, they stood beneath the spray of the water, locked in each other’s arms.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Guy would’ve been content to stay just as they were, but a knock on the door brought reality with it.
Elena was the first to move. She searched his gaze, but Guy didn’t know what she looked for. When they heard the door close behind the servant who had brought the food, Guy pulled out of her and lowered her feet to the tub.
Still, he wasn’t ready to leave her.
“I just need to finish up,” she said. “And then I’ll be out.”
“That was food being brought.” It sounded lame to him, but he wasn’t sure what to say.
He then gave a nod and stepped out of the shower. He dried off and looked at his sodden clothes. With a sigh, he wrung the worst of the water out in the sink before taking the clothes to the fire to lay them out to dry.
The last thing he wanted was be seen walking down the hall in a towel. Everyone would know what had happened, and he wasn’t ready for that.
Not that he cared what they thought, but he wasn’t prepared for Elena to be interrogated again. Or worse, for her to learn what he was.
It had torn Hal in two when Con had been the one to tell Cassie what they were. Cassie hadn’t run, but would Elena? And why was he even thinking about it?
He’d wanted Elena, and she’d wanted him. It was that simple.
Or so he thought until she stood in the doorway of the bathroom with her hair combed out and a towel wrapped around her.
“They took my clothes. Even my panties.”
Guy bit back a moan at the thought of her panties. Did she wear cotton or silk? Plain or lace? He desperately wanted to know.
“They’re being cleaned. You should have them shortly. We thought you might want to have your own clothes back instead of running around in ours.”
She licked her lips, her eyes traveling down to the towel tied at his waist. “My clothes are gone. Yours are wet.”
It was an observation, but one that had his blood heating.
“What is it about you that I can’t seem to keep away from?” she asked softly. “It’s like you’re a magnet. I don’t sleep around, Guy, and even though I knew I should tell you no, I couldn’t. Not even had my life depended upon it.”
He was taken aback by her words, so full of honesty and truth that they stunned him. “I doona have an answer. I wish I did.”
“This has something to do with why you want your privacy, doesn’t it?”
“Nay.” It was the truth, but that’s all he could tell her.
Her gaze lowered to the floor for a moment. “I’ve never been so reckless or careless before with my partners. We didn’t even use a condom. I didn’t even think about it.”
“You willna catch a disease from me.”
“Nor me,” she hastened to add. “As for the other—”
“Other?
” he interrupted her.
She frowned at him as if he were addled. “Pregnancy.”
“Ah. Um … I doona believe you need to worry about that either.”
“You doona believe,” she mimicked in a Scottish accent. “Forgive me if that doesn’t relieve me. I assumed I’d have kids when I married, but I’m not ready for them now.”
“Trust me, Elena, you doona need to worry.”
“Can you not have children?”
It was difficult to explain. No Dragon King had a child. Their women might get with child, but the babe never lasted to term.
Guy shook his head in answer.
“I see,” she said, and walked slowly to the tray of food on the table near him. She picked up a chip next to the sandwich and nibbled at it.
He could see how her eyes kept going to his tattoo. He waited for her to ask him about it, but she seemed content to just look from the head and flames to the dragon tail that ended at his left hip bone. Would she ask to see the rest that was on his back?
Guy wanted her to see it. And more than that, he wanted her to ask about it.
“Do you like working with gems?” he asked into the silence.
She smiled and reached for a sandwich half. “Oh, yes. I love finding them and discovering what will be their perfect shape for jewelry.”
“Do you design jewelry?”
She laughed, the sound like music to him. “No. I’m not that creative. As much as I love the gems, I’m useless in anything other than determining what kind of gem it is and how best to use it.”
“That’s no’ useless.”
Her gaze lifted to him. “Many think what I do is boring.”
“Tell them to bugger off.”
She laughed again, and he found he wanted to keep making her laugh. He loved the sound. It filled him, which was odd because he hadn’t thought anything was lacking in his life until recently.
“There are those of us who actually go looking in places all around the world for gems,” she continued.
“What kinds of places?”
She shrugged and swallowed her bite. “They’ll dig in the earth, shift through rock and water, and even go into caves.” Elena’s voice faded as her eyes got large. “Oh, my God. Could that be what Sloan was after? Were there gems in the cave?”
