by Zoe Chant
“Mmph.” Hayley folded her arms over her chest. “Well, I’m not yet ready to start feeling sorry for Reiner, of all people. Let alone welcome him into the family with open arms.”
Griff’s mouth quirked in wry acknowledgement. “That’s more than understandable. And as alpha female, you’ve got the final say in whether he ever joins the pride.”
Hayley studied his profile. “But you’d let him join, if it was up to you?”
Griff didn’t answer for a minute, his eyes on the road. “I can’t help imagining a scared little boy with amber eyes, without anyone to teach him what it means to be a real lion. I can’t help wondering if that scared little boy is still trapped somewhere inside an angry, scared man.”
Hayley put her hand on his, on top of the gearstick. “You’d save everyone in the world if you could, wouldn’t you?” she said softly.
The laughter lines around his golden eyes creased as he glanced at her. “Comes with the job, I’m afraid. But enough about Reiner for one night. I’m not having him spoil things even when he doesn’t mean to.”
“Agreed.” Hayley noticed that they were heading for Griff’s house, rather than into the city center. “Hey, I thought you said we were going out on a date, not just back to your place.”
“Oh, we’ll go out, I promise.” There was an odd undertone in Griff’s voice, half-laughter, half…nervousness? He parked the car outside his house. “I just need to pick something up from home first.”
Hayley had assumed that meant he would run in while she waited in the car, but he came round and opened her door. She gave him a narrow-eyed look as she took his hand. “What, can’t you get this mysterious thing for yourself?”
In the darkness, his eyes glowed with a faint, warm light. “Actually, I need you to carry it for me.”
Hayley was starting to have an inkling about what was going on. It therefore wasn’t entirely a surprise when she walked through the front door and into a heady, perfumed cloud of roses and jasmine.
Fragrant blooms overflowed every surface, transforming Griff’s simple house into a glorious bower. Tiny, flickering candles provided a romantic light. Even as her heart started to pound with anticipation, Hayley couldn’t help being amused by the fact that they were battery-powered LED tealights, rather than real candles.
Trust a firefighter not to leave flames unattended…
“This is what I needed to get.” Griff picked up a tiny box from the coffee table. He went down on one knee, taking her hand. “Hayley Parker, will you-”
“Yes!”
Griff burst out laughing. “Will you at least let me finish the question?”
“Sorry.” Hayley tried to school her face into an appropriately serious expression, but couldn’t suppress her wide, foolish grin. “You’ve clearly worked hard on this. Go ahead.”
“Will you marry me?” Hayley opened her mouth, but Griff quickly held up his free hand, forestalling her. “And will you be my mate?”
“Yes! Yes! Of course!” Hayley could barely wait for Griff to slide the stunning diamond solitaire ring onto her finger before she threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, Griff!”
Still on his knees, he caught her, easily supporting her weight as their lips met. Hayley closed her eyes, feeling the familiar sweet fire lance through her. No matter how often they kissed, no matter how often they touched…it was always like the first time.
“Will I be able to hear your thoughts, after we’re mated?” she murmured against his lips. “Like Connie and Chase, or Virginia and Dai?”
“Aye.” His fingers twined tenderly through her hair. His eyes burned with a deep, contented fire. “We’ll be truly joined, mind and soul.”
She let out a sigh of longing. “I can barely wait.”
The heat in his gaze flared brighter. “Well…the wedding will take a little organizing. My clan is fairly extensive. But the mating…that just takes the two of us.”
The growl in his voice made her shiver in anticipation. “So we could do it now?”
He grinned at her, looking deliciously feral. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“You mean, you knew I’d say that,” Hayley teased, as he swept her up in his arms. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that John was planning on staying overnight.”
He laughed softly in her ear, holding her cradled against his chest. “I can’t help being observant.”
She’d been expecting him to carry her upstairs. But instead, he headed for the back garden, carrying her easily in one arm as he opened the door.
“I did promise to take you out,” he said, putting her back on her feet. “And I will. Or rather…up.”
Hayley’s breath caught. She hadn’t even seen Griff fly yet, though she knew he’d been practicing. His eagle sisters had quite literally taken him under their wings, with much delighted teasing at finally being able to get their own back on their big brother. But he’d refused to let her watch his lessons, claiming that his fledgling attempts were far too embarrassing for her to witness.
“You sure I won’t weigh you down too much?” she asked anxiously. “I’m pretty heavy, after all.”
His hand slid over her curvy hips and round to her backside, lingering in appreciation. “You are perfect. John is heavy. He helped me practice this. That’s why I waited so long to propose. I wanted to make absolutely certain my flying skills were up to the task.”
Hayley raised her eyebrows at him. “You do realize most men don’t feel the need to be able to fly before proposing, right?”
“Eagle men do. Flying is part of our mating ritual. And I am half-eagle.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Though that’s the other reason I had to make you wait a while. I needed time to puzzle out how to stitch eagle and lion rituals together.”
“So what do lions do?”
He captured her chin in his hand, tilting her head up. “You’ll find that out later.”
Hayley’s toes curled as he bent to kiss her again, slow and lingering…and utterly commanding. Her body instinctively molded itself to his, submitting to his irresistible dominance.
When he released her, she swayed, helplessly yearning for him as he stepped back. The January night raised goosebumps on her skin, but her core still burned with a fierce, hungry fire. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering with cold and desire as he moved back until he had room to shift.
He met her eyes, and smiled. Then, between one breath and the next, the man was gone. In his place stood the griffin, as fantastical as a statue brought to life.
That’s something else I’ll never get tired of. Seeing him like this.
She ran her hand down the deadly curve of his massive beak, still barely able to believe that this extraordinary, powerful creature was real. Not only that, he was hers.
He was the only one of his kind, utterly unique. And he was hers.
With a whisper like silk, he unfurled one vast, gleaming wing, kneeling down so that she could mount. She scrambled up onto his back, straddling his neck where the feathers blended smoothly into golden fur. She had to grab at his feathers for balance as he crouched, his muscles coiling underneath her.
With feline grace, he leaped straight up into the air. Hayley gasped with delight as the ground fell away beneath them, driven away by the powerful beats of his shining wings. She’d always secretly longed to fly…but never, not even in her wildest dreams, had she’d imagined it would be like this.
There were no walls, no boundaries, no limits. She had no fear whatsoever of falling, not with Griff bearing her up. The wind whipping through her hair was frigid, but his solid warmth between her legs heated every part of her body. She was free, the normal world of rules and restrictions left far behind.
The whole glittering night sky was theirs. He bore her up so high, she felt as though she could stretch out and pluck stars out of the sky as easily as harvesting apples. She reached out a hand in awe, and the diamond on her finger glittered as if a star had indeed fallen into her hand.
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nbsp; When they were so high that the thin air burned like ice in her throat, he paused, stretching his wings out to balance on the wind. She felt his chest swell underneath her. He let out a single high, fierce call, proud and wild. Somehow, she knew that he was proclaiming to all the world that she was his, his mate, now and always.
Tears of joy leaked from the corners of her eyes, whipped away by the wind. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
Hold on.
The thought was not quite her own. Hayley caught her breath, a faint, tentative presence tickling the back of her mind, light as a feather.
Hayley. Hold on.
She huddled down against his back, wrapping her arms around his feathered neck. His delight sparkled in her head like a distant firework.
Then he folded his wings, and dove.
Hayley screamed in exhilaration and terror as they plummeted like a stone. The wind snatched at her, trying to tear her from his back. She buried her face in Griff’s feathers, clinging on for dear life. Blackness gnawed at the edges of her sight. All she could do was close her eyes, hold on, and trust him.
At the very last moment, he flared his wings. They settled back to the ground as lightly as a falling leaf. The griffin’s warm back shivered underneath her, shifting into Griff’s strong arms.
“They say that the higher and faster the flight, the stronger the bond,” he said in her ear.
She twined her arms around his neck, leaning her whole weight against his hard, muscled bulk. Her legs were still weak from the exhilarating swoop. “Then our bond will be as strong as our love.”
He made a low rumble of assent, deep in his chest, as his mouth covered hers again. The hot, hungry length of his cock pressed against her stomach. But more than that, she could feel his all-consuming desire for her, a fire burning in the depths of her soul. She could feel how the touch of her tongue against his drove him wild, barely able to restrain himself from pushing her down and taking her there and then.
“Not that I want to wait any longer either,” she said, pulling back a little to grin up at him, “but it’s pretty cold out. How fast can you get us to the bedroom?”
In answer, he seized her waist in both hands. Hayley giggled as he tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold, striding back into the house. In bare seconds, he’d flipped her down onto his bed.
Scattered rose petals brushed against her cheek. Hayley stretched out her arms, like a child making a snow angel, smiling as the scent of crushed petals rose from the sheets. “You did prepare thoroughly.”
His mouth quirked in amusement. “I promise, this time I have condoms.”
She hesitated, looking up at him. “Do we…do we really need them?”
“I’m afraid from your scent you’re at the peak of fertility, so-” Griff stopped dead, his face going slack with realization. “Oh. Oh.”
She dropped her gaze a little, suddenly feeling too shy to meet his eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not the sort of decision you should make in the heat of the-”
That was as far as she got before his body covered hers. His bulk pressed her hard into the bed, laying claim to every inch of her. His hands found the sides of her head, holding her as he kissed her with fierce, desperate intensity, as if she was the air he needed to breathe. She closed her eyes in blissful surrender.
“There’s no decision to make,” he said, his voice shaking with need. “I want more children with you. The only thing I want more than that is you. If you’re sure…”
“Completely,” Hayley breathed against his lips.
He kissed her again, this time just the lightest butterfly brush of his mouth against hers. Then he pushed himself to his hands and knees, holding himself above her. His eyes burned hotter than she’d ever seen before, swirls of fiery gold.
“Mine,” he growled. “My mate.”
He straddled her, pinning her hips down underneath him. His hands hooked in the neckline of her dress. With a single, sharp motion, he ripped it apart, exposing her body to his ravenous gaze. His fingers slid up under her bra. Hayley caught her breath, her pussy clenching in response as his fingers dug possessively into the softness of her breasts.
“Mine.” Pushing her bra up, he freed her nipples for his hungry mouth. Hayley arched against him, gasping. He took advantage of the motion to unhook her bra, jerking it roughly off. Waves of pleasure pulsed through her core as he sucked hard at first one nipple, then the other.
“Griff!” she cried out, tightening her legs around his waist as her climax surged closer.
Before she peaked, though, he released her, pushing her flat against the bed with one hand. “Wait.”
Unbelievably, her body obeyed the flex of alpha power in his voice. He held her on the very brink of orgasm, every part of her throbbing with frustrated need. She writhed, desperate for release, but was helpless under his strength.
His teeth gleamed in a satisfied smile. Lifting his weight off her, he ran his hand lightly down from her breastbone to the curving swells of her stomach. Trails of fire ignited on her skin. She sobbed at the unbearable pleasure, still held back from climax by his alpha command.
He worked his way lower, spreading her legs. He traced her dripping folds so lightly, she wasn’t even sure he was even touching her. Even that faint, barely-there caress echoed through every part of her oversensitive body. She was blinded by need, aware of nothing except him.
“Griff, please!” Her fists clenched in the sheets. “Please, please, now!”
He moved away, and she sobbed helplessly, utterly bereft at the loss of his heat against her skin. His eyes still held her, demanding her complete submission. She couldn’t reach for him, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything except watch as he stood back.
Tantalizingly slowly, he undid the belt of his kilt. The heavy fabric dropped away, revealing his proud, straining cock. He was so erect, the swollen head brushed his rigid abs. A pearl of eager moisture glistened on his tip, showing how hard he was having to hold himself back. Nonetheless, his hands moved leisurely, stripping away his clothes with maddening slowness.
Unhurriedly, he spread her legs wide, kneeling between them. His tip pressed against her opening as he covered her body with his, pinning her wrists above her head with his hands. Hayley wanted to squirm, to slide down and take him inside her throbbing passage, but he held her absolutely motionless.
“Mine,” he repeated, one last time.
She exploded around him as at last, at last, he thrust into her. That single stroke tipped her into a climax more powerful than any she’d ever known. She wrapped around him, taking him into her soul even as she welcomed him into her body. His pleasure was hers, as hers was his, until she couldn’t tell the difference between them. At last, they were one.
When she came back to herself, completely limp and undone by the intensity of the experience, she could still feel him in her head. His deep, utter satisfaction and joy glowed in her soul. It was a fire that she knew would never go out, a secret warmth that would last all the rest of their days.
*Oh,* she thought in wonder, and knew that he heard her as clearly as if she’d whispered in his ear. *So that’s what it’s like.*
His chuckle rumbled through her bones. He rolled off her, pulling her to spoon against him, her backside fitting into the curve of his body as if they’d been made for each other. *Aye. We’re truly mated now.*
“Mmm.” Hayley snuggled back against him, delicious tiredness weighing down her limbs. “Do you think we made a baby?” she asked out loud.
“Too early to tell. But the chances are good.” He kissed her shoulder. “And if not this time…well, we’ll just have to keep practicing, won’t we?”
She giggled, closing her eyes in utter contentment. “I wonder what our children will turn out to be. Griffins, like you? Or will some of them be lions, and some eagles?”
“I know what they will be.” His hand traced soft, reverent spirals on her belly. “They’ll be loved.”
Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon - I love hearing what my readers think!
The next book in the series is Firefighter Sea Dragon, which is available on Amazon now. Keep reading for a special preview…
I’m currently working on Hugh’s book (have you guessed what he is yet…?). If you’d like me to email you when I release new books, please join my mailing list: http://www.zoechant.com/join-my-mailing-list/
All covers were designed by Augusta Scarlett.
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