He wanted to touch Leyloni freely. To feel her warmth directly, to know for himself just how soft and smooth her hair and skin were. While he’d been with his clan, touch had been so important a thing—a silent means of reassurance, of support, of comfort and connection. He craved it from her, with her.
Most of all, he wanted to claim Leyloni. He wanted to mate with her, wanted their bodies to come together, wanted their joining to give life to the song in his heart.
Arysteon released another huff and sped his pace. Eagerness quickened his heart—he was eager to provide this food to his humans.
He was eager to make his offer to Leyloni.
Eager to make her his.
7
Leyloni closed her eyes and moaned in appreciation as she took her first bite of the elk meat. It was hot—almost too hot, but she didn’t care. That first bite quickly led to a second, then a third, and before she knew it, the large chunk she’d cut from the elk’s haunch was gone and she was licking the juices from her fingers.
She glanced at Serek. He was sitting beside her, small pieces of shredded meat piled high on a big leaf before him. He was stuffing the food into his mouth by the fistful.
More spitted cuts of meat sizzled over the fire, filling the cavern with a savory scent, and she’d managed to erect a small rack—little more than a few sticks lashed together with a bit of twine—over which she’d draped a few thinner slices of meat. Those strips, once dried out, would serve as a good supplement to their food stock when she and Serek resumed their journey.
Leyloni removed the larger cuts of meat from the fire and placed them on the fresh leaves spread beside her. Though she’d already eaten a large portion, the golden-brown meat and its dripping juices made her mouth water.
Had it only been days since she’d last eaten fresh meat? It felt like so long ago.
After skinning the elk, she’d cut only as much meat as she and Serek could eat tonight, plus whatever she thought she’d be able to dry out and carry given her limited bag space. The rest had gone to Arysteon, who’d devoured it raw in only a few gulps. He wasn’t large enough to swallow a full-grown elk whole, but the fact that he’d killed it and carried it back here in his mouth was just another example of his imposing size and immense strength.
He was lying with his back toward the opening. The gray light streaming into the cavern created bold highlights on the scales along the upper edges of his body, and the firelight cast an orange glow on his front that made those scales shimmer and waver as the fire danced. Only the fire and a few paces of distance separated him from Leyloni.
When Serek’s pile was gone, she shredded some more meat for him and helped him drink from her waterskin. He was just as ravenous as her.
A guilty pang struck her heart. She was a huntress, and it was her duty to provide for her tribe, whether through protection or food. She’d not been very successful in fulfilling those duties for Serek. Her only comfort came from reminding herself that she’d done the best she could under the circumstances—and that Serek was alive and well, which was thanks in no small part to Arysteon.
Leyloni looked up to find the dragon watching her, his stare heated and intent, almost…predatory. Hungry. A tiny voice in the back of her mind said she should’ve been terrified to have him looking at her like that, but she didn’t feel threatened at all. His gaze sparked not terror, but a strange, tantalizing warmth deep in her core.
That inner heat intensified and spread when her eyes met his, making her sex clench and her body pulse with need. Her breasts ached, and her nipples tightened into small, painful points.
She tore her gaze away from him. It took all her willpower to resist the urge to massage her breasts and squeeze her thighs together, to soothe away her discomfort.
No one had ever made her feel this way. Why Arysteon, why now? Was it not wrong for her body to react like this to a dragon?
And yet how could she not react that way to him? The only thing that set them apart was their physical shapes. Arysteon was intelligent, caring, empathetic. He expressed so much emotion, conducted himself with so much thoughtfulness. He was everything she could have wanted in a male—everything she could have dreamed for in a mate.
But he…is a dragon.
Once Leyloni felt full near to bursting, and Serek had stopped eating in favor of playing with his food, she cleaned herself and the baby. He squirmed in her lap as she wiped his face, vocalizing his irritation, only to quiet immediately when she set him free. He crawled a mere body’s length away before rolling onto his bottom to play with two long sticks, which he tapped against the ground as he babbled.
Still feeling Arysteon’s heavy gaze upon her, Leyloni peeked up at him. Again, her core clenched at the intensity in his eyes.
Leyloni picked up the tiny scraps Serek had left behind, tossed them into the fire, and stood up. “I am going to wash. I will return shortly.”
Arysteon nodded. “I will mind Serek.”
She crouched over her bag, withdrew a couple soapberries, and walked around Arysteon toward the entrance. Her changing angle as she passed him made ripples of darker color flow across his teal scales, and she once again found herself wondering what they would feel like under her palm.
He turned his head toward her. His eyes were still heated, and when his forked tongue flicked toward her, he released a low growl.
Leyloni’s eyes flared, and she forced herself to walk a little faster, as though she could outrun her thoughts—as though she could outrun the way he looked at her.
The rain was still falling outside, and the streams of runoff from above continued unbroken, feeding the large puddles beyond the cavern entrance. A few more days of rain like this, and the forest would become a swamp. Leyloni’s journey would only be made more difficult by all the mud and muck, the fallen branches, the flooded streams and rivers.
But more rain would mean a few more days with Arysteon.
Perhaps the storm was not so bad, after all…
Leyloni paused just before the cavern’s mouth, removed her clothes, set them on a dry spot on the floor, and stepped out into the rain. A shiver coursed through her body as the cold water fell upon her. It was a balm to her flushed skin. She moved to the side, out of Arysteon’s view.
She crushed one of the soapberries, rubbing it between her hands until it formed enough of a lather to scrub her hair. The rain alone wasn’t enough to remove the smoky smell that had clung to her unruly locks for days. She used the other berry for her face and body, washing away the sweat and grime of the last several days. Though she was almost shivering from the cold, it felt wonderful to be clean again.
When she dipped her hand between her thighs to wash her sex, her breath hitched; her sex was hot and slick. She shifted her fingers and pressed her lips together as she grazed her pleasure nub.
Leyloni had pleasured herself on a few occasions, but the urge to do so was rare. She’d usually felt that desire on long, lonely nights, when she had lain in bed unable to sleep, listening to the sounds of lovers in nearby huts. Some of her tribe sisters who had not been chosen by the males had taken each other as lovers, and though she’d never taken one herself, Leyloni understood what was happening with her body. She understood what she was feeling.
Arousal.
She had felt it earlier that morning, had felt her body priming to mate, just like it was now.
And it was doing so for a dragon. Not a man, but a beast.
What is wrong with me?
And yet she remained in place. As the cold rain fell upon her, she pictured Arysteon’s eyes—filled with intelligence, with kindness, with heat—and stroked herself. Her breath quickened as the pleasurable sensations built within her.
Her climax came fast. She bit down on her lips to muffle her cry and squeezed her thighs together around her hand as her body stiffened.
Tilting her head down, she released her lips and panted softly. Water streamed over her head. Her pleasure faded as quickly as it had c
ome, leaving a deep emptiness inside her, just as it always did. There was always something missing. There was always something more she craved.
Or rather…someone more.
With a frown, she parted her thighs and washed away her slick.
Maybe…maybe she’d simply needed this kind of release. Maybe it had nothing to do with Arysteon. Now that’d she’d given her body what it needed, however brief and unfulfilling it had been, she wouldn’t have such devious thoughts about the dragon.
She was shivering when she stepped back into the cavern. She wrung her hair out, wiped excess water from her skin, and dressed. The fabric clung to her damp body, but it would dry as she sat next to the fire.
Arysteon was in the same place he’d been before, facing Serek, who lay on his back with his legs in the air and his hands grasping his little feet. The dragon was motionless but for the restless lashing of the tip of his tail.
As Leyloni neared him, a flush warmed her cheeks. She couldn’t forget what she’d just done while thinking of him. Her heart fluttered when he turned his head toward her and settled one of those vibrant eyes upon her, his tongue slipping out. The heat in his gaze had not diminished—if anything, it had only intensified.
Despite the release she’d granted herself, Leyloni’s core clenched, and her sex flooded with slick.
Oh, Mother Eurynome, what is this?
Ducking her head, she hurried past him and made her way to the blanket upon which the baby lay, where she sat down and pressed her thighs together. Serek babbled happily to himself, seemingly without a care in the world.
Leyloni cleared her throat and—either boldly or foolishly—looked up at Arysteon. “I know I have thanked you many times, but I wish to thank you again. For everything.”
Arysteon’s tongue lapped at the air again, and his slitted pupils expanded and shrank. When he spoke, his voice was a low rumble. “Your thanks are not necessary. It is my pleasure.”
“It will be hard to leave this place behind.” Leyloni frowned and dropped her gaze, absently picking at a loose blanket thread. “It will be hard to…leave you behind.”
At the upper edge of her vision, she saw his head move, and though the details were difficult to discern from her angle, she swore the spikes on his head flattened.
Arysteon released a heavy breath through his nostrils, strong enough to make the fire waver. “You need not leave me behind, Leyloni. If you must bring Serek to the other tribe, I will accompany you. Protect you. And I would like to do so as your mate.”
Leyloni’s head snapped up, and her eyes locked with his. Mate? “Wh-what do you mean?”
The dragon’s tail flicked up and down, and his scaled brows fell low. Moving slowly, Arysteon pushed himself up and shifted closer to her. He extended his neck and leaned his head around the fire, his snout drawing close enough to Leyloni that she could’ve touched it without having to fully extend her arm.
“This forest is too vast and perilous for a lone human and a hatchling to traverse, and I cannot fully protect you if I cannot touch you, Leyloni.” Those glowing eyes roved over her. “I want for nothing more than to provide for you, to safeguard you. I want to claim you.”
“What d-do you mean claim me?”
“As my mate.”
All Leyloni could do for a time was stare at him with wide eyes. He’d said that word before, but she hadn’t been sure if she’d heard him correctly. She gathered her legs beneath her and stood. “But you… You are a dragon!”
Arysteon kept his head low and eyes level with hers. Leyloni understood in the back of her mind just how easy it would have been for him to rise over her, to make her feel small and weak, to make her feel inferior—but that simply wasn’t him.
“I am a dragon now. But if you touch me, if you bond with me…I will be like you. And you will have me to protect you until my dying day.”
The urge to reach out and touch him that very moment was so strong that Leyloni forced her hands behind her back and locked them together. She searched his eyes, uncertainty and yearning roiling within her.
Why was she hesitating? Was this not what she wanted, what she had always longed for? A mate, a male of her own?
Arysteon tilted his head down and moved it just a little closer. “Make me yours, Leyloni.”
“What if it is nothing more than a myth? A story?”
“You thought that once of me, yet here I stand.” His breath was warm across her skin, smelling of storms and sweet spices. “If it is but a myth, we have naught to fear. Touch me.”
Her heart quickened as she slowly reached out, stopping her hand a hair’s breadth from his snout. He did not look away from her.
She settled her palm against his scales.
Leyloni was aware first of his warmth, which was so much fuller than what she’d felt radiating from him before. His scales were hard, firm, but not as rough and unforgiving as she’d imagined. But her awareness of all that lasted only an instant.
Her breath hitched and her muscles seized as something powerful jolted into her, buzzing and crackling and filling her with more heat than she’d ever thought possible. It ran in tingling waves from her hand into her body, flowing straight to her heart, where those waves coalesced and built into something larger and stronger. She had the distant notion that this should’ve been the greatest agony of her life, but there was no true pain.
And as that energy continued to build inside her, she felt its connection to Arysteon—to his heart.
As suddenly as it had begun, that jolt ceased. Leyloni’s muscles relaxed all at once, and she fell backward, landing on her backside hard enough to clack her teeth together. The thrumming inside her faded slowly. But Arysteon commanded her full attention before she could even wonder at what had just happened inside her.
Arysteon snapped his head away as countless tiny arcs of lightning raced across his scales, jumping and crackling wildly. The lightning rapidly increased in size, volume, and intensity, giving off a blue-white light that illuminated the cavern in flickering pulses. He scrambled backward, away from Leyloni, and a pained growl tore out through his bared teeth.
Leyloni’s heart raced, and cold terror—far worse than the deepest winter chill—permeated her chest, gathering around her heart.
What was happening? What had she done?
“Arysteon!”
Thrashing his limbs, tail, and neck, Arysteon stumbled through the cavern opening. His body was only partway through when the lightning dancing over his scales became so fast, thick, and bright that Leyloni could no longer make out the individual arcs. The light intensified, and Leyloni’s hair—not just on her arms, but on her head—stood up.
Serek giggled. Leyloni glanced down at the baby to see him sitting beside her, his smile wide as he stared at Arysteon. The baby’s short, dark hair was standing straight up.
The air around them was charged with unfathomable energy. The light around Arysteon now completely obscured his body from sight. That light flared brighter still, so bright it hurt, and in its blue-white luminescence, Leyloni was vaguely aware of shaped stone blocks, columns, and carvings amidst the roots and debris all around the cavern.
Her mouth went dry. Somehow, she knew what was coming. She felt that energy gathering, felt it building to a terrible climax.
Arysteon roared. It might have been a wordless, agonized bellow, closer than ever to the sound of thunder…but it might also have been her name.
Leyloni shoved herself aside, wrapping Serek in her arms as she landed on her knees and leaned forward to shield him with her body. Serek struggled and fussed. Leyloni did not relinquish her hold; she squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her teeth, and sent a silent prayer to Mother Eurynome.
Please let Arysteon be all right. Please.
None of us need to suffer any more than we already have.
The light and energy behind Leyloni grew so intense that she could see it as a red glow through her eyelids, could feel its heat racing up and down her back. All
at once, the buzzing and roaring became a deafening boom that shook the whole cavern and gave the air a sharp, crisp sting.
Apart from the ringing in Leyloni’s ears and her thumping heart, all was impossibly quiet. Serek’s little hands grabbed, pushed, and pinched at her skin and clothing, but she barely felt the pain—just as she barely heard him crying. Leyloni was numb, trembling, breathless. She could not have released her hold on Serek in those moments if she’d wanted to.
If I do not look, it will not be real. Arysteon will be lying on the floor just as before, content and relaxing after a good meal.
She drew in and released several shaky breaths, willing her thought to be true. They could not have been so wrong about the old stories; it was not possible. Why would the legends be so misleading?
As the ringing in her ears finally faded, all she could hear was the rain falling outside and Serek crying.
I am not a coward. Arysteon deserves better than me hiding.
Leyloni forced her eyes open and straightened, rising on her knees. After another breath—this one far steadier than the last few—she twisted to look behind her.
A thick cloud of smoke hung in the air at the cavern’s entrance, blocking everything from view but a bit of dangling vegetation, falling water, and the forest canopy at the uppermost edge of the entryway. Gradually, the sound of Leyloni’s pounding heart rose to again claim prominence above all else.
Steeling herself, she stood up, lifting Serek along with her and holding him against her chest. The smoke was dissipating, but it was doing so slowly. Tendrils of it swirled away like misty, ghostly limbs reaching out in silent desperation.
“Arysteon?” Leyloni’s voice was raw, weak, broken.
When no answer came but the continued thumping of her own heart, the ice in Leyloni’s chest spread a little farther and grew even colder.
Oh, Mother Eurynome, what if I killed him?
But that…that couldn’t be right because, somehow, she felt Arysteon. She felt him through an invisible tether that was beckoning her closer to him.
To Love A Dragon; Venys Needs Men Page 7
