"Please," she begged, tearing her mouth from his. "I can't wait anymore."
Turning, she rested her hands on the bed frame and bent forward, offering herself to him. Anticipation thrummed through her. Her sex pulsed, greedy, hungry, waiting for him to ease the ache. Seconds melted into minutes. She looked over her shoulder to see what kept him and her breath stuck in her throat.
He stood, fists swollen, face drawn tight in a mask of rage. In a flash, he reached out, seizing her shoulders in a firm grip, spinning her around.
"You never do that with me," he bit out, his face inches from hers. "Ever. Do you understand? Not with me."
Shocked, she could little more than nod. The flames of rage died in his eyes. It was after that she saw the sorrow and affection burning behind them. Then he closed his eyes and enveloped her in his embrace.
"I'm sorry," he whispered fiercely. Wet and hot, his kisses scored her throat, easing the wounds she'd already forgotten about. Shivers danced along her skin. She tipped back her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. "For everything," he said in a dark, seductive voice as he lifted her in his powerful arms and set her back on the edge of the bed.
DECLAN'S HEART SPLINTERED into a thousand fragments when she turned, submitting to him the way he'd seen Lotharus take her. He'd barely been able to control his fury. It had been her eyes that had brought him back from the edge. Those beautiful pink eyes, blinking up at him with awe and complete surrender. In that moment, he realized she'd given herself to him. That she trusted him enough to go through something that had never been pleasurable for her, to please him.
He could not change the past, but he could take control of the future.
Inclining his head, he bent his lips to hers, his eyes never leaving her face. When their mouths would have touched, he held back, hovering over her. Their breath mingled. The delicate, feminine scent of her crackling through him like lightning, summoning him to her. His shoulders shook and tension coiled his insides, but he did not move. He wanted her to come to him, wanted her to have all the control, all the power for once. She already wielded it over his heart, but he wanted to give her power over his body.
A hand cupped his cheek and he jumped at the contact. The demand to mate tackled him. His hands gripped the edge of the bed frame in a white-knuckled grip, holding himself back, fighting a nature inherent to his kind since creation.
"Declan, please. I need you."
She did. He could see it on her face. Dots of sweat covered her brow and dark circles lay under her sallow eyes. If he didn't claim her soon, she would wither. Her newfound strength would ebb and she would slip back into the untimely death his blood had saved her from. Yet, it still wasn't enough for him to let go of the reins and give in to the dragon.
"Don't want to...hurt you," he panted.
"You can't hurt me. I'm burning already."
He shook his head. "Don't understand." Every muscle in his arms shook. The tendons burned, feeling like he held an avalanche away from her.
Long and smooth, her legs wound around his waist, pulling him close where he tried to keep back. His body tensed as she scooted forward so her butt rested on the edge of the bed. Her breasts jostled with the movement, heavy and perfect. The nipples puckered so tight it looked painful. His mouth watered to taste them. An unseen force pressed on his head, trying to fulfill his silent desire.
He yanked back only to have another pull of her emerging dragoness pheromones beckon him back to her. His hips bucked forward and showers of light burst in front of his eyes. This time she felt it, too. Her body answered back, arching toward him. A visible shudder trembled over her skin and her eyes widened in understanding.
"I think I do."
Sitting up tall, a sense of wonder in her eyes, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled herself up to his mouth. His bones melted at the feel of her warm lips sliding against his. A low purr hummed out of her and she did it again.
ALEXIA KNEW HIS RESTRAINT hung by a thread. Knew only a thin fiber of control stood between the gentle, caring lover before her and the beast that would ravish and claim her. Heat pooled between her legs at the thought. Although she recognized and admired what he tried to do, whatever happened had changed her. She needed him as badly as he needed her.
"Please," she murmured, brushing the tips of her sensitive nipples against his chest. "Let go." Another spike of need pulsed through their bodies. They both tensed and held their breath. Alexia clung to his back, her open mouth covering the apple of his shoulder.
"Mating is the..." he groaned as another jolt wrapped around them, drawing them together "...only way to stop this. It's what you need. Me inside you."
Alexia leaned back and gazed into his face. His eyes were completely black, the pupils dilated, covering up the blue. Without taking her gaze from his, she reached down to his hand. It took more force than she imagined to yank him free from the bed frame. She wouldn't be surprised if the wood bore the indent of his fingers.
"Touch me," she said, placing his hand over her naked breast.
His chest heaved and his nostrils flared. And then, whatever leash held him back snapped. He lunged for her and she met him, accepting the full brunt of his assault with contented relief. Ravenous, his mouth covered her lips. Alexia captured his kiss, claiming him in return with equal lust and fervor. A primal sound rumbled through his chest. The desire she heard in his groan made made her yearn to be claimed.
Heavy and thick, he covered her. She cried out in bliss at the feel of their bodies clashing together, clawing to get closer. The hand on her breast flexed, squeezing and kneading her flesh. Declan bent, taking the aching tip in his mouth, sucking, curling his tongue around it and nipping the sensitive peak with his teeth.
Liquid heat shot through her veins, pooling between her legs. "Declan," she whimpered.
He released her nipple. Cool air kissed the damp skin, making it crimp tighter, reach up for the heat of his mouth. But his head lifted, his gaze settling on her face. Eyes dark with passion, he kept his gaze on hers as the hand on her waist slid lower. Alexia let her knees fall open. The move had his heavy body sinking into the cradle of her hips. Her eyes fluttered shut at the delicious contact. So close. Soon.
DECLAN REACHED BETWEEN her legs, his hand covering her sex. A low groan tore from his throat at the feel of her. Gods, she was fire, burning, slick against his fingers. His cock pulsed, begging to plunge inside her heat. Feeling like he'd desired nothing but this for so long.
"Please," she panted, her hips arching into his hand. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm burning."
He knew. Gods, he knew.
"Declan, I need..."
"I know."
Her body was telling him what she needed, as if she hadn't spoken it eloquently enough already. The exotic fluid of her need bathed her skin. His fingers slipped between her pink folds with ease. Blood rushed to the tip of his already stiff cock, engorging it even further. Hard and heavy, his balls throbbed with the need to come, to give her what she longed for. Instead he glided a finger inside her heat. Her tight walls gripped him, greedily hugging his finger and sucking it deeper. Gods, he couldn't breathe, couldn't think of anything other than how amazing she was going to feel wrapped around him.
He wanted to dive down and taste her, wanted to worship every inch of her. But he knew now what she required to live was not his tongue but his seed coating her womb. She whimpered when his hand left her, sighing when he positioned the swollen head of his cock at the heart of her.
ALEXIA PIVOTED HER HIPS, trying to ease him inside, but he held back. Bending over her, he set his mouth to hers, his tongue slipping between her lips, sampling the moist recess of her mouth. Alexia's head spun, her body vibrated on the edge of madness. Her core contracted, trying to pull the tip of him farther into her body, while she sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth.
Then he pulled back. The flat of his palm skated down her face, a look of awe and wonder filled his eyes before he bent
to her once more.
"I love you, Alex," he whispered against her lips before entering her in one plunging stroke, joining them. Alexia cried out as the delicious size of him spread her, stretched her, filled her.
DECLAN HELD HIMSELF INSIDE HER, his face buried in the sweet place between her neck and shoulder. The overwhelming sensation of her wrapped around him was almost too much to bear. Declan wasn't sure he could stand to move. Wasn't sure he could move. But then he was. On primal instinct his body began the dance both of them had been moving toward since he had first fed from her days ago.
At the vibrating pleasure quaking through him, he hissed in a breath and eased inside her an inch, and then two. And each time he did, she took him in, took him deeper. Alexia moaned and tipped her hips. Every gasping sigh and breathy moan spurred him on and reined him in.
Declan stared down at the beauty beneath him. Her blond hair fanned out across the bed, her flushed skin and beautiful eyes. Suddenly, the sight of her was one sense too many, so he closed his. The hot slide of her walls hugging his cock intensified. So warm. So tight. He pressed in and out of her in a deep rocking rhythm, faster, deeper, harder. Each stroke declaring the litany repeating in his mind--Mine. Mine. Mine.
Alexia was his, now and forever.
WATCHING D ECLAN'S BODY loom above her, his golden skin slick with desire and hot to the touch, nearly sent her over the edge. Alexia clung hard to his shoulders, her fingernails burrowing into his skin as her body crested. At first she tried to hold on, tried to keep the pleasure from taking over her. But Declan wrapped a wing around her back and dipped his mouth to her throat. That amazing voice of his, deep and thick, told her he wanted her to let go, wanted to feel her contract and pulse around him, wanted to hear the sounds she made as she came.
As it had when his mouth tasted her, the muscles of her core burned, knotting tight and hard before melting in a pool of fire. His low, satisfied groan rumbled against her throat, his body shaking as hers quivered to a mind-blowing release. Declan's palm flattened against her thigh, hitching her knee up to his shoulder.
"One more time," he coaxed, grinding his hips and pistoning into her with excruciating perfection. At the feel of his strong, assertive strokes, her back arced and a cry gasped from her throat. Before the first wave of bliss had even receded, another blasted her, overpowering and overwhelming.
This time, he followed her into oblivion. His body tensed and a shuddering groan fell from his lips. The sound of his wings snapping wide echoed in the chamber. Alexia opened her eyes, marveled at the sight of him above her. His body strained, his wings flared out to the sides, quivering with the force of his orgasm. She'd never seen anything more vibrantly arresting in her life than Declan releasing deep into the sanctuary of her body. Her heart surged, filling her chest until she thought it would burst free.
The raging need for this man, this dragon, to claim her having been fulfilled, her need morphed into the primal urge for his blood. A curtain of red shrouded her eyes and her otherwise replete body begged for something more. The tips of her fangs itched, burning to burrow into his gorgeous flesh. They lengthened, stretching out toward him.
As if sensing what she needed, he leaned his head, offering his neck. Alexia flitted her gaze from his throat to his face, looking for the approval she knew was already there.
"Please," he hushed.
At his verbal cue, she tipped her head to his neck, kissing the skin before plunging her teeth deep in his flesh. Another surge of pleasure raked her womb as the taste of him burst on her tongue. Potent and male, his essence coated her throat. She closed her eyes, savoring every drop of him.
The heat of his mouth covered her shoulder. Alexia shuddered in anticipation, groaning against his neck when his fangs punctured her skin. Her insides burned, her belly heated from his blood. Sated, she released him and fell back. His arm cradled her head, easing her down and pillowing her head against the bed.
Alexia smiled and turned her head, allowing him access to keep feeding from her. She wanted to be anything and everything he needed. Wanted him to feel complete and satisfied in every way possible, as if her love were food and enough to sustain his very life.
THE MOMENT D ECLAN dislodged his fangs, his arms gave out. He didn't fight the respite. Instead, he rested his forehead on hers, placing a kiss on her lips before dipping his head in the crook of her neck. Long and slender, her arms enveloped him, holding him to her.
Declan didn't want to leave her, but he rocked his hips back and up, slipping out of her body. A female whimper sounded in his ears and then the next thing he knew, she pushed on his chest. He fell back willingly, groaning when she sat astride him, her palms resting on his chest. Declan lifted a hand, sweeping aside the long curtain of hair to see her face. She met his gaze with a shy smile, one that made his heart melt.
"Are you feeling better now?" he panted.
Alexia dipped her chin, a blush creeping across her cheeks before her hair fell forward, covering her face again. "Do I look better?"
Although a laugh rumbled through his chest, the sight of her naked perfection above him was anything but funny. His gaze settled on the pink bite mark on her neck, the curve of her breasts, her hips. His head was reeling from the feel of her hands on his body, her perfect butt resting on his thighs and the enticing warmth settled oh-so-sweetly above him.
The weight of her atop him transferred as her hands lifted to push away the mass of unruly hair hanging all around him like a sultry veil. Declan reached out, grasping her wrist in his hand. She stilled the other arm, her body frozen in question above him. Slowly, he pulled her palm to his mouth, brushing his lips in the center of her warm hand.
He felt more than heard her shuddered inhale and it went straight to his already tightening groin. Releasing her hand, he lifted both of his to the edges of her hair, running its silky smoothness between his fingers before bringing it to his lips and kissing it.
She looked down at him with those amazing eyes and suddenly kissing anything but her lips was not enough. Tightening his abdomen, he curled up to sit, cradling her jaw in his palm. He kissed her mouth again, deep and slow. After a few unhurried strokes, Alexia's lips on his became demanding, hungrier. A sound between a moan and whimper hummed in the back of her throat and his body responded to it immediately.
Arms wrapped around his neck, and her hips rocked against his in rhythm with their tongues tangling in each other's mouths. And then with one pivot, Alexia worked him inside her again. Impossibly warm, her body took him in, consumed him. Now it was his turn to groan as she started to ride him.
Declan's entire body vibrated on the edge of bliss, about to fall over it again. Making sure she followed, he wound his tail between them. The tip found the place their bodies were joined, massaging the sweet little button he couldn't quite reach with his hands. A gasp tore from her lips and a shudder raked the muscles beneath Declan's palms. His victorious smile faded as her inner walls clenched and flexed, hugging him tight and sending him over that precipice with her.
TALLON PACED THE LENGTH of her chamber, her mind reeling. Declan had been gone for hours with no word and still the council would not act, would not go after him. She vibrated with anger, hate and confusion. She wanted to pull her hair out. Scream until she lost her voice. Smash something to pieces to match her fracturing soul.
Blindly, Tallon reached out, snatching a vase of half-dead flowers someone had given her at her parents' burial ceremony. With a howl, she pitched it across the room. The sound of the container shattering did nothing to ease the empty ache inside her, so she picked up another object and another until she'd broken every piece of glass in her chamber.
Chest heaving, she stared at the pieces of glass strewn on the floor, feeling every bit as broken, every bit as scattered. Tears threatened. She nearly couldn't keep them back. But she managed to swallow them down. Instead, she let the weakness, the helplessness she felt stoke and feed her anger. Pivoting, she grabbed the back of the near
est chair and sent it sailing across the room. She turned over furniture, tossed books from their shelves, decorations off their tables until there was nothing left standing.
The empty hole pulsing inside her didn't abate. Tallon braced her palms against the granite wall and closed her eyes. The strident pounding of her heart and her gasping breath was the only sound in the room. Desperation and misery suffocated her. Its claws were digging into her, dragging her down. Yet, the faint desire to not lose herself bubbled up from somewhere inside her. A desperate need tried to surface, to reach out and grasp any anchor that might keep her from floating down the dark path her heart had started down. She held her breath, letting it out in a low cry when her hope sank back into the abyss.
It was too late.
She didn't care anymore. About anything.
With a choked cry, she pulled back her fist, smashing her knuckles against the jagged stone wall as hard as she could. A lightning bolt of pain shot up her arm, momentarily silencing the storm raging inside her. She gasped at the sensation. Finally, she felt something other than hopelessness. Grimacing, she jabbed the wall harder this time. Again and again she struck the hard surface. Until her hand bled, until her bones felt shattered to powder, until a broad arm wrapped around her, pulling her away from the wall and pinning her back against a very hard, very male frame.
"Whoa, there, little one," a deep voice spoke in her ear.
Tallon bent forward, taking him with her before kicking back her elbow, lodging it in his side.
He grunted. "Ease up," he said, his voice calm, his hold on her tightening.
Ignoring him, she began to repeat the move. But his leg kicked out, swiping across hers, knocking them out from under her. Tallon let out a cry as she fell to the floor. However, she didn't hit the ground. Strong arms shifted their hold on her, spinning her almost three hundred and sixty degrees before slamming her up back against the wall.
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