Sadly, she wasn’t in the mood for romance or much of anything, really. She sat on the fur Marek had laid out, pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her cheek on her knees, trying to make sense of Destiny’s behavior. Just one iota of sense.
Marek sat beside her and said nothing for a time, sensing she needed to sift through her emotions. Eventually, however, he spoke. “I know ‘tis not what you want to hear, but you will know all her secrets soon enough.” He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “And whilst you might be mad now, ‘twill be far worse if you keep this anger until the end.”
Baffled, she looked at him. “What choice do I have?”
“You have every choice, and you know it.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Moreover, deep down, you know to have gotten to this point, to have loved you like she clearly does, Destiny didnae betray you in the end, lass. She tried to save you.”
“How can you be so sure?” She wished she felt like he did. “How can you possibly trust her?”
“I dinnae know.” He shook his head. Confusion flickered in his eyes as he took her hand and trailed his finger over her ring. “Or mayhap I do, and I just cannae recall.”
As if his touching the ring triggered it, the tent vanished, and they were someplace else once again. Though Irish woodland, it felt different somehow. Out of place. Tainted in some undefinable way.
Marek put a finger to his lips that they be quiet, then stood and pulled her up, speaking telepathically. “Whatever you do, dinnae speak aloud in this place.”
“Why?”
“I dinnae know.” He shook his head, narrowing his eyes on the shadows shifting in and out of the forest. “Just heed me, aye?”
She nodded and moved closer, shivering when the air chilled considerably, and her breath came out in foggy wisps. “Why do I feel like I’ve walked through this area a thousand times, only now it looks different?”
“Because you have.” He pulled her closer still, seeming certain. “Just not quite on this plane or dimension, I'd say.”
“I hear a voice.” She narrowed her eyes and tried to see clearly, but it was difficult in a place made of dark auras. “Just ahead.”
“’Tis me.” He pulled her behind an especially thick tree trunk as his former Fianna passed. “I’m seeking out the goddess.”
Moments later, Destiny appeared out of the darkness, letting his incarnate go no further.
“Did she seek ye out then, god?” his Fianna accused. He clenched his fists, having evidently figured out exactly what Chara’s unicorn was up to. That she intended to sacrifice herself to save everyone. “Did Chara offer her life in exchange for ours no matter how foul the deed she contributed to.”
“’Tis not for ye to know warrior. Now leave this place for ye are not wanted.”
“Nay, only she is wanted.” He narrowed his eyes. “But ye cannot have her. I will not allow it.”
“’Tis already her choice to—”
“What if I offered more?” he cut her off. “What if I offer ye, them, so much more.”
Because he knew there were several now. Dark creature-like men conceived in filth and decay. Born of darkness. Of something beyond comprehension.
Just like this goddess.
“And what do ye think to offer?” Destiny looked down her nose at him, disgusted yet intrigued.
Or so it seemed at first.
“They’re acting,” Chara exclaimed, figuring it out as quickly as Marek. “Because that’s not how she acted when she approached either of us in that life. Not at all.”
“Nay.” Marek eyed the forest. “She’s putting on a show to be sure.” He looked at Chara. “Destiny’s on our side, lass. I can feel it. She’s on your side.”
Nearly the moment he said it, they returned to their tent.
“You sensed it, aye?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You sensed that Destiny had an ulterior motive?”
“I did,” she admitted, having felt just that. “Why not tell us about what we just saw, though? Why not just come clean?”
“I dinnae know.” He tilted her chin until their eyes connected. “All I know is what I felt then and what I feel now. However wary I might have been of Destiny at the beginning, ‘tis no more. Ye ken?”
“I do,” she whispered, seeing the truth of it in his eyes. “I just—”
He brushed his lips across hers before she could get the next words out, then murmured, “Just what?”
“I just want the truth already.”
“Soon enough,” he murmured, his mind clearly elsewhere as he brushed his lips across hers again.
While she briefly wondered at his arousal after being in such a place, the flare of his dragon eyes and the way he kissed her made it impossible to focus. She groaned as he stroked and touched her aggressively. As his kisses grew more intense. Hungry in a whole new way.
She half yelped, half groaned when he chanted her out of her clothing and flipped her on her belly.
“What are you—”
She tried to keep speaking but forgot what she was going to say when he came over her from behind, nude as well, and nuzzled the side of her neck. A strangled foreign sound came from her throat when he nipped her tender flesh. When he pushed images into her mind of him biting her harder and locking her down. Using her in pure unabashed sin.
“Ohhh,” she gasped, bucking instinctively when he ran his hand up the outside of her thigh and clamped down on her hip.
They’d never done things this way in their dreams. But then their inner dragons had never been at the helm. Desperate to connect in a whole new way. A way he'd clearly held back when they dreamt, unwilling to do anything that might frighten her.
“But I’m not,” she whimpered into the fur, squirming against him, pushing up, sick with desperation. “I’m not frightened, Marek.”
No, as it turned out when all was said and done, and the unexpected happened, she wasn’t frightened in the least.
Chapter Twenty-Five
CHARA DUG HER hands into the fur beneath them and shoved her arse back against him, desperate. Impatient. Needing him as fiercely as he needed her.
“I’ll try to be gentle,” he half whispered, half growled in her ear, not sure how he’d achieve such. Especially when she pled for him not to be. When she was on her hands and knees with her perfect backside perked in the air. She clenched the furs again, groaning that he take her already.
He struggled to remain halfway civil, but it was too late.
His dragon roared up at the sight of her, his vision hazed brighter red, and any gentleness he might have exercised fled. Before she could squirm any more, he gripped her hips, aimed hard and true, and thrust deep.
She cried out in animalistic pleasure and dropped to her elbows, shuddering with what some might have thought pain, but he knew was relief. Unable to stop, crazed with need, he took her in a way new to them but second-nature to their dragons. In a way that had both breathing harshly and slick with sweat.
When she sank to her belly, quivering and too weak to hold herself up, he came over her and clasped his hand around hers on the fur. He eased his pace, thrusting slowly, deeply, making her wetter and wetter until he mixed in sharper thrusts.
Lost in the sweet scent of her, he brushed her hair aside and flicked his tongue over the side of her neck, groaning at the taste of her. In turn, she began trembling, her inner flesh at peak sensitivity as her body readied to let go.
She released a long low strangled moan that sounded more animalistic than human before her sheath clamped down tight on his cock. Eyes closed, lost in the moment, there was no need to thrust again. Red spiked his vision and pleasure rocketed down his spine, tightening his bollocks before he let go deep inside her.
“Bloody hell,” he groaned, closing his eyes to the sensation.
He’d never felt anything so good.
So intense.
So freeing.
“Marek,” Chara exclaimed in his mind, her
inner voice not just startled and frightened but slightly different. “What’s happening?”
He blinked, discombobulated for a moment as people scrambled below him before it occurred to him he wasn’t in the tent but standing over it.
“It's happened, lass!” he whooped, both thrilled and relieved.
His dragon was no longer repressed.
He was free at last.
While tempted to take to the air and roar with glory, he stayed put when he locked eyes on the most glorious little dragon he’d ever seen. Shimmering white with golden spikes running down her tail, she had stunning golden eyes the color of her former unicorn’s horn. Chara didn’t flail awkwardly like some might their first time shifting but merely peered at him over her shoulder in a mixture of confusion and awe.
Nothing compared to looking into her eyes for the first time as a dragon.
It felt as though he transcended time.
As if his soul soared.
“How did this happen?” she asked. “What triggered it?”
“I think ‘twas a mixture of the memory we witnessed beforehand combined with the love our dragons feel for one another,” he replied. “Carnal pleasure aside, witnessing such darkness triggered their instinct to protect one another and allowed them to break free from their bonds.”
“By the bloody rood!” Cray exclaimed. “Did you two...”
When he trailed off, Madison chuckled. “Yup, I’d say they shifted in the act.”
Thankfully, that didn’t mean Marek was still inside her. He was, however, in an obvious enough position behind her. He stepped aside but remained close enough that he could help her if she lost balance in her new form.
“You’re doing so much better than I did my first shift,” Madison complimented Chara, who remained calm and looked around. Though their kin had woken at the commotion, it seemed Destiny had ensured no one else saw them. Or so he assumed when neither David nor his soldiers came out of their tents.
“I think it’s because I’ve shifted before,” Chara replied to everyone telepathically. “I might not have done it in this life, but in some strange way, this isn’t all that different than shifting to a unicorn.” She flexed her neck and moved her tail carefully. “Though this body definitely has more power.”
Marek wanted to wrap her in his wings and pull her close. Or fly alongside her into the horizon the first time she felt such freedom. In turn, her dragon seemed equally taken with his, maybe even a little bashful. That didn’t stop him from nuzzling his neck against hers, though.
She was just nuzzling him back and making a sweet growly purring sound of pleasure when Phelan trotted into the circle, wagging her tail. David followed, staring up at them in awe.
“I thought he might like to see you two,” Destiny said into their minds, confirming that she had, indeed, been responsible for the others not waking.
“Och,” David whispered, stunned. Round-as-saucers, his eyes took in Marek’s big black dragon first, then widened further still on Chara’s. “Ye’re so verra bonny, Chara. And a unicorn dragon to be sure!”
He understood what the wee king meant. Not only was her coloring the same as her former beastie’s, but there was a circular patch of golden scales on her dragon’s forehead where a horn would have been.
Rather than attempt to speak within David’s mind, Chara lowered her head so he could touch her face. While her smile appeared more a grimace in dragon form, her eyes were kind. Phelan woofed at Chara in warning that she was close enough to David, then flounced around Marek’s foot as if she were every bit his equal despite their vast size difference.
Meanwhile, David, not tentative or frightened in the least, touched Chara’s cheek and smiled. “Yer scales are cool. I thought considering yer fiery eyes, they would be warmer.”
“Dragons are unique creatures that way,” Destiny explained. “While they breathe fire and run hot, their skin is just as susceptible to flames as yours. So their scales serve a dual purpose. They act as both protection from dragon fire and provide their host a cooling system. Their scales soak up the chill of nighttime to keep them cool by day.”
“What if ‘tis a warm night,” David asked quite logically, still admiring Chara’s scales.
“’Tis not the air around us we gather the chill from,” Leviathan kicked in. “But the darkness and cold of space itself. Something we don't have access to when the harsh sun is up.”
David cocked his head. “Space?”
“Yes.” Leviathan gestured at the night sky. “Far, far above the ground in a realm you cannot conceive of in this day and age,” he said almost reverently, “there’s a frigid place of horrible death and terrifying beauty and—”
“And nowhere you need to worry about,” Destiny assured, shooting the Viking a look before she smiled at David. “You should get back to your tent and appear to wake with the others, King David. For it’s almost daybreak and time to press on.”
Though he looked disappointed, he nodded in agreement and bid them goodnight before doing as asked.
“Hmm, so how exactly do I shift back?” Chara murmured to herself before she figured it out in record time. A flash of golden light later, she was human again and fully clothed. She smiled and shook her head. “It really is just like shifting in my last life.”
Marek shifted back as well and pulled her close simply because he needed to. Because the connection he swore couldn’t get any stronger between them just had. Clearly feeling the same, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his chest. Nobody said a word but went about their business, understanding that they needed a moment. That what they’d just experienced was profound.
“I’m so glad your dragon’s free at last,” she whispered, emotional. “Although embracing my dragon was untouchable, it didn’t make me as happy as knowing your inner beast isn’t caged anymore. That you’re you in your entirety now.”
“Which wouldnae have happened without you.” He tilted her chin until their gazes were aligned. His brogue thickened with emotion. “Thank ye, lass. Thank ye for making me feel whole again...in every sense of the word.”
He kissed her softly at first, then more intensely, before reluctantly pulling away. If he kept going, he would want more. Far more. Over and over.
She glanced from the shredded tent back to him and grinned. “It looks like we made a mess of things.” Her eyes narrowed curiously. “Did we...you know...while dragons?”
“Nay, but ‘twas bloody close.” He met her small smile. “From what I hear, mating as dragons can be verra destructive to your surroundings and doesnae...end so quickly.”
“Dare I ask?”
“Probably not.”
She bit her lower lip, clearly too curious for her own good. “Okay, so now I’ve gotta know.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Apparently, they’re locked together for a time afterward to help ensure pregnancy. To ensure the species’ survival.”
“Ah, yes, can’t have the species dying off,” she began before mirth left her voice, and she suddenly seemed different. Sadder. “Though species die off all the time...just like unicorns...but not before...”
“Before what?” he prompted when she trailed off.
Her response, not surprisingly, both saddened and chilled him to the bone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“WHAT DID I mean by that?” Chara murmured, staring at the fire. Meat roasted as the sun crested the horizon. Rather than look to Destiny for answers because she knew it futile, she looked at Marek. “It had to have been in reference to my unicorn’s sacrifice.”
For in a flicker of a trance that swiftly came and went, she’d said she would ensure the species. That their lineage would go on.
“Honestly?” Ciara said. “Considering what happened to Ethyn and me, I’d hazard to guess you were, at least in part, referring to us. Because one way or another, I was a species caught within a curse. By doing what you did, you would have saved mine and Ethyn’s lineage.”
“She would have also ensured the MacLomain’s lineage,” Grant remarked, caught in a stream of morning sunlight cutting through the forest. “A unique lineage made up of wizards and dragon shifters.”
“Verra true,” Marek murmured before his gaze went to Destiny, and he shared what had happened to them last night. Yet another glimpse into the distant past. “Whatever darkness was yours, I know you were trying to help us.” He looked at everyone. “I can assure you ‘tis true. The goddess was on our side.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, I cannae remember much more than that.”
“So you and Destiny were ‘acting’ in this other dimension.” Though Leviathan spoke to Marek, his gaze never left Destiny, as though gauging her every reaction. “Who were you performing for, I wonder? Just the Brotherhood or someone else?”
Though Destiny showed no visible reaction, Leviathan was on to something. In fact, for a split second, Chara thought she saw both anger and fear flash in her friend’s eyes. More than that, she felt it.
“What is it, Destiny?” she whispered, not nearly as upset with her anymore. Not after what they’d experienced last night. Then now, sitting here, feeling her friend’s turbulent emotions. How on edge she truly was. “What happened? What were you up to?”
“I was trying to help.”
All of a sudden, the look on Destiny’s face was familiar somehow. As was the way she phrased her next question.
“You know, Chara,” her friend prompted, perking her brows, “that thing you do that makes others say thank you?”
“Whoa, way to be bitchy,” Madison began, but Chara cut her off.
“No.” She narrowed her eyes at the goddess and tested her theory. “Like what an electronic machine that searches the internet does for you?”
“Yes.” Relief flashed in Destiny’s eyes. “How a computer helps.”
“It’s charades,” she exclaimed in everyone’s minds. “We used to play it all the time.”
A Scot's Retribution (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era Book 5) Page 16
