by Shea Malloy
“Don’t you dare drop me, Theron,” she says, her voice soft with mild humour.
When I raise up in preparation to take flight, she lets out a startled exhale. She screams when I shove off the ground toward the sky.
As I fly, she makes sounds of wonder and I execute mild twirls to impress her. I’m intoxicated by the sound of her startled laughter, pleased that I can inspire other emotions in her beyond distrust and dislike.
The mountains loom ahead of us and before long, I set down on the flat surface that leads to the entrance of one of the dens
I shift and I reach for her hand. I’m already anticipating her pulling away from me, but she lets me guide her forward. A safur blooms in the palm of my hand, chasing away most of the darkness.
“This is a den,” I tell her. “There are many of them within these mountains. Before the invention of cities and buildings, this is where the rur draki made their home.”
“It seems like someone still lives here,” she says, pointing at the furs that construct a bed.
“Yes, me. It belonged to my father. I come here every so often when I want to get away from the stress of work and the Andrak.”
“I guess killing humans can be tiring work,” she says, her tone cool as she slips her hand free from my grasp. All that lightness and humour as we flew has disappeared. “What is it that you wanted to talk about? I don’t understand why you had to bring me all the way here to say it.”
“You are my asafura, Seela,” I say quietly. “Do you know what that means?”
She frowns as she picks her way through the literal translation. I’m surprised she doesn’t know what it is since she has learned so much of Rur’s culture from the Andrasari she lost.
“’One fire?’”
“It means fire’s half,” I explain. “Every rur draki has a mate who Kahafura has chosen specifically for them. They are half of a fire made whole and burning stronger when they have found and accepted their mate.”
She shakes her head. “I am not a rur draki so obviously I can’t be your fire’s half.”
“My dragon has a primitive mind, but the goddess has given it the ability to comprehend things beyond what I can in my primary form. It selects you as my asafura, Seela. It wants you as my mate.” I drop my voice and draw closer to her. “I_ want you as my mate.”
She has the look of someone who’s suddenly been slapped with no explanation given by her attacker. There’s a flicker of excitement and pleased amazement on her face before it’s replaced by doubt, hurt and darkening anger.
“You threw me away, Theron,” she says, her voice hollow as she drops her gaze. “For one moment you made me feel like I was everything you wanted. Then the next you rid yourself of me like I meant nothing to you.
Because I do mean nothing to you. I’m a human you can use and discard as you please. Just like the rest. Now here you are telling me I’m your—your _asafura and I’m supposed to believe you and jump into your arms?”
Her eyes shine with disbelief in the light from the safur. She shakes her head. “You captured me and enslaved me. You’ve killed a countless number of my people. You’re a ruthless bastard whose only mission in life is destruction and I want nothing to do with you let alone be your mate.”
I almost wince from the pain her words cause. It’s worse because they are true. It’s true that I don’t deserve Seela. Perhaps I never will, but I would rather spend the rest of my years working to be better for her than not trying, than never having her in my life.
“I am sorry, Seela. Maybe it’s too late to say it, but I am sorry for the things I’ve done to you, for my resistance to what was right.” I want to touch her and hold her to me but I know she will not accept it. “Since that first night I met you, I wanted you. I grew up with a firm belief and here you were contradicting it entirely. That frightened me so I pushed you away. You must understand?”
Her only response is pursed lips and a steely gaze.
I exhale deeply. If talking won’t get her to accept my sincerity, actions will have to do. When I move toward her, she immediately shuffles back and away from me. I catch her by her upper arms
“Stay still,” I order her. Before she can give me the sarcastic retort I know is rising on her tongue, I touch the collar around her neck and disengage it. Then I fling it in some far, dark recess of the cave. “Never again will you or your people wear a collar.”
She caresses her bare neck, her eyes round.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I have stopped resisting. That I will work toward setting all humans free from slavery.”
“And what about Aphat and Ronan? They’ll object strongly to that.”
“It will be the first hurdle, yes, but I will overcome it.”
She is silent for some time before she looks away from me. I clench my fists at my sides in an effort to ward off the disappointment. I’m too late. I don’t know why I’d expected she’d suddenly change her mind.
“Do you still want me to take you to Tarro?”
“Yes,” she says quietly. Then she glances at me. “But not yet. I’m tired and want to rest first.” She meets my gaze fully. “But if you don’t want to wait, that’s fine.”
“I will wait.” Not just tonight until she is rested and ready to leave me, but for as long as it takes before she finally forgives me, before she capitulates and accepts me as hers.
20
Theron
—
“Why are you doing it? Why are you freeing the humans?”
A safur’s amber glow chases away the darkness to the corners of the den. Bare-skinned, Seela bathes in the den’s heated pool.
From my vantage point on the furs, I can only see her slim shoulders, but if I were to draw closer, the clear water would reveal her nakedness entirely.
I cast my gaze to the jagged ceiling of the den above me. If I stare in Seela’s direction any longer, the tenuous hold I have on my restraint not to drag her, wet and squealing, from the pool and take her would disappear.
“You showed me it’s the right thing to do.” I say. “I am tired of the strife within Andrasar. I would like to see it peaceful and prosperous again like it was when my father was the Konai.”
She is silent for a moment.
“Thank you,” she says quietly. “Whether or not you succeed, at least you’re willing to try.”
“There is one more reason,” I say. “If humans are free, then there would be no need to hide that I want you.”
Silence falls between us. Seconds become minutes. Then Seela rises from the pool, water sluicing down her naked, gorgeous form. Sitting up, I can’t look away. Not especially as she approaches me.
Her gaze slides over me as she purses her lips.
“Eyin told me how she got her scar but how did you get yours?” she says softly.
Water drops cling to her skin and she glistens in the light. Her curls hang loose past her shoulders. They’re limp from being wet, but some still curl, defiant like their owner.
I stare at her dusky pink lips, then her round, full breasts where the tips are dark buds against her brown skin. My gaze falls lower still over her smooth stomach, and then to that point between her legs where I would love to put my face, my tongue, my cock.
It’s a struggle to remember her question when the sight of her steals my breath.
“From the same person. He punished and tortured me for several days because I almost killed him for hurting Eyin. My Shifted blood can’t heal scars made from another Rur dragon.”
Her features twists in fury. It pleases me that it’s not directed toward me but it’s on my behalf.
“Someday, Aphat is going to pay for all the things he’s done.”
Amusement tugs at my lips. “Karma?”
“Exactly.” Then she frowns. “I think something is wrong with me. I wanted to hate you like I’m supposed to. I sat in the pool waiting for the hate but it never came.”
“That does not mean
something is wrong with you. It only means that you are more forgiving than the rest of us.”
She stares at me silently, before she steps closer and caresses my face.
“Never again, Theron,” she says. “Don’t you ever hurt me again or you’ll regret it. You know I don’t make idle threats. I said I’d stab you that time and I made sure I did. Twice.”
Chuckling, I move to my knees and reach for her, slipping an arm around her body and hugging her close to me. Her skin is still wet from her bath but I don’t mind. I press my lips to that smooth space between her breasts, kissing the supple curves of her flesh.
Her gasps fill me with satisfaction. I want to spend the rest my life hearing her make those tiny sounds. Her hands sift through my hair as I rove my hands down her soft thighs. Then I trail them back up to squeeze and grab her fleshy behind.
Her nipples are hard peaks. She shivers and moans whenever my lips get close to them. Her body gets taut in frustration, reaching for my lips on its own when I don’t cover her nipples with my mouth.
I’m already painfully hard for this beautiful female. Not for the first time I’m overwhelmed that this exquisite creature desires me.
I thought I would be the one to break her, to drag her down into the darkness with me. But here I am on my knees before her with the hope that I can rise up to meet her in the light.
“Theron,” she gasps when I finally suck her nipple into my mouth. Lapping and curling my tongue around the tip, I suck on her flesh. I slide my fingers slowly up the inside of her thigh, my fingers ghosting over her where she is already wet with arousal for me.
Her scent alone drives me crazy with lust. So soft and sweet just like her. I release her breast to press a kiss to her sternum, trailing a path of kisses over her stomach. Some day, if she will have me, our young will grow there.
Sitting back on my haunches, my face is level with her pelvis. I move my lips over the dip where her thighs meet her juncture as my fingers dip between her slightly parted legs. She is already so slick, her juices coating my fingers.
“Please…do it…” Seela squirms against my hand, begging for more of me with her body’s movements too. I want more of her too. I incline my head and press my nose against her inhaling her divine scent.
My tongue snakes out, lapping at her in a quick dart and she jerks at this. That tiny sample I had is not enough. I need her spread out beneath me so that I can savour her.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her down so she can lie on her back on the furs. I cover her body with mine immediately, kissing her slowly even though my dragon demands I hasten to take her.
Our first encounter was quick, borne from desperation, from pent up frustration of wanting each other but being too afraid of the consequences. Tonight, I will explore Seela. I will make her mine for as long and as often as I can.
The silken wetness of her tongue curls against mine as we kiss. My hand grazes along her side from her ribcage down to her hip. When she works a hand between us to touch me, I groan into her mouth.
She jerks me, each stroke pulling moans from me. I break our kiss to pepper her jaw with kisses. Squirming, she tries to guide me into her. As much as I’m throbbing with desperation to bury myself inside her, I pull free from her grasp with a soft laugh.
“Not yet, greedy one.”
She pouts and I suck her lower lip between my teeth before continuing on with what I’d intended. I kiss her chin, then her chest. As I secure one of her breasts in my palms, my mouth finds the other one.
She whimpers my name as I suckle her and pull on her nipples. Her sounds make me groan as I taste her. She is so responsive, unabashed in letting me know that she loves everything I do to her.
Releasing her breasts, I crawl down her body, placing feathery kisses to her skin on the way down. There’s a shy look on her face as she spreads her legs open for me.
Even though I know I was not her first, she is still inexperienced. Fiery anger and jealousy rises inside me at the thought that another male has had her, but I dampen it. That doesn’t matter. She is mine now. Always. There will be no other after me.
Her pussy glistens, inviting me forward. I drag my lips along the inside of her thighs and Seela raises her hips in expectation of my touch. She’s so wet, her juices smear her thighs and I lap it up on the way to my prize.
My mouth hangs open over her, breathing hot air on her to torture her. She squirms, her hand flying to the back of my head in a silent, bossy demand I finish what I started. When I finally taste her for the first time we both groan in unison.
Fuck. She’s so warm, so wet, her scent makes me dizzy how good it is. I have to keep holding down the beast inside me, keep telling myself to go slow, to savour her instead of devour her like my dragon commands.
I lick along the inside of her plump lips as I insert a finger into her heat. She is so tight, she grips my digit like a close sheath. When I had her on my cock that first night, I was on the brink of release just being inside her. Still, I add a second finger to her.
“This,” I say to her as I thrust my fingers into her, “is a promise of what’s to come when I’m done making you come on my tongue, Seela.”
“Oh...” she moans. Her fingers curl in my hair, fisting the strands. I find her tight little bud and cover it entirely with my mouth.
Sucking on it lightly, I slide my tongue back and forth on it. I am patient, enduring Seela’s sharp tugs on my hair as she grinds her pussy against my mouth.
My cock throbs painfully, desperate to replace my fingers stroking her tight, wet heat. Yet I’m determined to give her what she needs, what she deserves and more from me.
Fucking her with my fingers, I continue to lap and suck incessantly on her. I squeeze her thigh with my free hand, holding her wide open so I can feast on her.
Soon, she’s no longer just squirming. She bucks against me, her pleasure increasing. Her back curves away from the floor, her neck arching as she comes.
Her long moan and the way she squeezes my fingers is euphoric to me. When she’s done trembling, I rise up and grasp her hips, and flip her over so that she’s on her knees.
She lets out a little gasp of surprise when I embrace her from behind. I sit back on my haunches and she sits back against me.
Her legs spread open, her wet heat sits directly on my cock. She’s so hungry for it she immediately begins sliding along my length, raising herself up so the head can push against her entrance.
I cup her full breast in one hand, my other delving between her legs to touch her exactly where I’m going to be shortly. I violate her with my fingers, my lips on her shoulder and the back of her neck. I bite her shoulder softly then caress where I bit with my tongue.
“Theron,” she begs, “Please... please, stop making me wait...”
Goddess above there’s no sweeter sound than my fire’s half begging for my cock.
My hand on her shoulder, I push her down so she’s on all fours in front of me. I position myself behind her, rubbing my shaft along her dripping wetness.
Eagerness to be inside her builds in me, but I bend over to drop kisses on her smooth back. Reaching around to fondle her full breasts, I slide them down her sides.
Touching Seela alone brings me almost as much satisfaction as fucking her.
My fingers dig into her hip while I guide myself into her heat. She moans and trembles as I press into her. Grabbing both of her hips, I surge into her into her deep and full, rocking her forward.
A choked gasp escapes her and her tight sheath steals a pained groan from me. I’ve wanted to be inside her for so long that I’m almost reluctant to move for fear the next stroke might be my undoing.
Seela squirms, already impatient for more, and I have to comply with the wishes of my mate. I thrust into her, slow at first to regain control of myself. She’s such a tiny creature in comparison to me. When I look down between us where my cock slides into her, I’m reminded how much bigger I am to her. My worry that I’m hurting h
er is swept away when Seela rocks back against me in a quest for a harder fucking.
So I tangle my fingers in her lovely curls and give her what she wants. I drive into her, and she takes everything I give to her with moans of pleasure. Her back bows as she comes again, her body taut as she pants for air. She spasms around me, tighter than ever and I share her groans.
Mark her as yours.
I continue to thrust into her as I bend over her, my chest pressed against her back.
“Do you accept me as yours, Seela?” I growl in her ear. “Do you accept me as your fire’s half?”
“Yes, Theron... you’re mine...you’re my fire’s half...” she pants without hesitation. “Just like I am yours.”
Her acceptance fills me with triumph and joy, makes the beast inside me roar victorious. My lips part, my teeth lengthening into fangs. The tips prick her flesh before they sink fully into the claiming bite.
She cries out in pain but her cry rapidly dissolves into a long moan. I soothe the mark with my tongue as I release her. She shivers violently, another climax accosting her.
She grips me so tightly that she pulls me to my finish. My seed shoots from me with such intensity that my vision darkens and I nearly collapse on top of her.
Breathing heavily, we sink to the furs in blissful satisfaction.
I hold my mate against me, relishing the soft kisses she presses to my throat.
I was incomplete when I did not know of her existence.
Now that she is here with me, I am made whole.
21
Seela
—
Theron wakes me.
Daylight streams into the entrance of the den, revealing a pinched look of anger and worry on his handsome features.
“You need to get dressed quickly,” he says as I blink to keep my eyes open. I am still pleasantly exhausted from what we did most of the night before. “Ronan is near.”
