Brother Of The Dark Places

by Miranda Bailey

  “Yes, Endre, please, let me do what I’ve wanted to do for so long.” I looked down at him before moving my hand down to where he couldn’t pretend he wanted me. My eyes closed as I felt him hard and ready for me, throbbing in my hand.

  “Then do as you please with me, Thyra. I am yours in all things.” I watched him, wondering if we were still alone. I don’t know what the others were doing but they were leaving us alone for now.

  I pulled out the pillows to prop his head up, threw a fur to the foot of the bed, and he watched me undress.

  I revealed my body to him, though he’d seen me earlier. Not like this though, not in the soft candlelight Endre’s magic had provided for us.

  I pulled off my shirt, his shirt now that I thought of it, and let my long hair fall around me. The dark blond curls hid my breasts, only my nipples peeking through.

  With a deep breath I pushed my pants away, the material sliding down my smooth thighs, revealing my bare flesh to his eyes.

  He looked at me, drinking me in with greedy glances. I saw him swallow beneath me, anticipation making him nervous. I was beside him now, on one side of the bed, him on the other.

  He sat up on the bed, clothed except for his shoes.

  “Take my clothes off, Thyra.” Endre needed me to do this for him, I understood that, though I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the fact that I’d be stripping away layers of him with each item removed.

  I went to him, kneeling so close I could smell his scent. I placed my hands on his powerful hips, trailing my fingers up his side before kissing him. I pulled at the bottom of his shirt. I felt his skin, so like silk as I pushed the shirt away, breaking our kiss only as I slid the shirt over his head.

  I’d seen his magnificent body earlier. A flat stomach, no extra weight anywhere on the sculpted form of his muscled body. I loved the way the tight roundness of his ass felt in my hand as I splayed my hand over the area.

  He gasped, my touch intimate, arousing him. I smiled at him as I moved my hands to sides, squeezing the firm flesh in my hands.

  I leaned forward to swipe my tongue over his nipple with a slick stroke, first the right, then the left. He gasped loudly as I took the left one so I sucked it into my mouth to tease him more.

  I felt him sway on his knees. I clutched at his shoulder to steady him.

  When he was firmly in place again I moved my hand up, my fingers splayed over his heart. He’d done that to me to form the connection. I felt it now, as little more than a feather inside my head as he watched me, his eyes pleased at what I’d done so far.

  The dark rose color of his nipples was similar to mine, but his tempted me so I bent down to lick them. Air hissed between his teeth again and I heard a groan from within his chest. I liked the way the silky skin tickled my tongue as I licked them.

  He loved me licking them and pressed his hips into me, his movements uncontrollable. I sucked at the small beads next and his groans became louder. I knew wherever Wruin and the others were they could probably hear him.

  He panted, and he groaned as he pressed into me and I knew he didn’t care who heard him.

  “Thyra. My heart. Oh shit, don’t stop doing that.” He stopped speaking as I sucked harder at his nipple, and my hands began to move, lower, stroking his stomach into relaxing.

  I could feel his stomach quivering against me and pushed with my body, pressing him back into the bed to lie flat.

  He moved, unfastened his pants, and pushed the garment away to reveal his naked body before me.

  He was as hard and bare as I was, his body totally without a single hair accept on his head. I moved between his tanned thighs, delighting in his masculine feel. Even his legs were bare.

  I moved over his abdomen, kissing his belly button as I slid down, around the flat plane of his stomach that I decided I loved, down to his freed cock.

  I brushed my lips over him, exploring the way he felt and the way he responded. Hard and hot. Heat, a scent all of his own, and hard silkiness. I looked into his eyes and saw his fascination, his arousal.

  I grinned at him, a devilish grin I knew, and spread his thighs open with my hands. He was so aroused that even that touch caused a response from him. I saw his cock, hard and thick, up close for the first time. I couldn’t close my fingers around it, but knew it fit just right inside of me. Whether I’d get it in my mouth was another matter, but I’d like to try.

  With a long stroke I licked from the base to the tip, my tongue flat against the bottom of his cock. I paused at the tip to make tight circles with my tongue. His head was thick and aroused, ready to be touched, throbbing with the pressure of his blood filling it. He wanted this as much as I did.

  I flicked my tongue under the edge, tight, darting flicks that had his hips twitching.

  I felt his thighs quaking and knew he was close. I wanted to make him come, but I wanted to taste him coming in my mouth. I sucked him deep, trying to take him all but failing. I heard him groan above me, his hands in my hair, guiding my pace.

  “Thyra, please, either let me come in your mouth, or fuck me, but please, stop this torment!”

  I pressed my fingers into his tight balls, curving them up as I sucked hard at his cock, a low laugh rumbling up my throat. His words had made my body pulse in response, I’d get mine soon enough.

  “Thyra!” He cried out my name as he came, his body twisting as he clutched at the covers with his hands. I wanted to watch him but I didn’t want to stop sucking his cock, not until he pushed my head away.

  I swallowed him until his cock stopped pumping, until he stopped thrusting into my face, until he pushed at my head and laughed.

  I moved up to lie beside him, my body on fire for him, but trying to be patient. I’d come until I thought I was going to turn inside out earlier today. This was his time and for now, I was just pleased I’d made him come so hard.

  “I wanted to fuck you so desperately, Thyra, but, mmmm…your mouth is fucking amazing.” He was teasing me with his hands, plucking at my nipples lightly.

  I groaned and he pushed me down, his thighs between mine. My hips surged up to meet him as I felt the head of his cock, but he pulled away every single time I surged up to take him inside me.

  “Oh no, my dear. You just teased the hell out of me, then you sucked me dry, and I had to behave myself. I’m going to take my time with this.”

  Endre surprised me then and pushed me onto my front. I pushed one of his cloud soft pillows under my chest, and felt my nipples ache as they rasped against the linen.

  Endre’s fingers slid their way into my wet folds, going deep into me as I tried to turn. I wanted him in me now. He was hard again already, something that didn’t surprise me with him.

  “Oh no, I want you in just this position, my dearest heart. Sit still.” He paused to squeeze my ass, and it felt so good I forgot to feel self-conscious about how he had me positioned on my knees, my ass high in the air. I was totally open for his inspection. “I want to see how your body responds, how you shake and quiver at my touch. The others will be back soon, you don’t want to wait until then do you? When they’ll hear you scream my name.” He paused to begin teasing my pussy as he waited for my answer.

  “No, Endre, please, hurry.” I finally found breath and he pulled his fingers away to slide into my wet heat.

  I forgot how to breathe as his long thick cock surged into my depths; I could only take the smallest part of him at first. He pulled my knees apart, and moved within me, until at last he could sink fully into me.

  Endre watched my hips move, the way my body shook as I tried to speed up the pace, teasing me until I thought I’d pass out. He clutched at my hips with his hands, holding me still as he thrust into me, deep and hard. I just needed one more thing from him, just one thing to push me over the edge.

  He leaned in close, breathing hot air against my back. My knees buckled and my pussy tightened as the pulsing started but Endre held me up, surging into me in a concentrated pattern.

  Endre didn
’t stop as he filled my mind, as he joined me for the experience at last. He fucked me with a hard pounding pace, his hand pushing his fingers deep into my folds to find my clit, to send me even higher.

  I screamed, I don’t know what, but I couldn’t stop as he pushed me higher, as I felt him experience it with me. I held on to the pillow, clutching it in my fists as a lifeline as I spasmed around him, my knees quaking.

  Before I’d even come down he was surging inside of my pussy faster, harder, his fingers still on my clit, his cock spreading me even wider.

  “It’s too much, Endre, fuck, don’t stop!” It was far too much but I needed it, I craved it. I craved him.

  And he gave me everything he could give me.

  He surged into me hard, deep, and fast, almost without care as he held my hips tight in his grasp, not allowing me to move as he concentrated on sending us both into space once more.

  My dragon mate claimed me, fucked me, he made me his all over again and again as we came together so much more than we had before.

  I knew he was with me, I knew what he felt, and it made it so much more than normal sex, it was pure magic. We hid nothing from each other, it was impossible, and our fusion exploded into something that looked like blue light around us. I saw it through his eyes.

  I took every drop of him, needing everything he had to give me. I felt his soul touching mine and clung to the moment for dear life. I never wanted it to end and knew I would never be able to leave him, not now.

  The others would be here soon. I sank down to the bed as we found reality once more, trying to catch my breath as Endre fell to lie beside me on the bed. His hands soothed the places where his fingers had gripped me so tightly, murmuring as he noticed a tiny bruise on my hip.

  “I’ll bring in a tub and get some hot water. You need a long soak after today, and I’ll see if I can find some food. Rest here, my heart.” I didn’t protest his care. I couldn’t move to do it, even if I wanted to.

  “I love you, Endre. I hope we’re both ready for what’s coming.”

  He kissed my forehead and I fell asleep, lost to the world, but this time peacefully and without dreams. I was too exhausted to do anything else.

  11

  Endre

  “Endre, I think we need to talk.” Wruin came to me late in the night, after the others had gone to bed, and sat down at the table where I was reading a book.

  Thyra was still asleep and I didn’t want to wake her so I was reading in the kitchen. I put the book down at his serious look and waited. He plunked down two cups of ale and the bottle they came from.

  “I know what I did was wrong, and I want to apologize. Riever did have a good life though. I promise you that. Astrid did too, they were never apart. They had each other until the day they died.” He stopped, wiping at his hard jaw with his hand.

  “Alright.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say to him.

  “I don’t have any other way to tell you this, except to just come out with it. Thyra is a descendent of Riever.” He looked at me, his eyes full of sorrow but also hope that we could truly reconcile.

  “How?” I asked, my brain exploding with the possibilities. She wasn’t, fuck no, she couldn’t be descended from me could she? I wanted to run out into the freezing night now, how the hell was this supposed to help me?

  “Chill out man, it’s cool. She isn’t yours. They met a man after you left, a few years later, and asked him to give them a child.” He paused again, trying to work something out in his mind. “The child was half-shifter, so I suppose, in a way, Thyra may have inherited some of the magic, maybe that’s why you mated with a non-magical. Deep down she has a little bit of it left in her genes.”

  “Maybe so.” I replied, calm once again. “So they were happy, Astrid and Riever?” It was all I’d wanted for them. Even if it meant I had to leave them both.

  “They were. They didn’t want for anything, I made sure of it. They were together until the end. Riever went first, then Astrid followed soon after. On the same day. Riever died in her sleep an old woman. I think Astrid just couldn’t face life without her and willed herself to die.” His face was sad but full of the awe of their love.

  It had been an incredible thing to witness, the way they bonded. Humans didn’t have the mating bond that we had but their love came close to it. I’d intruded on that for a little while, but now, I was almost glad I’d left them to their life.

  “Good then. That’s all I wanted for them.” I sighed and took a gulp of the cold ale. Everything was cold here, except for the food if we ate it straight from the stove.

  Thyra had bathed earlier in a large tub I brought her, but she’d only been able to relax in it for a short time before the water cooled.

  “Right, well, I just wanted you to know.” Wruin stood, heading for his tent I had to presume.

  “What will we do about Airitech?” I asked, needing an answer.

  “We’ll go after him as soon as Fern finds him. She’s hunting him now.”

  “Okay. I can’t leave him alive, you know that?” I looked at him, both of our gazes steady as we looked at each other.

  “I know, Endre. I can’t either. Abigail, well, she never knew him. We’re questioning her sister now. It will be over soon, I promise, all of this. I’ll take the refugees to my land, they’ll be warmer there, and you can have your solitude back. Only…” He stopped to give me a grin I remembered from long ago. “I guess you won’t be so alone anymore, will you?”

  “No, I don’t think I will be. Thyra isn’t leaving me. We’re mated.” I found peace in saying it. She could still be taken from me, and I’d die from the loss, but for now, we had a future at least.

  “Good. I’m happy for you, brother. Good night.” He waved as he left and I wished him the same.

  Going into the room I shared with my mate now, I sank down to the bed, touching her softly so as not to wake her. I just needed to know she was well. She was warm and sleepy, sweet in her slumber, and I wanted to kiss her awake. Even in her sleep she sought me out, moved close to my side, and threw her right leg over that aching part of me.

  “Oh, Thyra, you can’t keep doing this to me, my heart.” I used a hand to scan over her body, looking for aching spots. I eased the ache in each one as I found them, and healed the bruises she’d picked up throughout the day. Never again would she go to sleep with a hurt, not as far as I was concerned.

  I could take her pain away and would do so gladly.

  I whispered into her hair as she slowly came awake, a light snoring turned into a snort that delighted me, before her lips sank down against my neck to make me shiver.

  “I love you, Thyra. I have for a very long time now. I’ve watched you from your dreams. You had such a struggle to be yourself, to find yourself, and you started that on your own when you left your husband and found that boat. I’d like to be on the rest of that journey with you. Will you be my wife, Thyra?” I waited for her answer as she came awake more fully now, her body going still

  “You mean stay here? With you? Forever?” She couldn’t stop thinking about a future where I was on my own. I saw it in her thoughts.

  “Thyra, we’ll sync up with our ages after a while, and we’ll age the same. You have a very long life ahead of you if you stay with me.” I didn’t want to tell her I’d die slowly without her, much faster than I would have. I didn’t want that to be the reason she stayed.

  “You could go off and find another lover that takes you from me. I don’t think you’d be as happy with them though. There’s nobody that can replace you for me, though. Not a soul.” I ran my fingers through her silky hair and waited, not in a rush, but worried now that she hadn’t answered straight away.

  She didn’t want another lover, only me. I heard it in my head as she thought it.

  “I suppose that’s possible but I can’t imagine it.” She answered me, at last.

  “We never know what the future holds for us, even us in the magical world. I knew you were coming to
me but you didn’t. You thought I was only a dream. I think you’re committed to me though. I’m committed to you for the rest of my life; nothing can change that for me.”

  “Do we have to stay here in the cold forever though?” She sounded very sad about that and I had to chuckle.

  “No, my heart. We can fill in the rest of those spaces on your hips, only they’ll be with the coins of the magical world.”

  “Oh that sounds interesting.” She sat up a little to look at me as she thought about it. “And I wouldn’t have to get on an airplane?”

  Her left eyebrow crooked and I grinned again.

  “You’re afraid to fly?” I really was shocked; she’d crossed the Atlantic alone, but hated flying?

  “Terrified.” She spoke without shame, her body shuddering as she thought about it. “I can do it, but I hate it.”

  “Fine, no flying. Unless I’m the pilot. And the “plane”.” I made air quotes and she relaxed on my chest again. “We will always have to talk about what is going to happen with us, Thyra, communication is so important. As long as we talk, define our boundaries, and compromise, we’ll be fine. ”

  “Oh, and what about Airitech?” She asked me, her mind worried once more. I didn’t want her to be afraid, but I wouldn’t lie to her either.

  “He has to be dealt with and will be soon. For now I’ll probably be greedy and keep you to myself for as long as I can. At least until we find him.” She snuggled down into me more closely before she changed her mind and straddled my naked body.

  “I like the sound of that, the keeping me to yourself part.” I felt a smile stretch my lips. I smiled so much now, so very much and it was all because of her.

  We laughed quietly as we tumbled over the bed, our delight in each other obvious and for a moment we were like very young lovers, playing and tickling each other until we were almost screaming with laughter. I’ve never been so carefree while in so much danger. That was Thyra’s influence.