by Cathryn Cade
She felt his great teeth close gently on her nape and gasped with shock. He growled softly, holding her there for a moment until she relaxed, accepting his possession, knowing he could snap her neck with one bite, but she could trust him utterly. Then he released her and laved the slight marks with his tongue. She crooned her pleasure.
Chapter Thirty-three
After a time, Slyde drew carefully out of her, cradled her high in his arms and carried her into the cave. Sirena looked around her as they passed into the warm shadows. The door closed behind them, and she saw a quiet form whisk away around a corner.
She bit back a guilty smile—there were servants about, then. Hmm, that was going to take some getting used to. She was used to being in close combat with minimal clothing, and certainly naked around the other female guards, but she had never had sex while others could hear and see.
“Where are we going?” she asked, stroking his jaw. It was pure Slyde, still the same broad, muscular angle, even under the armored face plate that swept up around his ears, and surrounded his jeweled eyes.
“To the baths.” He carried her into a passageway, steam billowing out. “I’ll have you there next.”
Since she could feel his seed dripping down her inner thighs, she was pleased by the thought of a hot bath. His arrogance was another matter. “Oh, will you indeed?”
He walked down into the hot pool rimmed with smooth rocks, carrying her with him into the depths. Even when they were immersed in the hot water, he held her in the circle of his great arms. Now he tipped up her chin, holding her eyes with his own.
Sirena’s heart skipped at the implacable fire in those jeweled eyes. This was a new side of Slyde Dragolin she had not seen. Sheer feminine trepidation warred with excitement. Perhaps she had at last found the male she could not handle.
“I will have you, sweet siren,” he growled. “You’re my mate now.”
“I’m still myself,” she hissed up at him, refusing to give in to the urge to twine herself around him in supplication.
“Yes, and you’re mine.” He moved backward, towing her with him to an underwater ledge, and sank back on it. She found herself straddling him on her knees, the water foaming around her waist. His hot gaze dropped to her breasts, bare and glistening, her nipples tight spears of peach. “Mm, so lovely, siren.”
He stroked her nipples carefully with his claws, and then watched her as he pinched them between his thumbs and forefingers, twisting them a little. “And so sensitive. You enjoy this.”
She did. His leathery grip, so hot and powerful, sent sensation shooting from her nipples all through her, clear to her pussy, now bathed in the intense heat of the water. She moved on his massive thighs, enjoying the sensation of being astride such a dangerous creature. He palmed her breasts, squeezing and fondling them.
“I want to kiss you,” she told him, cupping his face in her hands.
“First, take me inside you. I need you again.”
She rose up on her knees and reached down to hold his cock steady as she began to sink down on him. She had to rock her hips to take him inside, and she was even more sensitized than before. He watched her face as she shivered with pleasure.
“I’m going to come so quickly this time,” she breathed. “Oh, Slyde, I love—”
Then she heard a movement behind her and froze, knowing they were clearly visible to whoever had entered the bath room.
“Just put the tray there and go,” the Dragolin said over her shoulder. He moved under her. “You were saying, siren?”
Sirena twisted in his arms and once again saw only a form whisking away through the swirling steam. A huge hover tray gleamed by the pool side, laden with a bottle of wine and other things.
Then he thrust farther up into her, and she moaned with pleasure, not caring if an entire phalanx of servants came and watched. She rose and sank onto him, loving the look of him, the feel of him. She was riding a dragon, a deadly beast, pleasuring him in his lair. She loved it.
“Tell me,” he urged. “Say the words, siren.”
“I love you,” she moaned. “Slyde! Oh, I love you.”
He growled and began to thrust harder, so that the water slapped in waves around them, splashing up out of the pool.
“Siren, you are mine. Mine!” He came with a roar that filled the bath chamber, magnified by the low ceiling and walls, rigid under her. With a scream of delight, she came again as well.
Sirena sat for a moment, panting. Then she dragged her eyes open and looked at him.
He lay back against the smooth rocks, his eyes slitted, chest heaving with his breaths.
“Slyde?”
“I’m going to…shift,” he managed.
She slid off of his cock and his lap in one graceful twist, watching him anxiously.
The steam seemed to coalesce around him, wrapping him in a shifting curtain. It cleared, and Slyde lay there. He gave a great, shuddering sigh and opened his eyes.
“You are well?” she asked, touching his arm.
He smiled slowly, a broad slash of white teeth. Then he laughed, a deep huh-huh of sound in his broad chest. His eyes gleamed.
“I am well, siren. Very well indeed.”
She splashed water at him. “I meant does it hurt you, to change?”
He shrugged. “Yes. It burns. But that’s part of being who I am.”
She sank into the water, letting it cover her head, and then emerged, sleeking her hair back with her hands. Slyde slid into the water with her, immersing himself as well. When he came up, he reached for her, and she floated into his arms, wrapping her arms about his neck, her legs about his waist, letting him support her.
Then she kissed him, as she had been wanting to since the moment she saw him. With her lips, her tongue and her heart and soul.
It was a very long kiss. When at last their lips parted, he held her tightly, his forehead against hers.
“Say it again,” he murmured.
“I love you,” she answered, her heart swelling with tenderness.
“And I love you, siren.”
She laughed shakenly. “I believe you do. In a most uncivilized way. Such manners, Commander. Not what we on the Orion became accustomed to.”
He reached over her shoulder. She heard the clink of glass and the gurgle of liquid. He handed her a delicate flute of blue wine.
“Your favorite wine,” he said. “Civilized enough for you, princess?”
She choked on her mouthful of wine, staring at him over the glass. What had he just called her?
“Are you really…a prince?” she asked when she could speak.
He grinned at her, clinking his own glass against hers and settling back on the bench with her on his lap.
“I’m really a prince,” he said. “And you’ll be a princess. If you wish.”
She sipped her wine thoughtfully. “Hmm. I wondered, when Azuran bowed to you. He knew, didn’t he?” she asked, frowning at him. “Who else knew?”
He shrugged, his attention on her bare breasts. He cupped one in his free hand, and she felt his cock stir again.
“Pay attention,” she said severely.
“Navos divined the truth,” he said without looking up. “Do you know how long I waited to see these bared to me? And now I can look at them and touch them, whenever I like.”
She swallowed the last of her wine and reached over his shoulder to set her empty glass down, kissing him while she was close.
“Yes, and I can do this whenever I like,” she said, and nuzzled her face against his, kissing his ear and then moving down, nibbling a leisurely path along the powerful line of his throat, his trapezius, following the bulky muscles down to his broad shoulder and across his chest. She rubbed her breasts against him as she went and he groaned as though she were torturing him. “Because you’re mine. All mine.”
She licked his small, flat nipple, and his cock sprang up, slapping her on the belly.
“Already?” she asked, nipping him even as she took him
lovingly in hand.
“Already, again, still…” he said, looking a little abashed. “Because of you.”
“Oh, Slyde.” She smiled at him tenderly. “You don’t know what a gift you give me with your honesty and passion. Never stop wanting me.”
He let out a hiss of pleasure as she rose and sank onto him. “Oh, I can promise you that, siren.”
She stilled, staring down at him. Then she started to laugh.
“What?”
She leaned forward, tipping her forehead against his. “I just thought of something. Our wager—you won. So now I must stay and make love with you exclusively.”
She sighed elaborately and tried to look resigned as she began to ride him, but mischief gleamed in her eyes. With a breathless laugh that was half groan of pleasure, he grasped her and picked her up with a great swish of the waters, swinging her around so she sat on the ledge, and he knelt between her thighs, the water lapping around his chest. With a flex of his powerful buttocks, he drove deep within her.
“Good,” he said. “I told you I would win.”
She smiled at him. “Yes, you did.”
Then they stopped talking, intent on how good it felt as he thrust harder and harder inside her.
Dressed in light robes of lii silk, they lay on cushioned chaise longue on a small balcony cut in the stone of the mountainside. Below them the mountains fell away in golden splendor. He kissed her tenderly, then gazed into her eyes for a long moment, as if he would peer into her very soul.
“It may take me time to trust this between us,” he said slowly. “I’ve wanted you so badly, for so long. I may be demanding for a time. I’ll want to know where you are, where you are going, who you are with.”
She snorted delicately. “For a time? You big beast—you’re going to be a jealous husband until we both totter on the edge of death.”
His cheeks reddened slightly, but then he shrugged. “Perhaps. For you, my crown jewel, will be the most sensual old woman ever. I’ll have to protect you from other males’ advances even then.”
She chuckled. “Perhaps, but I’ll never give in to them. And I will protect you from other females, also.”
He considered this, then lifted a brow. “You’ll let me watch you fight them off? And perhaps all of you could be naked?”
He gave a grunt of laughter as she pinched him. Capturing her hand, he raised it to his lips. His eyes laughed at her over their entwined hands.
“I used to wish you would laugh with me,” she told him. “I would see you smiling with Panthar, or Izard—but then you would scowl at me.”
“I was angry at you. You stole my heart the first moment I saw you—but you didn’t want it.”
“I think I loved you even then,” she said ruefully. “I was afraid to admit it, even to myself. Especially to myself.”
“Are you certain, siren? That you are willing to be with me alone?”
“Oh, yes. My love, I’ve been with other males. And never has one come anywhere close to comparing with you. Why would I ever again be tempted by lesser beings? Besides, you’re a prince,” she added wickedly.
“I’m a Dragolin,” he said arrogantly. “And if you ever even look at another male, I’ll remind you of that.”
“Mmm, I have such a short memory. Perhaps you should remind me now.”
“Perhaps I should.”
About the Author
To learn more about Cathryn Cade, please visit www.cathryncade.com. Send an email to Cathryn at [email protected].
Look for these titles by Cathryn Cade
Now Available:
Her Commander
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright
She just wanted to forget. What she gets is her destiny.
Emergence
© 2010 Kim Knox
Life as Jaime Dalton knows it is almost over. Come morning, she—the forbidden offspring of a human and a gryphon—will be owned body and soul by the First Dragon, ruler of the mythoi. He will control everything. What she wears, what she eats, when she sleeps. And with whom.
Determined to have a final fling, she seeks out the comfort of a stranger’s arms. Except he turns out to be “stranger” than he first appears.
Kaden Rhodes knows what it’s like to be owned. Before he follows his orders to escort Jaime to the same fate, he can’t resist joining her in one last act of defiance. Before the night is over, though, he finds she has inched her way under his skin.
Their connection is hot, fast, completely irresistible…and they’re playing with fire. Discovery will render them useless to the First Dragon. And those marked useless end up dead.
Warning: This title contains wild sex, dark violence and irascible dragons who shift into brooding men. Oh, and the utter perversion of mythology.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Emergence:
The soft click of the hotel door as it closed skittered nervous energy down my spine.
Kaden leaned against the thick, dark wood, a speculative smile cutting his mouth. Soft lamplight carved gold over his smooth features, and his amber eyes gleamed. His shadow pulsed hot and heavy in the short corridor leading to the sitting room, and I backed away from him. My heels caught in the thick, pale carpet, and I kicked the bloody shoes free. My toes thanked me. Again.
“Changing your mind?”
The walk from the club had been quick, silent. He’d gripped my hand and the strength, the promise of his touch had kept the fire sparking under my veins. In the wide, steel-lined lift, our reflections had bounced back at us, and I’d wanted to push him up against the cold metal and find his mouth…but the red light of security cameras glared balefully from the lift’s ceiling. And now I stood on the edge of the long sitting room and my nerve failed me.
“No, not changing my mind.” He pushed himself away from the door, and my feet, of their own volition, backed farther into the room. Kaden was beautiful, powerful. I wanted him, I did, but…it, he, the moment, made everything real. My gut clenched, the sudden pain making me bite at my lip. I would sleep with Kaden and then the First Dragon’s envoy would escort me to his superior. At which point my life would be over. The man in front of me was my last dose of freedom. “I only have a short time,” I said, watching Kaden move towards me with liquid grace. “This time I have…”
“It’s running too fast.” His head tilted, and the smile lurking on his mouth forced my heart to beat hard. He stood close again. His fingers brushed my jaw, and I sucked in a quick breath. Something about Kaden, the man, his shadow stealing over mine, made my body ache. “This room was another promise to yourself?”
“Yes.”
He glanced behind me, no doubt seeing the mess of my clothes thrown over the corner couch and the papers spread out over one end of the long dining table. “How long have you been here?”
“Two nights.” I willed myself to step towards him, to press my body against his lean hardness. My palm skirted over his chest, teasing, playing with the smooth material of his shirt. “I wanted luxury before…”
“What?” Kaden threaded his fingers through my loose hair and turned my face up to his. His lips brushed mine, soft, tender, and it stopped my breath. “What’s taking you away?”
I couldn’t answer, didn’t want to. I only wanted more of his mouth, for him to deepen the kiss into something molten, wild, and for me to forget for the few hours I had left. I bit at his lip, and he growled, a low, primitive sound, and it pushed me hard against him.
Kaden murmured something. His shadow wrapped around me in a dark, enveloping wave and I arched into him. Whatever he was, whatever ancient mythoi rode in his blood, it sank into my core. I couldn’t wait. My mouth took his, my tongue, teeth, lips battling, wanting more of him.
Kaden groaned, his hands shifting until he could snake his arms across my back. He tugged at my skirt, yanking it up my thigh. A hot palm and fingers caressed my backside. He squeezed, urging me up, and I obeyed, lifting my legs. With an all too easy strength he held me, and I wrapped
my thighs around his waist, my arms linking behind his head. Our shadows merged, shifted, unsure at the closeness, at the need burning up through us, but wanting it, wanting it as much as we did. And that wasn’t right. Mythoi didn’t cross species—
“Who are you?” The question escaped after I dragged needed air into my lungs. My hand framed the hardness of his smooth jaw. His eyes had darkened and something sparked in their depths, a fire than made me want to strip him and fuck him. “What are you?”
“What you need.”
A chair clattered to the floor behind me, and my backside hit the cool mahogany table. “That’s not an answer.”
He smiled, brief, hard, and need for him tightened low in my belly. “Do you want to say why you want me here? Why you want to fuck a stranger?” His smile grew, and something must’ve reflected in my eyes as he said, “I thought not.” He brushed tangled hair back from my forehead, and the unexpected tenderness hurt my chest. I breathed past it. “So, till the morning, we’ll both have our secrets. Agreed?”
My throat ached and I couldn’t speak. I nodded instead.
“Good.”
He tugged at my clinging top, pulling it over my head. Cool air brushed my bare skin. The top slid from his fingers, dropped in a golden puddle on the carpet, and Kaden let out a slow breath. My nipples hardened under his intense gaze, and everything in me ached for his warm lips, his tongue to find my skin and lick—
“Here on the table?” he asked.
“You want to eat instead?”
The smile he turned on me, wicked, possessive, squeezed my heart. “Later. I promise.” He leaned over me, his lips close to mine. “Right now, I want you.”
I resisted the urge to cover his mouth with mine. If I was getting naked, then I wanted to run my fingers and tongue over the smooth muscles hinted at under his shirt. “Then you have too many clothes.”
