Bound By Heat - Dragon Shifter

by M. K Eidem et all

  “Even into the white world between worlds?” she asked.

  “Even there,” he instantly replied, then gave her a stunned look. “How do you know about that place?”

  “Because I was there after the darkness let me go. I met Razeth and his mate there.” She watched Kirall’s mouth drop open.

  “You met Razeth…?”

  “Yes, and he is a very arrogant male, much like someone else I know,” she raised an eyebrow at him, letting him know who she was referring to.

  “Are you saying that I am arrogant?” His eyebrow matched hers.

  “Of course you are, you are a Black Prime, the strongest of the strong, the most powerful of all the Dragoons.”

  “Not anymore.” His eyebrow lowered as did his voice. “Now, you are the most powerful.”

  “Right,” she said sarcastically. “Just because I am a Supreme, it doesn’t mean that I’m the most powerful.”

  “It does in the Dragoon world,” he told her.

  “Kirall…”

  “Autumn, you do not understand how truly rare and special you are. You are only twenty-two, and yet you can already shift into your full Dragon form. No other Dragoon is able to do that before they are fifty. At ten, you were able to partially shift. There are male Dragoons that have never mastered that skill, and I have never heard of a female doing it.”

  “Razeth said it is something only female Supremes can do.”

  “And you don’t see yourself as special?” Kirall gave her a disbelieving look. “You also severely injured a Varana, their strongest one, all by yourself. Your strength and skills will only grow with time. Before you know it, you will even surpass me.”

  “But I don’t want to surpass you,” she denied. “I just want to be with you, to be your mate, and share my life with you.”

  “Autumn.” He lowered his forehead to hers again. He had thought long and hard about this over the last three days. He had thought he had made her his mate when he’d given her his kiss and shared his blood with her; that he had bonded her to him, but he hadn’t. She was a Supreme, the more powerful Dragoon. She had to claim him as her mate for the bond to truly form. “There is nothing I want more than to be with you. But I have made so many mistakes that I would not fault you for looking for another.” He raised his head slightly. “It is what a Prime female would do if the male she was considering had failed her so badly.”

  “Then it’s lucky for you that I’m not a Prime, isn’t it?” Her hand tugged hard on his hair. “And you haven’t failed me! I’m not perfect, Kirall. My scars prove that. Quiet!” she ordered sharply when he growled his displeasure at her words. “I’m just me. Autumn. The same girl that came to your room a few days ago. The same girl that irritated and angered you. The same girl that trusted you enough to reveal what she’s never revealed to anyone else. The one that you said was your mate. Has that changed for you now that you know I am a Supreme?”

  “No! Kur, Autumn… but I just want you to know you have options. My Dragon is shredding my insides, and my Beast is ready to beat me to a bloody pulp for telling you, but I refuse to lie to you.”

  “Stop,” she whispered, putting a hand on his chest and Kirall felt both his Beast and Dragon calm. “I know you would never lie to me, Kirall.” She saw the relief in his eyes.

  The steady hum she’d been hearing changed for a moment then settled back to how it was.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “It’s just the engines of the Inferno. They are adjusting our course for Mondu,” he told her.

  “Wait. What? The Inferno? Mondu?” Sitting up, she realized she was wearing some type of nightgown. It was strapless and had something built into it that held it just above her breasts. It felt soft and silky against her skin. She looked to Kirall who had also sat up.

  “Talfrin offered this to me after he healed you. He has been studying Earth females and thought you would like to have something to wear.” He ran a finger along the upper swell of her breasts. “I would prefer you without it.”

  “I can’t be naked all the time, Kirall,” she told him laughing.

  “Why not?” he growled as she pulled his finger away.

  “Because I can’t. At least not right now,” she teased. “Now. The Inferno and Mondu. Tell me.”

  “The Inferno is the ship that brought us to Earth, and that is now taking us home.”

  “Home…” she frowned

  “Yes. Home. Our home,” he repeated, “in the Papier mountains on Mondu.”

  “Don’t you think you should have asked me first?” She pulled slightly away from him.

  “Asked?” Kirall gave her a confused look.

  “Yes, Mister ‘Are you saying that I am arrogant?’ Dragoon.” She air quoted with her fingers. “Asked. Maybe I don’t want to live on Mondu. Maybe you should be the one that has to move.”

  “Me? Move to Earth?” Kirall looked at her in utter shock. “Where would we live? How would I protect you? It’s not as if you have any family left there. On Mondu, I have family, and they can help me protect you.”

  He watched Autumn’s eyes flash silver before her face went completely blank, and she shoved her way past him getting up off the bed. He gave her a confused look, then realized what he had said.

  “Autumn…” he gave her a contrite look.

  “Is that the bathroom?” She pointed to the door where it had been in their other rooms.

  “Yes,” he told her.

  “Then I’m going to take a shower.” With that, she left him alone.

  Kirall fell back on the bed, thumping a hard fist against his forehead. How could he be such a stupid male?!! Was he trying to drive her away? He knew how she felt about her family. How she felt she had failed them. She hadn’t, but he didn’t think he’d ever get her to believe that, no matter how long they lived.

  She was right. He was an arrogant male. He was used to being able to say and do whatever he wanted, to whomever he wanted, and he never worried about how it affected them. He couldn’t do that with Autumn because what affected her, affected him. He needed to explain to her that he now understood that.

  Rising, he went to tell her.

  Autumn entered the room and found it was nothing like the one on Earth. First of all it was smaller, probably a necessary thing when you were traveling in outer space where ‘space’ was at a premium. There was something small and reflective on a wall, but she ignored it. She really didn’t care how she looked. There was something that stuck out of the wall that she assumed was a toilet along with an enclosed space that she discovered was a shower stall when she looked in.

  Pulling the nightgown over her head, she was about to drop it when she remembered Kirall’s words. This man called Talfrin had not only healed her, but had been considerate enough to think of her needs. She wasn’t going to repay that kindness by mistreating what he had provided.

  Carefully, she folded the delicate garment and set it on the narrow counter. Turning, she stepped into the shower stall then just stared at what she found.

  “Push the darker tile on your right,” Kirall told her and saw her stiffen when she heard his words. He’d entered the cleansing room, surprised the shower wasn’t running. He stripped off his sleeping pants before following her into the unit. Seeing her staring at the wall had him realizing why. She didn’t know how to work the unit.

  Autumn pushed and held the dark tile, and suddenly hot water was streaming into her face. Crying out, she jumped back bumping into Kirall.

  Kirall immediately wrapped his arms around her, turning so his back took the brunt of the heat as his arm reached behind him to adjust the temperature.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I should have told you that the longer you hold it the hotter it gets. There’s a great deal I’m sorry for, my Aud-um.”

  Slowly she turned in his arms, gripping the bulging biceps as she looked at him, his broad shoulders blocking the spray.

  “Haven’t I already told you th
at if you’re going to enter someone’s shower uninvited that you should at least know how to say their name?” She repeated the words she’d told him that first day she’d met him, but this time there was no heat in them.

  “I know your name, Autumn, but you will always be ‘Aud-um’ to me, because you are so precious to me.”

  “Am I?” she questioned.

  “Yes, of course!” Carefully he gripped her waist, lifting her so they were eye-to-eye. “Have I not shown you that? Do you doubt my commitment to you?”

  “No.” She wrapped her legs around his waist. “I don’t doubt your commitment to me, Kirall, but I think you doubt mine to you.” She saw by the flare in his eyes that she was right. Suddenly she remembered something he said earlier. “You still think I would choose another. Someone like Dacke. That is why you were ‘distracted’ by him.”

  “Yes,” Kirall growled, his hands sliding to her hips, holding her firmly against him.

  “Why would you think that? I don’t know this Dacke. Have never even met him. He has been with Kristy, while I have only ever been with you. You told me how he bragged about being with Kristy to anyone that would listen. He could walk in here right now, and I wouldn’t know who he was.”

  “He’d better not come in here if he wants to live,” his Beast growled. “He’s already seen you naked once. I will kill him if he ever sees you that way again.”

  “So that’s what distracted you? Him, seeing me naked?” She couldn’t believe it.

  “That, and he looked at you with interest,” he admitted.

  “I can’t believe he could have found anything very ‘interesting’ with the condition I was in.”

  “He saw you in your Dragon form, and realized you were a Supreme.”

  “So it wasn’t really me he was interested in, but what I was.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well now, that just pisses me off.”

  Kirall watched the silver flash in her eyes, and his own anger faded away. He could almost feel sorry for Dacke when he and Autumn did finally meet. She was going to burn him. Kirall couldn’t wait to see it, but right now he needed to make sure she didn’t burn him.

  “I am sorry for my earlier words about your family, Autumn. It was not my intent to upset you. It seems that I am that arrogant male you accused me of being. I never once considered that you might not want to travel to Mondu, might not want to make my home, your home.”

  “That’s because you are a Black Prime, and are used to getting your way.” She slowly ran her hands up his arms, bringing them to rest on either side of his neck.

  “This is true,” he agreed.

  “Is it going to upset you when you’re not?”

  “Not what?” he asked. “Arrogant?”

  “I have no doubt that you will always be arrogant, Kirall, and while it can be irritating,” she gave him a teasing smile, “I can’t imagine you any other way.” Leaning forward she caught his lower lip between her teeth.

  “Then what?” His words were distracted as she continued to nibble on his lip. His hands tightened on her hips as his cock started to harden.

  “You, not being a Black Prime anymore. Once I claim you.”

  “What?!!!” He jerked his lip from her teeth, staring at her in shock.

  “It’s going to take some getting used to.” She sank her fingers into his silky strands. “You not having all this beautiful black hair. I’ll miss it.”

  Kirall couldn’t believe she was concerned about the color of his hair. “I don’t care about the color of my hair, Autumn, and would willingly cut it all off, if it meant I was yours.”

  “You’re sure?” She gave him a small smile as she tightened her legs around his waist, pulling herself up slightly so her nipples teased his chest. She’d felt his cock start to harden when she nibbled on his lip, and it was continuing to grow. “I would hate for you to do something you weren’t… up for.”

  “You think I’m not…up…for being your mate?” he growled at her challenge, rocking his hips up, his cock bumping the entrance of her lair.

  “You’d better be,” she found herself growling back, as a sudden hunger filled her. It rose from the deepest parts of her soul, burning stronger and hotter as it sought release. Instinctively she knew it was her very essence wanting to be shared with her mate, to begin the claiming process.

  Using the fingers still in his hair, she pulled his mouth back to hers, capturing it for a hard hot kiss, giving all she was to her mate.

  Kirall just caught the flash of Autumn’s Dragon in her eyes before he was engulfed in the heat of her kiss.

  His Dragon roared his pleasure as the claws of his Beast extended, digging into her hips, pulling her down as he thrust up embedding himself inside her in one hard stroke.

  Never in his life had he experienced a Heat like this. It burned through him. It was painful. It felt amazing. It consumed all that he was before while preparing him for what was to come.

  “Autumn!” he ripped his mouth from hers, pressing her shoulders back against the stall wall, thrusting harder and deeper into her again and again. Seeing his mating mark at the base of her neck drove him even higher, and he lowered his head, latching onto it.

  “Kirall!” Autumn’s head fell back as pleasure flooded her system. Her channel clenched around his cock with each tug of his mouth, driving her need higher as her mate loved her. No, not her mate. Not yet. And that was unacceptable to every part of her.

  Her eyes that had closed from the pleasure he was giving her, shot open at that thought, and zeroed in on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Her eyes elongated, turning silver as her Dragon rose, taking over. Another stronger wave of heat rose up in her and she struck, driven by an instinct older than time, her teeth sinking deep into the soft, giving flesh.

  Kirall reared back, his roar cut off as his entire body seized as Autumn took his blood, mixed it with her own more powerful Supreme blood, then injected it back into him. It blasted through his system incinerating everything he knew he was, everything he thought he was, until the only thing left was ash. His legs that had never let him down began to shake, and his vision started to dim. For a moment he thought he would be meeting Kur, then just as he was about to collapse, something started to stir in the ashes.

  It slowly swirled and pulsed, picking up speed as it gathered up his remains. Suddenly it burst forth with new life, burning Kirall in the flames of his rebirth. Legs that had been about to give out were now stronger than they’d ever been. The chest that had been starved for the life-giving air, sucked in a deep breath, expanding and growing larger than before. His eyes began to refocus, then flashed silver when he found his mate watching him.

  “Mine,” he growled, feeling an overwhelming heat of possession and desire flooding him, and he began pounding into her with a cock bigger, harder, and hotter than it had been before.

  “Mine,” she challenged back, pulling his mouth to hers, consuming it as she matched him thrust for thrust.

  As they touched, kissed and loved, a final wave of heat flowed over them causing them to explode together in ecstasy. It created the first mated pair of Supremes the Universe had seen in thousands of years.

  Epilogue

  Autumn opened her eyes, and while she recognized the room from before, this time she was alone in the bed. Sitting up, the blankets covering her fell away. Unconcerned with her nakedness, she rose from the bed and went looking for her mate.

  She found him in the bathroom, staring at his image in what was now a large reflective mirror. His black hair now only ran part way down its length before it became red. It reminded her of the flames from their family bonfires that used to shoot up high into the dark, summer skies. His fingers were rubbing his now silver laminae.

  But that wasn’t the only thing about him that had changed, only the most obvious. You had to look closely to notice the other changes. His biceps were a little bigger. His back a little broader. And there was an aura of power surrounding him that was
undeniable.

  “Does it bother you?” she asked quietly, watching him carefully.

  Kirall’s eyes captured hers in the mirror, and she was surprised to see they had changed too. They were rimmed with silver now.

  “No.” He turned away from the mirror and leaned against the counter to look at her. “It pleases me greatly. I can’t express to you how it makes me feel to know that when others look at me now, they will know that you chose me to be your mate. I especially like that my eyes are the same as yours.”

  “Like mine?” She gave him a confused look.

  It was only then that Kirall realized Autumn hadn’t noticed the changes that she had gone through. Pushing away from the counter, he gently gripped her arms, then turned, so they both faced the mirror. He saw her eyes widen when she noticed the silver that now rimmed her eyes, and understood her amazement as she touched her now silver laminae.

  “You are so beautiful, my mate,” his voice rumbled deeper than before.

  “I hadn’t realized…” She continued to rub her hair, her eyes locking with his in the mirror. “I don’t really feel any different except that I can now feel my Dragon. I’m not bigger or stronger like you are.”

  “That is because you have always been stronger than me, Autumn. You just didn’t know it.”

  “No…”

  “Yes!” The hands gripping her arms tightened. “Look at yourself, Autumn. You are a Supreme. The strongest of the strong.”

  “But you are so much bigger than me, Kirall. Stronger.” For some reason, tears started to flow down her cheeks.

  Kirall turned her toward him, his thumbs wiping away her tears. “That’s because you are only twenty-two. I am a great deal older than you, Autumn.”

  “So are you telling me I mated an old man?” She gave him a weak smile, and enjoyed his rumble of displeasure then let out a squeal when he lifted her onto the counter.

  “Male!” he corrected. “And I will show you just how ‘old’ I am,” he told her moving between her thighs, his cock sliding along her clit as he leaned down to kiss her.