by Amelia Jade
Giant trees loomed up at the edge of the clearing, big boughs overhanging their smaller friends, as if protecting them from the rains that hammered at them constantly this time of year. Soon the summer sun would begin to beat down and they would blossom into a verdant greenery that would be cause to stop and appreciate it. For now, all she could do was realize what it would look like. Joel could probably see it a lot better with his shifter vision, but she was stuck with human eyes that could only show so much in the gloom.
“Let’s get you inside and into bed,” Joel said, heading for the door.
“I can handle it from here,” she said as he tried to hold her aloft while opening the door.
“Nope,” he told her simply with a grin, tightening his free arm under her, preventing her from escaping. As if challenged by her words, the door swung open before them and he stepped in, dropping his boots and her bag by the door before closing and locking it behind them.
“Showoff,” she muttered in his ear before jerking as he pinched her butt. “Hey, none of that this evening,” she told him. “You wait till morning mister,” she told him.
He laughed, the motion bouncing her up and down gently in his arms.
“Bedroom is this way,” he told her. He was still holding her, meaning she went where he did.
“Put me to bed,” she commanded imperiously, before planting a kiss on his cheek. “And then join me. I need a big spoon.”
She thought Joel’s face was going to split he smiled so hard at that comment.
Several minutes later, clad in nothing but a pair of underwear, she slipped into the bed. Joel followed right behind, his huge form pulling her in tight to the crook between his legs and arms. With him practically draped right over her, Courtenay allowed herself to relax at last. She tensed slightly when his hand slipped under her arm to cup her breast—and she was prepared to tell him to wait until morning—but it appeared Joel just simply wanted to hold her. The warmth from his skin spilled through her easily.
Pleasant dreams claimed her once again, though this time she knew they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Chapter Eight
Joel
“Whassatt?” came the bleary noise from the bed as he pushed the curtains open.
“Come on sleepy head,” he repeated, reaching under the covers until he found the nice, fleshy touch of her ass. His palm gripped it tightly, giving a good squeeze.
“Not fair,” she complained, trying to move across the bed to get away from him.
Joel only laughed, grabbing the covers and ripping them back.
“Really?” she said grumpily. “You interrupt me in the middle of the night, and now you wake me up at the crack of dawn?”
He laughed again. “It’s ten a.m. beautiful, time to rise and shine.”
The response he got was rather rude.
“Actually no, it’s not cow manure,” he teased, purposefully refusing to repeat her statement.
A pillow flew by his head in response.
“Come on,” he urged, reaching out and grabbing her ankles, pulling her back toward him.
“Sneak attack!” she crowed, rolling over while his hands were occupied to clobber him with the remaining pillow.
“Oomph,” he said as the white down smacked into his head. He wasn’t moved by it at all, but he had been caught by surprise. “Now it’s time for revenge,” he said, holding one of her feet tightly while he lightly dragged his fingertips along the bottom of it.
“No!” Courtenay shrieked, her entire demeanor changing as she yelped and began to struggle frantically to get away. “No! Please, please no!”
He laughed as evilly as he could and continued his torment for a few more seconds until she managed to wrench her foot away from him. He could have held on without thinking twice about it, but he didn’t. Not only because he didn’t want to hurt her, but because he wanted to play along. It was much more fun that way.
“You’re dead,” she said, still pretending to sulk as she got up.
“Go take a shower. I’ll make breakfast,” he said, rolling his eyes as he tossed a towel over her head.
He watched her nearly naked form disappear into the attached washroom before turning and heading to the kitchen. The grin slipped from his face and his body language changed from that of relaxed ease to one of constant alert and awareness. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down like he had previously, but Joel knew that Courtenay had needed it to help put her at ease so she could better adjust.
But they were in danger and he couldn’t allow himself to forget that, even if the immediacy of it had passed. He quietly took out some of the pancake mix that was stored in one of the cupboards. It wasn’t what he would have preferred to make her, but it looked like Gabriel hadn’t been up here in some time, so they were going to be slightly limited by what they could eat. Still, there was what appeared to be real maple syrup in the fridge, so he could treat her to that at least.
“Smells delicious,” Courtenay said, appearing from the hallway, tousling her hair dry. She was dressed in one of his shirts and some tight black pants. The look drove him wild, threatening to instantly make him hard as he fought the urge to take her. Now wasn’t the time for that, he told himself angrily. She had just been forcefully taken from her house and then had to flee up into the mountains. Joel was determined to give her more time to adjust before he tried to go after her again.
“I hope it tastes just as good,” he said, handing her a plate with two medium pancakes on it, the golden-brown food drizzled liberally with sweet maple syrup.
Courtenay ate away, looking as happy as could be given the situation, much to his delight.
“So, what do we do now?” she asked between mouthfuls.
“We wait.”
Her raised eyebrows asked the question her mouth couldn’t at that moment.
“For Valen,” he elaborated. “He said he would meet us here and help us figure out what to do next.”
Courtenay shook her head. “I thought he was on the run, long gone from the Valley.”
Joel nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. “I had thought the same thing, believe it or not. I didn’t think we would ever see him again, and that he’d just left to go have a new life somewhere away from the scrutiny of others.” He shrugged. “So I asked him where he’s been.”
“And?” she prodded him quickly.
“He had some rather…sobering news,” Joel told her. He hated having to put her through this, but there was no way he was going to lie to her. “How much do you know about dragon shifters?” he asked, suddenly changing the topic.
She frowned. “Umm, they exist? Not much else really, besides what you’ve told me about the Valley being their original home ages ago.”
Joel nodded. “Okay, well the first thing to know is that dragons are—as far as they know, and thus as far as we know—all descended from one dragon. None of them are quite sure what happened to cause the change, but they figure it must have been some sort of evolutionary reaction to something. Possibly the DNA of one of your human ancestors got infected or mixed with something else. Nobody knows.”
Courtenay nodded, showing she was following along so far.
“Well, that dragon had fifteen children. Those children are called the Firsts.”
“All fifteen?” she asked.
“Well,” he amended. “There are only twelve left now, according to Valen.” He had learned much of this just the other night himself.
“What happened to the other three?” she asked, finished with her breakfast. He waited while she deposited the dishes in the sink and came over to snuggle up with him on the couch in the nearby living room area.
“Most dragons today believe that they should coexist with other races of shifters, and humans. Some, however, feel otherwise.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes filled with concern.
“Indeed,” he replied. “Over the years, three of the Firsts tried to change that.
Two of them attempted it in the medieval ages, which is where many of the legends of dragons were born. They tried with brute force to simply overwhelm the human population before switching to other, less polite measures.” He knew all of this from shifter lore that was passed down from generation to generation. None of it had been news from Valen. “You may have heard of the Black Death that hit Europe?”
Courtenay nodded. “Of course. As a doctor I’m well aware of it.”
Joel looked at her. “Not naturally occurring.”
“You’re shitting me,” she said in disbelief. “Are you telling me that one of these dragons created the plague? That they managed to wipe out almost a third of the human population in just a few years from that?”
Joel nodded. “Mostly. That dragon didn’t create the plague, to the best of anyone’s knowledge at least. But they were immune to it, and a dragon can fly long distances very easily. The plague would have been far more contained without the dragons’ help.”
Courtenay shook her head, trying to absorb all the new knowledge. “What happened to them?” she asked at last.
“Two were killed,” he said firmly. “Their heads even now occupy spots in the Dragon Council chambers.”
“And the third?” she asked tentatively.
“The third one was believed to be dead, though the body was never found. Valen believes it to be this ‘True Form.’”
Joel could see her mind working furiously as she sought to remember that name. “That’s what you said one of the attackers called his boss, right?”
“Exactly. Which would make sense, as this dragon has often thought of his race as being better than all the others.”
She leaned into him, and he put his arm around her as they continued to talk. Valen had promised to fill in Garrett on all this information so that the Jade Crew and their allies would all be aware of what was going on, but he felt like Courtenay had a right to know as well, despite how unpleasant the news was.
“So you guys are going up against one of the oldest dragons on the planet?”
Joel nodded. He didn’t like the prospect any more than she did, but it didn’t appear like they had much choice.
Courtenay rubbed her eyes. “This is getting so complicated. I’m sorry if I’m asking questions twice, but why is this ‘True Form’ doing this? And can’t the other dragons stop him?”
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “I’ve been involved with this since near the beginning, and I don’t even know everything.” He paused, sorting his thoughts. “We don’t actually know his reasoning for certain. Our best guess is that he’s trying to create more dragons, perhaps even a dragon army, to begin taking back the world from the humans. That was more or less his aim the last time he clashed with the dragon council.”
“And why aren’t the council doing anything this time?”
“We can’t contact them. Nobody knows their location except for other dragons. Valen went looking for them, tried talking to other dragon shifters he knew off, but none of them have heard from the council. It’s almost like they all just up and died. Or, more likely, this ‘True Form’ has some sort of sway over them and is managing to keep them neutral. Which could explain why he took so long to reappear.” He shrugged.
“How are you going to take down a dragon? I’ve heard how much more powerful they are compared to bears. Hard to believe, but if it’s true…” she trailed off, her fingers tightening around his arm.
“We’ll figure something out,” he promised. “If we can find a way to get Ferro involved, perhaps he could be strong enough.”
“Who is this ‘True Form’ then? It must be somebody you know. I can’t believe they wouldn’t have revealed themselves in some way already. ”
Joel shrugged. “No idea, but I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s just so much we don’t know.”
“Well, you know enough to terrify me,” she said.
“Let’s do something to take our minds off it then,” he suggested, trying to change the subject.
Courtenay frowned. “Joel, I’m not sure I’m in the mood after all you’ve just told me.”
“I’m sure I could convince you,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, lightening the mood in the room.
She giggled. “Oh, you think so, do you? Have a pretty high opinion of yourself, don’t you?”
“Me? Never!” He said, vehemently denying her accusation. “Why, I am the most modest man you shall ever meet.”
Courtenay blew through her lips, making them buzz as she laughed. “Riiight.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his lap and then twisting so that she lay across him on her back.
“No, I don’t want your kisses,” she laughed, twisting her head left and right as he smothered her with light kisses.
“You cannot escape!” he crowed after plastering a particularly big one right on her lips.
She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, may as well join ‘em!” she said, then roughly pulled his face down to hers, pressing her face to his with careless abandon.
There was more to their sudden change of emotion than just their desire for each other. Joel would never pretend he had the emotional complexity of a woman; he just didn’t work that way. But he wasn’t made of ice, either, and he realized what the two of them were both truly seeking just then. There had been so much talk of fighting, death, and danger.
Now, as her fingers ran through his hair and he left a trail of kisses down her cheek until he found the tender skin of her neck, he knew that they needed something different. A reaffirmation of life, of love, and the physical touch of each other. To prove that there was something worth fighting for, and that their connection with each other—the very real bond that had formed between them—was stronger than the darkness that was closing in around them. It drove an extra sense of urgency as they scrambled, trying to remove each other’s clothes as fast as possible. It was as if they weren’t sure how long they had left, and that they needed to make the most of each individual moment in case it was their last.
He didn’t want to think about it as her clothes fell to the floor, revealing the soft, exposed skin of her chest and stomach, followed by the mounds of her breasts as she squirmed out of her bra. But he couldn’t avoid it, couldn’t help but think that this might be the last time they made love to each other.
Neither he nor Courtenay had explicitly said that they loved each other, but Joel knew. He could feel it in the way they were together. It was an intangibility—there was nothing he could point to and say with precision that that was why he knew they were in love.
But he knew it nonetheless. He would wait for Courtenay to arrive at the same conclusion—if she hadn’t already—but he wasn’t going to push her there. She would arrive in her own way at her own time, he was confident of that. But for him it made for an even more powerful connection with his mate, the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
Joel could only hope that was for longer than the next seven days.
Chapter Nine
Courtenay
Each kiss felt more urgent, every touch bordering on desperate. She needed this as much as Joel did. The revelation of all that was about to happen in Genesis Valley had really hit home with how short and fleeting life really was, and Courtenay wasn’t sure she liked that.
Which is why she was losing herself with Joel, trying desperately to escape the reality of the world and the looming danger by living in the fantasy for just a little while longer. Her hand reached between his legs, grabbing his cock with a vigor she hadn’t known she possessed.
“I want you,” she told him, moaning as his fingers gently pushed inside of her, getting coated in slick wetness that he used to then lightly drag them over her clit. Tendrils of electricity jumped out from between her legs to leave her feeling tingly all over.
“Already?” he asked, though his hips dipped toward hers.
“Yes, please, I want you inside of me,” she
practically begged, not wanting to wait another second. Someone could find them in that precious moment, and neither of them knew what was going to happen next, and neither of them could control it. But here, now, as his thick cock began to push apart her walls, slowly filling her with his throbbing, hard-as-steel manhood, this was something she could control.
It was a powerful feeling, to know she had control over the moment, that a thrust of her hips this way, or a gentle push of her hands that way would result in something entirely new for her, and that her partner would respond just as enthusiastically regardless of what she chose.
Then again, she thought as he flipped her over and pulled her hips towards him, sometimes it’s okay not to be completely in control.
Joel wrapped his hands tightly around those same hips and held her still as he used slow movements to thrust fully inside of her before pulling back as far as he could go without leaving her. The exaggerated length of him sliding in and out was intense, going from one end of the spectrum to the other in the space of several seconds with a slow, rhythmic certainty that was exactly what she needed to climax.
“Don’t stop,” she moaned as her first orgasm rushed through her. She buried her face in the couch as he thrust in, pushing just a little harder. Courtenay cried out and felt herself begin to contract around him in quick pulses as beautiful agony throbbed out from between her legs, overwhelming her other senses for several seconds in a beautiful display of light behind her closed eyelids.
Her mind began to wander into nothingness as Joel continued to pleasure her, his movements never slowing or changing pace. It just served to amplify her pleasure. It showed Courtenay where the next cliff was, and that she was going to explode again soon.
She cried out his name as her second orgasm slammed into her. This one was more vigorous and her muscles began to protest the constant spasms that seemed to be coursing through them as a result of her man’s thick, hard cock.
