Her body ached from the constant assault, but still she wanted more. The simple heat of his gaze sent a sharp pain to the center of her stomach, a need to feel him inside her. Even now, with only the memory to warm her, her sex began to moisten, to open, readying for his penetration.
She stopped and leaned against a tree, waiting for the sensation to pass and her knees to strengthen. Well, if nothing else came from this, she had memories to draw from for years to come. Somehow she knew, Kei would be the standard for all other men.
She quietly growled as she pushed herself away from the tree. It was a strange habit she’d learned from Kei over the past days—growling when she wasn’t happy. It seemed to work for him. When she did it, he just laughed. But when she was alone it made her feel better, more powerful.
She savored that power, trying to remember it as she walked into the clearing. Kei was at his usual position, splintering logs into tiny slivers—trying to exhaust the demon in his head.
He looked up as she approached the cabin. His nostrils flared like a wild animal scenting his mate. He started toward her, then stopped. The tight line of his jaw was the only sign of any response. He was fighting, struggling against another of those demons.
She would tell him her decision tonight. It was best for everyone. She knew it and Kei would see the logic of it.
She waited until dinner was on the table. And this time she brought her parchment and quill with her.
“So, I’m a little behind on recording my observations. I thought I should catch up.”
Kei looked up but didn’t speak.
“I’ve made notes about the progress of our studies so far. I just need your input.” She cleared her throat. “Are you noticing a change in your…” She looked down and saw his plate. “Uh, appetite?”
Kei straightened in his chair and stared at her. Lorran lifted her chin and returned the gaze. She couldn’t let herself be intimidated. Or seduced. She had to protect what was left of her heart. Kei’s eyes crinkled at the edges as if he were trying to figure out what she was up to. Damn the man was too perceptive by half.
“Kei?” she prompted. “Changes in your appetite?” He seemed to enjoy whatever she cooked. He’d been raised a warrior before becoming a King—no doubt he was used to worse food.
Finally he shook his head but his eyes didn’t lose the wariness.
“Ability to sleep?” Again he shook his head. “Do you feel the dragon’s presence growing in you?”
He paused as if considering his answer then said, “No.”
“Is there anything unusual about your behavior? Anything that you notice is different from before the bite?” She pressed her shoulders back and tapped her quill on the edge of the paper. “I didn’t know you before so I don’t know if there is any personality change that’s occurred.”
“You mean besides the constant need to fuck?” he growled.
Lorran swallowed. “Uh, yes.”
“No, that’s pretty much the only the change.”
“What do you attribute the, uhm…constant need to—” She’d said the words before, usually shouting them as Kei was entering her body, but to sit and discuss it calmly… “Engage in sexual relations?”
The corner of his mouth kicked up in a smirk.
“Kei?” she pressed when he didn’t answer. His lips flattened out.
“I don’t know.”
“Really?” She let her skepticism creep into her voice. He was hesitating too much between answers. He was either lying or not telling her everything.
He pushed back from the table and stood. He grabbed his plate and walked to the sink before speaking. “What? You want me to tell you that the dragon is talking to me? Fine. He’s in my head, or my body, or some damn place. He’s just there and all he wants to do is fuck. Trust me, that’s the only thing going through the creature’s mind.”
Lorran cleared her throat. “Dragons are known to have rapacious sexual appetites.”
“This one does, and lucky for me, we’ve found a woman willing to accommodate us.”
“Well, since you brought that up, I think we have come to the end of that portion of our relationship.”
She waited for the growl, or grumble, or sigh, or some sort of response. He was silent. Finally, she lifted her head and met his eyes. They were cold green stones.
“What?” His voice was soft and menacing when he spoke.
It was infinitely worse than a shout or growl.
“I think we need to stop our intimate encounters,” she reasserted. She folded her hands primly on the table, planning to calmly lay out the logic that had brought her to this point. “We’ve been together every night—“ and day, she added silently, “since you awoke from the trance. The dragon has not appeared. We have to conclude that while there is some need for sex, it is not something that brings about the transition into the dragon. And I believe that we must move on.”
She waited, defiantly meeting Kei’s stare. She wouldn’t back down on this. Kei already meant too much to her. She had to begin distancing herself from him. His eyes seemed to darken as they watched her. He pushed himself away from the counter.
“Fucking me was just an experiment?” The chill in his voice sent a shiver down Lorran’s back.
She didn’t dare lie to him. “Well, no, but we must use all the knowledge that we can gather. And we have to take into consideration that our, uh, physical relationship might be encouraging the dragon’s presence.”
“So, it becomes stronger because we fuck?” He didn’t sound like he believed it and she couldn’t really blame him. But any excuse would do. She couldn’t tell him the truth. I could easily fall in love with you.
“I think it’s something we need to consider,” she said primly, marking a note in her pad.
“Very well,” he agreed, his voice quiet and unconcerned. “If that’s what you would like.” He wandered across the room.
“There is a cot in the closet,” Lorran said, hoping to keep her voice as equally disinterested. She thought she’d succeeded quite well.
“Of course. I’ll set that up.”
No, he definitely sounded more casual about it. As she cleared the table and washed the dishes, she grumbled under her breath.
She’d expected him to escape—to head toward the woodpile and continue his campaign to decimate the forest. Instead, he collected the cot and set it up on the opposite side of the cabin. Then he sat down in front of the fire, ignoring her.
“He could have at least protested a little,” she muttered as she scrubbed the stew pot. Obviously, she’d made the right decision. Their hours together had come to mean too much to her and they meant nothing more than an available body to him. There was the possibility that the need for sex would drive him into town but she had to believe he’d return. If for no other reason than he’d said he would allow her observation.
She finished the dishes and turned around. Kei continued to watch the fire. It was strange to work without his scrutiny. Every other night, he’d watched her, lust becoming a palpable sensation in the room.
She studied him for a moment. His jaw was tight and his knuckles white. He was fighting something. She wanted to ask him about it—but the need to comfort him was too great. She couldn’t. Though it killed her inside, she turned away. She had to protect herself. Her life had been thrown into turmoil when her husband had made the change into a dragon. The guilt and regret that lingered from that experience still weighed on her heart. How much worse would it be this time, when her heart was engaged? There was only one way for her to survive this time—she had to build the distance between herself and Kei.
“I’m going to bed,” she announced, though it was early. There was no reason to stay awake and they needed to adapt to this new routine. Kei nodded but didn’t look up.
Lorran pulled the curtain around the bed, isolating it from the rest of the cabin. The fire glowed behind the material. She took a deep breath and pulled a sleeping gown from the closet. Her nipp
les poked up against the light cotton material as she drew it over her head. Unable to resist, she cupped her breasts and rubbed her fingers across the tight peaks, remembering the heat of Kei’s hands and the wet warmth of his mouth sucking her.
It only served to increase the ever present hunger between her legs.
With a deep breath, she dropped her hands and willed herself to ignore the ache. She crawled onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, her body humming with need. A long time later, she heard Kei bank the fire and move across the cabin. She blinked away silly tears that threatened because he wasn’t climbing into her bed. She had to focus on the future. And that meant banishing Kei now.
She closed her eyes, determined to fall asleep. She would sleep, she wouldn’t think about Kei and she wouldn’t think about how empty she felt.
She would learn to do without him.
* * * * *
Kei stared at the curtain and emitted a low, predatory growl.
He crushed the sound. It was too much like the growls and snarls of the beast that clawed at his insides. He wasn’t that beast. He never would be.
He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
It was a nice sentiment but it wasn’t true. He would turn into the beast.
Lorran said no one had ever been able to stop the transition. Some claimed to have slowed it but in the end, he would turn into the creature. The thought didn’t frighten him perhaps as much as it should. The end was moving closer. He just had to maintain his sanity for a while longer, keep the beast at bay. Kei drew in a deep breath, expanding his chest and holding it. As the breath escaped, he relaxed and allowed himself to drift into a light sleep.
The rustle of cloth against cloth snapped his mind awake and his body immediately began to harden. She was near, just on the other side of a thin slice of material. Unable to resist, he looked across the room, trying to penetrate the curtain. His night vision had always been good but now, the room looked no darker than morning. The dragon’s instincts and abilities were starting to show.
He’d have to tell Lorran. She’d write it down and make that humming noise she made when she turned new information over in her quick little mind. It was a softer version of the groan she released when he entered her warm body.
He’d grown used to the strangled pleas that broke from her mouth. It made him want to push harder, deeper—push her until she couldn’t hold anything back, until she would give him everything. Then she made the most delicious sounds, the tiny gasps turned to screams and demands that he fuck her.
His hand slipped across the skin of his stomach to the hard erection that pressed up against the single blanket he used. His flesh jumped at the first touch of his own hand.
Mine.
He wanted her, needed her. His fingers slid up the hard length, pretending it was her hand. He bit back a low moan. It was so easy to recall the light touch of her fingers on his cock and a shudder ran through his body. He grew even harder. Why was he tormenting himself like this? He couldn’t come this way. Not once he’d been inside her pussy. He’d tried, those first few nights when he’d been driven to mount Lorran over and over again. Unwilling to use her in such a fashion, he’d tried to satisfy his lust alone but though he stayed hard, nothing but Lorran’s touch could bring him to climax. That was another little tidbit he hadn’t shared with her. He probably should. She’d find it interesting.
Interesting. That’s all he was to her. An experiment and maybe a charity case.
And now she considered the experiment completed. Unable to stop the sound this time, he growled toward the curtain. She thought she could block him out. For almost a week he’d slept beside her, loved her body. He’d held himself inside her, felt her wrapped around his cock, holding him. And tonight she’d put a wall between them.
Mine.
The word pulsed through his head.
Mine.
He moved, rolling out of the bed and starting toward her sleeping alcove. She belonged to him. The urge was overwhelming. As he neared, the sweet scent of her pussy reached him. Kei stopped for a moment. He absorbed the lovely smell and licked his lips, remembering the alluring taste.
His hand landed on the curtain, ready to rip it open, rip it down, and crawl over her, plunge inside her.
Yes, the beast urged. Mine.
Kei felt the control of his body fade.
He jerked back the partition. Lorran’s eyes snapped open as she lay curled on her side. In a brief moment of clarity, he realized she hadn’t been asleep—there was no disorientation from being suddenly woken, but even as the thought came to him, it was replaced by a hunger that crushed rationality. Instinct ruled and his instincts told him she belonged to him. The line between his urges and the dragon’s blended and at this moment he couldn’t tell who was in charge—just that he needed her, needed to be inside her.
The dark haze that perpetually lurked in his mind swamped him as he stared down at Lorran. The crisp sharp senses of the dragon picked up every nuance of her skin, the soft curve of her cheek, the plump swell of her breasts.
She rolled onto her back and moved like she was going to sit up. Her eyes glowed with unasked questions.
Kei watched as if from a distance, feeling the dragon’s desires break free inside.
The woman was there. He could smell her, almost taste her.
He crawled onto the bed, adapting to the strange musculature of this human body. The faint memory of her taste and the soft clasp of her sex around his tongue drove him forward. He placed one hand on either side of her hips and straddled her. She would be wet and waiting.
Lorran stared up as Kei crouched over her, his movements slow and deliberate, as if the muscles and bones were alien shapes.
“Kei?”
He slowly swung his head left then right.
Nekane.
The word entered her mind, never crossing Kei’s lips. The voice was deep and gravelly.
“Nekane,” she repeated.
The dragon had a name.
Chapter Six
She reached out, placing her hand on his chest.
“Kei,” she called again.
The light press of her fingers on his skin combined with her soft voice and eased the dragon’s grip on his mind. He tensed. His first reaction was to back away, to tell her not to touch him. The desire was too close to the surface and his control was thin. This was a need beyond the desire to fuck—he wanted to possess her, consume her, climb inside her until she could never escape.
She moved toward him. She was closer now. “Take a deep breath. Fight it. Don’t let him win.” She whispered to him. The words blurred, barely distinguishable, but the sound of her voice soothed the rough edges of control. She was near. That’s what he needed. He took a deep breath and inhaled her warm scent. Her hair hung down around her shoulders wild from the press of the pillows.
He lost track of where the dragon’s needs ended and his began. He only knew he needed her. She could keep the fog at bay—she could hold him to this earth. Kei pulled Lorran to him, covered her mouth with his own. Her taste entered him like an arrow, sharp and clear—opening his heart. The tiny gasps and groans he’d craved earlier were his reward as he sank his tongue in the wet warmth of her mouth. She met him, her own tongue tangling with his.
Through the haze of desire he realized she was accepting him, welcoming him. The dragon drew back but didn’t disappear. Kei could feel him, hovering just beyond this world. Images and flavors flooded his mind as the dragon urged him on with memories of her cunt, the full mounds of her breasts.
Kei slid his hands around her back and pulled her hard against his body. The hard line of his erection was pressed against the wet slit of her sex. Through the thin material of her nightgown, he could feel her moisture. The beast roared inside him, as if knowing that she hungered for him pleased the creature. Kei clenched his teeth, trying to maintain control but the sights and smells of Lorran’s passion along with the dragon’s influence pushed h
im to the edge. He had to have her.
Lorran gasped as Kei moved. His strong hands spread her thighs and scooped her forward. The heavy weight of their bodies tilted them backward onto the cushion of the bed. He ripped the long line of her nightgown. The high neck tore in his hands baring her breasts. She only had a moment to react before his hands covered the soft mounds.
“I need you.”
The hopeless glint in his eyes called to her. She opened her legs. He looked down, staring at her thighs spread open before him. He drew in a sharp, tense breath.
“Come inside me.”
Immediately, he was there—plunging deep, ravaging her pussy. She was wet but the deep sudden penetration stung. She bit her lips together to hide the startled gasp that threatened. She wanted this, wanted to ease him with her body. Her passage quickly adjusted to his entrance and grew wet, openly accepting him inside.
Lorran held him, whispering softly as he thrust into her. She ran her hands along his shoulders and chest, loving the tension in his strong muscles as he moved above her. Each time he’d pulled back, her cunt would tighten, clinging to him, wanting to hold him. Wordless pleas slipped from her lips, the need for more, the need to feel him deeper inside her.
“Mine.” The word slipped from his mouth almost unnoticed. As much as she’d tried to reject it, she couldn’t. He needed her. At least for now, he needed the comfort of her body, and she couldn’t deny him what he needed.
Her heart throbbed deep in her throat. No one had ever truly needed her before.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Whatever you need.” She knew she was committing herself to him, even if he didn’t understand.
“I need you. I need this pussy.”
“Yes—all that you need.” She repeated her vow from the first night.
Kei growled and seemed to swell inside her. Lorran fell back on the bed. He was hard between her legs, pumping into her with the strength of a madman.
He slid home and Lorran gasped.
Kei pulled out, stopping at the rim of her sex, as if he knew he should stop but couldn’t bear to leave the warmth of her cunt.
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