by Brynn Paulin
Chapter Six
In the aftermath, they clung to each other, bathed in sweat and panting for breath. “Well…” Scarlett gasped.
“Well,” he replied. He traced invisible designs on her shoulder as he gazed down at her. “Frenzied, huh? The bite contains an aphrodisiac. It fills your blood as I take it in. It fills you as I drink.” He kissed her gently. “It sends us out of control.”
She pressed her head into the curve of his neck. “I liked it.”
“You understand why our blood-letters are content to stay with us. Feeding can be quite…sexual.”
A stab of jealousy rifled through Scarlett and she scowled. “You have one?”
Janos shook his head. “No.”
“How do you feed, then?”
“I find it easy to find those willing to open a vein for the elder of the clan. If I don’t bite, there is no reaction—not like we experienced today. And now that I have you, it won’t be necessary for me to seek out a feeder. Our bloods are perfect complements to one another. You will sustain me as I will sustain you.”
A new tingle of arousal danced in Scarlett’s middle, hailing the start of another round of need. Purposely, she derailed her instincts before she tilted her head and bade him to take another taste of her. “I don’t suppose you have clothes here anywhere, do you?” she asked, diverting the subject. “At very least, a T-shirt I can borrow. Mine seems to have become rags.”
He chuckled. “I suspect there’s something around here for you to wear. Closets’ worth, in fact. Okay, on your feet, woman,” he groaned as he stood then reached for her hand. He pulled her to her feet. Her knees immediately buckled and he pressed her to his chest. “We’ll wash, find you clothes, then I’ll give you the grand tour of the compound.”
She looked around. What she could see of the compound was set back against the mountain face and sprawled a distance in either direction. It was large, perhaps ‘mansion’ sized, but she couldn’t imagine it housing a whole clan. Perhaps Janos had a small clan. “It looks…big,” she conceded.
Janos’ chuckle became a full laugh. “Diplomatic. Have you ever heard the term ‘tip of the iceberg’?”
“Of course.”
He waved a hand at the house. “This is the tip of the iceberg. Our home is carved into the mountain and is roughly the size of a small town. It’s four levels and large enough to accommodate at least five hundred Dragons. At the moment, however, the clan numbers less than one hundred members. My parents were the leaders until…recently.” He looked away, and she sensed he didn’t want to share, especially when he looked back with a small smile. His arms tightened. “The attacks of the Elvish and Djinn have hit us hard. Only a few of the clan are mated. Many haven’t found their matches before our enemies have, or they’ve had their women killed before we found and protected them. I’m fortunate to have found you in time.”
Scarlett’s muscles clenched at what could have happened because of her rash action. And what could have happened if she hadn’t.
He pulled her toward the double doors leading inside.
“You’re Dragons who live in a mountain…” she ventured.
“It’s kind of cliché, isn’t it? It works for us. Most Dragon dwellings are somewhat subterraneous because the temperature and humidity is favorable to us.”
“Is it safe, though? You’ve dug out a mountain.”
“Dragon magic. It’s much like that which protects the Ghenton clan’s compound. It protects ours as well. Of course, there are steel supports throughout at the insistence of the modern generation.”
He urged her through the doors. The room they entered reminded Scarlett of water. Done in blues ranging in color from sea foam to the deep azure of a Caribbean sea, it spoke of freedom and open air. Even the furniture seemed to flow with the room, everything light and airy. Silken linens draped the chairs and portions of the walls, furthering the illusion of liquid. She could nearly hear the roll of the waves.
The entire outer wall was glass and overlooked the enclosed courtyard with the small pool. Tiny tendrils of steam lifted from it. A hot tub. Visions of making love to Janos again in this paradise filled her thoughts as she stared into the distance beyond the mosaic-covered wall. The hulking peaks of surrounding mountains loomed in the distance as they reached into a cloud dotted blue sky.
“Like it?” Janos asked as he gazed down at her.
“I love it,” she breathed, in awe of the beauty surrounding her.
“This is our own private sitting room,” he said. “Entirely private. Even Jonah would not have landed here earlier if I hadn’t invited him. I thought it best for your cousin to see you before she found other quarters.”
“So if I ask you to make love to me on one of these divans, you would?” She bit her bottom lip as the desire still simmering in his eyes sparked into a blaze that matched the lava that seemed to flow through her. It pooled in her pelvis, readying her again for his possession. The last time was desperation and the reaction to the chemical in his bite. This time, she knew it was the mating call. She’d never been so completely driven by the need to have sex as she was with Janos. Every moment with him, it was on the edges of her mind until it burst to center stage and overwhelmed them.
“I thought you were hungry,” he murmured, bending his head. His lips pressed to her neck, and he sucked at her pulse point where he’d bitten her earlier. She wondered if he could taste the residue of her blood…if he’d bite her again. A tremor fluttered through her cleft. Why on earth was she so enamored by the possibility? She’d never let anyone bite her, yet the notion of Janos teeth in her over and over seemed more erotic than nearly anything else he could do.
“Mmm…” she mumbled as pleasure cascaded over her, and she once again sank into the ridiculous mire of need. “I was almost killed. I’m more interested in celebrating that I’m alive with you.” She took deep breaths as she tried to straighten her muddled thoughts. “I’m afraid I’m never going to want anything else again. How can I function with this constant need tearing through me?”
“It will pass, I promise. Eventually, we’ll be quite normal, though I promise it will never alleviate enough that we won’t want each other regularly. My parents could be embarrassingly affectionate. They were mated for quite a while.” His fingers drove into her hair, and he leaned his forehead to hers. His eyes closed, and he sighed. “We need to wait. I need to take care of you. You probably haven’t eaten at all today. Am I right?”
“The only thing I need is you. Please Janos…”
“You never need to beg for me, mate.” His fingers curled in the hem of her tattered tee as he continued to kiss and nibble at her throat. He paused as her stomach growled.
“Ignore it. The only thing I want is you.” She put her hands on her hips when he delayed. Her shirt pushed up around her wrists and displayed her naked pussy and belly. “Here I am without panties and now without pants too, since someone destroyed them. Surely, you know what to do with me.”
“Surely,” Janos replied.
She squealed as he suddenly lurched forward and lifted her onto his shoulder.
“I want to lay you on one of those divans and wrap your wrists and ankles in the silk that’s draped over it. I’d have you tied down and at my mercy while I feasted on your sweet body.” His hand drifted over her thigh to her exposed folds. His finger slipped inside her. “But it’s not your blood I’m after. It’s this sweet, sweet cream.”
“Janos…”
“But that’s not what I’m going to do.”
“What are you going to do?”
“You’ll see.”
He went through another set of doors and flipped on a light. She got a vague impression of a spacious and opulent living area as he walked, but her viewpoint wasn’t the best for details.
“The living room,” he said before he went down a hallway. At the end, he entered another room. “The bedroom.”
A huge four-poster bed draped in dark silk hangings dominated
the center of the area. Before she got more than a glance at the shadowy room, Janos continued his grand tour. “Your closet,” he said as they entered a long walk-in filled with clothes.
“Wait!” she exclaimed. “My closet? Where did all these clothes come from?”
She felt his shoulder lift beneath her as he took a breath. “They were my mother’s. They’re all new. She’d just completed a huge spree in New York when my father dragged her off on their trip to the homeland. She never wore most of the things and the tags or plastic are on them. Since they are unused, I left them for my Velree to pick and choose from. You can get rid of whatever you don’t want. The jewels I hope you’ll keep. They’re heirlooms.”
“I can’t wait to explore.”
“Not now.” He opened a door on the other end. “The bathroom,” he announced and set her on her feet. To merely call it a bathroom was a travesty. Yes, to her right were the usual facilities—a toilet, sink and shower—but straight ahead…
Scarlett took several steps before she realized she’d moved. Water ran down a wall of layered rock and collected in a basin large enough to hold a dozen people. A flat table of rock lay at the base of the fall, catching water before it cascaded over the edge.
“Fancy a bath?” Janos asked. He placed soap and a small bottle on the edge of the basin. “It’s warm, heated by a natural underground source. A filtration system keeps it clean so we can wash here.”
“Am I dreaming? This is amazing.”
Janos smiled softly, a tenderness filling his otherwise hungry gaze. “Welcome home, my Velree.” He turned her to face him. His hands went to the ripped neck of her T-shirt. With a jerk, he rent it from her. An instant thrill rushed through her to pile upon the already toppling tower of need. Soon a tiny push would shove it over, and she’d orgasm without Janos even thrusting inside her. A tiny moan escaped her lips at the thought of him filling her again.
She opened her bra and dropped it to the floor. Without waiting for her to say anything, Janos lifted Scarlett into his arms and stepped into the basin, climbing down a set of stairs she hadn’t seen until the water reached his thighs. After setting her on her feet, he reached for the soap. The water swirled around her legs, gentle eddies licking at her pussy as she waited for Janos. She was tempted to sink down into the water and let its heat seep into her, but she wanted to be ready for whatever he planned.
His eyes adored her as he rubbed the soap between his large hands, then he set it in a divot on the table where the water fell. Slowly, his hands worked over her as he lathered her body. His slippery palms cupped her breast, his thumbs flicking over her nipples until she squirmed.
“Don’t move,” he growled when she made to step away. He rubbed the soap between his hands again then worked down over her belly. She separated her legs in invitation as he reached her reddish curls and parted her. His fingers stroked over her, touching each part of her sex and covering it in suds. As if her senses weren’t already screaming, he rasped over her clit repeatedly until she rocked and moaned for more. She gripped his upper arms as she struggled for balance, her legs wobbling from the tremors radiating from her center.
“Janos…” she begged, putting everything she needed into that one word. He knew. He was everything she wanted right now, and she saw his knowledge in his feral grin. Lifting her, he carried her to the table beneath the fall. He set her on the edge then urged her shoulders back into the warm shower of water. It cascaded over her body rinsing away the soap but pummeling awareness of her lover even deeper into her pleasure centers.
Pulling her closer to the edge, Janos again worked his fingers along her folds until nothing remained but water and her own slick cream. He knelt before her, then his thumbs spread her wide.
“I must taste you, Velree,” he murmured.
Scarlett nodded. Her face tilted back into the water, the liquid pleasure warming her and pulling her along the river of desire that seemed to keep her in its currents. It dragged her toward the rapids as Janos lapped at her cleft. His tongue darted in and out of her while his fingers alternately worked their magic on her clit or joined his tongue in its devilish dance of torment.
She groaned as her sheath quivered and poured more cream onto his questing tongue. “Janos,” she chanted. “Janos…”
The falls engulfed her as she arched helplessly into her release. Janos pulled her forward before her scream drowned her. He shifted her to lay facedown upon the rock table with her body slightly sideways so that she could breathe. The surface was smooth as glass, and the water cascaded onto her back, along the crevice of her ass, and between her thighs. As the fall pounded down on her skin, sending unbelievably pleasant relaxation through her, it poured over her pussy like warm exploring fingers before hitting the rock.
Janos’ hands stroked over her body and found all her sensitive spots while his touch remained non-sexual. Slowly, the massage increased in its intensity, each glide of his palms going a bit further along her skin, a bit closer to her breasts, a bit deeper between her thighs.
When she started lifting her hips into him, he leaned over her and kissed the back of her neck. Two fingers slid into her channel and she moaned. It wasn’t so much that her body demanded more sex for the sake of mating. No, this time, she just wanted Janos. Just wanted to feel his body arched over hers as he made love to her here in their own personal waterfall.
She smiled as the reality that they could do this every day, forever, sank into her consciousness. This spectacular room belonged to them. To her. And she had no doubt that Janos would comply with her desire to have sex on this ledge. As she thought it, the water seemed to divert, no longer hitting her back. Instead, it splashed to the rock on either side of her. She let out a content sigh as Janos’ body rubbed over hers. His cock fit to the curve of her bottom.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the small bottle he’d brought with the soap now in his hand. He squirted some of its contents in his hand. Lifting up, he lubed his cock then used the same slippery fingers to explore the crevice of her rear. The warm water had her relaxed enough that she opened for Janos as if he’d touched her there a million times before. In truth, it was all foreign. She’d never let any man touch her there, not even her fiancé. A moment of guilt stole through her. She hadn’t given him a thought since Janos had consumed her existence. The feeling dissipated as Janos worked a finger into her dark passage. Janos was her mate, and she had to live for now, despite the horror she’d once experienced.
Janos’ tongue flicked randomly across her back. Her brow furrowed at his odd pattern, but she could barely focus on it as he added another finger to the one already opening her.
“I wish I could remove this pain,” he said, and she realized he was kissing her old stab wounds. Could he read her so easily that he knew where her thoughts had wandered? No, she decided. This was just the first time they’d taken so much time in a position like this. Her scars were front and center.
“It’s long gone,” she said.
“I won’t let them hurt you again,” he promised, his voice ragged with emotion.
He leaned forward and captured her lips as she looked up at him over her shoulder. She rocked with the sensations sailing through her and opened her mouth to his tongue. She wanted his kiss. She wanted his cock in her again, sending her over the edge into oblivion.
A groan echoed into his mouth as he added another finger. How much longer? The answer came with his body shifting over hers. The head of his cock replaced his fingers and he pressed forward before her body could close.
Despite the warm relaxation the water had brought and the profound need in her, she tensed at the invasion.
“Relax,” Janos murmured. His lips returned to her neck, nipping along it to the base. His teeth sank into her shoulder without breaking the skin.
“Yes,” Scarlett cried. Her hips jolted toward him, and his cock lodged deeper. “Move. Please, oh please, move,” she pleaded.
Janos’ forehead tilted into her s
houlder. A hand slid beneath her and splayed over her belly. Lifting her slightly, he began a slow pistoning motion that grew and grew until their cries echoed in the chamber. Scarlett’s fingers curled into the table as the pounding of the water merged with the pounding of the blood in her ears.
His teeth pierced her and the ecstasy streamed through her like a fast-acting drug. Her scream rang through the room. Janos growled and his hips slammed forward. His head lifted, and his own roar echoed, his hot cum flooding her.
“Oh Janos,” she murmured when she’d gathered herself enough to speak. Her eyes closed, her words conveying a wealth of meaning and the budding of her love. She let the oblivion of exhausting take her, completely trusting that Janos would keep her from drowning. He was her savior, her guardian, her future…her mate. She could put herself in his hands and have no worries.
* * * *
Janos linked his fingers with Scarlett’s and led her out the front door of their private quarters. The scarlet silk of her capped-sleeved, calf-length dress swirled around her legs in a sensual rhythm as they walked. The portrait collar displayed the fall of diamonds and rubies Janos had placed around her neck after their bath. He’d slid a ring of the same stones on her left hand and a band of rubies and gold on her right upper arm. Formed to look somewhat like a dragon, it circled her arm three times and, according to Janos, was the symbol of her station.
“We’re at the top front of the compound,” he said as they exited onto a wide balcony. It circled the entire level and overlooked an enormous four-storey common area Janos called the great hall. Two stairways on either side of the chamber curved down to the main floor. The expanse of the structure, lit by huge wall sconces and chandeliers, was overwhelming, but it was eclipsed by Janos’ people.
As she and her mate walked, his people stopped whatever they were doing and inclined their heads in reverence. She felt every eye on her as they headed for one stairway and she prayed she wouldn’t do something entirely ungraceful.
“They’re staring,” she muttered from the corner of her mouth.
