Even though she’d only been around him a short time, it was obvious he was a good guy, and the more she thought about it, the more her gut told her she was right. She’d gone out with enough men, some creeps, some good guys, but all seeking a deeper relationship. She ached to find the right man to have a family with—have kids. But none of the guys she went out with had ever done it for her. Maybe it was because they were all human, was that the reason that she could never seem to connect with any of them? It was different with Sami. She’d begun to feel a connection from the moment he rescued her from their enemy at the motel.
The revelation startled her and while she didn’t know what it was, it felt good, right even. But as he stood there, uncertain, she could almost feel his pain and it saddened her. She held her hand out to him again. “Sami?”
“No…I can’t do this—” There was fear in his eyes as he backed away.
Chapter Ten
Cursed or Not
SAMI RAN A HAND THROUGH HIS HAIR. This was not the same. Goldy is not Hellfire…and even if she was, you can’t leave her to suffer, can you? No, it wasn’t in him to leave anyone to suffer. Finally, with a deep breath to settle his inner emotions, Sami peeled his jacket off and tossed it on the couch. Then he turned and looked at Goldy.
Her eyes lit up, even as she shivered, when she looked up at him. Sami paused, uncertain, as she watched him with a smoldering heat in her gaze then shifted over to make room for him to join her. With an inward groan, Sami peeled his jeans off and slid under the covers, wearing only his boxers and T-shirt.
Before he could pull the blankets over them fully, Goldy snuggled up against him. This time he groaned aloud as she pressed up against the whole length of him. However, the instant she felt his erection she went perfectly still.
“Sorry,” he whispered as her golden gaze rose to meet his. Sami held his breath, but then she smiled and snuggled into him some more.
“You are so hot,” she said, breathlessly and Sami closed his eyes as fire burned through his veins like renewed energy.
“Oh crap, I did not just say that,” she whispered under her breath making him chuckle.
Sami lay still, trying desperately to calm his raging hormones but it wasn’t easy. She felt wonderful in his arms and while his heart continued to race, he felt more at peace than he had in a very long time. Then his body began to hum with a weird vibration. Freaked out, he tried to pull away, but Goldy snuggled in closer against his chest.
“No, please…don’t go, you feel so good. I need—” she mumbled and the next moment, she was asleep and breathing softly in his arms.
About a half an hour later, Sami knew the instant Goldy was awake again. Even though she didn’t move, she seemed relaxed. Perhaps still floating on a sleepy sense of feeling warm and safe…something she hadn’t had over the last day. When reality hit her, obviously the pain did too, making her cry out. All Sami could do was hold and try to comfort her.
Once the pain receded, she looked up at him. “My mother’s really gone, isn’t she?” He nodded, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she sighed. “I’m really some kind of dragon thing with magical powers? What’s the Awakening?”
Sami, his body still vibrating and beginning to feel achy, tried to explain. “It’s the process our bodies go through to bring forth our dragon.” He didn’t tell her how brutal and dangerous it could be. There was no sense scaring her when they couldn’t do anything about it but try to get through it.
“And then what?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, after I go through this, how will it change me?” she asked, looking up at him with worry in her eyes.
“Oh.” Sami smiled down at her, thinking of all the years he, Jax, and Tierney had dreamed of everything they wanted to do when they were finally full Dracones. “Well, then you can shift into your dragon form whenever you like and fly…well, provided no humans are around to see, that is.” Sami chuckled at Goldy’s wide-eyed disbelieving look.
“No shit, really?” she asked.
He nodded. “Really.” Then he groaned as unexpected pain ripped through him. What the hell?
“Really?” she repeated. “We can change into a real fire breathing dragon and fly?”
Sami pushed the pain away and grinned down at her. “Yes.”
Goldy stared at him a moment longer, shook her head, then snuggled back in against his chest. “Uh huh. So, those men, the ones that killed my mom and tried to kidnap me, you called them Ilyium. Tell me about them. Why did they curse us?” she asked.
“There was an incident a thousand years ago, when two of the Ilyium druid children were sucked into a demon realm. Their grandmother, who was the head of the Ilyium, was a crazy witch. She blamed Skulla, our ancestor, for the loss when he’d only been trying to stop the demons from absconding with Ilyium children,” Sami said.
“They didn’t believe him and now they hate us and have been hunting us ever since?” she asked.
Sami nodded. “Yeah, that’s part of the curse the witch put on us.”
“What’s the other part?” Goldy asked.
Sami thought about the unfairness of it all. “She cursed us so that all of Skulla’s male descendants, from his grandchildren on down, would be unable to procreate.”
“His grandchildren and not his children?” she asked.
Sami shook his head. “No, I guess it was her version of tit for tat.”
“Oh, that’s so sad. I’m sorry Sami.”
“Yeah.” Whenever the thought of kids came up he always just pushed it away, knowing it was never going to happen which was just as well. After all, with his gene pool and upbringing it was probably for the best.
“Is there any way to break this curse?”
Sami shook his head. “Well, sort of, but not really. The witch gave us a way out, saying that we were cursed until the time her grandchildren came back.”
“And it’s been a thousand years so…” Goldy sighed in defeat.
Sami nodded. “Exactly. The really shitty part of it is, Skulla lost his youngest son that day as well. He’d only been trying to help the Ilyium. The demons kept stealing their women and children.”
Goldy sucked in a breath and tears filled her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know why I’m crying about this,” she whispered, wiping her eyes.
“Sorry, it’s all part of what we are going through.” Talking helped, but now Sami felt his own pain growing and not the normal darkness filled kind. This was different. In fact, now that he thought about it, his normal agony had dulled to about half its intensity since he found Goldy. No, this pain was very different. Sami closed his eyes and tried to push it away, now no longer able to deny that he was also going through his Awakening.
“Sami?” Goldy touched his face, and his pain petered off.
“Yeah,” he said, looking down at her.
“What’s wrong? I can feel your pain too, how is this possible and why?”
Sami shook his head, not wanting to admit what was happening—as if that would stop it from continuing. Then as if to fuck with him, agony shot through his whole body, making him tense up. Oh, yeah, this was far worse than what he was used to dealing with.
“Sami, what’s going on?” Goldy asked as pain ricocheted through her in an echo affect.
“I-I think you triggered my Awakening,” he said, gritting his teeth against another wave of pain.
Goldy blinked up at him and sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m so sorry, Sami,” she whispered and immediately moved away.
As soon as they separated, ice cold tentacles pierced every molecule of his being and Goldy cried out. “Oh God, this hurts!”
Sami pulled her back against him, and the cold disappeared.
“Sorry,” she said again, tears once more filling her eyes.
“Are you still burning up?” he asked.
“No…” She sounded so forlorn.
Sami let out a breath. He knew what they needed to do
, but wasn’t sure he could or that she would understand why. “It’s okay, we’ll be fine.”
Goldy tensed up as pain gripped her, and then it shot through Sami making him cringe. Yeah, they were definitely connected.
“C-Can w-we die from this?” she asked between breaths.
Sami didn’t answer for a second. He didn’t want to lie to her. Finally, he said, “We’ll get through it.” Gritting his teeth as the agony worsened.
Looking up at him, Goldy caressed his cheek and her touch made his skin sizzle in a pleasant way. Then she lowered her hand. “We can die, can’t we?” She nodded at the truth she saw in Sami’s eyes. “What can we do?”
Sami swallowed and looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “Sex.”
“Sex? Really?” Though there was disbelief in her tone, there was none of the horror, or rejection he had expected.
He nodded, still not looking at her but he could feel her stare. Glancing at her, but not lingering, he saw a look of contemplation on her face. She was actually thinking about the idea of having sex to get through the Awakening—with someone she’d just met.
Sami had to admit there was some kind of very strong connection between them, and if she felt it as much as he did, perhaps she wasn’t completely repulsed by the idea. It was like instant attraction or something chemical. He glanced at her to find her staring at him and couldn’t help but blush at what he’d just suggested to her.
After a moment, Sami felt her touch him again very briefly. “Anyone ever tell you how cute you are?” she asked then sucked in a breath as the pain hit them both in tandem. Her words ran through his mind as he fought off the pain. She thought he was cute. Cute? He knew he should be offended, but somehow it warmed his heart instead.
When the pain petered off, Goldy snuggled back against him and slowly ran her hand over his arm and shoulder. “All right then.”
Sami’s already hard cock surged at her words and he bit back a groan. Did she really just agree to have sex with me?
Goldy continued to run her hand over him, making him shiver and not with cold this time. “I did,” she said with a smile, and it took Sami a second to realize what she had said.
Pulling back, she looked up at him. “Oh! How? You didn’t say that out loud, how did I hear you?”
Sami shrugged, not really wanting to start a conversation about telepathy yet. Instead, he gently moved her long golden curls out of her face and tucked them out of the way. “I’m sorry…I—” Sami closed his eyes as he tried to figure out what to say. He knew what they needed to do, but he couldn’t help but feel his heart only wanted one person, and that person wasn’t Goldy.
As he lowered his hand, she caught it and twined her fingers through his. “Sami?” Bringing his hand to her cheek, she rubbed her face against it. “I can feel the pain inside of you.”
“Yeah, we seem to be connected,” he said.
“No, I mean the pain in your soul…I feel how hurt you’ve been.”
A different kind of agony filled him at the reminder her words invoked.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.
“Ah, no…not really,” he said and closed his eyes against the onslaught of memories. How Hellfire had seduced him then pushed him away, her harsh words then later, seeing her go into that room to have sex with that Were-cat. No, he didn’t need or want to talk about it—ever.
“I’m so sorry Sami, you don’t—” Her words stopped with a cry of agony. The pain ripped through the both of them. This time it seemed to last forever and when it finally went away, they were both left shaking and weak.
Sami felt it when she closed herself off from him, then she pulled away just enough so that while they were still touching, it wasn’t so intimate.
“Goldy?” he asked, not sure if he hurt or offended her or what he did.
Without looking at him, she snorted and shook her head. “I finally meet a super-hot, sexy guy that I like and he doesn’t want me. I-I just feel…so…embarrassed,” she whispered.
Leaning up on his arm, Sami gazed down at her. A blush was rising in her cheeks again, which he had to admit was incredibly sexy. Sami couldn’t help the grin that spread over him as heat filled his body at her words. She thought he was sexy, and hot. Hellfire’s rejection had made him feel low and unworthy but hearing this, from this hotter than hell, gorgeous female, made his heart ache just a little less.
His body hummed with happiness. His attraction to Goldy felt very different from his attraction to Hellfire. He knew it had to have something to do with the Awakening, something he didn’t pretend to understand anything about, but it didn’t seem to matter either.
“What are you smiling at?” she asked.
“Ah…you really think I’m hot and…ah…sexy?”
Still embarrassed, Goldy glared at him, making Sami want to chuckle. Then she smiled and heat lit her golden eyes. “Yeah, I do,” she whispered and licked her lips.
Sami groaned. “I think you are too.” Liquid fire rushed through him at the thought of being with her. Suddenly, he wanted to run his fingers though her long golden curls, feel her skin under his hands, and more. Of its own volition, his hand reached out and he ran his fingers through her silky hair.
Goldy reached up and pulled his lips down to hers, and Sami moaned at the heady taste of her. She was so sweet and tasted like honeysuckle. Suddenly, all his reservations vanished. The next moment, Goldy pulled his T-shirt off over his head and pushed him back on the bed, kissing him hard.
Then she pulled her lips from his and stared down at him. “If you don’t want to do this, you need to tell me.”
“Please, don’t stop,” he whispered, lost in her gaze. With a brilliant smile, she yanked her own shirt off and wiggled out of her pants.
Sami quickly shed his boxers, trying not to salivate at the sight of her perfect, golden body. Then she pushed him back and climbed on top of him to lay with his cock sandwiched between them. Sami couldn’t hold back the groan this time as his hands moved over her silky skin while her lips met his once again. Eagerly, they explored each other while a sweet fire roared between the two of them. This time when she left his lips it was to trail kisses across his jaw, down his neck, and over to his ear lobe which she sucked and gently nibbled.
Sami whimpered as pleasure tore through him. Her hands seared down his sides as he caressed her back, her arms, and further down. Every time she moved, her hair trailed like silk over him. Her kisses seared his chest then moved lower. His breath picked up and his heart started to race when he realized where she was headed. When she reached her destination, she sat back between his legs and took him into her mouth. He almost came at the first touch of her lips. Stunned, Sami threw his head back and clutched the sheets. “Oh fuck!”
The things she was doing with her mouth and tongue felt absolutely fucking amazing. Looking back down at her, he watched as she slid him in and out of her mouth. Her hair caressed his thighs. If he died right now, he’d die very happy. A moan escaped him and he let go of the sheets, reached out, and fisted his hands in her hair.
“Goldy,” he cried out, fearing he was getting too close to cumming.
Sami knew he couldn’t take much more and as if she knew as well, Goldy gave one last lick and let him go, before slipping up his body, making him moan some more as she lay back on top of him, capturing his lips with hers once again.
Sami groaned. She was wonderful, beautiful, and he was so lost to her.
“Did you like that?” she breathed as she licked and nipped at his jaw. Her golden eyes blazed with fire.
“Y-yes—” The word hissed out on a breath, while his whole body raced hot, primed, and ready. She grinned at him then rising up a bit, she guided him inside her decadent warmth.
As soon as he slid into her, their connection opened wider and he could feel her pleasure as he began to move. Fierce need tore through him and suddenly, he couldn’t hold back.
“Take me, Sami,” she cried, and Sami felt her ne
ed. It matched his and continued to build, drawing them up into a vortex of pleasure. He lost all control.
With one arm wrapped around her, he flipped them over and drove into her tight sweetness. Goldy wrapped her fingers in his hair and pulled his mouth down to hers where she immediately dove in and claimed him. She met him thrust for thrust as their passion built until they seemed to be two entities combining as one body, existing solely to give the other pleasure.
Sami pulled back just enough to stare into her eyes, feeling consumed. “You feel—” He didn’t really have the words. She felt like heaven.
“Yeah,” she whispered, seeming to understand. Her tongue met his once again.
Releasing his hair, she raked her nails down his back and over his ass, where she dug them in and gripped him, urging him on even faster. Her gaze met his and held him spellbound. Time seemed to stand still as they both exploded, the waves of their orgasms crashing over, and through them. The intensity was stunning as their minds connected and they shared each other’s ecstasy.
He could feel all her dreams and desires just as she felt his. Then Goldy squeezed her insides and Sami felt his balls jolt. He began to move in and out of her again, slowly, and another orgasm began to build for the both of them. When they both reached their peak, Sami cried out while Goldy screamed her pleasure and waves of magic surrounded them. They both shook as it filled them, flowed through them, and over them. When it began to recede, a spark was born that felt like pure light and happiness.
Sami heard Goldy suck in a deep breath. She returned his stare, her eyes filled with wonder, while their skin began to tingle with more magic.
It was a long while before they came down off the rush of passion and magic. With a sweet smile, Goldy captured his lips once more in a sweet kiss. A kiss filled with love. Lying beside her, Sami gathered her up in his arms, and held her tenderly. They fell asleep as the clock struck midnight.
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 48
