by Abigail Owen
Cami stepped closer, framing his face with her hands, his stubble rough and real against her palms. “Put your fire inside me, Drake Chandali,” she whispered. “Make me yours. Even if it only lasts today.”
…
Drake’s dragon roared inside him, demanding he claim his mate. Their mate.
His mate who knew exactly what she was asking. Who the gods seemed to have made just for him—the way she accepted him, stood up to him, stood by him. The way he wanted to do the same for her in a way he’d never felt compelled to do for any other creature. Not even Lyndi, though he loved his sister.
This was different. Like he’d found the other half of his own fractured soul.
He was so fucking tired of fighting this.
As if she could see the give in him, Cami smiled. “This is my choice, Drake. You’re my choice. Mine. Don’t you take that away from me.”
“You’ve got twenty minutes.” Finn’s voice broke through his mind. Crashed through the moment. His Alpha was talking about how long they had before the Alaz team came down on them. But the fates had to have had a hand in the timing.
Because Drake took it as a different message.
“We have twenty minutes before they come,” he relayed.
Cami’s shoulders dropped forward, and she let him go, turning away again. Hiding her face from him.
Drake smiled at his mate’s back. “I guess we better hurry.”
She spun, sunshine lighting her expression, making her glow in a way that had nothing to do with the fire inside her.
“Really?” She whispered the word like she was afraid speaking would change his mind.
But now that he’d let himself make the decision, no way could he go back.
He speared a hand through her hair, cupping the back of her head, and crashed his lips over hers in a kiss that should leave her with no doubts.
There was no room for doubts in a mating. Not if she was going to survive this.
Fuck. Fear—unknown to him until he met this woman, even when he realized he was dying—sliced through him like a scythe. The Grim Reaper had to be on the end of this sensation—cold in his gut taking over the fire like ice could douse the heat with a mere feather of a touch.
She’s strong enough. He had to believe that.
Drake drew back, the taste of her addictive on his tongue, the scent of her—jasmine, and smoke, and a woman already giving in to desire—heady in his lungs, and that tingling sensation of rejuvenation spreading out from his mouth and his hand to every other part of him.
“Really,” he whispered against her lips.
With the devil in her grin, Cami shucked her shirt and bra before he could blink. Backing up, her hands went to the zip of her jeans next. She slid them down, along with her panties, then paused, canting her head. “I thought you said we only have twenty minutes.”
Pants and panties dropped to the floor and she kicked them aside. The sight of her gorgeous curves, heavy breasts begging for his mouth, dark curls at the juncture of her thighs beckoning, promising, was all he needed. Drake went hard then hot, any ice inside him melting under an inferno of need.
More than need.
He was about to make this woman his mate, make her a dragon, to fly beside him all the days of his life.
He didn’t let his mind consider how many those days would be. He couldn’t.
“One of us has some catching up to do,” Cami teased. “Maybe you need some motivation to move faster.”
With those words, she turned and bent, hands on the mattress, legs spread wide, then cast a look over her shoulder that dared him to claim her. “You want me like this, don’t you?”
The way he’d taken her in his room so that he wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her, to take it further. This was no longer just fucking, but damned if the time limit and the sight of her ass took every thought but claiming her from his head.
In an almighty hurry, Drake removed his clothes and was behind her in as much time as it took her to give a little enticing wiggle.
Cami gasped as his flesh pressed up against hers, skin flushing that beautiful dusky rose. Only he didn’t take her. If this was the last time, he was going to take his time, explore every inch of her. Memorize her—the look of her, the feel of her, the scent and taste of her.
She squealed as he flipped her over, landing her on her back on the bed.
Drake followed, pressing her into the mattress with his weight, loving the way she moaned just from that small thing. Then he paused, gazing into her warm eyes, and trailed a finger over her cheeks, tracing her jaw, then brushing over her lips.
Drake swallowed.
This woman could bring him to his knees with a look. And he didn’t give a shit. Hell, he loved it.
“This isn’t going to be a quick fuck,” he said. Already his voice reflected the beast inside him, gone dark and smoky.
The way her pupils dilated, he knew she liked that.
“I want to claim all of you. I want your body, your mind, your heart, and your soul. Do you understand?”
Cami licked her lips, her tongue pink against the duskier hue of her lips. “We don’t have time.”
He shook his head. “Forget them. This is about us.”
Those same lush lips spread in the sweetest smile, wrapping around his heart and claiming it for hers. “I trust you,” she whispered.
“Good. Hold onto that.” He kissed her cheek softly, then again closer to her lips. “You ready?”
“I’ve been ready since the day you flew in on Rune’s back.”
A laugh burst from him. One he couldn’t have controlled even if he’d wanted to. “Not exactly manly, having to have my ass flown in like a youngling.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I saw.”
He huffed another laugh. “Oh yeah? What did you see?”
Cami lifted her head from the mattress, bringing her lips close to his. Close but not touching. “I saw you.”
With a groan, Drake kissed her.
Claimed the mouth he’d been dying to possess in this way since the day she’d gone wild in the grasp of his talons, so damned determined to protect her family from both the wildfire and the dragon trying to save them.
That kind of courage had stolen his heart. Even if he hadn’t let himself believe it then.
Drake took his time kissing his mate. Savoring the feel of her beneath him, the way her mouth fit against his so effortlessly, how their tongues twined. He swallowed her moans as he let his hands roam her curves slowly, savoring the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips, the heaviness of those perfect breasts.
Her nipples pebbled, digging into his palms, so he switched from smoothing to plucking, reveling in how Cami writhed beneath him, her breath hitching with each tug, each roll.
Still torturing those gorgeous breasts, Drake trailed kisses down her neck, pausing to nibble at her earlobe, then traveling lower, laving the dip at the base of her neck with his tongue, then lower until he sucked an engorged nipple into his mouth, sucking hard while sweeping his hands over her, exploring her body with the softest of touches, until she started to shake. He grinned as he moved to the other breast.
She was already close, her arousal filling the room with a scent that turned him on. So close. To being his.
His cock, heavy and hard, throbbed with every beat of his heart, every moan he dragged from Cami’s lips, every gasp, every undulation of her body. Again, he sucked that nipple hard, loving how with every pull she’d buck her hips, her body unconsciously telling him what she needed. What she wanted.
More time. Gods above they needed more time, and they didn’t have it.
Drake trailed his hands over the soft slope of her belly to slip a finger through damp curls, finding her wet and ready.
After this was over and they were back in the Ande
s, or wherever they ended up, he was going to take even more time. And he was going to kiss his mate. Every damn minute of the day, if he had his way.
Needing her lips under his, he made his way back up her body, pausing to suck on the sensitive spot below her ear until the skin turned dark with his mark. Soon she’d wear more than a temporary mark. Soon his mark would be permanent on the back of her neck.
My mark.
He hadn’t let himself even think of seeing it. But he had to. Before it became permanent and black against her skin, like a tattoo, he wanted to see it glow, lit by his fire.
“Cami,” he whispered against her lips.
“Yeah.”
“I want to see my brand on you.”
His mate opened her eyes, hazy with need, and slowly blinked. Then smiled and turned beneath him, drawing the fall of her hair away from her neck.
Drake sucked in a deep breath, kindling the fire in his belly, and blew a concentrated stream of flame across her nape, careful to control the flames so that they heated her skin, but didn’t burn her. He stopped and watched with utter fascination as his mark, the mark of Chandali, glowed bright red like her skin had been branded from the inside by the devil himself.
His heart leaped, slamming against the underside of his ribs like it wanted to join the fire inside her.
“Oh,” Cami moaned the word. “Oh my… I’m going to—” Her breath stuttered in her throat and her body trembled beneath his. “I’m going to come.”
The words carried a panic, like she was almost embarrassed, but Drake had the opposite reaction. My flames make her orgasm. She had to be his. She just had to.
“Then come.”
She shook her head, her hair going everywhere. “With you in me. I want to come…” She had to pause to get her slipping control back in hand, based on the way she breathed and tensed. “I want to come with you in me.”
Her way.
Drake helped her flip back over, both of them frantic now with need clawing at them. He aligned himself at her entrance, then took both her hands, lacing her fingers with his, and pinned them on the bed on either side of her head.
“Don’t look away,” he said.
He pushed inside her, reveling in how her eyes flared wide, her lips parted in a gasp. Needing more of her kisses, more of that mouth against his, Drake claimed those lips as he very slowly dragged his body in and out of hers, setting a torturous pace, building the want a subtle layer at a time. Building the pressure. Obsessed with the feel of her squeezing his body, stretching for him, taking him.
“Faster,” she whispered. Begged.
“Fire first.” He’d heard that if mates came with the fire already in them the bond settled faster. Probably rumor, but worth a try.
She nodded. “Do it. Make me yours.”
“You’re already mine,” he murmured against her lips.
Then he lifted his head, watching her face while he reached for his fire. Except none came.
Drake tensed above her. Cami must’ve sensed it because she frowned. “Drake?”
He tried again, reaching for his dragon, for the flames that lived inside him. But it wouldn’t come, like the pilot light had blown out, or he’d used up all the fire in his body just seeing his mark. Stupid. So damn stupid, wasting that in this moment when he knew his body wasn’t working right. Wasn’t to be trusted.
Panic, nasty and slimy, writhed inside his belly. “It’s not coming.”
“What? Your fire?”
He swallowed, still buried in her, his body clamoring for release. But he couldn’t. Was this his body giving out on him again? By the end of the long flight here, he’d already been feeling it.
“It’s a sign.” The fates were telling him not to mate this woman. Not to risk her life.
“No.” She grabbed at his shoulders and locked her ankles behind his back, keeping him from backing up. “It’s you.”
“Me?” he growled. Not because of an anger at her, but at the universe for playing such a cruel trick on him. Letting him believe, even for a second, that he could hold heaven in his hands, then ripping it cruelly away.
“You don’t believe. Not really.”
Drake shook his head. “Let go, Cami.”
Her eyes went glassy, and the unshed tears about ripped his fucking heart out. Couldn’t she understand how much this was hurting him, too?
“You need to have faith,” she whispered through lips gone white.
With a groan, Drake gathered her in his arms, burying his face in her neck. “I want to have faith, but this isn’t right. I won’t kill you. The fates are warning me.”
“No, dammit.”
A glow flared out from between them, like a flash of lightning, and a sudden, intense heat seared him, branding the skin of his chest.
Drake jerked back to find the glow above her heart pulsing and growing.
“Cami, you need to calm down.” No way was this old hotel built to withstand dragon fire.
“No,” she said. “I have enough faith for both of us.”
With that, she bowed up beneath him, her body gripping his cock like a vice, and sparks burst from her skin.
Instead of bouncing away, those glowing embers of fire buried into him, absorbing through his chest and filling his belly with the familiar burn of the inferno that lurked inside. Like she’d lit him on fire through sheer will.
Drake shook his head, staring at his mate in wonder. This woman was more than strong enough to survive. She was strong enough for both of them.
“Open your mouth, Cami, and take my fire.”
She blew out a breath, as though she’d been holding it, and smiled, unshed tears still glistening in her eyes. “About time.”
Drake took her lips in a kiss that shook him to his core, and didn’t hesitate, pushing his fire into her mouth, filling her with it.
He drew back, watching the glow traveling through her, joining with the one in her chest, swirling and dancing, mixing there, before continuing through the rest of her body.
“Oh. My. I’m going to—” She writhed beneath him, and Drake laughed, the happy sound filling the room as he moved, fucking his mate, pounding into her body as she gasped and moaned beneath him.
Her body gathered, squeezing, bearing down on him with her orgasm, and Drake let loose, his own orgasm slamming through him, fire joining them together as he came long and hard, thrusting in and out of her as he drew out their pleasure.
Another sensation joined those slamming through his body.
A shooting pain at the back of his neck. At the same time, Cami hissed, and grabbed the back of her own neck. And every deep-seated fear that had weighed him down, dragging him under like quicksand, disappeared in an instant.
Their bond was already solidifying. Damn that was fast. He should never have doubted his woman.
On the back of the heat in his neck, that rejuvenating tingle surged through him, turning into another tidal wave of sensation, flooding his system, cooling and healing every nerve, until he came again with a shout, pushing more fire into her body. Cami screamed as a second orgasm wracked her body, clenching and unclenching around him as she sobbed her pleasure.
It took a while for the rush to finally slow and draw back, like the water from a tidal wave draining away. He collapsed over her, sated in a way he hadn’t known could even be possible, and buzzing with a strength he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Almost immediately, he rolled to his side, concern driving him to inspect every part of her. “Are you okay?”
Cami smiled and lifted a hand to cradle his face. “I’m your mate. I’m better than okay.”
Drake dropped his forehead to her chest, relief overpowering every other sensation, hitting him hard.
Cami quietly ran her fingers through his hair. “I’m okay,” she murmured. “I’m yours no
w. Everything is going to be okay.”
Drake lifted his head to find her smiling at him like a content cat in the sun. “I hope—”
The boom of an explosion shook the very earth, rattling the windows.
“Get your ass out here,” Finn’s voice resounded in his head.
Chapter Twenty
“They’re hitting the grizzlies,” Drake relayed in a tone devoid of emotion, turning into the battle-hardened warrior she knew lurked beneath.
They both jumped off the bed, dressing in record time. Drake paused long enough to drop a kiss on her lips, and she hoped he could see the faith in her eyes. “If anything happens to you—”
“Go,” Cami said. And gave him a little shove.
“I’ll find out about your family and let you know. Stay in here.”
Like hell she was staying in here. But Drake was stubborn enough to not join the fighting, just so he could sit on her and pin her in place, for her own safety. So she nodded.
Except he narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to stay in here are you?”
Cami took a leaf from Drake’s book and stared back at him.
“Right.” He shook his head. “I mated a badass.”
On those words, he was gone. Cami waited, not wanting to get started in any one direction until she heard about her family.
It didn’t take long before Drake’s voice sounded in her head. “They’re on the main road heading in from the west. Several miles out.”
Immediately, Cami grabbed her jacket, putting it on as she walked down the hall, and stabbed the elevator door button. Except the damn elevator was taking way too long, and she had no idea what she was going to do once she got downstairs anyway. It wasn’t like walking was a great idea. It would take her way too long and potentially expose her to the dragons overhead. She doubted Uber serviced Yosemite, or at least not at this time of year.
Her only thought was that maybe she could steal a car. So the second she got downstairs, she ran outside to the parking lot. Her best bet was a car left running as somebody ran inside or thought that they would valet, but no such luck. But what she did see, though, gleaming like a modern day white steed, was a golf cart with the Ahwahnee Hotel logo on the side, clearly meant for staff.
