Even if she made him sleep on the couch, he would find a way to weasel himself into that bed with her. He would sleep on the opposite side of the mattress until she accepted him. He only wanted to be near her, he told himself. He only needed to be in her presence.
Marc had to ignore the thoughts going through his mind. He had to try his best not to think about her naked across the bed in the loft, or leaning against the counter in the small kitchen area, or pressed against the shower door.
“What are you going to do with so much space?” Marc asked to distract himself.
***
Noelle knew there was only one bed in the whole apartment. She also knew that was a ploy on Liana’s part. Too bad for Liana, Noelle was considering the king-sized bed with some interest. Noelle couldn’t hide from her bond to this man for much longer. Especially not if they were going to share the same space.
“Probably find a closet to hide in,” she joked. Her own tiny home would have easily fit into this space ten times over. It was amazing to think this was all for them.
But, it also filled Noelle’s minds with thoughts she didn’t have time to bother with. She blamed the beast inside her, but she knew better. Noelle liked the image of Marc walking around the apartment naked as much as her beast did. It made her sneak a glance back at her mate and wonder what he looked like beneath his clothing.
What was he hiding beneath the thick fabric of his jeans? She smiled to herself, lips pressed together to keep from being too obvious as she eyes his package. Was he a grower, tucked away until the time they needed it? Or, was Marc a shower, always presenting all he had to the world?
Noelle had her own guess, but she wouldn’t know until she got the courage to look. It seemed that today was not that day as his eyes connected with hers and she turned away with pink cheeks. What kept her from making a move now? They were alone and surrounded with as much privacy as two dragons could want in the center of town.
Yet, her feet were rooted to the ground. She couldn’t move toward or away from him. Noelle spared a moment to wonder if this was how she’d spent her whole life. It explained why she was so angry with herself, why it felt like she’d done nothing. If she’d frozen, if she’d panicked and hidden it behind her anger, then her life never moved at all.
Noelle spun on her heel, mouth open to speak, but her words fizzled out. Her eye’s met Marc’s and her heart seized again. He swallowed a small laugh and her mouth snapped shut. Noelle threw him a glare before snatching up her box of records and stomping toward the stairs into the loft.
She’d hide up there until she figured out what was going on in her head. All she needed was time and space, right? She’d been given a lot of that. She’d had years of time and space to figure out what she wanted. In all that time, all she’d done was thrust her thoughts of Marc to the side.
“Tomorrow is the day…” Marc began downstairs. His voice seemed to meander, speaking to her and no one all at once.
Noelle paused, waiting for more.
“Are you afraid?”
Noelle swallowed. “Of course, I am. We’re two dumb dragons inserting ourselves into a facility where they experiment on our kind. That’s freaking terrifying.”
Marc laughed, an empty rush of air.
Noelle let herself fall back onto the bed. “But, I’ve lived a long life up until this point. No matter what happens from here on out, I’ll know I tried to help someone other than myself.”
“You spent years trying to help your sister. Don’t those count?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps they don’t. I don’t feel like I accomplished much.”
Noelle knew he would go on to pry, trying to dig through her thoughts and emotions to see what kind of a person he’d been mated to, but she wasn’t in the mood for it. The conversation made her feel too exposed and that ignited a hot anger inside her to cover it up. Mary was gone. She’d done so little to find her. Helping Lucia would only go so far in making up for Noelle’s mistakes.
Her eyes lighted in a small ladder in the corner. It led to a square hatch in the ceiling and she found herself rolling off the bed. Marc, unpacking downstairs, didn’t hear his mate slip out of the apartment. All he knew was that the conversation was over.
Chapter Seven
He found his mate standing on the roof of the building after searching the apartment high and low for her. She looked up into the stars like he’d seen her do several times before. What was she looking for in the tiny, silver studs?
“Are you thinking twice about this?” Marc asked as he approached.
Noelle’s head dipped and her eyes met his. “No. I’m just… talking to someone.”
Marc’s chest tightened. He had an idea of what she meant, what that meant for Noelle. She considered her sister dead and talked to her like she was a ghost that followed her everywhere.
He couldn’t imagine losing his brother. Isaac had confessed to him the way Luc had flipped out when Marc was hit by lightning. Marc knew. He felt the echo of it in his own heart when he thought about losing his brother. Losing her sister must have been like losing a limb, a part of herself she feared she may never get back.
Marc stepped closer to her, this small figure who burned like a star in the sky, and felt her eyes fall upon him. She watched him, taking in his patience. How had he waited this long? How had he been able to keep from touching her every time they passed one another? He could barely remember how he’d managed such control.
Now, his thoughts were consumed with her. When his mind was not on the mission ahead, he found himself thinking of the woman willing to walk into hell beside him. He didn’t know if he deserved her. What had Marc done in his lifetime to earn such devotion and bravery? Even if she could not proclaim to love him, she was still more than he deserved.
“I should be getting to bed,” Noelle began, her body suddenly in motion.
Marc’s heart stuttered. He acted before his mate could disappear once more.
Marc grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. He could smell how badly she wanted him, too. It filled his nose with uncontrollable desire. If only she’d let him hold her for a few moments, then maybe he could walk away satisfied.
His hands drifted up and down her body, skimming over her tiny waist and arching over her wide hips. He wanted to grab them and yank them close, to press his desire into her. Marc knew she’d only hit him and turn away, so his hands continued their path up and down her body.
Noelle surprised him by leaning into the touch. Her head fell back as she lost herself in the moment and the feel of his hands. Marc’s eyes grazed over the pale length of her neck and the small, pink blossom that was her mouth. He could eat her up if only she’d let him.
When her eyes opened, they burned gold. Her own hands rose to cling to the sides of his shirt. She gripped him like she might float away and never return. Marc took that as an invitation to wrap his arms around her and pull her body tight to his. He could feel the press of her breasts against his chest, could feel her thick thighs against his cock.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Noelle began. Marc opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “But, if we don’t make it out of this in one piece, if we don’t make it out of this at all, I don’t want to miss out on what this could be.”
Marc’s grip on his mate tightened and he leaned so that his lips brushed her ear. He wished he had words to share with her. He wanted to tell her she’d never hurt him, but it would have been a lie. He didn’t know how Noelle thought she would continue to hurt him, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak.
His teeth dragged across her neck, raking hard before his lips laid featherlight kisses over the red marks. Noelle arched into him in response. A small groan slipped out from between her lips like she hadn’t meant to even make the sound. Her cheeks grew pink and Marc wanted nothing more than to lay kisses over the spread of color.
His hands moved over her front, dipping low down her thighs and arching back up to travel the
space between them. Noelle reached back, her nails finding purchase in the skin of his scalp. He growled with pleasure as they raked across his skin. His hands found what they were searching for and cupped her womanhood. It was warm and he could feel the building moisture through the fabric.
She wanted him.
He felt triumph rise through him and a smile snaked over his lips. She would be his in every sense of the word, once and for all.
***
Noelle could barely find it in her to react to Marc’s travelling hands. The way he touched her scrambled her mind so that she couldn’t think straight. All her mind could handle was the sensation of hands on her thighs, hands on her womanhood. It made her stomach tighten and her body ache for more.
She suddenly found clothes frustrating and began reaching for the waistband of her jeans. Disregarding the proper way to unbutton them, Noelle ripped the button off and heard it ping on the ground far below the roof.
Behind her, Marc growled and thrust into her behind so that she could feel everything he had to offer. Noelle wanted to turn around and lay her eyes on it, but Marc grabbed her hair in his fist and leaned her head back so he could nibble at her neck.
She throbbed with need, nearly a decade of pent up lust coming to fruition. His hand travelled up the flat plane of her belly and settled beneath her breast. It was small, but Marc didn’t seem to care as his fingers rose to pinch her nipple. The sensation, somewhere between pain and tickling, added to the need gripping her stomach. It sent a spike of pleasure to her core and she could no longer take it.
Noelle spun around in Marc’s grasp, his hand slipping from her hair. She reached up and grabbed the sides of his face to pull down for a kiss. Marc was her mate, a fact she’d known for a long time, yet hadn’t found it in herself to act upon. She hated herself for waiting, for making him wait, but in that moment neither of them cared about whatever the past held. In that moment, they tried not to think of what the future might hold.
Marc’s hand slipped between her panties and skin, seeking a warm and throbbing place. Noelle arched into the touch, welcoming and nearly begging while her teeth grabbed his lower lip. The new facial hair was gruff against the soft skin of her cheek, but it only added to the symphony of sensations rocking through her.
Marc broke away from the kiss and Noelle found herself reaching for more. His hands paused in their search, his eyes now searching her own with a small smile on his lips.
“I’ve imagined what this day might be like a million times,” he whispered into the night. “I’ve wondered what it would take for you to let me in your heart even more.”
Noelle felt her face warm despite the cool breeze atop the building. “I think you were always in there. You were the person I wanted to be, calm, cool, and collected.”
Marc’s other hand tightened on the small of her back and a predatorial grin slipped across his face. “Not tonight. Tonight, we burn the world.”
No matter how much she thought she could ignore the bond, she hadn’t. She’d listened to the records he left on her porch, knowing full well he was the one who’d left them for her. She’d imagined his touch as the music rose in crescendo, imagined what it would be like to have him lay beside her as the melody seeped into her mind.
Now, her jeans slipped past her hips and the night air kissed her thighs. They staggered until her back was pressed up against the short wall that kept them from falling over the edge. Marc dropped to his knees before her, a finger hooked into either side of her panties.
“These aren’t going back on for the rest of the night,” he proclaimed before she heard the elastic snap.
The fabric fell away from her hips, exposing the hot, wet parts of her to the night. She cried out at the sudden rush of cold air until Marc’s head dipped. She reached back and held the stone of the low wall while his tongue slipped between her small folds.
Not once had she imagined this while listening to his records. She never imagined the sensation of his tongue flicking over her small bead of pleasure atop her folds or the way the stars above her seemed to gleam. Reaching down, she fisted her hand in his hair, only to earn a chuckle from him.
Noelle didn’t know how much more of this she could bear. His fingers slipped into her opening with ease, despite how long it’d been since she last laid with a man. She was ready for him, for all of him, but he seemed content to tease her and draw this out. The heavy sensation of climax was building in her core and she wanted to tell him, but Marc seemed determined. His tongue made quick circles around her bead of pleasure while his fingers teased the moist opening.
Her lower stomach clenched and she knew she was close. She opened her mouth to tell him, but the sensation overtook her when the dam finally broke. Noelle’s head fell back and a groan echoed through the night. Her thighs quaked with the waves of pleasure. His hands on her tightened to keep her from falling as he looked up at her with a satisfied smile.
“But you didn’t…” Noelle tried to say, breathless from the waves that still cascaded from her core. “You didn’t come.”
Marc’s brow furrowed for a second before shooting high. “Do you really think I need to come first? That’s kind of archaic.”
Noelle wanted to be angry at him. She wanted to narrow her eyes at him and ask him what was wrong with him, but epiphany slapped her. This was love, she thought. It was love when the person put the other first. It was love when making the other person happy was their priority.
It made her heart do flips and her eyes rose to the stars to hide the tears forming in them. She didn’t want him to see how hard the realization hit her.
“But, if you’re offering,” Marc said as he rose up her body. The brush of his clothing on her bare skin made her shudder with aftershocks. “We could both come this time.”
Noelle smiled and gripped his shirt to keep herself from floating away. Her other hand gravitated toward the button of his jeans. It popped as easily as her own button had. Marc made a sound of displeasure, but Noelle pulled his face down to meet hers and capture his lips once more.
She returned the favor by slipping her own hand into his jeans. What she found was more than she expected. She gripped his cock, unable to encompass the length of it and finding herself throbbing with need for it. Her mouth grew dry with thoughts of how it might fill her. She chewed her lip as her hand began to stroke up and down. The beads of moisture on the tip of his cock made her strokes smooth and sure.
Marc groaned, a sound that devolved into a growl and made him clutch her tightly.
“I will take you,” he growled into the darkness.
This might be the one and only time Noelle ever got to experience her mate. She’d had years to do this, but her own pride and goals had kept her at bay. Now, neither of them knew what tomorrow might bring. They might arrive at the doors of the facility only to be found out the moment they stepped through. They might get deep into the heart of the building and find themselves separated and surrounded by the enemy.
These were the thoughts that made her cling to him, her mate. She’d been so dumb in her persistence to get Dane when she should have known better. Marc was the one who would help her do anything. And she, too, would help him accomplish anything.
His jeans slid free and his cock was glorious to behold. His hands gripped her by her hips and lifted her from the ground. She wrapped her legs around him and the fumbled to direct his cock into her opening. Once they found the right angle, he slid inside little by little. She was not as prepared as she’d thought, the length and girth of her mate taking her breath away with every inch.
Finally, he reached the depth of her opening, his body pressed flush against hers. She felt herself pulsate around his cock and wondered if she could take any more. Could she handle sex with her mate without hurting? As if reading her mind, Marc started with a slow rocking of his hips. His cock slid back and forth with ease and made Noelle cling to his arms.
Her core tightened once more, leftover waves of pleasure
rippling and making her toes curl. Marc groaned as her opening spasmed around him. He held on tight to her and seemed to fight against the urge to take her with the urgency he must have felt. He’d made sure she came first, pushing his own need aside.
Noelle scanned their surroundings and found a small, outdoor loveseat nearby. All she could do was tap him on the shoulder and point. Marc seemed to get the idea and led the both of them over to it, setting her down gently as to keep his cock buried to the hilt.
“Fuck me,” she whispered into his ear. “Take me hard.”
Those must have been the magic words because Marc pulled back and slammed into her with the pent-up force he’d been holding back. A cry rose through her throat and pierced the night. Marc lost himself in the thrusts, his head bent in search of a nipple. Her back arched toward him and his lips closed around the small peak she presented.
Her own mind went hazy as the sensations built off one another. His cock filled her with each thrust, more than she’d ever known before. His lips flicked and teased her nipple like he couldn’t get enough of the taste of her.
The nipple slipped from his mouth as he whispered, “I’m close.”
Noelle gripped his shoulders, her sharp nails digging in. His head rose and his brows furrowed, but his eyes held hers. She found the tightness in her core growing with each second, tied to his own pleasure. Her mouth formed a small O and their bodies shuddered in unison. She felt him spill his seed inside of her, not thinking of the ramifications in that moment.
They collapsed together on the small, outdoor couch. Noelle’s eyes searched the skies above them as if she could garner clues to their future from the pattern of them. The stars never changed, but the future was always a shifting mass of the unexpected. Her hands clung to Marc’s bronze skin and her legs remained wrapped around him.
Eventually, they would need to head inside. She would have to set an alarm to rise early and be on time for her first day. Her mission was to get the access codes they needed while Marc learned the layout of the facility. Once they had both, grabbing Lucia and running was their only priority.
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