by Sadie Sears
20
Lila
From somewhere in the distance, sirens blared, and I pulled back, though I wanted him to hold me. I wanted one more minute of absolute safety before I put on my bravest face and stared this thing down.
“I need to go help Gretta,” Leath said, although he lingered for a second before I nodded.
Well, I damned sure wasn’t going to be the damsel waiting for him to come back. I followed him down the steps and watched Officer Frost slap the handcuffs on Frank. Gretta looked magnificent in her fiery scales with amber eyes and wings the color of the sun.
I admired her while the officers got Frank out of his cocoon of branches and vines. “Sister.” I held out my hand and she preened as she shifted closer, giving me permission to touch her. I rubbed her head, and when she responded much like a cat would, I cackled. “Now I’ve got a pet dragon!” I exclaimed.
Gretta jerked back and chuffed at me, a bit of smoke expelling from her nose.
“I’m kidding!” My adrenaline was still running high, but it drained when Frank yelled behind me. Gretta whipped around and stood between us, growling, but she couldn’t stop the sound of his voice.
“If I wanted to kill her, I could’ve a hundred times. And I only smashed up the studio to scare her.”
I had to give him credit. It had worked.
Frost, a guy who’d been a few years behind me in high school, jerked Frank around the side of the house, and all the while Frank called out for me. “Lila! Lila! I love you, Lila! I know everything about you! He’ll never love you like I do!”
I didn’t answer with more than a shiver that tore through my body. I wasn’t scared of him. I was furious—hands shaking, body trembling, and I wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands kind of furious. He’d stalked me and tried to make me feel unsafe so I would want him? It was a messy logic if that was what he wanted to call it. I didn’t. I called it sick.
Finally, Frank was gone, along with Gretta and all the other responding officers who’d come to rescue me, I looked at Leath and smiled. My dragon. My man. I crooked my finger at him and watched him come toward me, a celebration of muscle and sinew, wide smile, and eyes like emerald jewels. I had forever stretched out in front of me, longer than I would’ve ever imagined. And while I had a lot of questions, I also knew in my heart this was the right thing. Leath was the man I was destined to be with.
He swung me up into his arms, held me against his chest, and carried me upstairs, and all the while he kept his gaze locked onto mine, his smile an extension of my own. When he set me on the floor, there was one minute—maybe a little more or less—for me to look at him, to appreciate all the nuances of this man. Even if I didn’t want the security of knowing I could protect myself and Zoe, I wanted him. Now. Tomorrow. Forever.
“I’ve missed you.” His voice slid along my skin like a caress, as soft as if he’d touched a feather from my shoulder to my elbow and then down my back. But it was his kiss that lit every one of my cells on fire. That made me want him in ways I’d never wanted anyone.
“I missed you, too.” And I would’ve apologized for my foolishness, for telling him to stay away, for once considering I might not want him. But he lowered his head and brushed his mouth over mine, slipped his arms around my waist. And I wanted to be held and kissed and loved, but more, I wanted to hold him and kiss him and love him. I let my hands graze his chest and his shoulders. There was so much velvety skin to enjoy and so much broad chest to appreciate.
He broke the kiss and pulled back. “Lila, are you sure this is what you want?”
When he opened his mouth to continue, probably to explain some detail I had yet to learn about the process like he thought there was something—anything that would change my mind, I put my finger over his lips. “Are you sure this isn’t wizard magic?”
He frowned, then a smirk twitched on his lips. “It’s definitely magical, but not of the wizardly kind.”
I smiled. “Then I’ve never been more sure of anything before in my life.”
“And you want to do it now?” His eyes went dark and he pulled his lower lip between his teeth. Adorable.
“Oh, I want to do it now. Right now.” This was the one thing in my life I didn’t have to think twice about, didn’t have to discuss anymore, didn’t need to go over yet again. I never wanted to feel powerless again, and if that meant I was powerful because I was a dragon, then great, and more powerful because Leath was by my side, even better.
And I didn’t have to say it twice, either. Again, he swept me off my feet and carried me to my bed. My legs were heavy, the normal fatigue of a relapse, and I smiled at the ache. This would be the last time I ever felt it. The last time I would hurt this way or have to think about all the days I would lose to lying in bed for reasons other than I wanted to lie in bed.
He kissed me. Let his tongue slide against mine, while his hand smoothed from my hip to my ribcage, and used his thumb to stroke the underside of my breast. Slow, sensual. Every touch was a burn, every kiss more tantalizing and deeper than the last.
His fingertips trailed across my stomach and back, then he feathered one around the sensitive skin at my belly button before he pulled back and smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you.” And I trusted him. I wanted him, needed him. Nothing about time passing would ever change it. Now that I’d made the decision, I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it from the get-go. Stupid stubbornness and fear.
He replaced his fingertips with his mouth and tongue, and I arched my back, moaning low, raw, aching for more. I tried to push his sweats away, but he caught my hands and brought them to his mouth, kissed the knuckles then pushed them over my head. “Don’t move. Not yet.”
There was something so sexy about this man taking control. I could’ve come right then without another touch or kiss, but I wanted to wait, wanted to see him when he was ready to claim me. His eyes caught the light streaming in through the window and gleamed a green made darker by passion. And passion on this man made my skin burn and my desire climb higher.
He let go of my hands and shoved my shirt up, pulled it over my head and tossed it aside. Before he dropped his head, he licked his lips and smiled while his gaze blazed a path down my skin. “You are so beautiful, so perfect.”
He took a pebbled nipple into his mouth and flicked it with his tongue, back and forth, sharp and hard, until my body writhed, and my whimpers grew desperate. Then he moved to the other breast, and I was lost, carried away by bolts of passion and need.
“I need to be inside you.” His voice was a hot whisper I felt all the way through my heart.
Better words had never been spoken. I nodded. “Yes, please.”
When I reached to shove my pants down, he smiled and pushed my hands back. “No. I’ve been dreaming about this moment for days. Let me.” He moved to the end of the bed and stood, nearly naked and glorious and beautiful in ways men weren’t supposed to be, but Leath Lane was and would always be.
He curled his fingers into my waistband, and with slowness as agonizing as it was alluring, he slid my pants down my legs and let the backs of his fingers drag along my skin, leaving a path of fire from my thighs to my feet. I was about to burst from the heat and desire mingling in my belly. But he tossed my pants over his head behind him—they dangled from the ceiling fan now—then crawled onto the bed and settled between my legs.
“I want you inside me,” I said, and it was getting to be an emergent situation. I was right on the edge before he looked up at me with those droopy eyelids and half smile as he shifted his arms under and around my thighs so his hands held my legs apart.
He smiled. “Shh. I just need a taste.”
His tongue slid along my slit and dipped inside my pussy, and I cried out at the sheer ecstasy of these perfect seconds before he flicked upward to my clit and took the nub into his mouth, suckling and teasing while I writhed and begged and moaned. He held me down as his mouth ravished me until I couldn’t breathe and my skin
tingled all over.
“Oh, Leath.”
Saying his name made this real, made this something to be cherished and remembered. My fingers buried themselves in his hair, but I couldn’t think, could barely breathe as the pressure built inside me, and every muscle and tendon in my body went tight.
“Not yet.” He pulled back, shucked his sweats, and moved to lie on top of me.
“Now, Leath. Please.”
But he rubbed the tip of his cock against my opening then groaned and pushed inside of me. Thrust once, twice, three times, until we had a rhythm that made my body weak, and strong, and tight, and liquid. The pain of my disease had disappeared under the intensity of my building orgasm. And I knew I’d never feel it again. It wouldn’t return when I floated back down from nirvana.
His teeth elongated, and when I lowered my eyes, I thought I might’ve seen the shine of scales on his neck, but then I opened them, and whatever I’d seen was gone. I wasn’t afraid. I wanted this. To be claimed. To belong to someone, to him, for the rest of our lives.
I cried out, wrapped my legs around his waist, and met him pump for pump, moan for moan. When his teeth sank into the soft flesh at my shoulder, the world went bright, and I could see for a thousand miles in a million colors. I saw the earth from lightyears away and so close I could count every blade of grass. Then it all splintered apart, and I was the one flying, soaring over the mountains and Lake Champlain with the wind breezing over and around me. With Leath beside me and Spruce, Vermont, under me.
Then I was back in my own body, in my room, with Leath breathing on top of me before he rolled off to lie at my side. I panted and struggled to catch my breath as fire burned through me, the room grew brighter and the trees outside bent and whipped in a breeze that hadn’t been there earlier.
I pointed to the window. “Did we do that?”
Leath took his arm off his face and lifted his head to look over me and out the window. He nodded and smiled, and then threw himself back against the bed. “Oh, yeah. That’s us, babe.”
Power surged through me, strengthened my arms, fortified every muscle in my legs. I was a force, and I could feel the capacity of it, the intensity of being a dragon building until I wanted to blow apart with it all. Never again would I feel the pain of MS, the fatigue, the inability to command my body. Never again would anyone watch me suffer. And never again would I be afraid. I was fierce and strong. I was both a woman and a dragon.
21
Leath
I watched Lila sleep. Knowing my mate was one thing, loving her was better, but claiming her filled me with satisfaction so intense and happiness so profound I couldn’t imagine how I’d lived before I felt this. I never wanted to be without her.
She smiled in her sleep, and her body responded to the bite, integrating to the shift—warming, growing hotter, and I couldn’t wait for her to wake up. I wanted to know every feeling in her body and needed to get to know her dragon. I couldn’t wait to fly with her by my side, to see her soar into the clouds and out.
Her eyelids fluttered, and I held my breath until they opened. She was beautiful before, but now, she was on a whole new level. Her eyes were green now, bright and shining.
When she came fully awake, she smiled. “You are so hot. How is it possible that you look better than before?” She ran her hand over my jaw and let her palm linger at my cheek. “My hands are more sensitive, my skin—I feel everything now. So much more.”
“Everything?” But I knew the sensation. When I shifted the first time, the same feelings had washed over me. It was intoxicating.
As was watching Lila spring from the bed, naked and gorgeous, to stand in front of the mirror in the corner of her room. She ran her hands over her skin then turned to me. “I am—there is—it’s amazing! Leath, I have so much energy I could run a marathon or swim the English Channel.”
“Anything else you feel like you could do?” I certainly knew what I wanted her to do, and perhaps several times.
She grinned and sexy walked toward the bed. “I might have an idea or two.”
By the opening of the studio, things had devolved to utter chaos in the house. I’d started moving my stuff in a little at a time, which obviously had resulted in Zoe’s loss of one of every shoe she owned. Lila was missing a crystal she needed, and the hairband she wanted, and they were both running around searching under furniture, in drawers, behind curtains, on tables. Zoe found her shoes just as I pulled the banana, oat, and coconut toasted muffin chips out of the oven. They were a Zoe favorite and she begged me to make them for the opening to go with the “Family Blends” herbal tea we came up with together.
Had I known I would feel so at home here, I would’ve moved in a long time ago. Despite the chaos of getting ready for the grand opening and Lila yelling from the front door that she’d found her crystal, it was peaceful here, as welcoming and full of love as the ashram in the Himalayas before the wizards came. Thanks to Lila and her book and her outlook on life, I had a fonder set of memories of that time in my life. I’d even promised to take her there some day.
Zoe appeared beside me. “Those smell so good.” She snatched one off the tray and popped it into her mouth, crunched down, made one of those food-bliss sounds only women in this family could make, then pulled me down to kiss my cheek. “And they taste like Hawaii.”
“Have you been to Hawaii?”
“I’m hoping it’s where you and Mom honeymoon.” She grinned, and I smiled right back.
“That sounds like a good plan.” I slid the chips into the glass serving bowl and added it to the other three, then pulled a couple of platters from the cabinet and added them to the pile of bowls, napkins and goodies Zoe and Shae planned to serve to the people who came to celebrate the grand opening of Sacred Spaces.
“Kids don’t usually go on honeymoons, I know,” she said. “But I’m a package deal and Hawaii gets my vote.”
She spoke with such genuine sincerity and seriousness, I nodded. “I’ll take it under advisement.” Ha. She knew darn well we’d take her with us.
This brought a smile. “Good.”
Lila zipped past us into the laundry room and back out, then up the stairs again like she was an Olympic clothes fitter, and she could see the gold medal.
“Should I help her?” I looked down at Zoe.
She shook her head. “Let’s put this stuff into the car, then if she’s not ready and she hasn’t found her selenite by then, we can start turning the place upside down.”
“She found it,” I murmured, but Lila sped through again, in and out before she stopped at the door, turned and shot me a wink. When she shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out the delicate selenite on the silver chain, she laughed.
“It’s for concentration.” We all laughed, and she walked toward me, stopping to lay a kiss against Zoe’s forehead as she made it to me. I loved watching her be a mother and be a woman. I couldn’t wait to watch her be a dragon and fly with me. I didn’t want to push, but I was getting antsy.
As I drove to the shop, she pulled a checklist from her pocket. “Okay, Zoe, I think we have everything planned. Vincent is going to serve the champagne while you and Shae serve the snacks, and Leath and Sam demonstrate the tea. I’m teaching ten-minute sample classes, so Taurus and Dominic will be at the desk getting names and emails for marketing.” She looked at me, jade eyes wide. “Did Cameron send the refer-a-friend coupon with you before he went to Burlington?”
Cam was securing some additional funding for Gretta’s research grant this week, and he’d left early to meet some friends, but he’d been a hundred percent integral to Lila being able to open on time despite Frank’s hack job on the building. From his home office, and because I’d managed to keep Vince busy and out of his hair, Cam had choreographed an intricate delivery and work schedule, helped Lila and Sophie work out an ad budget that got them the most exposure for their money, and coordinated local and regional radio interviews for both of the girls for this entire week from i
nside the studio. It was going to be a media blitz, and Cameron had managed to be out of town for all of it, so he didn’t have to deal with the nerves. Mine mostly.
I patted my shirt pocket and the bulge in there. “Got ’em right here.”
She nodded. “Good.” Zoe popped a CD into the player, and the soundtrack from her new favorite live-action movie remake throbbed in full orchestral harmony through the speakers. And there was peace. Zoe and Lila sang at each other while I hummed and pretended being off-key was harmony. Zoe laughed, and even as nervous as she was, Lila chuckled.
With the tension broken, we pulled up in front of Sacred Spaces then carried all the supplies inside before I moved my truck to make way for customer parking. Then the real flurry of activity started and the hands on the clock got in on the act, speeding through.
“Leath, I need more chips.”
“Leath, we’re out of towels.”
“Leath, the men’s bathroom door is locked and there’s some guy who needs to use it.”
“Leath, we’re almost out of champagne.”
I was thrilled at that moment. Lila and Sophie flittered among their regulars, some new people, and some curious townsfolk who wanted to celebrate with one of their own.
Donna and Carl, part of the first group of Lila’s regulars I’d met, stood just inside the door, looking into the yoga area, chatting and pointing out the small serenity garden Lila had Taurus install in the center of the floor with its small waterfall pond and smooth white sand during the second round of renovations after Frank tore the place up.
“So, what do you think?” I crossed my arms and waited for Donna to reply, but Carl was the one who glanced up at me from his chair.
“It’s everything she always wanted.” He nodded solemnly. “We heard about Frank. He wasn’t always like that. Back in high school, he adored the Kipling girls.” He tilted his chin toward Gretta and Lila, their heads bent together, talking about something excitedly. “He went away to college and came back angry. I guess that’s why he tore up this place.”
