by Sadie Sears
I slid my fingers over her panties and across her sex. We’d only just started, and she was already so wet. Her grip tightened and I wanted to take her right then, consequences be damned. But I resisted, barely.
I pulled her shirt up over her head and, before she could reach for me again, I clamped my mouth over one dark nipple. She gasped in surprise, which was immediately followed by a lustful groan. Her fingers threaded into my hair as she pressed me closer. That was almost exactly where I wanted to be. I massaged her other breast, rubbing the pad of my thumb over her nipple.
Damini arched her back off the couch as my tongue slid over her sensitive flesh. I gently pushed her back to lay across the couch, continuing my attention. My cock, still very erect and free from the pants she’d unzipped, pressed against her. We both moaned at the heated contact.
Pulling away, I slipped her panties down her long, perfect legs, draping them across the back of the couch. For a moment, I stared and admired how beautiful my mate was. I lifted her foot and kissed the bottom, then moved around to her injured ankle, and continued up her leg. She watched me with half-lidded eyes.
When I reached the top, I slid my tongue lazily through her folds, savoring the taste of her. Her stomach muscles flexed in an effort not to react. I smiled at the challenge. Gripping her legs and pulling her toward me, I did it again. This time, I made eye contact. She bit her lip on a groan.
The third time, I took her clit into my mouth and sucked. Her hips jerked that time. My tongue flicked over the flesh, then I released it and went to work. Damini gasped, making all the best noises for me as I circled the most delicate part of her, applying just the right amount of pressure to make her buck against my mouth. I was trying to take my time with her, but it was difficult when I loved watching her reactions.
I closed my mouth over her sex, my tongue lapping and sucking until she was squirming. My grip on her thigh tightened, trying to keep her still, but she wasn’t having it. She folded her fingers into mine, releasing her leg, and her other hand went into my hair again. Her breath came in heavy pants and gasps.
“Ah, Vince!” she cried out.
My tongue kept going, moving faster and faster. The fingers in my hair tightened almost painfully, and her foot slid along my back, toes curling. I pulled back for a second, stroking her hard with my fingers and watching her.
Damn, she was gorgeous.
Then I slipped my now slick fingers inside of her. Her back arched up and her breath caught in her throat. I pumped them in and out, faster as she cried for more. Pulling her leg back, I dove in again, moaning against her sex, savoring every bit of her.
Damini clamped down around my fingers, hips bucking as she came hard. I slowed, easing her out of it as she caught her breath. She shuddered, watching me through nearly closed eyes, and smiled lazily.
“Mmm, you were always so good at that.”
I ran my hand across my mouth. “Yeah, I know.”
She giggled, kicked at me playfully. I caught her foot and kissed it again. Standing, I buttoned my pants so they wouldn’t fall off, then I picked her up and carried her to bed.
We spend most of the night the same way we’d spend most of the afternoon. I would’ve been more than happy to spend the rest of my life with her there in that bed, just the two of us.
But all good things must come to an end.
7
Damini
Vince had a trail of drool going down from his mouth to the pillow. I opened my eyes and had to stop myself from giggling at the sight. Then, I realized I easily saw it because the bedroom window wasn’t completely blocked by snow. Light streamed in through the top half.
I slid out of bed and tested out my foot. Putting weight on it twinged at me, but nothing terrible. Maybe spending a few days almost totally off of it had done the trick. I hoped so, anyway.
If I stood on my tiptoes… Oh, no. Bad idea. I shifted my weight to my good foot and stood on those tiptoes to peek out the window. The snow was pretty high, but the trees no longer bent in the wind, and none of the snow was blowing around.
The storm was over.
To my intense shock, a sadness washed over me. I kind of loved the idea of being stuck here with Vince. The storm took my choice away. Now that I knew we’d have to go back to the real world, I’d have no choice but to let reality intrude. I would have to do the right thing. What was expected of me, the dutiful daughter.
Damn it, but I really didn’t want to.
“Morning,” Vince said in a gruff, gravelly voice from the bed.
I turned and smiled at him. “Hey,” I said softly. “Did you sleep well?”
He stretched, the blanket falling from his upper body and revealing his taut muscles. So sculpted. I sighed and enjoyed the view.
“What?” he asked when he finished his stretch and saw me watching him.
Smiling to myself, I walked gingerly back to the bed. If I pushed it with the foot, I’d just be right back where I was in the beginning.
“Stay off that foot,” Vince admonished.
“Well,” I said with a sigh as I perched on the edge of the bed and faced him. “Looks like it’s back to reality today.”
He glanced at the window. “Yeah, I noticed the storm died down in the night.”
My skin tingled when he placed his hand over mine. “We could give it one more day, out here, all alone, just you and me? Enjoy ourselves more.”
Falling back on the bed, I spread my hands out and sighed. “Let’s do it.” Giggling, I rolled over and looked at Vince. “Why not?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I mean, I was kidding. We need to let your parents and friend know that you’re safe. But if you want to go out and call them, we can come right back here for another day. I’m game.”
I sighed and rolled over onto my back to stare at the rough-hewn logs of the ceiling. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought about my parents since sometime yesterday. Definitely not since I woke up. “No. I guess I was just enjoying the escape. We do have to go back.” I couldn’t worry them any more. I knew they’d be going insane right now. Probably already on their way here.
“Okay,” he said. “Give me a few minutes to clean up and I’ll get us out of here.”
I smiled and tried to make it look genuine. As much as I wanted to let my parents know I was safe, leaving made my heart heavy.
While Vince scurried around packing up my bag and putting away anything still left out, I stood long enough to get my clothes, then sat on the bed and dressed without putting weight on my foot.
He came in and pulled me up into his arms to take me into the living room where my socks and shoes waited on the couch. He’d already put out the fire and everything looked to be ready to go.
“You work fast,” I commented as I tied my boots.
Half expecting a proud reply, I glanced at him when he didn’t reply at all.
Vince stood in the doorway, having just opened it. The snow was near to the top.
“Now what?” I asked.
He rubbed his hands together. “Now, it’s going to get crowded in here.” He backed up and came over to me on the sofa. Putting one hand on either side of my knees, he pushed.
I squealed as the sofa slid quickly backward against the bookshelves on the far wall. “What are you doing?”
He winked and turned, then on the other side of the room, pushed the kitchen table up against the sink and cabinets. “You know dragons have two forms?”
I nodded. “Yes, one is smaller.”
“Conveniently for us,” he said. “I think my smaller form will fit without any damage.”
Pulling my feet up onto the couch, I covered my face. “I hope you’re right,” I said in a small voice, teasing him as if I were afraid.
He chuckled and stretched his arm out, closed one eye and squinted at me, stuck his finger in his mouth then pointed it up in the air. “I think it’ll work.”
Laughing, I removed my hands from my face. “Your scientific methods ar
e unparalleled.”
Instead of a reply, he stripped down, flexing his muscles as they were exposed to the cold air. When he stood only in his boxer briefs, I clapped my hands softly, a golf clap. “Very nice,” I said. “Ten out of ten.”
Both of us were joking to lighten the mood away from the fact that neither of us truly wanted to leave the cabin, and we both knew it.
“Storms can blow up in moments up here,” he explained. “I don’t recall what the weather said, if we’re supposed to get more or not, so I’m calling for backup, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay. What should I expect?”
He walked over in his undies. “I’m going to shift to my smaller dragon, blow the snow away from the door until I can get out, then call for help.”
“How do you call for help?” I asked.
“It’s a high-pitched sort of purring sound. I’m not sure what it will sound like to you. But it will reach my clan along with any other dragons within a mile or so radius. My clanmates would hear it up to ten miles away. It’s not just sound. It makes our skin crawl, and our dragons go kinda nuts until they are appeased that the dragon in danger is okay.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s see it.”
With a grin, he dropped his drawers and shifted as I clapped and hooted.
I couldn’t help the shock at how beautiful he was. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing the magnificence of his dragon if I saw it every day for a hundred years. His smaller form took up nearly every inch of space in the room. I set my feet on the floor and leaned forward, easily reaching his side and folded wings. “Can I touch you?”
Chuffing, he blinked a few times. I took that as a yes and ran my hand along his scales. I’d done this several times before in North Carolina, but that was an awfully long time ago, and it had begun to feel like it hadn’t even been real.
As my hand moved over him, Vince stared at me for a second, then turned and blew softly through the doorway. I watched in fascination as the snow began to blow out into the yard. He turned his head just so, and slowly an incline formed in the snow. How in the world was he doing that? Would it collapse under his weight? Surely it wasn’t packed enough to hold him.
He must’ve thought the same thing, because he moved forward, sticking his head out of the doorway. He would’ve fit his whole body out. I stood and put my weight on one foot, leaning into him to be able to see what he was doing out the door.
He was lowering the angle of the incline. The snow slowly blew back and back, until the entire porch was exposed. He then focused his air or breath, whatever it was called, into a straight line in front of him, starting at the top and lowering it until he had a little cavern clear of snow directly in front of the cabin. I even spotted a few blades of grass peeking through.
“You should hire yourself out as a snowblower,” I suggested. “You’d make a killing clearing driveways in Colorado.”
The wind stopped when he snorted. He backed up and eyed me, then shifted suddenly back to human.
As he changed, morphing almost instantly to the now small-looking man, he laughed and laughed. “You’re ridiculous,” he chortled. “A snowblower.”
Sighing, he turned toward the door. “Wait in here.” He walked out.
With the fire out, it was starting to get pretty cold in here. I limped over and got my hiking gear on. When I came back to the doorway and looked out, his cavern in the snow was bigger, huge, actually, and he’d shifted into his bigger dragon, which was easily two times the size of my mom’s sedan.
Then, I heard it. My skin tingled with fear and panic as the sound of him calling his pack washed over me. Wow. He was right. It sounded just like a cat’s purr, but like… a soprano cat. Very high pitched.
I was relieved when he stopped.
He shifted back and walked inside, grabbing his clothes from the floor by the door and dressing quickly. “I shouldn’t have killed the fire yet,” he commented, then hurried into the bedroom and came back with the blanket from the bed over his shoulders. “Come here.”
We sat close to each other on the couch wrapped in the blanket. His extra-warm body heat warmed me quickly. “How long?”
“I don’t know,” he said. Looking down at me, he grinned wickedly and covered us with the blanket.
Just as our lips met, he stiffened and threw off the blanket, looking at the front door.
It burst open and three naked men ran through. I squeaked and slapped my hands over my eyes.
“What the hell, guys?” Vince said as he wrapped the blanket around me. I buried my face in his chest.
“Sorry,” a masculine voice said. “We thought you were in danger.”
Vince’s chest rumbled against my face. “I mean, I cleared a path.”
I peeked long enough to see they were dressed enough that I could look. All three looked out the door.
“Whoops,” the tallest said. He was slim and blond and raised his eyebrows at me. “Hello, there. I’m Sam.”
I stuck my hand out of the blanket by my face and finger waved. “Damini.”
The oldest looking, which I knew was deceiving when it came to dragons, raised his eyebrows, and looked at Vince. “The Damini?” he asked.
I answered for Vince. “That’s me.”
His gaze swung back to me. “I’m very happy to meet you,” he said. “I’m Cam, and I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I could only wonder what all Vince had told him. Probably not all good things. “Nice to meet you, as well. Vince has mentioned you several times, mostly in relation to wishing he could cook like you.”
Cam burst out laughing and then watched us with a huge grin on his face.
“I’m Theo.”
I looked at the third man and had to change my opinion. He looked the oldest. “Nice to meet you,” I said quietly.
“You two want to get out of here?” Cam asked.
Vince squeezed me under the blanket. “Please. I wasn’t sure what the weather was supposed to do. I didn’t want to take off back to town with her on my back and hit another storm away from the shelter.”
Theo nodded. “Smart. It’s clear for a few days, but best you called us. You never know around here. We can head out.”
Vince stood and offered me his hand.
We headed to the door and the four dragons went out first. Vince turned back and offered me his hand. “It’s slippery.”
“Oh, my bag.” I limped back into the bedroom and grabbed my pack, pleased with how little my ankle hurt.
As I crossed the cabin back to Vince, I sighed and said a quiet goodbye to my beautiful escape from reality. This taste of being away from my family had been kind of wonderful. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to distance myself from them. Could I find real happiness?
Outside, Sam, Theo, and Cam were already shifted, and Vince was in his human form, naked, putting his clothes in his go-bag.
I couldn’t help but be awed by the dragons. “So, how does this work?” I couldn’t exactly walk, and flying in Vince’s claws again terrified me.
“You’re perfectly safe, I promise.” He walked over to one of the shifted dragons. “You’ll climb up here.” He touched the dragon on his front leg. “And swing over to settle here. Hook your legs around the base of my wings. You won’t fall off.”
How had I never done this before? We were together a year, and I knew he was a dragon that whole time. Vince paused and looked at the dragon’s big eye. “He says he knows the weather said no more storms, but he feels one. We need to go.”
The three dragons took to the air, making room in the clearing. Vince shifted, erupting into another of the car-sized dragons. I climbed up exactly as he’d shown me, moving around to the other side so I didn’t have to go bad-foot first.
“Okay,” I said when I felt secure. Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms around his neck and my feet around the base of his wings as he spread them wide. “I’m ready!”
As ready as I thought I was, I couldn't stop my
self from squealing as Vince reared up and launched into the air. I gripped as tight as I could, but in no time, I was a popsicle on Vince’s back.
Vince angled himself behind one of the dragons and he started breathing fire. The warm air melted snow all around us, and by the time it got back to me, it wasn’t blazing hot, but mildly warm.
It was enough. I stopped freezing so much, thank goodness. We made it out of the woods, and soon houses started appearing. I breathed a sigh of relief and let myself sit up once we weren’t going through trees.
Just as I really began to enjoy the flight, Vince pitched downward, making me feel unbalanced. I slammed myself down on his neck again, clinging to him. I wasn’t in any danger of falling off, but it felt a lot better with a good grip on him.
8
Vince
The four—well, technically five—of us circled high above my house, slowing our descent until we could angle exactly right to slip through the gap in the canopy of trees. I hadn’t lived there long, but I had no desire to tear up the old growth around the house. It added to the charm of the place and made it feel more secluded, which was one of the things I loved about it.
It was a two-story number with a small attic, which I’d been tempted to claim for my room, if the ceilings had been higher. There was a fireplace in the living room and one in the master bedroom right above it, which also boasted an enormous full bath. With a couple of smaller bedrooms and a bathroom down the hall and another room downstairs that I’d planned to open up and convert into a dining room, I had plenty of space. The kitchen wasn’t as large as Cam’s, but it was close—not that I’d use it much, anyway. As long as it had a working microwave and power to the fridge, I was good.
Unless Damini stayed with me. Then, I’d change it to any and everything she wanted.
