by Ines Johnson
Rose didn’t answer, as she didn’t know where he’d flown off to after leaving her shivering and trembling from his touch. Instinctively, Rose lifted her hand to her neck and touched the still throbbing twin pinpricks Ilia had left there.
“I’m surprised he’s not here with you, Lily,” said Kimber. “After a dragon marks his mate, he’s loathe to leave his female.”
“Ilia didn’t mark Lily,” said Elek, his gaze fastened on Rose’s neck.
The room went silent as all gazes fell to Rose. Each woman’s mouth spread into a stupid grin as they snuck less-than-covert gazes at Rose. The males’ brows all rose to their hairlines as they stared at the spot on her neck. Rose was used to people staring at her, but she felt uncomfortable at the gaping expressions on their faces.
Kimber was the first to speak. “Thank you for choosing my brother, Rose.”
She hadn’t chosen him. She’d merely shoved her sister out of harm’s way. Still, the thought of Lily receiving Ilia’s bite, of her sister rubbing her sex against Ilia’s thigh…
“Ilia was born the runt of the litter, you know,” Kimber said in a conversational tone.
“What does that mean?” Rose asked.
“Dragons are born in pairs.”
“Like us?” It was the first time Lily had spoken. There had been food in her mouth since Rose entered the dining room. There was food in Lily’s mouth now as she spoke. She shoveled more forkfuls in to Elek’s delight.
“Yes, like twins,” said Kimber. “But Ilia was a third. He was born small and undernourished. Our father decided Ilia wouldn’t make it. So he tossed him outside shortly after his birth.”
Lily stopped eating. Her utensil clattered to the plate. Both she and Rose mimicked each other like when they had trouble swallowing the food in their mouths.
Rose had thought she had it bad, but at least her father put a roof over their heads while he’d lived. He’d had to. His exotic-looking daughters had been his bread and butter.
“Ilia has had to fight for every scrape,” Kimber continued. “Now that you’re here and mated to him, I hope his fighting days are over.”
Another whoosh sounded above them. Rose looked up to the window to see a massive dragon. Its dark purple scales blended with the night’s sky. Its bright gaze fixed on her.
Rose’s full belly grumbled loudly. The dish in front of her went forgotten as she saw the dessert she craved begin to shift its form from beast to man.
Chapter Seventeen
Ilia slammed the bedroom door shut behind Rose. The fact that she didn’t jump out of her skin let him know that she didn’t fear him. Another thing he’d gotten wrong from their time together earlier.
She hadn’t argued with him as he told her to come with him. She’d simply put down her fork and knife. Then she’d risen from her chair and followed him to his room.
Now that they were inside, her sharp intake of breath added further proof that she wasn’t afraid to be alone with him. In fact, he was becoming more certain with each passing second that she had less of a problem being alone with him than he had of being alone with her.
Inside his chest, Ilia’s beast was pacing. His dragon looked out from behind Ilia’s gaze, tracking her every movement. It was waiting for its opportunity to pounce. The animal inside the man got the sense that his moment was coming nearer as its mate’s gaze roamed over his naked form.
Rose’s nostrils flared as her light eyes latched onto the dark hair surrounding his engorged cock. Ilia hadn’t bothered to don any clothing when he’d shifted from dragon to man. His brothers didn’t care. His sisters were so used to it that they ignored him—though he was sure he’d caught Cardi sneaking a glance once or twice. Lily had dropped her fork when she’d seen him in all his glory.
But Rose? His Rose had wet her lips. Her fingers had curled into balls atop the dinner table. Ilia had caught those motions in the split second before she averted her gaze.
She wanted him. So why was she denying it? He was about to find out.
“I’ve made a decision, Rose.”
“What? That you won’t run out on me again?”
“That was a mistake, and I apologize for it. But you’ll have to admit that my actions were partly your fault.”
Her eyes flashed at him. “Me? What did I do?”
“You didn’t tell me the truth.” Ilia took two steps toward her.
“You’re calling me a liar?” Rose took one step back.
“I am.” He stepped forward again, crowding her toward the bed. “The worse kind of liar. You lie to yourself.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Rose’s back bumped into the bedpost. Her fingers curled around the wooden pillar.
“You want me.”
“I…” Her lips remained parted, but the words wouldn’t come out.
In the silence that followed, Ilia realized she was right on one count. He had run out on her. And for that, he was ashamed.
Unlike his father, Rose hadn’t tossed him out. She’d let him in, let him get close enough to try to bind himself to her. Because Ilia still had the scars of neglect and abuse, he needed her to open herself up fully. He needed her to welcome him inside wholeheartedly.
His mate stood before him. Her back against a bedpost where she’d soon be writhing on the bed in more pleasure than any woman would ever know. Her tiny pants of breath hinted that she knew what lay in her future.
So why was there struggle in her gaze? The bright glint of her eyes said yes. But the set of her jaw wouldn’t let the word out.
“I want to be your champion, Rose Bishop.”
That notion set her jaw in motion. "I don't need to be saved.”
"Yes. Yes, you do. First, you need to be tied up and held captive. You need someone to capture you. It's the only way you'll be set free.”
There was a crinkle at the corner of her eyes. Rose pursed her lips together, clearly uncertain as to what to think of that.
Ilia was done talking. He was standing before his fated mate. Naked, with a raging hard-on and a beast raring to go.
“I’m going to claim you, Rose.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m going to strip you naked, toss you on the bed, and thrust so deeply inside you that you’re going to see stars.”
The room filled with the heady scent of her arousal. Inside him, the dragon roared to get out. Ilia ground his feet into the floor, battling the beast and his own desire. Before he could let loose, he needed to get his mate’s consent.
“Do you want me to do that?” he asked. “Do you want me to make you see stars, sweet Rose?”
“Do I have a choice?” Her lips trembled as her nostrils flared.
“Yes, you have a choice. You always have a choice. Tell me you want me.”
Rose swallowed, her throat working as though there was something lodged in there. Her lips did not part to let it out.
“All you have to do is say yes.”
She inhaled through her nose, nostrils flaring even wider. That same breath of air gushed back out of her nose. Still, she would not open her mouth.
“Say it, Rose.”
Her gaze was wild. As though she were caged inside of herself. Yet, she couldn’t break free.
She had fought him when she’d thought he was going to hurt her or her sister. Now that he was offering her pleasure, she couldn’t even lift a finger to reach for the bliss.
“Rose?” Ilia held out his hand to her.
Her fingers straightened toward the floor, but she didn’t lift her arms. Her feet shuffled, but she didn’t raise her heels from the ground.
She wanted him. He could sense it. He could see it. She just couldn’t say it. So, Ilia reached for her blouse and tore.
“Hey!” she said.
“Tell me no,” he said, changing tactics. “And I’ll stop.”
Once again, Rose swallowed like a new lump had formed in her throat. She couldn’t say she wanted it. Neither could she deny th
at she did.
He grabbed the collar of her shirt and tugged down until her arms were trapped in the sleeves. She took a step then. The step was toward him.
Rose’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her lips parted. She didn’t say yes. She didn’t say no. She let out a low moan that sounded of pure ecstasy.
“As your mate, I’m supposed to be gentle and make love to you. But I don’t think that’s what you need right now. I think you need to be fucked.”
Though Ilia said the words out loud, in truth, he wasn’t sure it was what she needed. It was definitely what he needed. To bury himself so deeply inside this woman that not even the breath of air could get between their groin areas.
“If you don’t want this, if you want me to stop, then you’ll say Vernon.”
“What?” Rose blinked, some of the haze of desire lifting from her.
“That was the name of the principal in The Breakfast Club. He’s the villain of the film. Nobody liked him. You say Vernon, and I’ll stop immediately, no matter how deeply my dick or my tongue is buried inside you.”
Rose’s throat worked again. This time she had no trouble swallowing the desire in there. Her lips stayed parted, her pupils dilated. The heavy scent of her arousal perfumed the air of his bedroom.
“I think you want me to lick you with my tongue, don’t you, sweet Rose?”
“No,” she said on a shuddered breath.
“That’s not Vernon.”
Ilia took a nipple in his mouth. Rose’s knees wobbled under the onslaught. Her arms were bound in her shirt, so she couldn’t catch herself. She didn’t need to. Ilia held her captive.
“You want to be naked in front of me, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. You’re making me.”
So that’s how she needed to play it. Fine by him. He would make her. Just so long as he had her consent. And until she cried Vernon, Ilia knew he had her.
With a roar, he ripped the rest of her clothing from her. Save the shirt binding her arms. She stood naked, shivering in his arms.
“I don’t know where to start,” he said as he took in what was his. “Your mouth, your tits, or your pussy?”
Rose whimpered at his words. Her cries going a higher pitch as he called out each lush body part. Her moan was the highest when he spoke of her pussy, so that’s where he decided to start.
“I think you want me to start with this sweet little pussy, don’t you, Rose?”
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She shook her head instead. With that denial, Ilia lifted her and tossed her on the bed.
Rose yelped as she bounced backward. With her arms tangled in the blouse, her thighs spread in an effort to gain balance. For a moment, she left them open. When she looked up and caught Ilia staring, she shoved them closed.
“Stop,” he commanded. “Open for me.”
She hesitated. The denial game she could play. When it came to a direct command, she had trouble. Not a problem. He’d simply have to take the decision away from her.
Ilia reached out and grabbed her right leg in one hand. He grabbed the bottom of her shirttails in the other. With a rip of the fabric, he took the strip and tied her ankle to the bedpost. With another strip, he tied the other ankle. Her arms were behind her, still tangled in the sleeves of the garment. The bottom half of her was splayed open for his enjoyment.
“I don’t hear you saying no. I think you want this.”
“I don’t have a choice,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You’re making me do it.”
Ilia parted her thighs. She glistened there. She could say no all she wanted, but her body wanted him. “You want me to suck you so hard I turn this pink pussy red, don’t you?”
“No,” she pleaded, as her folds dripped and quivered from just the suggestion.
She fell back on the bed, her chest arching upward, tight nipples pointed to the ceiling. She was absolute perfection, and she was all his.
Ilia sank to his knees at the base of the bed. Her spread thighs were an altar, her bent knees like pillars of a temple of worship. He bent over her, prepared to give his devout worship.
“Rose?”
She opened an eyelid.
“You’re mine.”
Again her throat worked. No lump formed. Her lips parted, but they trembled as they did so.
Ilia waited in the silence of both of their heavy breaths. He waited as her gaze locked onto his, pleading. He would give this woman anything except this one thing.
“I need you to say it.”
She swallowed again. This time her teeth unclenched as she let sound through. “I…”
Ilia brushed his thumb over the bud of her sex. Her head fell back as she jackknifed off the mattress. She couldn’t get too far with her feet and hands bound.
“Say it, just once, Rose.”
“I…” Her eyes glistened with tears as she struggled. Her arms and feet stayed put. The struggle was all internal.
The sight of his mate’s tears overran Ilia’s own need for acceptance. He crawled up the bed, placing his big body between her open thighs.
“It’s all right,” he said as he kissed each tear away. “You belong to me. If you deny it, tell me your safe word.”
Rose inhaled a long, slow breath. Her voice was shaky as she let out the single word. “No.”
Ilia grinned. That wasn’t the safe word. They both knew it.
“You are mine, sweet Rose.”
There was only the barest dip of her head, but he caught it. It was enough. For the time being. Now he had to make good on all the promises of pleasure he’d threatened her with.
Chapter Eighteen
Rose felt as though she was being torn apart. Her body was aching for Ilia, but her mind couldn’t wrap around the idea of verbally agreeing to anything he was demanding of her.
Having sex with him—opening her thighs and getting thoroughly, deeply, completely fucked—this was what she had to do. It wasn’t what she wanted to do.
Right?
Except, as he kissed the tears burning her eyes away, she found herself burning with the need for him to kiss her lips. As his hands cradled her face, she needed his fingers to cup her breasts. As he rested his large body between her thighs, she needed him to enter her quivering pussy and put an end to the ache inside her.
She wasn’t supposed to feel this way. Sex was for men, not women. Any female who said differently was lying and using her body to get ahead.
But Ilia had fulfilled her every need. She and her sister had a roof over their head, which he promised would never be taken from them. They no longer needed money because he swore he’d give her anything she wanted. She no longer needed her medication because she was in a place where she could fill her belly without consequence. Moreover, the food was aplenty.
There wasn’t a thing she needed in the world. Except for Ilia’s hands over her, his mouth on her, and his cock in her. To get that need filled, he asked the impossible of her.
For the countless time tonight, Rose set her mouth to acquiesce to his demands. Like every time she’d tried before, she couldn’t make her jaw move. She couldn’t set her lips to form the word. She couldn’t get the air out to agree to his demands.
She just couldn’t.
Or maybe she simply wouldn’t.
She could say the word yes. Just not to the desire he stirred within her.
There was a part of Rose the gloried in the fact that he wanted this one thing from her. What would happen if she gave it to him? Would he lose his desire for her?
She couldn’t risk it. Not when she needed him so badly. If he knew, he would use it against her, and she was already at his mercy.
Her thighs were splayed wide. Her arms bound between them.
Ilia lifted her arms, using the fabric of her ruined shirt. He looped the twisted cotton over a notch on the headboard. Spreading her like an eagle.
Now, even if she wanted to say yes to his demands or no, she had no choice. W
hat happened next wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her choice. It was all Ilia.
Rose settled into her captivity as her blood pooled between her legs. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears. Her fingers tingled from their constraints, as did her toes. She felt like she was flying.
Belatedly, she wondered if Ilia might take her flying in his dragon form.
Flying had to be the last thing on Ilia’s mind. The fat head of his penis brushed against her sex. As he claimed her mouth with drugging kisses, that slick head licked at her opening. It didn’t delve inside like his tongue did. Not even when she squirmed to get it closer.
It didn’t matter how much she squirmed. She was being held down. She couldn’t escape if she wanted. He could do anything he desired to her, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Rose lifted her hips, trying to give him a hint. Ilia ignored her. He rested on his side as he gazed down at her.
“You have the prettiest tits on the earth, sweet Rose. They look just like rosebuds.” He pinched the rosebuds with his index and thumb, making the pink buds turn red. “They’re nice little handfuls. Get used to me grabbing them every day.”
Rose’s body had been grabbed at and manhandled since her curves had developed. She used to glory in the days when she could lie alone in her bed with no one touching or even looking at her. Now, she couldn’t imagine a day without Ilia’s rough hands on her soft flesh.
“Don’t shave this pretty pussy anymore. I want to bury my face in your nice, thick bush.”
In answer, she could only whimper. All this dirty talk was doing nothing but increasing that heavy ache inside of her. It was making her hot with need for him.
Which was a biological reaction to him. Not a conscious decision on her part. Except she had never felt this wanton in her life.
She wanted Ilia.
She wanted his mouth.
She wanted his tongue.
She wanted his fingers.
And lord all mighty, she wanted his cock.
The desire for that long, thick hunk of flesh nestled between his thighs made her grow hot in her belly. Hotter than the first time when he’d bitten her. Only this time, it wasn’t air that was filling her like a balloon. Now it felt like some molten material was coursing through her veins.
