by Romi Hart
Grabbing my shoulders, she leapt onto my back and held on tightly as Mist and I took off, making a b-line for the side entrance Val had pointed out to us only minutes earlier.
Codut’s wings beat against the darkening sky, making thunderous booms. Just as we’d ducked inside, his dark body glided over the placed we’d been.
Mist and I looked at each other, knowing we’d barely escaped death. “Inside,” Mist said. “Now’s our chance to search the castle while he’s out.”
Putting Val down, she led the way to the stone steps that led into complete darkness. “They’re down there.”
I looked around, finding a narrow passage to the right. “Okay, let’s start there, Val. And Mist, you should go in the opposite direction. We’ll meet back here in say fifteen minutes.”
“Move swiftly,” Mist said as he took off.
“Are you fast on your feet, my dear?” I led the way through the dark hallway.
“I’m pretty fast. You’ve got to be if you’re going to chase monsters.” She was right on my heels. “You won’t have to wait for me.”
“Good.” Once we were free of the cramped space, we stood in an open area that smelled of fire and brimstone. “The dragon’s bedchamber.”
Scanning the room the size of a football field, Val asked, “He sleeps in his dragon form?”
“Sometimes, I’m sure he does.” Staying close to the wall, I went along it, using it to guide the way in the dim light. “Dragons have exceptional eyesight in the dark. That’s why he doesn’t use lighting. Good thing for us, foxes also have exceptional eyesight at in the dark.”
I took her hand and we moved into another room, one with no light at all. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust but when they did, I found the room was filled with silver weaponry. Swords mostly and knives too.
“Is there anything in here?” Val asked as she gripped my hand.
“Just an arsenal with enough silver blades to take out half of all the shifters I know.” I sucked in my breath as I saw a Gatling gun at the far side of the room. Long belts of silver bullets lay all around the gun on the floor. “Oh, and a really big gun complete with silver bullets. He’s going to kill shifters.”
“But he’s one. So why does he want to kill others like him?” she asked.
“Not sure yet. But probably for the same reason that warlords kill people when they take over other countries.” My heart ached for all the pain Codut had planned on giving out to my kind. “Let’s keep moving.”
Grabbing my arm, she said, “Wait. Should we get some of this stuff to use against him?”
“Dragons are a lot harder to kill than all the shifters combined. They have one spot, the size of one of their scales, on their chest. None of the swords or knives here could penetrate his scales. The bullets wouldn’t either.” I hated the bad odds one had at killing a dragon. “But the thing to remember is that it doesn’t take any special kind of metal to kill the dragon. You can poke it with a stick if you can get close enough to do that.”
“Being a dragon, I bet he makes sure no one gets close enough to do that.” She sighed. “This isn’t going to be easy, is it?”
“Well, they say that things that come easy aren’t worth having. So, probably not.” Leading her out of that room, we went along the wall to the next room.
Some moonlight filtered into the room. “His bedroom when he sleeps in human form,” Val said as we looked around. With a sly grin, she raised her brows. “Bet there could be keys to the cages in here.”
Shaking my head, I knew we couldn’t get our scent all over his things. “He’ll know someone is here if we touch his things. And I would think that the keys would be down in the dungeon, near the cages anyway.”
“I’m glad you brought up the whole not touching his stuff thing.” She pulled her hand away from a red robe that lay on top of a chair near her. “I nearly grabbed that.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Pulling her along with me, we left Codut’s bedroom. “So far, I haven’t come up with a way to kill this dragon. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of time to figure things out either.”
“Who said we have to kill him?” Val asked me as we moved down a long hallway with doors on each side. “Let’s focus on the rescue mission and then we’ll deal with the threat. That way, more – um, people? No. Sentient beings will be with us to fight him more effectively.”
With the idea that going through the rooms was a waste of time, I stopped. Pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, I found myself growing aroused. “You’re so smart and beautiful, Valentine.”
A lopsided smile made her look adorable. “You know what? It’s nice to hear that now and then.”
Caressing her cheek, I couldn’t pull my eyes off hers. “We’re going to make a great team. I want you on my team for a very long time too.”
“I’d like that.” Leaning in, she ran her arms around my neck. “Do you think we’ve got time to get a little naughty in the dragon’s castle, Twilight?” Taking my hand, she pulled it down her body until my palm rested on her hot pussy. “I’m feeling frisky.”
“As am I.” Sliding my hands along her hips, I pushed her jeans to the floor.
She made quick work of my jeans, dropping them to the floor with hers. “You make me do things I’ve never dreamt of doing before.”
Lifting her, I used the wall to help hold her up, as her fingers traced over my cock. “You make me feel things I never have before.” The electric connection we had hadn’t ebbed even a little. “I don’t understand how this can happen, but I’m damn glad we found each other.”
She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss, and wrapped her legs around my waist. I eased her down onto my shaft. Biting her lower lip, she moaned quietly as her pussy soaked for me. “Oh how I could get used to this.”
“You had better get used to it. We’re going to be doing a hell of a lot of this.” Kissing her, I wanted to connect with her in every way possible. “I can’t seem to get enough of you.” I started moving, my cock glistened after every slow retreat from her saturated slit. Her lips gripped onto me, stopping me from pulling out, squeezing me in with every thrust.
Her t-shirt covered breasts smashed against my chest as she clung to me. “I can’t get enough of you. My head’s getting light. My body’s taking over.”
I felt her reaction and began having the same one. As if we were one being, our copulation took me deeper into the oblivion where only she and I remained. “I wish this is where we could stay forever.”
“Me too, Twi. Me too,” she said with a hoarse voice. Panting as she moved with me.
Moving my hands underneath the back of her shirt, her petal-soft skin made my heart ache. I couldn’t believe I had thought this was all fake. There was nothing fake about what we shared.
Moving her away from the wall, I gently laid her on the floor, and buried myself deeper inside of her. Being as close to her as I could get was all I could think about.
Raking her nails up my back, she pulled my shirt off over my head then our mouths met again. Even though we’d just met a couple of days before, it felt as if we’d been together forever.
I want no other.
My body shuddered as if that thought went against everything in it. How I used to think didn’t matter any longer. Now that I had found the one girl for me, everything I’d believed had ceased to be true.
I need her.
Wrenching my mouth away from hers, I kissed a line up her neck. I had to know if she felt the same way about me. “I need you like I need air to breathe, my dear.”
Arching her body up to meet every hard thrust I gave her, she sighed as her fingers trailed lightly over my shoulders. “If I never felt you inside of me again, I might as well be no more.”
Now that we’d found this insane sort of connection, it seemed we’d both die without the other. That had to be love. “I’ve never known love until you Valentine.”
“Love?” she whispered.
P
ulling my head back to look into her eyes, I wanted her to know that I really meant it. “Love, Valentine. I love you.”
“Those words are making my heart sing.” A slow smile pulled her pink lips up at the corners. “I love you too, Twilight.”
Fluttering inside my chest let me know what she was talking about. “I see what you’re saying now. My heart’s doing some crazy stuff too.”
Rolling onto my back, I pushed her up then took her shirt and bra off too. Moving her body up and down my erection, she ran her hands over her naked breasts then reached out to take mine, moving them over the plump mounds of feminine flesh.
She let out a long moan as I squeezed them. Every time she moved up and down my cock, I felt her shudder as her hard nipples grazed against my palms. I pinched them and she almost collapsed on top of me. I raised my hips to meet her, and pinched those succulent breasts every time she took my whole length inside her.
She came on top of me. Her thighs quivered and her pussy convulsed around my cock. I grabbed my hands off of her breast, and used them hold herself up. I was in her to the hilt, and she started grinding on me. Her body shook every time her hips gyrated and she kept going.
Watching her as she rode me like an expert, I knew hers were the only eyes I ever wanted to look into while making love again. There would never be another who would rule my heart and soul.
I am hers in every way.
Marriage was a dirty word to me. I still didn’t know if that’s what I wanted. But I did want her with me for all times. I wanted more than a marriage. I wanted an eternity of life and love.
“You have wrecked me so completely,” I whispered. “You took me, bent me, twisted me until I no longer resemble the man I was before I met you. You’ve made me stronger. You’ve made me better. Before you, I would never have agreed to come here. I would never have agreed to make a rescue attempt. I would ever have been this selfless if it weren’t for knowing you. How did you do this to me?”
“Make you fall in love?” she asked with a twinkle in her blue eyes.
Shaking my head, I hadn’t meant that at all. “No. I know how you’ve made me fall in love with you. You embody all the things I respect in people.” I took one of her hands, pressing my lips to her palm. “How did you change me?”
Rolling her hips, her body moved over mine like a wave of pure desire. “I suppose you changing me had me changing you. You make me feel special. You make me feel adored and protected. You make me feel like more of a woman than I’ve ever felt before.”
“I guess I don’t care how this happened. I’m just glad it did.”
Nodding, she made another wave-like motion on top of me. “I’m glad it did too. I’m in love with a fox-shifter. Maybe I’ve been chasing mythical beings just so I could find you, Twilight Foxworthy.”
“I can see no other reason that you would.” A light chuckle made her body shake as she leaned over, urging me to take an erect nipple into my mouth.
Running my tongue around it, I sucked it into my mouth as I put my hands on her waist to move her at the speed I desired. Her soft moans served to arouse me even further.
My cock pulsed as I moved her faster and faster. Up and down my long length, her hot, wet tunnel held me tightly. The scent of our combined arousal wafted to my nose, turning my animal instinct on.
In an instant, I flipped her onto her knees and slammed my cock back in as I held her hips. Leaning down on her elbows, she made it so that I went into her even deeper. “Yes, Twi!”
Over and over I thrust into her, watching as my shiny cock went in and out. Her pussy wept for me; trickles of her juices ran down the insides of her thighs, along my shaft, onto my balls. It spread over ass and connected me to her every time I smacked against it. No longer able to hold back, I filled her with my hot seed as she climaxed again with me, her walls milking me for everything I had.
Growling, “You were made for me.” I couldn’t stop myself and kept thrusting until nothing was left in either of us.
Our harsh breathing echoed in the hallway. Only then did I realize we’d gotten much too loud for our secret mission. Releasing her, I leaned back against the wall, cradling her in my arms and kissing the top of her head softly.
Our hearts pounded so hard that I could hear them. So could Val. “We have to settle down. He’ll hear us for sure.”
“I know.” There was no way I wanted to be caught by the dragon when I’d just found the woman who made me whole.
I had no idea I wasn’t whole before, but now I know that I was most definitely only half a man.
As good as she felt under me, she felt just as good in my arms. Holding her made every part of me smile. Stroking her hair, I whispered, “I love you so much it hurts, Valentine Martin.”
With fingers trailing softly over my chest, she whispered, “I love you more than I knew I could love anyone.”
Softly, I chuckled. “Weird, isn’t it?”
“So very weird,” she agreed. “Most people say it takes quite a while before people fall in love.”
“Well, I’m not exactly most people.” Holding her hand against my heart, I asked, “Do you feel that?”
“The steady pounding?” She nodded. “Yeah, I feel that. Mine’s doing it too.”
“Mine’s never done that before,” I admitted. “I guess because of me being a shifter and having the muscular physique that I do, my heart rate never gets high and stays high. It’s running on emotion.” I had to laugh. “So crazy.”
“This whole thing is so crazy.” With a soft sigh, she settled into me. “I love this though. I’ll do crazy with you over anything – any day.”
Now, this is my kind of woman. No wonder I love her.
18
Valentine
Euphoria had me in its grasps. Twi and I together, had made me something that I could never be without him. My life had been anything but adventurous before my parents’ deaths. I’d been a dork in school. My grades were high, my intelligence quotient above average, and my physical ability was up there with the best Canadians. With all that going for me, I was merely average.
With their passing and me finding that I had more strength residing within me than I even knew, I’d made a tremendous change. The change was so drastic that most of the people I’d grown up with and had called friends, no longer had anything in common with me.
My chasing monsters career made me somewhat of a laughingstock. I didn’t care though. Sure, a small part of me missed my old friends. But the biggest part of me loved the adventure my chosen field brought with it.
Stroking his muscular bicep, I asked a question that had simmered in my mind since I’d found out what Twi was, “So, how much does being bitten by a fox-shifter hurt?”
“It hurts pretty badly,” he said with a grin. “Why? You want me to take a snap at you?” He had no idea how serious I was.
And I was pretty sure he didn’t know what I’d actually meant by the question. So, I clarified, “Twi, if you bit me to change me into what you are, would it be extremely painful?”
His eyes went wide as his expression said to me that he couldn’t believe what I’d asked. “You would do that, Val?”
Nodding, I thought it might be the best thing for me to do. “It’s what I should do, I think.”
“You’d do that for me because you think you should?” He shook his head. “You don’t have to do anything for me, my dear. I love you just the way you are.”
With a soft laugh, I kissed his lips before letting him know the real reason I was thinking about becoming a shifter. “I love you, Twi. But turning into a shifter isn’t for you. It’s so that I can help the others here more. It’ll just be a nice byproduct that I’ll be like you. My real worry is how long the transformation takes and how much pain I’ll be in while it happens. I can’t allow myself to be vulnerable for very long. My goal is to get back home as soon as I can.”
“I see. Well, I’m glad you want to do this for your own reasons, and not for me. I love t
he independent way you are. Not that I don’t want to take care of you. But I respect you too much to try to rob you of the strength you have.” He kissed me on the forehead then looked into my eyes. “I don’t know how long the transformation will take. It all depends on if you fight it or not.”
I just wouldn’t fight it. “That’s easy, I won’t fight at all. I’ll accept it.”
“No, I don’t mean you – mentally speaking. I mean your body. Your mind doesn’t always agree with your body and vice-versa. If your body rejects my venom, then you’re in for a real struggle. And the pain can become unbearable.” Stroking my hair, he whispered, “Some have died in the process.”
“I would think those who have died might’ve been weaker in their physical aspects. Thanks to what I’ve been doing the last few years, my body is in the best shape it has ever been in.” Confidence filled me. “I think I should do this if I’m to help the others who are here.”
“Being human does make you vulnerable. As a shifter, you would become immortal like the rest of us.” His lips pulled into a frown. “Not that we can’t be killed. Severed head, the silver bullets, and blades as well, can kill us.”
“What if you were to be cut into two pieces?” I asked, just to ask because he’d mentioned the severed head, but I had to wonder what would happen in a case like that one. “I would guess that if you lost limbs, you would live on. But what if you were cut in half?”
“It counts as a severed head, I do believe.” His playful grin made me smile too. “Perhaps your curious nature might have you doing some research on shifters to write a formal history of our kind. If you were to become one of us. Not many shifters will share their stories and secrets with humans.”
“I would think not.” I knew humans weren’t to be trusted, even though I was one. “Can’t say I blame them either.”
“This is a huge decision, Valentine. I don’t think you should make it right now?” Brushing my cheek with the back of his hand, he wore a concerned expression. “I can protect you for now. No reason to rush this.”
