by Susan Hayes
“You couldn’t sleep either, huh?” she asked.
Just hearing her voice turned him to stone, and he kept his back turned as he willed his errant biology to behave. It didn’t work. “I thought some exercise might help me settle down, but it has failed to do so.”
“Maybe you’re doing the wrong kind of exercising.”
There was no ignoring the undertone to her words, a low, sultry note that made his dragon lunge against the confines of his mind. “Claim. Keep. Ours!”
He spun around to face her, drinking in the sight of her standing on the mats wearing a pair of red leggings and a black tank-top that skimmed over her curves. “You had something else in mind?”
Her eyes widened, and a blush rose up her throat and stained her cheeks. “I can’t believe I said that. I thought maybe we could spar or something, but it came out all wrong.” she shook her head. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me today.”
He knew exactly what was wrong. The rux. He wasn’t sure how to tell her, though. The Pyrosians were on Earth looking for their true mates. The humans knew about that process, but no one had considered the possibility that the handful of Romaki on the planet would find their mates here, too. At least, he hadn’t considered it. He didn’t deserve a mate. He couldn’t be trusted to protect one.
Megan sighed. “Is brooding silence your way of telling me I should find somewhere else to be?”
“No. Don’t go.” He stepped toward her, one hand already reaching for her before he realized what he was doing. He wanted to touch her so badly it was a physical pain.
“You’re sure?”
“I am certain. It has been a trying day and my mind is full of distracting thoughts. I would be happy to spar with you. Maybe it will give us both what we need.” And maybe if she hit him a few times, he’d stop speaking in words that held more than one meaning. The rux was twisting his mind, and his tongue.
She raised an eyebrow at him, her lips curving into a ghost of a smile. “Maybe.”
He waited for her to warm up, trying not to stare as she stretched and contorted her body in interesting ways. Once she was done, he joined her in the middle of the mats and waited for her to make the first move.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready.”
He barely had time to utter the word before she came at him. He expected her to throw a punch or kick, but instead, she moved in close and grappled with him, using her lower center of gravity to her advantage. He grunted in surprise and reacted, untangling himself from her and taking two long steps backward so she had to come at him again.
This time, he was ready, and when she moved in close, he responded with a quick series of strikes that forced her to go on the defensive. Neither of them fought at full strength, but each attack and counter was real enough to demand his full attention. Since part of his mind was distracted by Megan, that meant he made mistakes. Fortunately, so did she. A countermove that was a second slow. A kick that missed its target by a finger’s breadth. She was good, but he could sense her frustration growing with every error. Just like his was.
“Where did you learn to fight?” He asked as they moved. He’d been learning what he could of the various human martial arts, but her style wasn’t one he knew. Or more likely, it was a combination of several, blended into something unique to her.
“A few places. My father was in the navy when he was younger, and he taught me to protect myself. Later, I signed on with the Bold Eagle program.” She threw a punch that he should have blocked, but his hand came up a little to slow to deflect it completely.
“What’s that?”
“A military recruiting program for aboriginal Canadians. Ranger training, mostly. In the end, I went with the RCMP instead. I wanted to make a difference, and I thought law enforcement was a better fit.”
“Was it?” He understood the desire to do something meaningful with one’s life. That was why he’d joined the military, too.
“For a while. But as you might have noticed, I’m not really good at taking orders. I was assigned to protect Hanna while she was on a trip with a number of other dignitaries from Canada. She offered me a job. I took it. I’ve been with her ever since.”
Loyalty. That was another thing they had in common. The more he got to know Megan, the easier it became to accept that she was his mate. The Gods had terrible timing, but he was running out of reasons to deny she was meant for him… and he for her.
They continued their dance, coming at each other harder now. She was glowing with exertion, breathing hard, a smile on her lips. Gods, she was beautiful. Their eyes locked and for a moment she just stared at him, the fierce fire in her eyes turning into something else, something more. Desire.
“Ours,” his dragon howled, and he closed in on her, wrapping her in his arms and lifting her so he could seal her mouth with a kiss.
She stiffened for a moment, and then softened into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as he walked her over to the nearest wall and pressed her against it. A low moan rose from her throat, his hands cupping the soft globes of her ass as he ground himself between her legs, his tongue twining with hers.
He held her against the wall with his hips, using one hand to tear at her clothes as their kisses deepened, the scent and taste and feel of her making him feel like he was drowning in a sea of flames. With the last of his will power he tore his mouth from hers and looked down at her. “Do I have your permission, Megan? I want you, but only if this is what you want, too.”
She took a ragged breath and framed his face with her hands. Her lips were swollen with his kisses, her eyes heavy-lidded and gleaming with arousal. “I want this, too. Whatever this is, I want it badly.”
He bowed his head so their foreheads touched and stared into her eyes. “This is the rux.”
“What’s that?”
He drew in a breath, then uttered words he never imagined he’d say. “You are my mate, Megan Richards. You are mine.”
Pleasure and need had fogged her brain so badly it took her a few seconds for his words to sink in. The moment they did, she dropped her hands to his shoulders and pushed him back a few inches. “Whoa. I’m your mate? Since when? How?”
He lowered her to the floor, letting her slide down his body so that she felt every hard inch of him on her way down. “My dragon knew from the moment we met. I refused to believe it at first. He’s going to be incredibly smug about this.”
“Your dragon is going to be smug? Aren’t you the same thing –things?” She shook her head, trying to make sense of everything.
“We are two parts of the same whole, though our dragon is the manifestation of our deepest instincts and desires. Sometimes, we disagree.”
“Wait, you argue with yourself. Do you lose much?” She knew she was deliberately ignoring what he’d said about being mates, but she wasn’t ready to deal with that. Not yet. Maybe not ever, but somehow, she doubted denial was going to be an option.
“When my dragon first emerged, I lost a few times. I was almost as wild and impulsive as he was. It hasn’t been like that for more than a century, though.” He lifted his free hand to stroke her hair back from her face. “Not until I met you.”
“And this rux thing…it’s why you kissed me earlier?”
“The rux is a mating fever. It happens when we find the one we are destined for. I kissed you because I desired you, but the rux was part of it, yes.”
“And it means we’re mates? Forever?”
“Forever.” He nodded. “You are my sadina. Will be together from now until the moment of our deaths. That is the way of things with my people.”
That definitely sounded permanent, which was a problem. She was not the kind of person who did permanent very well. She liked change. Travel. New challenges. She fought a rising tide of panic and asked deflected again, “Sadina?”
“It’s how we say mate in my language. It’s a title as well as a word. You are destined to be my sadina, and I will be your sodon
o.”
“Uh huh. So, this is how it is for your species, but what about mine? We don’t do mating fevers and destiny. Well, not outside of Hollywood movies and romance novels, which are awesome, but not exactly grounded in reality.”
“I don’t know. There’s only been one other mating like this. Prince Radek of the Snow Dragon Clan found his mate here on Earth, too.”
“And she just went with it? Poof, she’s a dragon’s girlfriend living on another planet.” She remembered hearing the story, but never in a million years had she considered it could happen to her.
He chuckled. “I believe it took her some time to adjust, but yes, she is mated to Prince Radek.”
“And what if I don’t want to be mated?”
His voice lowered to a low rumble. “We have no choice in this. The Gods have made their decision. We must abide by it.” His thumb traced over her lower lip. “I wasn’t prepared for you, either. But now I have you, there is not a force in the universe that could make me give you up.”
“Even if I said no?” Every cell in her body was screaming yes, but as much as she wanted him, she needed to know she had some choice. Destiny be damned.
He stiffened. “If you decline, I will give you all the time I can, but the rux…it will grow stronger as time passes, and we have already been in its thrall for hours.”
“Stronger?” She already felt like her libido had been dialled up to eleven. “For how long?”
“Days. Three or four. It’s impossible to know.”
“But the others. We have to find them.”
“We will. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way. The rux will fog our minds, but not all the time. We will manage.”
She took a slow breath and tried to untangle her brain from the needs of her body. She wanted him. She really, really wanted him. She liked him, too. But love? Forever? She couldn’t deal with that right now. “If we sleep together, will it get easier to think clearly?”
He nodded slowly. “For a time. Then the rux will build again.” His lips turned up into a slow, sexy smile. “But to be clear, I do not intend for either of us to do much sleeping.”
That smile melted her brain and made her heart race. She already knew her answer. It wasn’t the most rational decision she’d ever made, but the logic worked well enough. For once, she could have what she wanted without feeling like she’d abandoned her duty, and what she wanted, was him. “Then, my answer is yes. Just for tonight, though. We’ll have to figure out the rest later.”
“But for tonight, you belong to me.” His words ended on a growl that made her toes curl, and then his mouth was on hers. His kiss was searing, igniting a firestorm of passion that threatened to consume her. She closed her eyes and let it happen.
Strong hands fisted her shirt and she waited for the sound of tearing fabric, but instead he muttered a single word and her clothing vanished. Her bare skin pressed to the wall behind her, the cool air of the gym washing her overheated flesh like a winter wind.
She placed her hands on his hips and tugged at the waistband of his pants in silent encouragement. It melted away beneath her fingers. She ran her hands over him, exploring his body inch by hungry inch.
When he finally raised his head and broke the kiss, she opened her eyes and got her first look at him. Naked. Hard. His golden eyes gleamed with a hunger that stole her breath and made her heart pound. His cock was caught between them. She felt the thickness of it, along with several hard, raised ridges that intrigued her. What would that feel like when he took her? She couldn’t wait to find out.
“Wow.” It wasn’t the most flattering of comments, but her brain wasn’t working very well.
“Wow, indeed.” Karos cupped her face in his large hands, leaning in to kiss her gently before letting his gaze drift over her. “Bless Daga and Solun for gifting me with a goddess of my own.”
“Pretty sure you’re the god here, mister I can turn into a dragon and make with the magical mojo at will. And a very sexy one at that.”
Heat flared in his golden eyes as he sank to his knees in front of her, brushing hungry kisses to her stomach, moving lower with every kiss. She buried her hands in his dark red hair, steadying herself against the onslaught of sensation his touch unleashed.
Without a word, he slid a hand between her legs, coaxing her to widen her stance. She moved her legs apart, trying to ignore the sudden sense of vulnerability that came with her new position. Vulnerable. Open. Directly in front of the door… Shit.
“We need to stop. The door. Someone could walk in and see…a lot more than I’m comfortable with.”
His expression darkened, and for a second she thought he was going to protest. “I should have thought of that. I am sorry, sadina.” He held out a hand to the door and uttered a guttural sound that only vaguely sounded like language at all. A second later, the access panel beside the door sizzled, sparked, and went dead. “No one is coming through that door, now.”
“What did you do?” she asked, drawing out the words.
He grinned, the playful expression making him look like much younger man. “Magical mojo.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but her words died unspoken as he reached between her thighs and slid a thick finger into her folds, stroking directly over her clit with the pad of his finger.
She shivered and tightened her fingers in his hair as her world started to spin out of control. Within seconds, his fingers were slick with her juices and her hips rocked against his hand, guiding him to the places she craved him the most. He was a fast learner, and soon he had her panting, her legs trembling as pleasure bloomed inside her.
He shifted his big body into a new position, using his free hand to guide her right leg over his shoulder, opening herself to him completely.
“My sadina,” he said, his voice possessive, the last syllables morphing into a growl that was more animal than man.
“Your dragon?”
“Is very pleased you and I are finally naked.”
“Finally? We only met a few hours ago.”
His eyes flashed and his voice changed, deeper and rougher than before. “Still too long.”
His dragon had taken control for a moment. She knew it. Before she could confirm it, Karos’ head was between her thighs. His tongue and fingers worked together, and every thought in her head vanished beneath a crashing wave of pleasure.
She could do nothing but ride the waves that rose and fell in time to the touch of his mouth. His tongue set tiny fires everywhere he touched her, and just as she thought she couldn’t possibly take any more, he slid two fingers into her channel, filling her with hard, fast thrusts of his hand. He sucked the delicate pearl of her clit into his mouth and she came apart, uttering a broken, wordless cry as he continued his merciless onslaught, hurling her into an orgasm so strong she forgot to even breathe.
Her legs were still shaking when Karos rose to his feet, his hands landing on her waist as he moved in close and kissed her. She rose on her toes and kissed him back, rubbing herself against him, needing to feel his bare skin against hers. Their tongues tangled as they kissed. Hot, messy kisses punctuated by groans and whispers of each other’s names.
“Need you,” he said, his voice rough and raw.
“Need you, too.”
He bent, cupping her ass in his hands and lifting her back into his arms. She loved that he could do that, his strength as sexy as everything else about this strange, amazing male. She twined her arms around his neck, fingers in his hair, mouth on his and wrapped her legs around his hips. The thick shaft of his cock pressed to the seam of her pussy, and she wriggled her hips, trying to bring them even closer together. She needed him inside her more than she needed her next breath.
He groaned into her mouth and lifted her higher, then lowered her so the broad head of his cock slowly slipped inside her. Her channel stretched around him, her body giving way to his until he was buried hilt deep inside her. They stayed that way for a moment. Not moving. Not speaking. Just�
�being. It was the most intimate thing she’d ever experienced.
When he raised his mouth from hers, she moaned in protest. She didn’t want this to be over. Not yet. She wanted to stay connected to him in this one, brief moment of bliss.
“Do you feel it?” he asked, his tone hushed.
“I feel you. Us. For a second there it was perfect.”
“Yes, it was, my sadina.”
He kissed her then. It started off slow and tender, but it quickly built to a crescendo as she kissed him back, and flexed her inner walls around his cock.
He groaned into her mouth and moved in a hard, steady rhythm, every stroke adding to the fire already burning inside her. She uttered a needy cry and met him thrust for thrust. His head fell back as passion overcame him, his movements growing harder and more erratic with every passing second.
His name fell from her lips again and again, until she realized her voice was echoing off the walls of the gym. She buried her face in the crook of his neck to muffle her cries as her reality unravelled, leaving her adrift in a realm of pure pleasure.
Her legs tightened around his hips as her orgasm neared and she rode his cock hard, taking everything he offered her and giving back in kind. At the moment of release, she closed her teeth on his skin, biting him as a scream tore from her throat.
He roared. A primal, wild cry that would have terrified her if anyone else had made it. His orgasm thundered through him and he pounded into her with bruising power. He bowed his head and bit her throat. Then, her senses exploded. For a moment she could feel Karos inside her, not just her body, but inside her soul. It didn’t make sense and it was over far too quickly, but even afterward, she had a sense of connection with her lover that hadn’t been there before.
When she finally came back to herself, Karos still held her, but his hold was gentler and he was nuzzling the side of her neck. “I am sorry. I did not mean to do that. But you bit me and I…I lost control.”
She raised her head and smiled at him as he lifted his gaze to hers. “I didn’t mean to bite you, either. Since I did it first, I think this one is on me.”
