Don’t go there. To buy into this, I’d have to believe the Lifegiver was some sort of below-the-ground matchmaker who fixed dragon shifters up with women from the surface of Earth.
Yeah, right. This was just a hookup, not some sort of magically-arranged encounter that would end in me mating with a dragon.
Except, Jarik seemed to think I’d been brought here specifically for him.
“Why do you think we’re mated?” I asked him, strolling around inside the short space between the outer and inner wall of the fortress city. I was eager to check out the walls, the floor, and excavate for treasure. This place could have a bailey or battlements, like medieval castles. If I had my say, I’d spend the rest of my life here, exploring, but we did need to settle a few things between us first.
“In my world, when a dragon wishes to mate, he goes to the Lifegiver pool for her blessing. I was granted the right to hunt a mate, and then I found you.”
Well, and then I landed on top of him. I tilted my head. “How do you know this Lifegiver sent me to you?”
“Since you’re the first unattached woman I encountered, you’re my destined mate.” Striding over to stand in front of me, he stroked my hair and pressed against my neck to pull my face up to his. He kissed me too fast; I didn’t have time to savor it. “And now, I’ve marked you again.”
Frowning, I stepped back a pace. “That was just a kiss.”
He chuckled. “Between us, it will never be just a kiss. But I marked you first with dragonfire. Outside, while we lay in the grass.”
“I don’t remember fire.” Liar. This man’s touch was fire. “Your breath! You breathed on me.” And it was hot and electric, and it felt fantastic. I’d practically come in a flash.
He nodded, his eyes gleaming, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. That gleam suggested he wanted to lay me down on the tile and mark me all over again. Flames licked through my veins at the thought.
“A little exhalation doesn’t mean it’s time for you to move in and raid my fridge.”
“Never doubt that you’re mine,” he growled. “When I take you to Muraque, we will wed.”
“Just like that, we’re getting married? No flowers or chocolates or getting down on one knee at a baseball game and proposing?” I teased. Why was I even contemplating going along with this wild fantasy? I should be shoving him away, looking for the dragonstone heart, then figuring out how to restore it to his kingdom. Doing something to help my friends.
However, after meeting Jarik, I could see how someone could fall in love with a dragon.
Crap. I wasn’t falling for this guy already, was I?
“What does the dragonstone look like?” I asked. Anything to provide a distraction. Otherwise, I’d be stroking his shoulders. Kissing him. Dragging him down onto the dusty floor tiles. Hell, coating my own skin in black dirt.
“It’s red crystal. And heart-shaped.”
Duh.
As if he knew where my attention was wandering, his cock twitched and thrust against his belly. Talk about distracting.
“Don’t tell me you plan on walking around naked while we look for the heart?” I really didn’t want him to cover up, now did I?
He glanced down.
I tried not to stare, but jeez, he was big and beyond gorgeous. A smidge of light filtered in through cracks in the stone, highlighting him in all his glory.
The twitch had turned into a full-on woody.
“I prefer to be naked,” he said.
“Why?” Not that I was truly complaining.
“It’s easier to shift into a dragon if I don’t have to strip.”
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d be laughing my head off. Because this conversation would sound wacko to the rest of the world. My world, that is.
I wasn’t so sure about Jarik’s.
Might be best to focus on the subject at hand, before I dropped my climbing suit and begged him to mark me again.
Who needed roses or baseball game proposals?
“Where do you think we’ll find the heart?” I asked, squinting as I strode ahead of him, into a four-story atrium, AKA cobweb city, where I stared around in awe.
Gilt, gilt, and more gilt. As if someone had strolled through here with a bucket of gold paint and a brush. I had a feeling it wasn’t paint.
On the opposite side of the room, a broad, ornate staircase wound up to the top floor. A long, railed hall with doors leading who knows where, awaited whomever dared investigate that area.
To my left was a large archway, and when I peeked through, I found what looked like a ballroom, if the fancy chandeliers, smooth wooden floor, and mirrored walls were anything to go by. Off to the right of the atrium, I spied a freakin’ glorious library, filled with dusty tomes. I itched to pull them from the shelves, one by one, and read them.
I wanted to run across the library floor…No, up the stairs! The urge to explore was nearly overwhelming.
Instead, I held myself back and returned to the atrium, where Jarik had remained while I was giving in to my curiosity. On the far side of the room, to the left of the stairway, stood another door. Who knew where that one led?
“I believe we’re in one of the many Noran castles that ring the outer wall,” Jarik said. “There’s one for each of the fifty elf families who lived here long ago.”
“Real elves?”
“Norans, actually.”
“What happened to them?”
“They died off. Some were murdered. Other succumbed to disease.”
“That’s awful.”
He shrugged. “A common side effect when surface dwellers come to this world.”
Surface dwellers. “You mean people like me.”
“You’re different.” The flick of his hand might wave off my words, but the seriousness in his eyes suggested otherwise. But then, how could he trust me? He barely knew me.
“Am I truly different than others who have come here to hurt you and your people?”
He cupped my face. Kissed me softly. Shivers flew through me from his simple touch.
“Would you ever cause me harm?” he asked.
My smirk couldn’t be denied. “I do bite on occasion.”
His growl ripped through the room. “Show me.”
I stepped back, away from his touch. This guy was addictive. If I wanted to find the dragonstone heart and help my friends, I’d need to keep my wits about me. “Maybe later.”
He caught my hand and pulled me back, into his chest. “PJ.”
“Jarik,” I mimicked, inserting pretend whine in my voice.
His sigh pressed his chest against my back. “You’re going to fight me on this, aren’t you, my mate?”
Spinning around in his arms, I grinned up at him. “What kind of reward do you think you’ll get, if you catch me?”
I giggled and darted away.
With a snarl, he stalked me.
Chapter Six
Jarik
Her laughter trilling out, PJ raced up the stairs.
Naturally, I gave chase.
I could’ve caught her easily, but there was something highly appealing about watching her ass sway as she ran, let alone the giggle she threw over her shoulder when she saw I was right behind her.
Reaching out, I pinched her hip.
She squealed and kept running, hitting the upper story landing and turning left to race down the open hall.
“You’ll never catch me,” she huffed out as she turned the knob on the first door she found and darted inside.
“Know right now, mate, I never lose,” I told her as I entered the room and shut the door behind us.
A bedroom. Perfect.
I leaned against the frame and crossed my arms on my chest.
Her gaze flew down my body, and she grinned. “You sure get worked up fast.”
No use pretending I didn’t want her. My cock had been making demands from the moment she landed on my abs in the grass.
Gods willing, I’d get anothe
r chance to mark her, and give her complete satisfaction.
With dragonfire roaring through my veins, I stalked forward and scooped her up, while she laughed and wiggled. Her hair tickled my arm, and I didn’t miss the fact that she leaned close and kissed my chest.
Growling with need, I tossed her up and onto the enormous bed, then leapt onto the mattress to join her. Since elves were eight to ten feet tall, their rooms and furniture had been built to accommodate their size.
When dust rose off the bed in a thick cloud, I rolled her to the side and shoved down the top blanket layers, revealing red silky sheets that appeared clean and unused, protected from the ages by the thick spread.
“What are you going to do to me, now that you’ve caught me, dragon man?” she asked in a come-hither voice. Reclining on the pillows, with her hair tousled and a big smile on her pretty face, she was the most gorgeous sight I’d ever seen.
I had to be with her.
Climbing up over her and bracing my hands on either side of her shoulders, I nibbled her neck. “I’m going to eat you.”
“Oh, no, mighty beast,” she said, her tone high-pitched, her eyes wide but filled with humor. “Please don’t eat me. I’m just a lonely archaeologist on a quest to find a heart.”
I smacked my fist against my chest. “You have already found one.”
Her aww was cut off when I tugged down the fastening on her blue outfit.
As my fingers trailed along the exposed skin on her chest and belly, she clutched my arms and lifted her hips, moaning.
Sitting up slightly, she yanked her arms from her sleeves. Her shoes were kicked off, landing on the carpeted floor with dull thuds. Her clothing soon followed.
Nothing remained between us except her few scraps of snug blue material that tempted more than they hid.
My breathing faster than it ought to be, I slid my thumbs through the sides of the garment tucked between her legs and tugged it down over her thighs, and all the way to her ankles.
“Yes,” she said, kicking the scrap of fabric aside and unclasping the blue fabric covering her breasts. It joined her outfit on the floor.
Unable to stop, I cupped her breasts with both hands. I leaned down and sucked a nipple into my mouth.
“Jarik.”
I liked that I could make her pant.
Dropping my body fully down onto hers, my skin met hers, and it was beyond arousing.
“PJ,” I breathed as I kissed along her collarbone, aiming for her breasts again. Round and full, with pink tips, they called to me. “I—”
“I want you,” she said, before I could ask. “Every bit of you this time.”
My mate could turn me on with a simple look or just a few words. I wanted to drive myself inside her body, but I also wanted her with me.
We were in no hurry. No reason I couldn’t get her heated up first.
Sliding my fingertips around her nipple, I teased the rigid bud.
PJ thrust her chest toward my hand, her eyelids closing, a moan escaping her lips. Her frantic hands cupped my shoulders, pulling me close.
I sucked her nipple into my mouth and stroked the tip with my tongue while I trailed my fingers down her belly to that overheated spot between her legs. I’d die if I couldn’t touch her. Taste her.
Her thighs splayed wide, and I cupped her pussy.
Fuck. She was unbelievably wet.
I kissed her belly that quivered and massaged her hips and inner thighs, working my way downward.
Lifting her legs, I placed them on my shoulders.
Her body lay spread out in front of me like a heavenly banquet. A feast for a man who had never eaten in his life. I licked her slit, savoring her sweet flavor. As she bucked, I held her down with my palm and plunged my tongue inside her.
Her tight bud called to me, and I gave it equal attention, sucking it into my mouth and then biting down hard.
She gasped, and when I drove three fingers into her, pressing until I could go no further, and breathed dragonfire on her slit, she thrashed on the bed and shrieked.
“Come for me, PJ,” I said, pulling out my fingers and plunging them back inside. “Do it for me again, love.”
“No!” Bolting upright, she yanked me up and over her, her hand reaching for my cock. She palmed it and slid her thumb across the wet tip. “Dammit, you’re going to be inside me when I come this time.”
“But—”
“No buts. I want it. Now.”
Far be it for me to deny my mate a damn thing.
“I want you eager first.”
She scowled. “Consider me eager.”
Dropping back on my heels, I stroked her sides. Her breasts. “There’s one problem. I’m big.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“Sherlock?”
“I’m well aware of your size, since it’s been on display since I met you.”
“Are you complaining?”
She smirked. “Actually, I like how you run around with nothing on. It’s unusual. Intriguing.”
I could go with intriguing.
“Incredibly sexy.”
I liked that even better. But while I’d never been with a woman before, there were books in our library that described how to drive a woman wild. “I need to make sure you’re ready for me, because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Let me decide what hurts and what feels good, okay?” she said as she dropped onto her back and lifted her knees all the way up, past her head. “Finally, all that yoga’s paying off.”
“That means?”
“I’m…limber.”
Her body lay spread out before me like the richest treasure in the world.
It was only right that I devour her.
Chapter Seven
PJ
Even though I’d made my cock demands clear, Jarik was taking his sweet time fulfilling them.
My body was strung so tight, I felt like I was going to explode up through the roof.
While I kept my ankles behind my head, showing him everything I possessed down there, he crouched and exhaled on me again.
Dragonfire. I was rapidly becoming addicted to it.
He teased my opening, inserting one finger. Two. Three. Four. Pressing against my inner walls as he slid his fingers in and out.
“Gorgeous,” he murmured. His tongue stroked my clit, and it was all I could do to keep my legs in the air. I wanted to grab his head and pull him closer. Shout for him to never stop.
Fingers moving, his mouth hot on my pussy, he drove me nearer to ignition. If he kept at it, I was going to burst into a giant ball of flames.
“Jarik!”
He glanced up. “Yes?”
“You know what I want.” What I needed.
“I do.” Looming over me, he braced his hands on the headboard. The tip of his cock slid inside me a fraction.
And something vibrated.
“Whoa!” I gaped up at him. “What the…?” I peeled myself off the headboard, where he’d pressed me, and when he rested back on his haunches, I crawled up his thighs. “What is that?” The end of his dick…Okay, so I hadn’t seen anything like that before.
“All of us have them,” he said, the pride of a thousand dragons blazing in his voice. “It’s made to give you pleasure.”
“I’ve gotta feel it inside.”
He chuckled. “That’s what I was trying to do.”
“Does it randomly vibrate, or can you control it?”
“I’m in full control.”
I wiggled my eyebrows. “So you say.”
His eyes darkened. “So I know, woman.”
“Let’s do it, then.”
Nudging my shoulder, he tried to rise up over me. “Lay down.”
“Uh, uh.” Grinning, I grabbed the head of his cock, squeezing. “I think you need to learn a lesson about teasing. I’m gonna be on top this time. You get to lay down.”
“PJ.” His voice deepened in warning.
All this alpha dragon he-man stuff was going
to have to take a hike. He’d soon learn that I had equal say in this relationship.
Relationship? That gave me pause. I’d just met him, and I was already dreaming about a little thatched cottage, a stew in the crockpot, and a baby on my hip?
“Jarik,” I said mimicking him, but my voice came out shaky. What did I want, other than what he offered this moment?
“I’m happy to let you ride.” He tugged me down on top of him, and I brought up my legs to straddle his waist.
I wanted…
Warmth spread through me, and at that moment, I realized that being this dragon’s mate might be what I’d needed my entire life.
Even though it was too soon. And too heady. While I wasn’t sure I could handle the thought of commitment right now, I could handle what was probing between my legs.
With dragonfire lighting up my veins, I rose up over him and centered his vibrating cock on my clit.
Yum.
All this relationship stuff could wait until we’d found the dragonstone heart. By then, I’d know what I wanted.
While Jarik cupped my breasts and rolled my nipples, sparks shot through my body, making me wetter than I’d been before.
I dropped myself down, pushing, taking all of him inside me in a rush. Closing my eyes, I squeezed tight and he groaned out my name.
This is where Kegel exercises paid off.
“Fuck, PJ,” he growled out, his eyelids hooding. “You feel fantastic.”
It was wonderful.
Unable to hold still, I lifted up and pushed back down.
He groaned and pumped his hips in rhythm with mine. Pupils dilating, his hands trembled on my breasts as he urged me to go faster.
Picking up my pace, I rode him, rising and dropping back down, taking all of him to the hilt as he thrust up to meet me.
His vibrating dick was awesome. It seemed designed to tweak my clit on the way in, then rub my G-spot on the way out. It was driving me close to the rift.
But I wanted more. I wanted him slapping against me, groaning in my ear, and coming deep within me.
Lifting up, I released him and pivoted around until my back faced him. Then I took him deep inside again. While I shifted against him, he rose up and grabbed my breasts, pinching my nipples.
CLAIMED BY A DRAGON: Fated Dragon Series (Book 3 of 3) (DRAGON MATED) Page 4
