“Won’t Amy lose her ability to dreamwalk if the powers are flitting in and out?”
“I may, but I’m not relying on that.” She pulled out a laptop. “I’m a lawyer by training. I do research. It’s what I’ve been taught to do. Discovery phase in all of my cases is critical and I’m damned good at it. This, what’s going on here, is discovery phase.”
“You have a plan?” Frank asked.
“I have evidence I need to gather. Anyone and everyone who has experienced or witnessed a power outage”—Amy tossed Max a look when he chuckled—“will need to relate that to me. I don’t need to interview all of you. What I would like you to do is write out your experience. Date, time, place, persons, and experience. If you have more than one, send them to me. I don’t need explicit details—just, simple. I have an email set up for it.”
Poppy raised a hand and spoke, “I will send you all an email with the instructions on what you need to do with this. I will send it tonight. If you have experienced a power outage, please let us know by Tuesday. We’re going to have read all of them.”
“We are.” Amy nodded. “And please remember name and address and phone number. There may be a few of you I need to talk to flesh out the details more thoroughly.”
Rijn suddenly leaned hard on Sia, and she magically yanked a chair over to them so she could sit him down. He was pale and clammy, and he collapsed bonelessly into the chair. Max watched with rapt attention—he knew from Sia that this was what happened before he gave a prediction. He elbowed Henry. “Phone, fast. He’s going into trance.”
Henry had the phone out and recording as Rijn started to speak.
“The forest of the night breeds a future not nurture a past. The shadows hold the cruelest truth, a blood shared by two. One in light, a bright future. One in dark, the cruelty of no bounds. A dragon’s heart, a dreamer’s mind, twine in two to find the first clue. A dragon’s mind, a dreamer’s heart, two shall not be denied. A dragon’s dream, shattered on the ice of midwinter, a new life forged on Beltane. The summer mystic will rise, and the circle will be complete with the bonding of the blood.”
Rijn coughed and slumped over.
“Shit,” Henry said. “I’ve never seen a foretelling.”
“Not many people have,” Max answered. “That’s why you hit record, right?”
Henry looked at his phone. “Yup. Got it.”
“That one is going to take a while to untangle.” Amy sighed. “Bottle of water for him, please. Anyone? Some water for the Mad Wizard?”
One of the people in the front row tossed up the unopened bottle they had in their hand and Sia caught it. She waited for Rijn to stir, then opened it and helped him take a sip. He looked up at her, and Max’s breath caught at the adoration in his eyes for her.
After a sip, Rijn spoke softly, “I have to go. It’s too much right now.”
Sia nodded, and she and Niko helped him out of the chair and back up the aisle of the lecture hall.
“All right, everyone,” Poppy called, bringing attention back to the lectern, “we got more than we bargained for here. Let’s adjourn, and I’ll email a newsletter with minutes and information for your stories. I’ll include Rijn’s prediction and set up a chat thread for your ideas.”
The room emptied quickly and Max just stood by the desk, waiting. It took a while, but Amy finally turned around to him.
“Hi, Max.”
He folded his arms “Hi.”
“Are you angry with me?”
“A little. Since I’ve been begging you to come out for months. Rijn shows up in a dream and bam, you’re on a plane.”
Amy wrung her hands. “I didn’t know you were having problems with the magic out here. You never said anything.”
“Are you only out here because of Sectorum? Because if you are, I’ll accommodate you and leave you alone.”
She grabbed his wrist. “Max, this hasn’t been easy for me. You came out swinging with the mates thing, and I’m trying to get my head wrapped around everything. I came out because of Rijn, but also came out because of my mother and Carl. They’re upset with me for not considering your part of this.”
“And what’s my part?”
“Just like I fought to have Betsy come back to North Carolina because of all her—our—connections, you have connections here. Powerful ones. Not that I don’t have them there, but yours are fundamental to who you are. I was wrong to assume you’d give up your telescope. I was wrong to assume you’d give up your teaching post. I didn’t understand how you were tied here, and all I could see was me leaving my family. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want you to leave your family, Amy. But I can’t leave here. I can’t. There’s too much that ties me to Pine Valley. And there’s more now, too. You and I need to talk, a lot. And soon. Where are you staying?”
“At the hotel in town.”
“Let’s get your bags, and you can stay with me. I can explain everything while we pick them up.”
She blinked a few times, clearly torn on his directive to stay with him. Taking a step toward him, she pulled out the necklace he was wearing. “Is this your…”
“My what?” Max’s stomach tumbled down.
“Talisman. The piece you always keep with you.”
He grimaced, then swallowed hard. “No.” Max pulled up his sleeve and showed her the bracelet he always wore. “This stone is.” The red ruby gleamed at them in the odd light of the room. “I bought this for my son, to put into his hoard when he was born.”
Snapping her eyes to his, Amy’s jaw dropped. “Son?” The word was high-pitched and shocked.
“This is what we need to talk about.” He took her hand and led her to the side of the dais. “We need time. Let me grab my briefcase and we can get in the car.”
“You’re mated?” She didn’t let go of his arm.
“No. I was married.”
“Max…”
“Amy, please. Please, I will tell you everything, but let me grab my briefcase.”
“Forget the briefcase!”
“I can’t!” he snapped. “If I don’t get the briefcase, the dragon gets pissed and will take me down for the night.”
With her mouth forming a perfect ‘O’, Amy released him. Max ran to the office and grabbed the messenger bag he used as a briefcase and ran back to the lecture hall, swinging the strap over his head. Amy was still there and looked sheepish. He walked up to her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her in. “I’m sorry. I have things in the case I couldn’t leave. The dragon would not be pleased.” He dropped a fierce kiss on her lips, consuming her the way he always wanted to when she was around him.
She relaxed into his arms and permitted him to take the kiss deeper, but seemed to know exactly when to pull back—they definitely had found there was a point of no return for them in the few visits between Angel Ridge and now. “I’m sorry too. I should have come to visit sooner.”
Letting her stand on her own two feet, he took her hand. “Come on. This is going to be a stressful car ride.”
Amy stared at her hands.
He’d been married, and had a kid and lost both.
Or thought he did. That was the tragic part—Collin showing up one hundred years later. Max never had a chance to be a father to him. Collin wasn’t angry, Max assured her, but it wasn’t fair to him at all.
“How do you feel about all this?” Max glanced over at her in the car as they sat in the driveway of his house.
“Overwhelmed. Everything is overwhelming me right now. Rijn in my dream, the demon in the backyard, my mother and Carl telling me I needed to be here. You with a kid. A hundred year old kid. That’s mind-boggling.” She hunched in the seat. “This is my life now, though, if I’m really going to play a role in the Sectorum.” She glanced at him and swallowed. “If I’m going to play a part in your life.”
He was quiet another minute, just staring up at the dutch-hip colonial house. He’d kept it neat, and his, since he built it in 1918. S
he could hardly believe that he built it. But then again, she had no problem with him being a dragon shifter.
The door popped open, and she waited while he climbed out and shut the door. He walked around, opened the door, and offered his hand to her. She took it, lifting herself from the car. As she stood, he studied her, his fingers brushing hair off her face and tucking it behind her ear. He ran his fingers down her jaw to her chin and brushed a kiss on her lips.
She yelped when he reached down, swept her feet off from under her, and kicked the door closed. He carried her to the door, easily opening the new keyless lock, and walked inside.
He didn’t even put her down. He walked straight up the stairs, the majestic home seeming to be welcoming as she only got the briefest glances. Pushing a door open with his hip, Max carried her into his bedroom and carefully placed her on the bed. Taking just a minute to look at her there, he was suddenly above her, his lips caressing hers, asking and possessive at the same time.
“Do you know,” he asked, between the kisses that trailed down the column of her throat, “how much I’ve wanted to see you in my bed? Do you know how much I have dreamed of you here with me? Do you have any fucking clue how much you belong here with me?”
His lips were hot, and she felt like he had caught her soul on fire. “We don’t know each other yet, Max. I need time…”
“I know, mój cenny. I know. But you belong here. Please, can’t we think about making this less distant? More frequent?” He held himself above her, and his eyes were alight with desire. “I am not the wealthiest dragon, but I have the means for us to visit. Often. Vacations. Getaways. Ski weekends. It kills me to stay away.”
“Don’t, then. Don’t stay away. I just need time, Max. Not distance.”
She saw him swallow hard, and a spark of hope sprang into his eyes. “You’ll…mate with me? You’ll be my wife?”
“Not tonight, but someday, soon enough, yes. I will.” She smiled at him. “Right now, why don’t you show me how much you like seeing me here?”
His finger plucked open the first few buttons of her shirt, and then without preamble, he pulled the whole thing up and over her head.
Amy’s gasp was loud, but she let out a moan in the next instant when his mouth found her nipple. His hands were everywhere at once and she could almost swear he’d grown another set of them. But she couldn’t stop the reaction through her whole body as his hand smoothed up and down her arm.
He blinded her with his smoldering kisses, and his fiery tongue all over her skin. She felt like she was sinking into the bed and would never be able to get out of it again. Not really a problem with the way he was feasting on her.
Max drew back and stood from the bed, looking down at her. She could see the evidence of his erection outlined on his pants and she wanted to feel his—
“Hey!” Amy gasped. Her hands had been secured to the bed posts while he had been seducing her with his mouth. “Max?”
Leaning down and tucking one finger under the band of her panties, he drew them down her legs. He left a trail of scorching kisses behind them, and Amy felt herself whimpering.
And a moment later, her legs were tied to the footboard posts.
“Max!”
“God, you look amazing,” he whispered, trailing a hand from her mound to the valley of her breasts. His hands wrapped around her, finding the clasp in the back, and deftly unhooking it. He glanced at it, trapped on her arms. “A miscalculation on my part.”
“Untie me, Max, I want to touch you.”
He pretended to think. “No.” Instead, he crushed the little plastic rings that held the straps to the cups and whipped the whole thing from her body.
“Max!”
“We can repair that. I know you women are always bitching about the cost of bras…”
“Maximillian!”
He leaned in close. “Better than me just ripping it off, don’t you think?” He nibbled on the shell of her ear and all thoughts of the piece of clothing were gone.
“If you’re going to leave me tied up, you need to be naked,” Amy whispered.
He straightened, and in the next second, all of his clothes were on the floor, and he was crawling up the bed, up her body, pressing kisses wherever he could. She was going boneless and they hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff.
Max licked along the inside of her thigh and pressed her legs a little wider. “Damn, that’s pretty,” he mumbled just before he sealed his lips over her clit. Amy let out a string of unintelligible curses and tried to get away from him. The ties held in her place, at his mercy.
He clearly had no intentions of being merciful, as his tongue danced and teased her. Squirming, there was no way to get away from him and Amy gasped and swore a bit more.
She yelped loudly as his finger slipped into her tunnel and searched deep inside her for the tender spot that was the key to an almost-guaranteed screaming climax. His one finger was quickly joined by another, and he brushed over her depths as his tongue and teeth had her moaning.
“Max, I’m…”
He rumbled against her sex, and she yelped at the sensation. “Go on, mój cenny. Let go. It won’t be the last time I make you come tonight.”
Even though he had barely touched her, even though she’d been naked for less than ten minutes, there was no stopping her orgasm. It was like she was waiting for permission—her whole body clenched and let out a delighted yell as the climax took hold and ripped through her mercilessly.
If she hadn’t been lying down, she would have hit the floor, shaking and trembling.
It took a moment for her to realize Max was sucking and nipping his way up her body, up her stomach, her breasts, her collarbone, her neck—all the way up to her mouth.
She was on his lips and she loved the taste of the two of them combined.
His words were a whisper of sound over her lips. “I’m going to fuck you now, mój cenny.”
She felt languid and blissful and stared up into his eyes. “Yes, please.”
He pushed his hard length slowly into her welcoming sheath. Even though she was still coming down from the orgasm, the feeling of his cock inside tripped all the right circuits. Amy could feel herself lighting up again.
“Jesus Christ,” she breathed. “I can’t get enough of you, Max.”
“Do you have any idea how absolutely fuckable you look from here? Tied up, exposed to me, supple…” He moved slowly back from her, his hips a smooth slow piston as his cock slid across her still throbbing clit.
Leaning down, he caught her mouth again and the kiss was just as slow and smooth as his movements in and out of her pussy. He dipped in, tasted her, savored her lips. Amy didn’t even care that she was tied up except for the fact she couldn’t wrap her hands around his gorgeous ass.
“Please let me go,” she whimpered. “I just want to touch you.”
Without losing his rhythm, Max reached back and flicked the knots away on the ties on her legs. Amy instantly wrapped them around him and sighed. His big body fit so well against her, she could hook her legs together behind him and press him in closer and tighter.
He was marvelously warm, there. He pulled his legs under him to support himself and kept up with his sensual torture on her body. Palming her breasts, his hands trailed up her arms again and she didn’t know what it was, but she adored the feeling of his palms on the soft underside of her skin. It tripped through her and made her shiver and—
“God, your nipples just pebbled up, Amy. That was absolutely lascivious, I have to remember that.”
“Max, please…”
“Please what, baby?”
“Just fuck me. God, I can tell I’m going to come again,” she bit out. The liquid feeling from the last climax was drifting away, and a tight, winding sensation replaced it in every corner of her body.
He moved a little faster, but she grabbed his ass with both hands and pulled him into her. “Hard, Max. Oh! My hands!”
He smiled and slammed into her, dr
iving himself as deep as he could go. He pressed and yanked and pulled and shoved harder and harder. He pulled the knots of the bindings and her hands came free. So instead of having her hands bound above her head, she was clinging to him desperately, enjoying every rough, hard inch of his cock as he possessed her.
“Touch yourself, mój cenny.” His whisper was quiet, a contrast to what his hips were currently doing to her.
Without question, Amy snaked a hand between them and dipped her finger down to her clit. Max’s mouth and teeth found the most tender spot on her neck and turned it into a playground where he nipped and sucked, and finally, bit her lightly.
It did terribly wonderful things to her whole body and she was pretty sure she invoked several forgotten gods as she crashed through another orgasm.
This time, her climax set his off and she felt the heat of his cum inside her, taking her back up into the rest of her orgasm. He pumped himself into her, relentlessly but with the utmost care, seeking only pleasure.
And it was, Amy decided, quite a pleasure.
Withdrawing slowly from her, Max sank down on the bed and pulled her close. She snuggled up to him and dusted a soft kiss on his still-sweaty pec.
“You know, Max, if you want to tie me up, I’m not against it. I just want to know how dirty we’re going to be so I can be right there with you.”
“Mm. I like being dirty with you, mój cenny. You’re so goddamn sexy.”
“What does that mean, Max? Moy tsenny?”
He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “My precious.”
Amy wiggled the lever on the coffee contraption that Max had on the counter, but it wasn’t working. She was pretty sure she’d filled it correctly, but there was no coffee happening.
No coffee happening meant no Amy happening.
“Here, let me.”
She screeched and ducked out of the way from the person who was now standing in front of the weird coffee tank pot appliance.
Putting his hands in the air, he took a step back from her. “Hi. Sorry?”
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