“Ryder,” she said his name, throat tightening as he started to go faster, finger rubbing against her sex at just the perfect speed to send her rapidly toward her first release.
“Come for me, Kira,” he said, voice husky, dominant as his hand didn’t let up at her center. Nor did his other hand that kept her held down, leaving her trapped in a whirlpool of her own arousal.
A second later, she did, screaming his name again and again while he watched her with rapt attention. Her hips bucked and pushed up, but it only pressed her clit against his hand again, making her come harder as the sky blurred above her and the walls seemed to shake from her release.
She let out all the pent-up air in her lungs as she came down, chest heaving from exertion. Ryder let her hands go, and for a moment, she missed being pinned down like that.
At least until he pulled off her pants and underwear at once, leaving her completely bare to his hungry gaze.
She returned her hunger in her own stare, and he obliged by taking off at least his pants, leaving him in gray underwear that did little to hide his thick bulge.
Her thighs clenched, throat going dry as she imagined feeling it deep inside her. Feeling Ryder, as he lost control and came with her tonight, strengthening their bond like never before.
But first, Ryder clearly had something else in mind as he spread her legs decisively, lowering his mouth to her center and licking up over her clit.
Oh God, it was like nothing else. The way he groaned low, sucking lightly and then using the tip of his tongue to flick against her. The way his hands held her thighs, steadying her senses even as she began to lose all ability to tell which way was up or down.
More, Ryder, she called out to him, not exactly sure how or when he could hear her thoughts but knowing that everything he gave was exactly what she wanted right now.
And when she felt one of his hands leave her thigh, moving to her aching sex, she practically thrust her hips to meet his two fingers as they slid into her. The sensation of his tongue and fingers working on her at the same time was almost too much, and she looked up at the stars, imagining his cock filling her as he caressed her lightly.
Before long, she was a wet, writhing mess as Ryder continued to work her over with three fingers now, thrusting slowly in and out at the same time he devoured her clit with his mouth. And try as she might, Kira couldn’t hold on any longer, coming again to the sight of bright spots sparkling behind her eyelids and the sensation of Ryder everywhere around her and in her.
This time, Ryder held her, letting her gasp for air while powerful shocks of pleasure coursed through her body like lightning.
And by the time she was finished, she was reaching for his underwear, trying to pull it off but accidentally ripping it off in the process as he just grinned mischievously.
“A little eager I see.” He laughed, one hand on her belly, the other on her thigh.
“Oops.” Though, in all honesty, she wasn’t sorry as she took in the sight of his sculpted, thick manhood.
So hot.
Ryder turned to reach for something in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a foil wrapper, which he tore open. “Protection?”
Kira gave him a confused look. “We’re both fae. What would we need protection from?”
“Good point.” And he tossed it aside, coming between her legs and making her body warmer just by his nearness, his masculine ferocity that always left her body begging for more.
She’d fantasized for so long about this. About him. About finally coming together in ways their past life could never have allowed.
The start of a new life with Ryder.
He leaned down, propping himself on the bed above her, hips between hers, the tip of his cock teasing her entrance, making her ache for him both in body and soul. “No one makes me feel like you do, Kira. I think maybe no one ever will.”
“Ryder…” She trailed off, just looking up at his gorgeous face, both of them naked.
“I guess what I’m saying is that regardless of what happens, I want to explore things with you at the end of this. Beyond our partnership. I want there to be more.”
He cupped her face while he spoke, thumb stroking her cheek, and she nestled against it. The touch was soft and comforting, a wild contrast to the intense eagerness of having him a moment away from being inside her.
“I want that too,” she replied, unable to imagine losing him again.
He leaned down to kiss her, softly and sweetly at first but more intense and heated as the seconds drew out.
And when he slowly thrust his thick shaft inside her, Kira groaned in ecstasy, the stretching, arousing feeling of his velvet hardness more overwhelming than anything else.
When he pulled his lips away from hers, she was already panting, taking a second to adjust to the sheer size of him before feeling white-hot pleasure pulsing inside her veins.
A pink glow hummed in the air around them, and Kira felt her magic so strongly it throbbed to the beat of her heart. But Ryder’s face showed only love and arousal as the fae part of her almost came out, so close to the surface as body met body, soul met soul.
Thankfully, she knew how to hold back, instead focusing on the sheer physical sensation of Ryder as they began to move in unison. It was like being pushed to the very limit as he sheathed himself inside her, making her hips and back tighten from the erotic motion.
Outside the cabin, Kira could hear crickets chirp as the moon rose higher, past the window above her, leaving them blanketed in shadows and limitless want. Her heart was racing, each thrust of his hips felt in her toes and fingers as he pleasured her.
Ryder’s body glowed, muscles straining as he focused on her, watching for any change in her reaction as he sped up. But between moans and harsh gasps, all Kira could think of was holding on for a second longer while pressure built inside her at an almost unbearable rate.
She knew she was going to come fast and hard.
But with Ryder, she knew no other way.
Her lover kept a steady rhythm, the slick sound of him slipping inside her again and again tickling her eardrums. She watched as his brow furrowed, eyes tensing as she could see him near the edge as well, playing with fire as both of them held on as long as possible.
And if she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes were turning from orange to yellow to a slightly greenish hue, a color that got more vibrant, more vivid as they got closer. She could feel his body tightening above her, motions becoming swifter, more heated as each precious moment took them higher.
His energy, green and black and purple, resonated within her, leaving Kira with an ever-greater sense of wonder at the man who was her everything. She reached up to cup the back of his neck, bringing his body closer so they were chest to chest, breath hitching from so much pent-up energy it was going to explode any second.
Ryder pushed inside one last time, and Kira thrust her hips to meet him, the last bit needed to send them both over the edge.
Kira came first, entire body arching against the bed as she screamed unintelligible words, still holding on to Ryder like a person drowning in love. A second later, she heard Ryder grunt, cock jerking inside as his body tightened into a wall of muscle, fingers clutching the sheets at her sides so tightly she could hear fabric tearing.
It took all of her focus just to feel him come with her. The pleasure was so deep, so overwhelming she lost herself for however it long it lasted. But every time her body wrenched with its release, making her cry out in wonder, Ryder was there, an anchor for her even as his own release moved through him with surprising intensity.
When they were both spent, Ryder leaned down, teasing her neck again before claiming her lips with his. Kira just held him, letting her hands feel down his back, his sides, his chest, reminding herself that this wasn’t a dream.
It was all real. Ryder was real.
Fate had truly brought them together.
And even though she knew their mission would continue, that there would be troubles
ahead, Kira believed—perhaps for the first time in her life—that things could finally work out for the both of them.
13
Kira stared at the cell in front of her, the man who would be her first permanent assignment.
He was the newest dragon-fae hybrid, and it was her first time meeting him.
His eyes were an intense yellow-green, peering at her hollowly as he sat by himself in the corner of a glassed-off cell that was magically sealed so he couldn’t escape.
How long had he been there before she’d arrived?
“I’m Kira,” she said, walking up to the glass wall.
He looked up at her, long, dark hair falling over and around his face. “So you’re the newest sadist assigned to my case?”
She was surprised by his eyes when they met hers defiantly. By the strength in them despite what he’d gone through.
“No. I’m here to help with your chaos injections.”
His expression darkened, making his handsome face cold. “Ah, too late. You just missed them.”
“No,” she said. “I mean I’m here to help you deal with the aftereffects.”
His eyes widened in surprise, just barely, and then narrowed in suspicion. “What? Why would the fae help anyone?”
“I convinced them that it’s better if we don’t let shifters suffer.”
“Right,” Ryder said. “Condescension to a dragon.”
She shook her head. “No. Let me show you. Can I come in?”
He sighed. “Seriously? You’re a brave one. The other scientists just zap me through a hole and work on me while I can’t move.” His eyes met hers, intense. “You aren’t scared?”
And despite what she’d heard about him, despite what she’d read was in him, no, she wasn’t.
And she could sense, behind the defiant look in his eyes, pain and despair that she needed to heal.
“I’m coming in.”
She hit a button and put her hand on a glass panel. A door opened in front of her, and she slid through it. It closed immediately behind her.
Ryder pushed himself off the ground and walked over to sit on his cot, rolling up a sleeve. “I’m guessing you have to give me a shot or something?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. Just give me your hand.”
His cheekbones flushed, and his entire body went rigid. “What do you mean?”
Her heart ached at the thought that he hadn’t been touched kindly before. She slid a hand over his, and he startled, then relaxed.
Then she let her magic flow into him.
Slowly, as pink warmth filled the room, his pallid skin regained its life again. The chaos in the air began to fade. The tension left his face, and he turned to smile at her.
And she felt her heart skip a beat as it never had when she’d helped anyone else.
“You made it feel better,” he said, still looking like the sky had turned green just because a fae had helped him.
“I will continue to do so,” she said. “I’m assigned to you from now on.”
He cocked his head. “So I’m still going to be tortured and experimented on, but I’ll have you to help me.”
She nodded, biting her lip. She’d learned a long time ago that there was no way she could free any experiments.
She couldn’t even free herself.
“Well, at least it’s a little better having you here,” he said, reaching out to take her hand in his. His palm was so big, so rough.
She felt something echo in her again.
“Radiant fae? Get out here,” a voice yelled. “You have thirteen other projects to attend to.”
She jumped, heart pounding, and pulled away from Ryder. In seconds, she was back outside the cell, remembering to be professional.
She’d never let herself get lost like that before.
Getting close to anyone in the labs was dangerous.
But as Ryder came to the front of his cell, pressing his hands to the glass as he watched her get led away, she knew it was only the beginning of what they could be.
Kira woke from her dream with a start as if even the memory of leaving Ryder was painful enough to jerk her from the past.
It was early in the morning, the sun beaming through the cracks in the blinds.
She lay back, unable to resist thinking back over her memories with Ryder.
After all, now was the perfect time to do it, with Ryder sleeping soundly beside her and only quiet to accompany her thoughts.
From that first day, there had been something between them. More than just helper and project.
Every time she came to help him, the feelings only grew. She made extra visits to his cell at night when he’d grown sicker from the chaos. It was in those moments, in the dark, alone, when they’d first started holding each other and talking about something other than his pain.
It wasn’t long before he’d said he loved her, and she’d said the same, as insane as she knew that was between a dragon and a fairy. Between a lab worker and a patient. A captive, in truth.
But they had both been captives in their own way, and she had sensed Ryder knew that. Not that she ever complained about it, because his situation was much worse. She was able to continue to help and advocate for other projects.
He had to sit in a cell all alone.
But he’d always been happy to see her, and that had been enough. Magical even, until his condition had started to deteriorate. The experiments at her lab were getting more aggressive due to rumors about uprisings. Ryder was starting to be hurt more than she could heal him from the tremendous amount of chaos injected into him.
And that’s when she’d decided to do something risky for them both and request a transfer for him.
She hadn’t told him her plan because she knew he would hate it, and she didn’t want to get caught on any of the fae cameras. She knew he would want to stay with her regardless of the danger.
But she also knew the labs in the human world did much lighter experiments and were more likely to be found. And if she left Ryder in the fae world, he would die.
So she’d kissed him on the forehead one night, and at his curious glance, she’d told him she would see him soon.
And she’d planned to once she figured out an escape from her facility. She’d been ready to risk everything for him, leave everything she knew if there was even a chance.
But then she’d heard there was a massive explosion at the lab he was held in and no one had survived.
She hadn’t even had a chance to tell him she was coming.
She let out a sigh as she looked over at his sleeping figure, wondering how things could be so simple and so hard between them at the same time.
At her sigh, he stirred, then turned to face her, squinting in the early morning light.
“Bad dreams?” he asked, sitting up on his elbows, shirtless and gorgeous.
“Yeah,” she replied, rubbing her forehead again. “Dreams of some kind anyway.”
“I know the feeling. What about?” He got out of bed, moving to the fridge to pull out leftovers from their excursion yesterday. “Turkey or ham sandwich for breakfast?”
She felt guilty for not knowing what to say. She wanted to blurt it all out so he could know everything.
Then again, Ryder had expressed disinterest in his past.
So how did that work when they shared it together?
Maybe the past was better off buried for Ryder. With what they had now, remembering what he’d gone through could only be excruciating. And he’d explicitly said that was what he wanted.
Kira didn’t need the past to enjoy being with Ryder in the now.
She would simply keep that part of their lives safe within her heart.
She was about to respond to his question about breakfast when they both heard voices approaching the cabin, talking amongst themselves.
“Bob told me they rented the cabin,” one voice, vaguely familiar, said.
“You said he lifted a whole rack of bowling balls. You sure yo
u weren’t drunk, Ted?” another voice replied.
“Who is it?” Kira whispered, getting out of bed and collecting her clothing quickly, putting it on.
Ryder peeked out the peephole. “Human law enforcement from the look of it. I guess my little display yesterday didn’t go unnoticed.”
Kira groaned. The last thing they needed was to have to try and explain things to the police. After all, there was a reason humans didn’t know about fairies or shifters.
There was a loud knock on the door. “Anyone in there? I’m responding to a complaint.”
Ryder threw her a glance, then picked up his clothes too, along with their bags, and came beside her. “I have an idea.”
“What are we going to do? We can’t explain what happened, and if they detain us, we’ll just have to call in someone to wipe their memories…”
His hand held hers, calming her frazzled nerves. “Just follow me.” He led them to the back window, opening it quietly.
There was another knock.
Ryder pointed into a small gully thirty feet from the house, overgrown with thick pines. “We’ll fly. If we keep low, the house should block their view of us. We make for those trees, head west, then double back. Our car’s parked a half mile down the hill anyway. We’ll just reach it before they get back and get the hell out of here.”
Kira was about to protest when the third and loudest knock thumped on the door. “I know someone’s in there.”
“Okay.” She let her pink wings come out, surrounding her in glowing wisps. But she kept them tucked close, just bringing out the right amount of her magic to allow her to fly. Ryder’s green wings came out too, and he stepped onto the windowsill.
He kept her hand in his as they both got ready to jump out of the window.
“Go,” they said in unison, and together they burst from the window, flying hand in hand, dodging bushes and diving into the small canyon before anyone could have the slightest idea where they went.
And as they made for the car and got back on the road to head home, Kira couldn’t shake the memories of the past completely. Nor could she erase them.
Dragon Redeemed (Reclaimed Dragons Book 2) Page 9