To Tame a Dragon (Venys Needs Men)

by Tiffany Roberts

  Cetolea, mother of all, we thank you for your gift.

  Wellspring of life, blood of our tribe, we thank you for your mercy.

  He was not sure how long he stood unmoving at the edge of the river, staring at her. It could not have been overly long—she finished washing herself as the words to her song ended, switching to a gentle humming in the same tune as she sank back up to her shoulders in the water.

  What was missing from their mating bond? Familiarity? They knew nothing of one another, hadn’t even known each other’s names until they’d rutted a few times.

  Because dragons do not concern themselves with the fleeting lives of mortals.

  But that notion no longer held up, did it? Falthyris himself was mortal now; the remainder of his life would be as ephemeral as that of any human. And Elliya was his mate, they were bound together forever. He wanted to know more about her. She’d awoken a curiosity in him that had not held sway for many centuries, a hunger for learning that had long lain dormant.

  The only way to learn about her was to talk to her—or, more importantly, to listen to her.

  He could almost feel her melodic humming flowing over his scales and easing into them, a far more pleasant invasion than that of the Red Heat. Falthyris sat on the riverbank, shifting his tail and wings to find as much comfort as he could.

  Elliya finally stood upright and turned toward him. Her long, dark hair fell across her chest, covering her chest mounds, and water streamed down her skin in rivulets.

  She stilled and quirked an eyebrow as her gaze fell upon him, ceasing her song. “I was not aware I had so eager an audience.”

  Though part of Falthyris longed to see more of her, longed to stride over to her and rut her right there in the river—though part of him burned for it—he held himself in place. These moments of lucidity would become rarer as the comet continued toward its apex, and he’d do best not to waste their potential.

  “Who is Cetolea?” he asked.

  Elliya walked a few steps closer, stopping when the water was at mid-thigh. She skimmed her fingertips over the surface. “Cetolea is the sacred pool in my village. Our people have drawn water from her for generations, and she has kept us safe and strong. She is the life-giver.”

  Scathing remarks blazed to the surface of his mind, but he held them in; ridiculing his human for her beliefs would only start another fight and widen the rift between them. And as much as it pained him to admit it, even to himself, he was in no position to cast judgment upon her—he’d harbored an adversarial relationship with a comet for centuries.

  Falthyris drew his wings in a little tighter. “Life giver, or life sustainer?”

  “Both. All waters flow from her.”

  “Even the sea?”

  Elliya tilted her head. “The sea?”

  “Yes. The massive body of water you will see if you travel toward the sunrise until you reach the end of the land, or over the mountains toward the sunset. It is salty, unsafe to drink, and continues on as far as the eye can see.”

  “Ah. The Endless Blue. We have heard stories from neighboring tribes of the vicious creatures lurking in its depths and the violent storms that churn its waters. The Endless Blue tries to appear the same as Cetolea to lure in the unsuspecting, but it is her opposite. It is death.”

  Lifting a hand, Falthyris rubbed his cheek. Perspective…this was all simply a matter of perspective. He simply needed to better understand hers. “What is the farthest you have ever travelled from your home, Elliya?”

  She raised her arms to either side and gestured vaguely at their surroundings. “Here.”

  “These mountains, this desert, are but one piece of the world. The Endless Blue is not death any more than the Forsaken Sands are death, nor any more so than this river.” He rose from his place and stepped forward, relishing the cool water over his scales as it chased away a little of the Heat. “The piece of this world you have seen is like a single grain of sand out of the entirety of the desert, and the knowledge your people retain is but a single splinter from a once mighty tree.”

  Elliya frowned. “And what have you seen?”

  He stopped in front of her and curled his hands into loose fists, suppressing the urge to reach for her as he contemplated that question. He’d not expected the sorrow and regret it roused within him.

  “Not nearly enough,” he said. “But I have seen human cities along these very mountains, cities rising from the dunes. I have seen ships on the sea with sails of every color you can imagine. I have seen the jungles to the north, so thick with trees that you cannot even glimpse the ground from above, and I have seen fields of grass seemingly as endless as the sea.”

  Falthyris could not stop himself from raising his hand then. He hooked wet strands of her hair with his talons and guided them back from her face, which he studied anew. Every time he looked upon her closely, he seemed to find a new detail, a new feature that belonged solely to her—like the little flecks of gold in her eyes that were visible only under bright sunlight.

  “I have seen many things of great beauty, Elliya, and I long took them for granted.” He brushed the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “But none of those sights compare to you.”

  Something flickered in her eyes, a gleam of longing and hope, but it was gone as quick as it had come, replaced with uncertainty and hurt. Her brows furrowed as she reached up, took his wrist, and guided it away from her. She released him and stepped back. “I do not need your lies or mockery, dragon.”

  Anger sparked in Falthyris’s gut, an instinctive reaction to a human speaking to him in such a manner. It was the same anger that lay at the heart of the expanding chasm between them. He’d always told himself that a dragon’s fury could shake mountains, that it was the most potent force in the world, that it made him akin to a god to creatures like this human.

  But he was beginning to understand that none of that was true—and even if it had once been true, what could it have accomplished for him now? What had it accomplished for him already?

  Falthyris forced that anger down, crushing it beneath his swallowed pride. “I am neither mocking you nor being dishonest, Elliya.”

  That only seemed to kindle more anger in her eyes. “First, I am an insect—no, I am beneath an insect—and now you praise my beauty? If you need to use my body to relieve your heat, you do not need to tell me falsehoods.”

  She moved to step around him.

  He shifted aside and blocked her path, his heartfire surging and bringing heat to the surface of his scales. “I have had right to be angry with you, human, for what you did to me—”

  “And I have apologized, and I have given and given, but I will stand for no more of your abuse,” she said, glaring up at him. “I am not the only one at fault for that night. You came to me, dragon. You sought me as much as I sought—”

  “And I am attempting to apologize to you, female!”

  She flinched, startled by his outburst, and nearly fell backward into the water. His hand darted out reflexively, catching her arm and steadying her.

  If only it were that easy to steady his emotions.

  Falthyris released a huff through his nostrils and tried not to notice the feel of her soft, wet skin under his hand, or the warmth coming from it. “I have had right to be angry, as I said. But the rage I have turned upon you, Elliya, far exceeds anything you have earned. You became the target of anger I’ve harbored for centuries, and you do not deserve it. I am sorry for that. Especially considering that you did not know what your touch would do. What it would mean.

  “Allow me a chance to be better. To do better. For you.”

  Elliya’s eyes were wary as they searched his. “You are sorry?”

  “I am.”

  “Even though I have stolen everything from you?”

  He did not miss the vulnerability in her gaze, nor the tiny, accompanying gleam of hopefulness. “You have taken from me, yes, but not everything. And I feel there may be much to gain, so long as I set aside my stu
bbornness and rage.”

  She stepped closer, raised a hand, and settled her palm over his forehead.

  Falthyris frowned, brows drawing together. “What are you doing, human?”

  “Trying to determine if you are ill.”

  He took gentle hold of her wrist and guided her hand down. “Why?”

  “You…are not acting like yourself.”

  “We barely know one another, Elliya.”

  “Ah, I but I know you are stubborn, arrogant, overbearing, rude—”

  Falthyris moved her arm again, this time to cover her mouth with her own hand. “My goal in this is to avoid an argument.”

  Though her mouth was hidden, her eyes sparkled with something new, something he hadn’t seen in them yet. Was it…mirth? He lowered her hand to find her lips curled into a smile. She’d smiled a few times in his presence, but each of them had been different, each had been unique. This was the first to contain a touch of playfulness.

  “Do you find something amusing, human?”

  “You.” Elliya’s smiled faded. “But I do not understand. Why now?”

  “Because I am”—he released another huff through his nostrils, just barely keeping it from coming out aflame—“stubborn, arrogant, overbearing, rude… I’m sure there are more I have missed, but you undoubtedly have an idea of the rest.” He stroked his thumb over her wrist. “And I have felt the distance between us widening. I do not like that feeling.”

  “Oh.” The corners of her mouth turned down, and she turned her face away. “It is the bond then.”

  Falthyris lifted his free hand to her chin, which he took between his fingers, and forced her face back toward him. “It is me. I am not a slave to this bond, Elliya. It compels me to be near you and nothing else. I want to do better. I want to know you better. You are small, and soft, and weak…and human”—her expression hardened, but he continued—“but there is a strength in you I cannot fathom. There is beauty in you I have never imagined possible.”

  He slid his hand up from her wrist, trailing it slowly to her shoulder. The soft scales on his palm rasped over her softer skin. As that hand moved, he shifted the other to brush the pad of his thumb along her lower lip, taking care with his claw. “I wish to know all of you. Every little piece, every aspect, no matter how small. Mind, body, and soul. I want it all, Elliya.”

  Her eyes darkened, and her breath quickened. Falthyris grazed the tips of his claws along her collarbone, so close to her delicate throat—just close enough to feel her fluttering pulse.

  “If you want all of me, what do you offer in return?” she asked.

  Falthyris lowered his hand until it covered one of her chest mounds. He slid his fingers around its curve until he found its little hardened peak, which he took between forefinger and thumb.

  Elliya gasped. His chest rumbled in response, and he gently squeezed her mound, savoring its softness, rolling the hardened bud between his fingers. She swayed toward him.

  He leaned close, until their lips were a hair’s breadth away. “Everything, Elliya.” Dropping his thumb from her lip, he cupped the underside of her jaw, tilted her chin up, and flicked his tongue out to lick her neck. He grazed his lips down her skin as he spoke. “My protection, my devotion, my life, my heartfire is yours. You have not stolen it. I give it all freely to you. My mate.”

  Speaking those words aloud brought him an odd sense of relief—but stronger than that was a feeling of completeness, of wholeness, like a piece of himself he’d never noticed was missing had been returned. The mating bond intensified, curling even tighter around his core, but it was not painful or restricting. It was right.

  The weight of centuries of solitude fell away in an instant. He had companionship—he had Elliya—but she was not something he could take for granted now or ever. She was not owed to him, she was not something he deserved by virtue of having been born a dragon. She was a gift, a treasure, something to be cherished above all else.

  And he intended to start now.

  He dropped his hands to her hips, pulled her closer, and bent down to capture one of those dark peaks between his lips, sucking it into his mouth and teasing it with his tongue.

  Elliya’s breath hitched, and she delved her hands into his hair, clutching it between her fingers. “Falthyris,” she rasped.

  The ache in his loins intensified, and his heartfire poured heat into his veins. That was the first time she’d said his name, the first time he’d heard it from her lips. And he would do all he could to ensure it was merely the first time of many.

  Falthyris growled and sucked that little bud harder, caressing the tender flesh around it with his lips. Lifting his head, he switched to the other mound, sucking and teasing it in equal measure. The taste of the river lingered on her skin, but it could not mask her true flavor.

  Yet there was another flavor he’d craved above all else. He could no longer deny that craving, could no longer resist it. He dropped onto his knees, unmindful of the splash, uncaring for the supplicative posture he’d assumed; only his hunger mattered.

  Sliding his legs back, he dipped his head, yanked Elliya closer, and pressed his mouth between her thighs. Her scent, her desire, flooded his senses. His tongue slithered out to sweep along her parted slit.

  Her essence was delectable, its sweetness so complete that a shudder wracked his body and his mind swirled. He groaned against her tender flesh. He needed more, more, ever more, could never have enough of her nectar, of this ambrosia.

  Falthyris shifted his hands to her backside and tugged her closer still, lifting one of her legs over his shoulder to widen his access to her. He lapped at her slit and pushed his tongue between her folds, taking in every drop of her essence he could find. Even though his cock was submerged in cool water, it throbbed with molten heat, twitching and straining in need.

  Her soft moans filled his ears, and her blunt claws grazed his scalp as she rocked her hips. He glanced up to see her head tilted to the side, her lips parted, and her eyes closed.

  When his tongue brushed a tiny, hard nub at the apex of her slit, she gasped and bucked against his mouth, grabbing his horns with her hands. Fresh essence flooded her sex. Her eyes flashed open and met his.

  Holding her gaze, Falthyris gathered that nectar in his mouth with another groan before flicking his tongue over that little nub again. Elliya caught her bottom lip with her teeth to muffle a cry as her hips bucked again.

  Ah.

  Despite all the times they’d mated, Falthyris had never discovered this—this spot that seemed to bring his mate so much pleasure. He’d been far too focused on rutting, far too consumed by the Heat, far too absorbed in his anger. He’d familiarized himself with shamefully little of his female’s body thus far. What other places would make her feel pleasure? In what ways would she like to be touched?

  What did she want when their bodies came together?

  Falthyris was determined to find out.

  With a growl, he attacked that nub, licking, flicking, and sucking it into his mouth. He relished her cries, her moans, her wild gasps, which she no longer made any attempt to contain—she freely sang her pleasure into the open air.

  Yes! Let the world hear my mate’s cries, let all the world know it is I who pleasured her.

  Elliya rocked her hips, the urgency in her movements increasing with every stroke of his tongue. She clutched his horns with a desperate strength, arms trembling as though she were unsure whether she wanted to pull him closer or push him away.

  Latching onto that bud, Falthyris sucked hard.

  Elliya tensed, digging her heel into his back as she curled over him and released a series of escalating cries. Only her grasp on his horns seemed to keep her aloft, and he readily accepted her weight as she sagged against him. Another wave of nectar flooded her. Falthyris drank it greedily, palming her ass to hold her against his face and continue his feast. He thrust his tongue deep into her channel, twisting and turning it as her inner walls fluttered. When he pulled it back o
ut, he flicked that bud again.

  Elliya bucked. “Mmmf!”

  More. I need more of her.

  The ache in his swollen cock intensified, making his fingers curl against Elliya’s backside. The pleasure-pain of his arousal was out of balance, leaning far more toward pain. The pressure in his loins was overwhelming. And that arousal had only opened him further to Dragonsbane’s curse. The Red Heat baked into his scales, into his muscles and bones, turning his need into something utterly consuming, into something he could no longer withstand.

  Falthyris surged up onto his feet, holding Elliya against his face until he was upright. He lifted her away from his mouth, hooking his hands around the backs of her thighs, and slammed her down onto his waiting cock.

  “Falthyris!” she rasped, throwing her arms around his neck.

  Her tight, slick sex gripped his shaft, and her essence was a balm to his blazing scales—but that pressure only grew. She felt good, so good. He sucked in a shaky breath through his teeth, battling to hold onto his wits despite the sensations threatening to overtake his awareness. Battling to maintain control as the Heat gathered around the edges of his consciousness.

  Falthyris would be the one to have her this time—not the Heat.

  He lifted a hand to her face, settling his palm on her cheek and splaying his fingers to slide them into her dark hair. Her eyes met his, and he did not look away. Staring into those dark, soulful orbs, he rolled his hips, pushing deeper into her. Her breath hitched.

  “My mate,” he rumbled, trailing the tip of his thumb claw along her delicate jaw.

  “Yours.” Elliya wrapped her legs around his waist. “And you are mine, Falthyris.”

  She had spoken that claim before, but he did not resist it this time, did not reject it. Those words only heightened his arousal, only built more pressure in him.

  Pulling his hips back, he drove into her again. “Forever.”

  They held each other’s gazes as their bodies moved in a new, sensual rhythm, flowing as smoothly as the river around them, as swiftly as their racing hearts. The surrounding world fell away—the blue sky, the cool water, the smooth stones underfoot, the canyon and the comet’s curse; all of it ceased to exist.