What had happened to her to turn her into that kind of beast? Would her protective mate want to leave his sister behind? She was sure that he couldn’t see the creature that his sister had become, the threat that she carried everywhere with her. Rhys would want to stay by his sister’s side, Farida guessed.
Whose heart would have to break? Hers when she had to leave Rhys here with his family? Or Rhys when he turned away from his family to follow his mate across the world?
Now that they were alone, in a safe place for the first time all day, even if it felt like days, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She didn’t really know her mate. As much as she wanted to learn to love him, she didn’t know where to begin.
She didn’t know what his favorite drink was. Or, if he watched sports on television. What kind of sports did guys even watch in Wales?
“You’re thinking,” Rhys said. “Stop it.”
Her eyes flicked to him. Her arms tightened around her middle.
His brow crinkled. “Are you suddenly afraid of me?”
“No,” Farida said as she leaned back. “Maybe.”
Rhys moved to push himself up, concern lining his face. She held out a hand for him to stop. Still, she was unable to meet his eyes.
“Not in the way you think. I’m not afraid of what you might do to me, if you might hurt me. I already know that you aren’t that kind of person. In that respect, I am comfortable.” She spread her hands wide as if to show that she had nothing in them. “I do not know who you are. I know nothing about you and you know nothing about me. We are strangers that were thrust together in a moment of…”
Chaos.
What her forefather sowed.
Would she trail that behind her for the rest of her life?
Rhys pushed off the couch and closed the space between them. He filled her hands with his own, showing her that she had something. She had him. No matter what either of them were, they had each other.
“My name is Rhys Taniff. I like movies. Too much, if you asked my sister. If someone asked me what my favorite movie was I’d probably tell them it was The Big Sleep, but I actually really like the original Star Wars trilogy.”
“Don’t even get me started on the early 2000’s trilogy,” Farida said with a laugh.
Relief kicked away the weight that had been pressing in on her chest. She was slowly, little by little, falling in love with the man who held her hands.
“But, I’ll warn you,” Rhys began. A seriousness fell over his face, but he couldn’t hold it when a twinkle began to gleam in his eye. “I don’t know a bloody thing about computers. Not in the least. I’m an old man when it comes to them. Don’t put a smart phone in my hand and expect me to understand the crazy things it can do.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”
Farida’s hand reached up and pulled him to her by the back of his neck. She pressed her body against him. Would she have the chance to know him? To learn to love this man? The idea sent a jolt of exhilaration through her, one that landed square in her core to spread like wildfire.
Rhys groaned into her mouth. His hands moved around her back, dropping to cup her rear. In one motion, he pulled her off the floor and her legs automatically moved to wrap around his waist. Her pencil skirt rode up to reveal her dusky thighs and the curve of her rear. When Rhys’s hand roved over bare skin, he growled his pleasure.
Together, they stumbled back. Farida’s back hit the wall and she could feel every plane of Rhys’s body pressed up against her. His hips ground against hers, sending waves of pleasure through her body, tingling down to her toes. His hands roved over her body, exploring the naked skin of her legs and disappearing beneath her skirt to knead the flesh of her rear.
What had possessed her to wear a thong that morning? Whatever it had been, Farida was suddenly very grateful because it seemed to please Rhys to no end. Her beast rose to the surface and Farida could feel the gold begin to mingle in her eyes.
The beast promised her it knew what to do.
Rhys turned them both and started toward the stairs. The beast inside her purred at the thought. It was ready. Farida’s heart thumped in her chest. She knew what that meant. Was she ready? Her heart gave a few, quick thumps while she considered it. Worry made her break away from their kiss.
She didn’t want the beast to lead her through this. She didn’t want Rhys to lay with the beast and not her. But, she worried that she wouldn’t be able to please him.
Rhys paused, worry in his eyes as he searched her face. Farida pressed her lips together. She couldn’t tell him. What would he think of her? She was a ninety year old virgin. It was the kind of thing comedy movies were based on.
“What is it?” Rhys asked, his voice breathy.
She could feel the press of his desire against her groin. She chewed her lip. What should she do? She had no idea what her role in this should be. Should she reach down and grip him? Should she kiss him and wait for him to make a move? Should she just lay back and allow him to do whatever he wished?
There was certainly something Farida should be doing, but the lack of knowledge terrified her. She didn’t want to let her mate down in their first time together. That was not the way she wanted to start their life, filled with chaos and disappointment. She’d already had enough of the first.
They didn’t need the second.
The beast urged her to reach down between them and grip his cock. It tried to force her hand with a growl that echoed in Farida’s ears. She had to close her eyes and focus on pushing the beast back. It wanted their mate and nothing more. It would have him, even if Farida was not ready.
Farida, breathless despite her worry, put her hands on Rhys’s chest and pushed. His grip on her loosened and she was able to pull herself from his grip and put her feet on the floor once more. Rhys’s hands fell to her hips like he wasn’t ready to let her go. His touch was feather light on her. She could run at any moment and he would not stop her.
He would, however, be disappointed. Her beast already was and it made her chest heavy.
There was nothing Farida could do to stop it.
She sank to the stairs and let her head fall in her hands.
Rhys groaned before speaking. “What did I do wrong?”
Farida’s head shot up. “You didn’t do anything! You’re amazing, it’s just that… I’m…” She wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence. How could she tell her mate that she had no idea where to begin pleasing him?
She knew that virginity was no longer a thing expected of women in most cultures. Men now valued experience and adventure. Of which, Farida had neither. She turned her gaze up to his and watched him try to reign in his desire. He gripped the railing and watched it crack under his strength.
This was her fault.
Then, he sank to his haunches so that he could look her in the eye. His grabbed her hands in his, rubbing his thumb over her darker skin. She liked the contrast between their bodies, liked being able to see his pale fingers play over her skin so clearly.
“Farida,” he began, voice husky with the desire he could not fend off. “No matter what is going through your mind right now, no matter what my body thinks is happening, I will agree with whatever decision you make right now. Do you hear me? If you are not ready, then neither am I.”
She couldn’t help the tiny smile that turned the corners of her lips as she fought back her beast. Farida reached out and held his face between her hands. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. What had she done to deserve this man?
“I have a small confession,” she whispered.
Rhys cracked an eye, interested, but not overly concerned.
That kind of trust gave her the courage to be honest. When she told him, there was almost no reaction on his face. He simply opened both eyes and held her gaze.
Before she could react, he swept her up in his arms and darted up the stairs, his laughter trailing behind them like confetti in the air. It made laughter bubble up through her own c
hest as she held on to him. He nuzzled her neck with his noses and nibbled the skin of her neck.
“Don’t be ashamed,” Rhys whispered into her ear.
His breath sent chills down her spine. She shivered in his grip and she could hear the growl that followed. His hands tightened on her like they might become one creature.
“But,” Farida began.
Rhys cut her off with a long, passionate kiss. While his lips pulled at hers, he leaned them forward until her back touched the soft surface of his bed. His hand slipped between their bodies.
“I said, do not be ashamed.” He dipped his head and began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck, down her sternum, between her breasts. “We have a lot of catching up to do. You are overdue for a night of pleasure and that is what I’m going to give to you tonight.”
She couldn’t stop the shiver of anticipation that shook her body. Rhys turned his blue eyes up to hers from where his lips hovered over her skin. She reached down and twined her fingers through his hair. Her fingers closed and tightened to pull. Rhys’s eyes drifted shut and a small moan drifted through his lips before they curled into a smile.
“See,” he said, breathless. “There was never a time when you didn’t know how to make me happy. But, tonight is not about me. It’s about making this princess scream my name.”
That said, his head dropped lower. His hands pushed the pencil shirt up above her hips. She shivered as his fingers pushed aside the thin fabric of the thong, grazing her womanhood. Her breath caught in her throat as the tiny touch sent a small wave of pleasure through her.
Was this what it was like to be loved?
Before she could formulate any further thoughts, his tongue slipped between her folds. She gasped and arched her back. This was not what she’d expected. Yet, she loved it. His tongue flicked her most sensitive parts. She felt herself grow warm and wet.
With each stroke of his tongue, she could feel a warm pressure building inside of her. It tingled down to her curled toes and back like icicles licking her body from the inside out. She writhed, wanting more and more.
Reaching down, she fisted her hand in his hair again. The tug made him growl and the vibrations made her arch into him. In response, Rhys delved further. A finger touched the sensitive entrance. It parted, but only barely.
Before she could think about what that might mean, Rhys’s tongue lapped at her sensitive womanhood and her breath caught in her throat, stopping any words she might have said and throwing her brain far away from logical thought. Rhys would give one long stroke and follow it up with tiny passes that tingled through her core.
She could feel herself getting closer and closer to the precipice that she’d brought herself to a few times before. It felt nothing like what Rhys’s tongue was doing to her just then. It was building, growing so that she could hardly breathe. So that she could hardly think. Her body squirmed beneath his grasp.
“So close,” she breathed.
Rhys growled into her womanhood. Farida cried out. She gripped the pillows splayed out around her head. His grip on her hips tightened, pressing her into his mouth. His finger explored her deeper, rubbing over her sensitive spot over and over again. It was adding a lower note to the high she was feeling, creating a melody that washed through her.
***
The taste of her drove Rhys mad. He couldn’t get enough of the woman he held in his hands. He wanted to lick her like an ice-cream cone, devouring her one small stroke at a time until she melted in his hands.
She was so close. Farida’s womanhood was growing wetter and wetter by the moment. All it took was another quick flick of his tongue and his mate cried out. Her scream split the room. Rhys buried his face in her mound and ate her up so that chills racked her body as more waves of pleasure moved through her.
She was a virgin, his mate. Never had she found another man worth laying with and that warmed him in a way he didn’t expect. It wasn’t that he valued her for being clean. That was a fallacy created by stuffy old bastards that wanted nothing more than to control women. No, he liked that this woman hadn’t found other men interesting enough.
Until him.
It made him feel special in a way that he’d never felt before. He was always the youngest male. His family saw him as a child in a room full of men even when, by all means, he was a grown man. It made him feel like, perhaps, he really was a child or something not worth their time. As much as he fought the feeling, it still hung there.
Until Farida showed up and all she could see was him.
He wanted nothing more than to roll her onto her stomach and bury himself deep inside of her, but Rhys knew that she was nowhere near ready for that. Her opening was cinched tight. It would take a miracle to even get his cock inside there. The process would hurt her every inch of the way and he didn’t want to put her through that.
So, he collapsed onto the bed beside her and glanced over at his wild and unkempt mate while he licked the taste of her from his lips.
“But you…” Farida didn’t finish her sentence.
Rhys knew what she was talking about when she gestured toward the bulge in his pants. It was true she’d gotten him harder than a rock, but that wasn’t going to change the width of her opening. Not when he was so endowed.
He shook his head, feigning indifference. “You’re not ready. In a little while I will make you come again and I will see just how many fingers we can get inside you. Every little bit helps me get inside you.”
Farida’s brow creased with confusion.
Rhys pulled in a breath, wondering how he should address this. Before he could begin to speak, Farida rolled over. She threw a leg over his and her fingers quickly undid the buttons on his jeans. He caught her wrist in his hand and sought her eyes. She turned a defiant gaze, topped off with a sly smirk, in his direction.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I wanted to try something.”
“I already told you we can’t do that yet. It will hurt you.” Rhys’s eyes were filled with the concern that he felt. It didn’t matter what she wanted yet. It would hurt her and that was the last thing he wanted.
Farida shook her head. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
She gently pulled her hand from his grip and, when he let her go, she returned to pulling his cock from his pants. It sprang free like a man starved for air. As her fingers drifted over it, he let out an uncontrollable groan.
Gripping the base, her head dipped low. Her tongue ran up the length of his shaft and he shuddered. When it disappeared inside her mouth was when he lost all control. He fisted his hands in the sheets beneath him and clenched his teeth to hold back the growl that his beast let rumbled inside of him.
How she knew what to do to make him emit such sounds was beyond him, but he didn’t have the capability to even think about it. Pleasure licked through him with each stroke of her tongue, each twist of her hand.
Eventually, he would bury himself deep inside this woman, his mate. For now, this was just as good. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, but with the trouble that followed in her wake, it seemed they deserved one another. He wanted to protect someone, and as strong as his Farida was, the world seemed to be against her.
***
Drystan didn’t like having the weasel of a white dragon trapped in his basement. It made him nervous, like there was some kind of omen just at the corner of his vision that he kept missing. It felt like the other shoe might drop at any given moment. This had to be dealt with quickly and quietly.
His mate was at the University, busy with the things that enraptured her mind and kept her busy over her long years. That was the only thing he was grateful for while he slid the bolt of the basement door open. Maggie was somewhere safe. Wesley was out and about with his human mate, away from whatever might happen tonight.
Maybe, he should have called one of the other dragons to stand by and watch his back. Gareth was an immovable wall. Cameron and his witch were sly and smart.
Wesley still had a lot to learn and would benefit from standing by. But, each of them had mates. They had loved ones and, some of them, more on the way. Drystan didn’t feel comfortable asking any of them down into the dungeon beneath his cottage.
And, he wasn’t about to ask his father for help. The old bastard hadn’t been grateful when Drystan swooped in and put their family back together after Elgar’s episode and Drystan would rather let the old man continue to stew in his juices.
If the white dragon was being honest, this would be a simple matter. He would interview the dragon and then release him into the territory on a restrictive watch. The family would take turns watching over the white dragon. None of them would like it, but if it worked, if they could fold a white dragon into their family then it would be the start of a new world.
Of course, Raphael would agree to wear a silver band the entire time.
His feet echoed down the creaky wooden steps into the seemingly complete darkness. Or, was it only his imagination blown out of control by the apprehension that gripped his heart? He couldn’t tell. All Drystan could do was stand tall and pretend that nothing affected him.
Like he’d been doing for the past hundred or so years.
Raphael leaned against the far wall, a set of thick, silver coated bars standing between the two of them. His elbows on his knees, the white dragon picked apart a sheaf of grass with his fingers in the darkness. Drystan said nothing. He knew the white dragon had heard his approach. All he could do was wait for the white dragon to want to play his game.
How long would the white dragon make Drystan wait? Five minutes? Twenty? How long would it take for Drystan to lose his patience and rip the dragon’s throat out once and for all?
No, he reminded himself. The white dragon had asked for forgiveness, for peace. As hard as Drystan gripped the bars, he knew he had to find restraint. He had to temper the fire that blared inside of him. If only for his family and their reputation in the city.
Fated Dragons Complete Series: Books 1 - 5 Page 38