She bit her lower lip and let out a little hiss, sending his lust into overdrive.
Heart hammering in his chest, Rafe slinked down her body and hiked both legs over his shoulders. Ravished her center with his mouth. Kissed her hard. Hot. Then stopped.
“Oh, God…” Misty’s breath hitched and her heavy-lidded eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“Tell me what you want….” He licked her again. Wickedly slow. Holding her gaze.
“I want your mouth on me,” she breathed.
He did as she asked, kissed her wild and openmouthed. Watched her head fall back and the full mounds of her breasts arch up. If it wasn’t for the straining of his groin and the pressure gathering at the base of his spine, Rafe realized, he could pleasure Misty forever. Watching her gasp with each flick of his tongue. Seeing her arch when he drove his tongue inside her. It was pure bliss.
As he slid one hand beneath her and palmed her backside, raising her hips to his mouth, Rafe worked his tongue until she shattered, crying out his name.
Each tiny, little spasm fed Rafe’s hunger. He wanted more. He wanted her falling over the top of him. Losing herself in the heated throes of ecstasy. Riding him, rolling over the top of him, like he knew she could.
With one final flick of his tongue, Rafe pulled back to his hands and knees.
“You are absolutely…undeniably…the hottest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Her eyes, hazy with pleasure, sized him up, settling on his straining erection. “Now what do you want?”
Choosing to show her rather than waste time with words, Rafe settled beside her and rolled on his back, then dragged Misty over his lap. She supported herself on her arms, letting her breasts fall in his face.
God, she was perfect…perfect for him.
As Misty began to roll her hips, Rafe clutched her waist, guiding his shaft back and forth through her damp heat. He burned to stay in this moment. Her scent, warm and sweet, enveloping him. Her pillow-soft breasts heaving with each hard breath. The enchanted glow from the falls coating her body in a shimmering mist.
He couldn’t hold back much longer…
He was aching, dying, to drown in her slick heat.
He lifted her up by the hips and poised his erection at her center, about to burst from the anticipation. And with a thrust coupled with a throaty sigh, Rafe plunged deeper inside Misty than he’d ever been. It was mind-spinning—too much to take in at once.
Misty rolled her hips back as Rafe hammered into her, full and deep. He lifted her hips. Pulled out. Pounded into her again. Each time their hips met, Misty clenched harder around him, tugging him closer to his own release.
“Ride me harder, Misty,” he breathed, muscles constricting, the world going dizzy around him. “I’m so deep…harder…”
She rocked her hips against him roughly, taking in his thick length, her core sucking the climax out of him. She was so tight. A perfect fit.
His perfect fit.
“That’s it,” he said through clenched teeth. “Faster.”
Misty closed her eyes as if she, too, was savoring the sensations bubbling inside her. She rocked her hips faster and faster, arching her back as she found a rhythm that had them both moaning in time with each surge.
With a cry that shattered the quiet of the cave, Misty climaxed a second time, rolling her body with each hard pulse of her center. Rafe couldn’t hold back. He groaned, long and deep like thunder, as he emptied himself into her. Powerful, heavy spasms seemed to flow through him forever. Filling her core. Pluming through her skin. Claiming her as his own from the inside out.
Misty was his.
He didn’t need a formal claiming ceremony to tell him so.
When the surge finally subsided and Misty’s arms went loose and limber around Rafe’s shoulders, she unstraddled his middle, then slid in place beside him. Like a warm blanket, Rafe drew her into his chest.
Yes. Rafe could drop dead a happy man.
“It’s an exciting feeling, isn’t it?” Misty said, nuzzling into him. “I feel like we might get the chance we never had.”
“No matter what happens, you’ll be all right.” Rafe pulled her close, kissed the top of her head. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“You mean we’ll be all right…right?”
“Sure.” He dragged his duffel to his side, unzipped the bag and pulled out a blanket barely big enough for two. After he draped it over her, there was a sliver left for himself. “You have to understand that I can’t think about the future. Not yet. All that matters is here and now. And right now there’s nowhere I’d rather be and no one I’d rather be with.”
“I get it. Complete the mission first and move on from there.” With a yawn, Misty curled into Rafe’s side. “And there’s nowhere I’d rather be, either. It’s just too damn bad I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I’m gonna be soaked through.”
“A set of dry clothes is the least of our worries.”
“I guess I’ll live without it.”
Misty was right. She would live. She’d live a long and happy life far from the Isle of Feralon. Rafe racked his brain—thought about if he should tell Misty the truth about his future, or lack thereof. He came up blank. Do you tell the woman you love—your soul mate—that today could be your last day in her arms? And it’s all because you want a larger, brighter life for her? Or do you let her wander the world never knowing…
Rafe thought about his conundrum as shadows and eerie streams of light skipped across the ceiling, lulling them to sleep.
*
Rafe woke up a short time later. He could feel a pair of eyes watching him and a gut clench told him they weren’t Misty’s. He sat up and scanned each corner of their cramped cave.
There, in the glowing light of the waterfall, was a face. A petite little face, with big blue eyes, chubby cheeks and a heart-shaped mouth. Her hair was a golden aura, framing her face, glowing like the sun. She was stunningly beautiful, but Rafe knew better than to be distracted by her beauty.
Mermaids, the female merfolk, were descendants of the Sirens of Greek mythology. They lured sailors into their home harbors with the promise of lust and love. Distracted by their flawless beauty, the sailors inadvertently crashed their ships on treacherously rocky shores, only to be swamped by hoards of merfolk.
It’s not that merfolk were evil—Rafe knew better than to think any creatures’ race could be entirely good or entirely evil—they were simply opportunistic. Gold from ships during pirating days funded underwater castles and villages that’d make Poseidon jealous. Merfolk were able to use those stolen riches to trade with Draco clans and werewolf packs for wider boundaries at the turn of the century. Now, though, with the shortage of gold found in crates on ships passing through, they’d become particular to certain types of shipments.
Diamonds and weapons, mostly.
As Rafe cleared his throat and checked to make sure that he and Misty were properly covered, the mermaid retreated into the waterfall. All Rafe could see was the mischievous curve of her lips. She looked like she wanted to say something.
“What do you want?” He kept his voice low. “I don’t have anything of value in here.” He nodded at the half-open duffel at his side. “But if you insist on looking, you may lose a fin.”
The mermaid pressed over the edge of the cave, letting the water hit her shoulders and roll down her back. She was topless, her long layers of slick straight hair barely covering the swell of her breasts, though Rafe didn’t seem to have a problem keeping his eyes were they belonged…he figured it had a ton to do with the angel lying beside him, making adorable mewing sounds in her sleep.
“I don’t want your bag, Draco,” the mermaid sang. “I came to reveal what you seek.”
Rafe squinted through the dark to judge the sincerity of her eyes. They were as clear and blue as the water cascading around her.
“How would a mermaid like you know what I seek?”
She smiled playfully and spun circles in the dirt wit
h her finger. “A little birdie told me. You’re looking for the Draco stone.”
“Doesn’t your kind collect sparkly things?” Although the cave was hard to peer through, Rafe couldn’t miss the crushed diamonds sparkling on her skin or the chunks of raw rocks clinging to her silky strands of hair. “Why would I believe that you know a lick about the Draco stone? Or that you’d share that information with me if you had it?”
“Oh, dragon, don’t be so defensive. I’m not to blame for your scars.” She batted heavy blue lashes that sparkled like they were coated in diamond dust. “I’m Nerissa, a daughter of the sea. I mean you and your rider no harm.”
“She’s not my…well, I guess…” Damn it, Rafe didn’t even know what to call Misty. He shook his head, and scraped his fingers over the letters branded into his chest. When he realized Nerissa was staring at him, platinum eyebrows raised sky-high, he said, “Never mind. It’s complicated.”
“Oh, this is better than I thought. Is she your mistress?” Nerissa plopped her chin in the heart of her crossed arms. “I’m listening.”
“Say what you came for and get the hell out of here.”
“Does your rider know about her?”
“Enough,” Rafe snapped.
“Fine.” She sighed. “Are you familiar with the rock wall on the most eastern part of the isle?”
“No.” His gaze shot to Misty, who’d mumbled something and turned over, facing him. How far had she traveled on this part of the isle? Had she explored merfolk territory with empaths before? “This is my first, and hopefully last, trek into your territory.”
“I suppose that makes sense. I feel your energy waning as we speak. How many hours do you have left…do you even know?”
“That’s none of your business,” he whispered, the letters on his chest burning hotter by the second. “I’m getting damned tired of your questions. Will we find the Draco stone on the rock wall or is that another one of your distractions?”
“Not on it, per se, but you’ll find it there.”
What the hell did Nerissa and her merfolk school have to gain from all this? “Why are you so eager for us to find it? Seems to me your kind would want to hide it and gamble it away, or bargain with it at tomorrow’s boundary meeting.”
Her heart lips squeezed into a pout. “See, Mr. Dying Dragon, contrary to what you might think, we didn’t steal your stone from Castle Arcane. We didn’t bring it here to our rock wall. The last thing we want is to start a war. I’m simply putting it in the right hands before someone accuses us of treachery we did not commit.”
That was exactly what would happen if Rafe took the stone back to Queen Elixa and reported where they’d found it. As Nerissa started to pull out of the cave and back into the water, Rafe wondered if they’d really find the Draco stone in the wall…or if this whole conversation was meant to lead them into a trap.
“You should know,” Rafe said, leaning closer. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll blow mermaid fishing season wide-open.”
“You can thank me when you find the stone, if you’re alive that long,” Nerissa countered, as Misty stirred and started to wake. “But what I really want to know is why you haven’t told your little mistress that you’re about to die.”
Before Rafe could put the fishy temptress in her place, Nerissa pushed off the ledge and was gone. After a slapping sound that could’ve only been her tail fin hitting the lake, Misty shot up at Rafe’s side.
Chapter Six
Misty shot sideways glances through the dark. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” How much had she heard?
“I was having the strangest dream,” she said quickly, as if she had to recall the details before they vanished. “We were falling through the sky, but not like before, when the werewolves were chasing us. We were falling because you were teaching me. You said I could fly better on my own.”
“That’s some dream.” Rafe handed Misty her sweater and jeans, though it was a damn shame to cover up such perfection. “You hiding a set of wings somewhere?”
“It felt so real. I was falling fast.” She stared beyond the glowing streams of the waterfall. “And right when I got the hang of it, right when I started to soar, you dropped to the ground like a stone. It was almost like you gave me your wings. Weird.” She hesitated, thinking. “I woke up to the sound of something hitting the lake. I was confused at first…I thought it was you.”
“The sound you heard was the slapping of a mermaid fin on the lake.”
That seemed to snap her out of it. The last thing Rafe needed was her empath talents kicking in before he was ready to tell her the truth himself. He would drop like a stone, and land six feet underground…as soon as he knew Misty was free from Feralon. He could accept the fact that he was going to die—he could…really—as long as he knew Misty would live to be a graying old woman, surrounded by her future family.
“A fin?” She whipped around. “How do you know?”
“A mermaid peeked in while you were sleeping. Said the Draco stone is either in, or on the rock wall on the eastern ridge.”
Misty’s brow puzzled. “How—”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea how she knows, or if she’s even telling the truth.” He paused. “Do you still feel something pulling you to this side of the isle?”
She crinkled her nose and rubbed her hand over her heart. “Yeah, but I’m picking up something else, too…it feels like I’m anxious for something, though it’s not coming from me.” Her penetrating gaze made his palms itch. “Does that make sense?”
“Nerissa didn’t seem anxious….” Damn it, Misty was picking up on what his body was dishing out.
“Nerissa?” Misty’s voice piqued. She must’ve known more about mermaids and their lustful ways than Rafe thought.
“How could I even think about another woman when I’ve got you at my side?” Rafe dipped a finger between Misty’s breasts, savoring the feel of her silky soft skin. “Rest assured, she was the most hideous creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Uh-huh,” Misty said, and closed her eyes, letting her head rest on her shoulder. “Better be careful what you start, Rafe.” She pulled out his finger and suckled it into her mouth, starting a war between his brain and his lap. “We don’t have time for another go-round.”
“You’re right.” And damn it, he took his finger back.
“We’ve got nothing to lose. We might as well follow her tip.”
*
Misty straddled Rafe’s back, her heels brushing his flanks. Even with his wings tucked beneath him, Rafe had to crouch in the cave. Inch by inch, he shuffled toward the waterfall then bounded off the edge, through the curtain of water and into the night sky.
Wings reaching full breadth, Rafe glided through the air and dipped low. Just above the water he flattened out, catching a smooth draft of wind. He hovered above the lake, low enough to see ribbons of glowing water waving beneath them.
“What’s that?” She leaned over his side, peering into the crystal blue of the lake.
Rafe nosed up, then let his body ripple, flicking his tail. Just like a fin.
“Merfolk?” Misty couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d met one once during an expedition around the Isle of Feralon by boat. Although she couldn’t pass the rock wall to get into the lake, a mermaid had perched there, beckoning the empaths on her team closer. Misty had definitely never seen them the way they were now—in their element.
The ribbons of light fanning off their tails were like the Northern Lights underwater. Brush strokes of blue and green and orange fanned behind them as if by simply passing through it, the merfolk somehow split the light shooting through the waves like a prism.
“They’re amazing,” she said, watching colors of the rainbow swirl against one another on the lake’s glassy canvas. “I had no idea…look at the colors flowing off their tails. It’s like they’re painting…”
Rafe gave a snort as he rode hard, closing in on the crescent moon shaped
rock wall. He landed on the narrow stretch of wall with a thud and closed his wings around him.
Leaving Rafe in dragon form, Misty dismounted and walked the length of the wall, searching high and low for signs of the stone. Although she didn’t have the foggiest idea what she was looking for, she could sense they were close. Could almost feel the energy of the stone vibrating wavelengths of air like a rope, tugging her closer.
She closed her eyes, letting ripples of seeking energy flow from her body like tentacles. Within seconds, she picked up Rafe’s energy. A faint twinge of weakness emerged beneath his aura of strength and dominance. It was like a chink, a tender spot, in his normally powerful armor.
Mustering every last ounce of energy she had, Misty pushed her mental feelers past Rafe, searching along the nooks and crannies of the rock wall.
Dark waves of energy pulsed near the base of the rock wall ahead of her. It appeared in her mind like a charcoal-black dust cloud, spinning just above the ground. Her eyes flipped open and she ran to the spot where waves of power radiated onto the walkway. There, where the wall met the chunky stone path, was a small alcove carved into the rock near the base. She knelt down and spotted a pile of rocks filling the gap, each one as dull and gray as the next.
Pulling a few out, Misty realized the Draco stone could be any of them.
“Which one is it?” she asked. Surely Rafe would know what their sacred stone looked like.
Rafe bounded to her side and nudged her arm with his snout.
“Which one?” She tossed out a few more at his taloned feet. “Help me find it.”
With a snort, Rafe shook his head.
Misty couldn’t explain how she knew—the pinch in her gut, the weak strumming of her heart, maybe?—but she did. Rafe didn’t have the energy to shift back and forth between his Draco and dragon form.
If he shifted back now to help her find it, he may not be able to shift back and fly them across the isle. She was on her own.
The more stones she removed from the alcove and piled at their feet, the more Misty realized they all looked exactly the same.
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