Trapped by the Dragon

by Riley Storm

  “Feeling what?”

  “This…this connection,” he said, gesturing back and forth between them. “I don’t know what it is, but I started feeling the same not long after I met you. Like something magnetic is pulling us closer.”

  “But I thought you hated me.”

  “You hurt me,” he said. “A lot. But deep down, I never stopped caring. I never stopped believing that you wanted to be with me too. I kept hoping that something would happen, that we could find a way to be together. That maybe things weren’t what they seemed.”

  “I’m so sorry, Rane,” Natasha said, looking up at him.

  “I won’t pretend like it’s going to instantly be better,” he said quietly. “But you coming back like this. Risking everything for me. That’s the woman I want. That’s the woman I fell in love with.”

  Natasha’s jaw dropped open.

  “I’m sorry. That was too much. Too fast,” he said, regretting his words already. “I just thought, with the thing, and then us, and you doing what you did, and it was just—”

  He stopped mid-sentence as Natasha flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. When she eventually broke away, he blinked rapidly, confused.

  “I love you too, Rane,” she said, squeezing hard. He returned the hug.

  “You do? I thought I was crazy,” he said. “But I feel so much better after saying it. Like I’d been holding it back.”

  “Yes. Yes! Me too. I don’t get it.”

  “That makes two of us,” he said with a laugh. “But Damien said it would be like that, if it was the same.”

  “The same as what?” Natasha asked, not pulling away.

  “As him and Anna. They experienced it too you know. That pull, that certainty about one another. That it was not just love, but something more, something stronger.”

  “Maybe we should talk to them then,” she said. “I’d love to know that I’m not crazy.”

  “Maybe,” Rane said, one hand sliding around her back. “First though, I think we should spend some time together. Just the two of us. We…we need to get re-acquainted, and not just in the fun way.”

  Natasha nodded, stepping back, taking both his hands in hers. “I agree,” she said quietly. “Things are kind of a mess, and while I am going to do whatever it takes to fix them, they do need fixing.”

  Rane nodded. “I agree. The future will be bright, but right now… right now, I need to rediscover you, so that I can remind myself of the person I fell for, because the last memories I have of you, are not her.”

  Natasha looked down, but he reached up, taking her chin and tilting it up. “It happened. You can’t mope about it, just like I can’t be angry about it. There’s no point to that,” he said. “We just need to move on. Our feelings are stronger than that.” He snorted. “And if you think that’s going to be the only fight we ever have, then you need to wake up. We’re going to fight. It’s gonna happen. That’s not the important thing.”

  “What is?” she asked, nuzzling against his hand with her cheek.

  “How we resolve them,” he told her. “How we talk it out, talk to one another, and get on the same page. We will face our issues as a team. Us on one side, it on the other.”

  “I like the idea of being a team with you,” she said. “I like it a lot.”

  “Me too.” He pulled her into another hug. The world wasn’t right just yet. But in time, it would be. “Me too.”

  Thank you, Circe. We’re going to need this next week.

  Rane planned to make full use of it.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Natasha

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  Rane glanced down at her, not breaking stride as they headed up to his room after enjoying a nice quiet late-night meal together. “What do you mean?”

  “For everything. For giving me a second chance,” she said, taking a risk and reaching out for his hand. He didn’t pull away. “You didn’t have to, but you did, and I’m grateful for it.”

  “I didn’t want you to be faking it,” Rane admitted as they entered the stairwell and started up. He was on the seventh floor, while the cafeteria was on the second.

  “You didn’t?”

  He scoffed. “Of course not. I had feelings for you too,” he reminded her. “I have feelings for you. Of course, I wanted you to be telling the truth. I just couldn’t take the chance, at the time, that you were lying.”

  “I feel so horrible about it.”

  Rane brought her hand up to his mouth, brushing his lips against the back of her palm. “I know. I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t, but I’m also not going to let you dwell on it either. That’s in the past now, and we need to start moving on from it. It happened, we acknowledge that, but we’re not going to let it affect everything going forward.”

  “You’re so kind to me,” she said after digesting what he’d said. “I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that I’m deserving of the way you treat me.”

  “You went a long way today,” he said, slowing his pace to match hers.

  “Sorry. Short legs,” she said. “Have to move slower.”

  Rane paused at the next landing, eying her. “They are short, aren’t they? Mine are longer, go faster.”

  “Yeah. I know. Sorry about—whoa!” She yelped loudly as Rane bent down and swept her from her feet. “What are you doing?”

  “Going faster,” he chuckled, carrying her up the stairs in his arms.

  Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck. “You don’t have to carry me, you know,” she said, suddenly conscious of her less-than tiny body. She was most definitely thick-figured, and Rane shouldn’t have to carry her up the stairs.

  “I don’t have to,” he agreed. “But I want to. Now be quiet, no more protests on the matter. You weigh nothing to me.”

  She had to admit it felt like he was telling the truth. His arms were easily holding her aloft, like she was full of air. It was rather attractive.

  “Thank you,” she said again, nuzzling into his neck. It felt nice to feel so…small. She kissed his neck.

  Rane growled softly but didn’t protest or say anything more. So, she did it again, eliciting another pleased sound. Natasha hadn’t planned on anything happening that night; she figured Rane wouldn’t want to, but as her lips traced lines along his neck and up to his ear, she wondered if that was about to change.

  They slipped out of the stairwell and Rane hurried along the hallway. She could feel his urgency now, his need to get back to his room.

  Maybe he wants it as badly as I do…

  “We don’t have to do this,” she said as the door closed behind them and Rane went directly for the bedroom.

  “I didn’t have to carry you up the stairs either,” he pointed out.

  “But you wanted to.”

  He pulled back slightly, flashing her a smile. “Exactly.”

  And he wants this too.

  They took their time, removing clothes layer by layer, fingers, mouths and tongues exploring each other’s bodies, tracing lines and curves, grabbing muscles and hips. She moaned softly as he lifted her onto the bed and settled over her, the press of his body on hers just what she needed. What she craved.

  When he began to kiss his way down across her body, she found herself writhing in anticipation, in need. Rane wasn’t distracted, leaving a line of heat across her collarbone, between her breasts and past her stomach. She shivered when he kissed her through her underwear, before sliding it slowly from her body.

  Now she was exposed. Vulnerable. Rane had her, and she was ready for him to do whatever he wanted.

  His tongue slid warmly across the inside of her thighs and she gasped at the sensation, flinching away before relaxing. It was good. So very good. He started slow, taking his time, exploring her every fold and peak. Her body responded to his touch, heat spreading from between her legs up into her very core.

  Rane watched her, his hands grabbing at her legs, her hi
ps and even reaching up to play with her breasts, sending tendrils of pleasure through her so very sensitive nipples. Little sparks of bliss merged with the growing ecstasy between her legs. Rane was very good at what he did, and she was reaping all the rewards.

  Her climax built and built, like snow on a mountainside. It drove higher and higher as his tongue paired with fingers, more sensations than she could cope with assaulting her brain as he went faster.

  “Just like that,” she said to him, feeling her thighs start to tremble. She was close. “Right there.”

  His tongue stiffened slightly, narrowing its focus, and her eyes rolled back into her skull. There was no stopping it now. The avalanche broke and her orgasm thundered through her, spreading from between her thighs to her core and then out to the extremities. She called his name, cried out in pleasure and writhed violently in his grip.

  All the stress of the day’s events, her worry that she wouldn’t be able to set things right, it all was washed from her in that moment, pushed aside for the time being by a pleasure that would only be surpassed when he entered her.

  Rane didn’t stop, and her body responded. Seconds later, she cried out again, harder, more violently this time as he made her come a second time in a span of a minute or so. This time when it broke, she pushed his head away, clamping her thighs together, needing a moment to recover from what he’d inflicted on her.

  But Rane wasn’t backing down. He climbed up onto the bed and held her legs high in the sky. The tip of his cock teased her entrance through her legs, and Natasha shuddered. She wasn’t ready. It was too much.

  He entered her ever so slightly and she realized immediately she was wrong. It wasn’t enough. “More,” she begged, eyes wide as she watched him. “Please.”

  Rane grinned and slid deeper, pushing her walls aside, forcing her to stretch to accommodate him. It was heavenly. Her body screamed at her, but she didn’t stop, pulling him deeper, inch by inch, claiming him all.

  “Oh fuck,” she gasped. “Oh fuck, oh fuck.” The words tumbled from her, so crass and yet she didn’t care. “Take me.”

  And he did. His hips thrust deep and she cried out his name. He pushed her legs aside and covered her mouth with his. Her legs wrapped around him and pulled tight. He thrust against that, and she welcomed him.

  Her brain was turning to mush, her body on fire, and still Rane went on. If anything, he was building speed, his momentum increasing. Her breasts bounced and heaved as he slammed into her, shaking her body.

  Natasha only wanted more. He sat back, reaching between her legs with his thumb, the other hand settling just below her throat. She liked the pressure there, enjoyed the risk and danger associated with it. Biting her lip, she grabbed at his wrist as he thrust, pulling his hand up to her neck.

  His fingers stiffened, but he didn’t grab hard. Just enough for her to feel it, to know that he had her, that if he wanted to, he could.

  That knowledge was enough. She went over the edge, her body shuddering hard in his grasp as he wrenched another orgasm from her battered, pleasured body.

  “Your turn,” she said when breath returned to her.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Yes. I want you to come for me,” she said, delighting at the way his face lit up when she said that.

  “Say it again,” he moaned, thrusting harder, finally allowing himself to lose control.

  It was hot, watching him use her for his own pleasure now, doing what he needed to do to climax. Natasha had never really experienced that before, and she was entranced, seeing his face tighten and his eyes close.

  The rest of him was doing the same. His muscles were bulging hard as he thrust against her.

  “Please, Rane,” she moaned, putting every ounce of seductiveness she felt into it, biting her lip, grabbing at one of her breasts with her own hand. Men loved to watch, she remembered.

  Whatever she did, it worked.

  “Oh, fuck, Natasha!” he roared, losing control.

  She watched it all happen, loving every second of it. It was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen, and she could feel his pleasure as he climaxed. For her. He’d come for her.

  That was another new sensation. A powerful one. Natasha bit her lip, realizing as Rane collapsed onto the bed next to her that she liked it. A lot.

  The pair lay next to each other, recovering their breath and their wits. She sat up against the headboard, feeling the results of their lovemaking and allowing herself to linger in the memory for a moment longer.

  “Well, that was something,” she said at last.

  Rane nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that was fun. We should do it again sometime.”

  Natasha pretended to think about it. “Well, okay. But—”

  She never got to finish her sentence.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Rane

  The door blew in just as he flung himself from bed.

  Rane had a fraction of a second to realize it was coming straight at him before the solid wooden panel hit him square on, exploding into splinters that peppered his body and the bed behind him.

  “Natasha!” he bellowed, worried that she might have been in the path of some of the projectiles.

  Try as he might to turn and go after her, however, Rane found he was stuck, his body feeling like it was in a pool of thick mud, unable to shove his way through it.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he snarled, wrestling with the invisible bonds that held him tight. “Set me free this moment!”

  “I think not,” a voice replied from the hallway outside.

  Rane’s nostrils flared as Master Loiner waltzed into his room for the second time in two days, acting like she owned the place. He was getting mighty tired of her.

  Outside the castle, thunder rumbled as the very air itself responded to his anger. Even now, clouds would be filling the sky, appearing as if from nowhere, blotting out the stars and warning anyone with a mind that something was very, very wrong.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Loiner called gaily. “Strike me down, and your precious mate will beat me to death’s door.”

  Fighting viciously, Rane managed to spin himself in mid-air. What he saw chilled his bones.

  Natasha was still in bed, covers down at her waist, eyes wide. Three different slivers of the door, each at least a foot in length were hovering mere inches from her body, vibrating with barely restrained fury.

  “Magic,” Rane hissed, knowing what Loiner meant, and hating her for it. The witch was the only thing holding the makeshift spears from penetrating Natasha’s body. Somehow, she had paused their momentum on a magical dead man switch.

  Kill Loiner, and the spears would be free to strike home, resuming their velocity. It was a primitive, brutal, and yet thoroughly effective trap. Rane had no choice. He couldn’t attack her, not with Natasha in harm’s way.

  “What are you doing here?” he snarled impotently, the sight of Natasha quivering in fear fresh in his mind even as he slowly spun back to face Loiner. “How are you here?”

  “Oh, come now. I have friends in high places. People who appreciate what I have to offer. I was never going to stay locked up for long. Ask your little rut-mate. She knew I wouldn’t truly be punished. I’m too important for that.”

  Rane didn’t have to look at Natasha to understand the truth of it.

  “Politics,” he spat angrily, hating the system more and more every day.

  “Politics,” Loiner repeated, voice dripping condescension for the dragon. “I’m so glad you understand.”

  “You can’t expect to get away with this,” Natasha said, recovering a little.

  “Oh, she does speak. And here I thought she was just good for lying on her back. Shame on you, Initiate, you’re acting no better than a dog in heat. You’d take anything that came your way.”

  Rane growled warningly. There was only so much he would put up with when it came to the way Loiner was speaking about his mate, and she was already toeing the lin
e.

  “What do you want?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  The way he saw it, there were two possibilities. Either Loiner wanted something from the two of them, or she was just gloating in her apparent victory before she killed them both.

  In either scenario, Rane knew he needed to delay. Natasha needed more time to collect herself, to prepare a defense against the spears, and he needed time to figure out how to win free from the magical restraints preventing him from choking the life out of the woman. Right now, Loiner held all the advantages, and he needed to prolong that.

  “What do I want?” Loiner said thoughtfully. “That’s a good question. I wanted a spot on the Coven, and I almost had it, would have had it, if it weren’t for that meddling bitch.” She pointed a finger at Natasha.

  “So, who let you out then?” Rane asked. “Who did you bribe?”

  “Bribe?” Loiner barked a laugh. “There are people at Winterspell and at schools across the world who respect me, unlike that bitch of a Circe. I did not bribe anyone.”

  Rane thought fast, trying to come up with another topic to distract her with. He’d never thought to find himself playing peacekeeper with Loiner, but here he was. He desperately needed to keep her distracted and talking.

  For now, at least. Her actions and complete disregard for the rules had him wondering if the only way he was going to ever be rid of her, was to kill her. It wasn’t something he cherished the idea of, though he doubted he would mourn the loss.

  Steeling himself to make a move, he reached out to the wind, to the air around him and the power that it contained. There was space between the spears and Natasha’s skin. All he had to do was harden it, create a barrier that would keep her safe, and then he could act.

  Loiner must have sensed what he was doing. She spun on him. “I don’t think so!” she snapped, and her wand flicked out.

  Rane went flying backward through the window, plummeting to the ground below amid the shards of stained glass. Wind buffeted his naked body most unpleasantly.

  But he was free. The instant he’d dropped out of sight, whatever spell Loiner had cast on him had evaporated. Winds swirled and slowed his fall, until he came to a rest on the courtyard far below, his eyes focused up at the open window.