Secrets

by Shannon Pemrick

  Both became stuck on my large boots, but Rylan managed to release their hold and prevent me from sitting up to remove my boots. “They stay on.”

  “But—”

  He kissed my neck, his teeth grazing my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. “They stay.”

  Rylan’s hands slipped behind my neck and fussed with my bikini strings, while continuing to kiss me. Each one sent bursts of tingling sensations through my body, enticing a quiet moan from my throat. The sound excited him, hastening his attempt to remove my top. When he succeeded in undoing the knot, he splayed the strings out around me instead of immediately pulling down my top, and revealing my turned-on form. Rylan’s hands trailed down my sides and then behind me. I arched my back, and he made quick work of the strings.

  He pulled away and slowly removed my bathing suit top. Although he gazed down at my naked form with appreciation, I struggled to fight the impulse to cover myself. I knew better than to give into the urge. Zeek had gotten on my case numerous times when I had been with him and pulled that move.

  Rylan leaned over me and claimed my lips with his, our tongues wrestling with each other hungrily for several minutes before his lips left mine and trailed down my neck and collar bone. His teeth nipped and his hot breath tickled my sensitive skin. My back arched, and he ran his fingers down my spine, intensifying the heat rising in my body.

  My heart raced as his lips slowly kissed lower, and his hands migrated from behind my back to my sides. Rylan glanced up at me, his eyes dark with lust. The gaze sent a hunger to my core, and my taut nipples throbbed. Rylan grinned, aware of my aching desire, and his hands reached up and cupped my supple breasts. His thumbs circled my rosy buds, while he kissed between my breasts. A moan of pleasure escaped my lips.

  Rylan’s kisses shifted to the side of my breast until they captured my erect nipple. I threaded my hands in his hair as he sucked and flicked his tongue, moaning with pleasure. His hand let go of my breast and slid down my stomach to my hips. Desire throbbed between my thighs. I lifted my hips hoping—begging—for more. I gasped when intense pleasure shot through me as Rylan fulfilled my heated desire.

  Incoherent words mixed with my moans. My hips bucked as pleasure coursed through me, and Rylan continued his rhythmic motion. My grip on his hair tightened, my back arched, and I cried out as ecstasy flooded over me.

  Rylan remained still while my breath came in short, heavy bursts. I gasped when he kissed my sensitive skin and he chuckled. He then reached up and brushed away a damp tassel of hair before pulling away and gazing down at me. I stretched and let my arms lazily lay above my head. Rylan’s eyes lit up at the sight of the view I gave him.

  I frowned and sat up when he suddenly left the bed. “Where are you going?”

  “To get you some water. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”

  I licked my dry lips. I could use some water, but I didn’t want him to leave. Hydration could wait. But he left before I could voice an argument. I huffed and twirled my hair. When he took longer than I liked, I began chewing on my lower lip.

  “You’re cute when do that,” Rylan said when he came back and caught me. In his hands he carried two glasses filled with water.

  My cheeks flushed. “What, no food, too?”

  He walked over to the side of the bed and placed the glasses on the nightstand. “I can go grab your plate of food.”

  I swung my legs over the bed and grabbed him by the hem of his boxers. I pulled him closer and kissed him just below the navel.

  He sucked in a tight breath. “Ryoko…”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” I murmured before pulling his boxers down. I leaned back and Rylan placed his hands on his hips as I looked over every inch of him.

  “You appear pleased.”

  I smirked and then kissed him just below the navel again. “Hope you didn’t have plans for later.”

  He threaded his fingers into my long hair. “Only with you.”

  I kissed a little lower. “That’s what I like to hear.”

  My kisses continued to migrate down, taking a detour toward his hip and back. My teeth occasionally nipped at his skin and he’d inhale sharply. His grip on my hair tightened the more I teased. He sighed with pleasure when I grabbed his erect member and slowly eased my lips over the tip. Rylan groaned with pleasure and tightened his grip, but then loosened as I sucked and slid his shaft in and out of my mouth rhythmically.

  “Ryoko…” he moaned.

  I looked up at him as I continued to pleasure him. His eyes dark with lust, hooded as pleasure continued to flood over him. His grip continued to loosen until they slid to the side of my head and his fingers rubbed my ears. My cheeks flushed as a mix of pleasant sensations hit me in one large wave. A new hunger—need—surged inside me, my rhythm picking up speed.

  Rylan moaned my name and rocked his hips, his ear-stroking never letting up, knowing full well what this did to me. His hard member swelled more as this continued. Then suddenly, he pulled away and forced me to lie on my back.

  I looked up at him in confusion. “Why?”

  “Not yet,” he said, before leaning over me and kissing my collar bone.

  “But—” I gasped when he dragged his tongue down my chest, deliberately choosing a path over my taut nipples. His teasing continued after circling my sensitive tips several times, and trailed down the center of my body, occasionally switching to kissing or nibbling.

  “You’re n–not being f–fair,” I struggled to say through the pulses of pleasure.

  He looked up at me with hungry eyes when his lips touched my inner thigh. “Not being fair would have been allowing you to continue and end our fun far too early. I’m being more than fair, Love.” My heart skipped a beat at the sound of the new name. “Now be good, and enjoy.”

  He spread my legs father apart and kissed my inner thigh until his lips met the moistness between. I gasped and clutched the blankets when warm pleasure rocked through me. Moans of pleasure came from my mouth as he continued, and one of my hands released its hold on the blankets and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

  He held me down as my hips started to buck as I was stimulated closer to my release, but before I reached that point, Rylan stopped. I growled with frustration and he chuckled as he lifted himself onto the bed and hovered over me.

  “You’re getting too much enjoyment out of my frustration,” I grumbled.

  Rylan kissed me on the lips so passionately, my breath left me. “You know you love it.” I snapped my teeth at him and he chuckled into my ear before nipping my neck. “Careful, I can continue to tease you instead of giving you what you want.”

  “Then you’d be denying what you want.”

  He grinned and kissed my collarbone. “True, but I’m in no rush to end this.”

  “No one said it had to end.”

  Rylan slid his hands down my sides and rested them on my hips. “You sure?”

  I lifted my legs and pressed them against his hips, urging him to come closer. Rylan kissed my collarbone again and lifted my hips toward him. I gasped and my back arched as he filled me. Rylan took several breaths as he accepted the sensation that flooded through him, and then began thrusting into me. I moaned with pleasure and grabbed fistfuls of sheets, embracing the pleasure that pulsed through me.

  Rylan’s momentum increased and he placed his hands on either side of my head as he held himself over me. I met his thrusts and matched them, increasing the pleasure for us both. Everything felt right about this—about us. Our breaths came rhythmically with each thrust.

  “Ryoko… Ryoko, I love you.”

  “I… love you too.”

  Rylan slipped his hand between my legs and increased the pleasure coursing through me, until we both cried out in merged climactic release. We remained still, breathing heavily and embracing the remn
ants of the pleasure coursing through us.

  Rylan kissed my forehead. “I love you.”

  He kissed my forehead again, then my cheek several time and then my neck. Each time murmuring the same phrase. I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me. I pecked him on the lips. “I love you too.”

  I pulled him closer and had him lay on me. Rylan wiggled his arms under me and snuggled into me. I sighed happily and closed my eyes, getting some rest before we went back at it, since I knew for a fact we weren’t done yet.

  My eyes fluttered open as I stirred. An arm hung over my shoulder and hot breath hit my neck. I wiggled my free toes, forgetting exactly when the boots had come off, but remembering Rylan had put up a bit of stink about it. I made a note to find out if I was going to need to invest in some special clothes, just for him.

  “I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” Rylan murmured in my ear.

  “Hmm?” I said. “I didn’t hear you.”

  He moved his arm and grabbed my breast. “How about feel?”

  “I don’t know… Might need a little more to tell.”

  He chuckled and kissed my head. “I love you.”

  I turned to face him and kissed him on the nose. “I love you too.” He stroked my cheek and I looked around. “What time is it?”

  “You were asleep for about two hours.”

  I thought about how long we’d spent making love and added the two hours of sleep. I sat up immediately. “I need to take my meds.”

  Rylan wrapped his arm around my hips. “Easy. They’re on the nightstand. While you were sleeping, I went to grab my discarded clothes. I thought you might panic and try to get your meds, so I retrieved them.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a smile.

  I reached for the bottle, but Rylan stopped me. “Ryoko, wait. I don’t want you taking these anymore.”

  I frowned. “Rylan, I need to.”

  “No, you—”

  “Yes I do! Yes I do…” I stared into my hands. “You don’t understand. You don’t want to see what I am.”

  Rylan touched my chin and forced me to look at him. “I love you, Ryoko. I want to know everything about you. We all have things about us we don’t like about ourselves. Do you think I like feeling more beast than man?”

  I smiled. “I think you’re cute when you’re a dog.”

  He grinned. “And it’s because of you I’ve become more okay with that side of me again. I don’t care what these pills hide. I don’t want you to hide.”

  I smiled and kissed him. “Then I won’t take them anymore. You’ll see why I take them, and then you’ll have to make your final decision.”

  He pulled me into his arms. “I already have.”

  “So, are the others home?”

  “Yeah. They came home before I could gather my clothes.”

  I bit my lip. “Did we get into trouble?”

  “No, Laz just made a snarky comment.”

  “Laz, really? What did she say?”

  “She handed me the clothes and told me she was glad we had the decency to make it to a room. She even correctly guessed the order my clothes came off, as well as yours.”

  I rolled out of his arms as I laughed. “That sounds like the new her.”

  “New her? Is that what you’re calling it?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. The old her would have definitely not been bold enough to make that kind of guess. I’m glad she’s changing, even if it’s too slow for my taste. But… I have Raikidan to thank for all this.”

  Rylan snuggled into me. “Just don’t forget what I said. Don’t meddle too much. We don’t need her shutting down and going back to that dark version of her that neither of us ever want to see again.”

  I looked at him. “Be honest with me. Do you think something will happen between the two of them?”

  Rylan thought for a moment. “I don’t want to get too far ahead, since I know Laz has quite a ways to go before she’ll be ready to let someone in, but… do you remember how I reacted when Tannek got in my way when I wanted her?”

  “Yeah, you were not a happy camper. I thought at one point you were going to seriously kill him.”

  Rylan chuckled. “Yeah, if Amara hadn’t put her foot down, I’m sure I would have tried.”

  I shook my head. “So what does this have to with Raikidan?”

  “Well, I noticed how Laz and Tannek acted around each other long before they started to become a thing, and I predicted if I couldn’t get a leg up on him, I’d lose her to him. Fast forward to now, if I still felt the same way about Laz, I would have preferred Tannek as an obstacle over Raikidan. This path they’re on is very similar, but stronger, and I’m sure there’s no man alive who could compete with him.”

  I smiled. “That makes me happy.”

  Rylan rolled on top of me and kissed me passionately. “And you make me happy.”

  I grinned. “Haven’t had enough yet?”

  “Never.”

  He kissed me again and we melted into a pool of love and pleasure.

  Chapter 40

  (Eira)

  The cool breeze of the wind blowing in felt good as I sat on the couch reading. Nothing the book gave me to read held my interest long, but I had nothing better to do. Shva’sika and I had managed to patch things up. Raikidan and she had worked together to temporarily obtain a time relic and help me fix the pictures she’d damaged. Once fixed, I stored them away where they couldn’t be damaged again. Shva’sika had planned to return it on her own, but Raikidan and I wanted to get out of the house, so we joined her—wrong choice.

  She had borrowed it from a scholar who was staying with a group of shamans. The shamans, happy I had shown up, insisted on speaking to me about something that had nothing to do with the rebellion, which annoyed me a bit. A great deal of these shamans were taking this ambassador thing a little too seriously.

  I looked up from my book when Raikidan came down from the roof. He looked deep in thought about something as he headed down the hall. Shva’sika looked up from her book and also watched him curiously. My eyes widened when he reached Rylan’s bedroom door and put his hand on the doorknob, intending to go in.

  The book fell to the floor. “Raikidan, don’t go in there!”

  He didn’t hear me and still opened the door. “Hey, Rylan—”

  An immediate silence enveloped the house.

  “Babe, who is it?” Ryoko asked.

  Rylan chuckled. “Need something, Raikidan?”

  I bit my lip when Raikidan slammed the door shut and set a quick pace back down the hall, with his head low and his hand covering most of his face. Shva’sika and I erupted in laughter the moment he slammed the door to my room closed, although I felt bad for doing so. He wouldn’t have known. He had gone to be on his own the moment we had gotten back, so he didn’t make the discovery we had.

  Shva’sika jerked her head in the direction of my room and finally spoke once she got her laughter under control. “You should go see if he’s okay. That’s not exactly the most comfortable situation to walk in on. I can’t even imagine what’s going through his head, being a dragon and all.”

  I nodded. I had my laughter under control, but I couldn’t rid myself of the smile stuck on my face as I got off the couch. Grabbing hold of the doorknob, I opened the door and peeked around it. Raikidan sat on the windowsill like he usually did, but instead of staring out into the alley, he was covering his face. An unfortunate giggle escaped my lips when I realized his cheeks were still red with embarrassment. Raikidan looked at me in pure instinctual reaction to my now-announced presence, but then instantly looked out the window, his face reddening even more.

  I closed the door behind me. “Raikidan, it’s all right. It happens. It’s the risk we run with so many of us living togeth
er.”

  “It’s not that. I didn’t think…” He sighed and covered his face and. I watched as he tried to shake the memory out of his head.

  “It’s okay, Rai. You don’t have to talk about it.”

  Raikidan shook his head more. “I just… I just didn’t think you humans did it like that.”

  I chuckled. It amused me how there was an obvious a part of him that didn’t want to talk about it, but he still was. It was like that other part of him wanted me to help him understand.

  “I did tell you humans did it for fun. If they think it’s going to enjoyable or fun in any way, they’re going to do it.”

  Raikidan’s eyes squeezed shut. “It’s another reason I live alone. Living in a clan… you run into this a lot. It’s not something I…” he sighed and stopped talking finally.

  I smiled. “Raikidan, look at me.”

  Raikidan’s eyes opened and he began to look up at me, but his eyes darted to look out the window, his cheeks growing redder again.

  I shook my head and grabbed his hand, getting his attention. “Rai…”

  Slowly, he looked at me, revealing eyes filled with turmoil. His cheeks remained red, giving away how badly this affected him.

  “Come with me.” I tugged on his hand but he didn’t budge. “C’mon, I wanna show you something.”

  Another tug got him onto his feet, and I walked backward to the door until I knew he was going to follow on his own. I led him to the basement, looking back at times to make sure he was doing okay, since his pulse was jumping erratically. This situation really has him all worked up. Fresh air would do him good, which was good, because where I was taking him he’d get lots of it.

  Leading him through the secret passage in the basement, we reached the sewers. His pulse was slowing now, and I was glad. It meant I could trust him to follow without the threat of him running off in his weird state. I didn’t let go of his hand, though, just in case I was wrong.