by Lolita Lopez
She fell to her knees, the murky water sloshing around her spindly legs, and clutched onto the gravestone of her mate. The marble cut her fingertips like glass and she left bloody streaks. Heartbroken and bereft, she sobbed and wailed for the loss of the only man she would ever love. Guilt shattered her soul. This was all her fault.
The steely kiss of a sword blade touched the back of her neck. Eyes closed, she didn’t have to glance back to know one of the Knights was preparing to end her life…
With a violent jerk, she was ripped free from the vision and dropped right back into the real world. She searched Ignatius’s hard face as the full weight of responsibility settled on her slight shoulders. Fairly or unfairly, the future of the dragons had been placed in her trembling hands.
Ignatius clasped her face in both scarred, callused hands and implored her to do the right thing. “Save us, Ivy.”
Chapter Nine
With the fury of a thousand suns burning through his veins, Mad surged out of his drugged sleep. Groggy and confused, he shook his head and waited for the dizziness to pass. He blinked rapidly and gazed up at the all too familiar ceiling. A quick glance to the left assured him he was inside a room he hadn’t seen for more than twenty years. It was the same luxurious, windowless, and completely barricaded room where Ivy had been born.
Infuriated by the betrayal of his Brothers, Mad leaped to his feet but tottered precariously. He hadn’t even realized he had shifted to dragon form until his wing smacked a chair and knocked it over. Shaking his head, he leaned against the nearest wall and waited for the dizziness to pass.
As the sickening head-spinning sensation faded, he became acutely aware of the intense heat that had gripped him. The next time he saw that rat fucking bastard Niko, he was going to break his damn nose for slipping them these awful dragon roofies. While Mad had a thousand years of experience with natural heat phases, this chemically induced one threatened to break him.
A shuddery, nervous inhale caught his attention. His gaze snapped to the massive bed where Ivy stared at him. The lights had been dimmed, casting a warm but shadowed glow on her. She wore only one of his shirts and had her knees pulled in tight to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She smelled so good. The heady scent of her punched him in the gut and set off that primitive side of his brain that could only think as a beast. Mate. Claim. Fuck. Mark. That’s all he wanted to do and in that exact order.
Gulping, she shifted and betrayed her obvious discomfort. As hot and aroused as he was at this moment, he could only imagine how terrible this was for her, especially since it was her first time in heat…and with a man. Even from this distance, he could see the slick wetness coating the tops of her thighs. If he stripped away her clothing, he would find her nipples hard and her pussy swollen and ready for mounting.
He growled with need but suppressed the urge to take her. She deserved so much better than this. She had trusted him to keep her safe and he had all but delivered her into the hands of dragons who wanted to use her as a weapon just like the Knights.
“Mad?” She held out a trembling hand. “Come here. They told me you’ll turn back to a man when we touch.”
He shook his head and deliberately moved across the room. He glanced at the bricked-over windows and seriously considered tearing down the entire wall if necessary. He had to get out of here before Ivy’s delicious and enticing scent completely broke his will. With his strength and the power of his thunderous clapping wings, he could demolish even that heavy masonry but he feared harm might come to his mate if the wall crumbled.
Not easily swayed by his rejection, Ivy embraced her inner temptress. She rose from the bed and walked toward him. She stopped when there was still a dozen or more feet between them. Apparently her bravery had its bounds. He eyed her warily. What game was she playing?
She grasped the bottom of the shirt and slowly dragged it up and over her head. She dropped it to the floor beside her feet and simply stared at him. He tried to keep his gaze locked on her beautiful face but it was impossible. The beast within him demanded he take a long, hard look at her bare breasts and the rest of her womanly charms. His heartbeat raced and a searing jolt rocked his core as he imagined suckling her pebbled nipples and sliding between her thighs.
“Mad, I’m on fire. Touch me.” Her pleading tone cut right through his scaled armor. “Help me.”
“No.” With his anatomy shifted in dragon form, the word came out harshly. She didn’t flinch. Ever his brave little bit, she stepped forward and reached for him. He jumped back and gained air with a quick flap of his wings. Vaulting over a table, he knocked over two chairs and made it to the opposite side of the room.
Undaunted, Ivy switched tactics. She crawled onto the bed, holding his gaze the entire time, and slid into a sitting position. Legs splayed wide open, she bared all of her feminine secrets to him. She might have been a virgin, but she proved that she was well-versed in all the passionate ways a couple might play.
“I ache here, Mad.” Her fingertips drifted along the small swells of her breasts to ride the slope of her belly before gliding between her thighs. “And here.” She brushed her fingers up and down the petals of her sex before gently parting them and revealing her slick, dewy center. “Make me feel good again.”
Unable to speak the way he wanted, he reached out to her mind. Stop this, Ivy. You’re pushing me to the breaking point.
“I know.” She dipped one of her fingers inside her channel. “I want you inside me, Mad. I need you here.”
Holding on to the strands of control with a white-knuckled grip, he shook his head. You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s just the heat talking.
Ivy stopped fingering herself and frowned at him. “Don’t do that”
Do what?
“Don’t minimize what we share. After everything we’ve been through, it’s obvious that we’re special. You and me? We were meant to be.” She held out her hand again. “Take me, Mad. Make love to me. Make me scream again.”
The last thread of his control snapped. Hearing his mate beg him for pleasure was too much for even a dragon of his age to bear. He leaped next to the bed and fell forward against Ivy, pinning her in place atop the mattress with his massive and still-scaled body. Showing not even an ounce of fear, she wrapped her lithe legs around his waist. He was too wide and too large in his dragon form for her to lock her ankles at the small of his back so she tucked them up under the folds of his wings. The touch of his mate spurred the quick but painful shifting process.
Eyes shining with wonder, she took in the transformation with parted lips and a smile of amazement. Soon she would know the truth of it for herself. After he claimed her and made her his mate, she would begin the gradual transition to a shapeshifter. The prospect of teaching her how to fly filled him with happiness. She would absolutely love it.
What are you thinking? This isn’t right. You promised her she could choose the moment. Don’t let the drugs turn you into a liar.
Touching his forehead to hers, he closed his eyes and welcomed the painful stab of guilt twisting in his chest. It cooled his raging lust. “We can’t do this, Ivy.”
“Why not?” Now that he was in his human form, she managed to slide her legs around his trim waist and hook her ankles along his upper thighs. “I want you. You want me. Isn’t this what two people who feel this way are supposed to do?”
“We only feel this way because we were betrayed and drugged. My friends, my Brothers, are no better than the Knights who stole you and held you in that godforsaken prison. They want to turn you into a weapon.”
“Because I can pinpoint the location of every Knight,” she said quietly. “While you were sleeping, it occurred to me that if the Knights could use me to track down dragons and mates, then the Brotherhood could use me to track down every last Knight.”
Gazing down at her, he swore, “I won’t let them use you like that. This gift of yours is special and pure. It shouldn’t be used to hurt others, not eve
n our enemies.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, Mad.” Her thighs tightened around his waist. “Right now, we have more interesting things to consider.”
Though his cock throbbed painfully, he refused to find satisfaction buried in the silken heat of her. “There are other ways to get through this drug-induced mating phase without actually having sex. We’ve done it before.”
“Don’t you want me?” She sounded so hurt by his suggestion that they stick to heavy petting or oral sex to make it through the night.
“God, Ivy,” he said with a brutally rough exhale, “I want you so badly. I’ve wanted you since the first time you came to me in a dream.”
“But?”
“You’re so young. You’re so kind and sweet. You have your entire life ahead of you. If I can find a way to keep you safe from the Knights and my Brothers, you could go on living as a human for twenty or thirty years. You could—”
Ivy silenced him with a soulful kiss. Her soft, pliable lips moved against his with such passion. She clasped the back of his neck and held him right where she wanted him. Her tongue thrust between his lips and tangled with his own. At the first vibration of his thunder, she pulled back with a smile and caressed his jaw. “I don’t want to wait for twenty or thirty years.”
“It’s the blink of an eye for people like us.”
“But there’s so much I want us to do together,” she countered. “If it’s only going to be the blink of an eye, I don’t want to miss out on any of it. Anyway,” she said, dragging her thumb across his chin, “in thirty years or so, we’re going to be parents.”
His belly flip-flopped. Mouth suddenly dry, he asked, “What?”
Her sensual mouth curved with exhilaration. He could actually feel the waves of happiness emanating from her and washing over him. “After Niko hit you with those darts, I touched Ignatius and I saw everything. I saw the two possibilities of our future. In one, I become a pawn of the Knights, and they kill all of us.”
“And in the other?”
“We have at least four children. Three boys,” she said with a smile, “and a daughter.”
Joy unlike any he had ever known blossomed inside him. He might not have her gift of sight, but he had no problem imagining their four children with dark hair, light eyes, and gap-toothed mischievous grins. “It sounds as if we’re going to be very busy.”
“Doesn’t it sound wonderful? You and me and our family?” Holding his face in her hands, she asked, “Am I your mate, Mad?”
“Yes.” He couldn’t deny it. He didn’t want to deny it. “Do you believe that I am yours?”
“Yes. Without a doubt,” she added. “The second our minds connected and you let me into your dreams, I knew we were something special.”
Mad nuzzled her neck and flicked his tongue over the spot where her pulse beat so wildly. “I wanted you to come to me of your own choice and when you were ready. I didn’t want it to be like this, not with the drugs forcing you.”
“The drugs are only amplifying what we already feel for each other. They’re pushing my body and yours into a synched heat phase. That’s it. This,” she said, placing her hand over his heart, “is real.”
He covered her small hand with his and claimed her with a kiss that held all his hope for their future together. “After we mate, I’ll never walk away from you, Ivy. You have to be sure that you really want me. Because after this,” he said, flicking his tongue against hers, “it’s you and me forever, little bit.”
She smiled at his teasing nickname. Brushing her hand along his jaw, she rocked her wet, feminine core against the rigid edge of his shaft. “Make me yours, Beast.”
With an excited growl, he kissed her long, hard, and deep. The erotic tangle of their mouths set him ablaze. He accepted every counterpoint Ivy had made as truth. While he hated the way his Brothers and the Knights were manipulating them, Mad refused to deny his mate what she wanted and needed. Whatever the circumstances that had forced them together, he believed Ivy was the missing piece that would complete his life—and he was going to bind her to him now and never let her go.
She bucked against him and glided her hands along his arms and shoulders, electrifying his skin with her soft touch. He captured her hands and dragged them high overhead. Fingers intertwined, he watched her reptilian pupils dilate as she reacted to his dominant move. Her breath hitched, and she licked her lips. He bent down and tugged her plump lower lip between his teeth.
Using just enough pressure to get her attention, he gave her a little nip that made her hips rise off the bed. Ivy’s confused expression convinced him she had no idea about all the wonderfully erotic delights to be found in his bed. Just thinking of all the discoveries they would make together inspired a white-hot arc of excitement that zipped from his chest to his toes.
Nuzzling her, he licked along the side of her neck before sucking on that sensitive spot right where it curved into her shoulder. She clawed at his shoulders and erupted in goose bumps. He chuckled and dotted kisses along her cheek, then took her mouth. She whimpered when his tongue stabbed against hers. The kittenish sound ignited something primal within him. Balls aching and cock throbbing, he wondered if he would ever get enough of his sweet Ivy.
Releasing her hands, he started kissing a meandering path down her lush body. He spent some time teasing her breasts, flicking at her pebbled nipples and teething the flushed peaks. She arched into him and silently encouraged his trek. He grazed his lips and teeth along her belly and licked at her navel.
The unbelievably enticing scent of her invaded his nose and settled in his lungs. Intoxicated, he surrendered to the primitive call to take her as his mate. He wanted to hear her screaming his name and feel her smaller, softer body writhing beneath his. This might not have started in the most romantic way, but he was determined that their first time together should be a memory to cherish.
Remembering the honeyed taste of her, he slid down on his belly and parted her thighs. Her bare sex, the lips swollen and slick, beckoned him closer. He peppered ticklish kisses up and down the seam of her pussy before running his tongue between her folds. The pink petals opened for him and granted him easy access to that stiff little nub tucked away there. He swirled his tongue around her clitoris and smiled at the mewling cries he elicited.
“Mad.” Her sigh of pleasure traveled right down to his pulsing dick. Soon, he planned to bury himself in her tight, wet heat but first…
“Oh!” She swiveled her hips and tried to escape his oral onslaught but he held fast to her hips and kept her right where he wanted her. Her attempts to evade his fluttering tongue only inflamed the predatory instincts now riding just below the surface. The more she squirmed and cried out, the more intensely he attacked that little bud. His inner beast wouldn’t be happy until his mate was sobbing and shuddering with pleasure.
Her thighs tightened and squeezed at his arms. Knowing she was close, he increased the pressure and speed of his flicks. The sweet nectar flowing from her core set off a craving that he would never satisfy. Spurred on by her deepening breaths, he gave Ivy exactly what she needed.
“Mad!” And there it was, the sweetest sound of all.
Ivy’s hips shot off the bed, and she pressed herself against his tormenting mouth. He gripped her waist and lapped at her pussy until she cried out again, this time the pitch higher and almost panicked. Her clit throbbed against his tongue, and he went wild between her thighs. She brought out the beast in him and made him want to do wicked, dirty things.
Finally, he granted her a reprieve. She dropped down hard to the mattress and he wiped his slick mouth and chin on her inner thigh and belly. Climbing over her, Mad gazed down into her beautiful eyes. Seeing the red flecks of his dragon mixed with the golden coloring of her mother’s tribe reminded him of the vision she had seen.
His hand curved against her stomach, and he thought of the children she would one day bear him. The other future, the dark one filled with death and sadness, w
ould never come to pass. He would make sure of that. But the good one? The one where they were happy and made a family together? That was the version he intended to make a reality.
“Mad, I need you.” Her small hand wrapped around his shaft. She pulled the blunt tip of his cock between her folds and circled her clitoris. He groaned like a damned bear and almost came when she pressed him against her virgin entrance. He pulled back, refusing to breech her just yet.
“Wait, Ivy.” Cupping her face with one hand, he bent down and kissed her. “Let me prepare you.”
Peering up at him with trust, she waited for him to guide her through this experience. He brushed his fingertips up and down her pussy while kissing her. When he slid his middle finger into her, she moaned against his mouth. A rumbling purr escaped his throat. Very gently, he penetrated her deeper and let her response dictate his speed and depth.
Soon, she begged him for more. Feeling a great deal of responsibility for her care and her pleasure, he added a second finger. Aware of his size and the possibility of harming her, he took his time with her. Using his hands and mouth, he stroked her nubile body and kept her hovering on the edge of another climax.
When he moved between her thighs, he spotted a flash of panic race across her face. He went instantly still. No matter how badly he burned for her, he wouldn’t take something so precious unless she was truly ready. “Ivy, we can stop.”
“I know.” She slid her hands under his arms and up his back to grip his shoulders. “But I’m ready.”
“You’re sure?”
She nodded. “I want you.”
Quivering inside as if he were the virgin, he aligned their bodies. The fat head of his cock nudged her slit. Her timid but excited smile made his heart do a funny flip in his chest. She shifted just a little, and he surged forward, claiming her forever as his mate. Her gasp of pain and surprise tore at his conscience and made his heart ache. Not daring to move and barely able to breathe, he gazed down at her with concern. “Ivy?”