by C. I. Black
Her gaze captured his, and her pupils dilated with need. Right now, in this moment, there was only him. No horrifying past. No uncertain future. Just him and how they made each other feel. More.
The thought shot straight to his erection, making him throb. Mother, yes! More. Whatever she desired. He knew he’d never get enough of her, of how she felt, strong and soft against him, of the sounds she made when he brought her to climax. He wanted to make her cry with satisfaction again and again.
He captured her mouth in a quick kiss then tugged her to the edge of the counter, and pressed his hands along the inside of her thighs, opening her wide. Her chest rose and fell in rapid breaths, still riding the tail end of her climax, and a shudder swept through her as he trailed a hand and his gaze down her body to the curls and swollen folds damp from her first orgasm.
Her yearning whirled with his, her erotic thoughts fueling his. Yes, she wanted him there. Filling her. Driving into her.
Not yet. He knew she was planning on leaving as a way to protect him and his puzur. If she was leaving, he was going to savor every second he had with her.
She leaned forward, but he ducked her lips and grazed his tongue over her nipple instead. A shudder trembled through her, drawing a moan. Another flick of his tongue, then he drew her into his mouth, sucking and laving until her breath came in quick gasps. He switched to the other nipple and ran his hands from her knees up the inside of her thighs.
Another tremor shook her, bringing her close to climax again. Her thoughts jumped to how he’d made her come with his hand moments before, and she moaned his name. He was so hard it hurt. He needed to be in her, feel her hot slick tightness clamp around him, and Mother, she wanted that, too, burned for it. But if this was the only night he was going to get with her, he was going to make it one she’d never forget.
He kissed down her belly, circling his thumbs on her inner thighs, closer and closer to her core. Her trembling increased, and she gasped when he flicked his tongue over her clit.
The heat of her thoughts turned to molten lava. He spread her with his thumbs, slid two fingers inside her, and drew her clit into his mouth, sucking and flicking, driving her back to climax. Her grip tightened around the edge of the counter and she writhed against him, her breath coming faster, her thoughts splintering on the verge of orgasm again, and he teased her there, easing off and building again, keeping her on the edge until she was gasping and moaning.
She tangled her fingers into his hair and urged him to look at her. Another shudder swept through her. “Tell me you have protection.”
He glanced up at her. Her eyes were half closed. Her breasts rose in rapid shuddering breaths.
I need you in me.
Dragons are infertile.
Oh. A flash of sadness chilled her craving.
It’s okay. It’s just the way it is. And he wasn’t going to think about that. Right now, this moment was for her and her pleasure. He flicked his tongue over her clit and drove his fingers deeper inside her, burning away the sadness with the tremor of climax. She was so hot, so sensual. Everything about her was amazing, and he strained to control himself and fulfill her need to forget everything but the here and now.
God, Nero. Her trembling grew stronger and her nails dug into his scalp. She bucked against him, her climax on the edge again. Want you in me. Need you—
Yes. With one hand, he released the button on his pants and shoved them and his briefs off his hips, while still working his fingers inside her.
Her gaze dropped to his erection, and her tongue darted across her lips. A half-purr, half-growl filled his chest. Hers. Whatever she desired.
He grabbed her ass and aligned himself with her, bringing his tip to rest against her slick folds.
I desire this. She clenched his erection at the base and drew her hand up to the tip, keeping it pressed at her entrance, teasing him back.
His muscles clenched, the strain to keep in position and not drive into her making him shake.
She pumped her hand back down to his base, her grip tight, a promise of what she’d feel like. Her hips inched forward, drawing his tip inside her, and a tremor of climax swept through her. Her breath came heavy and her gaze locked with his, capturing his soul. If her essence hadn’t been seared there already, it would be now.
He brushed his thumb over her clit. She gasped, and he pushed deep within her. Her grip switched back to the countertop as he slid out then plunged back into her tight sheath. Her muscles tightened further around him, and he fought to control himself and bring her to climax first. Her first. Always her. He slid out and drove back in. Faster. Harder. Out and back in. Lifting her hips to meet him, driving deep. Her breath came faster, a match to his. Her pleasure spiraled tighter and flooded through their mental connection until he was whirling out of control.
She screamed his name. Her climax tore through her and pounded into him. Lightning shot up his spine with a ferocious release, and he roared.
Hers. Forever.
Deny it all he wanted, his soul had chosen, and when she left this house without him — and he knew she would to protect him and his kids — it was going to shatter him.
31
Ivette clenched the back of her office chair, fighting the desire to break another annoying protocol, summon her most powerful magic, and turn Dinah into a heap of smoking flesh.
The other woman leaned back in the chair across from Ivette’s desk and raised an eyebrow, her expression cocky. “Do you need me to repeat that?”
“Do we honestly think anything Werner Scholtz says is reliable? His magic is unnatural. He probably sees the dugga everywhere he looks. Nero Tassinari might be a high-ranking member of the Asar Nergal, but he’s not the dugga. Everything we know about the dugga says he wouldn’t go after a human himself.” But Ivette knew the moment she’d said it, Dinah would have a defense for Scholtz’s sanity. This was the woman’s chance to prove Ivette had screwed up by letting Rebecca Scott escape and using Scholtz as bait. She was aiming to take Ivette’s job and was smart enough to know she needed something solid, not just the hearsay of a crazy man.
“He’s far from crazy. Final analysis of Glenn Lewis’s shielding magic indicates he’s been putting barriers in his mind and the minds of those closest to him to protect them from going insane. It explains why Glenn has been so cooperative and forthcoming about Becca Scott’s connection to the dugga. He’s sane enough to know he should be terrified of the Asar Nergal.”
“That doesn’t confirm Nero is the dugga, and it doesn’t explain why Scott was clearly losing touch with reality.” There were holes in Dinah’s argument, and Ivette was going to find all of them before her backstabbing co-worker took control of the facility.
“Glenn claims his power doesn’t— didn’t work on Rebecca, but was working on Werner.”
“Still, doesn’t prove anything.” Which meant Ivette hadn’t lost control and wouldn’t. Dinah had no proof of anything, and even if she was right, Ivette just needed to be smart about this, keep in control, especially when they’d completed the evacuation and transition to the new facility. If Dinah was going to make her move, that was when it would happen, during the peak of the chaos incited by an ancient black dragon showing up on their doorstep.
She relaxed her grip on the chair and turned her back on Dinah, keeping an eye on the woman in the reflection in the floor-to-ceiling windows. The facility move was almost complete. The servers had been loaded into a van and were in transit to the new location, all of Dinah’s precious experiments had been transferred, more than half the facility had been wiped clean, and the highest priority subjects were about to be sedated and moved to cells with newly activated null magic to secure them.
Outside, the city was blanketed in darkness, dawn still a few hours away, but traffic was returning to the streets. In February, the workday didn’t start with dawn. It started when the alarm clock blared. And for Ivette, yesterday’s workday hadn’t ended. The last twelve hours had been a disaster
she was determined to turn around, and a part of her grudgingly hoped Dinah’s information was correct and Tassinari was the dugga of the Asar Nergal.
If he wasn’t, she was almost back where she’d started before learning about Becca’s direct mental connection with the dugga. Her incompetent security team had killed Scott and failed to capture Tassinari, and while they had Scholtz back in custody, that didn’t get her any closer to achieving her goal of taking the dugga’s magic so she could hunt down and kill every last member of the Asar Nergal.
The only positive thing to the situation was that Tassinari knew about the facility. Without a doubt, he’d return. The fight with her security team outside the building, along with the presence of two human mages, would be enough to force the dugga to send someone, likely more than one dragon, to investigate, depending on what Becca Scott had revealed — and Ivette wasn’t going to start trying to figure out why Tassinari had been with Scott when she’d gone to meet Scholtz. All Ivette needed to do was wait, maybe slow the move to the new facility to ensure she had a reason to keep a full security squad here, and she’d have her opportunity to apprehend one or more of the dragons tasked with murdering humans.
Her gaze slid back to Dinah’s reflection in the window. She couldn’t let the other woman know what she planned. In fact, it would be best if Dinah left and plotted her futile takeover at the new facility.
“If Tassinari is the dugga, then it’s imperative we keep security high until we’ve completed the move to the new facility,” Ivette said. “We’ve almost managed to save everything. Just a little longer and you can continue your work.”
A hint of relief flashed across Dinah’s face. “We should also requisition surveillance teams for Tassinari’s Newgate and Rome residences.”
“Of course.” Requisitioning men was Ivette’s purview. Dinah was the medical and experimental researcher. Ivette turned to her computer. “You should get back to overseeing the move or disposal of the remaining subjects.”
“I’m just waiting on word that the null magic on the cells has been fully activated.” Dinah stood. “I’ll also want a security team to move Scholtz.”
“I won’t be able to spare extra bodies until we’re cleared out. We can’t risk Tassinari or other dragons arriving before the move is complete.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I don’t want to try to explain why we chose to move instead of destroying the facility.”
“It won’t come to that.” A message popped up on her screen. “The subject transport van is standing by. I suggest you take this load and make sure everything at the new location is ready.”
“This trip shouldn’t take more than an hour. Make sure the next batch to go are sedated in thirty minutes.” Dinah strode to the door. “I want to make sure they’re fully unconscious by the time we need to move them.”
“Everything will be ready.”
“Let’s just hope we can get out of here before Tassinari returns,” Dinah said, and she left.
“Let’s hope.” Not. Ivette opened the top desk drawer and drew out the folder containing the spells she’d spent the last two decades building. The first, a series of many pages, designed to take the dugga’s magic and give it to her, and the second — actually many copies of the second — small sheets the size of her palm with a spell to recognize the dugga. If Tassinari was the dugga, she’d know, take his power, and then kill the monsters who’d been terrorizing her family and friends for centuries.
32
Nero woke in blissful, painless quiet, with his arms wrapped around Becca. Her back was tucked against his chest, her breath slow and heavy with sleep, and her thoughts — dreams most likely — were gentle whispers across his consciousness. The feel of her skin against his made him harden, and his thoughts jumped back to the bathroom, where he’d made love to her on the countertop, and then to the bed, where they’d made love again before falling asleep.
His inamorated bond with her had been well and truly solidified and sat whole and dense around his heart. The sensation was stronger than he’d ever experienced with his first inamorata. Maybe it was because his soul magic had become stronger when the Great Scourge had sentenced dragonkind into their spirit state, or maybe it was because they both possessed a form of telepathy and the mental bond enhanced the inamorated connection.
He didn’t know. All he knew was that he was hers. He wanted— no, needed to bring her shinies and meat, needed to add to the hoard she didn’t have because she was human, and needed to convince her when she said she was going to leave — and he knew she would — to stay.
Becca sighed, still asleep, and shifted, rubbing against him and forcing him to suck in a slow breath and calm his arousal. If he didn’t, he’d wake her and bring her to climax again. Surely so soon after sealing the bond, he’d be able to convince her they were stronger together.
But that didn’t address the danger she presented to his puzur, one she was determined to protect him from. She knew he’d abandon everything to be with her, and he knew she wouldn’t let him. Except if he let her walk out on him, she’d be a target for the drake who’d captured her before, the one who knew she had a direct connection to the dugga.
She shifted again, sending an electric shock of desire zinging through him.
He bit back a moan and made himself ease to the edge of the bed and get up, instead of sliding his hands over her soft skin and waking her. Too much had happened in such a short time. He needed to think, regain his focus, and figure out what he was going to do… about everything. In the very least, he had to find a way to make it safe for Becca to have what she wanted, even if that was to head out on her own.
He forced his attention through his partially closed drapes and out his bedroom window. Darkness still veiled his property, with the moon sparkling on the stretch of snowy garden between his house and the woodlot. The clock by his bed said 4:32. A few hours until dawn.
Mother, he couldn’t believe his world had irrevocably changed in less than twelve hours.
He pulled on a clean pair of pants and a Henley, his attention returning to Becca again and again. Every time he looked away, his gaze was drawn back to her. Her dark hair, still in its ponytail, was splayed on the pillow, a splash of darkness against the white sheets, just like the rose and thorn tattoo curling over her biceps and shoulder. Black ink in pale skin. Her complexion still held a sallow hint, and her figure was too thin, revealing the ravages of her captivity, but a sense of peaceful satisfaction radiated from her, a calm he knew she’d never thought she’d have again.
A soft purr slid up his throat, and he didn’t fight it. He was hers. Forever.
The purr turned to a growl.
And he damn well would figure out how to protect her and give her everything she wanted. He could only hope that also involved staying and not just because staying was the logical answer to all their problems.
He made himself step into the bathroom and not return to her in his bed. If he woke her now, he wouldn’t have the self-control necessary to carry on a serious conversation about what she wanted. The soul bond would take over, and all he’d want would be to lose himself in her pleasure. No, the best thing he could do was take care of what problems he could and give Becca time to process how she felt about everything.
With a hiss, he summoned a gate, then grabbed his phone from his discarded pants on the bathroom floor as it formed. As much as he didn’t want to put any distance between them, he wouldn’t be able to think straight until he forced himself into a room where he couldn’t just open the door and watch her sleep.
The gate finished forming, and he stepped through into the kitchenette of his transition suites, not too far from Becca, but hopefully far enough away. No one sat at the kitchen table, but the coffee maker was gurgling its announcement of an almost-ready pot.
He grabbed a mug from the cabinet, poured himself a half cup, and headed down the hall. Raven and the new intake were the easiest of the problems on his list. He might
not be able to do much for them, but he could at least make sure things weren’t worse. A part of him was also hoping Grey was still around and would remember some precedent that might help him deal with Regis and the decree that all dragons return to Court’s interdimensional sphere. That kind of proclamation could incite war between the Royal coterie — and its supporters — against all the other coteries. And while he’d backed Regis in the Council session — because he’d had no idea what Regis had been ranting about — he needed to find a way to get the prince to change his mind.
Inside the new intake’s room, Raven was curled up in the lounge chair, asleep, with whispers of wind dancing around her making her hair flutter. The magical enhancement of her earth magic had yet to diminish, which meant the new guy’s power was strong.
On the bed beside her, a blanket tucked around him, lay the new guy, also asleep. His aura was now a muted yellow and no longer angry and pulsing, indicating the flare of his magic that had roared through Becca and Raven had eased. Nero, however, wasn’t foolish enough to hope the young man’s power had completed the first, painful awakening stage. For now, it looked like he’d at least been given a reprieve from the anguished state they’d found him in. It also helped to know — as bad as it was that Becca and Raven had to have been accidentally in contact with him to learn — that he was a surge. While Nero hadn’t ever had a surge, dragon or human, in his puzur or coterie, knowing what the problem was gave Raven a direction to work in, and with Grey around, perhaps he’d read something somewhere that might help her deal with the new human’s magic.
Raven’s expression grew pinched, and a hint of wind swept through the room. The new guy mumbled something, but neither of them woke. Still at peace. For now. That moved them to the bottom of the things he should be worried about list. If Nero was thinking straight, the top of that list should be Regis. But it wasn’t. It was Becca, and if he was smart, the sooner he solved the question of her safety, the easier it would be to focus on the dragon problems.