“I’m offering myself.”
“Then yes. I accept.”
Aegis kissed her gently, pulling back to look at her. His smile in that moment was the most glorious thing she’d ever seen; it was the look of an excited boy in the body of a grown up, sexy man.
“Your eyes,” he said, pressing his right hand to her cheek, “they’re brighter than before. I’d say your Dragon is ready to come out.”
“Will you help her? Will you teach me to release her?”
Aegis nodded. “Yes, of course I will. Later tonight, when this place is dark and quiet, and we can be fairly certain that your wanker of a host is asleep, we’ll slip out. I want you to be prepared for whatever may occur tomorrow. No more being stolen away by nasty Dragon shifters; I want you to be able to escape if needs be. I think you’ll find that I’m not your true shield. It seems that she is.”
“She is.” A sense of calm fell over Ashlyn and she sagged sideways, leaning against the bed frame with a quiet smile.
“What is it?” Aegis asked.
“I don’t know—just—peace. I’ve never felt so at peace in my life.”
He stroked fingers through her hair. “Your Dragon is settling,” he said. “She knows that you’re finally aware of her. She knows she won’t have to struggle so much.”
“So much? You mean she’ll still struggle? Demanding little thing, isn’t she?”
Aegis replied with a slight grimace. Oh dear, things were getting serious. “There is something I should warn you about, Ashlyn. A Dragon is a powerful, stubborn creature. Just because she’s part of you doesn’t mean she’s tame.”
“What are you saying?” A dart of fear shot through her, threatening to force out her joy. Was the creature inside her going to try and kill her or something?
“Don’t worry,” he said, slipping down to sit next to her and pulling her fingers to his mouth to kiss then one by one. “You’ll learn quickly to keep her calm, like she is now. But don’t ever forget that she has large talons and fire breath for a reason.”
“To fight.”
“To fight, yes. To kill. You have a killer inside you. But remember who you are, Ashlyn. You’re not violent or malicious; I knew that the first night I met you. You could’ve killed that Forsaken but you chose to let him go. When you first meet your Dragon she’ll be a little wild, a little out of control. Learn to talk to her, to steady her. Teach her who’s in charge.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good. You’re amazing. There’s no Dragon who could defeat you. Even your own.”
She turned to look at Aegis, still sitting there with no shirt. Damn, he was a fine man. This perfect, generous, protective beautiful creature was all hers, now and forever.
She tucked an elbow playfully into his side. “I like the no-shirt look, but what’s up with the jeans?”
Aegis looked down at his legs. “How did those things get there? I meant to rip them off eons ago.”
“No idea, but they’re making me mad. Take those bad boys off, would you?”
“But the floor is cold,” he protested, laughter hidden inside his voice. “I’d have to move to the bed for warmth, and that would be a damned shame.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll soon make you very, very warm. Hot, even.” Ashlyn pushed herself to her feet and extended a hand, which he accepted. When he was standing at full height in front of her, she gasped at his size as she had so many times before. His strength and power never ceased to blow her mind, his muscles a feast for her senses. “I can’t quite believe that you would ever refer to me as powerful with a body like that.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You have many powers that you never dreamed of, one of which is to do this to me,” he replied with a smile on his lips, pulling her to him so that she felt his massive erection pressing into her belly through his clothes and hers.
Oh, sweet Dragon man.
“I need to take a better look,” she said, a hand slipping down to unzip his jeans. He closed his eyes as she did so, a deep moan slipping up from the back of his throat when she slid her fingers inside his boxers.
“Ashlyn,” he whispered. “I’m so glad I found you, you don’t even know.”
“I am too,” she told him, slipping jeans and boxers over his hips and down towards the floor. Aegis quickly tore his shoes off with his toes, kicking them aside.
Ashlyn was on her knees again a second later, yanking his jeans over his feet so that he stood completely naked before her. She stared up at his muscular body, her hands slipping over his surface to feel every inch of his legs, her eyes moving between the tattoo on his arm, the scar on his hand. Perfect man.
“This isn’t right. There’s a certain imbalance to the universe, I think,” he said, looking down at her face. “You’re wearing far too much clothing, and you’re going to make me explode before I’ve seen those lovely breasts of yours up close again.”
“I think the universe is perfect,” she told him as she lay soft kisses on his hard thighs, her lips landing on the perfect crevices between his muscles. “Perfect.”
Her right hand grasped his shaft, stroking him slowly as she eased her body upwards to lay soft kisses on his stomach. She could feel the tension in his body mount as he fought back the desire to take possession of her. It was hard for him, she knew. Hard to hold back, to allow her to pleasure him, when he wanted so badly to do it for her.
Wait, my love. Patience.
A moment later the kisses moved to the tip of his hard cock, and he let out the sexiest, deepest moan. She licked her lips, tasting his nectar for a moment before making the next move. Beginning at the base of his shaft, she ran her tongue all the way to the tip, smiling as he let out another soft groan of pleasure. Oh, this was good. This was what she needed. Finally she knew that no matter what happened, Aegis would still be hers tomorrow, and she his. Nothing else in the world mattered now; not where they were, not that there was another shifter in this massive, cold house who wanted to claim her. Mardoc had no right to her, and she knew it now. Her hostile host was temporarily forgotten.
Pursing her lips around Aegis’s cock she gave a gentle suck, her tongue lashing out, reaching for another drop of dew that had gathered at the tip.
“Ashlyn,” he whispered, “this isn’t fair at all. You’re too cruel.”
“No?” she asked between licks. “What would be fair?” Another suck. Another moan from Aegis.
“You, naked. My face. Between. Your. Legs,” he huffed out as he tried to resist her mouth’s touch.
She stopped, pulling her face up to look towards his. His eyes were pleading with hers, so sweet, so beseeching. Please, let me eat you out. Pretty please?
“Very well, then” she said, succumbing and rising to her feet. Slowly, teasing, she pulled off her shirt and threw it aside. Then came the black jeans that she’d borrowed from Neko that morning. A moment later she was in nothing but her underwear, offering a coy smile.
Aegis grabbed the waist of her panties and dragged her to him, his lips crashing into hers. His tongue fought its way to hers, a hand aggressively slipping down into the front of the lacy thong, middle finger seeking out her pleasure centre. A cry caught itself at the back of Ashlyn’s throat as her lover stroked his fingertip over her clit, her tongue hungry for his. This was heaven. This was everything.
Aegis pulled up and pressed her backwards onto the bed. There was no humour in his eyes now; only a feral hunger brought on by the beast inside him. Need, possession, desire. He ached as she did; she could feel it in him. Their minds were intertwined, and now that she’d learned about her Dragon, she felt herself open up to him, to the bond that they now shared. Everything good that he felt was hers, every sorrow. They were one.
He slipped her bra straps down over her shoulders, lace sliding down to reveal bare, soft breasts. He took her left nipple gingerly between his teeth and bit down gently. A gasp. Oh my God. He pinched her puckered right nipple between his thumb and middle finger as he sucked, driving her
to near madness. Then, reading her need, he moved down her body, hard kisses landing on her stomach in a straight line to her sex. He dragged the panties down and away, tossing them aside as he set his steely focus on the place between her legs.
“I’m not going to ask permission,” he growled, “before doing this.” His tongue streaked over her bud, eliciting a hard shudder from head to toe. “Or this.” Fingers slipped inside her and his lips were on her, kissing, lapping as he drove into her, taking ownership over her body as she’d done to his.
She rolled her hips forward, encouraging his aggression, asking for more. He gave it in gentle sucks and thrusts of his hand inside her as he took ownership once again of her body.
“I need you,” she whispered, and he understood. “Aegis…”
He pulled away and rose to his feet. With both hands he drew her legs apart and then reached over to wrap his right hand around his erection. One hard thrust and he was sheathed deep inside her. Ashlyn threw her palms over her mouth to conceal her cry of ecstasy. Looking up into his eyes, she could see the new wildness in him. His Dragon was finally aware of her own, and Aegis was giving himself over wholly to her, claiming her. She claimed him too, her legs wrapping around his hips, drawing him in with each hard thrust, her back arching in waves of pleasure.
“You’re mine,” he growled, his voice beastly, sensual. “And I am utterly yours, Ashlyn Raleigh.”
His hand slid down her stomach and he pressed his thumb into her engorged bud, moving in slow, determined spirals. Heat rushed through her body like lava, her head swimming in the most erotic way.
“Come for me, beautiful Dragon shifter,” he rasped through his bliss. “I’ll come with you.”
She bit her lip and nodded, shutting her eyes as her hands reached for the bedding, tearing it away from the four corners of the mattress. It was time to let herself go, time to surrender to her true fate. Her body was tingling with pleasure, every nerve and cell alive with the full understanding of what she was, of what they were together. Each time he pushed inside her was a renewal, a confirmation of their extraordinary bond.
Her eyes opened and stared at him, bright, wild as his, and she whispered, “I’m going to come, oh…God…”
Her body clamped down hard on his cock, drawing his pleasure into her own. In response he pounded her so hard that she thought he might tear her in half. His hips slamming against her with a vicious force. So fucking good. Every ounce of her strength was devoted to keeping the screams at bay as her orgasm washed over her. One final thrust, and he crumpled on top of her.
No one would ever pull them apart again.
This wasn’t the first time they’d bonded. But it was the first for their Dragons.
Flight
“Come,” Aegis said, intertwining his fingers with Ashlyn’s. They were still lying in bed, neither willing to fall asleep in case they discovered that the last few hours had only been a dream.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Out. A night on the town,” he replied, his white smile gleaming in the dark. He slipped out of the bed and pulled his jeans on, but when Ashlyn began to do the same he shook his head. “You won’t need clothes where we’re going,” he told her.
“You mean…”
He nodded. “It’s time you learned to become a Dragon, lady,” he said.
Nevertheless Ashlyn reached to the floor and grabbed Aegis’s t-shirt to throw it on. She swam in its abundant material, but at least it covered her butt.
“Hop on,” he said, turning his back to her. “I’ll take you for a little piggy back ride.”
She did as he asked, hooking her thighs around his hips, arms around his neck and he strode over to the window, unlatched it and leapt up onto the sill with all the grace of a cat. “You scared?” he asked, turning his head sideways.
“Not in the least. I trust you.”
“Good.”
A quick jump and they were falling, Ashlyn still hung on, knowing that he wouldn’t let her come to harm. Sure enough, in a flash his Dragon was beneath her, pulling them both high into the clouds.
“I need to get us far from the house of horrors,” his voice boomed in her head, “before I can land with any guarantee of safety.”
“Of course.”
After five minutes or so Aegis set down at the crest of a hill and Ashlyn leapt to the ground.
“So, you’re really going to teach me?” she asked, her eyes flashing bright.
“Teach you how to Dragon, you mean?” Aegis laughed when he’d shifted. “Of course. Though I suspect that you already know more than you think.”
For a moment Ashlyn pondered the statement. So many visions, so many dreams had been of Dragons, of flying. The strange, enigmatic creature inside her had tried over and over to tell her something, and she’d always shut it out. “Yes, I suppose you’re right,” she said. “Aegis, that voice in my head…” She studied his expression to see if he’d judge her for broaching the subject of what had always seemed like insanity, but she was only met by the affectionate warmth of his gorgeous face. That perfect smile of his, telling her that everything would be all right. She could live in his bright eyes, for all the comfort they provided.
“That voice in your beautiful head is probably beginning to make sense to you,” he said. “I know you’ve thought more than once that you were going mad, but I can assure you that it’s just your Dragon being a bossy monster. They do that, you know. They try to steer us in all sorts of directions, and it’s up to us to tame them.”
He strode over and took her waist in his hands. His eyes pierced through the dark of the night again, searching the depths of her mind. “Don’t forget that you’re in charge, Ashlyn. Your Dragon is your constant companion, but she is not your commander.”
Ashlyn nodded wordlessly, concern creasing her brow.
“It will come quickly.” Aegis stepped back. “Now, I think it’s time we taught you how to shift. The sooner we set your Dragon free, the less risk there will be of your fevers returning. In this moment, all I care about is seeing to it that you’re healthy for decades—centuries, even—to come. I want you by my side, always and forever.”
Ashlyn stepped forward, stood on her toes and planted a kiss on his stubbled cheek. Somehow, standing under the pale light that the moon cast through the cloud cover, this moment felt like a strange wedding ceremony. They were pledging themselves to one another through the bond between their déors.
“Teach me to become a giant lizard lady, Aegis. Tell me what to do,” she said, backing away from him, bare feet feeling their way through the damp grass as she spun around. “Do I have to utter magic words or something?”
Aegis shook his head, chuckling quietly. He couldn’t help but feel her joy, though his eyes occasionally trained to the sky overhead to make sure that nothing threatened them from above. “No magic words.” He tried to recall the first time he’d shifted under the careful and doting instruction of his father. “My dad taught me to close my eyes and picture myself in flight,” he told her.
“I’ve noticed you focusing for a second before you shift,” she replied, “but you do it so fast that it seems effortless.”
“It will be for you too, little bird. You just need to learn to fly. Try it.”
He watched as Ashlyn shut her eyes against the world, her features squeezing so hard that a delightful set of lines showed itself on her face. After a moment she relaxed and tossed her hands into the air. “I can’t…” she began, but Aegis interrupted.
“You can,” he said. “Don’t speak. Don’t give up. I know it’s painful, but try and remember your fevers and what you saw in your mind’s eye. Remember the vision where you were flying.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Her irises had gone brighter than usual, for the first time her Dragon’s presence seemed to permeate the air all around them both. “I was with you in the last vision,” she said. “when I was flying, I mean. I was sure of it. I was on your back…”
It only took a moment of thought before she replied. “No, actually. I was swooping around the Dragon’s head like a hummingbird. I just assumed that I was riding you. But I suppose it’s possible that I was flying myself around.”
“Good. Now close those beautiful eyes of yours one more time and remember that image. That hummingbird is your Dragon. Its flight is yours to control.”
Ashlyn turned away from him and shut her eyes once more, stretching her arms out to her sides like long, supple wings. After a moment the sound of crackling tree branches echoed around her. She gasped, and then she was gone.
In her place stood the most exquisite creature Aegis had ever seen, its head twisting around to look at him, bewildered. Eyes of gold, iridescent scales of many colours: blue, green, yellow, orange, altering depending on how the light hit her. Her very flesh was indeed like the feathers of a tiny hummingbird, but her body was tall and lean, three storeys high at least. Her scales gleamed like the dancing flames of a bonfire under the night sky.
“Aegis?” her voice asked, comically timid for such a mighty looking beast. He smiled at how much the massive Dragon sounded to his mind like a confused little girl.
“It’s all right,” he told her. “You did very, very well, Ashlyn. Now, remember that you do have wings. Use them.”
They were folded tight at her sides but as soon as he reminded her of their existence, she stretched them out, unravelling their delicate extremities like scrolls of ancient paper. Their tips spread so far that she looked like she could reach both horizons with little effort.
Aegis stepped around to stand in front of her, staring her in the eye. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” she told him, “surprisingly fine. But how the hell do I take off?”
“Use your mind,” he said. “Recall your visions, your dreams. Your Dragon knows what to do.”
He moved backwards, giving her room to try out her strange new appendages. Ashlyn thrust her wings straight out, then lifted them high into the air. At first the movement seemed a little awkward, but as the wings came back down her entire body lifted off the ground for a moment. She turned her head back to look at him, her Dragon appearing to grin with excitement.
Dragon's Lover, Part Three: A Dragon Shifter Romance Page 7