Kiss of the Dragon

by Nicola Claire

  And his Sanguis Vitam pulsed at my shields, asking to come in. I let them down and let him heal me, wiping away the pain of the battle not just from my body, but also my heart and mind.

  "Michel," I managed to get out between hiccups.

  "Be still, ma douce. Just let it all out. I have you. I will not let you fall."

  I tightened my arms around his waist and buried my face into his chest, savouring his signature scent; fresh sea salt air and newly mown grass. My body shuddered, releasing the last of my tension and I sagged into his hold. He continued to rub circles, to softly kiss and caress my skin. He murmured words in a mixture of French and English, all of them as indecipherable as the next, but meaning so much in that exact moment.

  Time stalled. The world ceased to exist. Seconds turned into minutes as I came back to myself at last. Michel did this. Brought me home, centred me, made the bad in the world fade into him; all that is good in my life. I could never survive what I was forced to face on an almost daily basis without this man beside me. He was my rock. The scales that balanced my world. My anchor in a storm tossed sea.

  His lips began a slow, soft trail from my chin to my mouth. The kiss was tentative at first, seeking permission even as his body began to show signs of the possessive nature I knew lurked beneath the surface of the man. He'd told me his dragon-within would pounce when next he saw me. Right now I wasn't fully corporeal to him, just a hazy outline our Bond allowed him to see and sense when I Dream Walked. But that had never stopped him in the past, and certainly wasn't going to stop the vampire-within when he needed to make a point.

  But despite his need to claim me, he'd waited until I recovered from my shock. He'd given me unconditional love, then when he sensed I was back with him, not lost to my desperately dark thoughts, he chose a kiss that was more request, than demand. And I answered the only way I knew how. I kissed him back, opening myself up to him in more than just body and heart. I opened my mind, I welcomed him in. All of him. Vampire and man.

  He moaned as he lay me back on a soft surface. Maybe his bed in his chamber at the Palais? I wasn't sure and right then didn't really care. My focus was entirely on the vampire who settled his full weight on top of me and continued to kiss me like a man dying of thirst and I was his drink of choice.

  His hands roamed. His teeth nipped. His body worshipped mine as I did his. I only had my short skirt, T-shirt and underwear on when I appeared here, but Michel had been fully clothed. Dark Armani suit, crisp white shirt, deep blue tie, shoes and socks. I fumbled with his jacket buttons firstly, but finally managed to get them undone and the jacket slid off his shoulders and pushed to the side of us on the bed. His teeth found the edge of my T-shirt and proceeded to rip it open, removing it in half the time his jacket had taken me.

  No fair! I chastised inside my head and heard his chuckle in response.

  I'm in a bit of a hurry, he husked in my mind. My dragon is pacing. It is taking everything in me to hold him back.

  Ah-oh. Things were going to escalate before too much longer. I felt myself become warmer with that thought. A delicious sensation building deep down inside me, pooling between my legs. I shifted to gain better friction, to get his body into just the right spot. He must have realised what I was up to, because he obliged. In the next instant his rock hard erection stroked along my centre. I was sure he could feel how wet I had become.

  He groaned into my mouth and I drank it down. He rocked against me, rubbed me in just the right way and a moan was torn from my lips. He drank that down. Our bodies began a back and forth motion as old as time itself. Pleasure being sought by both parties, even though we were still almost fully dressed. It didn't matter right then, only satisfying the craving for friction, sensation, each other.

  I need to be inside you, he advised in a silky, deep voice. My dragon needs to mark you, he added making my entire body shiver with anticipated delight. Help me, he begged and for a moment I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do. For starters I was distracted by his body, my hands under his shirt running deliciously across his broad back. My lips and teeth and tongue tasting the skin along the side of his neck. My body acting on autopilot, course set to seek its own release. To hell with anyone else. Greed was consuming me right then.

  But when Michel tore my skirt off in frustration, I finally woke up to what he wanted me to do. I shifted my weight and helped him pull the fabric strips away, then let him lower my underwear down my legs. It reached my knees before he, or the dragon inside him, ran out of patience and proceeded to tear the flimsy bit of material into shreds. My bra followed shortly after and received the same treatment, landing on the floor in a tattered heap.

  Michel was breathing heavily now, his hands skimming over my naked flesh.

  I wish I could see you properly, he whispered, again in my mind. I wondered if he felt like me right then; speaking would spoil the moment. Talking in our heads was far more intimate and only ever ours.

  You know how I look, I offered as consolation.

  But not how you look when I take you and mark you as mine right now.

  I moaned and arched my back, twisting my fingers through the thick strands of his hair and guiding his lips to my breast.

  Oh, ma douce, he groaned inside my head as his tongue wrapped around a nipple, and his finger and thumb found the neglected one off to the side. A twist and a pull, and I cried out in surprise and need, hunger replacing everything else for a moment that I did a little tearing myself. His shirt buttons popped and pinged off into the distance as I wrenched it open and displayed his muscular chest for my lips and tongue. He rose above me and allowed me free reign.

  I delighted in every inch of his skin, then felt unbelievably desolate when he pulled away briefly, to remove the rest of his clothes. Within a split second he was back, completely naked, but I had already started making little mewling sounds to call him back to me; half chastisement, half enticement. Anything to get his body pressed back along the length of mine.

  He wrapped his arms around me, whilst laying kisses across my fervoured skin, his hand dipped down to the swell of my hip, then ran along the inside of a very sensitive thigh. I bucked and writhed beneath him, wanting with every fibre of my body. He delayed it, drew it out, teased and tempted me, but finally his fingers found the right spot.

  So wet, he moaned in my head. So beautifully wet for me.

  Michel, please, I begged, almost completely lost to the moment, no shame anymore.

  He chuckled, making his chest rub erotically against my own as the laughter rumbled through him.

  All right, ma belle. He leaned down and kissed me passionately. For a moment the world stood still again. Then he pulled back and encouraged with his hands... and then the words in my mind, Roll over. My vampyre-within wants to claim his mate.

  My heart stuttered to a stop, my breaths stilled. I knew his dragon-within wanted to claim me, but I'd forgotten how he actually achieved that in reality. It was hard and fast, and always from behind. A thrill raced through me and I scrambled onto my knees while he watched with half lidded eyes.

  For the hundredth time I wondered what exactly it was he saw when I Dream Walked to him. Whatever it was, majorly turned him on.

  His warm fingers found the centre of my back and pushed me gently forward onto the bed covers, until my face hit fabric and my hands were stretched out above my head. His other hand rubbed lovingly over my left butt cheek, circle after circle and then with a growl from deep down in his chest he swatted me sharply with his palm.

  "Ow!" I said aloud, ruining the moment, but then the smarting slap had already accomplished that. I made to move away from him, preparing to round on him and protest, when his hand wrapped around my hip and he jerked me back against his groin.

  He rolled his hips once, making sure I felt his erection and said in a low, rough voice, "That was for trying to steal my vampyre." Oh. Well, if that was all he was going to do, I...

  He slid inside in one slow, but determined glide
. My breath left me in a rush once he became fully seated.

  "Oh, no, ma douce. That most certainly is not all the punishment you will receive this night."

  I sucked in a breath as he remained motionless behind me and then thought - sending the words directly to his head and hopefully his groin as well - bring it, vampire-mine!

  Chapter 17

  You Are Mine

  A loud growl rolled around the room as Michel started to move in me. The feeling of him sliding in and out so fluidly, stretching me with a shift of his hips, a circle of his pelvis, and then filling me to bursting with a deep thrust, was undeniably the best thing I had ever experienced in my life.

  "Oh God, Michel," I groaned as my body rocked back against him.

  His hand rubbed over the smart on my butt cheek soothingly, each movement timed to perfection to match the thrust and roll of his hips.

  "Tell me," he instructed, his breathing already a little ragged. "How good does it feel?"

  "So good," I said on another moan.

  Michel made a sound of agreement, that seemed to be wrenched from deep within. His hand continued to rub circles on my butt cheek as he rocked and thrust and rolled his way in and out, and in and out, again and again. His tempo was always exactly the same; ruthlessly even, timed to perfection, lulling me into a pattern that I knew he would alter at the most unexpected time. I waited for it, as my body tightened and coiled and prepared to find release. I waited, knowing it was going to come, trying to stall my building orgasm to avoid disappointment and frustration when he denied me my release.

  Because as sure as Michel was a vampire, part of my punishment would include that. It's not that he is cruel, it's just what he is. To a vampire there must be punishment for infringements made against them. To remain the top predator, you must act like one at all times. Punishment to them lies in the offence, regardless of the why or how. I may have had good intentions and not planned to steal Marcus from him, but my actions had led to that possibility, causing Michel to respond in defence. I had infringed on Michel, and now I had to accept the punishment his vampire demanded he give.

  "Michel," I begged again, trying to appeal to the man, but it was too late. His vampire-within was in charge now. He didn't scare me, in fact if I'm honest, I was incredibly turned on by the prospect of what he had planned. Because like it or not, delayed gratification is so much better in the end.

  But knowing this and letting myself willingly fall into his trap, were two different things entirely. I'm a vampire hunter by birth, we don't ever give an inch.

  I rocked back against him and gave a roll of my hips that I knew would cause him to suck in a breath. I wasn't disappointed. His fingers clenched around both hips, pulling me hard back against his erection, holding me in place a fraction of a second longer than I would have liked, and then controlling every thrust and bump and grind from there on in. His hand slapped my butt cheek sharply in warning when I tried to pull out of his grasp. It stung, but the instant soothing of his hot palm against it, coupled with a grind that hit the exact right spot, almost sent me over the edge. But I fought the need to seek that release.

  I would not give in so easily.

  I moaned aloud, let him see how he was affecting me. I panted and writhed and pleaded unashamedly, letting him know just how much of my body he commanded. His vampire-within needed this and I gave it willingly. Because the more I gave, the less in control he became. It was a type of game between us, a little cat and mouse play. I'm not entirely sure which one of us is the cat and which one is the mouse. Sometimes I think the roles are interchangeable. But that's why Michel and I suit each other so.

  When he pushes, I pull. And when he pulls, I push. But it is never in opposite directions. We are always in complete and utter sync.

  Goddess, I loved him. And I loved seeing the vampire behind the man, like right now.

  "Michel," I pleaded one last time, my body beginning to shake uncontrollably with the need to find release.

  "I am not stopping you, ma douce. It is you who has restricted yourself this time." His voice was laced with delicious Sanguis Vitam, designed to make me want even more. He shouldn't have had that sort of effect over me, but I realised in that instant that he'd won this round, because he was right. I'd walked into the trap, a trap he knew existed, but one I had set for myself. And in doing so, the game had lasted so much longer and affected me so much more, until my shields were down and his Sanguis Vitam could reach me unrestricted - like he did right now.

  My body reached for release as his Sanguis Vitam played me like a fine musical instrument, directing exactly when I came and how strong and for how long. It was incredible. It was mind blowingly good. And I think I might have blacked out for a second, but then sound and sensation rushed back in, along with a dizzying array of lights and colours behind the closed lids of my eyes.

  "How good?" Michel panted behind me, his pace finally picking up some.

  I spluttered a sound that was supposed to mean, fucking awesome, but I think he understood from my emotions and the slightly erratic thoughts in my mind.

  "You feel fucking awesome," he moaned, in a rare moment of cursing. I let a little laugh out, relishing the last of my orgasm and his dwindling self-control.

  And then his dragon-within appeared, rearing his scaly head and breathing imaginary fire down the sweat soaked skin of my back.

  Michel's hand wrapped around my waist, coming up to cup my breast firmly, as he lifted me up off the mattress. My back to his chest. His other hand fisted in my hair and pulled my head almost roughly to the side, but just inside of OK. Then his tongue ran over my skin at the base of my neck, finding my flickering artery with ease.

  Mine, I heard the dragon say audibly in my head, just before Michel's teeth latched onto my shoulder and his pace became punishing. The bite wasn't one to feed, it was purely to hold his mate in place while he claimed her body. The pace was punishing, but coupled with how sensitive I already was and how delicious he felt sliding in and out of all that wetness - plus the Sanguis Vitam he coated my entire being with as well - it was unbelievably good. So good. Just what I wanted.

  A flickering appeared before my eyes and then the dragon materialised in front of me. Neither here, nor not here, but somewhere in between. One second it was a green scaled monster, the next Michel's face. The dragon is Michel and Michel is the dragon, even if they can think apart. The dragon reached up and ran the back of a long curved clawed finger down my cheek and huffed a hot breath against my lips. He smelled like burning wood and charcoal.

  You are mine, he said in my mind. I think I nodded. Somehow I managed the move despite Michel's secure hold of my frame. You are his, the dragon added, then, You are ours.

  Yes, I breathed back, falling too quickly into another orgasm. Michel was really doing his damnedest to make me come apart at the seams.

  The dragon shifted closer, then just before his teeth latched onto the vein on the other side of my neck to Michel, he whispered, so quietly I wasn't sure I heard it at first, You honour us with your power, your strength, your abilities. You are a fine and worthy mate.

  Then he bit and I felt the sting right through to the core of me. A vampire bite can be painful, but the part of the vampire that is still linked to humanity tempers that bite and can turn it into something else. The dragon in Michel is all vampire, there is no humanity to temper the bite with.

  But there is love. And the dragon is Michel and Michel is the dragon. The dragon stroked my hair as he drank down my blood, his bite surely marking me deeper than just skin. And Michel washed the pain away with his Sanguis Vitam and touch. With the movement of his body against and within mine. The pain disappeared under a veil of beauty, replaced with a delicious feeling of wellbeing, comfort and unconditional love.

  I vaguely became aware that the dragon had disappeared and Michel had pushed me back down on the bed so my body was flat and his body was moulded along the back of mine. His teeth released my shoulder, his arm no
longer holding my breast but stroking my side. And then without breaking stride, his rhythm still unfathomably and deliciously hard and fast inside, he bit into the vein on the other side of my neck from where the dragon had been, and began to drink my blood down as well. He knew I'd been fed upon by Amun tonight, so this wasn't going to be a long feeding, but purely for both our enjoyments. And it was feeling mighty fine.

  Then Michel upped the stakes a little, slipping his wrist around the front of me, directly before my mouth. For a second I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do, but then he sent an image of me biting him there into my head. That's all it took for the part of me that is his vampire mate to react. I grasped his wrist in both my hands tenderly, then greedily took a bite. As his blood gushed down my throat, and my blood flowed down his, everything exploded into bright, colourful light.

  I came, he came. Both lost to the moment, consumed in our need for the other person. It lasted for minutes, but felt like hours. One orgasm crashed into another and another. My body awash with sensations that overflowed and threatened to drown me. But Michel's constant presence at my back, inside my body, heart and mind, not to mention my soul, tethered me and kept me afloat throughout them, so all I had to do was enjoy.

  Eventually our movements slowed and sound returned to my ears. He rolled off my back carefully and slipped out of me with an audible sigh, then snuggled into my side. I couldn't move. I could hardly breathe. Or was that, I was breathing too hard? I couldn’t tell. I was deliriously happy. All was right in my world.

  Michel's laughter gave me the impetus I needed to move. I rolled onto my side so I could face him. He looked beautiful, in that just-shagged-for-an-hour-and-it-was-frigging-good way. His hair was a ruffled dark mass, his face was glowing, soft pink emphasised the chiselled cheeks. My blood fuelling his body and allowing a blush to grace his skin. Sweat trailed a delicious path down his temple, across his neck. He smelled of sex and him and me. What a combination. There can be none better.