Kiss of the Dragon

by Nicola Claire

  Michel was one of the most controlled men I knew. And he was powerful. I briefly checked on his Dark, using my Sanguis Vitam Cupitor powers. He barely had any at all. Full of Light. His vampire-within shouldn't have been able to take over. But it had. Why?

  "It won't happen again," Michel promised through tight lips. He never did appreciate me checking on his Dark signature. I guess he felt it was evidence of me doubting him. But I didn't doubt him, I just wanted to understand. Knowledge was power and I'd be damned if I'd let Michel be in such a compromised position again. I really needed a face to face with his dragon.

  Michel's lips twitched at the edges, some of that vampire mask slipping.

  "I have missed you," he said softly, reaching up and swiping a strand of hair behind my ear.

  "Then why haven't you kissed me?" I asked, looking up at him from beneath my lashes and suddenly feeling shy.

  "Because once I start, I won't be able to stop," Michel said slowly, a growl beginning at the back of his throat.

  "Let me brush my teeth then," I replied, as I flung the bed covers back and found myself naked. Every single time he places me unconscious in bed, I am in the nude. I flicked him a glance, preparing to roll my eyes at him, but I didn't get a chance.

  My body was hauled across the top of the sheets and his lips wrapped around a nipple, teeth nibbling, tongue soothing, hands securely holding me fast. I arched my back automatically. Stuff my toothbrush. This couldn't wait.

  He lay me back against the covers gently, his warm hands running over my skin, down my side, to cup a hip. He was wearing a black shirt and trousers, no Armani suit or tie today. This was his fighting outfit. The clothes he wore when we were at battle. That thought sent adrenaline through my veins, but Michel's touch simply turned the hormone into fire.

  I craved him and I realised, that despite having just woken up from two and half days of unconsciousness, despite the fact we were at war and there was so much to discuss, I was instantly turned on by him. My body yearning for his touch, his lips, him. Michel has always been able to push my buttons easily, but this hankering to have him inside me was almost too much. More than I had thought possible. A lust for him that went beyond our usual desires.

  I rolled him over so I was straddling his legs and swiftly undid the buttons on his shirt. His hands were everywhere. My lips and tongue and teeth decided to do the same, once the shirt was removed. Our actions fervent; this wasn't a languid exploration of each other's bodies, this was a need so strong we couldn't hold back.

  "I scent your arousal," he rasped, as my tongue darted beneath the edge of his trousers. My fingers already unfastening the belt.

  "Don't you always," I mumbled, as my mouth followed the lowering of his zip.

  He moaned low and long, his hips bucking up off the bed to meet my lips.

  "This is more pronounced than usual," he managed to get out between deep breaths. "It is driving me crazy. It is almost as strong as the claiming."

  Michel and I had been through a claiming, his vampire-within deciding to stake his claim and make me his vampire mate. It was intense and addictive, hard and fast. Michel struggled with the level of desire in him at the time, it was almost a loss of control. We were both subject to its whim. But, oh boy, was it divine.

  "I can handle another claiming," I announced, pulling his trousers and boxers down his hips and then off the end of his legs. His shoes and socks followed. There, all naked, just like me.

  A growl was all the warning I got before my body was flipped and his head was between my legs. His palm came down flat on my stomach, making sure I didn't move. I lifted my head and stared down the length of my body at him. His eyes were flashing amethyst and violet, hunger etched a delicious pattern across his face.

  "What has got in to you?" he growled. "You have never looked as beautiful as you do right now."

  "Show me," I demanded, feeling a sense of power over this gorgeous man before me.

  "Oh, I intend to, ma douce. All day if I can."

  "What about the war?" I asked and then cried out in bliss as his tongue swept up the length of my centre.

  He didn't reply, he was too busy. His thumbs parted my folds as he greedily licked and sucked. Oh Goddess, he was good at this. Within seconds I was panting, all thoughts of battles gone from my head. My hands fisted in his hair, holding him to me as I ground back against his face. He slipped in two fingers and began moving them seductively, licking and sucking in time to the motion. My hips joined the rhythm, my moans getting louder and louder. I felt my clasp on the moment slipping. My ability to control my responses falling away. I fought for some semblance of control. The house was full of vampires, some of which I did not know well. But there was nothing I could do. I was at his mercy.

  But he was also at mine. I could see his hips working too, grinding himself back into the bed. Every moan I made was accompanied by a growl-come-purr from him. The sounds we were making were sensual and so very erotic. The sensations he was creating in me were sublime. I let go of all control and slowly fell down into the well of euphoria he was building. Rising up with the wave that flowed from deep down inside. My body ached, my lungs were stretched, I shook with the need to release.

  "Come," he growled, then sucked on the bundle of nerves there, sending me crashing down the other side of that wave.

  I screamed as I came, my body thrashing beneath him, but he didn't stop sucking until I collapsed back against the bed several minutes later. He rose up above me; a predator stalking the length of my frame. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then licked what was left of my juices from the corner of his mouth.

  "I could eat you all day, but I need to be inside," he said with pure intent, settling between my thighs. My knees fell out further, inviting him closer, desperate to have him completely joined to me, deep within my core.

  His hot hand ran down my side to my thigh and then rested behind my knee. His eyes flashed all manner of mauves and violets, but as yet magenta was not to be seen. I think Michel had more control of his dragon, than he ever had before. This wasn't a bad thing, considering, but I had enjoyed the occasions in the past where magenta had shined in those eyes as he was buried deep inside.

  "You won't be disappointed," he arrogantly announced, lifting my leg up, spreading me wider and then slowly rocking his hips so he could slip inside.

  He was bigger than usual, or I wasn't as prepared as I had thought. But that was impossible after what had just happened, what he had made me feel. Still, he had to work his way inside and I swear he felt larger than he ever had before.

  "It is your scent," he explained with a groan, as he pulled back slightly and then entered me another delicious inch or so. "My body is simply responding to your desire." Another pull back slowly and oh so perfect glide back further inside. "I have never felt this before. It is consuming." Out slow, back in just as slowly again. He was making progress, but the speed was sending me spiralling. My hips tilted upwards, trying to force him inside in one go. Michel had to wrap his hand around my waist to hold me still, so he wouldn't injure me with a rapid thrust inside.

  I was finding it difficult to think straight, so desperate to have him fully within me. I bucked my body, causing him to growl and nip my neck with his fangs. My legs had wrapped around his thighs and were doing their damnedest to pull his groin flat against my own, so next came a swat on my rear as a reprimand.

  "Be patient!" he demanded. "I do not want to harm you."

  "I need you," I breathed beneath him. "All of you. Now!"

  "Bloody hell, ma douce!" he exclaimed. "What on Earth has got in to you?" But he didn't wait for an answer, finally he made the last distance inside, reaching the very back of me it seemed. Filling me completely. Exactly what I craved.

  He sat there, panting, sweat trailing a path down the side of his neck. His body shook in little waves of delight and tension, his forehead resting against mine, eyes closed, teeth gritted.

  "Move," I begged.

>   "If I move right now, there is no telling what I will do. You have driven me to insanity. I am barely holding on as it is."

  I bumped my hips up against him, causing him to hiss first, then wrap an arm firmly around the back of my shoulders, gripping my upper body tightly, holding me still with that one motion. As well as his free hand securely wrapping around my hip and his hard chest pressed down against mine, I was safely encased.

  "You want me to move?" he asked, hot breath washing over my lips.

  "God, yes!"

  "You need this, don't you?"

  I nodded, whimpering now, unable to speak anymore.

  He swore softly in French. "You are so incredibly beautiful like this," he whispered.

  And then he moved. For a few strokes it was slow and delicious and I moaned with every rock of his hips. But we both knew it wouldn't last, our desire for the other was too great. I needed to feel him. Really feel him.

  His pace picked up, my body moved with his, our heartbeats escalating, our breaths intermingling, matched in speed. He hadn't shifted his hold of my body, his torso was still rubbing against mine. My nipples throbbed with each pass of the fine hairs on his chest. His eyes held mine, neither of us able to look away. We didn't kiss. We didn't lick or suck or bite the other person. The connection was all in the eyes. In the way we looked at the other as he was sinking in and pulling out of me; so deeply, so possessively, so beautifully. So divine.

  It was the most intimate coupling I had every experienced with him. My body on fire for the man above me. His reacting to mine. Our desires equal in magnitude. Our rhythm hypnotic. The sensations utterly beautiful, addictive. Out of this world. But it was the way he looked at me, as though I was his everything. As though he was the luckiest man alive. We fed off the look in each other's eyes. We floated in the bliss of our bodies joining. We rejoiced in the sensations we created in the other person.

  We shared. We loved.

  I began to close my eyes, the orgasm building too intense not to.

  "Don't" he whispered above me, not altering his pace. "Look at me when you come."

  I shook my head. "Can't. It's too much. Too intense."

  "I know, but don't leave."

  My eyes sprang open at the ache in his voice. My hand shifted from where I'd been digging my fingers into his back, to cup his cheek.

  "Never," I promised and then somehow - Goddess alone knows how - kept my eyes open, tethered to his, as the most exquisite, mind blowing, body shattering, orgasm stole over me.

  "Ah, ma douce," he groaned above me. "So beautiful." And then keeping his eyes trained on me he followed, releasing a hot burst of his seed inside. I felt all of it, every drop as it shot hard and long. His muscles straining, his shaft swelling and throbbing, sending me into another orgasm, which made us both cry out in blissful surprise.

  He continued to rock gently into me long after we were both spent, unable to break the connection, our eyes still trapped by the other. Finally his movements slowed, until we lay together; sweat soaked bodies interlocked.

  "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met," he whispered adoringly above me. "I have long known, none compares to you. But for some reason, you seem even more beautiful to me right now." He shook his head in wonder. "I did not think that was possible. But it is as if you shine."

  I smiled up at him, feeling loved and worshipped and safe in his arms.

  "Kiss me," I demanded softly.

  "With pleasure," he replied and slanted his mouth across mine for a deep and delicious kiss.

  Several minutes later we both came up for air. A little breathless, but smiling like lunatics, unable to keep the joy off our faces, even if we tried.

  "I'm starving," I announced out of nowhere, and Goddess was I ever. Famished would be a better description. What the hell had they fed me while I was out. I couldn't feel any puncture wounds from feeding tubes or IV lines, but they must have been there before I awoke. Maybe Michel had healed me. It didn't matter, I wanted food. Hot chips and tomato ketchup. Sausage dipped in batter and slathered with sauce. Maybe some fried onion rings or, I know! A pineapple ring fried in batter and dipped in sugar. Yeah, that's it.

  Michel looked at me strangely as he pulled away from my body.

  "You never eat fried foods, Lucinda," he reminded me, and he was right. Besides the fact that he always made sure only healthy alternatives were in the house. Other than the occasional pizza or baked cake from Kathleen, I usually steered clear of the deep fried calorie loaded sogginess that can be found at the local fish and chip shop.

  I shrugged as I sat up from the bed, preparing to stand. "It's what I want," I declared, with a toss of my hair over my shoulder.

  Then stood to my feet and watched the world turn immediately black.

  Chapter 25

  Wakey, Wakey

  "You fainted," Michel said with obvious concern, kneeling beside the bed I was flat out on when I woke for the second time that night. "I am worried about you. I think this is why my vampyre-within has been acting so protectively. He has seen, what I have missed. You are not well."

  "I've just been flat on my back for almost three days, Michel," I said placatingly. I didn't feel unwell, I felt hungry. "Plus you just rocked my socks off, I need a little time to get my feet beneath me, that's all."

  He didn't look convinced.

  "Amisi said she noticed a change in your aura. She is concerned too," he commented.

  "Is Amisi here?"

  "Yes. She and Gregor arrived yesterday. They are both downstairs."

  The elation I felt over having Amisi in the same house as me was almost overwhelming. Amisi here. In our home. I tried to sit up again and Michel growled, gently placing pressure on my shoulder to keep me flat.

  "You are staying in bed."

  Oh, hell no. "I've just been in bed for almost three days. I am not staying in bed." I growled. Michel just growled right back. His was better than mine.

  "Michel!" I said frustratingly. "I'm fine."

  "People who are fine do not faint."

  "Oh, come on! I got up too quickly. Here, let's try it slowly. If I faint, you have permission to shackle me to the bed." Hmm, kind of liked that imagery.

  "Lucinda," Michel chastised, clearly inside my head and seeing what delicious imaginings I had going on. "How can you think of sex when this is so serious?"

  Gee, normally he was the one with his head in the gutter - or up my skirt, down my top, on my butt. A growl interrupted my musings.

  "You are impossible."

  "Go on!" I said with a smirk. "You love it."

  He stared at me for a moment, several warring emotions flickering across his façade. Frustration. Amusement. Disbelief. My smile widened.

  "You love me just the way I am," I said tauntingly.

  His eyebrows rose, but the rest of him remained immobile. I huffed out a breath and crossed my arms over my chest.

  "Well, can I at least have my chips and sausage?" Hmm, sausage.

  "Bloody hell," Michel cursed, throwing his hands up in the air and getting to his feet. "You are incorrigible."

  "If you don't like my thoughts, stay out of my mind," I remarked, snottily.

  "I rather like your thoughts, actually," he admitted quietly. My smirk returned.

  Michel sighed long and loud. I held my breath, but I knew I had him. I could be downright annoying if I didn't get my way. And I saw no reason not to tonight. I was fine. Just hungry and the fainting was due to lying down too long and then standing up after fantastic, earth shattering sex.

  "Earth shattering, huh?" Michel asked, looking down at me. His eyes roamed over my still naked body. I noticed he had dressed while I was out of it.

  "You know it was," I shot back, shifting to sit on the side of the bed. I'd take this slowly, there was no way I was going to allow myself to faint. Then I'd never hear the end of it. Michel could be annoying too.

  He took a few steps back, determined not to help me. Did he want me to faint?
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  "Just proving a point, ma douce," he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest and leaning back against the wall to watch. He'd reach me before I hit the floor. But I wasn't going to hit the floor.

  I stood upright, waited a beat and when nothing happened poked my tongue out at him. He shook his head and sighed.

  "Why can't you be compliant? Why is everything a battle with you?" He didn't sound overly disappointed by any of that, I think he was just complaining for the sake of it.

  I ignored the statements completely, as they should be ignored.

  "I'm going to shower and dress, can you order in some takeaways for me?" I crossed to the attached bathroom.

  "You are determined to clog your arteries, I see," Michel observed. Clog my arteries. Pfft. I was a Nosferatin, I'd burn it off just thinking of sex. Hmm, sex.

  I heard him mutter something behind me, but I ignored that too and got to work getting cleaned up to face the horde downstairs. I'd freshen up, get dressed for any eventuality, and eat. Then I'd be ready to hear all about this war we were currently undertaking. It was going to be a long night.

  When I climbed out of the shower the door to the bedroom was still open and I could see Michel sitting on an armchair watching me. He really wasn't going to let me out of his sight, was he? I dried off and finished my bathroom routine then sauntered into the bedroom, swaying my hips a little more than I usually would. Michel's eyes never strayed. Not that it was due to my hip swaying as such, he'd be watching me like a hawk - or like a possessive and protective vampire - for the duration. The hip swaying was for me. I'd like to think his attention was due to my hips, and not because he thought I was sick.

  Still, I continued with the little show while I dressed. Bending at the waist to fish through drawers, lifting one foot to the bed seductively, while I slipped my leg into my lacy, barely there, underwear. He blinked slowly at me, but otherwise made no comment. By the time I was complete with short skirt, T-shirt, jacket, stakes and knife, I was a little disappointed in his lack of response. I mean, beautiful girl doing a reverse striptease for him, surely something perked up.