by Celia Kyle
His eye color flickered, shifting back and forth between dragon-yellow and blue-gray. “Hannah.”
That was all he said. Two syllables that held so much more than simply her name. He pleaded with her to stop tempting him just as he begged her for more. Both sensations slipped from his mind to hers, the whirlwind of his thoughts swirling forward to tangle with her own.
It wasn’t until she snatched every hint of his emotions that she understood. “Oh, Brukr…” She wiggled in his embrace, pushing on his shoulders while she tugged against his grip on her legs. “Put me down.”
A spear of pain shot from her mate, and she internally winced. He thought she was rejecting him, but that was the furthest from the truth. The moment her feet hit the sand, she scanned the area, searching for…
“A bench,” she murmured, and the moment she voiced her need, a cushioned seat appeared. Soft and inviting, it was crafted to allow a Preor male to sit comfortably.
A Preor male and his human mate.
“Come here.” She didn’t look back at him and instead drew him to it. “Sit.”
She nudged, not relenting until he lowered to the soft surface. But she sensed his unease, his rolling emotions that twisted and turned in his heart, those feelings that collided. Some urged him to leave before he could be hurt further. Others demanded he stay because Hannah was his.
But it was the self-loathing she had to deal with first.
Hannah could have taken a spot beside him, but instinct drove her. Instinct told her to get as close as possible. She straddled Brukr, knees on either side of his hips and her ass resting on his thighs. He surrounded her—overwhelmed her—with his size so easily. She couldn’t do the same to him, but she could cling like an extinct spider monkey.
“You need to stop this, Brukr. Now.” She met his hard stare with one of her own. She hadn’t survived this long by backing down from a fight—even when she probably should have tucked tail and run.
“What should I stop?” His dark glare dared her to answer.
So she did. “Hating yourself. You have to stop hating yourself.” Her eyes stung, tears pricking her with a slight pinch, and she fought to blink back the moisture. If he saw her crying, he’d summon every healing warrior at Preor’s disposal. “How can you open your heart to me—love me—if you hate yourself?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Brukr sighed and closed his eyes, hiding from his mate’s all-too-knowing stare. She saw into his heart, dug and poked at his most tender spots, and demanded all of him. She demanded things he could not give, and he added more failure to the growing pile of things he lacked.
Things a mate deserved.
“Don’t hide from me,” she murmured and cupped his face, her aczi soft palms against his skin. “Hide from everyone else, but not me.”
If he ignored her, perhaps she would become distracted by some other feature of Kouvai Nihon and their conversation could end before it began.
A spurt of laughter and wisp of joy flowed from Hannah. “I’m not going to give up. We’re going to talk.”
Brukr grunted and chose to keep his eyes closed as they spoke. Then he could not see her disgust. She captured that thought as well, her deep sigh accompanying her disappointment.
“Nothing you’ve ever done or could ever do in the future would make me disgust you, shaa kouvi.”
He snorted. “Acting as a coward was not enough to push you away. Accepting unearned honors did not. Claiming you without the Knowing did not send you fleeing.” He opened his eyes. “I have gathered dishonor after dishonor on my shoulders, Hannah. When will they become too much for you to bear? When will you realize I am unworthy to love you? When will you realize you should put distance between us, not draw us closer? I have hurt you already. I risk harming you even now as we walk Kouvai Nihon when you should be resting and healing. I will hurt you in the future.”
He held his breath and waited for her response, waited to find out his fate. If she left him… he would take his final flight.
“How will you hurt me?”
Brukr jerked back and frowned at his mate. “What?”
“How will you hurt me?” She repeated herself. “We’ve talked about your actions with the emperor, and you know my thoughts on that. Yes, you claimed me without the Knowing, but Brukr,” she sighed. “I wanted you without it. I didn’t want to leave Preor Tower.” She stroked his cheek. “I didn’t want to leave you.”
“I acted without thought for your desires. I thought only of myself, and—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips, silencing him. “We’ll agree to disagree on that one. As for hurting me now…” She shook her head, dark locks with hints of red swaying back and forth. “You’re so careful with me, I’m about to scream. I’m healed. I’m healthy.”
“You deserve a better warrior.”
“Fate gave me you. The Knowing gave me you. I’ll never let you go.” She leaned closer, rising onto her knees so she could brush her lips across his. It was the slightest of caresses, but for Brukr it was as if she embraced him—consumed him—with her passion.
She grazed him once, twice, and he could not tolerate a third sweep. Not without taking what he craved. He would return to hating himself as soon as he was done tasting her.
He slipped his arms around her, one hand resting on her lower back while the other… He followed the line of her spine to the curve of her ass and palmed one plump mound. She was soft and round, a body he could not wait to explore and learn.
“Yes,” she moaned.
Hannah rocked her hips, her center grazing the juncture of his thighs. His cock had softened when she pulled away but now hardened with their surge of desire. His length strained against his katoth pants, straining the tanned hide with his need. What would it be like to strip them both bare, to sink into his mate over and over again…
“Hannah,” he murmured against her lips. He should put an end to their kisses—their touches. Perhaps after the next.
“Shaa kouvi,” she mumbled in return and rocked her hips once more. She ground down against him, her scorching heat firm against his hardness.
And then one of them shuddered—both of them? Brukr could not tell. Not when the Knowing—their connection—twined them so tightly together. Each tendril of arousal and every snippet of pleasure bounced between them until he could no longer separate the sensations.
He did not feel his pleasure—or hers. It merely existed. His balls were hard and tight to his body, his cock throbbed in time with his heart, and he ached to sink into his mate over and over again. He could imagine her slick heat wrapped around him, clinging to his length as he sank into her pussy. She would cry out for him, beg him for more, and he would give her everything she desired.
Brukr twined his tongue with hers, their mouths performing an erotic dance that had him hardening even further. Her lush body, her musky scent, her delicious sweetness… They combined and called out to him, reached deep into his heart, and touched a part of him long broken.
Broken that day so long ago that—
He wrenched his mouth from hers and sucked air into his lungs. He needed a clear head to speak with his mate and… and that inhale merely brought him more of her scent.
“Hannah, please.” She had to take pity on him. He was a Preor warrior. He should be strong enough to resist his mate for her own sake.
“Please,” she whimpered and reached for his face, but he leaned away. If she captured his mouth again… She made his resistance that much more difficult by releasing a sad whine. “Brukr,” her voice was barely audible over the gently lapping waves of Kouvai Nihon’s waters, “you’re my mate. Mine. Punish yourself, push everyone away, but… but not me. Please, not me.”
His mate’s voice cracked, a voice thick and so soft and quiet he almost thought he no longer held Hannah but some other female. So different. So desperate.
So his, and yet he could not mistake the agony in her words—and her heart.
“Shaa ko
uva.” He ceased pulling away, ceased fighting. “I cannot stand your hurt.”
“Then stop pushing.” She swallowed hard. “We’ve both been running from our pasts, Brukr. But I’m not going to anymore, and you shouldn’t either.” She shook her head. “And maybe you’re not ready to let all your pain—your hate—go, but release just a little.” She lifted her hand, finger and thumb held close together. “Just enough to make some room for me.”
“And you have space for me, shaa kouva?”
Hannah traced his arm, fingers sliding down his bicep and forearm before she wrapped her fingers around his wrist. When she tugged, he easily moved with her, letting her position him as she wished.
And she placed his hand over her heart. “It’s here. Right here. You know it’s there just waiting for you.”
He stared down at his mate, at the tiny human female who had endured much and still wished to be his. She knew all and remained strong in her desire to mate.
“You… You push me beyond honor, shaa kouva.” He lowered his head, their foreheads flush. “If I claim you, I will never let you go. I will keep you at my side always.”
“Claiming a mate can never be dishonorable.”
He gently shook his head, not lifting away from her. “When she has just risen from a ryaapir—”
Plump lips pressed against his, the familiar mouth silencing him with a quick kiss. “Make me yours, Brukr. Here.”
Brukr’s wred hardened with the thought, with the idea of spreading her out beneath him and claiming her as Syh watched. “Hannah…”
She rolled her hips and moaned, the heat from her pussy sinking through the katoth to warm his cock. “Now.”
He shuddered, unable to remain still beneath her passionate assault. “I…”
His mate ground down, increasing the pressure between their bodies. Her breasts brushed his chest, the hard pebbles of her nipples teasing him, and he realized he was lost. They’d engaged in battle, and his Hannah was the victor.
Though with as Hannah as his mate, he felt as if he won as well.
She nipped his lower lip and the small sting added to his pleasure. It was not like the fierce bite of a Preor female—it was better. It was a hint of pain received from his mate.
His Hannah.
It all became too much for him to bear. The sensations, the need, grew so large he could no longer resist his mate’s allure.
He leaned back and snarled out a single word. “Bed.”
The order had worked for Hannah, and he assumed the stoo-pid ship would respond to him as well—an assumption proven true when a luxurious bed appeared in the middle of the sandy beach, aczi coverings and plump pillows spread across the cushioned surface.
Welcome.
Inviting.
Theirs.
“Come, shaa kouva,” he murmured and cupped her ass, holding Hannah steady as he rose from their bench. “It is time.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hannah moaned and sank into Brukr’s embrace, allowing him to take her weight while she took nibbles and bites of him. She pressed soft kisses to his neck, adding the occasional flick of her tongue to gather his taste. Smoky and hot, a mix of sweetness and musk that was all Brukr.
He tightened his grip on her ass, large hands cupping the globes of her butt while claw-tipped fingers dug into her flesh. She cursed her clothing, hating that anything separated their bodies. She wanted skin on skin, to feel his naked body against hers.
Soon…
He stomped across the sand, the short distance seeming like miles as he trudged through the shifting ground. Her pussy nudged his hardness, the thick line of his cock rubbing her center, and she moaned with every jarring step. Her heat clenched and grew heavy with her rising arousal, body preparing for her mate’s claiming.
And he would claim her. Claim her and fill her and fuck her until she screamed his name…
She shuddered at the thought, a jolt of delicious pleasure chasing the movement.
Soon, but not soon enough.
Brukr’s steps slowed, and her world tilted as her mate lowered her to the large bed. The mattress cushioned her, pillows curling around her and cradling her in a delicious softness. The silken aczi caressed her skin, and she couldn’t wait to strip and writhe on the silky fabric.
With Brukr.
He released her, sliding his hands from beneath her ass, but he didn’t retreat fully. No, he stroked her waist, fingers toying with her middle, and then curled around to her front—to the button of her pants.
“Shaa kouva?” Brukr spoke, but the dragon stared at her through his eyes. There was no mistaking his need, but he still waited for her agreement.
One she gave without hesitation. “Please.”
His eyes flared, brightening with a surge of his beast before calming to the blue-gray she recognized. And then… Then thick, battle-scarred fingers tugged on the button of her pants. They pulled on the metal fastenings and parted the front of her slacks. They teased her lower stomach, danced over the exposed curve of her belly, and toyed with the elastic edge of her panties.
Then… Hannah licked her lips and swallowed hard, gaze entirely focused on Brukr… as he dropped to his knees between her legs.
Her breath caught. “Brukr?”
It was his turn to lick his lips, his turn to look hungry and desperate. His gaze bounced between her eyes and the juncture of her thighs before he met her stare once more.
“I wish to taste you, shaa kouva.” His normally deep rasp lowered further, became even more gravelly. He licked his lips again, pink tongue darting out—pink, forked tongue. “Need.”
“Yes,” she whispered, and another shudder wracked her body. “Please.”
He jumped into action before she even finished speaking. Claw-tipped fingers hooked over the waist of her pants and caught the edge of her panties in one swoop. A tug had him peeling the cloth down her legs, exposing her bare skin to the warm air.
And to him.
“Mine.” A wisp of smoke escaped his lips. He grasped her knees and pushed them wider, exposing more of her to his stare. “Mine.”
The look of pure need, pure claiming and desire, as if he’d destroy anyone who came between them, drew a moan from deep within her chest. Her nipples pebbled, hardening beneath her shirt, and she couldn’t help but palm her breasts.
She cupped the large mounds and gave them a firm squeeze. She rubbed her thumbs over her firm nipples and trembled with the added sensation. The wind picked up, gusting and sending a warm cascade of air across her exposed pussy, and she couldn’t suppress her whimper.
“Brukr, please.” She pushed to her elbows and pleaded with him once more. “Please.”
“Remove all.” More smoke, a hint of flames, but she wasn’t scared.
She couldn’t ever be afraid of him.
Hannah wiggled and tugged, tearing the shirt over her head in a single wrenching yank. Her bra quickly followed and then she was bare for him, fully exposed to her mate’s gaze.
“Shaa kouva,” he rasped, his breath gusting out in a single, deep exhale. “I never imagined…” He shook his head. “Syh has blessed me.”
“Both of us, Brukr. Syh blessed us both. Now claim me.” Before she screamed. “Make me…”
Hannah didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence. Not when his next action stole her voice entirely.
Brukr lowered his mouth, lips parted and tongue exposed, and lapped at the seam of her sexlips. He licked her from top to bottom, forked tongue tracing the valley with a single lick. And then he did it again. And again. And…
And he tormented her with those shallow tastings, those barely-there caresses of his tongue on her heated pussy. Her center throbbed and ached, desperate to be stretched and filled by her mate, but he…
“Brukr, please,” she sobbed. The pleasure was there, teasing her, so close and yet not close enough for her to embrace.
“Please what, shaa kouva?” he murmured and then teased her once again. He teased he
r slit without going any deeper.
She widened her legs, heels on the edge of the mattress and knees spread. “Lick my…”
“This?” His tongue delved between her folds, and flicked her clit with its forked tip. Just a single caress of his dragon’s tongue on that bundle of nerves and she groaned aloud.
“Yes! There.” There, there, there… “Right there.”
More smoke from her mate, eyes fully yellow and boring into hers as he tormented her once more. That agile tongue slipped between her sexlips, slid easily through her feminine cream, and circled her clit. Round and round and round… That forked muscle pleasured her with its delicious, sensuous movements.
And Hannah… reveled in the attentions of her alien mate. She watched him, with his reptilian eyes, dragon tongue, and blue-gray scales, as he pleasured her. And he did pleasure her. So, so, so well.
He traced her pussy, exploring every inch of her center with his mouth. He circled her opening, dipped into her entrance, and then returned to her clit, tormenting her with his every movement… and still left her wanting—needing—more.
He tapped her clit, a rapid flutter of his tongue, and lifted his mouth from her pussy. “You taste so sweet, shaa kouva. Like my favorite moar.”
His favorite dessert.
She tried to reply, really, but then his tongue was back to teasing that nub of delicious nerves, and her pussy clenched and pleasure shot through her like a bolt of lightning and…
And Hannah arched, screaming her mate’s name while a roll of bliss slithered down her spine. “Brukr!”
He growled and doubled his efforts, the vibrations from his snarl reverberating through her sensitive flesh. Each mumble and grumble added to the ecstasy he caused, pushing and nudging her pleasure higher and higher. He shoved her toward that edge of bliss, that delicate line between need and utter heaven.
Then he slid a finger into her sheath, the thick digit sinking deep into her pussy while he suckled her clit. She rocked her hips, pushing against his invasion, taking him deeper.