by Chloe Cole
She nodded dully, but didn’t risk turning to face him again. The room went thick with the weight of their silence and she clenched her hands to keep them from trembling.
Just go, she willed him mentally. Just go before I do something stupid.
He blew out a sigh and she let her eyes drift closed as he padded from the room. God, she was fickle. She wanted him to leave. Needed him to leave. But now that he was gone, all she wanted was for him to come back.
The sweat on her body had dried, leaving her chilled and shaky, and she rushed to strip off her—Etienne’s—gym clothes.
She made her way to the edge of the tub and gingerly dipped a toe in, letting out a hiss of pleasure as the heat of it shot up her leg.
Twenty minutes. Just twenty minutes to let her mind shut down and let the water leach some of the exhaustion from her body.
She took the first step, then the second, and when she could bear the heat, finally submerged herself to her shoulders. The whirlpool had bench seats around the entire perimeter and she settled onto one with a contented sigh. Everything might be shit, but this was a tiny slice of heaven.
She shimmied until her back was pressed against one of the jets that shot water from it, and groaned out loud as it worked on the knotted muscle behind over shoulder.
There was no question it had been a terrible day. Nearly everything that could’ve gone wrong had, but she couldn’t help the tiny spark of pride buried deep beneath all the worry and despair.
She had to hand it to Mina. The Valkyrie was a class A, bona fide bitch a lot of the time, but she had hit the nail on the head with bringing her down to the gym. Even if it was all self-delusion, Taya really did feel a little better knowing she didn’t have to just stand there and get murdered. After the attack that fateful night in the woods, she’d been feeling like the victim of her circumstance, but even now, when all felt pretty hopeless, she still preferred this.
She settled more deeply into the tub and let her eyes drift shut. Her thoughts instantly went to Etienne. What had he been about to tell her before she’d cut him off? Sure, he’d made mistakes. He’d hurt her with his lies of omission. But he was still a dragon who had slain wolves for her and she couldn’t suppress the rush of emotion that swamped her.
She wasn’t made of stone, for god’s sake. He was a knight in shining armor in 3-D. She could no more turn off her emotions about him than she could put out the sun, but she had to do her best not to act on them anymore. It would only make the inevitable even harder.
Sadness welled up to choke her and she swallowed it back.
This wouldn’t do at all. She needed to use every second she could to relax, let her body heal itself and prepare for the battle ahead.
She clenched her fists together and forced him from her mind, instead trying to imagine a serene field of wildflowers. She’d always been good at that. Blocking out the world and meditating when the bustle of life got to be too much. It took a solid ten minutes, but soon, she could feel the tension draining from her and her head clearing.
Tired.
So tired…
“Taya?”
A muffled voice called her name from a distance and she shifted with a grumble. “Go away.”
“Taya.” The voice was closer now, just a few inches from her ear, and her eyes snapped open.
Etienne.
She moved to sit up and sent water sloshing over the side of the tub. Shit, she was still in the hot tub. Her mind was fuzzy, her muscles languid and slow as she tried to figure out how long she’d been there.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. You were in here for a long time and didn’t answer when I knocked.”
“I was drifting off,” she said, blinking away the sand scratching at her eyes. It was only then that she looked up to see Etienne’s gaze burning into her.
He was clearly doing his best not to look, but he couldn’t seem to stop his eyes from flickering from her face lower, down the line of her neck, to the swell of her breasts that just broke the surface of the foaming water.
She lifted an arm up to cover herself reflexively, but there was no denying the rush of heat that flooded her core at the stark need on his face.
He clenched his jaw as his Adam’s apple worked in his strong throat.
“I apologize. It’s just—” He broke off with a muttered curse and turned to face the wall. “I’ll go so you can dress.”
His hair was damp from his shower and she stared at his naked, muscled back. She wanted so badly to spear her fingers into those golden curls. Run her hands over that back.
“Don’t go,” she heard herself whisper.
The room was quiet but for the whirl of the hot tub, and the breath sawing in and out of his lungs.
“Taya, I can’t stay here with you like that. I know I should be made of sterner stuff than that, but don’t ask it of me. It’s too hard. I’ll be right outside the door.”
She hadn’t even known what she was asking for until she found herself rising. Water sluicing down the length of her body as she reached out and traced a finger over his calf.
It was nuts. Crazy, really. Handing her heart over on a plate when he had the power to grind it to dust in one hand.
And still, suddenly she couldn’t get the dream she’d had earlier that day out of her head. Especially the part where they had been plummeting to the ground, toward certain death. She might want to protect her heart and wallow in sadness and despair, but the reality was, she would likely never have to worry about Etienne breaking her heart because she’d be dead before he ever had the chance.
It was that knowledge that had her reaching out a hand to him.
“Be with me.”
“I never wanted to hurt you, Taya,” he said, his voice raw and so full of heartache and regret, it made her hands tremble.
“And I don’t want to be hurt. But we both know what’s likely to happen here. You’re a dragon shifter. A genetic killing machine with strength unparalleled. That strength and those healing powers are likely to save you.” She straightened her shoulders and took the three steps up to stand behind him, pressing her wet, naked front against his back. “I’m just flesh and bone. And odds are, I’m not getting out of this alive.”
His whole body quaked against her and he let out a snarl as she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed.
“If I’m going to die, Etienne, I want my last night to be with you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Her words tore him in two, and it was hard to breathe.
He’d hoped she hadn’t picked up on the seriousness of the situation. That maybe he and Mina had managed to sell her on the idea that this would be hard, but they would surely prevail.
Obviously, she was even smarter than he’d given her credit for. She knew exactly how dire the situation was.
But one thing she didn’t realize?
There would be no him without her. If she didn’t make it out of this, neither would he.
Sure, he might last a day. Maybe even a week. However long it took to hunt down and tear every single being even peripherally responsible for her death—the assassins, the Council, hell, the entire wolf population of Montana—limb from limb.
But it would be a kamikaze mission.
No way any single shifter, sky king or not, would ever make it through to the end. Fuck if he wouldn’t relish every drop of blood he spilled in the process of avenging her, though.
He sucked in a steadying breath and shoved those thoughts aside, focusing instead on the sensation of Taya’s hands on his stomach, the feel of her full breasts against his back, her breath on his shoulder.
This was a gift that he wouldn’t refuse. He had betrayed her trust and she was giving him this—one more flight to heaven—in spite of the fact that he didn’t deserve it.
He tugged her arms from his waist and turned to face her, words catching in his throat as he gazed down at her beautiful face.
Her big brown eyes stared back at him from bene
ath thick lashes and he cupped her cheek gently, already overcome by the need to take her full bottom lip between his teeth. But before he got the chance, she was sinking to her knees in front of him, her slender hand tracing the contour of his inner thigh as she tugged his gym shorts down. His already swollen cock sprang forward, aching for her magic touch.
“I wanted to do this last night, and you didn’t let me,” she whispered.
He closed his eyes and let out a hiss at the sensation of her warm breath again his sensitive skin. He should stop her. Remind her that she was exhausted and likely too tired to make a decision like this, but then her firm, wet tongue swirled around the head of his cock and the protest died on his lips.
Instead, he speared his hands into her dark hair, tugging it gently as she took him in deeper, inch by maddening inch. Then, to add yet another layer to this torture, she wrapped one hand around his base, guiding him as she moved up and down in a maddeningly slow rhythm.
With every move, his cock pulsed and shuddered, and it was all he could to do not to pull her away and take her then and there. He might have done, and was on the brink, but when he'd pressed his palm against her shoulder, she'd looked up at him, and he could practically read her thoughts in those expressive eyes.
Not now. Not yet.
And so he waited, stifling a growl each time she dragged her molten tongue against his shaft and moaned against him, the vibrations of her lips frying his brain. But just when he thought she couldn't torment him any more, she increased the pace, sucking him so hard that his muffled groans became guttural pleas.
"Ah, fuck, chérie. Let me--" he ground out, wrapping his fist in her hair and pulling tighter. But when he looked down, he knew he was through asking. He'd let her have her way, but the time for play was over. If this truly was their last night, he was going to make sure he died with the taste of her on his lips.
Plus, if he had to stare at her gorgeous breasts bouncing as she fucked him with her mouth for even one more second?
He was going to spontaneously combust.
He yanked her hair sharply until she stilled and released his shaft, gazing up at him through lust-glazed eyes. His dragon roared its approval as he laid one palm on her shoulder to push her back onto the warm, tile floor beside the hot tub, only peripherally aware of the bubbling whirl of the jets.
She protested, her gaze drifting back to his cock. "But I-”
"Enough."
It had come out more harshly than he'd meant it to, but his dragon had scented its mate and was driving him hard to touch and taste, the need becoming an intense and grinding ache. She was his, and soon, she would know it. Feel the truth of it, and never have to question his feelings again.
Gentle, he reminded himself before his brain went offline completely. She was fragile and he had to be gentle.
Slowly, he guided her back until she was flush with the floor, his own body poised over hers as he yanked off his pants and threw them aside.
She'd left her legs bent, her knees splayed, but he called on the last reserves of self-discipline to stop himself from looking there. Not yet. First, he took in the soft contour of her cheek. The thickness of her lashes. The curve of that mouth.
He dipped down and took the bottom lip between his teeth and tugged softly, humming his approval as she swept out her tongue to greet him. She tasted as good as she always did--like cinnamon and spice--but this time he could taste himself there, too, and his cock grew painfully stiff with the realization.
She must have felt his reaction because she her hips fluttered against his, grinding her wet pussy against him in a circle, then moving up and down. Teasing him. Tempting him. Her nipples tightened against his chest, branding him and he groaned again, thinking how easy it would be to bury himself deep right here and now.
With a mental shake of the head, he pulled away from her, and then leaned back on his heels to take in the rest of her curvy form. He traced every part of her, committing each moment to memory.
The elegant column of her throat, the stiff pink nipples that pouted toward him, begging for his mouth, the gentle underside of her breasts.
And then, when his hands had finished their work, his tongue followed suit. Slowly, he licked his way from the shell of her ear, to her collarbone, and lower as she arched against him.
"Please..." Her plea was little more than a breathy whisper, and it only drove him to continue on.
Taking each nipple into his mouth in turn, he sucked gently until she let out a gasp as she writhed beneath him, her back arching into his every touch. And with each little twitch and moan, the need inside him surged stronger and hotter than ever.
Blood thundered in his ears, and his head swam. He tried to focus taking his time, making it last, but his dragon was insistent. He needed more.
To feel her pulse and shudder around his cock over and over again.
To hear that little gasp as he pushed in and out of her.
To see her face when she exploded around him.
Gliding the pads of his fingers down her thigh, he spread her legs wide as she shivered and arched.
“I want my mouth on you, chérie.”
Her head was so muzzy with need, the words fell on deaf ears, but when the wet heat of his tongue flickered inside her like a flame, she had no doubt of their meaning.
At first it was shocking, the intensity of it as he lowered his mouth between her legs, and part of her wanted to pull away. Retreat and hide from the tidal wave of sensations and emotions flooding her all at once. But as he went on, moving up and down against her, flicking over her tight, aching bud before circling her sex again, that heat coiled in her belly and radiated outward.
The heat of it, of him, made every nerve stand on end, begging for more.
She wanted to give it all.
To be totally consumed.
To be Etienne’s.
She strained for air, but her lungs were like a pair of steel traps, making her work for every breath as she tried to focus on every stolen moment. The prickle of his bristly jaw against her thighs, the way his fingers dug into her hips, using them to anchor her, the way his golden eyes captured hers when she looked down to watch him.
Her pussy quivered, and she nearly begged him for more. Almost as if in answer to her prayer, he pressed a finger into her throbbing sex, and she let out a long, shuddering gasp.
"Good?" he asked, pushed his finger still deeper before retreating slowly.
"I--I--" she choked, but she couldn't get the words out to tell him that he shouldn't stop. That he should never, ever stop.
"What are you doing?" She blinked, her heart tumbling into her stomach as he turned and stepped into the tub until he was submerged to the hips beneath the foaming water.
He turned back to face her and for a minute she'd nearly forgotten what she was saying. She was too distracted by him—the cut of his jaw, the marble-like contour of his chest, the trail of golden hair beneath his belly button, and finally, to the smooth head of his cock that just cleared the surface, stiff and proud.
She ran her tongue over her top lip. She couldn't help it. Just seeing him hard, waiting, and wanting was enough to send her so close to the edge, she was shaking with it. His nostrils flared and he reached a hand between his legs, working his massive cock in one, firm stroke.
Jesus, if he'd kept that up for a little longer, added to the memory of his hard length gliding over her tongue, she might--
“Chérie?" He raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you going to join me?"
He released his cock and held out a hand. She swallowed hard before swinging her legs over the side of the tub. It felt hotter now that she’d been out for so long--so hot that it stung her calves, her waist, her breasts, but all that was nothing compared to the feel of Etienne's skin against hers.
He kept her crushed against him, skin to skin, as he backed up until he reached the bench seat, and lowered himself to sit, pulling her with him.
The breath died in her chest as sh
e did something she'd wanted to do since the first night they’d kissed. She straddled his thighs, at first only brushing against him and then lowering herself, closing her eyes as his thick cock ground against her slit, and her wet breasts slid against his chest.
"I need you, Etienne," she whispered, but before he had the chance to respond, she gripped him in her hands and impaled herself on his rigid shaft.
For an instant, she couldn't move. She could only close her eyes and shudder as her body expanded around his girth, struggling for air as her muscles quaked.
They stayed like that for a long moment, the only sound their labored breath, as her body grew accustomed to him.
It felt so right, she was nearly incapacitated with sorrow as she realized she’d finally found home only to wind up in very real danger of losing it already.
It was his words that brought her back to him. To now.
“There is only you for me, chérie. If you know nothing else, know this,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “And if we make it past these assassins, no Council will keep me from you.
She looped her arms around his neck and began to move, letting his body inflame her even as his words soothed her. It was a slow, rhythmic pace. The same kind he'd used to torment her with, but it didn’t last long. The knife’s edge of desire grew sharper, and she began to move more quickly, her thigh muscles straining. And with every heart-rending thrust, he gripped her hips tighter, worked her over him faster, until they were moving as one, hurtling toward the finish line.
Every little quake or quiver shot through her like a lighting bolt, sizzling its way up her spine until she was so wild with it, that she felt as hot as the water itself. With his hands on her skin, his lips caressing her breasts, she could barely contain the scream building in her chest.
"Taya," he ground out, but she could hardly hear what he'd said next. It was like her ears had been filled with cotton and all she could focus on was the rush of her blood and the hard swell of his cock as she drove him in and out, over and over and--