by Godiva Glenn
“Unless you’re a genius with genetics, I think you’re looking at things all wrong. I’ve known plenty of shifters, and on Prism the fae are often grouped in the same way—personalities and such—but sometimes it’s a matter of accepting that who we are has nothing to do with what we are,” she argued.
Arron stopped against a pillar and turned to look at her. “I would expect you to feel that way. You aren’t a dragon.”
“I’m older than dragons,” she said under her breath.
“Weak blood is a concept that I struggle with, I must admit. Particularly to look at those whose lineage is pure, like Rask.”
“What’s wrong with Rask?”
“He is like an ember floating over a dry forest.”
Fianni waited, but Arron had grown quiet, and his gaze distant. After a moment she softly asked, “Ready to start a fire?”
“He runs on emotions, for good or bad. He and Liam together tend to respond with instinct and only instinct.”
“Are the results usually for the best?”
“Most of the time,” he admitted.
“Then what’s the problem?”
Arron’s jaw ticked with annoyance. “The problem is that relying on their guts so heavily is like casting a lot with luck alone. Luck runs out.”
“I disagree. I don’t think luck has anything to do with it.”
“Then what would you call forsaking rationale for actions that have no logical motivation?”
She shrugged. “I came into this world with the instinct to help others. It’s not necessarily logical. Surely you have instincts too. To protect your family. To survive.”
He stared at her for a moment, and she wondered what she’d said wrong. His hard expression morphed, and he smiled.
“I enjoy talking to you, Fianni.”
“Ah… thanks. I’m enjoying talking to you, too.”
“It is a shame you aren’t a dragon,” he said. “I think you’d be a fine mate if it wouldn’t dilute the pool further.”
Her jaw dropped at his backhanded compliment. “Pardon?”
“I rather wish you were a shifter. But it’s only slight disappointment,” he said shaking his head. “If—”
“I have been around since my planet was created. My footsteps encouraged the flow of the rivers that later birthed life. You think I would dilute your bloodline?” Her voice grew louder, filled with anger she’d not felt in centuries. “There is nothing purer than the magic that runs through my veins. There is nothing more powerful than what beats in my heart. You are delusional if you think less of me when I would be stepping down to ever mate with you.”
The look he gave her was one of shock and perhaps a hint of regret, but she didn’t absorb it. She turned and stomped away, pissed at him and frustrated at her own words.
She didn’t think herself better than the dragons, but she’d been so angry. Not just at him, but at herself, in a lesser value. When he’d brought up lineage, she’d realized that these dragons didn’t need just a mate. They needed heirs. Heirs she couldn’t give.
She was a fraud. So much for second impressions.
The main problem with storming off in the middle of a tour was that becoming lost was somewhat inevitable. After the fourth wrong turn, Fianni’s anger had blown into full-on fury. She’d only found Liam and Arron earlier because another dragon had pointed the way, and since she was visibly raging, no one was offering to help her now.
She took a deep breath and climbed a flight of stairs that she hoped would lead to her room or at least someplace familiar. Unfortunately, the walls of the castle were so uniform that even familiarity was misleading. Every thick hunk of stone may as well have been cloned.
A door shut down the hall and she headed toward it. She was ready to swallow her pride and ask for directions.
She knocked on the door and entered what appeared to be an office. Rask stood in the corner, and her anger rose as if new. She didn’t want to endure whatever suspicions he had, any more than she wanted another discussion with Arron.
“Oh. Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Wait,” he said before she could duck back out.
“I’m just lost.”
“I could guess that from the way you stomped your way in,” he replied. His dark eyes traveled her body in a slow path. “Does getting turned around always leave you this riled?”
She hmphed and crossed her arms. “No. Dealing with arrogant dragons riles me.”
He sat on the edge of the desk and smirked. “Which arrogant dragon has offended you today?”
“Arron,” she muttered before thinking better of it.
“Ah. Well, go on. Feel free to wreck the room if you must. This is his office. I’m sure he deserves it.” He picked up a notepad and pen. “Just leave this note somewhere he’ll find it.”
His carefree tone didn’t calm her, and she paced to the opposite side of the room. The windows spanned floor to ceiling, revealing a pale pink sky and blue snow-covered mountains in the distance beyond miles of purple and green forest. The sight took her aback for a moment. Solara’s landscape was more similar to Prism’s than to Earth’s.
“I thought dragons would be respectful,” she said to the glass. “Isn’t that how it goes? Noble and all? Not condescending and ignorant.”
No reply came so she turned. Rask looked up from the note he was writing, but his eyes didn’t meet hers. No, they’d paused and landed directly on her breasts, which heaved over her crossed arms.
The audacity of his blunt attention confused her anger.
“And is my presence really that destructive? To imply that me walking around and breathing has halted productivity somehow? The people here are your family, so not everyone is a servant. Yet Arron seems to think that’s all everyone is. Either you’re him, or you’re to be told what to do.”
Still no reply, but Rask set the pen and paper down. His eyes had narrowed into inky pools, but something told her he wasn’t angry.
“Are all dragons like that? Is that the secret reason why you can’t find a mate? You’re too bossy and snooty? Is no one good enough? I mean honestly, my blood isn’t weak. My magic is off the charts. I once slapped my cousin, Resentment, and she split in half and birthed Forgiveness.”
His brow arched at that.
“Say something!” she grumbled.
“Ranting is a solo performance,” he replied.
“I’m trying to figure out why I’m here,” she said with exasperation.
He left the desk and walked across the room with a confident swagger that distracted her a million ways. She couldn’t ignore how her skin heated from watching his black leather-clad legs move toward her.
A dark ruby tunic hung from his shoulders, bearing a deep vee’d neckline that revealed the smooth olive skin of his chest and a peek of his tattoo. He leaned against the wall next to her and his eyes caressed her once more as if his gaze had taken lewd form and stroked her from ankle to neck.
“You are used to getting your way,” he guessed. “I don’t fully understand what an aspect is, but it seems to command a level of reverence that we aren’t showing.”
“Aspects created deities. Surely you know what those are.”
He made a low impressed sound. “Interesting. So, at home, you are worshiped? Bowed down before?”
She looked away from his dark stare. “Not on hands and knees. Just… appreciated.”
“But you aren’t told what to do.” He took a deep breath and stepped in front of her so that his hands were on either side of the window and she was trapped between his arms. “You aren’t often disagreed with.”
“No,” she admitted.
Her heart raced. His body didn’t touch hers, but she wanted it to. Whatever he was doing, she was caught in curiosity. This wasn’t a threat, that much she could guess.
“Perhaps you’d be happier if you gave in a little. Became more yielding.”
“Allow myself to be pushed around?” she scoffed.
�
�Allow others to have a victory in order to find their place. You exude power. It’s a threat. We have to know where we stand.”
“Oh.” She furrowed her brow and looked over his shoulder. She hadn’t considered that her magic could feel like anything but a calming touch. Liam hadn’t said such a thing. “How?”
“I want to touch you,” Rask replied, ignoring her question. “Your scent is like a drug. Your skin hums and calls to me. Relaxes me but also stirs my dragon like he’s being called to battle.”
She fought a furious blush and avoided his eyes. Her anger was gone, replaced with lust rattling her blood like a prisoner in a cage. “But… that sounds like maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“I need to know my place with you,” Rask whispered. “I suspect it’s on top.”
Her jaw dropped, and he ran his thumb along her cheek.
“I think you’d like when I take control,” he continued. “Let me touch you.”
“You are touching me,” she said breathily.
His hand circled to the back of her head and massaged the nape of her neck, tilting her face towards his. His lips brushed hers.
“I want to touch more than what I can see,” he said simply.
No words could leave her suddenly dry throat, so she nodded.
He sucked her lower lip between his teeth and bit down while he growled. It wasn’t a fierce bite, just enough to make her gasp. She’d never liked it rough, or rather, she’d never had it that way. Something told her that Rask didn’t know how to be anything else, but she trusted him somehow, and she had to sate her curiosity.
He traced his tongue across her lip before fully kissing her. For a second, she compared his kiss to Liam’s, but only for a second. There was no reason to compare.
Rask growled as he conquered her mouth, his teeth scraping hers in what seemed to be a wild need to explore every inch of her. Fianni melted under his feral attack. If touching her bare skin calmed him, it didn’t show. She’d always wondered if being the embodiment of Harmony took the edge off lust, or if it was the men she’d picked.
“Stop thinking,” he whispered, pulling from their kiss. “I can practically hear little gears turning in there.”
She held her breath and nodded. Though spoken softly, his words felt like a command, and she wanted to obey.
With one hand still pressed to the glass beside her head, he leaned closer until his body was nearly flat against hers. Heat flooded her cheeks at the feel of him—hard and strong… and that was just his chest.
His free hand dragged slowly down from her neck to trace the side of her breast, and when she tried to look down to it, he clicked his tongue. The sound made her look up, then she was trapped in the endless black pool of his stare, somehow both empty and full of emotion.
Slow and careful, his fingers teased her, walking a path down the side of her body and hiking the fabric of her dress up as he went. Head resting against the window, she relaxed and focused on each touch.
His scent of smoke and oiled leather wafted from his nearness, and she immediately associated it with the way her skin trembled and her insides became liquid. She was wet for him, and he’d barely done anything.
He reached her mid-thigh and placed a gentle kiss on her lips before gripping the dress and yanking up.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Blinking at him, she shook her head slightly. “What?”
“Your heart is racing, singing to me. Tell me what you want.” His raspy voice landed like solid blows, stunning her, and just like that she’d realized she was dizzy from the feel of him.
She’d lusted before, but no one had ever done this. It was like she’d had too much wine. She was drunk off him.
“Touch me,” she purred.
“I am touching you.”
“Touch me there,” she insisted.
He arched a brow and gave her a cocky smirk that made her want to both throw something at him and tackle him to a bed. “Where? Say it. Beg for it.”
She whined. Beg for it? I’ve never begged for anything. She didn’t even know the first thing about doing so. Besides, she wasn’t going to say that. It was too dirty. Too embarrassing to say aloud. Some words were for thoughts only.
“If you can’t tell me what you want… I guess we’re done,” he said releasing his grip on her dress and allowing it to slide back down.
“But…”
He pushed himself away from the window and her, and the fog that had overcome her started to slip away. But she didn’t want it to go. She more than wanted him. She needed him, even if she didn’t understand why or where this raging desire came from.
“Please, t-touch my… pussy,” she mumbled.
His grin was wicked and added a sparkle to his dark eyes. Damn, he was hot. The perfect tall, dark, and dragon.
“Lift your dress for me and say it again.”
Fucking hell, this better be worth it. She shut her eyes and felt her cheeks flame to bright red as she pulled the bright dress up and whispered, “Please, Rask. Touch my pussy.”
He was on her seconds later, kissing her and stealing her ability to think. All she could do was feel, and everything felt amazing.
She’d pulled the knee-length dress up until it grazed her upper thighs and barely covered her, and his fingertips now grazed the bared skin. His rough fingers walked up and found her, the brief touch sending a hot bolt through her spine.
“Nothing underneath,” he commented. “I like that.”
The fae didn’t have the habit of wearing undergarments, at least not to the extent of humans. Part of Fianni’s brain wanted to ramble this fact off to him, for no apparent reason. Her usual thought process had been hijacked.
It didn’t matter, however. Rask bent over and licked her neck, his tongue making dizzying circles on her skin as his hand stroked and cupped her, teasing her wet folds. A single finger parted her slick petals before slipping inside her, and she cried out, a sound so raw with longing she blushed with embarrassment.
He hissed and nibbled her neck while he worked a second finger into her.
“I’ve been wanting to slip inside you from the moment I saw you,” he murmured against her skin. “I belong here.”
Oh, fuck, worth it, worth it, worth it. Fianni blinked through the spots in her vision from being under his spell and hoped that her internal chanting stayed internal. Though she had returned to leaning against the glass, her legs shook, and she didn’t want to fall.
She flattened one hand on his chest for stability even as he’d stepped closer, placing his legs on either side of one of hers. As his fingers pumped in and out, she writhed against him and succumbed to his attentive touches.
His other hand came up and cupped her breast, his thumb and forefinger pinching through the fabric to capture her pointed nipple. He had her completely trapped and to his will, and she began to whimper her pleasure under her breath.
“Do you like this?” he asked.
She wanted to ignore his question when the answer was so obvious, but she feared he’d torture her and leave if she didn’t give him what he wanted.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You’re so tight… I don’t know if you could handle me in there. But you want it, don’t you? Want to be fucked by a big, bad dragon?”
“Fuck, yes…”
“Mmm. I’d make a mess of this pussy… we all would. That’s what you really want. Don’t you want us all? Fucking you until you can’t walk, can’t move… can’t think.”
She bit her lip and her eyes opened to see him staring at her. He rubbed his nose against hers and twisted her nipple until she yelped.
“It’s okay.” His voice lowered to a growl and he spoke against her lips, so she could feel each word. “I like the thought of you choking on my cock while Liam stuffs your pussy and Arron takes that sweet ass.”
Fianni opened her mouth to reply, but whatever she meant to say disappeared and was replaced with the image of what he’d just sa
id. His thumb circled her clit and she gave up on trying to hold on to anything.
Pleasure burst through her, crashing through every limb and even rattling and crackling in her ears. Rask’s continued strokes against her inner walls produced feedback as if he strummed a lute, and she felt the vibrations carry through her blood.
He murmured her name and held her close as she shook and screamed and fell apart to a level of ecstasy she couldn’t control. Then at once, it was like icy water splashed her face, calming her and easing her down from an impossible high.
“Perfect,” he said with clear pride. He nuzzled against her hair and breathed deep, and the closeness shocked her, that he’d gone from aggressive to caring in mere seconds.
What they’d done and what he’d said came rushing to her, and now that she was no longer under the sweet cloud of lust, she felt nothing but sickening shame. A dark shadow came over her and she slipped out of Rask’s arms and ran from the room.
The door creaked open and Rask entered with a severe expression. Concern was tight around his eyes, and Fianni found it just as intimidating as if he were angry.
He lifted her from the floor where she’d collapsed. Her legs, still weak from her orgasm, had barely managed to carry her down the hall and into the first unlocked room. It was a library.
He sat on a plush couch with her cradled in his lap. She struggled but he held her firmly against his chest. He was a cage around her, and she curled up as if she could hide from him while in his embrace. After a moment she gave up slightly and rested her face in the crook of his neck, letting her tears wet his skin.
Fine. Let him be uncomfortable too.
“Fianni,” he said softly. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head, but he didn’t respond. Lifting her face, she replied, “No.”
“Why did you run?”
The pain in his voice made her heart sink. She unfurled from the ball she’d pulled herself into.
“I’m ashamed.”
He brushed the hair from where it stuck to her wet cheeks. “Why?”
She wanted to ask if he was serious, but he was. She took a deep breath to steady her voice. “That was…”