Rocor (Dragons of Kratak Book 5)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  She studied his features. What in the world did he mean? “Are you saying I can do what I want?”

  “What did you want when you came in here?”

  “I didn’t really think about it. I thought you would do what you want.”

  “Now you’re here, so you can do what you too.”

  Do what she wanted? What exactly did she want? No man ever told her to do that before. She always did what she thought she was supposed to do. She never even considered doing what she wanted. She never gave it a second thought.

  Now that she thought about it, there was one thing she really wanted to do more than anything else. Her heart skipped a beat. Could she really do it? What if she offended him somehow?

  One look into his eyes answered that question. She wouldn’t offend him, no matter what she did. Nothing she really wanted would bother him. He wanted her too. He wanted her to experience the pleasure of finding out what really pleased her.

  She smiled, and he smiled back. She sat up on the bed and swiveled her legs around. She rose above him, and he laid back on the pillows. He put his head on one side and relaxed into whatever was about to happen. He would accept it. He would enjoy it, whatever it was.

  She rested one hand on his broad chest. His ribs and sternum rose and fell with his breath. She examined the medallion on his buckler. She lifted the buckler out of the way. His shirt flopped open at the neck, and she slipped her hand inside.

  She caressed his bare chest under his shirt and watched the magical shapes rise out of his skin under her touch. They followed her hand. They swam around her fingers and swooped up his neck to cover his face. He breathed with them, and he shivered all over at that feather touch.

  She tugged his shirt out of his waistband and pushed it over his head. He sat up to peel it off and lay back in his place. Now she used two hands to stroke his chest, his stomach, his sides, up to his neck and under his arms. She studied those intoxicating designs until she fell into a dream world where they occupied the whole planet.

  They grew out of the ground. They wound together to form people and animals and mountains. They formed the whole planet and everything in it. That’s what the tapestries showed. That’s what all this artwork showed. The patterns were the original Krataks, maybe even the only Krataks, the only Krataks that mattered.

  When she tickled her fingers down his stomach, the patterns dove into his pants. Where would they end? How would they react when she touched him...down there? That was the real question. That was the hidden mystery she really wanted to find out. She never got a chance to see him when she did it with him in the dark. Now was her chance.

  She got up on her knees. He didn’t move. He showed no sign of surprise or confusion when she took hold of his pants to undo them. He expected it. He invited her to do what she wanted. He relaxed on the bed, but no one could mistake his relaxation for submission. He would never submit. He would always dominate. He told her what to do. He told her to do what she wanted, and now she did what he told her to do. She submitted to him in this, too.

  She unfastened his pants and slid them down his legs. The vines entwined around his legs. They moved up and down his legs at the same time. They emerged from the soles of his feet to push him up against the force of gravity. At the same time, they plunged past his feet to anchor him to the planet.

  She traced them, and they responded to her touch. She communicated with those shapes and designs through her fingers. They existed in a world of their own simultaneously with this world where she watched them and thought about them and reached out to them.

  Rocor sucking his breath through his teeth caught her attention. She looked up at his face. He glared down at her with his teeth bared, and a mask of hideous anguish blotted out his face. Racking tension tormented his body, but he lay still and didn’t move. He clenched his jaw and wheezed through his teeth.

  She dallied her fingertips down his legs and watched the torturous shudders quake his body. His midsection contracted, and his muscles strained. Did she do that? Did her touch really affect him so much?

  She went back to watching the patterns. They fascinated her, now more than ever, now that she understood them. She learned from them. She learned what Rocor and the other Krataks really were. This was her scientific investigation.

  The foliage wound up his legs, around his hips and down to his stiff cock. They arched over it in prickly spines. They sank their wicked thorns into his skin and infected his veins with their roots. They dove between his legs and around to grip his ass.

  She followed them there, too. She copied them until she closed his throbbing meat in both hands. She moved up and back and around and squeezed the blood from his veins.

  His ragged voice broke in on her reverie. “Don’t! God, don’t!”

  She peered up at him. “Don’t? Why not? Does it hurt.”

  He groaned and twisted onto his side. “Oh, God! It hurts so much.”

  She started to let go. She didn’t want to hurt him, but he caught her wrists and held her still. He moaned and growled under his breath. He contorted on his side, but he kept her hands in place on his cock. He doubled over in the fetal position.

  She didn’t know what to do. She only knew she had to make him better. She had to heal the hurt she caused. She bent down to kiss him, and she knew what she had to do. She took him in her mouth. He groaned and sobbed worse than ever, but she wouldn’t stop. She had to get those patterns into herself. She had to soothe him.

  He fought her wrists away so she couldn’t touch him, but he couldn’t hold every part of her at once. She moved her head up and down in her own rhythm. She sucked and licked. If only she could see those patterns from here, she would know what she had to do. She could only trust to her instincts.

  He whimpered low. “Oh, God. Oh, God, no.”

  That no meant yes. She understood that now. He wanted it so bad he didn’t want it. She took his thick member in her mouth. She swallowed him all the way down. His iron muscles spasmed him in half, but he didn’t pull away. His hands melted off her wrists, and she took the invitation.

  She took hold of him around the waist and wrestled him against her. She squirmed between his legs and sucked for all she was worth. His breath came harder and louder, but he didn’t fight her off. She had him. She was doing something to please him. That’s all she really wanted.

  She forced him onto his back. His cock stuck straight up into her mouth. She coated it with her saliva and his own salty jiz. She sucked faster, and his breath caught in his throat. He kept whispering. “Oh, God. No, God, please.”

  She grasped his cock around the base. She clenched it off until the veins distended around her fingers. She tugged the loose skin up in time to her strokes.

  He caught her behind the neck and pried her off. He gasped low. “No! Don't!”

  She stared at him. Don’t? Why not? What should she do if not that? He told her to do what she wanted, and now he told her no. She couldn't get figure out what to do next. He relaxed back into the bed, and the tension eased out of him. Only his cock lay stiff and tense where she left it.

  What more could she do? What exactly did she really want to do with him now? She had a dominant man spread out naked before her. She could do anything she wanted with him. A thousand possibilities jeered and cheered in her mind. She could do any of them, and all of them pleasant.

  She had one more thing to investigate, though. Her scientific study wouldn't be complete without this one small detail. She caressed him up and down, but he didn't rise to the same tension as before. He lay still and waited for her. He already know what came next.

  She shucked off her clothes. Those clothes made her what she was. They made her Jasmine Forsythe, biologist, Commanding Officer. Once they were gone, she became wild and free. She became just as animal and guttural and unchained as Rocor himself.

  Her hair brushed her shoulders. She shook her head, and her eyes gleamed when he looked up at her. She knew what she wanted, and nothing wou
ld stop her getting it—especially not him.

  She leaned over him, and her breasts trailed over his chest. The patterns surrounded them. They tingled around her nipples. Rocor choked at the delicate touch. She swooped up and back. She danced her nipples down to his belly.

  He set both hands on her shoulders. She covered his chest and arms. She kissed him all over with her breasts and observed the moving, seething response. She glided all the way up to his mouth, and she fell between his lips.

  The patterns engulfed his mouth, his eyes. They emerged from his chest with his breath. She watched them sparkle on his lips and cheeks where her pendulous flesh brushed him.

  He lifted them in his hands to position them where he wanted them. The patterns rolled down his hands to his fingertips and around his arms. He clasped her against him.

  Her breath came faster. His teeth dug into her nipples, and excited agony gushed down her belly to her cunt. Her juices saturated her tissues. She had only one more thing to do, only one more experiment to make, and she would be complete. She took hold of his blistering cock, guided it between her legs, and sat down.

  14. Chapter 13

  Jasmine woke early, but she didn't open her eyes. She curled into the warmth of Rocor behind her. His arms closed around her in sleep. He let out a deep breath, and his prick swelled between her butt cheeks.

  Her eyes ached from staying awake another night, but she couldn't go back to sleep. What would this day bring? He would wake up hard the way he always did. He would take her again. Then he would leave. She would go to work supervising her team and he would...do something.

  He nuzzled into her neck and she leaned back into his arms. Not all the doubts in the world could stop her responding to him. She hated to admit it to herself, but it wasn't all about sex, either.

  She rolled over to face him, and she lifted her mouth to kiss him. She breathed his earthy scent into her nostrils. “What are you doing today?”

  Her eyes snapped open. “Work, I guess. What about you?”

  “Work, too. I'm going to the armory.”

  She closed her eyes tight against that. She couldn't get dragged into another argument. She never wanted to hear the word ‘armory’ again as long as she lived.

  He didn’t try to kiss her again. He just held her while she kept still. What was the use of trying to get close to him when she couldn’t get close to him? He showed no sign of being interested in her beyond the bedroom.

  She sat up and pushed the coverlet away. She pulled on her clothes, but he didn’t move. Maybe he went back to sleep. She wouldn’t waste her time wishing he would call her back, or ask her what was bothering her, or even ask if they could meet later in the day. He wouldn’t do any of that. He would let her go about her business. He wouldn’t give her a second thought until he got ready to take her again.

  Her heart weighed a ton. She hated this part of their encounters, the part where she looked his indifference square in the face. She couldn’t avoid it. Why did she even want him to be interested? Why did she want him to care when she didn’t care herself?

  Did she care? Why did she get so upset about this if she didn’t care? Was he just a good lay to her? How could he be anything else?

  She got completely dressed and headed for the door before he said anything. “Wait, Jasmine. I’ll come with you.”

  She didn’t look at him while he got dressed. The sight of his body made her too sad. She couldn’t admire him and desire him at times like these. She hated her own desire for him.

  They left the room without a word. She didn’t even bother to check if any of her teammates saw him coming out of her room. Who cared? Who cared about any of it? She wanted this whole sordid mess to be over so she could forget it.

  They walked side by side to the hall. They didn’t talk or hold hands. They might as well be strangers. The rest of the team sat at the long table with the Assans. Sophia and Abigail scooted aside to make room for Jasmine. Rocor sat down a few seats away.

  Jasmine helped herself to the food, and Sophia spoke up. “Hey, Jas. I was going to ask you if you want to take a hike outside later today. I want to make a map of the whole Keep complex, and you’ve been outside more than any of us. Maybe you can show me around.”

  “I’m always happy to go outside,” Jasmine replied. “I can show you where I’ve been, but maybe we should take Freya with us. She can tell you a lot more than I can.”

  “I won’t be able to show you around,” Freya put in. “I’m leaving later.”

  Jasmine’s head shot up. “You’re leaving! Where are you going?”

  Freya swept the table with a fierce gaze and raised her voice for all to hear. “I’ve decided to go see the Ulasso. I’m going to travel to their desert, and I’m leaving later today.”

  Rocor whipped around to stare at her. “You can’t do that!”

  Freya stood her ground. “Watch me. Jasmine says we should make peace with the Ulasso, and I agree with her.”

  Callan surged out of his seat. “You can’t make an overture to the Ulasso without the consent of the whole Clan. They’ll shoot you on sight. They’ll kill you before you get anywhere close to their territory.”

  “I doubt that,” Freya replied. “None of us has ventured there in centuries except in war. One individual won’t threaten them enough to cause them to attack. They’ll wait to see what I’m coming for, and when they find out, we’ll all be better off.”

  “You are not going to the Ulasso,” Rocor snapped. “I forbid it.”

  Freya rounded on him with her mouth contorted in a sneer. “You’re not patriarch—not yet. Not one man here has the authority to forbid me to go.”

  “Then we’ll get Father to forbid it,” Callan replied. “He’s not so sick he doesn’t understand the need to protect ourselves.”

  “You are protecting yourselves. I’m the only one who’s taking a risk. It’s my life, and I’ll risk it where I please. If I succeed, we won’t need to fight the Ulasso or the Allies. We’ll have all the defenses we need.”

  Sophia whispered to Jasmine. “What’s she talking about?”

  Jasmine replied in a regular voice. Why should she keep it a secret any longer? “The Ulasso have advanced technology and a huge population. They have the ability to defend this planet from any incursion the Allies care to make.”

  “If they make an incursion,” Ron countered.

  “Whether they make an incursion or not,” Freya replied, “we’ll be in a much better position with the Ulasso behind us than against us. We don’t have the resources to fight everybody, and we have no reason to fight our own people when we have bigger threats to worry about.”

  “How will you get there?” Sophia asked. “Isn’t their desert hundreds of miles away?”

  “I’ll fly there,” Freya replied.

  Every eye at the table snapped to her face. Everyone stared at her in shock. No one was more surprised than Jasmine. “Fly there!” Abigail burst out in hysterical laughter. “How will you do that? You can’t flap your wings and fly there.”

  The girls twittered. The rest of the team suppressed giggles. The Assan brothers gaped at their sister.

  Freya threw back her head. She shook her hair back, and her eyes flashed over the company. She took a few rapid steps backward to stand clear of the table. Then she reared back. She threw her arms out at both sides. She arched her head back on her neck. In full view of everybody, she changed into an enormous brilliant green dragon. Freya spread her wings so wide they scraped the walls on either side.

  The girls screamed. Abigail started away from the table and upset the bench on which she and the girls sat. The four of them scrambled away as fast as they could. Ron jumped to his feet. He grasped his wife around the shoulders and moved her away to protect her.

  Rex snatched a knife off the table and brandished it toward the dragon. Dana’s hands flew up, and she overturned a cup across the platters of food. She cried out once, “What the...?”

  As fast as she
changed, Freya collapsed in on herself and once again took the form of a woman. She cast her ferocious gaze around the table. The company stared at her with their mouths open. Warku gasped under his breath. “Freya! What are you doing?”

  Freya came back to the table. She held her chin high. “The people of this planet are dragons. We can change into dragons and back again at will. They,” she aimed an accusing finger at her brothers. “They decided to keep the fact hidden from you in case they ever needed to fight the Allies.”

  The team exchanged glances, all except Jasmine. She couldn’t take her eyes off this tall, proud woman.

  Callan chopped the air with his hand. “Do you realize what you’ve done? Are you trying to destroy the rest of us along with yourself?”

  Rocor pointed at Gao. “Take her down to the basement. We’ll make sure she never sees the light of day again.”

  Gao rose from his seat, but Warku interrupted. “What if she’s right? What if we could make the Ulasso our allies instead of planning an assault against them?”

  “Are you insane?” Rocor shot back. “We have to retaliate against her for destroying our last advantage. We have to set an example for others who might betray us to the Allies later.”

  “You won’t touch me,” Freya replied. “I’ll tear anybody who comes near me to pieces.” She fixed her eyes on Rocor. “What about you, Rocor? Why don’t you take me down to the basement yourself instead of ordering Gao to do it? No? I thought not. There’s not a man here who dares lay a finger on me.”

  The girls wept in their mother’s arms. “What’s happening? Dear God, what’s happening?”

  Ron guided his wife and daughters out of the room. “Come on, darlings. We don’t want to be anywhere near this.”

  No one else seemed to notice. Dana and Sophia sat glued to their benches. Rex hadn’t lowered his knife, but continued to aim it in Freya’s direction. A silly grin spread across Jasmine’s face. Someone was finally standing up to these idiotic men. Someone was finally paying attention and making decisions to move this Clan forward instead of wallowing in primitive arguments.