The fear for his life shining in her eyes mirrored the desire pounding through him. At once the animal within him roared to life. Predatory need stalked through him with such alacrity, even he didn’t know when it would pounce and consume them both.
The mere notion the scroll Doc had translated could be real, what it foretold could actually come to pass, made spending another moment alone, without who and what he wanted, seem like the most foolish thing in the world.
The way the warrior looked at her, his smoky eyes dark and consuming and completely focused on her. It made her forget why she’d come down here. Awoke parts of her she’d never known existed until now. A surge of feminine allure flooded her senses, nearly stealing her breath before it settled over her like a net, becoming part of her. A low throb pulsed in her sex. The overwhelming need to feel something inside her, moving inside her, laying claim to her became a palpable, tangible thing.
He sensed it. He must have. His eyes darkened by degrees, the solid black of his iris eating up the silver until it was all she could see.
When he took a step forward, Sparrow instinctively shuffled back. However, the cold and unyielding expanse of the wood desk behind her dug in to her hip. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. He stepped again, his eyes blazing hunger, their focus never wavering from her face. The scent of him enveloped her, musk, man and power. Unbidden and salacious visions of them, bodies entwined, his scent marking her skin, flashed in her mind. She gasped, unsure if they were his emotions or her own.
In that instant she knew what she not only had to, but what she wanted to do. Part of her rational mind branded her a fool for even thinking it. The other lauded her as a genius. Sparrow decided the reality hovered somewhere in the middle. Yet even she couldn’t deny the truth of her plan. If she kept him occupied, kept him here, with her, tonight.
In that bed.
Then he couldn’t fight and possibly be killed.
Slowly her fingers moved to the collar of her white coat. As she tugged it over her shoulders and down her arms, the sound of her heart jackhammering in her chest filled her ears. The fabric hit the ground, pooling at her feet. Although she still wore a button-down blouse and skirt, she felt utterly and completely exposed.
He stilled. “Doc, what are you…”
“Don’t.” She stepped up, closing the distance between them. So close, her skirt brushed his leg. She reached out, her hands closing around his sinewy biceps, pulling him closer. He came willingly, his chest brushing against hers in a featherlight caress. At the contact, the steady ache he’d wedged inside her grew at a frenzied pace until it seemed her entire body vibrated.
Gods, she needed something. Needed him to press his body against hers, to put those heavy arms around her. Just once.
What the hell was wrong with her? She should be angry, scared, worried, anything but riddled with the intense desire to mate. Yet the need for him saturated every pore, rippling out to him in a silent plea. One she had the distinct impression he heard loud and clear.
A warm hand cupped her cheek, forceful, yet tender. Demanding, yet imploring. Sparrow sank into his embrace. For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted this. Wanted to be his.
“Just…please,” she said on an exhale, her fingers circling his wrist. Slowly she steered his hand down her neck, guiding it over her hammering pulse. Lower until, warm and strong, his hand closed around her breast. Her nipples tightened, jutting into his palm. Pure unadulterated heat settled hard and heavy in her core.
“Gods.” He sighed, his fingers cupping her gently. “Please what?”
She whimpered, unable to say aloud what she needed. A large hand framed half her face, his thumb smoothing over her lips.
“You’re so delicate,” he murmured. “Beautiful.”
Sparrow blinked up at him, a shiver passing through her body at the sight of him, tall, hard and gorgeous in front of her. Everything in her screamed to lay him down, straddle his thighs and quench the unbearable thirst causing a drought through her body.
“What’s happening to me?” she asked, although she already had a pretty good idea. She might be untouched, but she knew the lore. Knew how intense dragon matings could be.
At her question, he stiffened, his demeanor shifting, as if she’d dumped a bucket of ice water on him. “I should go,” he murmured.
She smiled. “But you live here.”
“We have preparations to make for tonight.” When he tried to edge around her, Sparrow stopped him.
“Kestrel.”
She stated his name like a reproach, and yet to hear it on her lips sent a comforting but tension-filled shiver through him. It took a moment for Kestrel to notice her hands were still grasping him, sliding back and forth in a sensual, exploring glide. Took him a moment to realize she no longer tended his wounds. Her hands were on him of their own will.
Clenching his jaw, he dared a glance at her and the sight made his mouth go dry. For the first time she kept and held direct eye contact with him. Emanated the strength and confidence he’d always known she possessed.
Kestrel swallowed. Hard.
The line he’d so carefully drawn in the sand to separate them wavered and blurred as lust and admiration swelled. He forced the tides back. Knowing she could read him, sense his every thought. However, the more time he spent with her, the harder it became to temper his emotions.
“What?” he finally asked.
“Please don’t go. Stay with me tonight instead.”
Her plea nearly undid him. His anger caught and flared. Reaching out, he fisted her upper arms, holding her tight, but not hard. “Doc, you don’t know what you’re asking of me,” he grated. “You come in here looking, smelling and acting like that and expect me to ease you into lovemaking?” Kestrel looked her up and down—her flushed face, wide big eyes and pouting lips—and felt the animal in him scream to claim her. “Innocent or no, you have to know how violent and aggressive dragon mating can be?” he said in warning.
Gods help him, she smiled.
Chapter Seven
“Then let me lead,” she replied, unsure if she channeled his emotions, tapped into her own or a combination of the two. Never had she acted so brazen, felt such pumping need before. She held her breath and waited for what he might say.
No words came.
Instead, his mouth came down, hot and heavy and hungry, on hers.
Sparrow sighed as Kestrel’s hot tongue slid between her lips. The tips of her nipples puckered, tightening to sensitive peaks. Every ounce of blood in her body heated and warmed, gushing through her veins in a blistering stream straight to her core. The ache between her legs intensified until it almost had her whimpering aloud.
Rising on tiptoe, she brought her hands to his face. The urgency of his kiss, his touch pulsed through her. Her heart quickened, fluttering like wings in her rib cage, mirroring the need in her desire to break free.
Hands palmed her ass, ripping a startled gasp from her lips. One slid to her leg, the width of his palm eating up her thigh as he hitched her knee to his hip. The fabric of her skirt peeled back, revealing more skin for him to peruse. However, he simply tugged her up, clasping her tight in his arms.
Sensitive and heavy, her breasts crushed against his hard chest, her legs wound around his waist. His thick shaft stood like a wall between them. Sliding her tongue against his, she ground herself against it.
Kestrel moaned in her mouth. Then he spun her, dropping her on her back atop his bed and collapsing above her. Propping himself up on an elbow, his long hair tumbling against her fevered skin, he smiled down at her with a sexy grin that melted her heart. Slowly his fingertips traced the line of her nose, around her eyes, her lips and neck before his lips followed the trail his hand made.
“I’ve wanted to do this since you healed me,” he murmured against her neck, his teeth playfully nipping and his lips lightly suckling.
Sparrow smiled. “I thought you said you didn’t remember anything from that nigh
t?”
He lifted his head briefly, a wicked glint in his hooded eyes before he dipped back down. “I lied,” he breathed in her ear.
Hungry, his open mouth brushed along the column of her throat, tasting each new morsel of skin he uncovered until she lay beneath him naked, breathless and aching. The moment his lips touched hers again, Sparrow instantly rolled, flipping them so she sat astride him. Although part of her brain told her it was to avoid any problems with his new leg, deeper down, she liked being in control, feeling the power for once.
Flattening her palms, she glided them over his contoured shoulders, down his sides. His massive body shuddered, and a strained growl vibrated in his throat. When her fingertips brushed the top of his sex, he broke the kiss.
“Are you certain?” he panted. “We can still stop.”
Sparrow cocked a brow at him, feeling a playful smile tug her lips. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Gods, no,” he replied, kicking his head back when she palmed the hard length of him again. She was a healer, she knew the specifics, knew what to expect. However, Sparrow hadn’t taken into account her own desire. Her own need. It vibrated from the inside out, demanding, hungry and seductive. The emotions overpowered her like a drug, shooting adrenaline and lust into her veins and casting any doubts or worries to the wind.
“Sparrow.” Kestrel uttered her name in a strained groan, rocking his hips into her hand, pressing himself against her. Driving need knotted her core, another flood of moisture pooling between her thighs, preparing herself for him.
And she was ready.
Positioning him upward toward her heat, Sparrow straddled his thighs and sank down a fraction of an inch. She gasped when the head of his shaft kissed her entrance. A blissful flutter quivered through her, setting liquid fire pooling in her core. Smiling in anticipation, she sank down farther, marveling in the feel of him filling her, stretching her. Large hands gripped her hips, stopping her descent.
“Go slowly,” he breathed.
Sparrow didn’t listen. It felt too good. She pressed further and again his fingers bit into the flesh of her hips, trying to stop her.
“Slowly…” he ground out the word.
Instead, she gave into the pleasure and thrust down hard. The soft flesh of her buttocks pressed against the hair of his thighs. A burning sting ripped through the lower half of her body. She winced. Her body stiffened.
“Sparrow, Sparrow,” Kestrel repeated, sitting up to wrap his arms around her back. At the movement, she sucked in a breath, her small body shuddering in his arms.
Muttering a curse, Kestrel rolled her beneath him, lifting her legs to relieve as much pressure as he could.
“Don’t move, Doc. Stay still. Breathe. Feel me.” He smoothed the hair from her face with one hand, bracing himself above her with the other.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting…”
“It’s all right.” He started to ease out of her heat. The hands on his shoulders tightened.
“Don’t leave me.”
He stilled his hips, leaning over instead to kiss her temple, her closed eyelids, her cheek, behind her ear. “All right,” he whispered into one. “I won’t move.”
Sparrow looked up at him and felt a frown tug her brow. Although he said it with a smile, the shakiness of his voice and sweat beading on his brow gave him away. She didn’t need to be an empath to know the blissful torture he suffered. She herself felt caught between acute pleasure and acute pain, and just needed her body to decide, one way or another.
Closing her eyes, she guided her mind, all her thoughts to the pleasure she’d experienced before. Focused every bit of her body and soul on Kestrel, what he desired, what he felt right now. A jolt of heat shot through her, so quick and unexpected her breath caught. Languid and thick, a pool of warmth settled deep within her belly in its wake.
She gripped Kestrel’s biceps, aroused to feel how much he loved the warm glove of her body wrapped tight around him. To fully understand how hard it was for him not to piston his hips in and out of her with the animalistic force he’d tried to warn her about. To feel exactly how bad he wanted, no needed, release and yet held back for her.
Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she dug her heels into the bedding. Tentative and slow, she shifted her hips, rolling them into his. A zing of pleasure shot up her spine as she eased his length almost all the way out of her. She gasped at the sensation as Kestrel groaned in her ear. A shudder racked his powerful arms. Again Sparrow tipped her pelvis, taking him deeper inside her before sinking back down.
“Damnation.”
At Kestrel’s low spoken words, Sparrow opened her eyes. His were pinched tight. Sweat rolled down his nose, dropping on her chest. His entire body shook, but still he did not move. Sparrow smiled, emotion tightening her throat. The ice that had frozen her body before melted. The fire he’d ignited deep in her core, in her very soul came flooding back.
“Kestrel?”
“Yeah,” he said on an exhale, his eyes still closed.
I love you.
“Can I get back on top now?”
She spoke and thought at the same time.
His eyes flew wide. “Are you sure?”
Sparrow twined her legs around his waist, rolling him on his side. “More sure than I’ve ever been of anything.”
Kestrel released a shaky laugh and fell to his back. His lips were still curved in a grin when he brought them up to hers, kissing her softly. “You. You are amazing.” A hand splayed on her cheek, caressing the softness of her skin. He felt the awe on his face, knowing it lay unmasked for her to see.
Everything in his dragon senses yearned to dominate her, roll her over and pound into her hard and fast. He wanted to lay an undeniable and earth-shattering claim to her body and soul. Yet fear of hurting her reigned in the beast. And another emotion he hadn’t had the guts to name until now made him want to be the man he saw in her eyes. Made him want to believe he could be that man, if only for one night. However, when he looked up at the woman above him, all of that faded into oblivion. All he saw was her. All he felt was her. Her tight, warm walls hugged him, gloved him and fastened him to her.
“I love you, too.”
Slowly, gingerly he pivoted his hips, wedging himself deeper inside her heat. Her head tipped back, her body bowing into his. After he took the lead with a few tips and thrusts of his pelvis, she found her rhythm above him. The smooth glide of her skin on his, the friction burning between his thighs and the sweet scent of their lovemaking overwhelmed him. She gasped, the fingers on his chest curling into his pecs. Steady contractions began pulsing around his shaft. The feel of her, warm and tight, sent him reeling. But he checked his own desire and need. He knew she was close. He wanted to wring every drop of passion from her.
Tightening his abs, he curled up to sit, wrapping his arms around her. Fingers skated down the small of his back and up to his shoulders. Pulling her down, he rocked his hips forward, burying himself deeper inside her than he’d ever been.
“Kestrel,” she half sobbed, half screamed.
“Yes.” He urged her on. “Come with me, Sparrow,” he whispered in her ear before taking the shell in his mouth. A breathy sigh escaped her. When he drove into her again, thrusting deep and hard, a harsh cry flew from her lips and she melted around him. Her nails bit into his flesh, her teeth grazing the apple of his shoulder. Both too lightly to leave marks, which he realized he kind of regretted. He wanted a physical reminder of her climax. Wanted her to mark him, as he did her. Wanted to visually bear signs of her ownership like a brand for all to see.
A tremble shot up his back, his muscles tensing, and then all thought fled as he fell into the void with her.
The moment consciousness tickled her senses, a smile spread across Sparrow’s lips. She flipped to her back, her limbs splayed on the bed as she pulled them in a long, taut stretch. A low burn twinged between her thighs and a few muscles groaned in protest at the move.
“Mmm,�
� she hummed, stretching her arm to the side. However, her smile faded when she encountered what seemed like mile after mile of cold sheets where Kestrel had lain.
Sparrow jackknifed upright. Her heart screaming the truth she didn’t want to believe.
“Oh, no.” A blade twisted in her heart, rendering her nearly immobile.
Nearly.
Chapter Eight
Inky darkness closed around Kestrel fast and thick. Its ominous presence more evil than the vampires about to descend upon him. Kestrel put his back to the sheer cliff wall, ensuring at least one side of him would be guarded. He had no one else to do it for him. On impulse, he’d ordered the legion to move ahead with their rescue and recover mission, while he attempted to find the crystal Doc had mentioned.
That was two silver bullets to the gut ago.
Damnation! He cursed, grimacing as another stab of white-hot pain lanced through him. The silver pumping through his bloodstream made flying out of here nearly impossible. Not that he was sure he could shift anyway. He’d yet to try.
Setting his jaw, he unsheathed his sword and readied for the impending fight. Although he couldn’t see them, he sensed them. The constant ocean breeze carried their scent on the wind.
Horde. Surrounding him fast.
As if the thought fathered reality, a loud thud vibrated the earth behind him. Kestrel spun low, coming eye level with a pair of combat boots. Before he could react, the heel of one crashed against his jaw, launching him backward. Kestrel flipped, and his chin kicked the ground hard, catching his fall. His chest slammed against the earth, knocking the wind out of him.
Kestrel sucked in a breath, trying to find a sliver of stability in this total chaos. Instead, what he saw across the ravine sent his world into turmoil. More horde soldiers spilled over the nearest cliff a couple hundred feet away. From what he could see, each one of them was armed, from guns to deadly silver spears, and they looked prepared to use all of them.
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