by Tara Starr
By the time the meeting is over, I’m pretty sure that Logan isn’t at the hot springs anymore. I pass a page and ask him if he’s seen Logan and he informs me that he saw the former commander enter the meditation room. It’s odd hearing someone refer to him as a former commander.
Logan had the potential of becoming a general like myself. He would have been in charge of his own strike force. I would have been proud to fly into battle with him. Had he been in Las Vegas, maybe things would have been different.
I push that crazy thought away as I make my way to the meditation room. I don’t think anything would have changed the outcome of that fight, with or without Logan there. We were caught unawares, and I refuse for that to happen again.
As I open the door to the room, a plume of icy smoke curls out onto the floor at my feet. The room is like an ice box when normally it’s kept at a comfortably warm temperature to relax the mind in order to enter a meditative state faster. This is highly unusual.
“Logan?” I call out as I enter, already shivering from the extreme cold even while in my fighting leathers.
A blue pulsating light comes from the floor. The room is dim enough that I have to squint in order to see what’s ahead of me. Once my eyes adjust, I see a body on the floor.
“Logan!” I run to him and drop to my knees.
He is lying face down with his arm outstretched. He’s in his bathing robe. The pulsing blue light is emanating from him.
I touch his back and have to pull my hand away. The cold is coming from him. Gritting my teeth, I hold him and turn him around so that he is face up.
His eyes are open, but it isn’t his eyes. I see his dragon there, fighting to get out. His robe opens slightly and at the sides of his ribcage are scales slowly covering his entire torso.
“Logan,” I call to him again. “Logan, I need you to wake up.”
No response.
If he loses control of his dragon and he shifts here, it will be even more difficult to call him back. His dragon will be in full control of his mind. That can put all of us in danger, and if that happens, we might be forced to put him down. I cannot have that.
I lift my palm and bring it down, striking his cheek as hard as I can. He gasps awake. He clutches at the side of my leather chest plate.
“Help,” he says in a raspy voice. “He’s fighting me.”
I’ve seen this before. It’s an overdose of the power that emanates from the heart of Verglas. Dragons who have neglected their beasts become addicted to the power and take in too much. Sometimes, they aren’t even aware that they are doing it.
Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, I grab hold of his waist and lift. In one heave, we’re standing. Well, more like I’m standing and he’s leaning hard against me.
I half-carry him out of the meditation room. Right at that moment, several of my commanders happen to be passing by. I shout orders at them to help me bring him to the nearest ledge.
Two of them spring into action and stand on either side of Logan. They understand what’s happening and what needs to happen next. I inform the other commander to tell my parents I will be flying Logan back to LA. He nods and turns on his heel.
As he leaves to do my bidding, we hurry to the nearest ledge. I’ve already called to my dragon once we are there. The commanders strap Logan to my back.
Without another word, I take off and fly toward LA. As I pass the foothills, I inform Basil of where I’m going. I tell him that I will be checking on him periodically until I return. He confirms my instructions and tells me to stay safe.
The further away we get from the mountain the better Logan begins to feel. By the time we reach his home in LA, he’s already sitting astride my back and breathing in the smoggy air. We land and he undoes the straps. Once he hops down, I shed my dragon and give him a once over.
The scales that were fighting to take over his body were gone. His eyes have also returned to their usual pale green. He shakes his head and grins.
“Thanks for your help,” he says. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”
“You don’t have to thank me. What I want you to do is take me to work,” I reply. “Show me your books.”
“Come on then.” He leads me into his house. “Let me just change into something more comfortable.”
By more comfortable, he actually meant a three-piece suit. Within an hour, we’re at his home office and he’s showing me the numbers. Once in a while I give him a discrete glance.
“I’m fine,” he finally says, apparently catching on that I’ve been checking on him. “My dragon’s finally given back control.”
“Good.” Then I point at the numbers. “I think we can get cash flow moving again if we move a few of these assets around.”
“That’s assuming that the market will be good to us in the next few days.” He studies what I’ve been indicating.
“Here are some weak points in the fire clan’s businesses. If we apply targeted smear campaigns, I think we can win back the support of the shareholders.”
“You make a shrewd businesswoman.” He crosses his arms and looks at me, impressed. “I think you’re wasting your talents on the frontlines. You should come here and work with me. Together we can build an empire.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
“Go make some calls while I take a shower and a nap. I’ve been flying all night just to get you here.”
“The shower is down the hall to your left. I’ll have some clothes brought in for you and some food. What do you feel like eating?”
“Can you order some steak? I’m feeling carnivorous today.”
He winks at me. “Coming right up.”
I ignore what that wink and smile combination does to my insides. The butterflies that have lane dormant in me have begun to flutter. I make my way to the shower and shed my clothing.
The second the hot water washes over my tired muscles, I groan. I feel the tension drain out of me. Seeing Logan fighting his dragon like that was one of the scariest things I’ve seen in my life. Scarier than being in battle.
Twenty-Two
Logan
The food arrives just as Ivy finishes her shower. I catch a glimpse of her in the cornflower blue dress that I left on a table just outside the bathroom for her as I head to the front door to pick up the food. When we were younger, I was attracted to her, sure. Who wouldn’t be?
In recent years, especially when we were on opposite sides of the ideology of how we should handle the fire clan, that attraction turned to hate. I believe the feeling was mutual based on the screaming matches we got into. But I think we’ve come to a comfortable understanding with one another.
She’s finally seeing the benefits of the businesses I’ve established. Even giving valuable impute, which I relayed to my assistant and all my business managers and partners. They’re all taking steps to put our plans into action.
I can’t believe we’re actually seeing eye to eye on this. It sends a warm, happy feeling to my chest that I hadn’t experiences in years. Not since I was her second in command in Strike Force Alpha.
I open the front door to see the delivery guy standing there with two huge bags of food. He hands me the delivery receipt, which I sign. He waits patiently as I look over the list of items I ordered.
“Having a party?” he asks.
“Something like that,” I say.
What he doesn’t know is how much dragons actually eat. Since Ivy expressed her hunger, I’m pretty sure she will not be satisfied with just steak. So, I ordered pretty much everything on the menu. She’s not the only one eating, after all.
I hand back the receipt and give the guy a huge tip for his trouble. He thanks me and hands over the two bags. I turn around and close the door with my hip.
“Is that the food?” Ivy asks from the kitchen. “I’m starving.”
“There’s wine in the—” I cut myself off since Ivy is already pou
ring a couple of glasses for us.
She’s standing by the counter, barefoot. My eyes travel from her feet up to her long legs. Half of which disappears beneath the skirt of the dress. I don’t mind. She still looks helluva sexy from where I’m standing.
“What are you looking at?” she asks, bringing the glass to her lips.
I swallow, watching her take a sip of the red she has chosen to go with the abundance of meat inside one of the bags in my hands. “That dress looks good on you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Is this your idea of being comfortable?” She lifts the skirt slightly, giving me a glimpse of thigh, then drops it. “I will admit that it’s cute, though. Don’t you dare tell my troops that I was wearing a dress or I will knee you in the balls.”
I raise my hands holding the bags and say, “I promise on the heart of Verglas that I will not tell anyone about you being in a dress tonight.”
“Good.” She nods. “Now, feed me before I’m forced to go hunting.”
“At your service.”
I place the bags on the counter. We begin removing the plastic to-go containers and transferring the food over to plates that Ivy has found. She’s been busy familiarizing herself with my kitchen. I can’t believe how much I like that.
Since the dinning table is much too big for the both of us, we set the breakfast nook instead. It’s by a large window with a gorgeous view of LA at night. As soon as Ivy takes a seat, she brings up a forkful of cubed steak to her mouth and moans. Her eyes practically roll to the back of her head.
“This is so good!” she declares.
“It’s the best Japanese Wagyu in town. I thought you’d like it.”
“I more than like it. I want to make love to the cow that produced this meat.”
I chuckle. “That might be tough considering we’re currently eating said cow.”
“You know what I mean.” She takes an asparagus stalk and bites it in half.
Why does everything she do in this moment look erotic to me? She’s just eating for crying out loud. But every time my eyes go to her lips, I’m reminded of that day we found ourselves kissing on that field. Suddenly, I find myself hungry for more than just meat.
“Didn’t we use to be a great team?” she asks when she finally slows down in her eating.
“We are a great team if today is any indication,” I say, bringing a bite of the creamiest mashed potatoes I’ve ever tasted into my mouth. “My business managers are actually quite impressed with your business acumen. Hell, I’m impressed with you.”
She looks thoughtful. I expected her to acknowledge my compliment, instead she gets a faraway look on her face. I wait for her to think things through.
“But when did we start hating each other?” she asks when her thought process finally finishes.
I shrug. “I don’t think it’s ‘hate’ necessarily.”
She gives me a pointed look.
“Okay, fine, we hated each other,” I concede. “But I don’t think it’s personal. I think it’s more because we were on opposite sides of the same fight.”
“I see that now.” She drops her gaze. “I’m sorry that I was such a bitch about this whole thing. If I were more flexible about this issue, I think we would have done great instead of being in this shit show.”
I take her hand and place a kiss on the center of her palm. “I don’t think it’s a shit show,” I whisper against her skin. “We can still get out of this.”
She pushes her plate aside and stands from her chair. She comes over to me and straddles my lap. She brings her hands to my face and leans closer until her lips are about a couple inches from mine. I can feel her breath against my mouth.
“The thing about this dress that you brought me?” she says in a soft seductive voice. “You completely forgot to bring me underwear.”
I look down in that moment, but the skirt of her dress is bunched up in such a way that I can’t see anything. She takes my bottom lip between her teeth and runs her tongue along it. My hands close around her hips as I groan.
Then she pushes her tongue into my mouth, coaxing mine out to play. She uses her hands to push away my suit jacket. I do my best to shrug it off without breaking the kiss. In the process, I have to grab her thigh so we don’t fall off the chair.
As she tosses the discarded jacket aside, she brings those plump lips of hers down the column of my neck. The hand that’s on her thigh slides up until my thumb brushes against the seam of her pussy. She undulates against me, soaking my thumb with her juices.
“Dragon gods,” I breathe out. “You’re soaked.”
She pushes my plate aside, clearing the table behind her. Then she lifts up until she’s sitting on the edge of the table. She brings her heels to rest on the edge as well. Her skirt opens to give me an uninterrupted view of her pussy.
“It seems to me that you’re still hungry,” she says.
Understanding what she’s asking of me, I move my chair forward and say, “Starving.”
I bring my face to her waiting lips and lick her from top to bottom, drinking her all in. She tastes of the sweetest honey. She rakes her fingers through my hair, keeping my head where it is. I place my hands against the outside of her thighs.
I bring the tip of my tongue to her clit, twisting and turning until I can hear her moaning with pleasure. Then I bring a finger to her entrance and draw a slow circle. Without even entering her, I can already feel her clench.
I push my finger inside her as I quicken the pulsating licks of my tongue. Her hips move, trying to take me in deeper. Seeing that she wants more, I insert a second finger. She takes me in to the last knuckle.
“Fuck, Logan,” she says. “That feels so good.”
Her inner walls squeeze my fingers. I can only imagine what she would do to my cock when given a chance. And tonight, I intend to get that chance.
I continue my ministrations, feeling her pleasure rising. When she reaches her peak, she calls my name once more. I feel her inner walls milking my fingers, so I continue to thrust into her until she comes down from her release.
Twenty-Three
Ivy
I cum so hard that I almost slide off the edge of the table. I hadn’t intended on initiating sex with Logan, but I saw the way he was looking at me. I didn’t think he felt the same way.
Then I noticed the fire in his eyes. It was so full of passion and lust. I knew he wanted me and I wanted him. What was stopping us from continuing what he started on that field a few days ago?
He continues to thrust his fingers into me, slowing his rhythm as I come down from the high of my orgasm. He also gentles his licks to fine strokes. As if he is savoring the taste of me and drinking my nectar like ambrosia from the dragon gods.
Nothing makes a woman feel sexier than being savored. Than being worshipped like the goddess that she is. I moan one last time as the last of my tremors leave my body. My limbs are languid and soft.
Logan looks up from between my thighs, a satisfied smile on his face. I move my hands from his hair to his face. I sit up, letting my legs dangle form the edge of the table.
“You were amazing,” he says to me.
“Those should be my words,” I say in a lazy tone.
Then I grab the front of his shirt and tear it open. Buttons fly in all directions. I have a feeling his has more shirts where this came from, so losing one isn’t a problem for him.
Once his chest is bare, I kiss him from the base of his throat down the center of his pectorals. I can smell his arousal and it coaxes mine to return. I have a feeling that no matter how many orgasms I have, it will never be enough where Logan is concerned.
I follow the trail of hair from his bellybutton to the waistband of his pants. I ease off the table and rest on my knees. I unbuckle his belt and unzip his hands, making sure to run my knuckles along his erection.
Grabbing the waistband of his pants, I tug. I make eye contact with Logan as he lifts his hips and I ease his pants along with his boxer briefs down hi
s legs. His cock shows itself to me and I have to lick my lips in anticipation of how he tastes.
Dragons have impressive penises. The length and girth can rival any thoroughbred. It should be in order to satisfy the insatiable appetites of the females.
I take the base of his cock with my hand and behind pumping him from root to tip. He keeps his eyes on me the entire time. I like that he watches me as I please him. The pale green becomes a bright emerald. It’s magnificent.
When a pearl forms at the tip, I lap it up with the flat of my tongue. Logan grits his teeth, the muscles along his jaw jumping. I moan in pleasure at the saltiness of his taste.
Then I circle the tip of his cock with my tongue. He watches me through lidded eyes. I take him in as soon as my hand makes an up stroke. I suck as hard as I can.
His hips lift off the chair. His hands grip the edge of the table. I pull back with a popping sound.
“Do you like that?” I ask, making eye contact.
“Fuck, Ivy. Your mouth is so hot.”
“What else do you want me to do?” I continue pumping his cock.
“Whatever you want.”
His surrender is what prompts me to bring him all the way to the back of my throat. I can feel him grow rigid. I hum as I work him with my tongue and my hand.
He finally places his hand on the back of my head. That’s what I’ve been waiting for since I started going down on him. Only then do I reward him with increasing my pace.
When he closes his fist around my hair, I know that he’s close. Elation goes through me. But, instead of coming into my mouth, he eases me off his cock.
I look up at him in question and he says, “I want to cum inside you.”
I stand and straddle his lap again. Placing one hand on his shoulder while the other holds on to the base of his cock, I guide him to my entrance. Once his head is inside, I move to hold both his shoulders.