by Anya Nowlan
But as she was about to protest, he finally forced into her, turning her words into a shattering scream as he plunged deep into her wet, waiting depths. Ruby’s muscles went rigid as he thrust into her with a roar that trembled through her, making her cling to him. Her nails on his back and her head buried into his shoulder, she shook as he pounded into her, filling her so tightly, so perfectly that it was as if they’d been meant for each other.
The pain was blinding for a moment, but quickly gave way to the intense pleasure of being taken just right – hard, fast and almost cruel, but only as much as she could take. He read her like an open book, and she adored him for it. Sweat dappled her skin as she moaned shattering little noises that wafted into the night sky.
“Oh my god,” she mumbled, incoherent words tumbling over her lips as that blessed, unbearable heat roared through her.
His fingertips dug into her hips, rocking her back and forth as he speared her, slamming into her to the base of his cock and then pulling out almost completely, just to do it all over again. Her mouth sought out his for another fevered kiss, never getting enough of him. His teeth nipped at her plush lower lip, close to drawing blood, and she bit back. He growled, his arms flexing and the muscles on his back dancing under her touch.
“Cum for me, Ruby,” he commanded, his voice carrying a deadly sting. She couldn’t have disobeyed him if she wanted to.
Another thrust, and she let go, giving in to the heat that had been threatening to claim her ever since their first kiss. It unraveled her, and she let it take her and control her, toss her how it pleased. Her orgasm was marked by a loud, unabashed scream, her nails raking down his back and leaving little cuts.
Cillian moaned, his strokes getting faster, making her ride that wave until her body couldn’t take any more. She heaved for breath, hanging onto him like he was a life raft, her fingers tugging at his hair. God, he did things to her. No other man had ever made her feel even a fraction of what he had. She’d never felt quite as beautiful, as wanted or as needed as she did when she was with Cillian. And she wanted him too, something that she’d been too nervous to admit to herself before.
Ruby kissed his neck and twirled her tongue around his earlobe and then in his ear, feeling the little shudders it sent crawling through him. He growled again, that primal sound she liked so much, and when he came, his hard, strong body finally relaxed.
With his arms shaking, he pulled Ruby against him in an embrace that was heavy with relief and honest affection that she’d scarcely hoped to feel. She rested her head against his shoulder, content to just be there as Cillian fought through his finish.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he whispered, and she smiled. He certainly made her feel that way.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cillian
Cillian couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The way her wild auburn locks fell over her cheeks and neck as she slept, and how silky her skin felt when he ran his calloused fingertips up and down her elegant back. He had to fight himself to keep from rousing her again and fucking her raw. Granted, he’d done that several times already and the night had been a long one.
After Ruby attacked him on the roof (a violent affair he was glad to be a part of), he’d carried her down to his bedroom and kept her there until neither one of them could keep their eyes open anymore. Cillian grinned at the wicked memories. Fast, slow, hard, soft – everything felt good with her, amazing, even. Better than what he’d thought sex could feel like, and he’d always been a staunch supporter of all things physical.
It just went to show that there was something to the whole ‘finding the right woman’ thing after all.
Who would have thought, Cillian Greenmeadow, the bad boy dragon extraordinaire, a convert to the camp of monogamy. It wasn’t that he expected anything from her – though he had his hopes – as much as it was just the fact that no other woman could possibly ever interest him again after having a taste of his little crown jewel. There weren’t enough words to describe how good her body felt under his, those soft curves a perfect complement to his hard muscles. And the things her mouth could do… His cock hardened at the mere thought of it.
In a few days, he would make her his in earnest. Despite putting on an indifferent face, Cillian was nervous. There were a million things that could still go wrong and ruin their shot at happiness. He leant back on the pillows, one hand softly stroking her hair.
There was something distant about Ruby. Like she kept showing him little pieces of herself, but not really opening up. As if she were still afraid of something. Their kiss on the roof had been the first time he’d seen her truly go for something she wanted – it felt real rather than an act of rebellion.
He looked at her and pursed his lips slightly. There wasn’t a lot of time left to get through to the gorgeous creature. There was no doubt in his mind now that she was his mate, the one he was meant to be with. He wasn’t sure how long he would last if she said no to the marriage, or even worse, would go through with it and then want to part ways later.
Dragons weren’t meant to be without the one they loved. It was a bit ironic how easily heartache could break such a powerful, grand beast, but that was how things were in the dragon world. They either died of a broken heart or went mad with longing – neither a pretty way to go.
But can you even bring her into this life? Cillian asked himself, raising another topic he had been trying to avoid.
Though he wasn’t hurting for money by human standards, the Greenmeadows certainly weren’t what they used to be in the good old days. Ruby wasn’t the kind of woman who would care, but could he live with the knowledge that he made her live her life with a man who would always be a bit sour, a bit aggravated at his own lack of success? Or you could do something about it…
Cillian shook his head, reluctantly sliding out from under the covers. He found a pair of boxers and pulled them on. He stepped closer to one of the big windows in his living room and cracked it open to let the air in. Leaning against the frame, he looked out at the mountains towering all around Emerald Ridge. Like always, his nose crinkled a little as he inhaled.
The sweet scent of gold filled his lungs. He knew, just as his forefathers had known before him, that the gold was there, in those mountains. But the easy spots had dried up a long time ago, bringing along the decline of Emerald Court. What had once been a sprawling town of goldsmiths, was now little more than a ghost town with just a few families sticking around. And it was the dragons’ fault. That much he knew.
Like all dragons, Greenmeadows knew where there was gold. In fact, they were even better at it than most. Like truffle dogs with delicious morsels, Greenmeadows knew exactly where wealth hid. The problem was, they weren’t exactly an industrious kin of dragons. Lording over the vast fortunes of others and then making off with them had worked well for Cillian’s family for countless of centuries, and thus, change was slow to take.
Cillian’s brothers were of the same mindset as their father had been – the gold would find them, it was not their job to go find it. But it became more and more clear that wealth wouldn’t simply fall into their laps anymore. They’d have to work for it. Cillian glanced over his shoulder at the beauty sleeping in his bed. Wouldn’t it be worth it, for her?
He chuckled a little. If he’d shared his train of thought out loud, it would have sounded ridiculous to anyone but another dragon. Cillian almost wished he could sneak off for a few hours and visit Devon Bluewing, but he couldn’t bear leaving Ruby for so long when she still wasn’t his, and he doubted Devon would appreciate the intrusion during his honeymoon.
Dragon problems, he mused with a smirk. To work hard and prosper or hardly work and coast along. Ridiculous.
Again, the silliness of his problems dawned on him. If only his gifts could unravel his issues as well. Or perhaps they did, and he was just too stubborn to see it? Also a possibility.
He picked up a gray tee from a nearby chair and pulled it on along with a pair of slacks. He couldn
’t even pretend to think straight when he was so close to her. Everything was tinted with the very real need to make her happy.
Ruby was still fast asleep, and there was only one place that could really make Cillian see things in the right colors. He stepped into a pair of boots that lazily clung to his ankles and snuck out of the bedroom, pushing the door almost shut behind him but keeping it cracked a little lest he wake her.
With hurried steps, he travelled through the keep, still quiet in its early morning stupor. Long staircases led him deeper and deeper into the belly of the castle, until no trace of modern comforts remained. Nothing but eternal fires hanging from the rocky walls cast light on his path as he rushed through stairs carved out of pure stone, onward towards that most sacred of a dragon’s possessions – his hoard.
The narrow staircases finally opened into a seemingly endless cavern, cut off by a huge metal door. The landing was just big enough to allow him to shift and jostle through the door, if he so wished, but this time he needed to keep his dragon separate from the man – at least in body, if not in mind. Cillian walked to the door that was black with soot from centuries of dragon fire and touched his hands to the metal.
He closed his eyes and whispered the words that would open the vault to no one but the Greenmeadow elder. They hesitated for a second and then cracked inward with an agonizing yawn, granting him passage. The smell of gold was overwhelming. Cillian shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled in, the doors slamming shut behind him.
With slow, languorous steps he walked deeper into the vaults, his green eyes considering the endless piles of gold, jewels, silks and other riches. It was plentiful, yes, but looking up along the walls, he could see the scratches where the hoard had once reached, nearly fifteen feet higher. Some rooms were completely empty now.
He sighed glumly. It had been tradition for each dragon to fill a room of their own to mark the elder’s contribution to the hoard. His father had contributed nearly nothing. Stopping at his own vault, he eyed the treasures within – a sad shadow in comparison to some of his forefathers. It barely covered the floor, some empty spots glaring back at him almost mockingly.
Cillian sat down in the main vault that reached so high that the yellow glow around him blocked out the ceiling, and stared at the vault he was supposed to fill. Could he do it? Several generations before him hadn’t been able to. So why was he better?
You’re not afraid of work, he told himself, struggling with the smile that wanted to form on his lips.
Work – a cussword in the Greenmeadow household. Carrick was lording over the small fortune in Ireland, and Callum and Cearul were somewhere in Asia, doing lord knows what. None of his brothers would understand if he went to them, saying that the old ways wouldn’t feed them anymore. But wasn’t it his responsibility as elder to bring them out of the old times and into the new?
He knew there was gold in those mountains. He could find it, and he could make Emerald Court a bustling gold town once more. Like Devon in Gold Valley, he could blow life into an industry long dwindling. And if he could make Emerald Court live again, well, couldn’t he do just about anything?
Lazily, his fingers tracked through the gold coins under his touch, reveling in the feel of metal against hot skin. He’d thought there was nothing better than being near his gold, but now he knew that there was something even more heavenly – Ruby. He wetted his lips at the thought of her, sprawled out on his bed, those delectable curves his to enjoy and that fierce spirit to make him step up his game. She was exactly what he needed.
His emerald eyes considered the nearly empty vault once more. In his mind’s eye, he could see it bustling with treasure, just as easily as he could see his life with Ruby. Whatever she wanted, he would find her. If it was adventure, hell, he was game for that. If quiet nights at home were what she desired, he’d love those too. But all that rested on one assumption – that she would stay.
He needed to break through that shell of hers. Granted, last night had been a step in the right direction, but Cillian didn’t think her simple enough to be so easily untangled.
You’re in deep, Greenmeadow, he told himself with a grin.
Just then, something caught under his fingertips. Pulling it out of the pile, he found a headband of pure gold, intricate swirls forming leaves along its length and dots of green emeralds making little clusters at various points. He turned it around in his hands a few times and immediately thought how gorgeous it would look in Ruby’s flaming hair. It was perfect, just like she was. Then and there, he knew what he had to do.
If he wanted the Greenmeadow name restored, he’d have to work for it. If he wanted Ruby by his side for the rest of his life, he’d have to work for that too. And he was ready and willing to do both.
As Cillian was getting up, he felt the keep rumble and shake softly. Cillian froze, a scowl immediately falling on his features. He knew exactly what that was – the sound of a dragon landing, an impatient, angry dragon.
Carrick, he thought darkly.
The headband still in his hand, he took off in a run. Whatever his little brother wanted, he couldn’t have picked a worse time.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ruby
Ruby stirred slowly. Something shook her from her heavy dream filled with an endless loop of pictures of Cillian’s impossibly hot body. As she teetered between sleep and waking, the long night they had spent together came flooding back to her. She smiled to herself. That man was a god, and she was glad to have caught him. Unlike most times when she’d acted on instinct, this time she didn’t regret a single second. All of it had been amazing.
His body was as if made to fit hers, and his cock filled her to the brim, making her tumble over the edge of her release time and time again. Ruby was sure that even though she was going to be sore all over, it had been totally worth it. Through her drowsiness, she reached out, feeling around for him on the bed, wanting to curl up next to him and let sleep take her again. When she didn’t find him there, sleep fell from her instantly.
She blinked her eyes, getting up on her elbows and looking around in the bedroom. She’d barely caught a glimpse of it last night, when they’d tumbled in through the doors and crashed on the first solid surface. The signs of their second interlude on his dresser were still there – books pushed down and sprawled out over the floor. It brought a smile to her lips. But still, back to the issue at hand. Where the hell was that dragon?
Reluctantly, Ruby threw her legs over the side of the bed and got up, stretching slowly. In the middle of a particularly tasty yawn, the entire building shook. With her hands still up in the air, Ruby frowned, letting them fall slowly.
Did he go out to fly? she mused.
Looking around in the room, she couldn’t find a stitch of her clothing. They had to still be up on the roof. Grinning to herself, Ruby picked up one of his shirts and boxers and dressed in those. They smelled like him. Yummy.
Ruby was just about to head out of the room when hurried footsteps and slamming doors stopped her dead in her tracks. Through the crack in the door, she could see an obviously aggravated Cillian heading up towards the roof, but stopping suddenly when another man appeared at the door.
“Carrick,” Cillian growled, a sound so deep and wrought with irritation that Ruby had to resist the urge to take a step back.
The other man looked a lot like Cillian – the same tall form, blazing green eyes and windswept reddish-brown hair – but he looked somehow more severe. Carrick wore a high button-up, pressed and clean, and dress pants. The way he glowered at Cillian made Ruby dislike him immediately. Carrick smirked, and while Cillian’s grins carried a healthy dose of boyish charm and bad boy bravado, his was just… cold.
“Cillian, my brother,” Carrick announced, inclining his head a little. “I heard you’ve got up to no good… A wife? And no invitation to the wedding? I’m hurt.”
Cillian steamed, and Ruby watched as he shoved his hands in his pockets, his handsome features contorted
in annoyance.
“What do you want, Carrick? I thought you were in Ireland.”
“I was. But I couldn’t miss my big brothers nuptials, could I? You need dragon witnesses, after all. Or were you planning on keeping this little farce a secret?”
“The Goldplains are coming as witnesses. You’re not needed,” Cillian said, sounding like he was inches from grabbing the man by the collar and punting him out on his ass. Apparently there was no love lost between the brothers.
“But I am. I must meet this bride of yours. I hear she’s quite the little firecracker. Especially considering the tossed clothes on the roof. Italian? Mother must be spinning in her grave. Not that she wasn’t already, what with how you look,” Carrick said, giving a long, pointed look at the tattoos running up Cillian’s arms.
Ruby bit her finger, trying to remain quiet. If it had been anyone else, she was sure Cillian would have decked him already.
“Carrick, I don’t want you here. I don’t need you upsetting her. She’s my mate, and I won’t allow you to disrespect her. And our mother was the biggest nonconformist in the world. You would have known if you’d ever bothered to notice she existed.”
Carrick shrugged leisurely, looking less than phased by his elder’s outrage.
“She had nothing to teach me. Father was the one who carried the dragon ways, and I think you should have paid more attention. What’s this I hear about you… working? We’re not that poor, brother. Can’t believe you’d shame the family like that. And this mate business. I don’t believe you. I think you’re just getting some bitch to stand in so I couldn’t challenge you. Is that it?”
He couldn’t say another thing, because Cillian had sped across the corridor and slammed him against the wall, his elbow forced against Carrick’s neck, cutting off his oxygen. Carrick struggled against him, grabbing his shirt and finally tossing him away from him.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, brother,” Cillian said, spitting out the last word like it threatened to freeze his tongue if he kept it in any longer. “If you want to challenge me, go right ahead. I don’t want to crush you, but if you make me do it, I will. And I won’t regret it. The world is changing. We can’t just pretend like it isn’t.”