by Jaime Rush
“It f-feels good,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t.” She reached for the shower to turn it off, but his hand clamped over hers, still fast despite how numb it must be. It felt like a glove of ice.
“Ruby, I’ll meet you back at the cottage later.”
She ran her other hand back up to his shoulder, now half in the shower’s spray herself. “I forgive you, Cyn.”
He didn’t seem to register her words, staring fiercely into her eyes.
“I forgive you.” She placed her palm against his cheek. “For killing my parents.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t get to f-forgive me.”
She arched her eyebrow. “I can do what I damn well please.” He gave her the expression he wore whenever she questioned a command. “You don’t get to tell me what to do on this one.”
He gripped her wrist as though he were going to pull her hand away. But he held fast. “I don’t want your forgiveness.”
“You do want it. You just don’t think you deserve it.” All those words he’d said to her earlier tore at her, how he wanted her, how the thought of not having her hurt so badly he thought he was actually bleeding. “You do deserve forgiveness. And me.”
He groaned, so obviously fighting what she was offering. She stepped fully into the stream with him, pressing her body against his. His Dragon became a deeper, more vivid blue. He resisted, remaining stiff as she kissed the Dragon through the water, up his pecs to his collarbone.
“It’s the magick here,” he said on a raw whisper. “I warned you—”
“It’s not magick. It’s everything about you, Cyn, your honor and loyalty, and even the fact that you’re resisting for me. But all I want is you.” She kissed the place beneath his jaw as he stared at the wall with the ferocity of his resolve. She wrapped her arms around him, continuing to kiss the bristle at his chin.
He broke, burying his face in her neck and pulling her so close that her body was crushed against him. “Ruby,” he whispered, the one word a plea, a thank you, and a declaration felt by her Dragon.
Mine. His.
She nodded, tilting her head back and relishing his surrender. She dug her hands into his hair. “Come back to the cottage. Let me warm you up.”
He held on for another second before releasing her and shutting off the water. His hair stuck out in wild strands, but his eyes entranced her. That was where the magick was.
He grabbed the towel on a shelf but wrapped it around her, carefully drying her even as he trembled. “Let me get another towel,” she said, searching for a door to inside the building but finding none.
“I’ll put this on.” He pulled on the sort of garb she’d seen some of the other residents wearing.
She took his cold, stiff hand and led him to their cottage. As soon as she closed the door behind them, she went to the bathroom and got a towel. He’d already stripped out of the now wet clothing. His Dragon shifted, its eyes as fiery as its human’s.
She removed her cold, wet clothes under his watchful eye. As though she were the most gorgeous, sexy woman in the world. She did move with a new kind of sensuous grace now. It coursed through her as she approached him with a dry towel. She dried him the same delicate way he had done for her, rubbing the towel over his hair and mussing it even more. He took the towel and tossed it aside, tilting her chin up and taking her mouth. His hands pulled her close, one tangling in her hair, the other sliding down her backside.
Despite the cold, he was fully erect, pressing into her stomach. His tongue slid against hers, brushing the edge of her teeth, and she found it hard to focus on all the different sensations rushing through her. She was no longer cold, not with the heat of his hands, his body on hers.
He maneuvered her to the bed, sliding down with her and kissing her as though he couldn’t get enough. In between kisses, he said, “Ruby, if I make love to you, my Dragon will consider you mine. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that part. Your Dragon will consider me yours. It’s—”
She gripped his face, touching her nose to his. “My Dragon already has it in its head that you’re mine. Ours. Whatever.” She kissed him hard, pulling him down so she could feel the weight of him on top of her. She sank into the soft mattress under him, feeling fully encompassed. For so long, she was the tough one, or so she thought. Now she gave in to his strength.
Need.
Not only her need, but also her Dragon’s. Its craving roared through her, nearly sweeping her away. She held on to control, even as its heat licked through her.
Cyn rolled them to the side and nibbled down her neck, sliding his hands around to cup her butt and pull her tight against his pelvis. He met her eyes before kissing her again, wrapping his body around hers.
She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him, breathless at the sight of his naked body against the moss-green sheets. She leaned down and kissed his beautiful Dragon, feeling its heat beneath her lips. Her Dragon stirred where it touched the side of his stomach.
He caressed her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples. He’d said he wanted to get lost in her, and she knew the feeling of that madness. She left a trail of kisses across his ridged abdomen and then along his shaft and the velvety tip. He let out a sound between a growl and a sigh that made her smile just before she took him into her mouth. She stroked, licked, sucked, feeling his thigh muscles tighten beneath her hand as she brought him to the brink of orgasm.
Not yet, baby. I have other plans for that big erection. Like burying it inside her.
She worked her way back up, slowly, and then wrapped herself over him. His arms slid around her, squeezing her tight against him for a few moments. Then he rolled her over and ground her into the bed, nudging her thighs apart with his knee. He bowed before her, dipping his head between her legs. She didn’t know which was more provocative, his bowing or his mouth covering her throbbing clit. His tongue danced and flicked and made her arch in pleasure. Then a wave washed over her, and she writhed at the overwhelming sensation rocketing through her. When he made her come a second, and then a third time, electric shocks coursed through her body.
He sat up and pulled her onto his lap, facing him, encircling her waist with his arms. She eased onto him, glad he’d readied her as the length of him pushed inside her. And in the way her Dragon had filled an emptiness she’d harbored since adolescence, Cyn filled her soul. She’d never had sex in this position before and relished how close she was to him. He lifted her butt, his hands firm and warm over the cool skin, and held her aloft so she could move against him.
She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him. He devoured her. His intensity shot from a slow easing in to flying. He gripped her as though he’d never let her go, invading her mouth the way he invaded her body. And hers welcomed, no craved, that invasion. Her Dragon responded, pulling her into an intensity that equaled Cyn’s. She sucked on his tongue, bit his lower lip, and nipped his neck.
He had awakened her, as a Crescent and a woman, and she felt both aspects as they moved together in a heated frenzy. Then he rolled her over, lifted her legs, and placed pillows beneath her butt. Was it her Dragon that made her grasp his cock and draw it back, desperate to have him inside her again? Sometimes she didn’t know where she ended and the Dragon began.
He thrust alternately shallow and deep, stroking his fingers across her already sensitive nub. This time her orgasm started deep within her core, spiraling through every cell in her body before bursting to the surface.
“You’re beautiful when you come,” he said on shallow breaths.
“Mmm,” was all she could manage as he drove faster and faster into her.
He threw his head back, eyes closed in pleasure, and let out a roar that sounded like, “Mine.”
Mine, her Dragon answered back.
Cyn throbbed inside her, and her own body seemed to pulse in an answering rhythm. She watched him revel in the sensations, and then he buried his face in her neck and squeezed her close. She closed her ey
es and sank into the feeling of being possessed. Claimed.
Cyn lay down beside her, still intimately joined with her. “I like your hair loose like this.” He pulled it over her shoulder, coiling a lock around his fingers, then tugging her close for another kiss.
She rested her cheek on his chest. “Just like the Dragon Prince.”
He drew lazy circles on her back. “Too bad he dies in the end. I’ll bet they could have been happy.”
“Very, very happy.”
Her body sated, fatigue now set in. She dozed, for how long she didn’t know. When she woke, Cyn was watching her with sleepy eyes. He smiled at her, and the sight filled her heart.
“Let me show you the lights,” he said, his voice husky.
“Mmm, you already did.”
His chuckle reverberated through her. “I mean, the aurora borealis. I heard one of the guys say that because of the impending solar storm, the lights are more spectacular than ever.”
“And leave this bed?”
But it was clear that he wanted to show her a different kind of magic. She eased up on her elbows and searched for the clock. She’d been asleep for three good, deep hours. “I’m starved.”
“We’ll eat, take in the lights, and then maybe we’ll have time for more of the other kind before Jay gets back.”
After dinner, Cyn led her up a dimly lit trail to an area where a few benches were situated to look over a small valley. A couple of people were there, but she could barely see them.
He led her to a bench, dropping down onto it and pulling her down on his lap. His arms encircled her, his chin resting on her shoulder as they sat in silence. The feel of his body against hers made her more content than she’d ever been.
Her Dragon purred. She purred, too.
“There,” he whispered, pointing toward the right of the star-glittered sky.
She saw the first ribbon undulating in a vibrant green. It swirled around, rather like the fog in a Deuce’s eyes, and then disappeared. Another wave of lights flickered like miles of blue fire. She inhaled deeply at the magic of it, the surreal beauty. He squeezed her tighter, sliding his hand beneath her shirt to rest against her stomach.
“Incredible,” she whispered. “Like ghosts dancing in the sky.”
“Yes, incredible.” She heard the awe in his voice, too, the reverence.
When she turned, he was looking at her.
The Book of the Hidden
Garnet angled her body into the warm spring. Hedges all around the castle garden afforded her privacy, but it wasn’t her nudity she worried about. It would not do for her staff to hear their queen crying. Even seven months after his death, her heart ached for the prince who was dark of hair, but not so dark of heart.
Ribbons of magical lights danced like ghosts and fairies in the night sky. As steam wafted up from the water, she prayed again for the end of her heartache. It wasn’t good to steep herself in such sadness, but she mourned silently now, her tears dropping into the water some believed to be magickal.
A rustle in the bushes drew her attention to the wooden gate that was now opening. Who dared enter—
The Dragon Prince stepped inside. His smile lit the night. “Garnet,” he said on a breath, coming close and kneeling near the edge of the spring.
“’Tis cruel, whoever you are, to come here looking so much like him.”
“I am he, my love.” The endearment had come to mean something during their time together, and she heard meaning in the way he said it now. “You brought me back.” He gestured to the skies filled with ribbons of light, and then to the spring in which she sat. “I could see and watch over you, though I felt so helpless. I saw that you loved me, rather than merely tolerated me as I thought.” He reached for her hand, his fingers closing around hers. “Your love, along with the magick here, brought me back.”
He was real. Alive, flesh and blood. Tears came faster now, free of the pain that usually accompanied them. “I didn’t know I loved you until you were gone.”
He tugged gently on her hand. “Let me see you. Both of you.” He pulled her to her feet, his eyes taking in her face before moving down to the lushness of her pregnant body. “Amazing. Beautiful. A miracle.”
When she looked into his face, he was gazing at her.
Chapter 22
Cyn’s cell phone vibrated. “Jay,” he whispered, and they left the viewing area.
“I’m here,” she could hear Jay say as they walked down the path. “Cottage 14B.”
“We’ll be there in a minute.”
Cyn grasped her hand as they took the trail down to civilization. She squeezed, reveling in the feel of it. She’d been daydreaming while watching the lights, giving Garnet and the Dragon Prince their happy ending. Now she wanted one, too. When she’d withheld her forgiveness, all she had was anger and bitterness. By forgiving Cyn, she’d gained so much more. And freed herself in the bargain.
As though he’d picked up on her thoughts, he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it.
In turn, she pulled the back of his hand toward her mouth. “I hope you can forgive yourself, too.”
“I took away your parents. That you are the one woman who touches me, who makes me feel something…karma.” She could see his wry smile in the dim lights.
She held their linked hands to her heart. “If I can forgive you, you can sure as hell forgive yourself.” She bumped him with her hip. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
He rubbed his thigh, faux pain on his face. “You have hurt me. Or have you forgotten that beating?”
Her cheeks warmed at the memory of her lost control. “Emotion over logic. That’s going to be a tough lesson. But I’m sorry—”
He swung her around so that she faced him, pressing a finger to her mouth. “Don’t apologize.” He took her hand again and checked the number on the cottage just ahead. “We’re here.”
The door opened, and a big, burly Deuce with mussed dark hair and the beginnings of a beard stepped onto the stoop. For someone who was close to her father’s age, he looked like he was in his twenties.
“Cyntag!” His voice was boomingly loud, which was how she’d heard him so clearly on the phone. “Long time no anything.” He gave Cyn a back-slapping guy hug, then turned to her. “Well, well, what do we have here?” He thrust out his hand. “Jay Caruso. And you are…”
“Ruby Salazaar,” she said as he enveloped her hand in his.
“Nice to meet you.” He waved them inside the warm cottage. “Come in, make yourselves at home.”
The place was cluttered, though not dirty. Papers and whiteboards covered with calculations made her long for her parents. Framed pictures of auroras adorned every wall. Off to the side sat a huge backpack.
“Coffee? Tea?” Jay said from the kitchen, pouring from a pot. “Something to warm you up?” He shivered. “Spending two days in the wilderness is a bit much even for my Alaskan blood.” No wonder he smelled of fresh air and pines.
She rubbed her upper arms. “Coffee sounds great.”
Cyn pulled her against his chest. “Got everything I need right here.”
Jay gave him a speculative look. “I see that.” He handed Ruby the mug and set out milk and sugar. Then he opened a wooden cabinet and poured out two shot glasses of whiskey. “Bet I can tempt you with this.”
Cyn waved the glass under his nose. “You remembered.”
“It was the only way I could regale you with my fascinating studies of the aurora borealis.” Jay cleared off the couch and gestured for them to sit. “You said you’re here because of Brom. So you know he called me about the Deus Vis fracturing in Miami that coincided with a vision he’d been having for years. Where is he? I haven’t heard from him since his initial call to me.”
Cyn and Ruby filled him in on what had happened, her gaze going to an aquarium on the floor that contained a prism instead of fish.
Jay finished off his whiskey, shaking his head. “Will he be all right?”
“Once we kill th
e one who summoned it,” Cyn said. “We need to know what you found out.”
Jay braced his elbows on his thighs as he sat forward. “When Brom had the first vision, Justin wouldn’t tell us what element he was using to fracture the Deus Vis. He said no one knew but him, and if it was doing something dangerous, he wanted to keep it that way. I don’t think he believed his father’s vision yet. I told them how to make this, something I’d been working on for years.” He tapped the aquarium with his foot. “Brom called and said they could see the fracturing. Justin’s prototype pulled the Deus Vis ribbons so hard they completely fell apart. The solar storm we were experiencing at the time wasn’t particularly strong, but it was enough to weaken the ribbons. That exacerbated the effect of the element Justin was using.”
Jay went to the cabinet, took out the bottle of whiskey, and poured more in their glasses. “Brom called me back a few days later and said that Justin had obviously destroyed his device—and was killed for it. The good news was that the fracturing stopped. Then Brom came here, broken and catatonic. I tried to talk to him several times over the years he’s lived here, but he wouldn’t even see me.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “He saved a lot of lives, but all he could focus on were the two he didn’t. I think it made him crazy.”
Ruby took a long drink of her coffee, hoping it would warm the cold that truth left in her heart. “Brom’s vision of Black Doom came back.”
“Yeah, and he came to me pretty freaked out, especially when he learned about the big upcoming solar storm. Apparently someone re-created your father’s technology. But Brom had new information. He saw you trying to destroy the cause of the fracturing—and the device exploded. Not only did it kill you, but it also totally fractured the Deus Vis. And that narrowed down the element that Justin was using to a few choices. I got my hands on them, which wasn’t easy, and ran some experiments.”