“You’re jealous of Siya. You have never met Siya and yet you’re plagued by jealousy.”
Drake snarled before abruptly releasing. She staggered back before righting herself. If she was to win this skirmish, she needed to strike first, and she did. She refused to play by his rules. There was nothing licentious about her attack. She was determined to make him bleed for the insult. When he didn’t flinch, she groaned her frustration. If was as if he expected her to lash out at him. He had slapped the blow away as if it were an annoying insect.
“Enough. No more childishness,” he said, his fingers on the waistband of his breeches. “You are mine and I keep what’s mine.”
Her gazed locked on the thickness pushing against his breeches, Amina decided to risk all. If it’s bed play you want, dragon, then we should play.
Her gaze raked his body while images of her hands, her mouth, and her vagina taking him to unimaginable heights floated across their joined threads. A smile formed on her lips as his emerald eyes darkened. She aided the removal of his breeches and stepped away from him. Her eyes glanced at his liberated penis. A pearly drop of semen teetered on the mushroom-shaped tip of his erection and desire sped along her spine as if a djinn gave chase. She squeezed her thighs tightly to stave off the heat that followed in desire’s wake.
It wasn’t because her mind was averse to the tantalizing swirl and dip of his tongue inside her mouth and her sex. Her body demanded the intrusion of his shaft and the beautiful darkness that came a mere second before her universe exploded. She wanted it all but on her terms.
The curvaceous smirk on Drake’s lovely mouth was both seductive and abhorrent to her. He was aware of the silent war her body and mind waged.
He chuckled. “We can end this game where you wish once you answer me. Who is Siya?”
“I can live without your cock, Dragon,” she returned. “Now that I’ve experienced what you have to offer, I can set my imagination free and achieve the same end.”
His hand cupped her chin. “You do realize this is about more than me bedding you? You’ve flown freely, answering to now but yourself. That changes now.”
“You plan to force my submission? This is a dead conversation. The Tamahaq is not one of your men.”
“Oh, I’m aware of that fact.” His finger traced the outline of her jaw. “I don’t need to use force or cruelty to bring you to the jess, hawk. Of your own consent you will always give me what I seek.”
He lightly kissed the corners of her mouth, feathered strokes that fractured her resistance. She’d been prepared to fight his ruthless assault on her mouth; what she hadn’t expected was a kiss so tender her will crumpled like paper. It was a kiss seeking her consent to allow him to enthrall all her senses. A kiss that promised incomparable delight when she capitulated.
His tongue swirled inside her mouth, tasting, teasing, and taunting until there was no need for games between them. He released her chin and she snaked her arms about his shoulders. Her fingers pressed against the back of his neck. Their tongues dueled for mastery. She gasped when she found herself flat on her back on the bed. Drake positioned himself over her, their bodies barely touching. It was a pleasure-inducing trap, one she embraced when his hips moved in a sensuous slow grind, his penis hardening against her belly. Images of their bodies entwined occluded all else in her mind, while wetness made her body ready for his entry.
“Do I have your consent, hawk?”
Amina stared at him. She inclined her head, not wanting to speak.
“I need the words, Amina. I need to hear you give yourself to me.” His chuckle against her lips sent shivers down her spine. “Innocent little hawk. I’m going to fuck you senseless; but before I do, I want to taste what is mine, make you so wet and needy you'll beg me to lap like the dog you believe me to be.”
He kissed her hard before he licked his way to her chin. “Shall I demonstrate on your lovely little throat?”
His lips trailed a meandering path to the base of her throat. His mouth punished her defiance, his tongue a loving caress before he bit with enough sharpness to elicit a tiny cry. He soothed the ache until it faded.
“There is pleasure in pain and pain in pleasure. You will know both but only if you consent.”
Amina bit the inside of her cheek rather than speak. “As you wish,” Drake whispered against her neck. “Look at me, Amina.”
Her eyes opened. His face was so close she could almost taste those sensuous lips. Drake’s tongue traced the outline of her mouth before he shifted his body downward. As he moved, his tongue glided down the valley between her breasts. Her breath caught in her chest, a tightness excoriating her lungs. Then the intoxicating motion stopped and Drake’s hot wet mouth rested on her left breast. She fisted the bed sheet, her mind screaming in protest.
“So sweet and beautifully innocent and yet so willful. It isn’t wise to challenge a dragon. Do I have your permission?”
Amina closed her eyes. Her body came alive at his touch and she moaned when the rush of blood to her brain brought with it the lightheadedness that presaged rapture. She couldn’t move. His tongue held her in languorous immobility, her body responsive to his will alone. Seconds became long torturous minutes as he brought her to the precipice and left her dangling, refusing to nudge her over its edge or tug her away from the headlong fall into oblivion.
Suckle. Nip. Suckle. Nip.
Amina’s muscles pulsed to the beat of his mouth, aching for surcease or a faint deviation to send her over the abyss. It was too much. Her eyes teared, and a single wet crystal squeezed past shuttered lashes to follow the curve of her left cheek. A small breach appeared between her lips and two words flowed out.
“Yes, Dragon.”
Drake banked his satisfaction, Amina’s soft murmur pleasing him to no end. His hand skimmed the silken brown flesh below her ribcage, the faint vibration stirring his lust. When he stormed into the room, demanding her submission it was driven by jealousy. Now he wanted her craving him as he craved her. He refused to suffer the torments of this bond alone.
The pads of his fingers made tiny circles on her belly, light pulses of pleasure shooting between his fingers and her skin. He played on her flesh and tiny beads of moisture formed beneath his touch, increasing the erotic sparks between their bodies. Sparks as painful to his loins as a bleeding, but oh, so pleasurable. It was a pain he longed for, but only with Amina.
The scent of her, a potent combination of rose, frangipani and desire, pricked his lungs and bled straight to his brain. Every nerve, every sense flared into life. He ached to taste the tangy wetness of her, to drink deeply until he became intoxicated. Resisting his own needs, he eased a finger inside her tightness, her inner muscles sheathing him like the soft leather of a Spanish glove. He twirled his finger, paused, and reversed the motion. Her channel suckled his finger with the voracious appetite of a newborn.
“Who is Siya?”
Silence greeted his question before she sent a terse thought. No. Voiced as if uttered on a stolen breath and laden with defiance, Amina’s refusal bit hard. He stared at her face, wanting to read the signs of desire in her golden eyes. Despite her pursed lips, her body responded to his need. So stubborn, his hawk.
He raised her chin with a finger. “Look at me, Amina.” She resisted. He smiled. “So be it.”
He slid downward until his head nestled between her thighs. Slipping his hands behind her knees, he raised her legs and draped them over his shoulders. “I cannot allow you to rule.”
Each hand gripped a thigh and pressed them apart. He licked the inside of her left thigh, just behind the knee. His head rose just enough so he peered at her over the flat surface of her belly. “Siya?”
Amina shook her head.
He dragged his tongue along the inside of her right thigh, stopping when he reached the back of her knee. He began kissing his way to the soft curls hiding the center of her pleasure. When he reached the slick folds, his tongue twirled and flicked until they offered u
p their treasure. Drake’s mouth enclosed the tiny nub and his tongue laved it into hardness. Amina’s scream of pleasure was heaven to his ears, but it wasn’t enough. He hadn’t forgotten what drove him into the cabin.
“Who is Siya?”
Amina tried to extricate herself from his grip and failed. He trailed his mouth down her wet slit until he found the opening. His tongue teased her sensitive flesh before slipping inside. Amina’s hips bucked and her fingers twisted in his hair, her grip tightening with each thrust.
“Please, dragon.”
The words were a plaintive cry. His tongue swiped her womanly folds before he raised his head to look at her. In that moment, he abandoned the jealousy that brought him racing into the cabin. Amina was his.
She hitched toward his mouth and he felt her quiver against his lips. Her release was imminent. He drove a finger inside her slick canal, then another, and continued his rhythmic assault. His mouth latched onto her firm nub and began a counter motion. Her intimate muscles gripped his fingers, quick jabs of intense pressure, before her creamy liquid drenched his fingers.
When her body ceased its trembling, Drake rose to his knees and moved until his erection slapped the inside of her thigh. His knees pressed her legs further apart and he leaned forward, his cock dancing at her entrance. He slid an inch inside her and halted.
“Is this what you want, hawk? Will you give all to have me buried inside you?”
Amina’s eyes held a desperate and silent plea when she looked at him. Her tongue glided across her lip. A gasp followed the gesture when his hands gripped her knees and raised them so her thighs formed a perfect open triangle. He watched her skin flush beneath his open appraisal of her sex, need leaking beyond the folds of skin. He eased another inch into her wetness, struggling to ignore the compulsion to completely bury himself inside her.
A moan escaped her clenched lips, and her hips arched to meet his thrust. He shook his head and held back. “In time, hawk.”
She whimpered and he pushed slowly into her. He moved at a snail's pace, tormenting them both, but determined to claim victory. Instead, her body claimed him, dragging him toward a familiar conclusion. He winced as his erection throbbed at the insistent pressure of her tightness. His body quickened and he cursed softly as hard deep thrusts replaced the calculated rhythm he intended.
Amina looked at her life mate through a curtain of unshed tears. He shook his head before pushing her knees to her chest. Drake waged a sensual war on her body, battering the stubborn barriers she fought to keep between them until, with a savage thrust, he snatched the air from her lungs and her body seized.
“Dragon.”
She felt as if her mind had been ripped asunder. Light shattered into blinding fragments, blue and green elements, before dropping her into absolute darkness, her body violently trembling while ecstasy took her beyond reason. Illumination pierced the dark, a timeless echo of the powerful explosion that continued to shake her body.
Reason slowly returned, bringing with it the awareness that she craved what he offered, even though eventually her growing desire for Drake would cost her dearly.
Again.
The soft command sliced through her dazed mind. Bliss was quickly replaced by trepidation. Conflicting emotions mushroomed, clinging to her throat like a deadly plague, devouring what little resistance she had left. She fisted her hands and struck Drake's chest, the brief numbness a cleansing of the web he had spun to entrap her. Angry tears washed her cheeks as she thrashed against him. Her heart was halfway lost to the man. She dare not, could not, lose any more of herself in this mating.
Her battle seemed futile as his hands were all over her. Fingers gripped her shoulders as words danced at the edge of her consciousness. Discordant notes that made no sense. She slammed her fist repeatedly against his hard chest even as her panic-driven thoughts clouded her mind. At the edges of her awareness she heard words, but they were meaningless in the face of her agitation.
Amina admitted to herself her fear was irrational but she had never faced an opponent like Drake
“You will destroy me,” she sobbed. “I can’t let you.”
She felt the hard bite of his fingers pressing into her flesh as he shook her and said, “Stop, Amina. I won’t ever harm you. Stop, hawk.”
His voice somehow penetrated the swirling chaos that gripped her awareness. Her fingers gradually unclenched, the panic in her chest releasing her. Her lungs hurt, so she forced herself to breathe more slowly until her body relaxed. She lifted wet eyelashes and screamed, “Siya, no.”
8
Amina watched the slow rise of a Tamahaq’s knife, hearing the subtle vibration of its movement through air as sunlight illuminated the polished silver. The metal was a thing of beauty. The swiftness of death was assured when the Tamahaq chose to use her dagger.
As the blade began its descent, her fascinated gaze followed its path toward Drake’s exposed back. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream before she slammed the palms of her hands against his chest and propelled him against the wall. The high pitch of her scream finally sounded when the blade accelerated and sank deep into her left shoulder just beneath her birth mark, sliding past bone to rest in muscle. She felt a sting, like the bite of an insect. Then a peculiar lassitude washed over her. It puzzled her that there was no pain, especially since the hilt of a Tamahaq’s knife protruded from her flesh.
A soft moan escaped her lips. In all her battles, against both demons and humans, she had suffered nothing more than a scratch. It took a Tamahaq dagger to bring her close to death.
An explosive curse drew her gaze to Drake’s face. She watched his stunned expression give way to icy disbelief and finally to rage. His power swirled and whipped about the room until it settled over her twin. Amina had only one thought, to save her sister. She struggled to sit up. An excruciating bite of pain whipped through her. Her twin’s agonized scream forced her to mute her pain and reach out to Drake.
Asiya’s pain became hers and she screamed in agony when his fingers gripped Asiya’s throat. She forced her fingers to grip his wrist. “Stop, dragon. She is my sister. Release her. Siya, don’t struggle. Michael, please free her, she only meant to protect me.”
Drake relaxed his grip on Asiya’s throat, but not her mind. “If Amina dies, so will you.”
Michael, release her.
Drake tried to ignore the voice inside his head, but the archangel was insistent. He shook his head. If Amina dies, she dies.
Another voice intruded. Release her, Michael.
Who are you?
Raphael, and brother to the archangel whose name you share. I am guardian to Amina and Asiya.
“Then save Amina,” Drake demanded. “I will release this one only when I know she lives.”
Amina can save herself, but she will need her sister. Time is fleeing and Amina’s life with it. Choose, Michael.
Drake reluctantly withdrew from Asiya’s mind. She moaned and clutched her throat, her breathing raspy as she staggered to her feet. Except for a minuscule difference in height and coloring, and the angel’s wing birthmark on Asiya’s right shoulder, she was a mirror to Amina. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she took her sister’s hand.
“Forgive me, Mina. Your anxiety . . . your mind was chaotic and I only wanted to protect you.”
“I know, Siya.” Amina winced as she turned to focus her gaze on Drake. “Drake, this is my sister Asiya. Siya, this is my life mate, Michael Drake.”
Her tortured breathing as she talked hadn’t escaped Drake’s attention. She watched his gaze narrow, felt the rage building inside him as he stared at the knife embedded in her shoulder. For the first time since they mated, his mind wasn’t shielded and his thoughts were exposed to her. She caught the fear he sought to hide. The worry that if the knife wasn’t removed quickly, she would die.
She leaned into the calloused hand he pressed against her cheek. Before she could reassure him, he asked, “Did you mean the words, hawk? When you sa
id you are my life as I am yours, did you mean it?”
Despite the pain that came with movement, she nodded.
“Then I claim your life. Heal yourself.”
His arrogant demand produced a weak smile. “This time I will obey you, dragon. Do not let your arrogance mislead you.” She glanced at her sister. “Siya, will you ease my pain?”
Asiya swiped at her tears before she placed one palm on her birthmark and her other palm on Amina’s belly. “I am ready, Tamahaq.”
Amina closed her eyes. “Remove the knife, Dragon.”
Drake’s fingers cinched the dagger’s hilt. A shudder went through him and pain clouded Amina’s face. He stared at her, unable to prevent what would come next. “Forgive me, hawk.”
He jerked the knife from her shoulder. Her agony bellowed like an enraged bull in his mind, although she made no sound. He lurched out of her thoughts and glowered at her sister. A look that promised a torturous death should Amina die.
I share your thoughts, dragon.
He whipped his gaze back to Amina’s face, saw the pain she tried to hide, and his anger intensified. “Do not waste time chiding me. Heal yourself.”
Her eyes opened and she glared at him. I will as soon as you stop glowering at my twin. I’m drowning in your rage. Let your retribution wait until I am strong enough to cut your throat if you dare attempt what I see in your thoughts.
He shrugged at her threat. “When you are strong enough, it won’t matter.”
He heard footsteps outside his door. Hodge was the only man brave enough to approach his quarters. He sent reassurances to the one man he trusted with his life. Satisfied Hodge would see to the Phoenix and its crew, Drake focused on the woman in his bed. The dissonance of Amina’s labored breathing was the only sound in the cabin.
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