by Eve Langlais
His hands dropped over his tenting cloth. “Would you stop distracting me? I need to think.”
“Maybe,” she said, bouncing off the throne and approaching him, “you’d think better balls-deep in me.”
“Exactly how is that supposed to help?” he grumbled.
“Because then you might get some blood back to that brain of yours.”
“Did it ever occur to you that, at any moment, someone is going to notice we’ve escaped our cells and come looking?”
“Totally.” She grinned. “The thought of discovery is rather titillating, don’t you think?”
“Does anything disturb you?”
“Nope. And I’m surprised you’re so bothered. The old Samael wouldn’t have worried about getting caught.”
“The old Samael was in a position of power. I could do whatever the fuck I wanted, and none would gainsay me. How do you think I got away with killing Parker?”
Her eyes rounded. “That was you!” she gushed. “Epic. So you can turn invisible? Why the heck haven’t you tried to sneak up on me and goose me then?”
“Because it’s not that easy to do.”
“But you can do it?” she prodded. “And other stuff? You’re a Golden dragon. Most powerful of our kind.”
“Half Golden.”
“That didn’t used to matter to you.”
His expression twisted. “I know, and because of my old arrogance, I screwed over the only family I had. Did things to Sue-Ellen I shouldn’t have and basically alienated everyone who might have been on my side.”
“I’m still on your side.”
He stared at her, his expression blank, his eyes shuttered. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? That’s a very loaded word, you know.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Why are you so interested in me? I’m not a king-in-waiting anymore. I’m not even a full-breed Gold.”
“Gold enough for me.”
“Is that all I am? A stud for you to fuck?”
“Well, you are a stud, but I will add that I no longer have to mate with a dragon by the age of twenty-eight. I don’t have to mate at all. Yet, I intend to. With you.”
“Why? What do you have to gain? I am a fugitive from my own kind. A prisoner of a creature that is probably demonic in nature. I have nothing to offer.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, stud muffin. I think you’ve plenty to give a girl. And I’m not just talking about your body or your golden-caped swimmers.”
“My what?”
“Can’t you just focus on the fact that I want you?”
“No.” Again he rubbed at his hair and tugged the ends. “I can’t focus on it because I can’t understand it. I have no kingdom in this place. No riches.”
“Excuse me, but you are plenty rich.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You have me.” The biggest treasure of all.
“How does having you help us escape?”
“Because one and one is two.”
“You can count. Give the princess a ribbon.”
“Use your head, muffin. Before, you were fighting alone. A single planet with no sun to revolve around. No purpose.”
“Is this another emasculating way of explaining what a better fighter you are than me?”
“I think you’ll be a great fighter once you learn to let go and truly embrace who you are.”
“And who am I?”
She stepped close and stared him in the eyes. “You are Samael D’Ore, one of the last true Golden sons and heir to the Golden throne should something happen to your brother and his fragile little baby.”
“You’re not planning to kill it, are you?”
Her tight smile revealed nothing. “You are a powerful man in your own right. A dragon beyond compare. You have powers some of us can only imagine. Inner strengths you’ve yet to tap. And a smokin’ body I want to lick.”
Oops, she might have said that last part aloud.
Given how he kept fighting her allure, the last thing she expected was for him to grab her and draw her close. His strong hands clasped her firmly around the waist and lifted her on tiptoe.
His gaze bored into her. The swirling depths a chaotic green and red storm that churned. Parts of her churned, as well.
Especially her girly parts.
“How is it you drive me so wild?” he finally asked, his stare not wavering. His focus on her proved intense, and she thrived under it.
About time he finally saw her and reacted as he should.
“The reason you’re feeling weird and mushy stuff, my stud, is because you recognize me as your mate. The reason for your existence. It must be overwhelming, after all. My level of awesomeness will only come to you once in your life. But I want you to know that I’m okay with you worshipping me.” Magnanimous of her. I know. I’m just so giving that way.
The corner of his lip lifted. “You are stunningly arrogant.”
“Thank you.” She might have tilted her head in a preening motion. Her lips parted seductively, and she made sure to glance at his mouth.
Any second, he was going to lose control and kiss her.
Any second.
His lips moved…in order to talk!
“The logical side of me says I should ignore your considerable charms and try to find a way to escape.”
“Boring,” she sang. Who wanted logical when he called her charms considerable?
“Yes, boring, because who wants to play it safe?” His brow arched most pointedly. He was fascinating to watch.
“I always vote for danger.” She threw that out there because, hello, apparently, some short-lived ex-beaus thought she was a little too quick to say yes.
To anything.
Those who refused to participate, she dumped—but only after she got them to hold her beer.
“I knew you were going to say danger. In some ways, you’re predictable.”
“I resent that.”
Again, his lips quirked. Parts of her quirked, too.
Will he ever shut up and kiss me?
Had she said that out loud because, all of a sudden, his lips went insanely wide, his eyes shone with red fire, and he held her tighter in his arms.
The proximity set off shivers in her body.
“Kiss you or escape? The choice should seem obvious,” he whispered, the words hot against her lips.
“I think we can all figure out which one I’d choose,” she murmured back, brushing her lower lip against his with the last syllable.
His turn to have a fine tremor run through him. “It boils down to giving in to desire or being smart.”
“I think it boils down to kiss me or I will hurt you badly.” Deka’s patience only went so far.
“I already ache. Which is the entire problem. I also can’t think around you.” He nipped her lower lip.
She might have melted in her panties a bit.
“Just kiss me already.”
“I’ll kiss you when I damn well please,” he growled, brushing his mouth across her cheek to the corner of her mouth then stopping.
Fingers clutched his shoulders, dug into the taut muscle as she hissed. “Who do you think is in charge here?”
A whispered you floated across her mind, yet his mouth moved to say, “As you keep pointing out, I am the Golden dragon here.”
“You are.”
“Which means, I bow to no one.”
“About time you realized it.” She beamed at him.
“It also means, as the highest-ranking dragon, you should be obeying me.”
“Let’s not get hasty there,” she said, rubbing her mouth against his lower lip, hearing him catch his breath.
“Obey me, woman.” The way he said it made her insides flip.
“Ha. Not likely. I’d rather plan an escape first. Then again… I don’t know why we’re even thinking of escape when—”
“—we can take over.” His lips stretched. “Now why didn’t I think of that?�
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“Because you’re a man, and I am a goddess.”
“Did you just elevate yourself to outrank me?”
“Just pointing out the obvious. Agree or not, at your peril.” She bit his lower lip, tugging it and pinching tightly.
His hands slipped from her waist to cup her ass, squeezing the globes. “You are ridiculously bossy, and it should be so unattractive, but fuck me, I can’t resist you.” He kissed her, and she let out an inaudible happy sigh.
Some women might call Samael crude and arrogant in his mannerisms. They just didn’t understand a real man. He was strong enough to be her equal. He wouldn’t just give in. Nor would he chicken out if things got difficult.
As he continued to kiss her, his hard mouth slanting over hers, Deka melted. Good thing she’d ditched her panties or she’d be wringing them out.
He lifted her up, and it was instinctive to wrap her legs around his shanks, to draw him close to her.
Stupid loincloth was in the way. She could only feel him through the fabric, rubbing against her wet slit.
Reaching down, she snared the impediment and ripped it away.
He grunted.
It was a very sexy sound. A primal sound.
She trapped his turgid cock against her, the moistness of her sex sliding along him, a tease for them both. Her skirt rode around her waist, allowing her to truly angle her legs and body the way she wanted, finding the tip of his cock, right at the juncture. The pulsing heat of him pressed.
She wanted him inside her so badly. She started tightening her legs and drawing him in. A gasp escaped her, and a moaned, “Yes. Yes. That’s it.”
“No one warned me I’d be getting a floor show,” said Suzie, who was now wearing tits again. The bitch’s arrival totally threw off the flow of the moment.
Deka rotated her head, and yes it was probably very exorcist style. She couldn’t help her aggression, given her body pulsed in need and this ho was interrupting.
Like, hello, couldn’t this next scene of overdone evil have happened after she got laid? It would have taken like what, two minutes tops?
Fucking pain in my ass. I am going to kill her, or him. I’ll kill them twice.
Deka’s legs unwound from Samael’s waist as she dropped to the floor. She stood in front of him, not so much protectively than as a measure of modesty.
Suzie’d better not be looking at my mate.
Kill those that covet. Crazy Great Aunt Helga taught her that. She also taught her to smuggle her own snacks to the theater rather than pay those outrageous fees.
“I have to say, I am impressed that the girl thought up a way to get out. She didn’t seem that bright.” Suzie’s cloak snapped around her frame as she stalked closer.
“So, when you call me bright, that’s a good thing, right?” Deka took a few steps and smiled the smile Aunt Helga had also taught her.
It made big dogs whimper.
For a second, Suzie wavered, the lines of her body blurring, showing something more, bigger, darker with horns, followed by a fuzzy Hermie, then some dark-skinned chick before snapping back to Suzie.
“Stupid, Silver dragon. I will make you pay.”
“So stupid I got out of your prison super quickly. I would have been out earlier, but I needed a nap.”
Suzie’s lips flattened. “You couldn’t get out earlier. Why do you twist things?”
“What did I twist? I took a nap. When I woke up, I escaped.” It seemed obvious to Deka. Samael might have coughed behind her. Probably getting a cold from the draft going to his cheeks.
I should be warming those cheeks.
“Return to your cells or face the consequences.” Suzie stretched her arm, the cloak dripping shadows underneath it.
Deka clapped her hands. “Oh, goodie, a game with a prize at the end. Let me guess the rules. For you to win, you need to put us in our cells.” Her gaze turned serious. “As for Samael and me… To win, we just have to kill you.” Smile. “Bonus points if you scream.”
Because here was the thing. While good guys were about justice, Deka wasn’t good, and she had no problem making her enemies cry—or, even better, bleed.
Chapter Thirteen
What the fuck is happening? Samael listened to Deka—a petite and curvy woman with sex appeal so great he still had a hard-on despite the interruption—threaten to rip out the intestines of the suzerain and wrap her in a bow.
Talk about bat-fucking-shit crazy.
And violent.
And so fucking cute it hurt.
She was unlike anyone he’d ever met, and he couldn’t help but want to toss her over a shoulder to take her somewhere he’d never shared with anyone.
But he would with her.
If they made it out alive.
Perhaps the suzerain was having an off day, or perhaps Samael had finally opened his eyes. Whatever the reason, Suzie didn’t look as powerful as he recalled. The cloak, however, did have some major cool mojo.
Want it.
Take it.
The voice was Deka’s, and her advice agreed with his desires. He took a step forward, only to have Suzie narrow her gaze and snap, “Don’t move.” She gripped a pouch with a drawstring by her side.
I recognize that bag. The same one the Jabbas used. Inside, glittering sand that, when inhaled, turned him into a pathetic prisoner.
You can’t escape. It’s impossible. You know what will happen if you do.
He remembered. Remembered the agony as he sagged in chains.
You don’t want to do this. You know the pain you’ll suffer. Is it worth this small moment of rebellion?
Rebellion would hurt, and hurt for a long time.
Better to behave. Give yourself up. Convince the girl to give herself up, too.
The very idea of handing her over had him cocking his head, and he couldn’t help but mentally blast, Like fuck am I giving Deka to anyone.
His silver-haired princess angled her head and replied as if she heard him. “Of course, you’re not giving me away. You’re gonna keep me exclusively as yours forever and ever. Aren’t you, muffin?” She batted her lashes at him. “And if you don’t kill what’s keeping us apart”—Deka cracked her knuckles, the perfect manicure at the tips of her fingers a nice touch—“then I will.”
Suzie’s red gaze turned to her. “You will come quietly, Silver, or I will have him take you and show you just how unimportant you truly are. My pet knows who his master is.”
The Silver is a troublemaker. You should help get her back to her cell before she causes you more pain.
The Silver?
He would never call Deka, that fiery-hot woman, something so generic and tame.
But Suzie would.
And in that moment of recognition, the suzerain lost her power.
He glared. “Get out of my head.”
“You need to listen to me, or I will hurt you.” She raised a hand.
A very small and pale hand.
It could inflict a lot of agony if it chose.
So could he.
He lunged and tried to grab the suzerain; however, the smoky cloak passed like mist through his hand.
“How dare you.” The magic hit him and threw him across the throne room as if a giant fist of air had grabbed him. He hit the pillar hard enough to hear it crack.
“Don’t you touch my muffin.” Deka flowed forward, and while the suzerain formed balls of light that she flung, Deka dodged and ducked, a primal sound—was it laughter?—coming from her lips.
As he stood, he couldn’t help but watch as Deka’s forward rush forced Suzie to trip backwards.
“Freeze.” The word flowed out of the suzerain and hit Deka, who shivered and slowed for only a half-second.
“Fuck you, bitch.” Deka began to glow. She wasn’t hampered by the side effects of any drugs.
She could change at will, and the suzerain realized it too late. Something blasted from her hand, but that didn’t halt Deka’s transformation, her figure expanding,
her scraps of clothes shredding.
He could feel the metamorphous charging the air, the lightening of pressure as her body expanded, the shape of her filling out, becoming buoyant. The inside as if a hollowed drum. The distributed weight was part of how their wings worked with their size.
But in that lightness there was strength. A transformed Deka, her silver scales edged in hints of blue, chased after the suzerain, who dodged behind pillars, lobbing magic.
Whereas he, he gripped the collar around his neck, the fabric coating on it enough to keep him from burning but not enough to prevent the magic from impeding his own ability to become.
I can become in my cell. The collar didn’t stop him then.
When angry. But right now, he wasn’t the one who was pissed. That was Deka. She trumpeted as she chased the suzerain out of the throne room via a small door behind the throne. The move momentarily foiled Deka, whose wider dragon body got caught in the slim arch.
A smart man, he knew mentioning it would only result in his certain death.
He risked it anyhow. “Gonna have to wiggle that ass of yours a little bit more if you want to fit.”
He was pretty sure she gave him a mental finger.
“Need a shove?”
Yeah, that whack on his mind was definitely a tap from her.
He grinned.
“Maybe you should try another door. A wider one.”
He clearly heard her mutter like hell that time.
Watch and learn, muffin.
One moment, she was solidly jammed; and the next, she became liquid silver. The shape of her turning slightly amorphous then flowing like a river of mercury through the doorway.
Fucking cool. He’d never seen the likes of it. It meant, though, that she popped out of sight.
He jogged to catch up, entering the hallway to see Deka sliding around a corner.
He ran and almost made it before the crackling sound started.
Why does that seem so familiar?
Didn’t he recall the smell of cow manure and fresh soil on a night with thunder and lightning?
Hitting the bend, he slowed, only enough to pivot, then keep bolting, seeing massive portals ahead that opened onto the nightmarish landscape.
A way out.
Mauve lightning, with hints of blue, crackled down from the sky. Jagged forces of electricity that hit the ground and bounced. One after another, they struck.