by Alisa Woods
“Oh, fuck,” he gasped.
“You are mine,” she said through gritted teeth, still magically assisting the slamming together of their bodies. “I claim you for my own, dragon prince.”
“Yes. Oh, fuck yes.” His grip on her waist tightened, and she could tell he was close. Her own climax was climbing, but not quite at the peak, and for some reason, she felt the need to have them reach the summit together this time. Always, he saw to her pleasure first. Always, he took her to the top before his own climax was reached. This time, she wanted their joining to be truly shared.
“I am…” Her words were interrupted by a thrust that went even deeper and stole her breath. “I am an angeling of light,” she continued. Then she eased her legs off his shoulders and pushed him back on the bed. “And I will have you as I wish.”
They were still joined, only now Leksander was on his back, and she was on her knees, straddling him. She slammed down on his cock, and he groaned his pleasure at that. She extended her wings wide, giving him a full view since that seemed to give him pleasure. Then she used her magic assist in riding his body, fast and hard.
“Fuck, Erelah,” he panted, watching where they joined together, his cock disappearing repeatedly and swiftly into her body.
She grabbed hold of his hair, forcing him to look up into her face. “Yes, I will fuck you. Hard, dragon prince. Prepare yourself.”
“Oh, fuck,” he whispered in the most soft and delicious way. She burned with the love they were making and each time she impaled herself on his cock, it drove her coiling need even tighter. But she would do exactly as she said, drive him on relentlessly in his own need, making their joining a passion so ardent she feared they might break the bed.
It would be worth it.
He grunted and groaned as she pounded down on him, holding his hair tight as one anchor, her hand splayed on his chest for another. His hands still gripped her waist, but her magic assist in her stroke was stronger than anything he was attempting.
“Oh, God, Erelah, fuck, yes, yes, don’t… fucking… stop,” he babbled on, and his ramblings thrummed pleasure through her, pushing her close, so close. Through the many, many climaxes he had brought her, she had learned to control the pulse of power that blasted from her when she came. Mostly. But in this position, with her grip on him, if she lost control, at least he would blast across the room with her. Then suddenly, he let out a groan that convulsed his entire body even as she held him firmly to the bed. She felt the twitching of his engorged cock inside her, the hot spurt of his seed… and that, plus the contorted look on his face drove her right over the brink.
She cried out, channeling her burst of magic into a scream just short of angelsong. She came and came, clenching down even harder on Leksander’s cock. He was her beloved. Her mate. She could give him every pleasure he could dream of, and it still wouldn’t be enough. She would need years to explore their love and all the endless ways to show it—that was how deep and how strong it was.
But they wouldn’t have those years, not if she couldn’t somehow give him a dragonling. If he remained unmated—and no other woman could have him, not now, not ever; Erelah was sure she would succumb to the Sin of Envy in a moment and smite her—then Leksander would pass into wyvern form. The fate of the treaty and humanity and his duty… all of that paled in importance for her now, not compared to Leksander simply living.
That was everything.
As she wound down from her climax, she floated in the pleasure he had given her and she to him. Above all else, her beloved must live. And that was worth the risk of losing what she had left of her angel nature.
She slowed and finally stopped her stroking of his cock with her body. Leksander, for his part, had released her, his hands falling limp by his side. His eyes were closed, and his head slumped to the side, his entire body loose with pleasure and seemingly sated… at least for the moment. She would think he was dead except for the still-rapid breaths and the heaving of his chest.
She bent forward and whispered in his ear. “You liked that, didn’t you?”
He groaned, long and deep. Then his hands found her hair before she could lean back again, and he brought her lips to his. “Holy magic, woman. You can do that to me anytime. Any at all. Don’t bother stopping to ask.”
“I shall remember that.” She grinned. Pleasing this man gave her a joy that was matchless.
His hands fell limp to the bed again. “Just give me a minute, okay? Just a minute, and I’ll be ready for more.”
She gingerly climbed off him, making him groan again as his cock slipped from her body, then she snuggled next to him. “I shall give you three. Then I expect you will be ready to pleasure me with some new feat we haven’t yet tried.”
“I’ll do my best,” he breathed, still limp with pleasure but gamely pulling her close as she cuddled up against him.
“And then we must make a dragonling.”
Leksander’s eyes popped open, and his head jerked up to look at her. “A dragonling.”
“It is necessary.” She bit her lip then realized what she was doing and stopped.
He frowned and struggled to turn on his side to face her. One hand propped his head up to talk while the other brushed back some of the hair that had mussed and flown wild during their lovemaking.
His gaze searched her face. “You’ve been thinking about it.”
“Yes.” She hesitated. “We must attempt it, even with the dangers.”
His frown grew even darker. “Dangers.” He swallowed visibly then cupped her cheek and leaned across the close space between them. His kiss was gentle and tentative. Like the first one he gave her. She still had that one—and every other one—emblazoned in her memories. When he stopped, he didn’t pull back, just pressed his forehead to hers. “I suppose it’s too much to ask, just to be here, like this.” Then he pulled back and looked her straight in the eyes. “Forever.”
She snaked her hand between them to touch her fingertips to his cheek. “My beloved… you do not have forever. Not for this. And I will not lose you.”
But that just drove his expression to be more pained. “I can’t bear losing you—not to the sealing or the pregnancy. Erelah, it would kill me faster than any wyvern.”
“Angelings are very hard to kill,” she said, matter-of-factly. This was something he shouldn’t fear.
He smiled, but the pain was still there. “They don’t usually carry dragonlings.”
“True,” she conceded. “But I doubt that will spell my doom.” This time, she couldn’t help biting her lip. “It is much more likely that I will simply fail you, Leksander. Or that I’ll succeed but…” She hesitated to give voice to her fear.
“But what?” He frowned again.
When she dropped her gaze, trying to figure out how to say it, Leksander pushed himself up to sitting and pulled her from lying on the bed. Then he brought her once again into his lap, her legs wrapped behind his back, her sex opened wide and snugged against the firm muscles of his belly. His cock was still sated from their lovemaking, but this position brought her once again face-to-face with him. He kept one arm locked around her waist, holding her close, while the other hand traced patterns on her cheek and across her lips.
“Erelah, angeling of light, Protector class,” he said softly. “I’ve never known you to fear, well, pretty much anything. So tell me… what do you think will happen if you bear my child?” His concern was etched deep in his frown.
Seeing the love in his eyes, held skin-to-skin like this, bared and open to him… there was no possibility for secret fears or thoughts. “My angel nature,” she said softly. “It may not survive.”
The arm around her back tightened, but his hand fell away from her face. “That’s not going to happen.”
“You don’t know that, dragon prince,” she admonished lightly. “And if I lose my wings but give you a child, it is a fair trade.”
He scowled. “No. It’s not.” He seemed greatly troubled by this… far
more than he should be.
“As you say, it may not happen,” she tried. She should not have mentioned it. Now, he would only worry about a thing that neither of them could control. “Tell me about the sealing. I know it leaves a mark and prepares the human body to endure the birth of an immortal. Before, I never thought to ask more. I have a rather obvious need to know now.” She gave him a small smile, but it did not banish his frown.
“First, we have sex,” he said.
“This does not sound difficult.” Her smile grew.
He scowled. “The sex is to flush your body with pleasure so that it can endure the pain.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I am familiar with pain. Perhaps the sex will be unnecessary. However, I still think we should have it.”
He dipped his head to the side, silently chastising her attempt at humor. “Do you want me to tell you, or not?”
She banished the smile from her face. “Yes.”
“Then stop interrupting.” He scowled, but it seemed less serious.
Her grin returned and conquered her face. Leksander’s eyes gained back some of their sparkle. He pulled her closer, grinding her sensitive spot between her legs against the hardened muscles of his stomach. His hand wound into her hair, and he brought her in for a thorough kiss.
When he pulled back, he said, “Definitely more sex first.”
She was already a little breathless. “And then?”
His fingers were back to playing along her face. “Then I infuse your body with my dragonfire. It will leave my mark and prepare you to carry my child. Then, when your body is ready, we make love again… only this time, the baby will be made.”
She nodded. “My angel nature may fight it. How long does it take, this sealing with dragonfire?”
His expression was twisting with something like pain. “Only a few minutes. But then we have to wait…”
She lifted her eyebrows. “To see if it takes?”
He grimaced. “For a human, it’s the first danger point. She may be consumed by the heat of it.”
“I’m already hotter than you, dragon prince.”
He burst into a short laugh. “In so many ways, my love.”
“I mean the one involving temperature.”
He grinned. “Perhaps that will work for us.” But then uncertainty cast its cloud over his face.
“The dragonfire may burn up my human side,” she said, leaning back to tick the dangers off on her fingers. “It may war with my angel side and win. Or lose.”
“Rosalyn’s witch magic was unharmed,” Leksander tried, hope rising on his face.
“Angel magic is not like mortal magic, dragon prince,” she said.
He released a breath and touched her cheek again. “I know.”
“The most likely thing is that we are simply… incompatible.” She bit her lip again. This was her greatest fear. That she would fail him outright. And then she would have doomed not only him, by not pushing him away or producing a dragonling, but all of humanity as well. It was truly the worst outcome.
“I think we’re meant to be together,” he whispered, love filling his eyes.
“There is one way to find out.” She swallowed. Was she ready to do this? The answer was no. But it was best for them to move ahead quickly.
Leksander’s eyebrows lifted. “Right now?” She could sense the trepidation in him.
She leaned into him, grinding her sex against his belly. “Sex first, I believe.” She pulled his face to hers and kissed him, rubbing her chest against his, striving for all the contact she could. Already, she could feel his cock rising to the task, growing stiff below where she had straddled him.
A strange buzzing sound started up, but Leksander’s hands were busy grabbing hold of her bottom and lifting her up. She thought he might go straight for taking her this way, but he only relieved the pressure of his rising cock, now trapping it between them, where it deliciously rubbed against the very spot already inflamed by the prior lovemaking.
“Oh, Erelah,” he breathed into her face when he released her from the kiss. She was actively grinding on his cock now, bringing pleasure to both of them. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”
“A few more practices first?” she asked then bit down on his shoulder.
“God, yes,” he groaned.
The buzzing happened again, annoying and distracting. Leksander didn’t seem to notice, especially when she moved her bite—not strong enough to draw blood, but none too soft either—up to his neck. His moans were almost enough to cover the sound of the buzzing, but her annoyance with it was escalating.
She pulled back. “What is that infernal noise?”
“What?” Leksander asked, dazed.
Then it buzzed again, and Leksander’s attention whipped to the large screen that filled one wall of his bedroom. He must have manipulated it with magic because the screen lit up with an oversized image of his brother Lucian’s face.
Erelah flushed as she realized their compromising position.
But neither Lucian nor Leksander seemed the least concerned. “Leksander!” Lucian said. “Sorry to interrupt, man, but you need to see this.” He held up his phone to the screen, showing a scene of mayhem in a city street. Emergency vehicles and flashing lights dominated it, although Erelah couldn’t see it clearly enough to determine the source of the emergency. Or even where it was happening. “There’s a demon uprising in the city.”
“A demon uprising?” Leksander growled as he stalked into the throne room.
He and Erelah had conjured clothes and hurried across the keep. Lucian and Leonidas were already near the dais up front, conferring in hushed tones over Lucian’s phone. Erelah strode by his side, once again in that revealing toga of white that she’d worn most of the time he’d known her. The snowy white of her wings brightened the room, fully extended like she expected to take off at any moment and strike out against this apparent demon horde in Seattle.
Lucian and Leonidas stopped their whispering. Both of their eyes had gone wide, but Leonidas spoke first. “So the white wings are back,” he said with a dip of his chin to Erelah. “Good to know.”
“I have True Love of your brother,” she said, like declaring her love for him was as simple and obvious as the weather. “It has banished my shadow side.”
Leonidas just nodded, giving Leksander a pointed look.
Lucian simply looked stunned. “Are you mated?” he choked out.
“Not yet.” Leksander scowled. “I was working on that.”
Erelah gestured to the phone in Lucian’s hand. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I don’t know,” Lucian said, his face still frozen in disbelief. Then he shook his head and focused on the phone, swiping up a video and playing it for them, soundlessly. “There are attacks all over the city. We knew, of course, that the demons were still present. Leonidas and I have been taking turns patrolling and hunting, while you’ve been, well, occupied.”
“But we had no idea this was coming,” Leonidas cut in. “We wouldn’t have interrupted you two—I’d be the last one to stop you from getting busy.” He gave Lucian a pinched look then turned back to face Leksander. “But something is going down here.” He lifted his chin to Erelah. “We could use a legion of angelings right at the moment.”
“She’s going nowhere,” Leksander said, his voice more harsh than he intended. But there was no fucking way he was letting Erelah leave the keep. Not until she was sealed and carrying his child. And then, not until the baby was born. After that… well, his possessiveness might ease in another hundred years. But he’d just gained everything he ever wanted—the world could go literally to hell before he would risk losing her.
“Leksander,” Erelah scolded him. “This is no small infestation.” She snatched the phone from Lucian’s hand and thrust it in Leksander’s face. “Humans are at risk. I must go.”
“No.” It came out with a wisp of dragonfire. He grabbed the phone from her hand and threw it back at Lucian,
who awkwardly caught it. The idea of her running around Seattle, hunting demons… it was insane. Not with the shadow realm after her. But he couldn’t stop her, and knowing her, she would go no matter what he said.
“You do not command me, dragon prince.” Her wings stretched wide, and her feathers bristled. There was that stubborn fire in her eyes, the one he loved, but it felt like it might tear him apart.
Leksander struggled to choke down his rampant and sudden fear. While he was grasping for the right words, Leonidas shoved a hand into Lucian’s shoulder and started cursing him in dragontongue. Leksander yanked his attention back to Erelah. Some of the righteous fury had gone out of her eyes.
“You wish to protect me,” she said, her voice far calmer than he felt.
“Yes,” he gushed in relief.
She nodded. “Because we have yet to complete the mating.”
“Because I love you.” The words felt like pain wrenched from deep in his chest.
She moved closer, fast, with magic-assisted angel speed, and her hand was suddenly on his cheek, those beautiful blue eyes gazing into his. “My love for you,” she whispered. “It consumes me and drives me and…” She blinked. “You must live, dragon prince. For that, we must mate. And soon. All depends on it. I will stay in the keep, as you wish.”
The tension in his shoulders released. He took her cheeks in both hands and kissed her. It felt like a seal of that promise from her. And the need to claim her—to seal her with his fire as well—coiled tight inside him.
Someone coughed. “We’ll find another way to contact the angels.” It was Lucian.
Leksander broke the kiss; otherwise, he’d be bending Erelah over the throne and sealing her right here, and not giving a fuck who was watching.
Leonidas was glaring at Lucian, but then he waved his hands at Leksander and Erelah, shooing them from the room. “You two run along and get busy.”
“How will you make contact with the angelings of Markos’s Dominion?” Erelah asked, not moving from his side.
Lucian scowled. “We’ll figure it out.”