Some of the other Dragons still circled overhead, preparing in formation to take the beasts down with flames and any other means necessary. Neko turned her eyes up, seeing Trix’s face as she clung close to Lyre, her deadly throwing stars at the ready. She’d taken a few Lapsed out herself, Lyre swooping down into range to facilitate her kills. Neko allowed herself the briefest smile at watching Trix work. She really was gifted. If she ever mated with a Dragon, she’d be utterly unstoppable.
Standing behind one of the large oak trees on the edge of the clearing, Neko paused for a moment to watch Lumen do his job. Expertly he drew the creatures to him, corralling them into the circular expanse of green grass.
Sitting ducks, waiting to be cooked.
When he’d managed to get most of them into the space, the Dragons swept downward from the sky in quick succession, shooting their flames at the creatures, who cried out briefly in anguish before disappearing into clouds of nothingness, silent explosions overtaking their bodies.
In a brief gust of wind, the scent of smoke and charred flesh struck Neko, who covered her face for a moment, backing away. Something about the overwhelming scent reminded her of the alleyway where she’d had her encounter with Umbra. It was too familiar, somehow—the grim sense surrounding her of death, destruction. The only difference was that this time it had come from her side. Her alliance was the killer now.
She backed away, trying to escape the smell for a moment. To give her senses some respite from the horrors of what was occurring all around her.
But it was then that she was struck by a more familiar scent, this one sending a trail of frost along her spine. More despicable, even, than the stench of death.
She didn’t need to turn around to seek out its source; she knew all too well.
“We meet again,” the thin voice all but whispered, close behind her. “Just as I’d hoped.”
Neko turned on her heel to face him, her heart exploding in her chest. Don’t be afraid, she told herself. No fear.
Umbra stood before her, tall, strong, as he had been two days earlier. His eyes wicked, bright with life, and narrowing, took her entire body in, as though he were hungry for it. The thought sent a hard shiver down her spine.
“You brought them here,” she said. “You’re tracking me.” It was just as Lumen had warned; he’d never stop hunting her.
But if she could turn the tables on him here and now, then she and Lumen would finally be able to retrieve the Relic. It would all be over at last. No more anxious delays of their life together.
“Yes. Of course I’m tracking you. We never concluded our business the other day, you see.” Umbra moved in a half-circle around her, his eyes never leaving her form. Had Lumen looked at her in such a way, it would have aroused her. But this man’s gaze felt like an invasion, an assault. His aroma, with its oddly alluring overtones, was wafting about her, infuriating her, clouding her mind.
He’d fed again, she could tell. The bastard had killed another human.
“Last time we met I should have killed you quickly,” he hissed. “But I’ve begun to think a swift death too good for the likes of you. Once I know the Relic’s location I will have to take you apart piece by piece. Beginning, perhaps, with your fingertips and working my way along, inch by delicious inch.”
“You’ll never get information out of me. You tried and failed,” she spat, her tone filled with challenge. Just try it again, you fucker. Her fingers tightened around the hilts of her daggers, preparing for the fight.
“You are an awfully annoying little insect,” he said. “I’ll admit that I allowed my fury to get the better of me the last time. But it won’t happen again—Seeker.” He was still stepping towards her. “Now tell me—where is it? You and I will go and retrieve it.”
“I will never help you,” she growled. “Never.”
Just then a shrill, horrifying cry rang out somewhere in the air behind her. The Hunter’s head shot around, seeking the source of the gruesome noise. One of the Dragons was under attack, injured by the countless Lapsed.
“My servants are doing good work, it seems,” Umbra purred. “It’s not easy to take a Kindred down.”
“Bastard,” Neko snarled. It wasn’t Lumen who’d cried out, at least. But Neko ached to think that any of the Kindred was in physical pain.
“If you take me to the Relic’s location,” said Umbra, “I’ll order them away. Your Dragons will be safe, as will your weak human friends. This can all end now, Neko Sands.”
“I told you already that I don’t know where it is,” she shot, her own voice piercing in her ears.
“You did tell me that. But you know now, don’t you?” he asked, moving closer. He towered over her, his face, beautiful and horrifying at once, looming over her own. His dark hair was pulled back, framing cruel and exquisite features.
Neko braced, ready to attack. Two daggers. If what Lumen said was true, all it would take was to plunge them into his chest, his throat. Poison. Snuff out the bastard’s life, once and for all.
Umbra’s eyes shifted to her weapons and for a moment he stopped his approach, freezing in his tracks. For the first time since she’d met him, she saw fear. So it was true—even he knew to be afraid of Dragon bone.
She didn’t hesitate, drawing the knives up to her sides as she leapt forward, ready to drive them into his flesh.
But the satisfaction of piercing his body never came to pass. A sudden jerking motion yanked her backwards, and like a shot, her body flew into the sky, her arms still tense with readiness. Her attack thwarted.
It took only a second to realize what had happened, as she registered the talons, hooked under her arms, powerful silver legs pulling her upwards, wrapping around her torso, cradling her in their clutch.
Far below, she could see Umbra’s wicked face, his smile taunting her as Lumen carried her far away.
Conflict
“What the hell did you just do?” Neko shouted, her eyes staring up at the underside of the vast silver Dragon who’d stolen her away from her prey. His face was nowhere to be seen, at least not from this angle. Probably for the best, as he would have been able to see the fury in her eyes.
“I’m getting you out of there, Neko. I thought I told you to stay away from that monster. He was going to fucking kill you.”
“And I told you that I can look after myself.” She was still shouting, refusing to convey the message through her mind. That was too intimate, and in this moment he didn’t deserve intimacy. “Damn it, Lumen, I was about to end him.”
“No you weren’t. He had the upper hand—he’d fed recently. He would have won the fight. And I’ll be damned if I was going to watch him do it.”
Neko clamped her teeth together, face and chest crimson with rage. Did he really think so little of her that he perceived her as an utterly helpless female buffoon? She’d been ready to take Umbra. She could have done it, and the nightmare would have ended at last.
“I’m not stupid,” she snarled. “I know what I’m doing. Now bring me back down and let me finish this.”
“I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. Minach has been badly wounded. Lyre is helping him to safety, but there are too many Lapsed down there to land again.”
For a moment, concern for Lumen’s fellow Dragon shifter managed to replace Neko’s rage, softening the sharp edges of her heart. So it was Minach’s voice that she’d heard crying out in agony. In grabbing her and flying off, Lumen was acting for the good of all of them, leading the Kindred and Hunters away to safety. A feeling of shame struck Neko like a quick slap, punishment for being so selfish. For making the conflict about her own vendetta rather than looking out for the greater good.
“Will Minach be all right?” she asked.
“I don’t know. He made the mistake of trying to take too many on at once when he’d landed. They came at him from all sides, and their numbers were just too great. He’s badly torn up, though I don’t think any of his wounds are life-threatening.”
“What about An
aïs?”
“Kliev grabbed her before they could do her any damage. She’s fine.”
Neko went silent for a few minutes, thinking about how it could have been Lumen. He could easily have been the one who’d been suffered the savage attack; it could have been him who’d had to be taken to hospital, or worse.
And at last she understood why he was so protective of her. How much it terrified him to think of her being killed.
Never had it occurred to her that he could be vulnerable to harm.
But despite all of it she knew now, more than ever before, that she needed to finish her task. She’d been on the verge of it when he’d grabbed her and torn her away from her victim, a rag doll in his powerful talons.
Somehow, she’d have to find her way back to Umbra. Find a way to fulfill her duty—to wipe him from the face of the earth, and to help the Dragons find their way to the first Relic. She needed to give them the best possible chance at recovering it, even if it meant risking her own life. And it was clearer than ever that she couldn’t tell Lumen of the plan. He would sooner chain her up than allow her near the Forsaken again, and she couldn’t exactly blame him.
They didn’t speak for the remainder of the trip. Neko eventually found a way to relax in his grip, wrapping her arms around his enormous talons and leaning her weight on the heel of his foot, which was hooked under his silver body. She sensed anger in him—directed at the Lapsed, at Umbra, or perhaps at her. A conversation was coming, and the thought filled her with dark dread.
* * *
“Neko,” Lumen said when they’d both made their way into the underwater flat. So, it was already beginning.
She turned to him, her eyes hesitant to look into his. It was so hard to be defiant when he insisted on being so gorgeous, his piercing eyes so full of affection. It seemed that his rage had died down, for the time being at least. “I don’t want to fight with you. You think me a tyrant, I suspect, for pulling you away as I did. But I only want to keep you alive. To keep you with me, so that we can have a chance at a life together. I don’t want to give you up to a homicidal maniac.”
Neko’s dark eyes lowered to the floor. Inside her, rebellion threatened to bubble up, further stubborn resistance to his wishes. But as her eyes met his again, the pain in his face struck her like a blow. She could see everything in him, his features an open book, inviting her to read them.
And she read a profound fear. The ache that he suffered each time he thought of a life without her.
She understood the feeling all too well, and a part of her wanted to tell him as much. That, in the moment in that alleyway when it seemed as though Umbra would steal away her life, she’d known for the first time just how deep her attachment to the Dragon shifter had grown. That he was inside her now, his very blood intermingled with hers.
He was her breath, as important to her as the air that surrounded her.
To resent him for wanting to keep her with him seemed absurd, after all they’d been through. He was such a strong man—powerful, exquisite and fierce. But sometimes she forgot that he wasn’t invincible. And his only weakness in the world, it seemed, was his affection for her.
So she let go of her own stupid stubbornness, easing towards him and slipping a hand around his neck. Drawing his face to hers with her hands, she stared into the beautiful liquid depth of his eyes. He was hers in that moment, and forever. And she was his. No matter what happened.
“I want that life too,” she said softly, hands sliding down to his chest. “More than anything. I need you to understand that.”
“I do,” he said, a brief smile appearing on his sensual lips.
“But you have to understand who I am, too,” she continued. “Please don’t ask me to stop being who—and what—I am.” Her eyes, bright with the tears that wouldn’t fall, looked into his again. “You may as well put me in a cage and throw away the key. I can’t help what’s in my blood, Lumen, any more than you can.”
Softly he kissed her. A quiet acknowledgment of understanding. “No, of course you can’t,” he said. “And I can’t stand watching you get hurt. It drives me utterly mad. My Dragon rages inside me to think of it. I don’t want to see anyone get their hands on you, ever again.”
It’s fine, she thought. Then I’ll make sure you don’t have to watch when it happens.
* * *
When Neko walked into their bedroom a few hours later, she found Lumen already in bed, his eyes shut tight. He was tired after the battle on the Heath, as was she, and sex should have been the last thing on either of their minds. But looking at his exquisite, naked torso exposed above the sheets, her body began to ache for him as it so often did.
This might be her last chance to be with him, she knew. And to waste it would be foolish.
Standing on his side of the bed, she slowly stripped off most of her clothing. Dropping it to the floor, she climbed over him, thighs propping her up on either side of his torso. That was enough to prompt his eyes to fly open, a smile lacing his lips as he peered up at her.
His hands went almost immediately to her bare hips, pulling her down onto him, her sex grinding into his through the thin sheet that barely covered him.
“Well, this is a surprise,” he said. “A pleasant one.”
“Is it?” she asked, leaning in to meet his lips with her own. “Surprising that I should want you?”
“Well, we did spar earlier.”
“Make-up sex is the best sort,” she replied. “Even if we’ve already made up.”
She smiled, trying her best to look playful. He mustn’t know her plans for the night. Mustn’t guess.
Sitting up, she pulled at the t-shirt she’d put on after showering, and he eased his body upwards to help with her task.
Neko stared down at him, at the beautiful, seizing muscles of his abdomen, the exquisite ridges of his biceps. Reminders of his power. Fingers stroked over the shapes that his flexed body made beneath her even as she felt him grow, desire forcing his cock to throb for her.
“Panties,” he said softly.
She moved to lie beside him, fingers pulling them downward, slipping them over each leg. And then she tore away the sheet that was covering him, unleashing the gorgeous erection that had been held prisoner beneath her weight. Sliding down towards his ankles, she inhaled deeply, savouring the wondrous scent of him. Reminding herself of it, in case her mind was to be overtaken later by less pleasant sensations.
Kissing her way up each thigh, she stopped when she arrived at his sex, laying soft kisses around the base of his cock as her hand reached for him, offering a gentle squeeze. He twitched under her touch, a deep sigh of grateful arousal piercing his lips. His breaths deepened, his pleasure intensifying as he rolled his hips upwards, encouraging her stroking hand.
“I want you,” she said softly, kissing his shaft, a soft throb meeting her lips in response.
And in a flurry of movement her sleepy lover was up, rejuvenated, grabbing her only to throw her down onto her back.
“You want me?” he asked as she let out a ringing laugh. “Like this?”
He rose to stand at the edge of the bed, wrapping his arms around her thighs and dragging her to him as she parted them wide in welcome.
“Yes. Like this,” she said.
He cupped her wetness, a finger slipping inside her as he let out a deeply satisfied sigh. So wet for him, so ready.
“You are such a gift,” he said, climbing down onto his knees and drawing his tongue along the inside of her left thigh. “Sometimes I forget how fortunate I am to have found you.”
“And I you.”
“Then I’ll remind you, the only way I know how.”
He teased her, his energy level rising as he licked at the soft, shaved skin around her lips, forcing brutal pulses of ache to course through her. He flattened a palm on her pelvis, drawing her skin up to expose her delicious pink bud, and ran the tip of his tongue over her.
Oh, God.
A kiss, and then another
, and another, falling on her clit, fingers finding their way inside her, thrusting deep and slow. Yes. That was perfect.
Neko shut her eyes tight, sealing the memory inside her mind, a snapshot for darker moments.
Lumen’s fingers moved in an exquisite rhythm, driving into her as her body clenched around him. But before he could go too far, she reached for his face, pulling it upwards so that she could see his eyes.
“I want you inside me.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I love having your mouth on me, almost more than anything. But I want…need…to feel all of you.” I want to be one with you, if this is to be the last time.
Grasping his length in his right hand he slipped the swollen tip over her opening, his eyes staring into hers. And then he thrust hard, hips ramming forward, and she reached for him, pulling him deeper as she cried out in pain and delight.
He drew himself out again, stomach muscles tensing, then let himself tear into her once more, fingers digging into the thighs that embraced his hips. Leaning in as she arched backwards, his lips found a nipple and sucked it into his mouth, heightening her pleasure almost beyond what she could withstand.
Stunned into silence by the agony of it all, Neko’s hands grabbed at everything she could—the sheets, his hair, the headboard—to counter the sweetly painful pleasure of it all. He was reading her, responding to her need with an almost violent, carnal attack. He knew, somehow, what she craved.
He thrust an arm around her back, pulling her up as he bent to take in her other nipple, his teeth raking the sensitive nub before releasing. A low growl rose up in his chest, his Dragon claiming possession once again. His lover. His Hunter.
And with that a madness seemed to overtake him, hips thrusting, ferocious, the pressure at her core building so fast that she thought she might explode. He was so impossibly big, so thick. So good.
With each thrust, each stroke of his taut stomach, her sensitive clit responded to his body, bringing her closer and closer to her own release. Yes, that’s it.
Dragon Hunter Box Set: A Dragon Shifter Serial Page 26