by Ava Benton
But I could still see him—more important, I could feel him. I could touch him while he touched me, running his hands over my body as he kissed me again and again, until I couldn’t breathe but held him closer anyway, needing more. My head spun, but I clung to him like a life raft as he explored me.
“Ciera…” His voice was a growl in my ear before his tongue traced the curve of the lobe, then moved down the side of my throat.
I sighed and ran my hands through his hair, over his shoulders and arms, lost in him. It was bliss like I had never known, bliss I wished would never end. Just the feeling of his hot lips burning my skin with the sweetest fire.
One of his hands slid under my sweater and cupped my breast, kneading and stroking until his fingers met at the nipple and rolled it gently between thumb and forefinger.
I cried out my approval, pressing myself against him, giving him more. He raised the sweater, and the cold air sent goosebumps over my skin before his mouth warmed me, pulling the nipple between his teeth.
“Oh, God,” I moaned as I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him in, until the thick, hard length of his dick skewered my hip.
He growled, which only made the heat in my core burn hotter than ever. The beast was just beneath the surface, breathing heavy, grunting and growling as his need met mine and combined, creating something bigger than the both of us, something that could sweep us both up in its wake.
Fence’s hands stroked my waist before working at the button on my jeans. I helped him work them off along with my panties, kicking them aside, running my legs over his. Grateful for every inch of skin touching any inch of his.
He stroked my thighs, the curve of my butt, his fingers hooking into something like claws as they ran over my skin. I hissed, lost between pleasure and pain, welcoming the sensation, wanting more. I did the same to him, marking his back and shoulders, smiling in triumph when he moaned louder than ever.
“I love you.” He raised himself up on his forearms and looked down at me. “I love you, Ciera.”
“I love you,” I managed to gasp as one of his hands cupped my tingling, swollen mound and stroked my slick lips.
His fingers slid inside, finding my clit, and my body arched as exquisite pleasure exploded from that one spot, radiating through me until my toes curled.
“So good…” I moaned.
“I can do better,” he panted in reply, spreading my thighs and positioning himself between them. I locked my legs around his waist and grunted when the thick head of his dick parted my sensitive flesh and worked its way inside. I didn’t know anything could feel so good, be so good, filling me completely the way he did. My muscles clenched around him when he slid home, gripping him tight before pulsing rhythmically as I came again.
It was unreal, like something from a dream. Wrapped up in him, nothing but him, his scent and his strength, the taste of his skin, the delicious friction which built steadily with each deep, sure thrust. He took what he wanted. What he wanted was me, all of me, nothing less than everything. And I wanted to give it all to him. My soul, if he’d let me.
“Mine.” One word. A grunt. A command. A fact, something as elemental and necessary as the air in my lungs. He drove himself deep inside, deeper all the time, grinding his hips as he did. “Mine.”
“Yours!” I moaned between each pleasure-filled cry. Our eyes locked and I thought I saw the dragon in him, just under the surface, taking what it wanted, too. Both sides of him, taking what was theirs. What I so willingly offered.
His head dipped down to my shoulder, and I cried out more in surprise than anything else when he bit down. It didn’t hurt—instead, waves of fresh, tingling heat raced from that spot all through my writhing body until it joined with what I was already relishing and pushed me over the edge into a deeper, more all-consuming passion than ever before. I cried out one more time, clutching him to me, as my body seemed to dissolve into a pure wave of bliss.
Our bodies slapped together as he finished, thrusting wildly, grunting louder each time we met until he nearly roared, throwing his head back, face tilted up toward the thick canopy of branches.
I shook with exhaustion, surprise, satisfaction. Satisfaction more than anything else. With him, with me, with us. With the turn my life had taken, there in the woods, under the trees. In the arms of the man I loved as he held me against his chest, both of us breathing heavy.
“It should’ve been someplace nicer,” he murmured. “Forgive me.”
“Nicer?”
“You know. Satin sheets, candles, the whole thing.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle softly at his vision. “Don’t worry about that. This is just as perfect a place as I could imagine.”
“Really?” He pulled back just enough to see my face.
I nodded firmly. “All that matters is you. Wherever you are is the perfect place.” I paused. “Well, maybe not in the middle of a crowded street. That could get us in trouble.”
“Point taken. I’ll make sure to control my thirst for you whenever we’re in the middle of a crowd. I suppose this means you won’t be interested in taking a trip to the lavatory with me, during our flight home.”
In the middle of everything else he’d said, one word stood out—home. It would be my home for the rest of my life, since he’d already explained that his family never left. If he lived there, I’d live there, too. We had a lot of talking to do. There were still so many things I wanted to understand.
One thing I already understood was the way I loved him. That was all I needed—everything else would be built upon that single, indisputable fact.
I loved him, plain and simple. I had from the beginning. He was right. It was Fate which had brought us together. There was no denying it.
Still, there were some divides even love couldn’t bridge.
“You wondered if making love out in the woods was good enough for me, but you’re suggesting we do it in an airplane lavatory?”
His laughter rang out. “I guess you have a point.”
16
Fence
“We’re all set, then?” I glanced at Ciera, who sat by the window with her feet tucked under her.
She twirled a strand of hair around one finger as she read, lost in thought. So deep in whatever it was she examined, that she didn’t notice me watching her.
“We’re good,” Pierce confirmed. “And she understands everything?”
“Everything. We’ve been over all of it.”
He paused. “It’s not too big a sacrifice for her?”
“Did you ask Jasmine that same question? Or Alina, or Cari?”
“Fair enough. But still. I had to ask.”
Another look at Ciera, still deep in her book.
She would be right at home in Smoke’s library. I wondered if I’d ever see her again once she set eyes on it.
She was the one we’d been waiting for, the dragon and me. He was finally satisfied, for the first time in my life. He rested in deep contentment—probably exhausted after pouring all of his energy into this—me, her, mating—which we had done four times in less than a day. If it wasn’t almost time to leave for the airport, I’d happily throw her onto the bed again. He wouldn’t complain.
She was one of the few things in my life that I’d ever been fully sure of. I understood why Pierce was willing to take such risks in saving Jasmine’s life. Why Smoke took the chance of looking for Alina. Why Cash dared to rescue Tommy, all because he knew Carissa couldn’t live without her nephew.
When a dragon knew what he wanted, there was no stopping him. It would be as big a waste of time to try as it would be to try and change the tides.
Pierced and I were just about to hang up, just about to say goodbye when something stopped us both.
The quiet, almost nonexistent sound of a heartbeat.
I held my breath, desperate to be sure I wasn’t only hearing what I wanted to hear. I was afraid to breathe. Afraid it would go away if I did. It was so very faint.
&
nbsp; “Do you…” Pierce whispered into the phone.
“I do. You do, too.”
“Yes.”
I ran to the door and threw it open—only to find both Gate and Miles rushing down the hall from their rooms.
Both of them wore expressions like what I imagined mine to be. Almost afraid to believe it was real.
“Pierce hears it, too,” I said, pointing to the phone still against my ear.
“What do you think it means?” Miles asked. I turned the phone’s speaker function on and motioned for the two of them to enter the room and close the door.
“You still there,” I said into the phone’s microphone.
“Yeah. Smoke’s here, too. He hears it. It’s definitely there.” The excitement in Pierce’s voice was impossible to miss.
“It’s never been so faint before, though,” Gate pointed out. “It was always audible. So very audible. Now, I can hardly make it out.”
“I can’t imagine what that means.” Smoke’s uncertainty was clear. “I’ll look through my books, but I can say that I don’t remember ever reading about a lessening of the heartbeat.”
“Then again, it never disappeared before now, either,” I reminded him. “This is a first, all of it. But I think it’s safe to assume somebody’s still alive. Somewhere out there.”
“And you didn’t find anything that could provide a clue as to what happened?” Pierce asked, as though he had never asked before.
I couldn’t blame him for it. I would ask the same questions if I were still back in the caves, unable to do any searching myself.
Miles’s face settled into hard lines. He didn’t like being second-guessed. “Absolutely. We searched for hours the second time we visited the cave. Not a single clue.”
“It wasn’t only that,” Gate added. “There were no clothes or other belongings. There was no food. Like somebody had gone through and cleaned the place out. The only thing we found were the two computers, and we shipped the hard drives to Mary.”
“Her team will work on taking them apart. Maybe we’ll find something there.” Pierce sighed. “But somebody’s alive. Out there, somewhere. By the time you get home, we might have some answers.”
We couldn’t get there soon enough.
When the call was over, I turned to Ciera. She had remained quiet throughout, but the look on her face told me she was listening. And she was excited.
“This is huge,” she whispered when the guys left to finish packing. “This means…”
“It means somebody’s still out there. We haven’t lost all hope.”
She rose and walked into my waiting arms. She fit perfectly, like she was always meant to be there. Because she was, of course.
She nestled against me. “I’m so glad. I would hate to think of you making this trip and going home with nothing to show for it.”
“Nothing?” I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You shouldn’t call yourself nothing.”
“You know what I mean.” But she laughed, too. “I’m glad you think I was worth the trip.”
“That’s an understatement.” I kissed her forehead, just beside the spot where she’d hurt herself.
There would be a bruise there for a while, but I couldn’t even be sorry for it—outside the pain it had caused her, of course. If she had run from that cave, we might have missed each other. And she might have gone on with her work, even published her research. And I would never have the chance to protect her from whatever force was out there in the world, working against us. And she wouldn’t be mine.
“I never thought I’d be glad to be such a klutz,” she sighed.
Almost as if she were reading my thoughts.
For all I knew, she could. Standing on tiptoe, she rubbed her cheek against the stubble covering mine before planting a kiss there.
“I’ll be sure to order padding for all the bedroom walls,” I promised with a grin.
She grinned back—wickedly. “I’ll settle for padding the headboard, thanks.”
“Careful,” I warned, sliding my hand down her back and over the curve of her ass. “You’ll make us miss our flight.”
17
Fence
“You don’t think the library will miss all this material?” I asked in a low murmur as I hauled the suitcase in question from the rental car.
It was a shame Gate hadn’t gotten the chance to become a better driver out there. I had the feeling he’d never demand to be the designated driver ever again.
Ciera looked a little green from the ride, but shook her head in answer to my question. “I’m not worried about it. I mean, sure, it’s technically stealing…”
“Technically?” I raised an eyebrow.
“But you need it more than they do,” she finished with a withering look in my direction. “Nobody will be able to track me once I’m with you. Right?”
“Right.”
“So, who the heck is the library going to come after for the overdue fines? I’m more worried about what my advisor will think when I disappear without a trace.” She frowned, little lines creasing her forehead as she did.
I knew she was concerned with what her disappearance would mean to the few people she still had ties to—academic advisors, professors—but she had worked independently for a long time, and it wasn’t as if she checked in with them on a daily or even weekly basis. They might not even know she was gone for months—and once they knew, they could easily assume she’d dropped out.
These were the things we told ourselves, the only way we could manage to justify Ciera dropping her life, walking away without so much as a backward glance.
“You’re sure about this, right?” I took her hand just before we walked into the airport terminal, while Gate and Miles went on in without us.
She stopped and turned to me, looking up at me with an expression I could only describe as a cross between irritation and love.
I wondered just how common that expression was among longtime couples.
“We’re right here, at the doors, about to get on a plane. And you’re asking me this?”
“It’s worth asking one more time. I know it’s not easy for you.”
“But it is.” She placed one palm on my chest, over my heart. “This is easy. You’re easy. There’s no question about what I should do. I love you, and you’re my life. You’re all that really, truly matters anymore.”
I knew she meant it, and that this was the way it had to be. There was no arguing what was meant to be. Once a fated mate was found, there was no going back. It was simply that I wanted all of her, with no hesitation. No regrets. Not because it was already written for us to be together, but because she wanted it to be that way.
“I wonder what I ever did to deserve you,” I whispered, pulling her to me by her waist and kissing her just once, softly. Enough to tell her everything I couldn’t bring myself to say in front of all the people rushing around us, hurrying toward the rest of their lives.
The way we were doing, together.
Her sparkling eyes shone up at me. “So? Are you ready?”
I was. For anything.
Epilogue
Ciera
I opened my eyes and looked around without moving.
It was still jarring, waking up in a room I wasn’t used to. It always took me a little while to get accustomed to sleeping in a new place, and I had only been in the cave with Fence and the others for six days.
The most interesting six days of my life, by far. Even more so than the first week I spent in Scotland, when everything had seemed so new and fresh and exciting.
Life with Fence was just as new, just as fresh, and definitely as exciting. Even more so, in its own way. I smiled sleepily, satisfied with myself even though I wasn’t sure I should be. Or if there was any reason to be. It wasn’t as if I did anything special to inspire the passion Fence and I found together. All I did was enjoy it. Boy, did I enjoy it.
The light in the room went up just a little, in time with what was happeni
ng outside. I did miss being able to look out a window. Getting some fresh air meant walking all the way to either the front or rear entrance. The rear entrance, beyond the cells, was closer.
The front entrance had the better view, sitting right above the most beautiful part of the valley. I could imagine how it would look in the spring, when the trees wore fresh green.
The suite was beautiful—probably the most beautiful I had ever slept in, with its thick carpeting silk upholstered furniture and even a cream-colored padded headboard.
I’d laughed when I first saw it, and he’d sworn it was already there before I joked about it. The bed was definitely the most comfortable. Luxurious, even. They lived in style. I had lucked out in that respect.
In all respects.
I felt him behind me, his front touching my back. My body fit so well against his. Just another thing about the two of us that was perfect. Meant to be, the way Fence always said.
I stretched slightly, stirring him a little—or, rather, one specific part of him.
My satisfied smile grew.
“Good morning,” he murmured, nuzzling my neck as his hand slid over my side.
“Good morning.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Do you mean, did I rest up?” I asked with a giggle which turned to a sigh when his hand glided over the curve of my hip and around until it pressed against my lower belly—then moved even lower.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Good morning!” Alina called out over her shoulder as she fixed breakfast.
“I could smell that bacon from all the way down the hall. I wish you would warn a girl before you get started in here—I want to be of help, you know.” I tied on an apron and opened the oven door just enough to get a look at how things were progressing.
Four pans of bacon sizzled and spat, and would be replaced by four more pans when the time came. It took a lot of food to feed six dragons, four women, and a little boy.