Marked By Fire

by Meg Ripley

  “Lachan,” the man answered, tossing back his ebony mane in a sleek leonine flourish. “All evening, Miss Sarah Coleman, I have not been able to take my eyes or my mind off of you. And I have been wondering just how to get your attention. After some consideration, I do believe I have the answer.”

  Leaving her with these cryptic words, the dark-haired stranger took leave of the bar and headed for the corner of the café, approaching the shiny ruby red jukebox that supplied some needed atmosphere at The Coffee Castle.

  Slipping a shiny coin through the slot of the jukebox and pushing a button on its illuminated menu, Lachan stood still for a moment as he stared over his shoulder at his awestruck—if just a bit perplexed—spectator.

  “What is this guy all about?” she pondered, squinting confused as he refused to budge an inch from the corner of the jukebox. “Don’t tell me he’s going to attempt an off-key rendition of ‘You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling’ or ‘Hello’ by Adele.”

  She gaped outright seconds later, as—in lieu of a sentimental, time-honored love song—the opening strains of the immortal chestnut “Bolero” by Ravel resounded through the cafe.

  “One of my favorite compositions,” Sarah pursed her lips, adding on a suspended breath, “How did he know?”

  Her thoughts scattered as her mysterious customer launched his strong muscled body into a smooth seductive dance; flexing the muscles of his hard, massive chest through the threads of his fitted white shirt.

  The mysterious dancer held her gaze as he gyrated his hips, thrusting blatantly in her direction as she blushed in response. Her gaze remained fixed on his taut, toned body as he writhed and slithered in time with the music, narrowing his smoky eyed gaze in blatant seduction as he pinned a watching Sarah with a piercing stare.

  As much as she tried, she could not tear her gaze from the source of her temptation; her eyes lingering on his rock-hard pecs and gyrating hips, the washboard abs that rolled for her pleasure as he tossed his mane of thick ebony hair with reckless abandon.

  When the song ended, a grinning Lachan approached the coffee bar and ordered a cappuccino, taking a seat at the bar as he asked his server, “So what do you think, Ms. Coleman? Did you enjoy the show?”

  Sarah smiled.

  “Indeed, I did,” she admitted. “You have quite the talent there,” she paused here, pursing her lips curious as she added, “And Bolero—well, it never fails to put me in a certain mood.”

  His answering chuckle, deep and sensual, sent tingles down her spine.

  “Well if you’d like to see more, my lady,” Lachan purred, “then why don’t you come see me after your shift? I am here in town for one night only. And, frankly, I can think of no better way to spend it than to fulfill your every need and desire and make all of your fantasies come true.”

  Sarah froze, biting her lip hard as an unbidden wave of red hot desire coursed wildly throughout her entire being. Am I dreaming? she wondered. Somehow the events of the last few hours, the last few days even, just didn’t seem real.

  It’s all so much better than real, she pondered, grinning in spite of herself as the handsome stranger pressed a shiny golden key tightly into her palm.

  “I’m staying at the Plaza Hotel downtown,” he whispered, “Room 18. Feel free to let yourself in, as I really don’t feel comfortable answering the door in the nude.”

  Gaping outright at this bold assertion, Sarah watched wordlessly as Lachan left her with a wink and a smile, turning for the door as the women in attendance collectively begged him not to leave.

  A few of them are even linking hands and forming a human barrier in front of the door, she noted with amusement, slipping her key into her apron pocket.

  “That guy was so freaking hot! Did you notice the tattoo on his upper arm?” one of the ladies commented. “It was a dragon.”

  Sarah gaped, staring at her oblivious customer in the face of this assertion.

  “A dragon,” she repeated.

  And once again, she was lost in dreams.

  ****

  Had Sarah Coleman gone completely and totally insane? More so than usual, anyway?

  Crossing the threshold through the main entryway of Plaza Hotel in downtown Lexington, she took little notice of the plush scarlet red carpeting, the crystalline chandeliers, and the lovely carved sculptures that filled and defined this elegant space—focusing instead on what seemed to be the perilous state of her very sanity.

  Just two days ago, I enjoyed the perfect date with the perfect gentleman, she reminded herself. Gabriel is every woman’s dream, and he swore that we would meet again soon. Would he feel the same way if he knew that I was en route to a hotel room to enjoy a sinful night of passion with a complete and total stranger?

  Of course, she reminded herself, she wasn’t exactly cheating on Gabriel; a man with whom she’d enjoyed only one—albeit very magical—date.

  I only hope that I’m not cheating myself by going in for a one night stand with someone I barely know—beyond, of course, his extensive dance repertoire, she reasoned. What am I doing here, anyway? This is madness.

  Okay then, she mused inward. It was decided. She would use the key to open the door that now loomed before her, then tell the brazen seducer on the other side that she would not succumb to his salacious temptations.

  No way, no how, she vowed to herself, turning the key in the lock before her as she steeled her resolve.

  All resolve was lost moments later, however, as she stepped through the door to confront a vision that stole her breath.

  Lachan, as promised, lay deliciously naked in the silken sheets of a luxury canopied bed; a luscious concoction of whisper soft lavender comforters and a brilliant star-strewn canopy overhead.

  Nestled deep in the midst of all of this luxury was one gorgeous specimen of a man; one whose massive bronzed pecs, bulging arms and washboard abs peeked out teasingly above a lush border of shiny satin sheets.

  Lachan’s thick black hair spilled over his shoulders as he put himself on full display for her viewing pleasure, accentuating his seductive pose with a brilliant full-toothed smile as he crooked an enticing finger in her direction.

  “What took you so long?” he asked her, his tone low and honeyed. “I’ve been waiting for you. Now lock the door and come to me.”

  Soon an entranced Sarah found herself seated on the edge of Lachan’s luxurious bed, watching in a state of sheer wonder as the seductive stranger slipped surreptitiously from the sheets and came to stand naked before her.

  For a moment, he stood still and allowed her to admire the whole of his sheer masculine perfection; her hungry gaze devouring his massive sculpted chest, his ripped abs, his long trim legs, and—last but not least—a long hard shaft that now rose majestically to salute her arrival.

  Chuckling gently at her awestruck expression, he leaned forward to seize her lips in a warm, passionate kiss.

  “I don’t want you to fear me, love,” he whispered against her lips. “You may think I’m a stranger, but this is not the case. You and I have met before, but not here on Earth as we know it. And now, with your full and kind permission, I’d very much like to make your dreams come true.”

  Acting immediately on her nod of consent, Lachan fell to her feet as he continued to stare deeply into her wide, wonder struck eyes.

  Slipping her tired feet from the confines of her work shoes, her attentive lover suckled her toes and massaged her weary pads as she sighed with tender contentment, licking his way up her sturdy legs as he worked his way beneath her sensible denim work dress.

  Suddenly surging upward to ensnare the border of her white cotton panties between flawless ivory teeth, Lachan dragged the undergarments down her legs before leaving them in a cloudy mass just before her feet.

  Returning at once to that sacred place of her greatest feminine pleasure, her attentive lover opened her tender folds with a long resounding lick, gracing his lady with an intimate kiss as his lips secured themselves tightly around her
clit.

  Bobbing his head up and down to intensify the emotion, Lachan licked and suckled her throbbing nub as she gasped her pleasure, the silken strands of his long dark hair brushing softly against the skin of her thighs.

  Reaching his hands beneath her skirt to soothe and caress her buxom hips, Lachan continued to lick her sensitive pearl, sending red hot shards of electric ecstasy careening upward through every fiber of her being.

  Throwing her head back as she basked in the feeling, an enthralled Sarah thrusted her full hips forward to grant him greater access, squirming in her seat as pleasure overcame her.

  Finally, with a last resounding flick of his tongue, Lachan sent her hurdling across the bounds of an incredible clitoral orgasm, a feeling that radiated from her head to her toes as he joined her on the bed.

  Catching her trembling body up in two strong arms and holding her closer than close, Lachan eased her back slowly onto the soft satin sheets as he stripped her of her prim denim dress, leaning his head forward to kiss and suckle her breasts as his talented tongue hardened her nipples to firm hard pebbles beneath his tender attentions.

  Running her hands through his long dark hair and letting loose with yet another girlish giggle—two in one day, she mused, this must be a record—Sarah sighed with content as they collapsed together on the bed beneath them.

  The couple’s arms and legs entangled between them as their lips collided in a heated kiss; her breasts pressing against his rock-hard chest; his hands running like warm water down her back.

  Sarah writhed wildly in Lachan’s arms as her famished hands explored his body, massaging and caressing his sculpted torso as he growled outright in response.

  Sweeping her up in an impassioned embrace, her mysterious lover gyrated his trim hips gracefully against her own; his long hard rod grazing the cleft of her aroused femininity.

  Their kisses deepened as she wrapped her arms tightly around his bulging shoulders, throwing herself deeper into his arms as their tongues and fingers entangled at once.

  Wrapping her legs tightly around his trim waist, she opened herself to him, spreading her buxom thighs as she hissed against his full lips, “I want you inside of me, Lachan. Now!”

  She gasped as her lover pulled her closer to him, breaking their kiss as he stared deeply into her eyes and whispered, “As you wish, my princess.”

  Her eyes flying wide as she considered these words, Sarah bit her lip as she pondered the pet name that had passed her lover’s lips.

  Princess? That’s what Gabriel called me, she thought, staring confused into the eyes of her lover even as her body cried for him.

  Lachan seared her with a wicked smile as he fully joined them as one. Surging his long stiff shaft to the depths of her soaking wet pussy, Lachan seized her lips in another impassioned kiss as their hips claimed an immediate rhythm.

  The couple’s hips and thighs locked between them as their tongues entangled; soon it became difficult to tell where one ended and the other began as their joined bodies rolled wildly across the breadth of the bed.

  Yet even as he continued to probe and penetrate her, Lachan cradled Sarah sweetly in his arms as he plied her lips with the kindest of kisses.

  Opening herself to him, Sarah ran her fingernails down his strong planed back as pleasure overcame her; her psyche brimming with dreamlike visions of faraway lands and dragons in flight.

  Just then, her eyes flew open and all she saw was Lachan, his exquisite beauty flooding her senses as she threw her body against his.

  Finally, with a long last thrust, he carried them across the bounds of an incredible mutual orgasm; one that rocked them both to the core as they clung to one another in the heat of ecstasy.

  Moments later, the couple collapsed together in the softness of sweaty satin sheets, sharing a smile before falling asleep in one another’s arms.

  Early the next morning, Sarah awoke from yet another mystical dream; another and even more vivid imagining of faraway lands and paranormal creatures in flight.

  Eager to open her eyes to an even more pleasurable dream, she reached with a smile for the mysterious lover who had set her night on fire.

  This smile dissolved abruptly moments later, as her fingers grasped only air, her eyes flying open as Sarah realized that she now lay alone in her bed.

  Only it is far from my bed, she reminded herself, adding through gritted teeth, Here’s hoping that Lover Boy didn’t only desert me the morning after, but stick me with his hotel bill as well.

  Finally, her gaze rested on a folded piece of crème colored stationery laying on Lachan’s pillow; one she retrieved immediately and read with sleep-blurred eyes.

  “For now, my princess, I have to go,” the note read. “Please know, though, that I will see you again soon.”

  Throwing aside the note with a frustrated hand, Sarah shook her head from side to side as she considered these cryptic words.

  Gabriel said exactly the same thing to me, she pondered, adding as she buried her head in her hands, What on earth is going on here?

  But then again, she reasoned, perhaps the answer to this near frantic question did not exist on Earth—at all.

  ****

  Slipping silently into the throne room of his father’s grand palace, Lachan immediately searched the room for any signs of his father, fully prepared to tell the king that it was he, and not his brother, who had won the heart of their intended queen.

  Instead he saw only the imposing figure of his frowning, scowling brother; a man who now bounded across the floor of the throne room to erase all distance between them.

  “You’ve been away all night,” Gabriel thundered, his tone harsh and accusatory. “You laid with her, didn’t you?”

  Lachan nodded.

  “We made love,” he agreed, adding as he raised his chin to proud effect, “And, if anything, the strength and intensity of her response tells me that I am the man of her heart.”

  Gabriel snorted.

  “I did not need to seduce Sarah in order to make our love. We adored one another, from the moment of our first meeting,” he insisted. “She is mine!”

  Lachan thought a moment, then sighed.

  “I fear, my brother, that there is only one way to settle this,” he decided.

  Gabriel looked at his brother for a long, sad moment, then nodded.

  “Then so be it.”

  ****

  At times, Dracor observed, he simply had to set aside his full schedule of royal duties and simply take in the view.

  Standing just outside the arched entryway of his grand emerald palace, he took just a moment to admire the sky that shone this same vibrant, luminous hue; and he couldn’t help but smile as he further beheld the vision of his two sons, the princes of his realm, fly with a certain regal majesty just below the skyline.

  This smile dissolved moments later, as the dragons before him flew at eye level and charged one another with the full force of their incredible power, nostrils flaring and eyes blaring as they bared their claws.

  The king gasped in horror as his once peaceable sons punched and clawed at one another in what seemed a fit of unleashed rage; wings and tails flailing as they growled and roared in time with their frenetic movements.

  Surging forward with his usual aplomb, a furious Lachan butted his scaled head full and hard against his brother’s chest, letting loose with a mighty roar that betrayed his innermost rage.

  Grasping at his brother with sharp clawed hands, Gabriel bore his razor-sharp teeth as he released an amplified growl, his tail swinging back and forth in a furious motion as he slashed mercilessly at Lachan’s face.

  Springing into action, Dracor morphed swiftly to his nature made form and flew with unbridled flourish into the air above him, letting loose with a mighty roar as he confronted his sons mid-air.

  Parting his lips wide, Dracor spewed a stream of fire just above the heads of his fighting family members, stilling their movements as they both turned to face him with wide eyes a
nd an expression that bespoke their fear.

  “Gabriel and Lachan!” Dracor bellowed. “You disgrace yourselves, and the people of our realm, with this brash and childish behavior. And while I deeply regret that you both have been assigned the same Earthling life mate, this is not the right and proper way to settle the matter.” He paused here, adding in a regal bellow, “So, to put it more simply, you will have to find a civil and diplomatic way to resolve this conflict!”

  The brothers froze motionless in response to their father’s words, hanging their heads in shame as they folded their clawed hands before them and said, “Yes, Father.”

  Once again, Lachan and Gabriel stood facing one another in their father’s throne room, staring through the panes of the soothsaying orb.

  “Well then, my brother, it seems that we face a most peculiar sort of quandary,” Gabriel observed, stroking his sculpted chin in a show of deep contemplation. “The Soothsayer has chosen one woman for the both of us, and after each romancing this exquisite lady, we each have fallen in love with her—as, I suppose, was intended from the start.”

  Lachan nodded.

  “And, from what we can gather, she is quite fond of us as well,” he paused here, adding through pursed lips, “Of course I had hoped that the act of making mad passionate love to her would give me the edge—but this woman seems to favor romance just as much as she does unbridled sexuality.”

  Gabriel chuckled.

  “Well, since the Soothsayer is offering us nothing in the way of answers or explanation,” he reasoned, narrowing his eyes condemningly in the direction of the blinking orb, “we may just have to pay another visit to our Sarah—and ask her to make a final decision.”

  ****

  It was official. Sarah Coleman had been on shift at The Coffee Castle for a few hours too long.

  Sure, it was normal and customary for her to be weary at the end of an exhausting day; even so, said fatigue did not generally inspire the curious image of dragons in flight.