Lucan’s big hands captured her waist easily, and as he swirled his tongue over her nipple, she grew frantic. “Please. I need you now.”
“Hush and enjoy.”
He tilted her until she floated on her back, then parted her legs as he held on to her bottom. Leaning forward, he nibbled a trail of tiny bites on the inside of her thighs along her sensitive scales. Exquisite sensations tingled up her legs to her core. Tight, panting, tense, she tried to sit up. But his hands gave her bottom a squeeze and he kept her right where he wanted her.
Ah, how she longed for him. Wanted his lips to caress the most intimate folds of her flesh.
He couldn’t possibly know how the churning water was teasing her, how his mouth was making her burn, how his fingers increased her need. A soft moan escaped her lips.
He teased his way from her ankle to her calf to her knee to her thigh and rubbed his slight beard over her sensitive flesh. He massaged with his fingertips. He tickled with his tongue. And as he finally closed in on her center, she lifted her hips to encourage him. But, as if he had no idea how much she needed him to touch her, he ignored the heat between her thighs.
“Damn you,” she whispered.
He chuckled and nipped her ankle. When she flailed and tried to sit upright, he grabbed her buttocks and squeezed until she stilled.
“I like you like this,” he murmured.
“Like what?”
“Needing me.” His voice rumbled low and echoed over the water. “You’re expecting me to kiss you.”
She ground her teeth in frustration. “I’m expecting an entire universe more than a kiss.”
He grazed her delicate flesh with the tip of one finger. “Greedy, dragonshaper.”
“Why are we talking when I want you inside me?” she gasped.
He laughed, a low, sexy rumble. “I’m just getting started—”
“Just… getting… started?”
She scowled. He was burning bright with desire and his eagerness fed her own. Yet he was toying with her. Building her up, the delay increasing not just her anticipation, but her need, as if he were kindling a fire, carefully feeding the tiny embers until she burst into flames. And she sensed he would not be satisfied until she burned hotter than a supernova.
When he bit the tender flesh behind her knee, she thrashed. Again he squeezed her bottom, and the sting only drove her into a deeper frenzy. She clenched her fingers. Water rushed over her breasts, and she couldn’t help but slip her hand between her thighs to ease the tension.
But his mouth beat her to the spot, and when he caressed her most sensitive place with his lips, she cried out and writhed against him.
His warm tongue thrust into her at the same time as his fingers. Heat radiated from her center outward, along her spine, down her legs and arms to her fingers and toes. But the wondrous sensations didn’t stop there. The heat zigged and zagged through her until her muscles clenched, leaving her mindless.
Ready to burst. Just one more second… but damn him, he pulled back, leaving her panting.
Instead of giving her the ultimate pleasure, Lucan lifted her from the water and slung her over his shoulder. Trembling, head down, her bottom in the air as he carried her from the pool, she squirmed until his hand slid between her thighs.
His fingers teased and toyed but didn’t satisfy her. “I think you’ve forgotten Jede’s lesson, Princess.”
“Priestess.” Cael scowled. “What lesson?”
Lucan’s tone was low and husky. “Be careful what you wish for.”
If thou knows thy true heart, will thou command thy spirit?
—ANONYMOUS
12
I don’t want to be careful. I want you inside me.” Cael felt Lucan’s heart leap. Apparently he liked her being so turned on she could barely stand to wait another moment.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I may be inexperienced, but you’re forgetting that I’m a physician and understand fundamental biology.”
“Fundamental?” His tone might have sounded amused, but there was nothing amusing in the sudden coiled tension in his body. He was all sexy, dangerous, and hungry male. Heat sizzled across her flesh, followed by a rush of anticipation.
Lucan was taking control, and she found this erotic, but she knew better than to say so. She realized he wanted her to fight him—because that would give him the excuse to demand more, to push harder, to ravish her.
And then she would get what she wanted. Him. Out of control and totally primal. Totally raw.
So she squirmed again and pounded on his back with a fist. When his hand slapped her bottom, she had to swallow a moan of pleasure. Realizing she’d stopped resisting, she tried to bite his back. In response, he slid his fingertips over her clit.
“Oh… oh… ah,” she cooed as he increased the pressure.
She scratched his back. And received another slap. But this time his fingers slipped between her cheeks. At the new sensation, she gasped. “By the… Goddess!”
He was touching her everywhere. And his clever fingers were relentless, stroking and teasing her most sensitive flesh, inciting her into a frenzy. She writhed against him, loving him, hating him, needing him inside her, barely aware of what she was saying. “More. More.”
But he never gave her quite enough. “Darling, I have a surprise for you.”
Before she could lift her head to see where he’d taken her, he tossed her into the air. That she never tightened a muscle was a measure of her trust. She knew instinctively he wouldn’t drop her. But as she hit water with a splash, she sputtered and went under. When she surfaced, he’d already jumped into the pool.
She didn’t understand him. She slapped her palms on the surface. “What the hell are we doing back here?”
He grinned. “Waiting… enhances the pleasure.”
Before she could curse him, he was kissing her, heating her with his body.
The feeling of his wet, hot flesh against her skin had her wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her chest against his, grinding her hips against him. And damn him, the embers burned hotter. His clean male scent, his flesh, his kiss caused a wild need to build higher, stronger, fiercer.
She bit his lip, hard enough to taste blood. He placed an arm around her back, lifted her onto his hip, and dragged her over to the side. Laying her gently over the marbelite edge of the pool, he raised her bottom into the air, leaned over so his chest pressed against her back.
Finally. He was going to give her completion. She wriggled in anticipation. But he didn’t plunge into her with powerful strokes. Instead he did the strangest thing. By the Goddess, he began to vibrate—every part of him.
What in the universe?
She peered over her shoulder. He shook so much that he actually flung the water droplets from his flesh. All of him was vibrating, even his sex.
She arched her back, tipping her bottom to him. “Now, please. Take me now.”
“Like this?” he asked as he placed his vibrating sex between her legs. Not inside, where she ached so fiercely to have him, but right against her clit. And then he slid back and forth, the vibrations feeling so damn good. Delicious friction had her arching her back, wriggling.
“Harder,” she pleaded.
His touch remained gentle, damn him. But the vibration was making her every muscle clench. Her breath came in deep, raw pants. She tried to squeeze her thighs together to add to the pressure, but he jammed his hips against her buttocks, bit her shoulder, and held her still. Open.
She was panting, writhing, out of her mind. “Lucan. Lucan. Lucan.” His name on her lips bought her a nip on her neck. She tried to arch up again, but he denied her even that tiny movement. He kept vibrating, stoking a fire between her legs. And just when she was about to go up in flames, he placed the tip of his vibrating sex inside her.
“Fill me,” she cried.
He gave her an inch. She almost sobbed in frustration. The vibration was ratcheting her up from the inside. He was w
inding her so tight, she could think of nothing but her need. A need for more. More of him.
When he slid his hand around her hip and between her thighs and placed his fingertip on her center, the vibrations ripped through her. She was vibrating everywhere, the pleasure beating through her, thrumming through her blood, clouding her mind.
With a primal roar, he plunged deep into her. But he held perfectly still—except for the vibrations, which rumbled through her and his fingertip on her core that was oh so tender, too tender.
In a frenzy, she tried to lift her hips. The need for movement, for friction, was undeniable. But with his body covering her, his sex inside her, his skilled fingers playing between her thighs, she could do nothing. At his complete mercy, she took the pleasure, and more, then more… until she burst.
Her muscles contracted in spasms, and she screamed with the bliss. Wave after wave cascaded through her. Over her. Around her. And through it all, he didn’t stop vibrating or stroking with his fingers until after she’d exploded, again and again.
When he lost control, he was fearsome. He seized her hips and plunged into her, the vibrations so intense, he swept her away with him once more.
She must have passed out from the intensity of the multiple pleasures, because when she opened her eyes, she was lying on her back beside the pool. Alone.
LUCAN SUPPOSED HE should have been grateful that he’d finally stopped vibrating. What the hell had happened to him? The sensation had come over him involuntarily, like a sweat breaking out over all his skin. Even now he marveled at the grip of such a powerful force. The intensity had been exquisite. Uncontrollable.
He grinned at the memory, but his smile faded as he wondered if joining with her could be somehow further changing his DNA. Her scent, her sweat glands, her voice, her touch could all serve as catalysts for change.
This time the lovemaking had been mind-blowing. More intense than even the last time. So much so that he wondered if joining with her could be causing him to mutate. He could feel a tingling on the insides of his wrists and arms—the same places Cael bore her scales.
He really shouldn’t have made love to her again. But hell, what man could resist Cael? Her body was made for loving. Wild, strong, open to new sensations, she was his match in every way. Never had he made love with such passion. And the sensations… had been incredible. She had been incredible.
Irresistible.
He shot one longing glance back at the sleeping Cael. He drank in the sight of her, memorized the curve of her neck, the shade of her hair, the sweet hollow on her neck. He would keep those memories. Always.
Lucan picked his way along the pool’s edge deep in thought. He had to find a way back to Avalon. But with the military hunting them and framing them for murder, taking Cael with him would only put her in more danger. She’d implied she had more caves to hide in and would surely be safer in these mountains than with him. If he went back to Avalon, he could find a way to clear her name.
Lucan returned to the fire pit, stoked the embers, and added more wood. He dressed and took the coat she’d given him and sheathed a knife in his belt. He left her the pack and remaining meat.
Cael would be fine. She was better equipped to survive in these mountains than he was. She was familiar with the terrain, could hide out, and could communicate with the outside world if she wished.
Leaving her was a sound decision. He headed from the cave but couldn’t stop repeatedly glancing over his shoulder, searching for one last glimpse of Cael.
But once he stood behind the curtain of water that shielded the cave from the world, he refused to look back again. Leaving her was best. For both of them. And if his heart was heavy, he only had to recall the terrible situation on Earth and that it was only a matter of time before the sinkhole swallowed Avalon. No matter the risk, he must head back to Avalon and the Grail.
Only those of good heart can see beyond the veil that separates the worlds.
—THE LADY OF THE LAKE
13
Lucan had been hiking for nearly three hours along the hidden ledge that ran alongside the mountain. The overhead droning of military ships had finally stopped. As Cael had predicted, they’d left the area. He took advantage of their absence to cross an open valley divided by a meandering stream, an offshoot of the waterfall. Game here was plentiful, but he didn’t stop to hunt.
He wasn’t in the mood to eat. Abandoning Cael was going to hurt her, and the last thing he’d wanted was to add to her pain or loneliness. An owl was no substitute for human companionship. And though she was accustomed to surviving alone in the wilderness, she could fall and turn an ankle or break a bone.
For the hundredth time, he told himself she’d be fine. She was safer out here than where he was going.
He threaded his way along the stream, trying to shake the guilt that gnawed away at him. He would have preferred to follow the main river from the waterfall, since it would likely lead to civilization. But the terrain alongside the waterfall had been too steep to navigate without climbing gear, and he’d needed to hide from pursuit, so he’d used the ledge’s cover to head west.
But he should have been going south, straight back to Avalon.
He was debating whether to change direction and leave the stream when his spine quivered. Not the full-fledged vibration he’d felt when he’d made love to Cael, but a flutter that unnerved him.
He kneeled by the stream and drank deeply. At the fluttering whisper of wings fanning air, he spun and drew his knife. Cael in dragon form landed nimbly several feet away, her owl hovering overhead. Despite her bulk, she landed with the grace of a much smaller animal.
She humanshaped and removed the pack from her back. It was impossible for him not to look at her naked beauty, her sculpted curves, her long legs, her graceful neck. She put on her clothes without saying a word, but her actions were too deliberate for him not to recognize her fury.
He sheathed the knife and folded his arms across his chest. “Why did you follow me?”
“Rion called. The military has soldiers stationed between here and Avalon. If you try to get through, they’ll catch you.”
“And you came to warn me.”
“Rion insisted that I tell you,” she admitted.
She made it sound as if she’d come after Lucan only because of Rion. That she wanted him to think she cared so little about his safety… hurt. Especially after she’d been so honest with him, but he deserved whatever she threw at him. He regretted that he’d violated her trust, wished he could have handled things differently. “I’ll head east before going south. Try and slip through one of the border towns.”
“Did I ask your plans?” Her icy tone made him feel like a heel.
“Are you all right?” he asked gently.
“You told me we couldn’t always be together. But I thought you would at least say good-bye.” She couldn’t even look at him as she said the words.
Before he could stop himself, he stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her. She allowed him to hold her for a heartbeat, then inched away until they were no longer touching.
“I thought a clean break would be better.”
She sighed and spoke sadly. “Believe it or not, the world doesn’t revolve around you.”
As if he hadn’t felt bad enough, she sank to the ground and bowed her head, but not before he glimpsed her tears. “Darling—”
“Don’t.”
The endearment had slipped from his lips before he could think better of it. He cleared his throat. “What’s happened?”
“Nisco called again. She thinks someone’s following her.”
“She might be mistaken.”
“I should never have asked her to help.”
“You can’t do everything alone. Family help one another.”
“I can’t even do that.” Frustration caused her shoulders to sag. “Nisco also told me that Jaylon… he’s… dying.” Sorrow clouded her eyes and made her voice weary. “I promised to bring him
the Grail, and I promised to see him. But with Avalon shut down, and me accused of murder…”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“You can go on your merry way,” she said, the fire back in her eyes. “I’ll figure out something. I always do.”
If anger at him got her through the day, he could live with that. In fact, she could heap all the blame she wanted on him if doing so chased the grief from her eyes.
“Wait. There’s more I need to tell you.” She spat out the words, making it very clear that she didn’t like playing intermediary.
“Another request from Rion?”
She shook her head. “Sir Quentin left a message on my communicator. General Brennon’s put him in charge of Avalon. They need your expertise and are willing to talk to the prosecutor about reducing the charges against you if you cooperate.” She spoke in a clipped, frigid voice. The brief flicker of anger had left her irises dark, huge and purple, showing just a tiny crescent of white that he still found sexy as hell.
He frowned. “Why would Quentin need my—?”
“Apparently Brennon found another inscription and another shield inside Avalon. With the ground on the verge of collapse, time is of the essence.”
“Either Brennon needs me to translate,” Lucan replied, “or it’s a trap and, if I go, they’ll arrest me.”
She scowled. “Why are you so suspicious of everyone and everything?”
“Because being falsely accused of murder has that effect on me.” Because he hadn’t been born on Pendragon. Because he suspected that someone was manipulating them. Because his almost overwhelming need to make love to her scared the hell out of him. Because if the sinkhole swallowed Avalon and he failed to find the Grail, humanity on Earth would become extinct. If he’d been up-front with her, she could have taken her pick—but of course he couldn’t tell her the truth.
“I was taught to think of more than one possibility,” he said. “It’s a practice that works well in the scientific community.” And it had kept him alive ten times over. In his experience, things were rarely what they seemed on the surface.
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