Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  “I don’t want to know.” His voice was low and dangerous, a silky thread in it that made everything feminine in her sit up and take notice. “Instead I’m going to fuck you until the only name you remember to scream is mine.”

  His lips crashed down over hers, the kiss hard and bruising but she didn’t care. A whimper escaped her throat as she cleaved herself to him. Trying to get closer. His rage fed her arousal, fed the tension between them.

  His tongue swept along the seam of her lips, branding her and demanding access at the same time. She couldn’t resist him, not even furious like this. She should. She knew that. She should push him away, not let him do this while he was so angry with her. But she couldn’t.

  With a small moan, she parted her lips and gave him her surrender. With a growl of triumph he surged in. His tongue tangled with hers, his hand driving into the curls at the nape of her neck to hold her still while he took what he wanted.

  His kiss blew her away, anger feeding passion and turning back on itself. Never-ending. All-consuming. She whimpered, digging her fingers into his strong upper arms to anchor herself to something. He walked her backward to the couch, his lips were almost bruising on hers. Perhaps that was what she deserved though….

  They fell together to the soft surface of the couch, his arm under her head. Protecting her despite his mood. Instantly, he pulled her under him, his manner dominant and possessive, but he wasn’t hurting her. He pinned her with ease, hands firm and determined, but not cruel.

  Breaking away from the kiss, he trailed his lips down her throat. She cleared hers, needing to say something, anything.

  “Shut up.” He pulled back, cutting her off with a finger over her lips. “I’m still mad.”

  She didn’t talk, kissing his finger instead. He closed his eyes, and swore, dropping his head until the ends of his hair touched the skin of her shoulder. Silky-soft, they held traces of citrus shampoo and cologne. Her lips curved into a soft smile. He had a habit of running his hands through his hair.

  She carried on kissing, urging him to open his hand so that she could kiss along his palm. Without a word she moved his hand, placing it over her heart. He lifted his head, his direct look spearing her to the soul. Heat and weakness flooded her body when he bent his head to claim her lips again, this time in a softer kiss.

  At least, it started off soft. A slow slide of lips over lips, then the added brush of a tongue…more. Deeper. Urgent. Until his hands were in her hair again and his body pressed her hard into the couch. She whimpered, shifting to cradle him in her parted thighs. The thick length of his cock pressed against her belly, burning through the thin layers of clothing that separated them.

  Rocking her hips, she tried to get more sensation. More everything. She needed this male. Needed to feel him moving over her, within her. Another whimper escaped and she pulled at his shirt, manifesting claws in her passion that tore the fabric loudly.

  He sucked in a hard breath at the sound, kissing her with abandon. Lifting one hand to between his shoulder-blades, he tore the ruined garment off and threw it aside. Then it was her turn to suck in a breath as her gaze roved over him. Clothed, some would mistake him for a little on the lean side, but with nothing to conceal the perfection of his body, she could admire the definition of his hard physique.

  Wide shoulders fed into well-muscled arms and a broad chest, then down into washboard abs hard enough to bounce pennies off. Murmuring softly in the back of her throat, she reached out to stroke a finger down the center of all that definition. He rumbled in the back of his throat, watching her. The bright ring at the center of his eyes betrayed the presence of his dragon, the predator watching her as surely as the man did.

  She dragged her finger lower, until she reached his waistband. She hooked a finger underneath and popped the first button. He let her. Emboldened, she moved down and popped a second, then a third. On the fourth, the fly gave and his cock sprang free into her hand. Automatically she wrapped her hand around him, and her eyes widened when her fingers barely met around the thick shaft.

  She moved her hand, sliding up and down his cock in long, sure strokes. He moaned, lips parted and his eyes fluttering closed. Hegra’s tits, he was freaking huge. Her pussy clenched, her clit aching at the thought of that hard length sliding within her. She needed to make that a reality as soon as possible.

  “Like this.” The sound of his deep voice startled her as his hand covered her, adjusting the length and speed of her strokes. She looked up, locking gazes with him as she stroked. Seeing everything that went through his eyes while she pleasured him. The swirling darkness and the desire. Liquid heat slipped from her to dampen the scrap of satin that functioned for underwear in this time.

  “I can smell your heat,” he whispered, voice so soft she barely heard it. “Smell your desire and lust.”

  He moved, his hand trailing up the inside of her thigh until it reached her panties. She shifted her leg higher to allow him access, sighing as his questing fingertips slid under the edge. Her strokes stuttered as he found her pussy lips, dragging a broad-tipped finger through her slick folds. He reached her clit, smoothing her cream around it in small circles, then long strokes.

  She bit her lip, holding his gaze. She tried to maintain the speed and rhythm of her strokes but his touch was distracting. He circled again, rubbing her clit, then sliding down to tease the entrance to her pussy. She whimpered, her strokes on his cock pausing only to speed up again. He did it again, the circle, then slide down, but this time he didn’t just tease. Instead, he thrust a finger deep into her cunt.

  She cried out, losing her grip on him, the pleasure winding the tension in her body almost to breaking point. But he was there, gathering her up in his arms. His finger pumped within her, sliding deep only to pull almost all the way out. In and out, then he curled it back to press against her inner wall. More whimpers broke from her, the hard sensation almost uncomfortable, but when he added a thumb to rub against her clit she almost came.

  “Give it up to me, sweetness,” he urged, his lips by her ear as he worked her body. “I want to feel you come all over my hand, then I’m going to fuck you.”

  Hegra, yes! She was so on board with that plan but before she could say anything, he claimed her mouth again. Parting her lips with a hard tongue, he surged within, taking what he wanted as he continued to stroke her toward her release. She moaned, the sound lost under the dominance of his kiss, tension in her body spiraling out of control. He added a second finger, and she broke away, panting.

  “Duke, please…I’m going to co—”

  He smiled, and reached up to use his free hand to tweak her nipple through the thin fabric of her dress. The pleasure-pain shot straight from her nipple to her pussy, tipping her over the edge with a sharp cry of pleasure.

  “Feel that, sweetness. You’re so hot and wet. All for me.” He growled, working her body even as she came, spreading the slick juice of her arousal over her clit.

  She moaned, riding the waves of pleasure. He pulled his hand free and she pouted, missing the feeling of fullness. Shifting position, he stroked his wet finger over her lips. She blinked, tongue flicking out to taste her own musk on his skin.

  “So fucking hot,” he murmured, watching her even as he shoved her dress up past her hips, but it didn’t seem to be enough for him. With a growl, he ran a claw up the middle of it, slicing the fabric and her bra beneath cleanly before tearing it from her form so she lay naked apart from her panties before him. The panties likewise didn’t last long, sides snapped within a blink of an eye and the fabric tossed aside.

  “Perfect.” He hunched over her, his voice more beast than man, and took her nipple in his mouth. She whimpered again, hands driving through his hair as he suckled her. Goddess, she’d never thought her breasts or nipples could be that sensitive. The mere brush of his tongue over her was enough to have her on the edge of orgasm again.

  He moved from one breast to the other, but the second didn’t get the same attent
ion as the other. Instead his movements became shorter, more hurried, as though he were driven by his own baser needs.

  Magic flared and his clothes disappeared, his hair-roughened thighs brushing the inside of her knees and his cock hard and heavy against her thigh. She closed her eyes, reaching above her head for something to hold onto. He kissed her nipple, moving up over her.

  She opened her eyes to find him looking down at her. Triumph and possession shone bright in his eyes.

  “Mine,” he growled, reaching between them to slide a finger between her pussy lips. “Admit it. You’re mine.”

  She nodded, unable to do anything else when he dipped his knees to fit the broad head of his cock against her. No protection, but they didn’t need any. Dragons didn’t get STDs from other species and she could only get pregnant in her heat phase.

  He frowned, stopped but there was anger in his voice when he demanded. “No, dammit. I want the words, Chase. Admit it, out loud. You’re mine. My Mate. Now and forever.”

  He pushed, just a little. Enough that the thick head of his cock parted the delicate flesh of her pussy and plunged half an inch inside. She gasped, fingers clutching in the cushions over her head as hard pleasure rocked her body.

  “You like that?” he demanded, pulling back and pushing in. Exactly the same amount. Frustration rolled through her. She needed more. She needed everything. She needed him to slide in all the way and fill her to the hilt.

  He did it again, pulling back and sliding in just a little way, even less than he had before. Teasing her. “Admit it then, Chase. And I’ll fuck you. I’ll fuck you so well that you’ll never be able to get me out of your head. I’ll fuck you so well that you’ll never look at another man again.”

  “I’m yours, Duke. Please….” She begged, tears of frustration thickening her throat. She needed this, needed to complete the bond now. Sooner.

  He smiled and she was lost, the final wall around her heart shattering into a million pieces. Without warning, he pushed hard, spearing her all the way to the hilt with one movement.

  She gasped, all her breath pushed from her lungs at the sudden fullness in her cunt. She was filled more than she ever had been, his cock pressing and stretching her pussy so much it burnt. But burnt good. She froze, waiting for the feeling to subside. Within seconds it did, and she needed to move.

  “God, Chase,” he groaned, dipping his head to catch his breath. “You…fuck…you’re perfect.”

  “Uh-huh,” she panted. “Not so bad yourself.”

  She rocked her hips and the wave of pleasure rolled her eyes into the back of her head. She did it again, pulling a low curse from his lips. He took over, sliding an arm under one of her arms to cup the nape of her neck in a large hand. Holding her still as he pulled back and powered into her again. And again. Fucking her with long, hard strokes that rocked the couch under them. The furniture squealed at the abuse, but he didn’t stop, his features tight as he chased pleasure for them both. Her breath caught, her unfettered breasts jiggling with each hard slam. She met him thrust for thrust, stroke for stroke, giving herself up to pleasure until, with one last stroke, he buried himself deep inside her with a roar and came. The pulse and jerk of his cock within her, the sudden backlash of pleasure through their mental link, thrust her over the edge. With a cry, she followed him into bliss.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Chase woke as the first rays of the sun started to lighten the sky. Years of waking before dawn had conditioned her to be an early riser, despite the fact she’d been awake half of the night. Her mate had proven that he had more than enough stamina to keep up with her, even wear her out. He’d barely let her sleep, waking her if she fell asleep to take her again. Each time had been different, from the franticness of their first time, through hard and fast and right into so sensual and gentle it had pulled at her heart-strings.

  She didn’t move, just lay on her side watching the man taking up most of the bed next to her. A fond smile curved her lips at the sight. Asleep he was no less handsome than awake, but he looked peaceful. Serene. He lay on his front, head turned toward her. His long hair flowed over his broad shoulders for the most part, with a few strands falling forward over one eye.

  She reached out and brushed them away, studying his face. Committing how he looked right now to memory. Locking this moment away safely, so that in the future she could pull it out and look at it. Remember that she’d been gifted with a mate, and how happy she was right now. One perfect moment.

  You’re not going to let me rest, are you, you insatiable woman? His voice in her head was thick with sleep, but he opened one eye anyway. The ring of gold at the center hadn’t disappeared since last night, but to see it now meant this was a man in tune with both sides of his nature.

  “Me?” She asked in mock-outrage. “How about you, Mr.Didn’t-let-me-get-a-wink-of-sleep?”

  He smiled, a lazy curve of his lips but didn’t argue. As she watched, the softness of sleep cleared from his eyes.

  “So…. Are you going to finally fill me in on what’s going on?”

  He turned over onto his back and reached for her. She went happily, nestling against his side. A contented rumble, almost like a purr, escaped her throat when he started to stroke a hand down her back in slow movements. Right here and now, nothing seemed to matter, nothing apart from the two of them and their newly formed mate-bond.

  “Chase?”

  She sighed, idly drawing patterns over his chest with her fingertips. “Shadow-dragons are an ancient and powerful race. Once, long before humans started to record history, during the last endless winter, our empire spanned much of the globe.”

  His hand stopped on her back. “Endless winter? You mean the last ice age?”

  “Yeah, that’s what the humans call it anyway.” She shrugged. “Dragons are far more practical. It was cold, like winter, and it didn’t end. Endless winter.”

  He chuckled, the sound a vibration where she rested against him. “Makes sense. So what then? Big empire and…?”

  “The rest of the world happened. The magic users.” She closed her eyes and reached out mentally, her memories sharp and vivid in the forefront of her mind. “Even back then, Shadows were the most ancient of the dragons. Only the elemental types were older and they were all but extinct before our race rose to prominence.”

  He pulled her closer, saying nothing but she could feel his concentration through their link.

  “But magic was disappearing from the world. Fewer and fewer full dragons were born to the families. I was one of the last.” She kept her voice soft as she told a tale that none living had heard. “Children were born, but they couldn’t shift, had no magic. Our essence, what we were, was disappearing with the rest of the magic in the world.”

  A shudder rolled through her body as she flipped through the memories of all the battles she’d fought. “As powerful as we are, we weren’t without our weaknesses. Even diminished, we were still powerful.”

  Pausing on one memory, she showed him a dragon in battle. A Shadow in the prime of her powers fighting an army of warlocks and trolls. The dragon dominated the sky, black shadow and fire. Lethal and terrible, it decimated the troops on the ground with gouts of flame. Surgical strikes backed up by lightning strikes thrown from its claws. Magical attacks cast from the sky as a storm rolled in behind the dragon in the air.

  The army on the ground broke, the soldiers fleeing to escape and the dragon wheeled in the air, flying straight for them. So complete was the memory that Duke flinched, pressing himself back into the bed but the dragon pulled up at the last minute. Between one heartbeat and the next the terrible creature folded in on itself and became a woman. A beautiful woman with raven-black hair and blue-gray eyes.

  “Nevaris Stormcaller,” Chase supplied. “The most accomplished amongst us.”

  Beside her, Duke murmured, curiosity flavoring his mental presence. “She looks familiar.”

  Chase smiled, and froze the image for a moment. “She should do. Sh
e was my mother.”

  Beautiful, but she can’t hold a candle to you, sweetness.

  His endearment and the soft brush of his lips over her temple made her smile. “You’re biased, I’m afraid. She was the best of us and still it wasn’t enough. They found ways to trap us. To control us and the magic that is our very essence.”

  She carried on, showing him image after image on fast forward. Dragons captured and forced into slavery. The havoc they wrought under the control of their masters. The ever more hopeless situation Chase and her kind had found themselves in.

  “We were scattered, in hiding…as a race we were done. Then our queen was blessed with a child.” She remembered the day as though it were yesterday. The elation of a royal birth, and the despair of the world the royal princess had been born into.

  “The queen made a terrible choice, but the only one she could. She sent her child to sleep beneath the earth. There she would remain, with twelve guardians, until the world was ready for our kind again.”

  “You were one of the twelve, weren’t you?” He shifted and she opened her eyes to find him leaning over her. With a smile she lifted her hand and stroked her thumb across his cheek.

  “I was. And you, mate of mine, were the first sign that the world was ready for Shadows once more.”

  He frowned, confusion clouding his features. “How do you work that out? We don’t know who our parents were. One thing’s for sure, they certainly weren’t dragons. We searched far and wide and no one knew anything about what we were.”

  The frustration was clear in his voice, as was anger. She soothed him with a finger against his lips.

  “They might not have been dragons. Probably descendants of one of the bloodlines though, the magic dormant and hiding for thousands of years until it was ready.”

  “Ready for Baron and me? I can’t see that somehow.” He chuckled. “Our mom always said they broke the mold when they made us.”

  “Perhaps they did,” she mused, watching him. “You have a raw ability with magic the like of which I’ve never seen before. You shouldn’t be able to handle it the way you do, not without a century of study. At least.”