by Maia Starr
The heat that rolled through her surged higher and higher, her body reacting and convulsing as her ragged breaths turned into a crescendo of pleasurable shrieks.
When was the last time I slept with someone? When...? This is...just too good. Damn it all!
As the pleasure mounted, blowing out the rest of her thoughts, she spasmed as everything burst forth. She shouted out a swear word, eyes clamped tight, her pleasure spurting with each bob of Ethan’s head between her legs. Breathless, she inhaled sharply when her body shivered.
“Amazing…” she whispered. A stress reliever for sure…
And then Ethan’s grinning face popped up, and he rose before her, in between her legs. She watched him, her eyes pleading where her mind was silent. Have at me, she wanted to say. Do it, before I change my mind! But he must have read her mind, because in the next second, she felt the tickle of her body connecting with his, and her mind nearly exploded from the sensation. Arching her back, Eliza squealed and gripped at the sheets, her legs quivering as Ethan grabbed ahold of her hips. And then he thrust, slow at first, building to a quicker pace as time went on. With each thrust, a wave of ecstasy ran through her body, making her eyes roll backward and her jaw to hang open while her stress melted away.
It was like molten lava was pouring into her, stirring up her insides, making Eliza believe that being kidnapped was the right choice after all.
Skin slapped. His meaty hands dug into her thighs and waist, mixing slight pain with overwhelming pleasure.
It was amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Eliza didn’t want it to end, to have her body do anything other than lay on Ethan’s bed while he made sweet love to her. She even forgot, for a split second, how she came to be in his home in the first place.
And then the climax. An explosion of sparks, of fire spewing throughout her body. Sweat covered both of their bodies, and as he stiffened, and she shook uncontrollably, Ethan leaned over and kissed her, making her go over the edge. She squeezed her legs around him, wrapped her arms around his neck, shivered so much she thought she might faint. But the feeling began to go away, and her thoughts began to return. Becoming aware of her surroundings again, Ethan grunted, and let go, stepping away.
Eliza breathed, still spread on his bed, while Ethan loomed over her, his breathing ragged and heavy.
Grinding his teeth, Ethan stumbled backward to grab a towel from somewhere in the darkness. She leaned up on her wavering elbows, trying to remember how to speak, and watched him wipe himself all over. Grasping in the dark again, he found a chest that was hidden and opened it. Pulling out clothes, she listened as he clothed himself, watching the outline of his muscular body sway and work.
“Look, get some rest tonight, and stay here,” Ethan said after he finally finished up and strode to the entrance to his bedroom. “I know we just made love, but I need to go get some more supplies, to make you more comfortable for the long haul.” Turning, he saw her confusion. “Stay here, please. I’ll explain everything when I get back. I promise, Eliza.”
She studied him for a moment and smiled softly, even if the smile wasn’t genuine. “Alright, I’ll stay here...for now. I don’t even know where I am anyway.”
“Good,” he said, striding out.
She listened to his footsteps as they disappeared and laid back on his bed, patting the sheets with her hand. She expected to hear the flap of wings, but she never did.
Eliza rubbed her eyes. What in the hell was she just dragged into? What in god’s name was happening right now? Out of energy, and much too sweaty to feel comfortable to move, she remained in that position for a while, simply trying to make sense of her kidnapping, and sense of how he had just seduced her, before her exhaustion made her vision sway and she closed her eyes. Drifting off to sleep, her dreams twisted into nightmares.
Chapter Fourteen
Ethan
Gabriel approached him after Ethan departed the rest of the group of dragon shifters. The group had been milling about after the meeting, mingling and chatting, none so much as realizing that Ethan had brooded the entire time, his gaze dark and searching their faces for recognition of his deed of three days past.
Days. It was hard to imagine that it had been only three days since Ethan had snatched up his future mate from the edge of town. Only three days since she’d begun to hate him. He rubbed his eyes as Gabriel stopped before him. The news hadn’t spread yet, or else it would have been the talk of the Cave Dragons. Questioning eyes would have been looming over him during the meeting like they were from Gabriel right now.
The old shifter glowered at Ethan in silence, matching the alpha’s stride as the two stepped away from the rest of the shifters.
“I take it you know,” Ethan said without turning to look into Gabriel’s wrinkled folds of skin.
“How wouldn’t I know, Ethan?” the old shifter said. “She’s one of my students. And one of my brightest by far. There are only seven people in my class. Seven. If even one goes missing, it makes a huge impact. People notice.”
Ethan scowled and nodded behind him. “None of them did.”
“But they will! Dammit, Ethan. If word gets around that you kidnapped a woman, you won’t be greeted with smiles anymore.”
“Then don’t spread it around.”
Gabriel scowled, and when they were far enough out of sight of the others, he shot out a hand to keep Ethan in place, prompting Ethan to throw him off. “Jesse knows.”
“Then tell that bear to keep quiet about it all too.”
“It’s only a matter of time until the rest of my class figures out something’s up too. Three days I can shrug off as her being sick. Maybe I can push it to a week or two if need be.”
Ethan snarled and crossed his arms. “I’m not just going to keep her holed up forever.”
“That wolf shifter, Seth, probably knows too.”
“Of course he does,” Ethan said. “He was trying to kidnap her at the same time as I was.”
Gabriel’s frantic motion stopped, his jaw dropping open. “Say that again; I don’t think I quite heard those last syllables.”
“No.” And he resumed his walk away, marching down a sloped path with purpose and forcing Gabriel to jog to keep up.
“Seth was after her too? Trying to kidnap Eliza?
“Now you understand why I took her.”
“Because Seth was trying to get at her too…”
As were so many others. Ethan stayed silent as Gabriel scratched his grizzled chin, knowing it didn’t need to be said. If Seth had been, and still was, after Eliza, then it had been much better Ethan had kidnapped her. Who knows what that wolf shifter had in store for Eliza. Nothing pretty, or fun, he suspected.
Gabriel stopped shortly to groan and mumble, forcing Ethan to roll his eyes and stop beneath a spot of sunlight breaking through the treetops. He looked up, spying wispy clouds rolling by. Images of Eliza formed in those clouds, and Ethan’s muscles tightened as his inner dragon crashed into its cage once again. Cool sweat rolled down from his forehead, Ethan closing his eyes to take deep breaths. The convulsions hadn’t been as bad the past few days that Eliza had been closer to him. The encroachment of insanity on his mind hadn’t stopped completely, but it had slowed down, become less painful.
But that wasn’t good enough. His insanity would only truly go away if he claimed Eliza as his mate. It was the only way. But he needed her to trust him first.
Gabriel had stopped pursuing his thoughts and now looked at Ethan once again. “You haven’t done anything to that girl, have you?”
“You mean, besides the kidnapping.”
“Obviously.”
“What kind of alpha dragon to you take me for, Gabriel? I wouldn’t harm a hair on her beautiful head. I’m not Maia.” The look Gabriel shot him unnerved Ethan, made his skin crawl. “Don’t look at me like that.”
With a wave of his hand, Gabriel ignored his alpha’s complaint. “It’s clear other shifters had been after her from the start, but most have gone
off her trail now that she disappeared. Those that were interested are guessing that she was already taken, whether forcibly or not. Rumors will spread in no time, once someone remembers the newest Cave Dragon alpha was mateless.”
“Enough, Gabriel. I’ll deal with it when it comes. But things will be solved by then.”
“You mean she’ll want to be your mate? Are you really that confident? As confident as you were about Maia being the one?”
Now that his patience was beginning to waver, Ethan fought hard to keep his restraint but spun on his elder easily enough. “Yes, I am! I need to be. Eliza is mine, Gabriel, mine and mine alone. I need her, for both me and those dragon eggs. They’ll hatch before long. I touched each one last night...the shells were much warmer than a week ago. If Eliza isn’t the one, I’ll go insane, and those babies—”
“Won’t have a mother. They won’t have one if you don’t earn her trust, I’d say.”
“No shit, old man.”
“Watch it, Ethan.” Gabriel growled. “Do you think Arthur would have behaved like this? Do you think he would have kidnapped his mate? Forced her into a role before even claiming her? Arthur wouldn’t have lost his cool, and neither would he have made so careless a mistake as to make his mate frightened of him.”
That was it. Ethan couldn’t take anymore. His dragon roared inside of him, flames nearly hissing from his heated breaths as he gripped Gabriel by the shoulders and shouted into his face. “And what would you have me do, Gabriel? Become Arthur? I’m not him! I didn’t leave our people. I didn’t think Maia would leave the dragon eggs in my care! I didn’t make those choices!”
The outburst took Gabriel by surprise, his brows lifted and mouth snapped shut, wincing as Ethan’s fingers dug into the elder’s shoulders. Fury subsided moments later, and Ethan released the old dragon shifter from his grasp.
Rubbing his elbows, Gabriel sighed. “Clearly, this is rather complicated. You’re feeling your feral side right now, aren’t you?”
Ethan nodded, huffing and puffing to cool himself off.
“Look, Arthur left because he believed in you. Even if I have some doubts at the moment. But he chose you to be alpha after him. And you stepped up to fill those shoes. You didn’t need to but did. Because you were strong enough.” A pause, to let his words sink in. “Ethan, listen to me. Eliza doesn’t deserve to remain cooped up in that cave of yours. I’ll admit, it’s a nice cave, but it’s not where Eliza wants to be right now. She has a life back in Salem. I want her back in my classes. Think about letting her go, for right now. Arrange it so you can see her often.”
Ethan looked at Gabriel over his shoulders, his hands on his hips, regarding the shifter coolly. And he shook his head. “Not yet, Gabriel. She needs to stay close.”
“But—”
“No buts. This discussion is over, Gabriel. If you want to help, come visit tomorrow or something.”
With that, Ethan sauntered away, knowing Gabriel wouldn’t follow.
It was too much of a risk to let Eliza leave his abode now. The dragon eggs would hatch at any time, and if a mother figure wasn’t immediately there when it happened, he feared for those dragon babies’ lives. And that mother would be Eliza. End of story.
Chapter Fifteen
Seth
Dragon eggs, you say?
It was easy enough to simply wait inside one of the many thick bushes in the forest while the two dragon shifters heatedly ranted at one another. Seth watched with bright eyes as Ethan spun around to scream in Gabriel’s face, licked his lips when Gabriel continued to speak and smiled as Ethan marched away. He waited another minute for Gabriel to leave and then stepped out from the bushes, shaking off leaves that stuck to his heavy fur.
Crawling forward as silently as was possible, Seth glanced every which way to make sure he was alone in the glade. Both of the dragon shifters’ scents were still fresh in his nose, thick and almost fiery.
Seth rued the fact that some dragons could breathe fire. Wasn’t that cheating? It had to be. Or maybe it’s a crutch. Stories had made their way around non-dragon clans that there had been dragon shifters that had spontaneously combusted, becoming an inferno of white-hot flames. Usually, it happened to the young shifters, who were too eager to use their flames rather than learn how to control them.
Something shuffled over a bed of leaves just out of sight, and Seth got low to the ground and waited, eyes fixed on the forest around him. A couple heartbeats later, and a single deer moved into view, grazing along the ground. Once it saw Seth, it froze, and then bolted when Seth pretended to race after it. He cackled, but not too loudly. He couldn’t be sure how many dragon shifters were in the area.
He was alone in Cave dragon territory, considered an otherwise suicidal endeavor by pretty much every shifter that wasn’t part of the clan. And while Seth had agreed it was beyond sane to willingly put one’s life on the line by just wandering in, he found himself wanting to try it. The sensation of being inches from fatal danger, around every tree and rock, was beyond thrilling. The idea made his hair stand on end, send endless, cool chills through his body, made him tense and alert. And the fact he was doing it for a woman made him giggle with ecstasy.
Ah, this was the best, sneaking into a place where, at any moment, he could be roasted alive, or simply attacked and torn to shreds. Toeing the line was amazing, and the reward would be totally worth it.
Eliza, dear Eliza, I can’t wait to touch you.
Shoving his nose to the ground, Seth picked up two scents immediately and was forced to decide between the two of which was Ethan’s. One was younger, fresher, with rage and hinting at a feral side that could go out of whack at any moment. Bingo, that’s Ethan alright. The other was thinner, more diluted. Clearly not the alpha.
Seth grinned wildly was he sauntered forward onto Ethan’s trail. Maybe, after he dealt with Ethan and stole back his favorite woman, he’d come to mess with Gabriel too. Oh, it would be so much fun.
But Seth had to give it to Ethan, at least. Drawing a human woman out to a discreet meeting place and then kidnapping her by swooping in in his dragon form was well played, even if a wolf shifter had been about to do the same thing. Even if Seth had failed to live up to his initial expectations of getting to Eliza before that alpha dragon, he’d come back and haunt Ethan with a vengeance.
Yes, yes, he would.
It might have taken days to finally even find the edge of Cave Dragon territory, and another partial day to find Ethan and his trail himself, but what mattered was the end result.
Ethan, I’ll enjoy tearing you down. I can’t wait to tear Eliza from your arms, and I’ll make sure you hear her screams.
Now breaking into a jog, Seth ran through the forest, his grin never leaving his lips. He was right behind the alpha dragon shifter.
Chapter Sixteen
Eliza
Even if it had been days since Eliza had been kidnapped by Ethan, she still couldn’t decide whether her time stuck in his cave had felt longer or shorter.
At times, Eliza would simply stare at a wall, or lay on the extra bed Ethan ended up bringing in and watch the stalactites drip condensation into tiny pools in crevices that evaporated faster than they could fill up. Time would fly by, and she’d wander outside to the edge of Ethan’s cave to find what was once a bright blue sky suddenly blood red, the tip of the darkened sun setting in the horizon. Other times, her mind would forcefully drift to her life in Salem, only just in its infancy, her classes, her neighbors, her friends, and time would seemingly slow to a brutal grinding halt.
What made matters even worse was that Ethan left her every morning to go into Salem to work. Often leaving before she even woke up. And when he did come home, he came home grimacing and snarling, his muscles tense, grime splattered all over him, as if he’d just been in a fight. He’d barely even strike up a conversation with her or try to and then break off the conversation after mere minutes. It was like he didn’t even want to see Eliza now.
And t
o top it all off, because he barely had the time to speak to her, all of her questions remained unanswered. What was the point of kidnapping her if Ethan was simply not going to have the time for her? It was insane!
Sighing, Eliza wandered out to the mouth of Ethan’s cave yet again, inspecting the lanterns that hung on the walls, the tiny fires giving off more heat than she thought was possible. Blocking the stinging sunlight with her hand as she walked to the cusp, she stopped and slowly edged her hand off, staring out at the nearly shimmering forest in front of her. Eliza could leave at any time she wanted, she supposed, yet it wasn’t like she knew where she was.
No, I’d get lost out there, become food for wolves or bears or something. The thought made her shiver. Even if Eliza had tried to pay attention when she was first kidnapped, it would have been too dark to truly see where Ethan had taken her.
If only I could fly, go high enough to spy Salem from here. But that was impossible.
Was it? For her, of course, it was, but Ethan could fly. He could turn into a dragon. A dragon. If he hadn’t have ambushed her that night, she might have thought it was inherently cool of him; maybe she would have fallen even harder for him.
But now? Ethan was a real shapeshifter, no matter what she told herself. He lived in a cave in the woods like some sort of hermit, though he wasn’t anything like a hermit.
Ethan was muscular, tall, strong enough to lift an entire tree trunk by himself probably. He might be sweating right this very moment at his metalsmithing job, striking hot molten hot metal, his dark eyes entirely focused on the task at hand…
Realizing she had bitten her lip, Eliza shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind. Ethan wasn’t a good guy by any means. No one willing to kidnap a fellow human being would possibly be good. Right? It didn’t matter that he was almost everything Eliza wanted in a man. It didn’t matter that, even though she wanted nothing less than for her life to go back to normal, that every time she went to sleep, she silently hoped Ethan would be next to her when she woke up. It also didn’t matter that he was in her dreams. She wasn’t proud of what he was doing to her in her dreams. Her cheeks reddened at the thought, and so she spun on her heels and marched back inside.