His distress at his failings made her want to comfort him. Strange, because she wasn’t usually drawn to men who questioned themselves. In the past, she had always been attracted to confident men, other officers usually. Of course, she hadn’t known any unconfident men who looked like him and had eyes that scorched her from the outside in when he looked at her... Besides, he could have easily been an arrogant human, given all the power and competence he’d had as a dragon. Perhaps the year in the pit had bled any such feelings out of him.
“If I free you before we go,” Zala said, “your people would know you were betraying them. If I wait until afterward, you can pretend you had no choice. Which is true, since you gave your word. But not everyone would understand keeping one’s word to one’s enemies. Appearances must matter to your kind too.”
“Appearances matter. But I don’t care. Hul has turned me from a loyal subject into an enemy. And keeping one’s word is important no matter who was the recipient of that word. Besides, I no longer think of you as an enemy.”
“No?”
“I care about you. And I wish to mate with you.”
Zala looked up and found those smoldering eyes upon her. Even though that couple of feet of space still lay between them, he seemed much closer now. “I am surprised, given what you’ve experienced of human mating so far.”
“As am I, but I think my body knows…” He looked toward his trousers and shook his head wryly. “It seems certain it would find an experience with you pleasurable. And you are, after all, the one who slew my tormentor.” His gaze met hers again, his brows rising. “Is it not normal for me to feel something toward you?”
He shifted closer on the cot, and his presence seemed to engulf her. A thought rose in her mind, of dropping to her knees in front of him, of using her mouth to give him the pleasure he desired, of showing him that humans could indeed enjoy sex. Strange, since she had rarely felt such an urge toward a man. She had always been too proud, always the officer, the commander, and worried it would somehow lessen her to take a subservient position. And yet the idea of doing so with him titillated her.
“But will you remember these feelings of yours when you’re a dragon again?” Zala wondered, staring back into his eyes. She wasn’t sure she could look away if she wanted to. Surely, Sandirr was wrong, and Talon had some degree of magic about him even with the collar on.
“I am certain I will,” Talon said. “I respected you before I ever took this form.”
“When you were trying to kill me, you were respecting me?”
“Very much so.” He tilted his head, and a rare hint of uncertainty entered his eyes. “Did you have... no respect for me?”
“I respected that you could flick a finger and kill me.”
His brow furrowed. Apparently, that wasn’t the answer he had hoped for.
“I’m afraid we’re too busy being terrified of your kind to worry about whether or not you’re honorable or respectable opponents. Surely, you must understand that after spending time as a human, especially after tonight.” She waved her hand to indicate his injury. “I did believe that you weren’t as cruel as many of the other dragons, but you were deadly and maybe even worse than the bloodthirsty ones because of your single-minded efficiency.”
“I see.” This time, Talon was the one to clasp his hands together and study them thoughtfully. “Yes, after Semptrusis’s attacks, I do see that we are quite large and intimidating. I have battled many dragons, and I was never afraid of them the way I was tonight, when I had no way to defend myself and no effective way to attack back. I have become quite aware of the vulnerability of this form.” He lifted a hand, not to touch his bandage but to trace the tip of an old wound, one of those whip scars, one that curled over the top of his shoulder to lick his collarbone.
Before she could think better of it, Zala scooted close enough to place a hand on the scar. He grew still, lowering his chin to watch her hand.
Whatever he had been before, he had not deserved this last year. If he had truly received his punishment because he had spoken up in favor of ending the slaughter of her people, how could she not trust him? How could she not care for him? Maybe she already did. Tonight, when she had seen that massive dragon charging at him, terror had leaped into her throat. Not terror for herself but terror for him, for his safety. It seemed silly, since she had known him such a short time, but already, she hated the idea of someone hurting him, of someone killing him.
She bent and kissed the scar, letting her lips linger as she breathed in his scent. He smelled earthy, from being thrown to the ground, she supposed, but not unpleasant. It made her realize that he had smelled clean earlier when they had kissed, masculine and warm. He had either sneaked a bath somewhere, or his dragon magic kept him from stinking of the road. She smiled slightly, amused by the thought of body odor that could be vanquished by magic.
“It’s a good sign when a woman kisses you and smiles, yes?” Talon said, his face closer to hers than it had been a moment earlier. His eyes closed to slits, and he watched her through his lashes. As always, that look alone had the power to heat her body, turning her core molten before he ever laid a hand on her.
“I think so,” she murmured, kissing his shoulder again and sliding her hands around his torso and to his back, following the contours of his muscles, feeling the angry scar tissue, some old and faded, some recent enough that she worried the touch might hurt him. She was careful around those. “What would you think if I seduced you?”
“I would wholeheartedly approve of that.”
“I must warn you, I have ulterior motives.”
“Oh?”
She sighed and leaned back enough to meet his eyes. “My colonel thought it would be a good idea.”
“Your colonel?”
“Yes. I admitted that you seemed interested in me, and he suggested that you might be less likely to annihilate our unit later if you have fond memories of sleeping with its commander.”
“Hm, and did he also tell you to share your ulterior motives with me?”
“No, but I thought you should know. I know I’d be stung if I later learned someone had lied to me and had only been using me for a selfish reason.”
“Only? That’s the sole reason you’re touching me now? And that’s the reason you let me kiss you earlier? Because you want me to be fond of you later? When I’m a dragon again?”
She lowered her chin, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. “It’s not the sole reason,” she murmured. “But it was... like having someone give you permission for something you want to do that you know is wrong and that you shouldn’t do.”
She wasn’t sure what he thought—his answers had been guarded—so she slipped her tongue out to taste him, in case he was about to stop her. The heat gathering between her legs grew more intense. She wanted to slide her arms around him, feel his bare back against her face, breathe him in, kiss him, lick him, be taken by him... But she worried she would end up alone under a tree like her lieutenant.
He took a deep breath and twisted toward her. He scooped her up, startling her with his strength—did he truly think himself puny?—and pulled her into his lap with his arms around her. His erection prodded her through his trousers, full and hard under her rump. His lips touched hers, and then he captured her mouth. His earlier hesitancy was gone, and he stole her breath as he kissed her with raw passion. When he pulled back, several moments later, he left her gasping and longing for more.
“Two things,” he said, his gaze shifting from her lips to her eyes and back again. “First, you’ve saved my life twice and freed me from that hell. I already told you that. You don’t have to mate with me to ensure I’ll never hurt you. As for extending that protection to your unit, we’ll see how they treat me, eh? Right now, I have no reason to retaliate against them, not the way I do against my supposed king.”
She struggled to focus on his words, but her heart was hammering from his kiss, her desire thoroughly roused. She shifted her weight, ru
bbing against his crotch, wondering what he would think if she tore off her trousers and straddled him.
“Second?” she asked when he paused.
“Zala,” he groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head as she squirmed against him. He grasped the back of her head and kissed her again, his mouth even more demanding than before. She met his hunger with hunger of her own, grabbing his shoulders and pulling herself to him. As he kissed her, his hands found her hips, then shifted to her buttons.
Remembering how long it had taken him to fasten his own buttons, she pushed herself to her feet to handle them herself. She tugged off her boots, shimmied out of her trousers, and dropped her jacket and shirt to the ground. She knew she was too lean and tough to be considered a beauty, but he stared at her as if nothing else in the world could so capture his attention.
She climbed into his lap again, straddling him as she wrapped one arm behind his shoulders. The cot, meant for one and not two, groaned under their weight, but it held. He grasped her hips lightly, almost reverently, then eased his hands up to her waist, touching every inch of her, as if it was his first time holding a woman, and maybe it was.
With her free hand, she trailed her fingers down his chest, scraping and stroking as she went, eventually hooking his waistband, rubbing the top button with her thumb.
“What was the second thing?” she asked, watching his face. His gaze, which was so often locked onto her own, had settled lower.
“What?” he whispered and licked his lips as he eyed her breasts. “Oh. Yes.” He forced his gaze upward, though it slipped a few times, as if he was afraid her breasts would disappear and he needed to memorize them first.
She swallowed, an emotion beyond lust causing a lump in her throat. Who would have thought someone from a different race could make her feel more alluring and desirable than any of her own people ever had?
“I wanted to tell you that you don’t need to seduce me or ever talk to me again for me to think fondly of you in the future, but I’m having a hard time getting the words out.” He leaned into her, his mouth finding her breast.
Intense pleasure shot through her, and she gasped and dug both of her hands into his hair, pushing herself toward him.
“Stay with me, Zala,” Talon whispered, taking her nipple between his lips. “This is amazing. You’re amazing.”
His words affected her as much as the touch of his mouth, of his hands. The moist heat between her thighs ached to be filled, and she shifted in his lap, pressing against the hard bulge in his trousers, rubbing against the fabric, the scraping sensation creating streaks of pleasure. But she wanted more. She wanted him, not his trousers. Why had she given him clothes to start with?
“Zala,” he groaned again, then gripped her with both hands to turn her so that she lay on the cot. He kept kissing her, though he shifted his body off the edge, so he could remove his trousers. He almost tipped over the cot in his eagerness to disrobe without taking his lips from hers.
Zala gasped, laughing once she was sure the cot wouldn’t tip and dump her naked butt in the dirt. Maybe there was a reason she never took lovers while out in the field.
“Sorry,” he whispered, then eased back onto the cot, his elbows on either side of her, his legs across hers, his thick cock tantalizingly close to the center of her nerves, her heat, and her desire. “Dragons don’t have collapsible nests.”
“Maybe your race is wiser than I realized.”
“Maybe.”
He grinned, the first time she’d seen such an expression on him. She liked it. Then he resumed kissing her, and she liked that too.
His ardor left her breathless and yearning for him. He could have taken her any time, but he seemed taken with her breasts, stroking them with reverence as he explored her mouth like an expert, not like someone who’d never been kissed before that afternoon.
“Tell me if I’m doing anything wrong,” he blurted, surprising her. Wrong? She could barely think, and she kept pressing her body upward toward him, wanting his touch everywhere. “Or if I should do anything better. I don’t know—I mean we don’t... There’s usually a lot of biting with my kind. And I just had this urge—” He shifted and glanced toward her chest. “Do humans bite?”
A fresh flush of heat charged through her, as she imagined him nipping at her sensitive spots.
“Sometimes.” She had been running her hands up and down his back and his sides with her eyes closed, enjoying his kisses, the press of his body against hers, but she looked at his face now, at the earnest and heated expression in his eyes. “Gently. And licking is good. Sucking.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere you want.” As soon as she spoke, she wondered if she should have been more specific. What if he nibbled on her elbow? Or a toe?
But he must have inherited human instincts along with his body, because he flashed another grin and lowered himself straight to her breasts. Her nipples were already peaked from his roaming fingers, from the feel of their forms molded to each other, flesh to flesh, but they hardened almost painfully as he found them with his lips. She dug her fingers into his scalp, holding his head against her, not wanting to let him escape. He traced her flat belly with his fingers as his mouth pleasured her breasts, and her belly quivered under his attention, especially when he brushed against the wiry hair below it. He moaned as he licked her, as if he’d never touched or tasted anything so wonderful as her breasts, and when he threw in a few teasing nips, her entire body shook. The cot creaked, but she no longer cared if they did end up on the ground.
His fingers slipped lower, parting her lower lips, and she was so aroused already that she bucked at the slightest touch to her sex.
“Talon,” she groaned, then bit her lip, afraid that if she made too much noise, everyone in the camp would know what she was doing—what was being done to her.
She gripped the edges of the cot, forgetting all about pleasing him, only holding on as her body trembled and arched toward him, acting independently of her mind. She couldn’t have managed any coherent thoughts anyway.
He paused, looking at her face. “This is all right? It feels good?”
“So good,” she panted, grinding against his hand. She should have told him to thrust into her then, because she knew she was on the verge of coming, but she found herself selfishly pleading for more. “Don’t stop. Use your tongue. Where your fingers are. Please.”
She thought he might hesitate, not certain what to do or not certain if he wanted to do it, but he hurried to shift to the end of the cot so he could dip between her legs. A raw recruit rushing to follow orders couldn’t have moved more quickly or with more eagerness, and she gasped as he parted her with his tongue, her fingers curling around the edge of the cot again. He explored her with long, languid licks, like a cartographer mapping new terrain. She had no idea what dragon sex organs looked like or how mating worked for them. It didn’t matter. His innocent and curious explorations left her breathless and groaning his name. Her senses reeled as the pressure within her built, the need so intense she couldn’t help but thrust up toward his questing mouth.
“You taste so good,” he whispered, the words muffled, his lips against her. His hands slid under her ass, molding her to him. “When do I... mm.”
He found her clitoris and sucked her, and her world exploded. She cried out, forgetting the rest of the camp, forgetting everything except the waves of pleasure rocking over her. Finally, her fingers released the cot, every ounce of tension bleeding out of her body.
“You’re already done?” He bit his lip and looked down at his neglected cock, the flesh so engorged and hard it had to be painful, and she felt a flush of guilt. She’d taken everything and given so little.
“Just for... the moment.” Though she needed to catch her breath, Zala sat up and patted the cot. “Here. Lie down. Your turn.” So he wouldn’t have any cause to wonder or doubt her, she grasped his cock, brushing her thumb along the sensitive underside.
He sucked in a startle
d breath, his eyes widening, but his surprise soon turned to relief. He lay flat on his back, again so earnest she almost laughed. She climbed onto the cot again, straddling his thighs as she gripped his shaft with one hand and ran the other over the sweat-slicked skin of his chest and abdomen. His cock strained under her touch, and she slid her fingers along it, watching the blissful expression that filled Talon’s face, the way he closed his eyes, trusting her completely. Then she lowered her head, brushing her tongue along his head, tracing the contours of his penis. This time, he was the one to wrap his hands around the edges of the cot, his entire body tightening, almost quivering. She meant to take it slowly, to thoroughly show him the thrill of being a human male, and to give him pleasure to erase all the pain, but he was already so hard, so ready. As she took him into her mouth, he arched, thrusting with need. He was nearly too much for her, but his eager response pleased her and filled her with pride at knowing she could make him tremble so. She softened her throat, taking all of him in and out. Sooner than she would have thought possible, her own body flushed with desire again, moistness slicking her inner thighs. Gods, she wanted him in her.
“Zala,” he whispered, half senseless cry, half warning.
Knowing he would come soon, she drew back and shifted higher up his body. She rose up, positioning him between her legs and came down, shuddering as he filled her. He cried her name again and gripped her hips, his intense violet eyes scorching her as they devoured her body. Soon, they were rocking together at a frenzied pace, their earlier teasing no more than foreplay to this incredible experience. Sweat bathed his chest, and maybe it ran down hers as well. She lost all track of time, of the camp, of the world around them, of everything except for him. As she rode him, taking all of him over and over, the exquisite rubbing brought her to climax once again. His eyes locked onto hers, and she kept rocking with him until he exploded into her.
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