by G. A. Aiken
“And . . .”
“And what?” He raised an eyebrow and Annwyl scowled. “Thank you.”
“Now that wasn’t so hard was it?”
She turned away from him and he caught sight of that lovely rear again. He slapped it with the palm of his hand. Annwyl stopped. Gritted her teeth. But did nothing.
He came up behind her. “Good,” he whispered in her ear. “You’re getting better. You want to beat me to a bloody pulp but you’re able to restrain yourself. Nice.” He desperately wanted to touch her, but he fought the desire as best he could. He had no idea his human body could be so hard to control.
“Now,” he barked gruffly. “Let’s start again.”
“So.” Morfyd placed a bowl of stew in front of Annwyl. “Tell me about your Brastias.”
Annwyl frowned. “He’s not my Brastias. At the moment, he’s no woman’s Brastias.” Annwyl’s frown quickly turned to a grin. “Interested?”
“What?” Morfyd started. “No.”
“Oh, then you are just being nosy.”
“Oh, forget I asked.”
Annwyl dug into the hearty stew. After her long day with the knight, her body demanded sustenance.
“Is it hard to be with all those men? All day? Every day?”
Annwyl drank some of Morfyd’s wine. She knew no threat of infection remained, but the wine still tasted unbelievably delicious.
“Not at all.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Just let one of the men touch you inappropriately and you take his arm off right at the shoulder joint. Then, as he’s bleeding to death, you slam his face into a few things, and you’ll find the other men leave you alone.”
Morfyd stared at Annwyl with wide eyes. “What?”
Morfyd cleared her throat. “Nothing.”
Annwyl could hear Fearghus coming, the cave shaking with each mighty step he took. She didn’t look up from her stew until he entered her chamber. “Lord Dragon.”
“Lady Annwyl.”
“I was wondering when you were going to come and visit me.”
The dragon barely glanced at Morfyd. “Don’t you have somewhere to be, Morfyd?”
“No.”
The dragon bumped her chair with one of his talons. She glared but stood up. “Fine. I’m heading back to the village.”
“Good idea. All those sick humans for you to take care of.”
Morfyd sneered at the dragon while addressing Annwyl. “See you in the morning, Annwyl.”
“Have a good night.”
Annwyl finished off her stew, then turned to the dragon, a chalice of wine in her hand.
“So, Lord Dragon, what are your plans for this evening?”
He adjusted his body awkwardly and the end of his deadly tail landed gently in her lap. “Well, I thought we could do that thing again.”
“That thing?” Annwyl desperately fought a smile as she ran her hand across the scaled tip. Its very edge shaped like an arrowhead and as sharp. She briefly wondered if the dragon ever needed to sharpen it with a stone. “Do you mean talking?”
“Yes. Yes. Whatever it is called.”
“You like talking, don’t you? Just admit it.”
“I like talking to you. And that is all I will admit to.”
“Fine. No need to get testy.” His snout moved close as well. Without even thinking about it, she rubbed her hand over it. And the dragon let her. “So tell me more about your family.”
“Don’t you get bored with my family stories?”
“Not at all.” She leaned forward and looked at him, her hand once again resting on the tip of his tail. “Waiting.”
Fearghus sighed. “Well, one time we shaved our baby brother’s head.”
Annwyl burst out laughing.
Chapter 7
Annwyl hit the ground. Again. She had to admit it. She grew tired of seeing the world from the flat of her back.
She winced as the pain shocked through her head. The knight had hit her with the back of his hand, the sword he held adding to the power of the move.
“I think you broke my nose.”
“Probably.” He stood over her, staring into her face. Suddenly she silently cursed herself for removing her shirt while they trained, the rocky dirt digging into her bare back that the bindings did not cover. “No. I just pushed it out of joint a bit.”
Annwyl began to stand but he pushed her back down. “Calm yourself.” He tossed his blade aside and straddled her hips. She watched him with narrowed eyes as he rested the lower half of his body against hers.
He leaned over and took her nose between both of his big hands. “This may hurt a bit.”
He adjusted her nose back into place with a “pop.”
“Ow!” She slapped his shoulder.
“Don’t be a baby,” he admonished with a smile. “So, while I’m down here, any other aches or pains you need me to assist you with?”
Annwyl needed him to get off her because she didn’t want him off her. She wanted him to run his hands over her body. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted this man inside of her. And the thought absolutely terrified her.
“Get off me.”
“You know the magic word.”
Annwyl rolled her eyes. “Please,” she bit out between clenched teeth. The man continued to try what little patience she possessed.
“Now. Now. You can do a little better than that. A little nicer please. Perhaps mean it.”
“Oh, come on!”
“Unless . . .”
“Unless?”
“Unless you don’t want me to move.” He leaned in closer. “Unless you want me to stay right here.”
Bastard, it seemed like he could read her thoughts. Just having him on top of her caused her blood to race. And she had the strangest throbbing sensation between her thighs. Not unpleasant, but definitely disconcerting.
“Well,” he persisted.
But she couldn’t answer him. She couldn’t speak. If she did, she truly feared what the hell would come out of her mouth. Instead, she stared into those dark black eyes of his and wondered if his sweat would taste salty on her tongue.
He allowed more of his weight to rest against her hips, and she bit the inside of her mouth to keep from moaning out loud. “Answer me, Annwyl.”
She swallowed, hard, and forced herself under some kind of control. Dammit, she was a warrior. The leader of one of the toughest rebellions in known history and still she let some knight completely confuse her.
“Get your ass off me . . . please.”
He stared at her stunned, then threw his head back and laughed. He jumped up, grasping her arm and pulling her up with him. “You never fail to amuse me.”
“I’m glad I can be so entertaining.” She quickly picked up her shirt by the stream and pulled it on over her head. She needed something to hide the hard points of her nipples. The bindings were not helping with that. “I think my nose has gone through quite enough this day. Besides, it grows late. I must go.”
He took hold of her wrist. “Are you sure?”
“I said so, didn’t I?”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
“I don’t have time for this.” She hated how desperate she sounded at the moment, her entire body responding to his touch. Screaming out for him to explore every bit of her flesh.
“Don’t leave.” His voice low. Enticing.
“One of us needs to go.”
He smiled at her. “Why?”
Her eyes traveled the long length of him, taking in the expanse of his wide shoulders, the muscles bulging under his chainmail. “Trust me on this.”
He moved in closer to her. He still held onto her arm, but his fingers began to move along the flesh. Traveling up her arm. Her breasts tightened. Her nipples became painfully hard. Her breath quickened. She wanted this man. Gods, did she want him. More than anything before in her life. And he knew it. She could tell by the way he looked at her. The way he moved into her, his body nearly
touching hers.
“You really need to go.”
He lowered his head, his eyes on her lips. “Really? Are you sure?”
She watched as his mouth lowered to meet hers.
Clearly he’d lost his mind. And he blamed the girl for it. In the beginning, he had no intention of doing anything more than training. But with those green eyes of hers staring up at him and that body calling out to be taken, really, what was a poor dragon to do?
Kiss her, of course. At least that was the plan as he brought his head down to taste her, but he felt a sharp slap as a hand covered his face.
“Hold it.” Annwyl reared back from him as she pushed his face away with her hand.
He pulled back, surprised.
“Exactly what do you think you’re doing?” She radiated anger. Although not her usual rage. It seemed something else altogether.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” She pushed him by his shoulders. “What do you . . .” Push. “Think you are . . .” Push. “Doing?” Shove.
He felt his back slam into a tree and he gritted his teeth. Was he seriously letting some human push him around his own glen? As he watched her readjust the bindings under her shirt to make sure her breasts didn’t slip out, he realized that the answer was yes. Yes, he was letting some human push him around. But not just any human. Annwyl.
“I’m not some whore you can just grab and take as you like.”
He took a deep breath. “I know.”
Annwyl blinked, surprised by his answer. “Um . . . well . . . so long as we understand each other.”
He smiled. “We do.”
“Well . . . good. Now . . . go away.”
“If that is what you wish.”
“Yes. Yes. That is what I wish.” She waved a dismissive hand as she stepped away from him.
“Of course, a goodbye kiss would prompt me to leave just a little faster,” he called after her.
Annwyl stopped and, until the end of time, he would always swear he heard her growl.
Why did he insist on torturing her? What did he want? Why wouldn’t the man just leave? Annwyl swung around expecting him to be where she left him, against that tree. But he stood right behind her. The man moved faster than lightning. Startled, she stumbled back from him and almost fell, but he caught her around the waist. She felt searing heat on her flesh where he held her and her breath caught in her throat as he leaned in, keeping her bent over his arm.
“Are you all right?” His low voice slid softly across her flesh. Teasing. Making her body ache with need for him.
“I’ll be better when you let me go.”
“And I’ll be better when you kiss me. Want to make a deal?” She let out another agitated growl and he grinned in response. “I do like that sound.”
“Let me go.”
“Kiss me.”
“How about I just run you through?”
“I believe you need a sword for that task.”
She realized she’d left her sword lying on the ground at her feet. Stupid, Annwyl, stupid!
His smile softened as he looked down into her face. “Just kiss me.” It came out more a plea than a demand. And, as much as her rational mind railed against it, she wanted to kiss him.
She brought her head up slightly as he lowered his. They met somewhere in the middle, and when his lips touched hers, a bolt of heat swept through her. Heat and . . . recognition? Her hands reached up and gripped his shoulders as her mouth opened and his tongue slid in. He swept strong, dry fingers across her bare skin, slipping easily under her bindings to gently graze her breast. Her body jerked in response and Annwyl realized she hovered moments away from letting this man do anything he wanted to her. Anything.
She pushed against his shoulders, while pulling her body out of his arms. She forced herself away and the two stood staring at each other, both gasping for breath. Her nipples were painfully hard now as, she guessed, was the erection desperately trying to push its way through the knight’s chainmail leggings.
“Now. As you promised. Go.”
“Are you sure?” He took a step toward her and she jumped back.
“You keep asking me that.” There was that desperation again.
The knight grinned. “I keep hoping you’ll give me a different answer.”
“I won’t. Now go!”
He nodded and took a deep breath. “As I promised.”
He walked off. Once Annwyl knew that he truly was gone, she walked back to the stream and sat in the middle of it, letting the cold water rush past her. After a few minutes, she stuck her head in as well.
Fearghus dived into his lake. Still human, but so was the raging erection he had at the moment. The girl insisted on making him insane. Whether she admitted it or not, her body definitely called to him. Loudly. And what, exactly, did he think he was doing? Why the hell did he kiss her? A human, he reminded himself desperately. Just a human. Just a gorgeous, big-breasted human.
He gritted his teeth. He really didn’t know how much more he could stand. But he had to fight it. He had to resist her. Simply for his own state of mind.
When Fearghus pulled himself out of the water he’d returned to his dragon form once more. He shook the wetness from his body and wings and settled down for a few minutes to get control of his impulse. His impulse to go back outside and find Annwyl. To find her and to fuck her.
“Dragon!” Annwyl’s voice rang through his lair, causing his whole body to clench.
“Damn.” He covered his eyes with his claw. The woman would be the death of him.
“Dragon!”
Annwyl went deeper into the cavern than she ever had before. She couldn’t find Morfyd, and she wanted to see Fearghus. Now. “Dragon!”
“Here.” She heard his deep, rich voice and followed. She found him stretched out beside an underground lake, his tail swirling through the water. “What’s wrong?”
“Your friend needs to go.”
“Not again. What did he do now?”
She climbed up onto a boulder and looked the dragon in the eye. “He’s very . . . disconcerting.”
“Disconcerting? I didn’t know that was a flaw.”
“It can be.”
“I don’t understand why he makes you so nervous and I don’t. I can turn you into a fireball.”
So can he.
“Well, you’re very sweet. And charming.”
“They call me Fearghus the Destroyer.”
She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “And they call me Annwyl the Bloody. I’m not impressed.”
“You’re a very strange girl, Annwyl.”
“You get raised by my family and see how you turn out.” She clenched her fists in frustration. She’d never been so frustrated before in her life. All over some man.
“I think it would be a mistake to send him away. He’s preparing you to fight Lorcan. Eventually you will have to face your brother and kill him.” He sounded as if he’d grown weary of reminding her of that fact. But, once again, she blamed the knight. She should tell the dragon to toss a fireball at him.
“I know.”
“Unless there is another reason you want me to send him away?”
Annwyl thought carefully on her answer. Tell the dragon that every time she was around the man her body cried out for him? Tell him that every time their swords clashed she became wet with desire? That she continually wondered what he would look like naked and on top of her? Did she admit that to the dragon?
“No.” She shook her head. “No other reason.” She sighed. “Just . . .”
“Just what?”
Why can’t he be more like you? “Nothing.”
She looked down at the lake, the water a beautiful clear blue with an active spring constantly replenishing it. She motioned to it. “Do you mind?”
“Uh . . . uh . . . no.” He adjusted his large body. “Would you like me to leave?”
“Why?” She slid down the boulder and went to the water’s edge. “You�
�ve seen me naked before.” She dropped her sheathed sword to the ground. “Unless human bodies repulse you?”
“What? No! Just do whatever you must.”
She shrugged, quickly undressed, and dived into the water.
He understood now. The gods were testing him. Clearly that must be the only reason this woman now floated naked and face up in his lake, completely oblivious to his presence. The gods had a cruel sense of humor.
“Dragon?” He realized she’d been speaking to him for quite awhile. But he couldn’t stop staring at her breasts. They were amazing.
“What?”
“I said, ‘How do you know him?’”
He tore his eyes away from her chest. “Who?”
She frowned. “Am I annoying you, Lord Dragon?”
Annoying wasn’t the word he’d use. “No. Why?”
With a shrug, “Just wondering. You seem a little tense.”
You have no idea. . . .
She caught the end of his tail with both hands. Her fingers were long and strong, and he could easily imagine those hands stroking him to climax.
No. I shouldn’t have gone down that road.
“The tip of your tail is sharp as a blade and the entire length of it muscle. Do you ever use it as a weapon?”
He cleared his throat. Anything to distract himself from her magical hands. “I have.”
“Fascinating.”
It really didn’t help that she insisted on touching him all the time. He never had a human come near him as dragon, much less constantly explore almost every inch of him. He grunted. She was trying to kill him.
Why the hell had he involved himself in the Sibling War anyway? He should have just kept sleeping.
“What is it exactly that bothers you about him?”
“Everything.” She glanced down at the water. “How deep is this?”
“I can get my entire body into it. And ‘everything’ seems like a lot.”
“He’s smug.” She gripped his tail between both her arms and held on tight. “Lift me.”
“Are you insane? And I am smug.”
“Yes. But he’s irritatingly smug.” She still clung to his tail. “Please,” she begged with a smile.
With a dramatic sigh, Fearghus lifted his tail, the girl going with it. She squealed and laughed, warming his heart.