by Kira Nyte
One day, she would see his collection. After all, his hoard was a piece of him, who he was, what he was.
A dragon.
He sealed his vault and headed up the maze of corridors and stairwells until he reached the main living area. “Gabriella?”
He stilled, listening for her soft steps or quiet breaths.
And chuckled when he pinpointed her location.
As he approached the bathroom, surprised to find the door wide open, he paused long enough to extend his talons and tap the rock wall.
“I’m beginning to think you’re a siren in disguise,” Taryn teased, leaning against the doorframe as he tucked his gifts behind his back. Gabriella twisted in the tub, the mountain of white foamy bubbles nearly swallowing her up. Her smile lit her eyes beneath the strands of blond hair that had slipped free of the messy knot on her head. “I have a little something for you.”
“You’re enough for me.” She raised a brow. “Do you plan on standing there for the next hour? Or are you coming into the room?”
Taryn laughed under his breath as he pushed off the doorframe. He grabbed a wooden stool from the vanity and settled himself in the seat at the head of the tub.
“Relax, angel.” Taryn placed his box and the necklace on the floor by his foot, out of Gabriella’s sight. His woman relaxed in the tub, her hands cupping piles of bubbles before she blew them back onto the mountain of suds. He scooted closer and began to massage her shoulders. The sigh that escaped her lips as she melted into his hands was enough to ignite the spark he’d tempered since their picnic. “Best be careful or I might become jealous of the bathtub.”
Her sultry laugh stoked more than the primitive hunger stirring inside him. It tugged every single heartstring until it was a visceral ache in his chest.
Goddess, he loved this woman.
“I never had the chance to experience a bath. And if I could, I didn’t want to because of whom my mother was dating at any given time. Baths are so relaxing.” She tipped her head to the side as he kneaded a knot in her shoulder. “Mmm. You do this well. Then again, you do many things well.”
Taryn pressed his lips together.
Hard.
His gaze drifted to the makeshift window across the room, one that let enough moonlight into the bathroom to shimmer over the bubbles and cast the dim light from the candles into silvery shadows along the dark marble floor. He exhaled, illuminating the unlit candles, bringing warmth to the room in a rush of firelight.
His sweet angel’s heart sped up.
His cock throbbed.
He moved his hands lower, his fingers working out the tension along her spine. Her soft moans of delight licked at his senses and knotted his nerves.
“I’ve had many years to practice while I waited for you.” The husk of his voice caught him by surprise. Gabriella’s skin turned rough with goose bumps. Her head fell forward as he moved his fingers back to her neck. Leaning close, he inhaled the scent of her flesh, the jasmine from the bath and the subtle hint of sweet woman beneath. “Everything I know is for you.”
Her muscles shifted beneath his when he pressed a languid kiss on the nape of her neck. Her breaths stuttered.
His body protested when he sat up, putting distance between them. The dragon resented the withdrawal as much as he did. He took a deep, silent breath and tried to still the fierce need churning up his insides. Syn warned him that once he had a taste of his lifemate, once he took her to bed, the hunger never eased. It grew stronger.
Damn man. He was right.
Gabriella caught his hand and drew his fingers to her lips. She kissed his knuckles lightly before twisting completely around to fold her arms over the edge of the tub. Lust misted her blue eyes with the same burning gaze he had savored at the start of their erotic picnic.
She rested her chin on her forearms. “You forgot your shirt.”
Her perusal scorched Taryn’s skin. “I tend to forget extras not needed in the house.”
The corners of her mouth quirked. “Then why the pants?”
“Now, now, Gabriella.” He braced his hands on tub on either side of her elbows and brought his face close to hers. “I might take that the wrong way.”
She licked her lips. Slowly. The thermal spectrum shifted into Taryn’s sight. Her blood flowed fast, hot, and all too tempting.
“My dragon comes out to play.” She dragged her nails across the scales that rippled over his skin. The raw pleasure caused by her touch wrung a growl from his chest. Her cheeks flushed with arousal as her nails played his scales until she reached the waist of his linen pants. His stomach tightened as she said, “You’re so good to me.”
He opened his mouth, but choked on his words when she tugged his loose waistband down and fisted her fingers around his cock.
“Gabriella.”
Dear Goddess, he didn’t even sound human. His brain short-circuited beneath the masterful strokes of her hand. He closed his eyes, simmering under her touch. Her delicate hand squeezed just enough to tease the beast inside.
“Stand up for me, dragon.”
He complied, a slave to her request. The skin of his cock chilled as her warm hand left him to tug his pants down. He opened his eyes only when he heard the sound of water dripping.
A hiss rushed through his teeth when Gabriella’s lips sealed around the head of his cock. Her eyes locked with his, the stormy swirl of her internal battle darkening the brilliant blues beneath her long lashes.
“Gabrie…oh Goddess.”
His nostrils flared as she took him deeper, watching him every second. He felt it then, the determination to overcome her past, her fear, seeking strength in him as she worked her mouth around him.
Taryn refrained from arching into her mouth and touched the side of her face with the backs of his knuckles, not wanting her to feel he was holding her in place. His fingers trembled as she sucked the heat and fire closer and closer to the surface.
He hated that this felt so good. Hated what she’d endured to perfect this. Hated that he enjoyed the feel of her tongue and lips and the heat of her mouth pulling on his cock.
“Enough,” he said through clenched teeth, stepping back to withdraw from her hold. He left his pants in a pool of fabric on the floor. “Your turn, love. Up.”
She didn’t hesitate. Water sluiced from her pink skin as she stood from the mountain of bubbles, cutting through whatever suds clung to her body and through the generous valley between her breasts.
Gorgeous. Breathtaking. Temptation to the highest degree.
She waited before him, not trying to hide herself, with her chin tipped proudly up and her shoulders back.
Confidence. What an aphrodisiac.
He held out his hand. She placed hers in his palm and stepped out of the tub. He sent heat through her fingers, making sure she stayed warm in the cool air. Not that she would need it long. Not with what he wanted to do.
“Seems I’ve unleashed something,” Gabriella said, her voice low, sexy, and brimming with untapped delight.
“Do you want to find out?” He raked his gaze down her body, drinking in her water-slick skin. He flicked one partially extended talon in front of her before drawing the very tip from the hollow of her neck down between her breasts, over her stomach, which rippled on her gasp, and paused a few inches from the seam between her legs. He retracted his talon and caught her eyes. Dark, luscious, hungry. “Or should we wait?”
“No. I don’t want to wait.”
He traded her hand for the back of her neck, pulled her close, and crushed his mouth to hers. Sensation exploded through him, his mind linked to hers, reading her response and devouring her need. He slipped his other hand between her legs, found that sweet spot that made her moan into his kiss, and stroked her until her arms tightened around his neck and her nails bit into his skin.
Taryn whipped her around, leaving her aching on the brink of release, and pushed her back against the smooth marble wall. He pinned her wrists over her head, ending the
kiss with a tug on her bottom lip.
Her chest rose and fell on sharp, fast breaths.
“No fear, love.”
“No.” She shook her head slightly. “None.”
He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck. He detected the rapid pace of her pulse and nipped her flesh. She whimpered, arching into him, wrapping a leg around his.
A deep rumble built in his chest, the vibration of it making her shiver. He basked in her pleasure and savored his own with each taste of her skin as his lips coasted down to her breasts. He sucked one pebbled nipple into his mouth and she released a strained cry. She trembled. Her hips undulated.
Yes, her body recognized him, recognized her mate.
But Gabriella trusted him, and that meant more than everything else.
The sweet aroma of her arousal and the way her body writhed beneath the deliberate assault of his mouth drove him wild. Her hands, still pinned over her head, fisted and flexed in his one-handed grip.
He hooked her thigh over his hip, lifting his head as he fit his cock at the ready entrance of her body. The vision of her face so pink, her eyes so blue, her lips parted and swollen maddened him. Made him crazy with need to the point it hurt.
“Don’t hold back this time,” she whispered.
Taryn bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile and thrust into her with one smooth, claiming motion.
Oh, sweet Goddess, the sound that fled her was music to him. It was the cry of him driving her to her breaking point, but refusing to let her fall apart. Her body squeezed around him, blinding him with bliss. Sheer hot, wet bliss.
Her legs wrapped tight around his waist as he drew out and drove deep once more.
“Taryn, Taryn, Taryn!”
He gripped her ass, his talons digging into her skin, driving her hard to meet his hips. She tensed, whimpered, gasped as he claimed her, nibbling and kissing her neck.
“Taryn!”
He didn’t stop as her body tightened. Her skin was hot, so hot, blood rushing hard and fast, a match to the carnal heat that raced through his veins.
When she finally shattered, her scream of intense pleasure called to his soul, his beast, and the fierce craving to mark what was his. To make everyone aware that Gabriella was his. His angel. His lifemate.
He released her arms and sank his hand into her hair. She wrapped herself around him, burying her face in his neck, her fingers and nails raking across his scale-splattered skin and dragging a fierce groan of delight and tantalizing pain from him.
“Gabriella.” He arched as his own climax rushed him in a wave, breaking through his barriers with merciless strength. He roared as he came under the power of this binding euphoria, blinded by sensation that stole his strength. “My angel.”
He could barely feel anything but the harmonious bond that strengthened between them. That fate-laden golden glow that connected them more intricately than any ceremony or promise could. They were one when together, lost when they were apart. He needed her more each day, and she reciprocated with equal passion.
As the fog of his climax began to clear, he slipped his arms around Gabriella, still wrapped tightly around him. His legs were weak, but he pulled her away from the wall, adjusted his hold, and slowly returned to the bathtub. The coppery scent of blood teased his nostrils. By the feel of his back and shoulders, he was certain his own blood added to the scent, but the smear on Gabriella’s hip warned him he might have unleashed his dragon more than intended.
Cradling her close, he stepped into the water, heating it through his skin as he lowered them into it. For a long while, they sat together, her arms clinging to him, her face pressed into the crook of his neck, her breathing fast, her heart racing even faster. The tremors subsided as he stroked her back and her spine. He drank in the proof she found strength in his arms despite all the horrors of her past.
“I love you, Taryn. I do. I love you,” she said against his skin.
His lungs ceased to expand. His fingers faltered in their calming caresses. His heart stirred erratically in his chest.
Gabriella tilted her head back enough to catch his gaze.
Guilt struck him as he saw her eyes were wet with tears. “I hurt you. Angel, I’m so—”
She pressed a finger to his mouth, silencing him with a small shake of her head. “No. You didn’t. You truly shattered me. Ravaged me in the best possible way.”
Taryn couldn’t help but smile against her lips when she pressed a kiss to his mouth. He loved hearing his words on her tongue. She made them sound so much more enticing.
He cupped her face, breaking their kiss to smooth his fingers over her brow. “In that case, I won’t apologize for breaking skin.”
She showed him her red-painted fingers. His blood. “I think I broke more.”
Taryn chuckled. “Break all you want, love. But for now”—he dipped his hands into the water, grabbed her hips, and regretfully removed himself from her body with a groan—“you need a break. And I have something for you.”
He reached over the edge of the tub and scooped up the necklace, box, and key. Gabriella retied the loose knot in her hair and sank against him as he settled in the water.
“Taryn, you know I don’t—”
“Hush, angel. I know you say that money and all that doesn’t matter to you. But I need for you to understand that it is part of me and who I am. My hoard is something I’m proud of, and something I desperately want to share with you.” He smiled to soften his bluntness. “When you’re ready, of course. However, please let me spoil you, just a little.”
He lifted the necklace for her to see. Her eyes shimmered and an unsteady grin stretched over her lips. She traced the teardrop ruby with a single finger, then lifted her gaze to his.
“I understand,” she said, before her attention went to the box. Her brows furrowed before her eyes widened. “That’s your dragonstone?”
Taryn nodded. “Yes.” He handed it to her. “Go ahead, love. Open it.”
Bracing himself for the impact of his stone’s pull after so many decades without it, he focused on Gabriella’s restrained excitement as she fumbled to fit the key into the lock and open the lid.
A sense of double-vision struck without warning, as well as a new influx of relentless arousal because his Keeper was also his lifemate. He watched Gabriella’s expression, through the stone with his dragon’s vision and through his eyes with his human vision as he sat with her in the tub. Fighting to regain control over his sight, he shut out the dragon’s vision through the stone to enjoy her wonder as she lifted the jewel from the velvet bed.
“Oh my. This is gorgeous.” She turned the oblong jewel over in her hand. The swirls of onyx, ruby red, gold, and striking slashes of sapphire caught the glow from the candlelight. “How is this even possible?”
“Magic.” The easiest answer. Taryn pointed to a groove in the top of the jewel. “Right there is how I can open the reservoir. That is where your father, and all of my Keepers before him, bled to finalize the bond between us. That will seal forever if you choose to stay with me, be mine, and complete the last bond.”
“I’ve already chosen.” Gabriella returned the jewel to the box and presented her hand to him, palm up. “I want to stay. I’m yours. You are the only one I ever want to be with.”
“You can’t break the bond, love,” he warned, awed by her unrestrained willingness to bleed into the jewel. “It’s permanent. Forever. You will live longer than a human because it takes longer to raise dragon children than human children.”
Her hand lowered slightly, as did her eyes. He quickly caught her hand and kissed her fingertips.
“Take your time. Don’t rush it. Trust me, that you are so eager is beyond my wildest dream, but I sense your reluctance when it comes to children. I saw your reaction at the pool.”
“I know nothing about being a mom. Being a good mom. Nothing. The very idea of having a child scares me.”
“Hey.” Taryn lifted her chin with a single finger and press
ed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “We have all the time we need. And I know in my heart you’ll be an amazing mother. I see it in your eyes.” He smiled, closing the lid on his dragonstone. “In time. I’m going to be selfish and not want to share you with any children for a while.”
They sat in a calm silence for a long while as Gabriella’s mind worked. Taryn took the necklace from her and fastened it around her neck, resting the ruby on her chest.
“We should probably use condoms.”
Taryn blinked at Gabriella. She shrugged.
“I’m not ready for kids. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready, but certainly not now.”
“Your body dictates when and if you will carry my child. When you’re ready, that’s when it’ll happen. Remember, you’re not really human. You’re of this world, though you were born away from The Hollow. Accidents won’t happen unless you want them to.” Taryn sighed. “But if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll get some.”
“I dictate when and if I get pregnant?”
“Yes. So if you don’t want to have children, I can do nothing to make it happen against your will. Not that I ever would.”
“Then I don’t need time to think about things. I want to bleed into the stone.”
Gabriella opened the lid again and held out the stone. She let go, and Taryn caught it with damp hands. She placed the box on the stool behind his head, then straddled his legs.
“What do I need to do?” she asked.
Taryn fought back the growl of desire and pride as he straightened. With the tip of his talon, he opened the top of the stone to expose the reservoir.
The last time he would ever do this.
His last Keeper. His lifemate.
“With this act comes the responsibilities of being my Keeper, Gabriella. Not only my lifemate, but the woman whom I trust with my life. The man and dragon you trust with yours. Are you certain?”