by Leela Ash
Ringing filled her ears and she wavered, dizzy. She was… a Dragon’s Mate?
“That’s why we’re sharing such an intense dream. This is the Rite of Claiming, the ritual in which a Dragon Claims his love and binds the two of them together for all time.” He laughed, shaking his head. “And here I thought it was going to be tough to find my Mate. My Alpha made it sound like the Quest for the Holy Grail!”
The Rite of Claiming. As the child of Shifters, Ariel had dreamed about it when she was young. To be the soul mate of a Dragon. To be Claimed by a lover born of passion and fire, a protector created by Fate itself. To be promised a life filled with adventure, wonder, magic, and love.
Ariel struggled to accept that as Owen babbled on. “Remind me when I wake up that I need to strangle George for buying you such dull, baggy clothes. I almost didn’t recognize you. It’s like hiding a diamond in a shopping bag. And your hair? In real life, do what you’re doing here.”
Her hand rose and she realized that her hair, unbound, cascaded down her shoulders in golden waves.
“No more granny-buns.” His words might have stung – if not for the open hunger and adoration that lit his face. “You’re gorgeous, Ariel. Don’t hide that, please. Not anymore.”
For a moment, she stood, rocked by a dozen emotions. Wonder, that he could desire her. Longing for his body, hers to Claim if she wished. And yes, pride. Pride that she, a mere Kin, had been Claimed by a Dragon.
Then, in the midst of this most beautiful dream, a tiny worm of doubt wriggled its way into her thoughts.
“Isn’t there supposed to be a rite in the Rite of Claiming?”
His excitement dimmed too. “Yeah, my Dragon says something and there’s a cup and a dagger we, uh, do something with.”
That was pretty vague. Ariel hoped the Dragon had fuller instructions. Both of them peered around the beach, yet found nothing except sea, sand, and blanket.
“I think you’re supposed to have a cup,” he told her. “Did you drop it someplace?”
“No, I didn’t lose the sacred cup,” she growled. Why did he always have to make everything someone else’s fault?
Owen lifted the blanket. Nothing. He let it fall again and planted his hands on his hips. “Hello? Dragon?”
The azure sky overhead remained stubbornly empty.
She ought to help him search… but now that the shock had passed, she found she could only concentrate on one thing: the fact that he’d lost his little sash and was standing there, stark naked.
With taut muscles and lean lines, his buttocks were so different from her own soft, rounded curves. No body fat hid the tight lines of his flanks and their powerful muscles. He turned towards her, revealing everything. His cock, not yet aroused, lay long and thick against his thigh. Even as she watched, it stirred with the first touch of desire.
She shouldn’t stare at him so! She worked for him!
Guilty, she stole a glance at his face. To her horror, she found him watching her. Enjoying the hunger, the yearning in her own body.
“Mr. Jackson, I’m so sorry…”
“Please. Don’t call me that. It makes me feel ancient. We’re going to be Mates, remember? I’m Owen. I’ll always be Owen to you now, okay?”
‘Owen’. With that one thrilling word, she felt the distance between them melt away.
He retrieved his little sash and wrapped it around his waist. Now he wore a belt that covered nothing. Frowning, he wound it around his privates but as soon as he let it go, it slipped off.
Ariel started to giggle. “Do you have any idea how this thing works?” he asked her.
“No, but you need to stop doing that,” she waved at his latest effort, “or you’re going to tie a bow around your, um…”
“Ah, to hell with it.” He chucked the sash away with a rakish grin. “Why should I hide? You’re clearly enjoying the view.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t stare, I…” she stammered.
He stepped close. Only inches separated them. Any move, any gesture, and that tiny distance would vanish too. Ariel felt her body come alive, as if some primal, animal force swept over it. Fear made her heart race, fear that no man as hot, as gorgeous, could ever want her. That she, his nanny, had no right to want him.
Yet, as fear’s cold claw touched her heart, a fire rose to defy it. A craving, a lust, hotter than any she had ever felt. It burned through her, its flames fanned by him, by that lean, male body. So close, so tempting. All she had to do was raise her hand and take what she wanted.
As her mind whirled, caught between desire and fear, her hand rose as if of its own will. It crossed that tiny space between them and softly, gently, touched his chest. She felt the heat of him, the hard power of his body, the beat of his own eager heart.
“It’s all right.” A faint glow lit his green eyes, the lightest brush of his Dragon’s presence. “I love it when a woman looks at me like that.”
All doubts, all hesitation, melted away. Tomorrow be damned. She wanted him, no matter what came of this. She ran her hand down his abs, reveling in their heat and steely lines.
Still, he didn’t pull her close. Those inches separating them lingered, teasing. Ariel’s breath grew ragged with anticipation and need.
His hand stroked her hair. That touch, the way her locks whispered across her own skin, made her shiver. Then his fingers traced their way along her cheek. They paused, lingering on her soft lips, before continuing their caress. At her shoulder, they found the knot that held her robe in place. One tug and it spilled to the ground in a shower of silk.
The ocean breeze, warm and damp, swirled across her skin. Touching her most secret places. She felt the sun’s glow against her back, her buttocks. Her skin tingled at these new sensations and her body hungered for more.
Owen’s eyes gleamed as he feasted on the sight of her intoxicating joy. “Shall we go for a swim?”
Ariel gave the blanket one longing glance before he caught her hand and drew her into the surf.
As soon as the first wave swirled around her calves, she forgot all about that blanket.
Sun baked water rose above her thighs. Sand, soft and yielding, nestled against her feet. Ariel gasped as the first wave lapped against her pussy, like some secret lover’s tongue. Eyes closed, she tilted her head back and let the sun caress her face.
He led her onward, laughing. Deeper, they waded. Water reached her waist, her chest. In its embrace, she felt herself grow lighter. Her breasts rose, buoyed by the sea’s embrace. Gentle waves washed across her nipples.
Owen stopped then and drew her close. Breasts teased and aroused by the water’s play rubbed against his firm chest, drawing a sharp moan of pleasure from her. His cock, excited now, pressed against her thigh, eager and hard. Arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her from the ground. Held safe by the ocean’s embrace and in her lover’s strong arms, Ariel surrendered herself to passion.
He bent to kiss her. His lips, hungry, demanding, claimed hers. With a sigh, her mouth parted, allowing his playful tongue to explore her.
Her hand, woven around his shoulders, glided down his back. Lean, smooth muscles flowed beneath her fingers. She stroked his flank, his thigh. Then her wandering hand found what it sought: the thick, hard shaft of his manhood.
Owen gasped with pleasure as her hand closed around him. Now it was his turn to lean back, eyes closed in ecstasy. His cock stiffened, swelled. Ariel stroked it, reveling in the speed of its arousal. Wetted by the ocean’s waters, her hand glided across the tender skin of his balls. Owen moaned, his breath ragged with passion. Her strokes became firmer, faster, and his cock grew, nearly bursting with desire.
“Wait.” Shuddering with longing, he caught her hand. He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed each one, sucking playfully at their tips. His iron-hard rod pressed against her crotch, driving her wild with its promise.
As the gentle waves swept around them, Owen crouched lower until his mouth joined the playful waters that teased he
r breasts. His shaft slid down her thigh, away from the cleft between her legs, drawing a quiet moan of denial from her. Then she felt the first kiss on her nipples and all other thoughts melted away.
Lips and mouth devoured her. His tongue circled her aureoles and flicked across the tips of her nipples. They stiffened, aching for him. The ocean joined them in their pleasure. Lifted by its gentle waves, her breasts pressed against him. Owen nuzzled them, showering them with kisses. He and the water lapped her skin, driving her nearly mad with longing.
Dipping down, his arms curled around her butt and lifted her from her feet. Ariel wrapped her long legs around his waist. Slowly, he lowered her. She felt the tip of his hard cock nuzzle against her pussy. Then its thick, hungry length slid into her. Ariel cried out as he filled her. Her legs squeezed tighter, driving him even deeper into herself, as her passion, her need, grew uncontrollable.
With hard, rhythmic thrusts, he took her. Each one sent waves of pleasure washing through her, driving her wild. Held aloft by the sea, she leaned back, floating in ecstasy. Weightless, she moaned, driven to frantic need by his unrelenting strokes.
With a cry, she came. Her legs clenched as pleasure took her, pulling her down hard upon his cock. That final stroke, and her cry of joy, drove him over the edge. She felt him explode within her, a glorious flash that mirrored the ocean’s wetness.
Panting, they drew apart. Her legs, still trembling from pleasure, barely held her. Owen slipped an arm around her, and in his strong embrace, she walked back to shore where the blanket awaited them.
She wanted to tell him that she loved him. To confess that she adored him the first time she set eyes on him. To find words that could express how proud, how honored she felt to be Claimed by a Dragon.
Yet, she never got a chance. As they collapsed to the blanket, the dream beach melted away and she awoke in her own bed.
Chapter 5
Success!
The moment his eyes opened, Owen leaped out of bed and went sprinting down the hallway.
“Ariel!” He banged open her door.
With a yelp, his nanny awoke and scrambled back against the headboard. “Owen? M-m-mr. Jackson? What?” Her wide, shocked eyes met his for one second, then dropped to his waist. With her hair finally free, spilling down in unruly waves, she really did look like the woman of his dream. How could he have missed how gorgeous she was? He blamed George and those stupid potato-sack dresses he’d bought her.
“Tell me you dreamed last night!”
“I…” Her eyes wavered up to his once more, then quickly fell again. “Yes, I…”
“The two of us? The beach? Making love in the waves?”
“How did you… that really happened?” Her eyes grew wide with shock. And yet, they kept flickering downwards, as a blush crept across her cheeks.
What the hell was wrong with her? Owen looked down too – and immediately spotted the problem.
“You should put some pants on before the children see you,” Ariel suggested.
Who wore pajamas, anyway? He plunked himself down on the bed and scooped her hands up. “Never mind the kids. Do you know what this means?”
“I…”
“You’re my Mate!”
Tears welled up in her eyes. (Hopefully, they were tears of happiness, but you never knew with women.) “We’re soul mates?”
“Yup!”
Ariel opened her mouth to say something else. Before she could, he gave her hands a quick kiss and bounded to his feet. “Hold that thought. I have to call my Alpha. I may not even have to go to Siskel!”
Back in his room, he grabbed his cell phone and a pair of pants.
Lorde answered on the second ring. “Jackson. Is there a problem?”
“No. Exact opposite. I got a Mate!”
“A Mate. On your first day of searching?”
Leave it to his Alpha to doubt him. “Yup. First day. It was the nanny you recommended.” He wandered back down the hall towards her room. No doubt, Lorde would want to congratulate her.
At the moment, though, he seemed dubious. “Really? The nanny.”
“Yup.”
Ariel was sitting up now, a robe pulled close around herself. And, dammit, she was pulling her hair back into that stupid, boring bun she always wore. Why did she deliberately hide her beauty?
“I trust you know this ‘nanny’s’ name?”
“Sure. Ariel.”
“And her last name is…?”
Hmm. Good question. “Ariel, what’s your last name.”
“McDunnah.” Her expression was pinched and guarded. Why the hell was she upset? He’d put pants on, like she wanted. He passed that name on to Lorde, who wasn’t happy.
“So, you believe that you’ve Claimed a Mate, even though you don’t know her name.”
Well, he knew it now. Damn, there was no pleasing some people! “Yeah. It was one of those love at first sight kind of things.”
Silence. “I see,” Lorde said at last. “What did your Dragon have to say about this?”
Hmm. That actually was a bit strange. “I have to admit, it’s been pretty quiet.”
“Did it say anything during the ‘Claiming’?”
Owen could hear the quotation marks around that word. “Well, no.”
“Nothing?”
“No.”
Ariel slipped over to her closet and pulled out a sweater three sizes too large. No, dammit! Not another one of those George specials! He tried to wave her away from it, but she wouldn’t look at him.
“It didn’t, perhaps, state that there was ‘No Claim without truth’?”
“No.”
His nanny pulled that sweater over her head and her slender, luscious form disappeared inside its boat-sized folds. Owen sighed.
Meanwhile, Lorde would not stop with the inquisition. “Describe the cup to me.”
“Well… there wasn’t one. It was… a lot more informal than I expected.”
“Let me see if I understand you correctly,” his Alpha said, his voice steely. “There was no cup, no dagger. Your Dragon gave no pronouncement. Did you at least allow her to look upon your soul?”
“No,” he admitted. Ariel pulled on a pair of jeans stiffly, her back towards him. “But she’s Bear-kin. Maybe my Dragon didn’t think she needed to see it?”
“There was, in short, no ‘rite’ in your ‘Rite’ of Claiming.” Now his voice wasn’t just steel, it was ice cold steel. Steel buried under ten feet of Arctic ice. “What exactly makes you think you Claimed a Mate?”
“We shared a dream!” Owen protested. “What else could it be? She remembers it too! That’s got to be the Rite, right?”
“Ask your Dragon.”
“Fine.”
Back me up, here!
Nothing.
Seriously? She’s a fine Mate. She comes from some noble family or something. And she’s beautiful! You saw her too. So speak up, and this will all work out great.
Despite his silent pleading, his Dragon did not give a peep.
“Well, Jackson?”
Owen’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “It’s not saying anything.”
“Then you have not found your Mate,” Lorde growled.
“But the dream…!”
“I have no idea what your dream was. Who knows, when magic returns fully, perhaps such shared dreams will become common. But there is one thing of which I am certain: this was not the Rite of Claiming. The union of two souls is unmistakable.”
“But…!”
“Do you love her?”
That stopped him in his tracks. Certainly, the sex had been great… she seemed like a nice girl… there was no reason she wouldn’t make a fine Mate… But as he stared at Ariel’s back, at her hunched shoulders, the word ‘love’ stuck in his throat. He couldn’t say it.
And Lorde knew exactly what his silence meant. “Go do your job, Jackson. And don’t call me back until you can say that about a woman.”
Click.
Dial tone.
Owen sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
Ariel waited, her back to him, staring into her closet.
“I’m sorry. My Alpha doesn’t know what that dream was, but he doesn’t think it was the Rite of Claiming.”
“So, we’re not Mates.” There was something wrong with her voice; it sounded thick and choked.
“No. Sorry.” And he truly was. He felt like an idiot and a cad.
“I’m not surprised,” was all she said. Then she spun on her heels and brushed past him.
As she passed, he saw tears spilling uncontrollably down her burning cheeks.
He should say something, some apology that would make this easier for her.
Nothing came to mind, however. Words alone weren’t going to clean up this mess. And so, he let her go, listening sadly as her footsteps echoed down the hall.
Chapter 6
Adeline was a town of sharp divisions. Half of its people lived in single-wide trailers and prefab homes tucked in the woods. Half dwelled in multi-million dollar mansions perched on the hill tops. Each of these palaces boasted walls of glass, enormous windows that offered breath-taking views of Mt. Shasta. Screw the heating bills, these homes proclaimed. Money was no concern.
Owen’s home fell in that latter category. A four-bedroom log ‘cabin’ with a Jacuzzi, a sauna, and a kitchen bigger than her old home in Louisiana. Staring out at the snow-covered mountain to the south, Ariel thought she’d never seen a place so lovely.
Owen wasn’t as pleased. “I can’t find the servants’ rooms,” he complained when he finished his circuit of the property.
It stung to be called a ‘servant’… especially when, for one delirious moment, she had dared to dream she meant something more to him. But it was what she was, and she struggled to be more humble. “I could take a bedroom, if you don’t mind me being near you and the children.”
“Mind? What… oh! I didn’t mean you!”
He looked genuinely shocked that she could think herself a ‘servant’. Once again, her treacherous heart forgave him. Working for Owen gave her a constant case of whiplash. One moment, he said thoughtless, hurtful things. The next, he brimmed with apologies and kind gestures.