by Anna Lowe
Tessa kept perfectly still, holding her breath. Any other time, she would have simply melted into the sheets with pleasure, but it wasn’t over yet. Not with Kai’s teeth scraping over her skin, preparing her for the bite. He licked slowly, homing in on exactly the right spot — a spot she could feel, too.
Now, she wanted to scream. Now.
Kai thrust his hips and released inside her at exactly the same time as his teeth sank into her skin. Her scream was muffled, her body on fire. She shuddered under him, wracked with pleasure unlike anything she’d ever felt. Her vision went pure white, and her right hand clutched the sheets. Kai’s hand clamped over it, his fingers intertwining with hers. His teeth sank deeper, propelling her even further into a sweaty, aching version of bliss. Kai didn’t utter a word, but his thoughts exploded into her mind.
I will love you forever.
I will cherish you until the day I die.
I can’t live without you.
I will do anything, go anywhere, humble myself any way you desire.
Tessa squeezed his hand hard as her tears spilled into the sheets. No emotion had ever hit her as hard, and never had she felt so sure of anything in her life. He’d never been more sure, either — she could tell, because a veil had pulled back, allowing her to peek into his thoughts the way he’d done with her. Like a fogbank pulling back over the ocean, revealing a beautiful, golden shore. An island that towered with a good man’s hopes, dreams, and devotion — devotion to her. Forever.
“Kai,” she murmured, overwhelmed.
Kai slowly eased away from the bite, and she moaned, never wanting it to end.
Hang on, his deep voice reassured her. His hand tightened over hers, and suddenly, she remembered the mating bite was just one part of the process. He hadn’t yet sealed the bite with a brand.
Her body tensed, tuned in to his. Her torn flesh closed the second his teeth withdrew, and there was no pain, just warmth. His breath tickled her skin, but then he went still. A deep dragon’s inhale rasped through the silence of the room, just like the sound Kai had made in the fight before he spat fire.
Her fingers dug into the mattress, and her toes splayed as she braced herself.
His body pulled back slightly on the inhale, and a second later, it pressed over her again. His lips sealed over the wound on her neck. His hands tightened over hers—
—and he exhaled, sending a puff of fire into the bite marks.
I love you, Tessa, he called into her mind.
She’d been expecting a heat wave, but this was a shot of lava, breathed directly into her arteries. The heat slammed through her limbs and speared through every branch of her veins. Sweat broke out on her brow, and she writhed as heat infused every recess of her body and mind. Then she went limp, giving in to the power of the brand. Embracing it, not fighting it.
Yes, the inner voice cried. Yes. At last, I will be freed.
Bonds she’d never been aware of until then shattered all over her body, and joy like nothing she’d ever felt engulfed her soul.
Free, the voice sang. I will be free.
She spread her arms on the mattress and flexed her fingers — not just imagining what it might be like to fly, but picturing it perfectly. She’d need a hell of a lot of practice, but wow. It wasn’t a wish any more. One day soon, when the shifter essence finished settling in her veins, she would be able to shift and soar at her mate’s side.
“Tessa,” Kai called. He sounded a million miles away. He sounded worried, in fact. Why? This was the highlight of her life. Knowing she was his, and he was hers forever.
“Tessa.” His fingers gripped her shoulder hard as he rolled her over.
She blinked a few times, staring up at him. His eyes were a pale blue, his face dark with concern.
“Tessa?” he whispered. “Are you okay?”
She reached up with two shaky hands and cupped his face. “Never been better, my mate.”
His head bobbed in relief, and when she wrapped her arms behind his neck, he sank down over her, pressing her into the mattress. His hands shook as he touched her hair and face. “I thought…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but she could see the terrible images in his mind. She shook her head, ready to assure him exactly how all right she was. But wait — she could do better than tell him now that she had access to his mind.
She closed her eyes and replayed it all for Kai, pushing the images and feelings into his mind. The incredible high she’d felt at the height of sex. The achingly good mix of pleasure and pain from his bite. The explosive power of his brand spreading through her body, and the incredible feeling of freedom that had followed like a shock wave.
Kai popped his head up and stared at her.
She grinned. “See what I mean? Never been better.” She pushed on his chest, and he rolled, letting her settle on top. Sweat poured from every pore of her body — and his — but it felt good. Like a cleansing of the soul. A fresh start. Through his eyes, she saw her own, and wow, they really were glowing. She laughed and tossed her hair back.
“What?” he asked, hauling her back against his chest. It rose and fell with his heavy breaths, moving her in gentle waves.
Her hands moved in the air, but she couldn’t find words to express what she felt. “Nothing. Everything.” She settled over him, breathing deeply. “Damn. That was amazing.”
Kai chuckled. “Amazing, but you scared me to death.”
She slid her hands over his shoulders, picturing just how panicked she would feel if anything happened to him. But this was a time for joy, and slowly, those thoughts slid far from her mind. She settled back into a blissful, dreamy state. They shifted slowly until Kai was spooned around her back, snuggling her tight, and she sighed.
A warm, noontime breeze played over her skin, making the curtains rise and fall. In the distance, the ocean moved in the same way, rising and falling with the swell the way Kai’s chest did. A shearwater flew past, flapping its wings effortlessly, and the whole world felt connected, beating to a single pulse. Was that destiny smiling on her, or was she smiling at the world?
She closed her eyes and burrowed closer against Kai. Okay, maybe the world only seemed perfect at this moment. Reality was still out there, ready to bring who knew what. Good surprises. Bad ones. But whatever fate delivered, she could handle because she had her mate, and she had faith. She rubbed her cheek against his, thinking of the others who’d helped her through the crazy journey of the past few days. Ella. Boone. Silas. Hunter and Cruz. Would destiny smile on them, too? Would it bring them their perfect mates?
She balled her hands into fists. Whatever she could do to help them, she would. Of course, at the moment, she was naked and clinging to Kai, but when the time came, she’d be ready. And in the meantime…
She shifted slightly, nudging his groin with her rear. By accident — she swore! — but that didn’t stop a whole new round of sensual images from flooding her mind.
“Hey, Kai?” she murmured, tracing a pattern over his hand.
“Hmm?”
“This mating bite thing,” she said, ever so casually. “You said it goes both ways, right?”
“What do you mean?”
She ran her tongue over her teeth. A vague idea had been forming in the back of her mind — put there, no doubt, by her dragon side — and slowly, it took shape until she could imagine the scene perfectly. A point not too far in the future, when she was making love to Kai. She would be on top, with her shoulders pushed back and her hips pulsing against his. Instinct would guide her as it had guided him, and she would pause at exactly the right moment and lean over his neck while they were both on the cusp of their high. Then she would bare her teeth and deliver her own mating bite. Maybe even puff her own brand into the marks, solidifying their bond.
Kai smiled against her back, and his hands snuck to her breasts in the first hint of a tease. “Yes, it goes both ways.”
She wiggled around, coming into a straddle over him.
&nbs
p; “Whoa. Right now?” he protested, though his eyes sparked with desire.
She laughed as she straddled him. “Maybe not the bite part. But we can always practice, right?” She teased him with a little nip.
Kai pulled her hips higher until she was perfectly positioned above his stiffening cock. “Practice makes perfect.”
“Hmm,” she murmured, starting to move over him. The dreamy, blissful feeling was still heavy in her bones, but part of her couldn’t get enough of her mate. “Perfect,” she mumbled, getting into the groove. “Just perfect.”
Bonus scene: A Dragon's Honeymoon
A Dragon’s Honeymoon takes place in Arizona a few weeks after the events of Lure of the Dragon.
“Lesson three,” Kai said in his gravelly, dragon voice. “Taking off from a medium height.”
Tessa took a deep breath and looked at the red rock Arizona landscape all around. “You mean, taking off from a sheer cliff?”
Kai laughed. “It’s only about twenty feet high.”
She peered straight down. It wasn’t that she was afraid of heights. Standing there was fine, even with her toes — er, claws — curled over the very edge. But the idea of launching herself off that into thin air was entirely different.
“It’s just like what we practiced yesterday,” Kai said, motioning with his wing.
His wing. Tessa did a double take as she so often had over the past month. This wasn’t a dream. Her partner — lover — mate — really was a dragon shifter. The rich blue eyes that swirled at her in encouragement were surrounded by leathery dragon hide, and a sharp ridge extended down his back. She shifted from one foot to the other, peeking at her own body, amazed that she could shift to dragon form, too. Her dragon wasn’t quite as big and certainly not as coordinated as Kai’s, but then, she’d only had a few weeks to practice.
“You’re doing great,” Kai murmured, touching her back. “You’re a natural.”
The man had the patience of a saint as he’d slowly guided her through her new life as a dragon shifter. With his encouragement plus the dragon blood in her ancestry and the mating ritual they’d completed back in Hawaii, she really had done well over their first few flying lessons. Lesson one had been landing after a tiny hop from a rock. It seemed laughable at the time, but she had to start somewhere. The tricky part was coordinating her huge wingspan without snagging on anything or tilting off-balance. Once she learned to hand over the details to her inner dragon, though, it was a piece of cake, and she was amazed at how comfortable she’d become in her second skin.
Lesson two had been a greater challenge — a running takeoff into a short glide. Kai did it effortlessly, while she grunted and cursed and sighed. After a few tries, though, she’d mastered that, too. Her short flight wouldn’t have matched the Wright Brothers’ first attempts at Kitty Hawk, but she was glowing with pride by the time Kai declared the lesson over.
But taking off from this height? Tessa swung her long neck left and right, eyeing the treetops skeptically.
“You can do it,” Kai said. “Remember how well you did in your first couple of tries.”
She snorted. The first couple of tries were off a boulder, not a cliff, and one attempt had ended in a head-over-heels, albatross-style landing. Still, she’d kept at it and discovered that flying came naturally as long as she didn’t overthink it. In fact, part of her was eager for more.
Well, her dragon half was eager for more. Her human half wasn’t always sure.
Tell you what. We’ll try a few flights then head back to that cozy cabin and reward our mate for his patience, her dragon murmured.
Now that sounded like a plan. She and Kai had been staying in a rustic cabin owned by the powerful wolf shifter pack that controlled most of central Arizona — Twin Moon pack, distant relatives of Boone’s. The cabin was located several miles up a beautiful box canyon filled with fragrant pines and rocky red outcrops. She’d been worried about returning to Arizona at first, but Kai had been right. Damien Morgan, the dragon shifter who’d tried to abduct her, was dead, and canyon country was the perfect place for two freshly mated dragons to get away from it all — and for her to master flying out of sight of prying eyes. An additional bonus of having no one around for miles was that she could be as loud as she wanted in bed — or next to the bed, or on the porch, or even on the dining table, where Kai had laid her out like a feast and showed her how a dragon pleasured his mate. Make that, he’d shown her again. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her, and she couldn’t get enough of him. She’d shown Kai her love, too, riding him hard enough to make the big bed creak. Another time, she’d seduced him in the shade of a nearby creek, and the evening before, she’d led him to a gorgeous overlook at sunset and—
Tessa pursed her lips and forced herself to concentrate on the cliff again. Kai had warned her that destined mates were legendary for sealing their eternal bond through marathon sessions of sex — a phase that stretched over weeks. Not that she was complaining. But at the moment, she had to focus on flying.
The tricky part was ignoring her tail. It flicked whenever she concentrated, which distracted her all over again. The first time she’d shifted, her tail had startled the heck out of her, and she’d ended up turning in circles like a puppy, trying to get a better look.
It’s just a tail. Her inner dragon rolled its eyes.
She was still getting used to that, too — the feeling of having two beings share her soul. She’d always heard faint little whispers in the back of her mind, but ever since turning shifter, her dragon had taken on a whole voice of its own. A voice a lot like hers, but lower, like a singer who’d spent years working in a smoky saloon.
Ah, smoke, her dragon sighed.
Without thinking, she tipped her chin up to the sky, opened her mouth, and—
“Whoa!” Kai cried. “Watch it. No fire, remember?”
Her dragon pouted. Don’t tell me what to do.
Tessa gave it a little mental cuff. We promised. Arizona is dangerously dry, and we have to learn one thing at a time. Don’t be such a child.
Kai winked in approval. He’d given her a long lecture about keeping her dragon under control before her first shift. But boy — sometimes it was a battle to keep the beast leashed.
Let me fly. Let me soar. Please, her dragon begged so wistfully, Tessa ached. She’d spent her childhood entertaining dreams of flying, and now she knew why. Her dragon had been locked inside her human body for thirty years, yearning to be free.
“We will fly. We’ll soar,” Kai promised, grinning.
Dragon grins tended to flash a heck of a lot of pointed teeth, but that didn’t startle Tessa any more. Kai was her mate. He’d saved her from the ruthless dragons that had sought to steal her away. He’d stood by her from the very start, before he knew she had dragon blood or that she was the keeper of the precious Lifestone. At night, he held her close and stroked her hair as if she were his most precious thing, and every day they spent together was a joy.
Mate, she hummed happily. My mate.
Her dragon filled her mind with tempting images of all the fun she could have flying with Kai. Come on, already.
She closed her eyes and shuffled closer to the cliff’s edge, sticking out her snout. The wind was just right. If she took off immediately, the updraft would give her a boost.
Don’t overthink this, she told herself, trying to shut down her human side — the side of her that had been taught that dreams were for kids. That fantasies belonged on the pages of books, not in real life, and that freedom was just another word that had been stretched too thin.
“You just have to believe,” Kai whispered.
Believe, her dragon echoed.
The wind carried a whiff of jasmine, a silent echo of centuries past. She stretched her neck forward and leaned out.
Fly. You can fly, her dragon cheered. Trust me.
Tessa took a deep breath, spread her wings, and jumped.
Just like diving into water, only you dive into the air
, Kai had told her back in lesson one.
The way she engaged her core muscles to hold her body in a sleek, elongated shape was similar. The way she squeezed her eyes tight. The way she pointed her toes — or rather, tucked her legs against her body and sheathed her dragon claws. But launching was totally different, too, because she jumped out, not down, and the out kept going and going. The wind tickled her belly, and the heat of the sun beat upon her leathery wings.
Yippee! her dragon cried like a child given a mighty push on a swing.
Tessa opened her eyes and found herself skimming over the treetops in a perfectly straight line. Her mouth dropped open. Was she really that high? Was she really doing it?
Kai beat the air with his wings and roared in approval. “Go, Tessa. Go!”
She leaned the tiniest bit right, banking, then tried the same on the left and squealed in glee when it worked. She was flying!
Gliding, her dragon murmured. Not quite flying yet.
The weightless sensation was such a thrill, Tessa stretched it out, experimenting with minute movements of her wingtips. If she were in human form, she’d be curling her fingers this way and that. In dragon form, the movement translated to minor adjustments of her wings.
A shadow fell over her back — Kai, soaring above her, keeping a watchful eye out.
You’re doing great! he called into her mind.
She grinned and beat her wings without thinking — once, twice, gaining altitude. Whoa. She was flying. Really flying.
Flying. Her dragon nodded and leaned left before she could protest. Now we turn back up the canyon…
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my… she mumbled as the turn threw her sideways, with one wingtip toward the ground and the other toward the sky. Surely a body as big as her dragon’s couldn’t keep aloft at a crazy angle — like a sailboat, tipped way over on its rail.
Perfect! Kai cheered as she straightened out and zoomed back up the canyon.
Perfect, her inner dragon grinned, settling into a rhythm of three powerful wingbeats, a long glide, then three more beats.