Eadric couldn't help himself now. The need for her grew the longer she remained within his grasp. The more she smelled of a need that mirrored his own.
He needed one more day. Just one. He ached for her. Lilly clouded in his head, leaving little room for much else.
"Show me," she whispered.
He pulled away, eyeing her. "You understand what you offer? What I offer?"
She nodded. "I think I understand. It's an eternity of having someone there for you. My sister had told me about why my father wanted that woman. The mate of your brother. Because they were mated. She would have died to save him."
Lilly's breasts rose and fell as she struggled to control her breathing. God, she was gorgeous as her cheeks flushed a crimson. "I want that. I want all of you."
He closed his eyes, fighting back the urgency within him. He wanted to do this properly. Like any female deserved. He didn't want this to be out of desperation. Millennia of being with someone who had regrets.
"It can never be undone. You are mine. Forever."
She gave a nervous laugh. "You're the only one I can touch without incinerating them, so I think the forever sounds just fine."
He winced at her words.
"You, you choose me because I am the only one you can't hurt? Any of my brothers would do by this definition." He released her and started to walk away. His dragon still prowled around, hurt, angry, frustrated. But the man in him, Eadric couldn't allow her to settle for him. That was not what a mating was.
He clenched and unclenched his fists over and over again. He'd always assumed that she would understand, that it would just click within her that she was meant for him. Not merely that he'd chosen her, but that fate itself had chosen each of them for the other.
Running his hand through his hair, he pulled at it. Pain reminding him he was living in hell.
He looked up and realized he'd just walked in a damn circle.
What had he been thinking? Kidnapping her and then expecting her to help him. He was her captor. Of course she would come to a conclusion that would gain her what she saw as freedom.
Correcting his path, he headed back to the cave. Time to pack up, get ready for the next part of this mission and then say some goodbyes.
"Eadric?"
He didn't stop. He just kept walking, his feet chilled as they slid across the cave floor.
"Eadric, please stop."
Inside what he now saw as a prison, he started to pace. He needed to clear his head. He needed to accept this. He needed a plan.
"Eadric, please. Stop."
Snapping his head up, he looked at her. Pain stabbing him in the chest as he took her in.
"Why, Lilly? What do you want?"
He stopped. Want. What did she want? It wasn't him, but perhaps he could give her something in return. Something that might not be what he needed, but perhaps would give him some peace after this was done.
"I don't know that I've asked that. I have told you what I want, and what my brother needs. But what do you want?"
He stopped a few feet away and watched her. God, what he wouldn't give for his name to be on her lips.
He hadn't planned to have her in the first place. Or well, maybe he had, but he hadn't thought about much more than that.
Her rejecting him hadn't ever been a thought.
He blew out a breath.
Slowly, she came toward him. He didn't move away. His heart beat with her every step. Waiting for her response was hell.
Stopping toe to toe, he stood his ground.
His dragon sat within him, eyeing her. Even he didn't know if he should pounce or tuck tail and run.
"Eadric." She placed a hand on his cheek. The heat of her touch warmed his soul. The cave lit up little by little as his markings began to glow spiraling out from his chest to his arms. "I've never known what I wanted until you. The only thing I do know, is that my soul has ached for you my entire life."
His muscles tensed.
"I am yours, Eadric."
Wide-eyed, he studied her another second and then threw caution to the wind. He needed nothing else but her.
"Mine," he growled as his mouth crushed into her.
She whimpered out a "yes" as his lips trailed to her neck, his tongue licking the soft skin.
No more waiting.
He gripped her ass and lifted.
Carrying her over to the mat they used as a bed, he lowered her to the ground.
Eadric was lost in her scent, lost in his need. Lost in his mate as he rose above her, taking in the heat within her gaze.
9
A shiver of anticipation made its way through her as she watched him move. Her eyes flicked down his body, landing on his enormous hard-on. He knelt between her legs, spreading her wide. Her breath caught as her body seemed to know exactly what she needed as heat traveled through her, settling between her legs.
Leaning forward he claimed her lips, kissing her gently, less urgent but still full of hunger. She didn't flinch away as his hands started exploring her. Goosebumps covering her stomach as his fingers danced along her skin.
He swallowed her moan, and a smile formed on his own lips.
She'd call him a name, but right now all she wanted was him. He broke the kiss and started a trailed down her neck, to her chest as he pushed up her shirt. She wove her hands in his hair. She bit her lower lip as he kissed her breasts over the fabric, and she squealed as he nibbled one hard peak. Maybe she'd been surprised at first at the pleasure he could bring her, but the zing of need that ran straight to her core had her begging for more. She pulled his head closer. Lifting her own shirt, she held her breath, waiting. God, she needed more. Her breasts begged for his touch.
Closing her eyes, she let the feel of his tongue dancing along the ridges of one breast, circling her nipple, before he dragged his teeth over it. The sensation bordering on pain and the pleasure of the nerves there had her confused and very aroused.
"More," she begged.
What she asked, he gave. He kissed a trail of heat down her stomach, reaching lower and lower until he was stopped at her waistband.
Her eyes flew open. No. No stopping. Her thumbs hooked the band, and she started to push, only to be stopped as his fingers encircled her wrists.
"Slow down." His voice raspy.
She nearly cried. "No."
That earned another chuckle.
"Do not rush this, we have our entire lives. Let me enjoy your body," he said as he bent lower and licked the skin above the band.
"Let me enjoy every shiver," he teased as he pulled the band lower and kissed her skin.
"Enjoy your little moans." Another kiss as he pulled her pants lower.
"Yes," she moaned.
Lifting her ass, the band slid down, and the breeze of the cave fluttered over her skin.
The heat his kisses left teased her.
Oh, God.
Lifting her hips on instinct, she begged for a release of this new need. Her body ached for him, aching for more. She needed him.
Her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head as his finger traced the sensitive slit between her legs, slowly pushing back the folds of her heat.
Yes.
She jumped as his tongue flicked against her clit and then licked a trail down only to return to the sensitive nub. He continued until she was panting. Before she could catch her breath, his licking and sucking grew more intense, and the next moment she cried out as he slipped a finger into the tight muscles between her legs finding a new spot and a new pleasure more intense than the first. Her hands flew to her own hair this time as she desperately tried to find something to anchor her.
A heat spread over her body the more he stroked her.
"Oh, God. Eadric."
At her encouragement he slipped a second finger in and it was almost too much. One, two, three more strokes and her body exploded. The muscles between her legs began to squeeze around his fingers. Her breath came out ragged and she suddenly realized that
her sister had been lying to her all this time.
As she tried to catch her senses, Eadric came back to her lips. He kissed her, and she was pretty sure she kissed him back. Her body was jelly.
Slowly, her heart steadied and her need for him returned twice as fierce. If he could do that with his tongue and fingers.
Reaching between them, she sought out the hard member below his waist. Her fingers gripped his smooth hardness. It was her turn to explore. His breath hissed against her ear as she gently stroked. The long shaft was rock solid and strong, like the rest of him. A shiver raced up her again as the desire to know what it felt like buried deep within her.
She had no idea what else she was supposed to do, but she wanted this. Wanted him.
She slowed the stroking, reaching further down until she felt lower and lower. She stroked what her sister had called balls. Eadric's breathing began to mirror her own. Erratic, breathy.
He pushed up on his forearms, meeting her eyes, his breath shuttered as she returned to running her fingers over his hardness.
"Lilly, I can't wait much longer. Are you certain?"
She nodded. Her voice weak, it took a moment to find the words.
"Yes. I need you."
The power of his gaze might have been enough to push her over again, fire swirling within his orange-gold eyes, stripping her of everything and baring her soul.
No words were said as he kissed her again. She pushed her hips up again and felt her own slickness as his length rubbed against her.
Yes, she needed him.
He smirked down at her. "Hungry?"
It was her turn to growl.
"Make me yours."
He chuckled. "As you wish, mate."
He braced himself on either side of her as he positioned himself above her.
She nearly came as he licked his lips.
Her eyes traveled down his body, down the muscles, across his abs, and stopped at the muscle that both excited and scared her. The head glistened, and her mouth watered in a need to taste him.
Her hips had a mind of their own.
As if reading her mind, his hand cupped her moist heat, rubbing his fingers through her slick folds.
She could feel her own slickness as he brought a finger back to rub the sensitive nub. She writhed as he increased the pressure.
"More."
Her body tensed as he positioned the head at her entrance. Was she ready?
She brought her hands to her own breasts, kneading herself as she moved her hips against his hand.
One more flick of her clit and she moaned, yes. She was ready.
"Are you ready for me?"
She heaved out, “Yes."
Slowly he pushed forward, and her body slowly spread to accept him. Just as she got used to the burning of unused muscles, he retreated. She lifted her head.
"Eadric?"
His arms shook from restraint and he slowly pushed in again, further this time.
"Yes," she moaned.
As he pulled out and slid back in over and over, each time driving deeper she found herself falling further into the pools of swirling desire in his eyes.
Just as she was afraid her body couldn't take anymore he thrust in one last time, harder, burying himself deep within her. As he began a slow rhythm, stroking her deep inside, he lowered himself down kissing her, swallowing each and every moan.
"Mine, "he whispered, gentle as he pushed in, over and over.
The sharp burn she'd originally felt fell away into the most unimaginable pleasure.
He pushed a leg wider with his knee and sought to go deeper.
"Eadric. Yes."
"Breathe," he whispered.
She held onto his arms, used him to steady herself as his rhythm continued to hasten.
"You feel so good," he said on a hiss of air.
At first she could catch a breath, but the faster he went the more the pressure within her built. She didn't want air; she wanted more of him.
She rocked her hips in answer to his thrusts, catching him by surprise this time.
A sly smile formed over his lips, and she couldn't help but answer it back with a grin of her own, until he thrust harder this time. She groaned in ecstasy.
"Eadric, yes. More."
She offered him an invitation, and he accepted it. Each new thrust came harder, faster.
He went deep within her, stroking her on the inside, muscles, nerves that had never tasted such pleasure.
The coil within her wound again, tighter and tighter with each thrust. She couldn't breathe, or perhaps she didn't care if she could. It was growing to be almost too much; she needed to release. Eadric leaned down and took her nipple between his teeth, a gentle tug all she needed to explode once again, her body quaking, pulling on him, but he didn't stop.
He wasn't done with her yet. His pace becoming feverish now, pushing into her again and again.
As she began to think that she couldn't come again, couldn't give him what he wanted, he roared the word, "mine" and slammed into her one last time.
As her own orgasm took over and her body feeling nothing but this pleasure, bursts of color smashing in front of her eyes, a new sensation shattered her. A burning pleasure heated against the soft flesh between her neck and shoulder.
She couldn't move pinned beneath him and she didn't care. She just needed him. She needed him filling her, holding her, owning her.
His dick twitched within her and her body milked him once more. Taking everything he gave to her.
She was his.
10
Eadric kissed the bite on her shoulder, then he slowly came up for air.
His dick finally stopped twitching now that he had claimed their mate. The urgency to have her dulled, for now.
She moaned as he moved. He tried to keep his weight off of her as he shifted. She twitched as his still semi-hard dick shifted inside of her, touching her sensitive core.
Taking in the flushed skin of her flesh, the sweat dotting her brow, there was no hiding his pride.
"You are mine now," he said as he nibbled the lobe of her ear.
He tried their link to see if she could hear him yet.
I am yours.
She didn't respond, nor did she show that she'd heard his confession.
Her words came on a puff of breath. "Yours."
He rolled over, holding her to him, but removing his weight off of her.
He remained buried in her as they fell into a deep sated sleep.
It felt like only seconds as Eadric woke with a start.
Visions of a boy burning alive in front of him plagued his sleep drunk state. He'd never hurt a civilian, this wasn't his memory.
He closed his eyes again, a new flood of memories of a cold empty room where he huddled in a corner. No, not him. A little girl.
A pain shattered his calm as he looked down at his mate. She was safe. Safe within his arms, for now. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her lids.
Is this what she had endured? The fear, regret, sadness, loneliness seeped through from his dream state to now.
Gently, he rubbed his hand up and down her back and her eyes fluttered. Slowly, her mind calmed.
You're safe, he said through their connection.
She shook her head this time.
"I know."
Was that your life, before?
She paused. "Are you talking in my head?"
Kissing the top of her head, he nodded.
Yes. As my mate you are linked with me.
She remained still for a moment.
Can you hear me?
He smiled to himself.
Yes.
Lilly shifted against him. His dick growing hard as she wiggled.
Her silence meant nothing to him now. He waited for her thoughts to reveal to him what she was thinking. She couldn't hide anything, not yet.
She was unsure of what to feel, so he took this as an invitation to show her instead.
He envisioned her just h
ow she'd been a little while ago. Screaming his name. Under him at his command as he made her body pulse. He gave her a memory of how sexy she looked as her breasts bounced with each thrust.
His last memory he shared was his pride and his arousal of how claiming her truly felt.
Sniffing the air, a hunger rolled through him as her arousal came to him.
Her thoughts were of a mixture of shy requests that she didn't know how to ask for. One with her down on her knees, licking him.
Fuck.
She shifted. "Why do you say that?"
His hand slid down her back, down to her round bottom, and he squeezed.
Bad dreams gone, now all he could think of was his mate's tight core stretching around him, allowing him to fill her as he pushed in deep.
She shivered and grew slick around his hardened dick.
He took the liberty of being her mate and claimed her lips. Lilly kissed him back, nibbling his lip as he pulled away. Rolling over, he placed her on top, another image that had flashed through her mind.
He loved the oh of her lips as she drew in her breath at the delicious tenderness of her own body.
Mate, I'm at your command. You can do whatever you please.
She began to push herself up, his already hard dick head deep within her. Yes, he liked where this was going.
As she moved, her tight entrance stretched around him, inch by inch. She bit her lower lips, squelching the groan of pleasure he knew she held back. Her eyes closed as she pushed past the tenderness to find the pleasure.
The knowledge that she was untouched pleased his dragon, fueling them to show her how no other would ever touch her.
Mine.
Her voice came through clearly. Yours.
He restrained himself. He would let her do as she needed. As she wanted.
Through their connection, he could feel her pleasure. Feel the pressure of his dick within her from her perspective. He lifted his hips to increase the sensation as she envisioned and was rewarded with her panting.
He gripped her hips and started to move her as she needed, her own mind lost in the pleasure. Her nipples grew hard with each move. Her body already reveling in the pleasure of their mating.
He focused on her mind, her pleasure before he worried about his own. He gave her thoughts of his own. The beauty of her on top of him. Her beautiful breasts bouncing as she began to enjoy the new pace, as her hips started to rock rubbing her core against his length.
Single Red Dragon: A Dragon Shifter Fated Mates Novel (Space Dragons Seek Mates Book 2) Page 7