by Reus, Katie
She arched into him, her nipples beading tight. “You have treasure?” Other than her buttons and hair ties.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Claiming?” she continued, pushing him.
“I’ll bite you during sex,” he said bluntly, his words wrapping around her and sending a rush of heat surging through her, right to her core. For some reason biting sounded insanely hot. “You like the thought of that.” His gaze dipped to her mouth, his eyes practically glowing with heat.
That was when she felt the soft rumble of the earth—and didn’t care if they brought the whole damn house down on them as long as they got mated.
In response she stroked him once, twice, until he took her hand and pinned her wrist against the wall above her head. Then he did the same with her other one as he crushed his mouth to hers.
She moaned into him as she teased her tongue against his. She arched her back, but he kept her in place, basically immobile. For some reason she liked the sensation of being helpless even while knowing she held a whole lot of power where he was concerned.
Jets of water cascaded around them, creating a cocoon of extra privacy. Or what felt like it. The house was empty and right now she felt like they were the only two people in the world. As if they were back in that nearly empty Hell realm and she could be as loud as she wanted.
But she needed more.
He must have read her mind because he suddenly dropped one of her wrists, only to grasp both of them with one hand as he reached between her legs, cupping her mound.
Ooooh, yeah. She rolled her hips against his hold, her entire body on fire for him.
“You’re so damn wet,” he growled against her mouth. Then he slipped two fingers inside her and she nearly combusted.
Her inner walls clenched around his fingers in response. He didn’t even warm her up with one finger, he just slid two right in there.
His fingers definitely weren’t enough. She rolled her hips against him as he started thrusting slowly, tortuously, clearly trying to send her into madness.
She bit his bottom lip, struggled against his grasp. His hold eased but only for a moment.
Letting her wrists go, he kept her pinned in place in other ways. He cupped one of her breasts and slowly circled his thumb around her nipple. Then he dipped his head to her other breast, teasing both of her nipples simultaneously.
A bite there, a suck here, a pinch there. The torture, the pleasure, his mouth, his fingers. He was driving her crazy as he teased her body.
She was going to explode from pleasure and they had just started. Needing to touch more of him, she reached between their bodies and wrapped her fingers around his thick length, stroked once. She loved being able to touch him all she wanted, had thought about this so many times. The reality was better than her fantasies.
His big body trembled, but he didn’t stop thrusting his fingers inside her. Didn’t stop at all. That rumble was all around them now, but it didn’t feel scary. It was…comforting almost. A huge public acknowledgment that she was his mate.
She dug her fingernails into his back. “I want to feel all of you inside me.” Her inner walls were clenching and begging for it. She needed a release so badly her body was trembling.
He lifted his head, his chest rising and falling wildly as he looked down at her. Then he took his cock in hand and stroked it once, twice, three times. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as she looked at all of him, this warrior god who wanted to claim her.
A low growl emanated from him as she stared unabashedly at him, drank her fill and still wasn’t full.
She clutched his shoulders as he grabbed her hips. Then oh so slowly, and with a precision and patience that impressed her, pushed inside her, every thick, delicious inch.
She sucked in a breath as he pushed all the way to the hilt, her mind going into sensory overload as she settled onto him.
When she looked at his face, saw the intense lust and love as he watched her, she knew she was going to come soon. She was right on the edge, barely holding on, and as he hit her G-spot she arched against him. Right now she was beyond words—almost beyond thought. She rolled against him, needing him to meet her stroke for stroke now, needing more rough than soft in that moment.
Growling low again, he reached between their bodies and started strumming her clit with enough pressure that yep, she was about to climax. But she needed more stimulation.
He started teasing her as she pushed up with her thigh muscles, then slid down on his thick length again.
He took over immediately because that was exactly who he was, and began thrusting, hard. Just like she wanted—craved.
He moved inside her like a male possessed, taking and giving, claiming her.
It didn’t take long for her climax to hit, sharp and wild as he thrust inside her with abandon, not treating her like some soft human who couldn’t handle it. The friction against her G-spot combined with clitoral stimulation pushed her over the edge far too fast. She hadn’t been prepared for it.
Pleasure exploded out to all her nerve endings, and as she started coming, her entire body shaking, he buried his head against her neck.
His growl reverberated through her right as she felt the prick of his canines. Piercing her skin, he bit down hard.
The burst of pain was over so quickly, before it gave way to even more pleasure, as if the pinpoints against her neck were connected to her clit.
Another wave of pleasure pushed out to all her nerve endings as another, sharper orgasm slammed into her. Wave after wave cascaded through her as she held on to him for dear life.
He let go in that moment too, and she was vaguely aware of the sound of crumbling tile as he slammed a fist against the wall next to her head as he roared out his climax.
His thrusts were wild and uncivilized as he came inside her in long, hot strokes.
Time seemed to lose all meaning as they both came together, panting and still desperate for more.
When she finally came back to herself, she looked up into his smoky gray eyes, and saw her future in front of her.
This male was everything to her. Her whole world. She was just glad that she’d been brave enough to take the chance. Hell, she was glad he hadn’t given up on her because of her baggage.
“I love you,” he said quietly before brushing his lips over hers, gently, the opposite of the way he’d claimed her just now.
Then he started to get hard inside her again.
She pulled back to stare at him, her eyes widening.
“Dragon shifters are different than human males.” He looked positively smug about that. “And I am definitely not done.”
She grinned at him and grabbed his face, pulling it to hers. “Neither am I.”
Chapter 42
Three weeks later
Avery curled up on Mikael’s lap, perfectly comfortable exactly where she was as she looked at the party going on in Aurora’s backyard. “You think they’d even notice if we left?” she murmured against his ear before biting the lobe gently.
Axel, sneaky lion, jumped down from the big oak tree. “Yes, we would know, so you’re not going anywhere.” He snagged a quick kiss on the top of her head but didn’t escape a swat from Mikael’s hand.
Her big dragon didn’t even crack a smile or betray any expression, simply reached out and smacked Axel on the side of the head. It was kind of impressive.
“I love you,” she murmured, kissing him on the mouth this time as she fought a laugh. His possessiveness was never going away.
“Come on you guys, you can’t sit here the whole time.” Dallas’s voice interrupted them.
Groaning, Avery pulled back and looked up at her friend. “Yes we can.”
“No way.” She grabbed Avery’s hands and tugged her off Mikael’s lap. “We’re about to have a dance party.”
Avery snickered slightly as she saw that they were indeed clearing out some space on the patio for… A dance party, apparently.
An
d Dallas was leading the way, her dear friend very clearly tipsy already.
“Come on,” Riel said, coming up to sling an arm around her shoulders even as he placed a glass of champagne in her hand. “Mom’s earrings look good on you,” he added, smiling in a way she hadn’t seen in ages.
She touched the dangling diamonds. Wearing something that had belonged to her mom made Avery feel connected to her. “Thank you. So where did we get all the alcohol?” Certain things were very hard to come by these days and if they weren’t a necessity, they didn’t get them. Some people were making moonshine, but no thanks. She’d rather be sober for the rest of her life than drink that crap.
“Dallas made it all. She said she did some kind of cloning spell to create all of it. This is top-shelf stuff.” Her brother’s voice was appreciative. Both her brothers were completely fine since the kidnapping, had rebounded so fast she was kind of surprised. And now they both had pendants like hers that would protect them from any potential danger. It helped her to sleep easier at night.
She’d been worried her pendant was useless after Lindsey had been able to hit her with that rock, but after talking to the Magic Man, he’d assured her it was something that had happened because she’d gone through two portals back to back. It had screwed with his magic, but he’d fixed it—and she didn’t plan on jumping through portals any time soon. Neither she nor Mikael had the key anymore either. Zephyr had taken it and…she wasn’t sure what he’d done with it. Hidden it somewhere. She didn’t want to know where it was either.
She took a sip of the champagne and sighed appreciatively. Avery was going to file Dallas’s skills under things that kind of blew her mind. She looked over her shoulder, ready to tell Mikael that he better get his ass over here, and realized he was right behind her. Because of course he was. He never let her out of his sight.
She blinked up at him, smiling. He was always her quiet, unassuming shadow and she couldn’t get enough of him.
“I need to find a male who looks at me like that,” Lola said, shaking her head as she looked at the two of them. “If I didn’t like you both so much, I might throw up a little bit.”
“You changed your hair. I like it,” Avery said as she slid her arm around Mikael’s waist and leaned into him. Her brother Riel had already joined Dallas and Rhys—who was actually dancing with his mate—on the dance floor.
A burst of music went up, someone clearly having found another stereo system because Harlow had broken the last one with a basketball and a Roman torch. Apparently tiger shifters couldn’t be trusted with fire either. Or basketballs.
Lola ran her hands over the sparkly purple tresses. “I’ll go back to the rainbow eventually, but I really like this.”
“It suits you,” Mikael said, almost double the number of words he’d said all night.
Avery looked up at him and he shrugged, a grin playing across his hard mouth. One she wanted to devour right about now.
Her dragon of very few words was in a good mood tonight even though he hadn’t been talking much. She knew because they were in tune with each other in more ways than one. Now that they were mated, it was almost like they were linked somehow and she could sense his moods. The last three weeks, he’d been stuck to her like glue.
Though to be fair, the first week they’d barely even left the bedroom. She’d let the very capable people she worked with take over her jobsites even though she felt a little bit guilty. But King had assured her that mating only happened once in a lifetime and that she needed to enjoy herself. He’d actually insisted that she and Mikael take the week off and not show their faces anywhere.
So she had taken that week, much to the horror of her brothers and Mikael’s brothers, because they’d basically disappeared for a week straight and had been spending all their time over at Aurora and her crew’s place.
Aurora had decided to throw a party for Avery, Riel and Anthony because they’d “lived through a bunch of crap” and, according to Aurora, her crew didn’t need an excuse to celebrate during these times anyway. She’d already promised Avery that in another week or so they’d have a celebration for Avery and Mikael’s mating.
Avery looked up at her mate, her heart full. “You feel like putting on your boogie shoes?”
Mikael blinked at her. “Is that a reference to dancing?”
She grabbed his hands and dragged him toward the marked-off part of the patio, shaking her hips as she did. “Why, yes it is.”
He grinned down at her, a look of such raw adoration on his face that she felt it like a punch to her heart. She couldn’t believe she’d found such incredible happiness. A male she could always depend on—a best friend. He’d become her family in such a short time and she knew that he would never betray her, never let her down. That simply wasn’t in his DNA.
“I will do anything to make you smile, my mate,” he said quietly, intently, as he joined her on the dance floor.
She wasn’t sure why she was surprised, but as he started moving in tune with the music, she realized that the male had serious rhythm. But of course he did—she’d seen it in the bedroom firsthand.
Over and over, in fact.
When an old-school KC and the Sunshine Band song came on, a cheer went up from the crowd and she laughed at the wonderfulness of it all.
The world was still rebuilding, and some days were harder than others, so right now she was going to grasp onto her happiness for all that it was worth.
She and Mikael had worked hard to get here. So she was going to dance with her mate and, as soon as they could, sneak away and she was going to enjoy the rest of the night wrapped up in his arms.
Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading Ancient Enforcer! If you’d like to stay in touch with me and be the first to learn about new releases you can:
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Happy reading,
Katie
Acknowledgments
As always, I owe a huge thanks to Kaylea Cross, the best critique partner and best friend a writer could ask for! I’m also grateful to my editor, Julia Ganis—maybe one day I’ll write a series about just the dragonlings! Thank you to Jaycee for another amazing cover, to Sarah for proofreading, and of course I owe a lot of gratitude to my fabulous readers! Thank you all for your support. As always, I’m grateful to have such a great team to help me get my books in shape for publishing. This includes my two favorite writer pups, Piper and Jack, the duo who sleeps in my office day in and day out while I work.
About the Author
Katie Reus is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Red Stone Security series, the Deadly Ops series and the Redemption Harbor series. She fell in love with romance at a young age thanks to books she pilfered from her mom’s stash. Years later she loves reading romance almost as much as she loves writing it.
However, she didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer. After changing majors many times, she finally graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology. Not long after that she discovered a new love. Writing. She now spends her days writing dark paranormal romance and sexy romantic suspense. If you would like to be notified of future releases, please visit her website: https://katiereus.com and join her newsletter.
Complete Booklist
Complete Booklist
Ancients Rising
Ancient Protector
Ancient Enemy
Ancient Enforcer
Darkness Series
Darkness Awakened
Taste of Darkness
Beyond the Darkness
/> Hunted by Darkness
Into the Darkness
Saved by Darkness
Guardian of Darkness
Sentinel of Darkness
A Very Dragon Christmas
Darkness Rising
Deadly Ops Series
Targeted
Bound to Danger
Chasing Danger
Shattered Duty
Edge of Danger
A Covert Affair
Endgame Trilogy
Bishop’s Knight
Bishop’s Queen
Bishop’s Endgame
MacArthur Family Series
Falling for Irish
Unintended Target
Saving Sienna
Moon Shifter Series
Alpha Instinct
Lover’s Instinct
Primal Possession
Mating Instinct
His Untamed Desire
Avenger’s Heat
Hunter Reborn
Protective Instinct
Dark Protector
A Mate for Christmas
O’Connor Family Series
Merry Christmas, Baby
Tease Me, Baby
It’s Me Again, Baby
Mistletoe Me, Baby
Red Stone Security Series®
No One to Trust
Danger Next Door
Fatal Deception
Miami, Mistletoe & Murder
His to Protect
Breaking Her Rules
Protecting His Witness
Sinful Seduction
Under His Protection
Deadly Fallout
Sworn to Protect