“I like the sound of that.” If they’d had a plan to defend themselves against Lioslaith and Henri-Augustin, then her clan might have fared a little better. As it was, if Davi hadn’t been there, she’d be dead too. He was the reason she was still alive.
10
Davi
“I am glad we chose the convertible,” Davi said as he sped down the highway.
At the dealership in Vegas, he had traded in his SUV for a Mercedes convertible because Carolina was missing her motorcycle. He thought maybe having the top down would be close enough to give her comfort. He considered just buying her another motorcycle, but selfishly, he wanted to be able to talk to her while they drove.
He had flown directly into Vegas, and had been so intent on finding his missing mate, that he hadn’t had time to appreciate the landscape. Now, he couldn't tear his eyes away. “It is really so beautiful. And so different from Europe,” he said. “It’s different from the Middle East too.”
“I haven’t been there,” she said.
“It’s beautiful as well. Just different from this scenery.” He squeezed her hand. “I will take you. We can visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran… There are so many places to see.”
When she smiled back at him, his chest felt like it expanded ten sizes. “I am also really looking forward to taking you to the annual Dragon Festival in Ireland with Niall and Nora, and their Texas shifter family. They've only had one, but I heard it was a huge success.”
“What's it like?”
“I am only repeating what they told me, as I did not meet them until right after their celebration. Last year they rented a castle, so all the Texas dragons could fit, plus Niall and Nora. Nora used her magic to make fireworks and the kids got to just be themselves without hiding their true nature. They could climb the castle walls, and jump from the top spire, and shift and fly without anyone seeing them. There's also a small lake where everyone could shift and swim and catch fish.”
“It sounds like heaven.”
“I think it would be. I got to experience a little bit of it at the wedding. Of course things were a little more formal there.”
“It sounds like you want to be part of a clan again.”
She was correct. He did want to join a new clan, but his life was with her. “We can do whatever makes you happy. If you are not comfortable being around shifters, then we can just visit. Or I can visit alone, but once you have been around them, I think you will change your mind.” He was certain of that. He didn’t know the Texas dragons very well yet, but everyone who met Nora and Niall loved them.
They kept talking and before they knew it, they arrived at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. They had chosen the North Rim because they heard it was more natural, and not as touristy.
Sure enough, it was a pristine environment, operated by the United States National Park Service. There was a rustic visitor center, and there were very few rails to hamper adventurous hikers. They rented a small cabin in the woods only about twenty feet from the edge of the cliff. The cabin was a bare-bones structure, with no heating or air conditioning, although it did have indoor plumbing. It was the opposite of their hotel in Vegas.
As soon as they crossed over the threshold, Davi grabbed his mate and lifted her up, kissing her. “I want you again.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “Again?”
“Always,” he said. “I still want to taste you.”
“What if I want to taste you instead?”
He growled. “I can hardly argue with that.” He kissed her jaw and bit across her neck. “But I need you first.”
She went limp, letting him grab her ass and squeeze. He pulled her close, letting her feel the hard line of his cock. He scooped her up and rushed to the bed with her.
He laid her down. “This bed is quite different from the Bellagio,” he said.
“I think it’s just fine.”
He agreed. All the opulence was fine, but it was the last thing he needed.
She stretched her limbs out, and he couldn’t wait any longer. He stripped her t-shirt and then her shorts off. Her pretty pink bra and panties looked good, but he wanted them gone.
In a flash, her panties were off, and he pushed her legs open. He knelt between her legs and lowered his mouth to her core.
He pressed a kiss to her hip bone. He gently traced his tongue over her entrance. He pushed one finger inside her wet pussy. As always, she was ready for him. He put his mouth on her clit and sucked while pushing a second finger into her pussy.
She nearly came up off the bed. “Oh my God, Davi, that’s exactly what you need to do. It feels so good.”
He didn’t have a clear memory of that, but his instinct was driving him now, just as it must have driven him then. Moving his mouth over her clit while thrusting his fingers in and out of her body just felt right.
“I could do this forever,” he said. “I never want to stop.”
She grabbed his hair, sinking her hands into it. Her hands tugging in his hair brought back another memory: the two of them in the woods in Portugal, lying on a blanket in this exact same position.
The memory spurred him on, and he sped up, flattening his tongue against her clit, while crooking his fingers and rubbing against her sweet spot.
“Davi,” she yelled. “I’m close.” He grabbed her legs and put them over his shoulder. With his free hand, he pushed his hand up to her breast and squeezed her nipples.
At that point, her thighs tensed and tightened around his head.
“Come now,” I said. “Come with my mouth between your legs.”
She did. She let go, and she grasped his hair harder as her pussy pulsed around his fingers. He did not let up with his tongue, continued to gently lick her clit while she came down.
She let her arms fall back down to the mattress, and he carefully laid her legs back down.
She beckoned him closer. “I want you to fuck me.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
He pushed his pants off, and his boxers too, breathing a sigh of relief as he freed his rock-hard cock. He crawled between her legs and rubbed the tip of his cock over her entrance. It was already so wet from her orgasm. He pushed the tip up and down over her pussy, wetting it even more.
He pushed her knees open with his hands. “Hold your legs open.”
She did as he said, and gripped the underside of her knees, spreading herself wide, holding her legs apart for him. He kept rubbing the tip of his cock over her slick pussy until he couldn’t take it for another second. He laid on top of her and thrust his cock into her body. He began to thrust, kissing her mouth, licking over her full lips.
On the small bed, he rolled over onto his back, keeping his cock buried inside his mate. Once he was on his back, she hovered above him, her round breasts right in his face.
He put his hands on the globes of her ass, squeezing her cheeks as she scooted up, kneeling above him. He moved his hands to her hips, guiding her up and down on his cock, watching intently as her breasts bounced in front of his face.
She rode him, sliding her slick pussy up and down in a rhythm on his cock. He leaned forward, capturing her breast with his mouth. He sucked on her nipple, still guiding her hips with his other hand.
Suddenly, he needed to be closer to her. He sat up, wrapping his arms around her, positioning her in his lap. He hugged her close, shifting his hips up, thrusting into her. “God, I love you, Carolina.”
“I love you too,” she said. And then she came again. Her head fell forward, resting on his shoulder as she climaxed.
When they made it out of the cabin, there were a few humans, mostly backpackers and campers milling around. There were even a few children. He was not sure how they could handle being near such a sheer drop-off. If he were to fall, even several hundred feet, it would not kill him, and if he fell accidentally, he would shift into dragon form. It was instinct. Humans didn’t have such reassurance.
The sign was still up, so Carolina and Davi
began their hike. They strolled along the paths, side by side. When they got to the edge, they both stopped to stare in wonder at the canyon.
“It’s beyond what I could have imagined,” Carolina said.
He stared out into the abyss, at the staggering cliffs, and the orange red clay that led to the river below. “I feel the same way.” He wrapped his fingers around hers. “I cannot wait to fly through this with you. It is truly a shifter’s dream. All that is missing is the ocean.”
“The river looks nice, but it does not look wide enough for us to swim in if we’re shifted.”
“No. It looks rather skinny for such a big canyon,” he said. “It’s hard to believe water made these majestic rock formations.”
She nodded. “Ponta da Piedade is gorgeous, but this is otherworldly.”
Ponta da Piedade was the place that had featured in his memory from the day before, the memory of them cuddling on the sand, hidden away from their clan by the rocky cliffs. “I wish I could remember more about our home.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t remember?”
Oh, hell. He had meant to bring that up in a more tactful way. “I have some gaps in my memory.”
She pulled her hand away from his. “What kind of gaps? Why didn’t you say something?”
“I intended to. I told you I didn’t know how I ended up in Austria.”
“I thought you meant the witches sent you there somehow with their magic, not that you didn’t know where you came from.” Her voice rose in pitch. “Davi, I swear to you, do not lie to me now.”
“You are my mate. I feel that I cannot lie to you.” He wasn’t sure how he knew this. But he felt strongly about it.
Her eyes flashed. “You’ve done a good enough job so far.”
“I did not mean to deceive you.”
“And yet, you have.” She pointed to one of the wooden benches that looked hand carved from a tree trunk. “I’m going to sit over there. You may join me if you’d like to explain.”
It was time for him to come clean. For the life of him, he could not figure out why he’d chosen to hide this from her. He would be frustrated too, if she had not been honest with him. He sat next to her. “When I woke up in Austria five years ago, I had no memory of my previous life.”
“No memory at all?”
He faced her head on and met her eyes. “None.”
“You didn’t remember me?”
“No.”
Her face went ashen. “How is that possible?”
“Nora, who I’ve told you about, is a witch.”
Carolina gasped. She jumped up from the bench. “Nora is a witch? You have never mentioned that.”
He had not meant to conceal that fact. “I thought I had.”
She slashed her arms through the air. “No. I would have remembered.”
He pressed on. He might as well get all the details out. “In any case, she has helped me over the last few months. She thinks a witch or wizard cursed me right before I killed him. We are not sure of the details.”
Carolina didn’t sit back down. “It was a wizard. His name was Henri-Augustin.” Her nostrils flared. “You don’t remember that? You lost your memory of the fucking wizard. The one who destroyed our village. The one who ended our lives.”
Henri-Augustin. He could not picture him. But Carolina’s fury was a far more pressing concern. “That is correct.”
“And you’ve been friends with a witch all this time.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t remember me.”
“No.”
“How did you know my name? Did you remember it?”
He might as well be totally transparent. “I did not remember it. But I looked at your driver's license and saw that it said ‘Carrie.’ That did not feel right, and then I asked about your accent, and you mentioned it in the hotel room, at the Bellagio.”
“You looked in my wallet.”
“Yes.”
“Your lack of honesty was so big, that you couldn’t even bother to tell me you didn’t know my goddamn name.”
He nodded.
“Yet you shared my bed. Without being truthful to me. How could you do such a thing?”
She was right. He never should have taken her to bed, without letting her know all of the facts.
Despair seeped into every part of his body and soul. “In retrospect, I should have told you before we made love. I was so caught up in my feelings for you that I told myself I could talk to you about it later. It was a terrible mistake, and I am very sorry.”
She pointed at him. “A wizard ruined my life. I will not let it happen again. Not even for my mate.”
His very soul seemed to splinter as his beautiful mate dropped her arm and turned her back to him.
11
Carolina
She couldn’t stay still. She’d turned away, but she found she needed to see him while she spoke.
How could she ever trust him again? “And besides, how do I even know that you are truly Davi Santos, my mate?” she demanded. She took a big step away from him. It broke her heart, but she was not taking any chances. “You could be anyone.”
Davi’s face was pure anguish. “Carolina, my love. Please do not doubt me.”
She gasped. Had he meant to say that? My love was what he had called her before, five years ago. She had not heard it again from him. Did he even understand the significance?
“Do not call me your love. Don’t you dare.”
“You are my love. The only one I’ve ever had, or will ever have.”
She huffed. “Right. You didn’t know my name, you piece of shit.”
His handsome face fell. “Carolina. I knew you. I could feel you.”
“You say don’t doubt you, how can I do anything but doubt you?”
He reached for her hand, but she would not allow him to touch her. “You might look like Davi, but be a witch in disguise. Or you might be Davi, but you’re being controlled by a witch.”
“I am not. I give you my word.”
“It’s too late for that. Your word is no good.”
“I will find a way to make this up to you, to prove that I am your mate.”
“You may not even know. Did you not tell me of your friend Niall who was brainwashed by a witch?”
He nodded.
She cursed in Portuguese. “That was only last year. The witches and wizards are still active. They are still powerful.”
“I will make this right.”
“You can’t make this right. It isn’t possible!” she yelled.
She’d been cut off from the supernatural world for five years. She had no idea what was going on, until Davi showed up and told her. The witches were still up to their vile acts, according to him. They’d still be happy to partner with a Fae. And Carolina would be a prime target for Lioslaith’s revenge.
What the hell was she going to do?
She’d made a life for herself in Las Vegas. It wasn’t a particularly glamorous life, but she’d had friends and a makeshift family, and a motorcycle she loved. She’d worn leather and gambled in the casinos. She’d played the part of a bad girl more than once, but she’d also helped a few people here and there. Now that part of her life was gone.
She could not return to her bar or the club. She couldn't return to Jim, not that she would want to. Now that she’d been with Davi, her true mate, even if he had been brainwashed or manipulated, she would never be able to lie with another male again.
She was certain of it, even through her feelings of betrayal. She could not understand why Davi had not told her that his memory was missing. There had been so many opportunities to tell her the truth.
What if he had been tricked into turning her over to Lioslaith? What if Lioslaith had found a new Henri-Augustin who was hungry for the kind of power a dragon shifter could provide?
She would not allow that to happen.
She would prefer to never be separated from him again. But she would be no one's pawn.
There were too many people around for her to shift into dragon form. She had no car. She had no home. But she had been forced to start over alone before. She could do it again.
She ran.
12
Davi
Davi looked everywhere for Carolina. But he found nothing. How was that possible? He had been so aware of her just moments before. When they were in Vegas, he could feel that she was close by. He had even tracked her to the airport.
And she had felt him too. Now he felt nothing. Nothing but regret.
Had she blocked him? He hadn’t known that was possible.
He jogged through the National Park, trying not to attract attention.
Where could she have gone?
She had no car. And she would not have shifted to this close to humans. After looking for an hour, he circled back to the bench where they'd been sitting, hoping she might have come back. Hoping she might have mercy on him and forgive his stupidity.
But she was not there. The bench was empty. He sat down and dialed Niall’s number. He didn’t know if Niall might be teaching a class, and he did not care. He needed his friend.
“Davi? Is something wrong?”
“Carolina has left me.”
“What do you mean she left? Is she safe? Did something happen?”
“Something happened all right. I did not tell her about my amnesia. I did not tell her the truth. But now she knows.”
“So she's upset that you didn't remember her?”
“Yes, very much so.”
“Did she say why?” Niall asked.
“Very explicitly. There are two reasons. Both are understandable. The first is that we were intimate under false pretenses. She feels that she did not have all the information. She thought she was sleeping with her mate, her mate who knew everything about her. But I know very little about her. I think she feels tricked and betrayed.”
Soldier Dragon's Second Chance Page 7