Amethyst Storms (Primordial Protectors #1)

19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Alex

His statement sent a shiver down my spine, and I moaned and pressed closer, wanting to taste him the way I’d been too lost in my heat to do when we’d mated. Being perched on his lap put me at the perfect height to kiss and nibble along his jawline and over his shoulder, until his shirt got in the way. Grumbling, I tugged at the hem, trying to draw it up over his head only to tangle him in it momentarily when he tried to help me.

His laugh was low and full of wicked promises as he helped me get him free, but when he went to take charge, I caught his hands, placed them on my ass, and glared until he kept them there instead of letting them roam the way I knew he wanted them to. Of course it was hard as hell to glare when I was choking back laughter at the disgruntled look on my mate’s face and the amused snort of our dragon as he got a kick out of our mate’s predicament.

Cheeky mate, putting him in his place.

Now that I had him here, I planned to keep him at my mercy for a little bit as I wiggled until we were chest to chest and I could rub my cheek over his shoulder and my fingertips up his back, mapping the broad expanse and the muscles there.

Some instinct was driving me to rub my face over as much of him as I could reach in this position, like a cat scent marking. I peppered his skin with kisses until I’d slid back so I could work my way down his chest, his hands keeping me from tumbling off his lap while I explored his body. The glow of the flame over his heart drew me to lave my tongue over it, the flame jumping, then flickering a little faster, speeding to match the beat of his heart.

Groaning, he shivered, fingertips digging in until I yelped as they shifted to pointy claws, pinching me a bit.

“You will be kissing every bruise you leave behind with those,” I murmured as I nipped his earlobe and felt a shiver tear through him and goosebumps crop up along his arms.

Did you just very politely tell Ionus to kiss your ass?

Our dragon’s voice made me snicker and rock on the thick bulge still hidden by Ionus’s pants.

Maybe.

We laughed together for a moment, until I found myself lifted in one arm while my clothes were stripped off with the other as my mate had finally grown tired of me and the dragon teasing him. His tongue traced over my flame now as my legs wrapped around his waist and I whined as he caught the pebbled nub of my nipple between his teeth and gave a tug, drawing a long, low whine from me. Shifting my hips, I managed to wring a similar sound from him

“Tell me again where you’re gonna bury your cock,” I encouraged, drawing out the k in a long, low whine when he tugged on my nipple again.

Deep, deep inside of you.

His words were a rumbling echo rolling through my mind. A shiver tore down my spine as I keened and squirmed, rubbing against the front of his pants until I came all over them. He made a rough, pleased sound as he drew a finger through the mess, collecting a bit that he brought to his lips and sucked off with a satisfied slurp.

I wanted him to make good on his threat, still so unbelievably turned on that I wished I could torch those pants off him and any underwear he might have on underneath, so I could get at that thick cock.

For a moment, I could have sworn I smelled smoke, then my legs felt warm where they were wrapped around him and as I let them drop, I was shocked to see the cloth turn to ash and drift away.

“Did you just….?” I started giggling so hard I couldn’t finish the sentence.

In my mind our dragon preened, while Ionus drew me closer, lined himself up, and worked the tip inside while I shuddered and tried to encourage him to pick up the pace. Growling, he stilled my movements by tightening his hold on me again, only this time no cheeky requests for him to kiss my ass came rolling off my lips.

Instead, I moaned, writhing as each additional inch slowly slid inside of me until I was so full I keened and nearly came before he even started moving.

“Such a perfect fit for me!” Ionus growled.

For us!

Gods but I wish I had the right form to be a perfect fit for you, too, Dragon!

I could almost picture our dragons locked together, the image heightening my pleasure so much that I rocked on Ionus’s cock and cried out Dragon as I came again.

I could feel his pleasure weaving through our own as Ionus quickened his pace, every movement a pounding demand for me to cry out his name, too. My fingers tangled in his hair as I rocked to meet each thrust, my head thrown back as I rode out the storm.

“Cry out for me, human,” he demanded as he drew me down farther, my knees gripping him as he bounced me on his cock.

I moaned, most of the air driven from me, words refusing to form as light spots danced behind my eyelids, every sensation so electric I felt like I was going to disintegrate like his pants had done.

“Say. My. Name.”

Howling, I trembled, so close to falling apart again I could have cried. Waves of pleasure tore through me, making the word difficult to form. “I. on. us!” I sobbed, choking it into three syllables as I lost myself completely, a roar I never expected to hear coming from my lips rapidly following his name.

His followed, chasing it as we rode out our climax together, space and time melting until there was nothing but the sound of him and the heat of his touch. Everything faded then. We could have been frozen for all I cared, as long as we stayed together for the rest of eternity.

Sated, I sprawled like a melted candle against the crushed velvet beneath my back, my fingers trailing lazy loops and swirls along Ionus’s side and over his hip as we lay panting and struggling to catch our breath.

In my mind, I pictured baby dragons clumsily flapping after him, determined to keep up with Daddy on wings that could barely support them. Oh, I was gonna be a wreck, running around underneath them with my arms out, determined to catch them even if they were only a few feet off the ground. I was gonna be that Papa, too, the one who took a million and one photos and organized baby books and filled in every silly thing they did right alongside every precious milestone. There would be hair clippings, early scribbles, and probably a few charred and melted lumps of unfortunate toys along the way and I was going to enjoy every sticky, stinky moment of their childhoods.

Oh dear Goddess, how long was a dragon’s childhood anyway?

Dragon chuckled in my mind while I pondered that.

I promise you’ll have far longer than a human’s eighteen years to spoil and fuss over them.

That’s an easy promise. I’ll be fussing over them forever and spoiling them, too, at least until they get sick of me fawning all over them and go run for shelter in Daddy’s scales.

Pfft. I’ll be spoiling them just as much, if not more, then where will they go?

“I’m right here, you know,” Ionus grumbled as he ran his fingers through the sweat cooling on my back.

I shivered from the cold this time, until he pulled me closer, wrapping me in all that lovely body heat until I sighed contently.

And you’ll be spoiling them as much as we will.

Dragon’s declaration made me giggle, while Ionus sputtered, speechless until a chuckle rumbled from his chest.

“Well played, Dragon,” he murmured as we basked in the quiet moment together, well aware of the turbulent days that might lay ahead of us.

How did one keep up with four hatchlings, I wondered as I lay there remembering some of my own antics growing up. Gramps was going to have a field day laughing as I rushed to keep one from barbequing a toad while another attempted to perch on a flower like a bumblebee and started bawling when he crushed it.

I had no doubt that Gramps would pick a moment just like that to remind me of the time I’d tried to hide in the rain barrel during a game of hide and seek that we were playing and in the process, accidentally tipped the barrel over and with me half in and half out of it, went rolling down the rather steep driveway, breaking my wrist at the bottom.

Just the memory of that and the cast I’d had to wear for the rest of the fall left me longing to order a surplus of bubble wrap to swaddle the hatchlings in so nothing like that would ever happen to them.

Both my mate and our dragon chuckled in my mind, and yet I detected a mental note made by one of them, though I couldn’t tell which, adding it to the list they’d been compiling of all the things we’d need for the little ones. I thought it was the most endearing thing in the world that my fierce mates didn’t chastise me for wanting to wrap them up so nothing in the world could ever harm them. I’d seen toxic masculinity at work among many of the alphas I’d met in my travels and let me just say that it was never a pretty, or attractive thing.

Never, my mate. Young ones should be protected, not made to fend for themselves.

Though the words were our dragon’s, the sentiments were echoed by Ionus as I snuggled tighter to him.

My stomach rumbled a request for food after the intensity of our lovemaking, but a part of me wanted sleep more and to curl against him for at least a week without any more unexpected surprises. A pipedream, I knew. We had sleeping dragons to rouse and extract answers from, but now that my initial fever had cooled, I was second guessing my decision to accompany him and Gramps.

What if by doing so I forced him or one of his brothers to turn their attention away from a threat in order to assure themselves of my safety? I’d never forgive myself if something happened to one of them, or Goddess forbid, one of our eggs, because I was being stubborn.

Maybe this was one time when it might be safer for all involved if I took a step back and trusted that any question I had would be answered when they returned.

Smart human.

Part declaration and part praise, I could feel our dragon in my mind, not interfering, but providing me with the confidence and assurance that I was making the best decision for my family.

We would never withhold information from you.

I know.

And I did, down to the depths of my soul. I could trust in that, in them, with every fiber of my being.

I love you, Dragon.

I love you, too, mate.

Snuggling against Ionus, I easily pictured the dragon curling around us both, cradling us in his tail as we began to slip into slumber. “I love you,” I whispered, words slurred as my heavy eyelids finally gave up the fight and closed completely.

Just a short nap, then we feed you and the younglings.

“Just a short nap,” I murmured, lips pressed against the pulse point of Ionus’s neck.

He rumbled and let out a contented sigh, clutched me closer and hugged me to him with more strength in one arm than any man who spent a lifetime in the gym. For all that strength, I’d already glimpsed the tenderness that lay within him, as well as his fierce protectiveness over his family and his desire to see each of his brothers experience the joy of discovering their mates. My last thought before sleep pulled me under was to send out a plea to the Goddess that none of them turned out to be a liar or a betrayer. I couldn’t imagine the pain of having one’s heart shredded by a mate that way and I sure as hell never wanted anyone I cared about to experience it firsthand. I could sense that the brothers had already lost more than they were willing to speak of yet. They didn’t deserve to have anything else taken away from them.