Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
LORD
A duality exists inside most, if not all dragons, and I don’t mean man versus beast. Although, maybe that’s part of it. There’s a deep, yearning part of me that longs for the quiet of the forest, the cool solitude of the mountains, and a peaceful nap on a sunny rock miles and miles from civilization. But there’s an equally large craving inside of me for luxury, the feeling of expensive fabric against my skin, the echoing sound of my shoes against a marble floor, all things that sparkle and shimmer in the light. After days in the wilderness feeding that more animalistic need for nature, a ripple of pleasure runs through me as I lead Alrick into the most expensive suite available in the City of Lights.
“Wow,” he whispers, as if it would be rude to speak too loudly in such a nicely decorated, expensive room.
I chuckle, the sound echoing off the high ceilings, and drop my backpack onto the uncomfortable looking sofa. Through the large windows, we have the perfect view of not only the Eiffel Tower, but the sprawling city around us. I stride over to the window to get a better look, breathing in deeply and letting the bone-deep sense of home settle into me.
“Did you grow up in Norway?” I ask.
Alrick sets his bag next to mine and joins me at the window.
“I was born there, but I kind of grew up all over. We’ve always moved around a lot. My dad said if we stayed in one place too long, dragons would come for us.”
I frown. I can’t say the man is completely wrong. The clan members of those slain might seek revenge. It was certainly the first thing on my mind after Judre’s untimely demise. But something tells me his paranoia was just another way to convince his sons that dragons were to be feared and hated more than anything.
“What about you? You said you were born in France?” He bumps his shoulder against mine and I feel the tug of an urge to pull him closer.
“Hatched might be the more accurate term, but yes.” I smile, memories from my long-ago childhood flooding my mind as if they happened yesterday. The cozy cave we called home, the forests my brothers and I spent hours every day exploring and running through, the sound of my mother’s voice crooning our favorite lullabies in her soft French accent.
My chest warms with affection and nostalgia, but a sour core of guilt keeps me from smiling. Every minute I spend with Alrick puts my family more at risk. I’m betraying them by being here with him now. So why is my dragon so convinced this is right? It’s enough to make my head spin, and I’m not the only one.
Through our bond, I can feel a tangled knot of emotions coming from Alrick, with too many threads to easily pick apart and decipher. He takes a rattling breath, and I can sense the tension in his body. That won’t do at all. If these are the final days we have together, I want them to be the best of his life.
“I need to make a phone call to Dahlia so she can start on the potion, but why don’t I draw you a bath first? You can relax and wash off the past few days of camping, and afterward, we’ll order room service.”
Anxiety sparks through our bond, and I could almost convince myself that he’s as conflicted about severing our connection as I am, even if he doesn’t fully understand why.
“You’re used to taking care of everyone else, aren’t you?” he says.
I chuckle. “I guess I am.”
His fingers brush against mine and he teases his pinky finger along the back of my knuckles. It’s such a small amount of contact, but it draws my fire to the surface all the same, heating my belly and filling my mouth with the taste of smoke.
“Counteroffer,” he says. “I’ll run my own bath, and when you finish your phone call, you can join me.”
I lean in and drag my nose along the curve of his neck, reveling in the heated shiver that runs through his body and the flare of lust that warms his scent.
“Deal,” I growl, my voice barely human. I nip lightly at the thrumming pulse in his throat, not breaking the skin, but just hard enough to draw a delicious gasp from him. “Go before I change my mind and devour you right here on the rug instead.”
Alrick moans. “Is that supposed to be an incentive to actually walk away?”
I drag my tongue along the same path I just traced with my nose, and he trembles again.
“How about this for an incentive? Go now and I’ll devour you in the bath and again right here on the rug later, with the lights of the city shining through the window.”
“Deal,” he rasps, echoing my previous response, and then he hurries off into the bathroom. Our bond tugs at the center of my chest. Is it getting stronger or am I simply becoming more aware of it as the days pass?
I stand there far longer than necessary, staring at the bathroom door, feeling the echo of Alrick’s surprise and joy as he explores the no-doubt extravagant bathroom on the other side. He was still so wary of me when we were at my house that I can’t help but wonder what he would think of my bathroom if he took the time to enjoy it. Would he stifle a sound of glee over the large, multi-jet tub like he did just now? Would he coo over the variety of scented bubble baths and bath bombs I always keep on hand? And what about my hoard?
My chest constricts with longing at the thought. Would he find it adequate? Would he let me drape him in priceless jewels and fuck him on a bed of gold coins? My dragon rumbles and my cock swells with a heavy throb. Would my odd obsession with cookie cutters make him laugh or would he find them sweet? A whimper tightens in my throat and I’m not sure if it’s my dragon’s despair or my own that elicits the sound. Both, perhaps.
When I finally hear the gentle splash of Alrick stepping into the full bath, I reluctantly pull my phone out of my pocket to call Dahlia. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can sink back into my fantasy world with my Viking for just a few more days. There are dozens of text notifications from my brothers, but I clear them without reading any and dial the witch’s number.
She answers before the first ring is even complete.
“Speak of the devil.”
“I’m sorry?” I ask.
She gives a throaty chuckle on the other end. “I literally just hung up with your brothers. You realize they’re losing their shit, right?”
My gut clenches. “Is everything okay?”
Dahlia laughs again. “You tell me. You asked me for a whole batch of healing potions without telling me what they’re for and then you disappeared with nothing more than a vague explanation about an injured human. Is this the dragon version of a midlife crisis or something?”
I scoff. “I’m nowhere near middle aged.”
“Well, that clears it up then,” she says dryly.
I run my free hand over the stubble on my chin and sigh.
“You can tell them I’m fine and I’ll be home in a few days, just as uptight and bossy as I’ve ever been,” I say. “But I do need one more thing from you.”
“And let me guess, I won’t get any explanation for this favor either?”
I grimace even though she can’t see me. “No, but I have a sapphire necklace that would look lovely on you.”
“Oh, sweetie, you’re going to owe me more than a necklace for all of this. But lucky for you, I consider dragons owing me big favors to be an extremely valuable form of currency. So, go ahead and tell me what you need.”
I swallow and consider backing out. I pull the recipe Xanthis wrote out for me from my pocket and stare at it for a minute. Flames sizzle in the back of my throat, tempting me to set it on fire and forget it even exists.
“I’m going to send you a recipe for a potion, I just need you to make it for me,” I grit out, tightening my grip on my phone until I feel it starting to give under my fingers like it’s made of soft clay rather than metal and plastic and glass.
“And are you’re not going to tell me what it’s for?”
I swallow a second time. “No.”
I pull my phone away from my ear, snap a picture of the recipe, and send it to her. She’s quiet on the other end for a minute before she speaks again.
“It’s a little complicated, but nothing I can’t handle. I should be able to have it ready for you by the end of the week.”
My heart sinks.
“Thank you. I’ll see you then.” I hang up without waiting for her response.
I release the fire that’s been building on my tongue in a quick burst. The parchment catches easily and burns to ashes in a matter of seconds. I toss my phone onto the couch, happy not to look at it again for the next few days if I can help it, and then I strip out of my clothes.
ALRICK
My chest is heavy with the weight of the emotions coming from Lord. I’m tempted to get out of the tub and go check that he’s okay, but before I get the chance, the door swings open and he steps into the bathroom. He’s already naked, his cock starting to swell, although it’s not quite hard yet. The painful, wrenching feelings that were flowing through our connection seconds ago are buried too deep to reach now, and I’m happy to follow his example. There will be time for an existential crisis later, but our chance to hide out from the world together has a ticking clock hanging over it.
I skim my hands over the surface of the hot water and give him a purposefully slow perusal, letting my attention linger on each inch of his bare skin like I’m trying to memorize every muscle and plane of his body. I spread my legs as much as the bathtub allows to make room for my rapidly swelling cock. An achy, needy feeling tugs at my core, and I focus for a minute on that spot in my chest where I can feel the connection to Lord. It pulses and throbs with my lust and his cock answers, standing up tall with a thick strand of precum weeping from his slit.
I sit forward, draping my arms over the side of the tub and grinning wickedly.
“That knot thing… does that happen every time?” I eye his cock, remembering the way the base ballooned and throbbed in my hand, the way it was too big to get my lips around, the way he seemed to moan louder when I teased it.
His eyes light up and I swear I can see flames dancing in them. He takes a step closer, his erection swaying between his thighs with the movement.
“Do you want my knot, brave Viking?” he purrs in that low, deep tone that’s almost pure dragon, his eyes flashing again, this time turning into slitted orange before flickering back to human.
I bite my lip and nod. Lord leans down, his breath so hot it scorches my lips. I open my mouth with a needy gasp, and he teases just the tip of his tongue inside before pulling back.
“Then you’ll have it,” he promises, cupping my jaw. “But first, I’m going to make sure you’re nice and clean.”
Why does getting clean sound so very dirty? Not that I’m complaining.
Before I can even blink, Lord is in the bathtub with me, easily lifting me to make room then pulling me back into his arms. His cock nestles against my back, and he presses lingering kisses along my shoulder. He’s slightly smaller in stature than I am, but it doesn’t feel strange at all to be the little spoon. I feel… safe in Lord’s arms.
“Tell me a secret, treasure. I want to know you.” There’s a strange vulnerability in the request that makes my heart beat harder.
Lord picks up the bottle of expensive looking bodywash on the edge of the tub and pours a generous amount into his palm, then he rubs his hands together until he has a rich lather. He brings his hands to my body, starting with my chest, and sets to work, massaging me as much as cleaning me. My muscles twitch and knots I didn’t even realize I had after the recent nights of sleeping on the ground loosen. I groan and melt into him.
While he moves on to working the tension out of my shoulders, I search my mind for a secret to share with him. It’s strange, because my life has been nothing but secrets—my brothers and me living apart from the world around us, holding knowledge that few have about the paranormal world hiding in plain sight. But that’s not what Lord is asking for, obviously. He wants to know something personal about me. I don’t know if there is anything. I would’ve had to have found time to be my own person to have secrets like that. I swallow around the lump rising in my throat and reach for the closest thing I can come up with.
“I’m still thinking about that snickerdoodle cookie. It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
He barks out a laugh and then nuzzles my ear, using his thumb to work on a particularly stubborn knot behind my shoulder blade.
“I could make you snickerdoodles every day, trays and trays of them if it would please you.” The promise in his gruff, gravelly voice is almost enough to convince me that this is more than just a fantasy, that I really could have a dragon so obsessed with my happiness that he would bake me cookies every day and spoil me rotten.
“What about you?” I ask. “I want to know one of your secrets too.”
He hums, finishing with my back and sliding his hands around to my front again, no longer massaging but simply exploring. His soapy fingertips dip under the water to tease the lines of my abs, his lips dragging lazily along the back of my neck. Our connection quivers with things that make me tremble and gasp, things I can’t quite put a name to.
“I’ve dreamed of having a fated mate since I was barely more than a welp, even though back then, I believed they were nothing more than a fairytale.”
The longing in his voice and in our connection makes my breath catch. I crane my neck and catch his mouth in an awkward but sweet kiss. Our lips find a slow, steady rhythm and his hands wander even lower. A little voice in the back of my mind warns me that what we’re doing is dangerous. Not because I think Lord will harm me, but because we’re pretending too well and it’s getting harder and harder to imagine walking away.
I twist in his arms, water sloshing around us and splashing over the sides of the tub as I turn to face him. It’s a tight fit, but I manage to straddle his lap, our hard cocks bumping against each other under the surface of the water, our kiss deepening now that I don’t have to strain to reach his mouth. I drag my fingers through his hair and lick deep into his mouth, swallowing the smoke flavored moans he feeds me.
His wet hands roam my back, the water dripping from his fingertips turning to steam with each stroke over my skin. I roll my hips, the water keeping me from getting enough friction with his cock against mine. It’s a delicious tease that leaves me more desperate for him with every thrust.
“My treasure,” he murmurs, nipping at my bottom lip. “My Viking,” he purrs, licking back into my mouth, his chest vibrating with his dragon’s contentment.
Little sparks of fire dance between our lips again. Lord kneads my ass cheeks while I run my hands over his chest, teasing his nipples and mapping all of the planes of his body that I can reach. The water churns and splashes all around us with our grinding and groping, our muffled, half-bitten-off moans echoing through the bathroom and hanging heavily around us just like the steam rising from the tub.
He slips his fingers between my ass cheeks, teasing them around my rim. My inner muscles flutter and clench, my cock pulsing eagerly against his. The way he strokes his fingers over my hole it’s like he’s petting it with loving strokes, and the hot water lapping at it makes me crave his tongue licking me open and getting me ready for his knot.
Maybe our connection is strong enough that he can feel that specific horny want pulsing through me, or maybe he’s getting just as frustrated by the way the water is blunting the friction as I am. Either way, Lord stops playing with my hole long enough to grab me by my thighs and lift me out of the water. He stands without so much as a strained grunt and I wrap my legs around him, trusting his strength.
We don’t break the kiss as he steps out of the tub and carries me across the bathroom, leaving wet footprints in his wake. He doesn’t stop until we reach the bedroom. My back hits the impossibly soft bedding and Lord hovers over me with a filthy smirk on his damp, swollen lips.
“Did you know I can shift body parts independently?”
My eyes widen. “Uh, no, that wasn’t in the training manual.” My gaze drops to his already massive cock. “But honestly, I think your human cock will get the job done just fine. Your dragon is pretty damn big.”
He rasps a laugh and claims my lips again. He forces my mouth open with his tongue then drags it teasingly over mine. I thrust up, trying to meet his cock, but he holds himself just far enough out of reach enough that it’s impossible for it to be satisfying. Our tongues meet, dancing and tangling, and then, to my surprise, his starts to get longer and thicker. Instead of a somewhat clumsy human tongue, it starts to move against mine agilely, in complicated swirls. Suddenly, I understand what he was getting at a minute ago.
My prostate throbs and my hole flutters eagerly.
“Oh,” I pant. “Yes. Fuck, yes.” I arch up under him again, desperate for friction.
Lord chuckles, grabbing my hips and flipping me over in a single motion. The bed hasn’t even stopped bouncing before he grabs my ass cheeks in both hands and buries his face between them. I inhale sharply with surprise as he snakes his lizard tongue around my balls first, stroking and teasing them before wrapping around the base to tug them away from my body. Heat like I’ve never felt before ricochets through me, and I claw at the sheets, grinding my cock against the silky fabric and leaving it slick with precum.
Lord releases my balls and licks through my crease, grazing my hole without pause, then reversing course and licking in the other direction to tease me all over again.
“Oh fuck,” I groan, shoving my hips back to beg him for more.
He does it a few more times, glancing over my quivering, needy hole until his saliva is running down my crease and pooling around my heavy balls. When he finally zeroes in on my entrance, I bite down on the pillow to muffle my shout.
“Don’t you dare keep those pleasured sounds from me. I’ve earned them and I want them,” he growls, sounding barely human. He nips at my ass cheek and then laps at my rim again with his hot, nimble tongue.
I grind against the bed and let loose a loud moan this time. He rumbles with satisfaction and shoves the tip of his tongue inside of me. My eyes roll back and my toes curl. I’ve been fingered, rimmed, and fucked plenty of times in my life, but nothing has ever felt like this before. His tongue is dripping wet and so dexterous he has no problem at all finding my prostate, flicking and tapping it with the tip until I’m gasping and vibrating and fucking the bed like my life depends on it. The only thing that keeps me from unraveling is the promise of his knot. I want to know just how wide it will stretch me. I want to know what it will feel like pulsing against my rim.
“Please,” I pant. “Please, fuck me. I need your knot, Lord.”
He eases his tongue out of my hole, leaving me gaping and desperate to be filled again.
“Balriss.” The word is a hiss around his dragon tongue. “My name is Balriss.”
“Balriss,” I groan, shoving my ass back towards him. A hazy memory about the importance of a dragon’s true name teases my brain, but it’s lost too quickly to desire.
He makes a satisfied sound and moves into position. His cock is leaking so much precum that it smears across the back of my thigh and over my ass cheek. He grabs my hips to pull me up and I let out an embarrassingly horny sob when the head of his cock nudges my hole.
“I may knot you the second I get inside this beautifully tight hole of yours,” he warns.
“Good.” I moan, wiggling my hips impatiently.
He presses harder against my entrance and the sheer size of his cock sobers me for half a second. The heavy pressure gives way to a stinging stretch that has me hissing through my teeth. He holds still, just the tip of his cock breaching me, giving me a chance to adjust. I clench my fingers around the sheets again and breathe in deeply, willing my muscles to relax into the stretch. He rocks his hips gently and through our connection, I can feel not just the lust coursing through him, but also myself constricting around his cock.
It’s like fucking and getting fucked at the same time. I clench down harder just to test the feeling, and blinding pleasure shoots through my cock just as Lord roars with his own pleasure.
“I can feel you,” I gasp.
“I should hope so.” His voice is strained but he manages to laugh.
“No.” I spread my thighs a little wider and rock back to take him an inch deeper. “I can feel you.”
The delicious fullness of him sinking deeper makes my thighs quake, but being able to feel the way my inner muscles give way and suck him deeper like they’re wrapped around my own cock makes my head spin and my cock drool like a broken faucet.
“ Oh ,” Lord groans.
He fills me slowly, one tortuous inch at a time while we both gasp and grunt and whine through the dual sensations. When he’s fully seated, my patience snaps. I press up onto my hands and start to fuck myself on his cock. He digs his fingers into my hips and the room fills with the sounds of the bed creaking and our shared moans. He meets my thrusts with deep, rough ones of his own, the two of us finding a frantic rhythm that has the water droplets still on my skin turning to sweat. My hair hangs in a wet curtain around my face and Lord folds himself over me so he can ravage me with kisses and nips and scorching licks that sear my skin.
Deeper, faster, more, more, more . This is all I need. Not a calling or a purpose in life, not even food or water or oxygen, all I need is this bed and Lord and I’ll be fine. Better than fine. I’ll be happy .
I can feel the base of his cock swelling bigger and bigger, tugging at my rim until it’s too much, until the aching pressure of it is just on the edge of pain. The sounds falling from his lips become more and more frantic, more wild, more desperate, and so do mine. Heat fills my gut and surges in my veins, my balls tightening and my cock throbbing so intensely I can’t be sure I’m not already coming.
“Balriss, beautiful dragon. So good. Need. Need .” I don’t even think I understand what I’m saying, but words won’t stop tumbling from my lips as I spiral higher and higher. Lord’s knot is too thick to pull out anymore, but that doesn’t stop him from grinding into me just as roughly, both of us right on the edge and so ready to fall over together. He slams as deep as he can and his knot reaches its zenith, throbbing against my prostate and stealing all the air from my lungs.
“ Mate ,” I scream as my orgasm barrels through me. No idea why I would yell such a word. Weird.
My inner muscles spasm wildly around Lord’s cock and I can feel every pulse and throb around my own cock. Jets of cum spray over the bedspread beneath me, shooting out of me so hard that some even paint my wrists and reach the pillows. Lord roars and pants, grinding into me, lost in our shared orgasm just like I am, the pleasure going on and on until I’m not sure I’ll survive it.
When my arms can’t hold me up anymore, I collapse onto the bed, taking Lord with me. My balls are drained, but my cock is still twitching, still pulsing with the ghost of the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced. And Lord’s knot is still thick and throbbing inside of me.
“Sorry,” he murmurs hoarsely. “It’ll take some time for it to go down I think.”
“You think?” I laugh weakly.
“I’ve never knotted anyone before,” he confesses, nuzzling the back of my neck.
“What? Seriously? Why not? If I had a knot, I’d be using it all the time.”
He falls quiet and I feel a twinge of guilt through our connection. I frown and crane my neck to look at him over my shoulder.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Lord sighs and kisses my shoulder. “Things that will only make it harder to let you go.”
I want to demand to know more, but the words die on my lips.
“Let’s nap and then order room service,” I suggest, wiggling around to get more comfortable, which you would think would be impossible given the circumstances, but is surprisingly easy.
Lord lets out a contented sigh, wraps his arms around me, and hums in agreement.