Chapter 3
Chapter Three
MARI
Torvial swims around the large pool with my fingers digging into his body, looking like a completely different person than the serious dragon man I’ve known for the past however many hours. A smile plays on his lips as he watches me, and I frown at him.
‘You don’t need to make fun of me for not being able to swim,’ I mutter.
He snorts. ‘That’s not why I’m smiling.’
‘Why then?’
‘It’s just been awhile since I had this much fun.’
I roll my eyes. ‘At my expense.’
A laugh rumbles out of him. ‘A little. Do you want to learn?’
‘To swim?’ I regard him with suspicion.
I don’t even try to hide it.
‘To tread water, at least. It’s pretty easy. Just push your fingers together to scoop the water, keep air in your lungs, and always move. Never know when you might need a skill like that.’
I scoff. ‘If I fall into water deep enough to need to swim, I’m already dead.’
He shrugs and I regard him, reassessing what I thought I knew about him. I don’t want to like him, especially with how adamant he is that he won’t help me even though he knows that I’ll be abused by his kind.
‘Okay,’ I say, and he looks surprised.
His hands circle my waist, and I try to hide the shiver that runs up my spine from his touch. If he notices, I hope he misconstrues it as fear.
‘Relax. Feel the water. I won’t let you go.’
I nod jerkily. What if he drowns me, or something?
I banish the unhelpful thoughts. If he wanted me dead, he’s had a thousand opportunities to do it.
He literally held my measly human life in his claws all day while we flew, and he did sort of save me from Orin.
That dragon had looked pissed that I’d kneed him in the junk.
He was probably about to incinerate me. I can’t believe I thought Orin was the less dangerous one when I first met them.
‘Okay, treading water isn’t exactly like swimming. You have to walk in it like you’re climbing stairs while you paddle with your hands. Try it with your legs first.’
‘You won’t let go?’ My voice wavers.
He’s quiet for a minute. There’s an odd look on his face. ‘I won’t let go.’
I try to do as he says, pretending I’m going up steps like he said, and he nods.
‘That’s good. Slower. This is something that you should be able to do for a long period. It needs to be low effort. Easy, languid movement. Like the water itself.’
‘Okay.’
I try again and hate that I get a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach at his approving gaze, but that’s immediately overshadowed by my own excitement.
‘I’m doing it!’ I exclaim, feeling his hands leave me, and I don’t begin to drown.
I paddle with my hands, keeping my fingers together like he told me, and trying to keep my movements flowing, my natural panic at bay.
‘Be one with the water,’ I say to myself, and he chuckles.
‘Good job, Grasshopper.’
‘Grasshopper?’ I ask, grabbing onto his arm and immediately feeling like I’m being wrapped in a blanket of safety.
‘TV reference. Have you heard of TV?’
I nod. ‘The moving pictures, right? Sometimes the Town Hall would do a screen night if there was enough juice in the auxiliary generator. I didn’t get to go much though. Only once or twice.’
‘Why not?’
I shrug. ‘My mom was the town whore. She was only welcome in their beds, not where their wives and kids were.’
‘I see.’
‘Thanks for showing me that,’ I say. ‘Never know. Maybe one day if I fall in a lake and don’t get immediately eaten, I won’t drown.’
‘Glad I could be of some assistance,’ he says a bit sardonically. ‘Maybe I’ll teach you to swim a little next time.’
‘Will there be a next time?’ I snort.
He sobers. ‘I suppose not.’
We stay like that in the water for several more seconds, neither of us sure what to say, I think.
I sigh and look away. ‘So, how are you going to do it?’
‘Do it?’ he asks.
‘You know... Fuck me. Will you do it fast like rabbits the way I saw Rob Mullany giving it to Steph Mires behind the old library or slow and languid, like you’re one with the water? I’ve seen it like that too.’
He raises a brow. ‘Do you make it a point to watch people often?’
I shift in the water a little. ‘I’m not a peeping Tom or anything like that. It’s just that, well, everyone fucks.’
‘Except you.’
I wince a little. ‘Yeah, except me.’
‘How would you like it?’
Is it just me or has his voice lowered an octave or two? It sounds deeper, gruffer. Did I just see his eyes flash?
I look at him a little worriedly, but he doesn’t do anything scary. He’s just treading water and letting me rest my hand on his arm, so I don’t sink.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, which type looked more fun for the woman?’
I shrug. ‘Well, Steph was panting pretty hard and making these moaning sounds. So maybe that one. Anyway, what do you care if it’s fun for me, or not?’
He snorts. ‘I don’t, female. In fact, let’s get it over with now, shall we?’
‘Works for me, yeah.’ I say as nonchalantly as possible, hoping he doesn’t hear my heart speeding up.
He pulls me over to the side where there are some huge steps. He puts me on the deepest one that I can actually stand on with my head above the water and ascends them, beckoning me to the top.
I suddenly wish I wasn’t naked, but I follow, swallowing hard and hoping I don’t throw up my dinner. What a waste of good meat that would be.
At the edge of the pool, he turns. ‘Sit on the side. Lay back and look at the ceiling.’
With a steading breath, I do as he says, reminding myself that it’s better that he does it. Even if he’s rough, at least I know him a little.
At least he makes me feel safe.
I roll my eyes at myself. What a crock. I sound like such a dumbass.
I lay back and look up, seeing lights in the deep, dark ceiling that twinkle like little blue stars. I focus on them as he parts my legs, opening me to his gaze.
I don’t look. I just stare up. Tears swim in my eyes and I blink them away, telling myself that it’s better this way, that I wasn’t saving it for someone special. I just didn’t want to have babies and lose them or die in the birth.
But I sort of realize in that moment that I was saving it for someone. Not anyone specific, but someone who actually loved me and who I loved back.
I stifle a sob.
I’m such an idiot, holding on to the dreams of a little girl.
I realize he hasn’t moved, and I chance a look at him. He’s exactly where he was, but instead of looking between my legs, his eyes are on my face.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whisper. ‘Just ignore me. I’m fine.’
He takes in a lungful of air, swearing on the outward breath.
‘Close your eyes and try to relax,’ he says gruffly.
I do it, trying to calm down. I jerk as I feel his breath against my core, my eyes snapping open to see his head between my legs. He takes in another deep breath, and I freeze, mortified that he’s smelling me. There.
I must make a noise because eyes that are a lot more predatory snap to mine and his thick arms are suddenly around my thighs, holding me in place.
I squirm with a cry, but his grip is like a vice and there’s no going anywhere for me until he lets me go. His head descends again, and he nuzzles against my nether lips, tongue flicking out to taste me, and he groans low, pushing my legs as wide as he can.
He licks me from ass to mound before finding a spot that has me whimpering and he closes his lips around it.
He sucks gently, teeth scraping just enough to make it feel dangerous, and then he begins to lick me in rapid movements that force cries out from my very depths.
They echo through the cavern in a cacophony of my own whimpers, moans, and cries.
The pleasure that crashes over me like a wave in a storm makes my back bow, my torso lifting off the ground as I squeal for him.
And then he does it, not with his cock, but with his tongue.
It feels thick and long. It penetrates me deep and I scream as white hot pain slices through me like he just impaled me with a hot poker, my hands like claws scrambling for purchase on the floor beside me.
He lets me go and I turn over, skittering away from him, tears flooding my eyes. I’m weeping, crying like a pathetic child. I hate it but I can’t stop. I dash the tears from my eyes and look at him. He’s still exactly where he was, half his body still in the water.
He licks his lips, and I look away.
‘I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘I didn’t know it would hurt you like that. It’s usually...easier for the female’s first time to use the dragon tongue.’
Dragon tongue?
My eyes widen even as I sniffle, and he leaves the pool. I look away from the great mallet that’s dangling between his legs. Is he going to fuck me now? With that?
Bile rises up and I fight down the urge to vomit.
‘Would you like me to help?’
‘How?’ I whisper, trying not to sound accusatory, but knowing I failed when he flinches a little.
‘I can heal you, but I’ll need to touch.’
‘Touch?’
‘Yes. You.’ His eyes flick down my body. ‘Where it hurts.’
Is he serious? But I find myself nodding because it can’t be any worse than this.
He kneels next to me. ‘Don’t move.’
His hand snakes down between my legs and I feel a long, lone finger entering me. He closes his eyes, and I feel a warmth emanating from him.
I sigh as the pain melts away. He removes his finger a second later, streaked with blood, and without hesitation, he puts it between his lips and sucks on it.
My mouth falls open and I move back. Feeling vulnerable, I close my legs and try to hide my nakedness.
‘Should I...’
Something beeps in the room, and I see a red light blinking on the wall by the door.
‘What is it?’
‘Proximity alarm.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It means someone’s here.’
‘Who?’
‘Another dragon.’
Panic envelopes me and I realize how much I’ve been trusting this one when the prospect of another has me dizzy and terrified beyond reason.
‘Stay here,’ he instructs, throwing on his pants.