Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
brIANNA
M y lips tingle from his soft caress and burn with the heat of his touch. I can’t believe he kissed me.
Declan is holding me, his hands completely chaste, even though his eyes seem to be telling me he wants more, even as his brows furrow and he kisses the tears from my cheeks.
He doesn’t push me, doesn’t try to get more information from me or even try to get me to stop crying.
He just holds me. It feels so silly, but I’m emotional. I spent too long wondering if he was dying, wondering if he would die in my arms. The kiss just made the drop on the roller coaster of emotions I’ve been experiencing hit too suddenly, and any control I had dropped right out of me.
As my tears slow, I gently kiss him again, enjoying the coarse feel of his chapped lips against mine. I warm quickly surrounded by him, and the feel of his body heats from me inside out.
“I’m sorry. I came down here to make sure you were okay, and now you’re comforting me.” I give him a watery smile, and sigh. “You really do deserve better than being trapped down here.”
Declan cups my cheek and rubs his thumb over my lower lip. “If I weren’t down here, who knows if I would’ve met you. And my life would definitely not have been complete without you.” With a smile, he takes my hand and entwines our fingers, giving me a small squeeze. “To be honest, I don’t have a lot of experience kissing either. Female dragons are rare, and up until recently, we were always told that we could only mate with another dragon.” He kisses my cheeks again and whispers softly, “Thank you for sharing your kisses with me.” The purr of his voice gives me chills and I shiver.
I tremble a little as I try and collect myself and decide how much I want to share with Declan. He’s shared so much. I can return the gift. “I wanted to kiss you earlier. I don’t know why, but I feel a connection to you that I’ve never had with anyone before. I feel like I can trust you with anything. Like no matter what happens, no matter what my father tries, you won’t break.”
He chuckles. “If he hasn’t broken me yet, I’m not going to stop fighting now that I’ve found you.”
I feel my cheeks heat, and I kiss him again, just to avoid saying anything else out loud.
He keeps it soft at first, letting me take the lead, letting me explore his taste on my mouth. That doesn’t last for long, as his tongue licks against the seam of my lips, prodding a little with the clear intention of taking things deeper.
I let him, moaning as his tongue fills my mouth and slicks over mine. My hands instinctively slide up his back, one stopping over his shoulder blade, the other moving up the back of his neck and into his hair.
Declan’s hands aren’t chaste either, moving down to my ass, repositioning me with ease as he lifts me and pulls me in closer so that I can straddle him.
We’re connected from lips to crotch.
I pull back slightly, breaking the kiss with a groan before I look down between us. He’s hard.
And from what I can feel, even without seeing it, he’s huge.
“Don’t look so surprised, princess.” He bumps the tip of his nose against mine, making no effort to hide the effect our kisses are having on him.
Making no effort to be embarrassed or apologetic at all.
I run my tongue over my lips, surprised to find that they feel almost tender, bruised even, from the intensity of his kiss. “I wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction.”
He laughs, a full-bodied sound that I want to bring out in him so much more often.
He’s hot, completely gorgeous, but there’s something almost transcendent when he smiles, when he laughs, like this somber, stoic man I met at first is just a shield he carries to get through his time here.
“Do you think you’re the only one who’s feeling this connection between us?” He presses another kiss against my lips before saying, “You’re intoxicating, Brianna. I won’t deny wanting more of you. All of you.”
I swallow hard, surprised by his admission. “We just met yesterday.”
“And I won’t take anything you’re not willing to give. Even if you don’t want to admit you’re fucking wet, just thinking about more.”
There’s that heat flooding my cheeks again. I don’t think I’ve ever blushed as much as I am tonight. “You can tell?”
“I imagine it would be more obvious if I weren’t shackled, but I can smell your arousal, princess. When you’re ready, I can’t wait to feast on it.” He licks his lips again, as his eyes drop down to where we’re almost touching.
Where I could probably grind my way to an incredible orgasm, not even taking my yoga pants off.
It’d be so easy to give in, to let him have his way with me in every way possible.
But if I do that, would the other shifters know? Even with the doors separating us, I can’t help but wonder if Ewan can hear us. Or, God, if he can smell my arousal too?
As if Declan senses my hesitation, he shifts us both, just a little, to put another couple of inches between us. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for, Brianna. But if we’re going to keep making out, I might need a minute.” He licks his lips again, and for a second, I could almost swear his eyes changed.
Like his pupils narrowed from circles into a more reptilian slit, and the color changed to a more golden color.
“Declan? Are you okay?” I want to believe it was just a trick of the light, or my mind making up fantastical ideas, just because I know he’s more than human.
He sighs. “This is the first time in months I’ve felt my dragon close to the surface, trying to break free, regardless of the shackles. I wish I could let him free. I wish we could both fly far from here.”
“Your dragon…” I blink a couple of times. “What are you saying, exactly?”
Declan carefully lifts me off his lap, to sit on the makeshift bed, before he gets up and starts to pace. “You know I’m a shifter. You know what I can become.” He runs his fingers through his hair, mussing it from the crown of his head all the way to the ends. “I wouldn’t hurt you, Brianna. But I’m not sure how much control I can maintain, when you taste so incredible, when you feel so perfect in my arms, pressed against my body. My dragon hasn’t had a reason to be anything but full of rage in so long, and now…” he turns, his eyes flashing again as he looks me up and down. “If we keep kissing before I can get control over myself, I’m afraid I’ll end up bending you over that fucking concrete slab and rutting into you like an animal.”
I swallow hard as realization dawns. “Your…dragon…wants me?”
“It’s not as if we’re separate entities. I want you. My dragon wants…to claim you.” He sighs. He stares at me for a long time before he speaks again. “Can I try something?”
With a tentative nod, I scoot closer to him. “I trust you.”
MINE!
The voice echoes through my head like someone shouted right into my brain.
It sounds like Declan, but gruffer.
Is that his dragon?
Mate. Need. Now.
It’s like each word is a full sentence or like it’s the only way he can communicate in this state.
“Is your dragon…more primitive than you?” I cringe at the question, feeling ridiculous.
“He didn’t used to be. These spells, the torment of being forced to not shift, to shift on command, to be caged with spells constantly weighing on me, it all takes a toll.” He sits again, but on the opposite side of the platform, as if he’s afraid to touch me. “Dragons can break, mentally, physically, just like humans. But for us, it can be so much worse. Usually, I only see dragons lose themselves to the Craze after centuries of not finding a mate, or losing their love, their heartstone. It can make a dragon’s mind shatter, drive them into losing their ability to shift, to return to what makes us more human. This is different, but I fear it feels much the same. I don’t know how much longer I can withstand the forced shifts, the battles for my life, without losing who I am.”
The defeat in his voice leaves me full of sorrow and fear that he doesn’t have much time. I reach for him, gently brushing my fingertips over his hand. He feels hot, like he’s burning up from the inside out.
This is new. His touch feels like fire on my skin, but not literally.
“Why is your dragon calling me ‘mate’?”
Declan grabs me so quickly, pulls me into his lap so fast, my hair flies around my face with the rush of movement.
“Mine.” His eyes are completely foreign to me now, almost entirely black.
For a brief moment, my palms pressed into his chest, my fingertips digging into his muscular flesh a little, I meet the darkness gazing at me. I feel like it would be perfectly understandable if I were scared, but I’m not.
Instead of fighting him, instead of fearing him, I lean in and kiss him.