Prologue #2
My cock hardened fully, imagining her naked on the water-level patio out back, laid out and napping, making it all too easy to just slide right between her silky thighs and spend my afternoon devouring her sweet heat until she was moaning out my name and her legs were trembling.
Better yet? How easy it would be to roll her over and slam home inside of her tight pussy while biting down on my mating mark, making sure that the entire island heard those amazing sounds that came out of her perfect lips while I fucked her.
Shit. I honestly had no idea how I ever lasted inside of this woman.
Even the thought of doing any of that shit had me feeling as if I was going to come in seconds.
Although, I knew the action would feel hollow if my cum wasn’t filling her up, especially after experiencing the real thing.
Despite my initial guilt, I was still far too pleased at the concept that I had come deep inside of her, marking her in such a primal and instinct-driven way.
It also had me wanting to not only do it again, but to fill other parts of her with cum, specifically that mouth.
I inhaled sharply, imagining my cum on her lips and how fucking good she would look on her knees staring up at me with my cock in her mouth.
This… I inhaled and tried to shake the overwhelming lust running through me.
This was ridiculous. Why had I thought it would get easier after being inside of her?
As if my frustration physically would have been eased in some way?
No. This was far worse. Knowing what I was missing and not being able to justify waking her up to take just that.
Because there was an instinct that rode me so much harder than my need to mate with her, and that was the one to take care of her. To protect her.
Which was why I would have to kill anyone outside of our flight that ever heard her soft, sexy moans or caught sight of her silky skin.
They weren’t allowed to see or hear the small bit of heaven that I’d been blessed with and live.
Honestly, not only was I a possessive bastard, but I knew that if they ever experienced Maya in that way, even in passing, they would try to take her from us.
That alone was a death sentence in my mind.
Our flight wasn’t perfect, but Maya was absolutely ours, and she had sealed that fate when she had accepted us as mates.
I just hoped that we were enough to make her happy.
Most days I felt like we were, but the normal way that I would gauge that was skewed because the things that made Maya happy and were important to her were so different than what I could have been prepared for.
I wanted to spoil my mate. I wanted to give her everything that she wanted and more.
If that happened to be ten more kittens, then so be it.
As long as she went to bed every single night feeling loved and satisfied, I would give her the fucking world.
I just wanted to find more ways to show the woman how much she meant to me, and while I think she knew it in theory, it didn’t remove the urge to do more.
I had the entire Earth realm at my fingertips, and I wanted to show and give her everything instead of being caught up in these goddamn politics that should have nothing to do with her to begin with.
I knew the Council was in theory a minor inconvenience, but that wasn’t including any of the shit we would have to deal with when we traveled to the Dreki realm.
Although, I really shouldn’t be that surprised by the Council or anyone else’s reaction to her.
Maya was a phoenix, and I knew some of the Council members were from a time when they were more common rather than the rarity that they were in our generation, where the queen was the only known phoenix.
So of course they viewed their value in a more traditional sense, especially when it came to making more fucking dragons instead of seeing her as the priceless treasure that she so clearly was.
One that they wouldn’t be taking away from me unless they also planned on killing me.
An attempt I would have found funny at best and annoying at worst.
My brow dipped as I thought about the biggest issue with all of this.
One that didn’t directly affect Maya but could, because if there was something we didn’t know about her species, it could have disastrous effects.
I didn’t like being unprepared for anything relating to Maya, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the large question looming overhead.
If phoenixes couldn’t die, in theory, how the hell were they essentially extinct?
I hated feeling as though I was missing something, and while Croy and Henry were doing their best to look into it, I found myself getting more frustrated and angry than anything else when it came to the concept of how interacting with humans and their culture could breed such dangerous results.
Then again… we couldn’t completely blame the humans.
No. There had been other realms and even dragons that had fought over the phoenix species rather than protecting them.
Willing to get rid of them rather than to ever share them.
Especially since mating with a phoenix came with benefits that I had only learned about in theory, but would sound appealing to the militaristic culture that we grew up in.
Not that I gave a shit about those.
A part of my soul, from the first day I had met her, recognized Maya as completely and utterly ours, so those minor benefits could come or go.
It didn’t matter to me, as long as I had her.
Trying to explain how finding your mate felt, though, was virtually impossible if someone had yet to do so.
Well, besides the overall feeling of surety.
I knew without a doubt that Maya was not only my mate, the woman I loved, but the woman to bring together our flight, and hopefully…
as long as it was something she wanted, the mother of our own whelps.
A concept that had me nearly groaning as I tried to take myself from that thought process.
Slow. I needed to take all this shit far slower than my dragon was demanding.
Something that was far more difficult than you would imagine, because in truth, if Maya had come from any other situation or from the Dreki realm, we would not only have already been bonded as a flight but would have spent most of her mating heat producing a small flight of our own baby dragon shifters.
Muttering a curse at how thrilled my dragon was at that concept, I tried to run through the correspondence I had so far with the royal physician to distract myself from that mental tangent.
Luckily, Lucas had been able to connect us before arriving at the realm, and it seemed like we would be able to see her sooner rather than later.
I didn’t want to spend longer in the Dreki realm than necessary.
I had no doubt that Maya could handle herself if the mating heat did come before we had a chance to talk to someone about being a phoenix, but as I mentioned, I never wanted her to feel uncomfortable, especially when it came to us.
I really wasn’t positive that any of us had the ability to tell Maya no when it came to anything, let alone that.
Even I could admit that if Maya crawled on top of my lap and asked me to fuck her, I wouldn’t even question that shit.
Her pleasure, the feeling of her wrapped around me, was far more important than anything else.
Inhaling sharply, I ran a hand over my cock that was not only uncomfortably hard now but pressing against my dress pants as my frustration began to boil over.
It didn’t help that the entire space smelled like my mate and her soft body was close enough that I could easily taste and touch her if I wanted.
Somehow, despite how goddamn gorgeous she had looked at the event, she looked even more stunning right now.
Her makeup was cleaned off her face and her hair was undone, brushing over her shoulders and against her soft skin, reminding me of what an intoxicating tease Maya was, usually unintentionally.
The woman was so fucking sweet. A fucking piece of candy that I wanted to devour whole. I would be a happy man if I could walk around with the taste of her sweet candy cum on my lips all goddamn day.
My eyes darted over her tight body, her curves pressed against her pale pink silk nightgown and matching robe, the material riding up on her thighs from how she was laid against me.
I let out a low rumble, my fingers drifting up her smooth skin as I wondered if her lace panties were soaked, her body reacting to mine unconsciously like I seemed to always be doing with her.
I couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride as she shifted slightly, mumbling sleepily as her skin broke out into shivers as if feeling the lust through our connection, her nipples pebbling against the silk material and making my goddamn mouth water.
Fuck.
My jaw clenched as I considered waking her up.
How would she react if I just pulled her on top of me, pushing her lace lingerie to the side and sinking my cock completely into her?
I could practically hear the soft, sweet moan or gasp of surprise that would come from her lips at realizing how deep I was inside of her, her tight cunt completely filled by the need she inspired in me.
Before I could consider making my fantasy a reality, Atlas stepped in from the balcony, looking over her frame before offering me an amused expression.
No doubt about my constant internal conflict of taking care of Maya and wanting to absolutely ravage her.
I narrowed my gaze at my flight brother, wondering how he managed to take Maya’s teasing with such ease.
I knew it had nothing to do with him not wanting her, either.
I actually think it was rather the opposite.