17. Lena
LENA
I had no plan. Not even the beginnings of one. Just a vague idea that someone might mistake for a plan in bad lighting.
It’ll have to do, I told myself as Varyx swept past me, white-hot flame burning a path through the monsters ahead.
Strange, half-finished creatures made of pure darkness burned away to nothing.
A tree made of black knives burst under the heat.
A thing the size of a cat leaped at me, its entire body opening into a terrible mouth, and I swung my branch like a baseball bat, sending the monster sailing away.
Dad’ll laugh his socks off . I’d taken a dozen self-defense classes, but in the end, what saved me was the baseball practice he’d done with me. I hope I live to tell him.
Varyx landed with a crash that shook the rock under my feet, his mighty dragon body smashing into the horde of vile darkness and clearing a way to the gate.
And then I reached the Gate. The edge of the Void, a rift into pure nothingness. My eyes refused to focus on it, my head hurt, and the markings on my skin tingled. I had no more time to plan.
A pity I had no plan either.
The tear in reality was immense, too big for my mind to handle. Its expansion had swallowed the stone frame that used to contain it, leaving it wide enough for Varyx to fly through with his wings spread wide. And I wanted to shut it? The idea seemed preposterous.
But fuck that. I refused to let Varyx’s world die, let alone Varyx himself. Not knowing how to save him, I’d do the stupid, obvious thing and see what happened.
I grabbed one edge of the torn space and heaved. I’d opened it. Maybe with the energy burning in me, I could close it? Black lightning crackled around me, burning painful channels across my skin as the energy of the Void coursed through me.
With a snarl of effort, I threw all my weight against it. To my surprise, the edge moved. Not much, but it convinced me to try harder. Slowly, painfully, I pulled one edge towards the other.
The Void energy pulled at me, and I felt it trying to dissolve me. But Varyx’s mating-marks redirected it, fed off it. It was agony to endure, but gave me strength.
Beyond the tear, something vast stirred, darkness moving on darkness.
Trying to focus on it made my eyes ache and my brain scream, but I made out some detail.
Bigger than anything I’d ever imagined, and getting closer far too fast. I screamed with the effort, praying that my Void-infused body would have the strength to do this one unbelievable task.
The Gate closed slowly, and the thing in the darkness rushed closer.
It would reach me before I closed the rip in reality.
Then Varyx swooped past into the Void, roaring a challenge and breathing flame. In the sudden light, I saw a writhing mass of worms the size of a mountain. Varyx’s fiery breath ignited a swathe, then he slammed into the middle of the burning mass, scattering the wriggling mass in all directions.
Lit by burning worms, more shapes moved in the dark.
I redoubled my efforts, screaming and pushing, feet slipping on the glassy black rock.
I put all my attention on shutting the Gate, trusting Varyx to protect me from the Void.
And he did, ripping and tearing, shredding anything that dared to threaten me.
Void energy pounded at me, the storm howling around me biting into my skin, my bones, my very soul, but I refused to give up.
Varyx had risked his life to save mine—I refused to leave that debt unpaid.
The two edges of the Gate moved faster as I pulled, and Varyx rushed up from the darkness, pursued by hellish creatures he’d lit on fire.
At the last moment, he shifted, furling his wings to fit through the closing rift without an inch to spare. I braced myself for impact and slammed the Gate in the face of the howling demon following him.
A flash of blinding light, a flare of energy, and then everything went dark.
The next thing I knew, I lay on my back on the cold black stone, the heavy gray clouds above me parting to show the spectacular nebula. The storm had passed, the wind was down to a wild bluster, and the Void’s howl had vanished.
I lifted my head, looking for the Void Gate. Not much remained. The stone gateway lay shattered around me, and all that remained of the Gate itself was a rippling line of light reaching from the ground into the sky.
“You sealed it.” Varyx’s voice startled me, and I twisted to see him sitting on a chunk of gate that the collapse had flung clear. Back in his humanoid form, naked and unashamed, he watched me with a burning focus that made me blush. “I did not think it was possible.”
“Yeah, you did,” I answered with a grin. Everything hurt, but we were both alive. “If not, you wouldn’t have let me try.”
“I told you not to, human! I told you to run, to save yourself.” His outrage carried him to his feet, wings flapping. “I wouldn’t risk your life in such a fight.”
“Yeah, but you could have carried me to the portal yourself and thrown me through. If you really thought my plan was doomed, that is.”
He narrowed his eyes. I grinned up at him. For a moment I thought he’d carry me down to the bay and shove me back to Earth now. But he relented, grumbling under his breath.
“You should not have disobeyed me. You’re hurt, and might have died!”
“We’re both alive!” My turn to be outraged, and I scrambled to my feet to glare at him. “My plan worked. We’ve shut the Void Gate, you’re alive, the island’s still here, and if I got a little hurt?—”
“Then I have failed you.”
“Oh, fuck you,” I said, which I swear I didn’t mean as an invitation. That didn’t keep Varyx from taking it as one, surging across the space between us to sweep me up in his arms. His lips met mine, smothering my attempt at a protest with a kiss.
A kiss that sent a wave of fiery need through my body, pulsing in time with my racing heart. I grabbed hold of his hair, pulled him to me, kissed back with desperate passion, and realized I needed this more than air.
Where his hands touched my skin, he left a trail like fire that followed the pattern of his markings.
His fingers lit up my nervous system as he drew them down my arms, driving me wild, and then his mouth left my lips and clamped onto my neck, teeth scraping my skin.
Whatever words I was pulling together vanished in the wave of pleasure he sent through me, and what had started as a protest became a scream of joy.
We fell to the ground together, the pair of us tumbling on the black stone. Varyx took most of the impact, of course, using his body to cushion me, and we rolled a few times before he had me pinned under him.
“Wait, we should…” I trailed off with a moan as he raked sharp claws down my arm.
“We should do this,” he said, biting my shoulder. I felt as though I might die of ecstasy on the spot. I knew I had reasons to object, but none came to mind. The dragon’s touch pushed out every thought, and I wanted more.
I scratched his back, digging my nails in at the base of his wings, making him arch and roar. His own talons bit into my skin, and he lifted me, teeth tearing at the collar of my t-shirt.
The fabric parted like tissue, and it was my turn to throw back my head and moan. I locked my legs around his waist as he stood, one hand supporting me, the other tearing off what remained of my shredded t-shirt.
This holiday is doing a number on my wardrobe, thought the part of me not consumed by passionate flames. The rest of me shushed that voice.
“I need you,” I whimpered, letting that fire have its way. “I need you inside me now.”
His rough chuckle sent tremors through me, and his wings beat with heavy force, lifting us from the black stone. I might have asked what he was doing, if the sensation of his naked body pressed against mine hadn’t distracted me.
Hard as diamond, his cock pressed against my core, and I gasped at the sensation. Each beat of his wings pushed him hard against me, sliding through my slick folds, and I paid no attention to where he was carrying me. Not until he looked me in the eye, smirked, and furled his wings.
I screamed as we fell like a shooting star, straight through the roof opening of his lair.
Like riding a rollercoaster, the thrill of our speed, of his touch, of our bodies connecting, vied for control with the fear of falling, and all I could do was whimper and clutch him tight, hoping he knew what he was doing.
At the last moment, he snapped his wings wide. And let go.
I shrieked again. Then I hit his gigantic platform-bed with enough force to knock the wind out of me. Before I could recover, he landed on me, driving me down into the cushions and pinning me.
Helpless under his weight, I writhed and arched, offering myself to him without reservation. With one hand, he pinned my wrists to the bed. The other roamed lower, lifting my body to his. Kisses and bites trailed down my neck, across my chest, sending a shiver through me.
And his cock, hard and huge, pressed against my bare pussy, taunting me. I gasped for air, wriggling against the man who pinned me with trivial ease, who played my body like an instrument he’d studied his whole life.
“You ignored my instructions and got yourself hurt,” he said, slowly rubbing against me, cock pulsing. His lips formed a wicked, hungry smirk. “So you deserve to be punished. Right, little human?”
“F-fuck you,” I gasped back, still breathless. I tried, with all my strength, to push my body to him, to tease him back, but his breathing stayed calm and he was unmoved.
“Eventually,” he said. “Once I have… disciplined you.”
And his teeth closed on my nipple, tongue darting forward to lick across it as he bit with gentle force. Between that and the pressure of his cock grinding against my clit, anything I might have said vanished in a delighted moan.
This is discipline? I’ll have to get into trouble more, I thought as the waves of bliss subsided.
I tried to say as much, but the noises emerging from my throat weren’t words, just needy moans.
Varyx parted my pussy lips with his fingers, slid one inside me, then two, curling them just so and making me buck and thrash as he played with my body.
He moved from one nipple to the other, biting with the perfect amount of force.
His fingers slowly slid in and out of me, slow enough, frustrating enough, that I wanted to curse him.
Too overwhelmed to find the words, all I managed was a moan as I squeezed tight around him.
He growled, both a threat and a promise, and I bucked on his hand.
The orgasm hit me like a meteor, exploding from my core out through my body in rolling waves of pleasure that left me shaking beneath him.
He grinned down at me as my tremors subsided, then kept going, adding a third finger to my already full pussy.
I bucked under him as he stretched me, my mouth wide and gasping for breath in time with his movements.
His growl moved down my body as his fingers moved faster, harder, deeper.
Hot breath, tingling kisses, sharp little bites trailed over my belly, closer and closer to my aching sex.
He had to let go of my wrists before he got there, sliding his clawed fingers down my arm and down to my chest as I whimpered and pleaded.
My arms shook when I reached for him. His skin burned under my fingers, hot as a furnace, but without pain. Varyx’s growl became a groan of primal desire when I raked my nails across his shoulders, and then his tongue parted my folds to caress my clit.
My last orgasm had been mind-blowing. This was something else, closer to a religious experience.
The world went white, my entire body spasmed wildly, and after a moment I realized that the rapturous cries I heard came from my throat.
I have no idea how long it lasted, only that when my mind cleared, Varyx was still between my legs, mouth playing with my clit, fingers buried in my core.
My throat raw, I tried to say something, anything. Nothing came out. All I could do was grab at him and pull him up.
He relented, grinning at me as he rose from between my legs, his face slick. His fingers stilled, but he didn’t withdraw them from my aching, desperate sex.
My eyes wide, I looked up at him and swallowed. He hadn’t finished with me yet.
“Have you learned your lesson, Lena?” A hungry grin split his face, and heat rose on mine as I shook my head. “No? Then I shall have to make it more memorable.”
He growled the last word, drawing it out as he withdrew his fingers in a slow, steady motion. Immediately, the broad head of his cock replaced them, pressing against my entrance. I barely had a moment to brace myself before his thrust. Hard, fast, and merciless, he buried himself deep.
That alone almost sent me over the edge again. I wrapped my legs around him, urging him on and pulling him deeper as he slammed into me, again and again, each time more brutal. And each time, the loving passion in his gaze kept me feeling safe.
His talons raked down my sides, and I shook with ecstasy, staring up into the intensity of his gaze.
Moving was impossible, breathing came in raw, shattered gasps, and his swelling cock filled me completely.
Every thrust perfect, his hard body drove me down into the cushions.
I clenched around him, gasping with every stroke, until neither of us could take any more.
Waves of sensation crashed through me, flooding every one of my nerves with joy so intense it almost hurt.
They came faster and faster until it became one continuous storm of joy.
Around us, the lair faded until he was all that remained.
Varyx, my mate, my dragon, my star. Joined to me in ways I didn’t understand and didn’t need to.
Varyx, who loved me as much as loved him.
Varyx, who came with me, shooting his fiery seed deep into me with a triumphant roar that answered my scream of joy.
Our universe was just us, and an unending tide of bliss that carried us away.