Chapter Seven
ChapteR
seVeN
THORE'S FIRST THRUST shoved the bed six inches across the stone floor.
So much for being anchored.
He froze over me. "Did I hurt you?"
"No." I tightened my legs around his waist. "But if you stop again, I might hurt you."
His red eyes narrowed. "A threat?"
"A promise."
He pulled almost all the way out and drove back in.
The force punched a cry from me. His scales dragged over my nipples. I held his horns and used them to pull his mouth down to mine.
Thore kissed me with his wings curved around us. He tasted like heat with a faint metallic bite. His tail tightened around my thigh each time he thrust, keeping my hips open without pinning them.
"Harder," I said.
The bed moved another inch.
I laughed against his mouth. "Julian lied about the furniture."
"I'll speak to him."
"Later."
Thore put one clawed hand beside my head. The other slid under my ass, lifting me into each stroke. His cock filled me until the stretch bordered on too much, then eased back before driving deep again.
I ran my palms over his shoulders. The scales were hot and smooth in one direction, sharp in the other. I pressed harder. Thore shuddered.
"You like that."
"Yes."
"What else?"
His hips slowed. "My horns. The base of my wings. Your hands anywhere you choose."
I found the joint where one wing met his back and dug my fingers into the muscle.
Thore's head dropped. A roar shook the room.
His cock jerked inside me.
"Not yet," I said.
His wings trembled. "You're asking a lot."
"I know."
He looked down at me. The smile that crossed his face showed teeth too sharp to be human.
I pushed his chest.
Thore rolled onto his back and took me with him. I straddled his hips, still full, and planted my hands on the bronze scales covering his stomach.
His wings spread across the mattress. His hands closed around the edge of the bed.
I rode him slowly.
Every rise dragged his cock over nerves still tender from the first time. I watched his claws sink through the blanket while his jaw tightened.
I changed the angle, and pleasure snapped through my belly.
"There."
Thore lifted his hips to meet me.
I worked faster, chasing the friction. His tail slid between my legs. The smooth tip pressed over my clit.
My rhythm broke.
"Do that again."
The tail circled once.
I came so hard my thighs locked around him.
Thore gripped my hips, thrust up, and shouted my name as he followed. His wings beat once against the bed. The gust sent a pillow and the bedside lamp across the room.
The lamp bounced off the wall and landed upright.
"It survived."
Thore laughed beneath me.
I collapsed across his chest. The scales receded slowly, leaving warm skin beneath my cheek. His wings remained around us, bronze membranes blocking out the rest of the room.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked, "Was that a normal dragon thing or a you thing?"
"Which part?"
"The tail."
"A me thing."
"Good answer."
His fingers moved through my hair. "You're taking this well."
"I threw a lamp at you."
"You missed."
"You caught it." I propped my chin on his chest. "Am I drugged?"
"No."
"Dead?"
"No."
"Having a breakdown?"
"I don't think I'm qualified to answer that."
"Finally, something you don't know."
His hand stopped in my hair. "There's a lot I don't know about you."
"I'm thirty-two. I hate raisins. I broke my left wrist at fourteen and lied about how because my mother would have banned me from the gym. I once spent six weeks falling down stairs for a movie that cut every shot of me."
"That's criminal."
"Thank you."
"Who do I challenge?"
"The director retired."
"Coward."
I smiled. "Your turn."
"I'm older than you."
"Not entirely helpful."
"I dislike sweet wine. I broke my left wing when I was young and told my elders I fell."
"How did it happen?"
"I attempted to fly through a canyon too narrow for my wings."
"Why?"
"Someone told me I couldn't."
I lifted my hand.
He tapped his palm against mine.
"And the guardian part?" I asked.
His expression sobered. "Dragons are trusted with places and objects that cannot be unprotected. Earning guardianship is among our highest honors."
"The thing downstairs wanted yours."
"He wanted me disgraced so I'd be stripped of my duty. He didn't expect the relic to react to you as strongly as it did."
"Did you recover it?"
"The sword and the fragment from your set are secure. Julian's people are searching for any other pieces."
"How did they get the one from police evidence?"
"Boring paperwork."
"Guardian Risk?"
"Exactly."
I laughed into his chest.
A quiet knock sounded at the door.
Thore covered us with a careless throw of a blanket and folded his wings before Julian entered with a tray of sandwiches, fruit, and bottled water.
"We've recovered all the relic pieces," he said. "Your intruder will be transferred before dawn."
"Where?" I asked.
Julian set the tray on the table. "Somewhere with fewer headboards."
"He needs to answer to the council," Thore said.
"Arrangements are underway. They'll be ready to leave within the hour."
I climbed off Thore and pulled the sheet around me. "I'm coming."
Both men looked at me.
"He used me to get past your wards, called me convenient, and ruined a twelve-hundred-dollar throne. I'm testifying."
Thore sat up. "A dragon council isn't a court like a human's."
"Do they understand video presentations?"
"Ariana."
"I have diagrams."
Julian handed me a sandwich. "I believe they'll find her persuasive."
Thore stared at him.
"She disabled an armed intruder with bedroom furniture," Julian added. "The dragons I know will respect the methodology."
I took a bite. "See?"
Thore looked from me to Julian, then back. "I won't ask you to do this because you feel obligated."
"I don't do much out of obligation." I set the sandwich down. "Any other dragon surprises that affect me without warning?"
"Several surprises. None that I'll let happen without warning."
"So this is just terrible judgment."
"Entirely."
"Excellent."
His hand closed around mine, warm and rough.
"Come with me because you want to," he said. "I could also take you home."
"I want to see where you live."
Thore's eyes flared.
"I'm not moving in," I said. "You still owe me a second date."
"This was a date?"
I looked at the shattered cuffs, displaced bed, and toward the missing window in the suite down the hall. "You could do better."
"Then I will."
I kissed him. "Start with breakfast."