Clarity
~ VOSKI ~
Her skin was salt and sweet. Her little gasps and whimpers threw fuel on the fire of my need.
Deep in the back of my mind, a tiny voice cried that this was wrong, that it was dangerous.
That I was in the hands of an enemy. But everything within me hungered for her.
Needed her. A desert-dry thirst swelled in my chest, and she was cool, clear water.
‘Kham—’ In moments of uncertainty, it was always instinct to reach for my dragon. But the moment I opened to him in the link, I was reminded why I’d held him off.
My dragon groaned. My mind’s eye filled with images of writhing bodies. My body alive with the sensation of twining souls.
With the last shred of control available to me, I inhaled sharply and slammed that door between our minds closed before I devoured Grace like an animal. A fucking dragon.
Literally.
I shuddered at the battle between my flesh and my soul. As I explored the sweet, slick depths of her, her head fell back to offer her throat, and I reveled in the tangible evidence that she wanted me as deeply as I hungered for her.
But that thought threatened to snap the last leash I held on my need, and I shook again.
Then her precious, ragged voice broke through the pounding of my blood in my ears.
“You are… mine.”
I froze. And that little voice in my head shrieked.
Though it felt like pulling teeth, I made myself raise my head and look at her, to find my sanity.
Grace smiled.
The dragons called again, and she reached up, clawing perfectly manicured fingernails across my scalp and sending a wave of shivering pleasure down my spine, pulling a groan from my throat.
Shit.
Oh, shit.
She was arched over my arm, throat bare, eyes wide, lips pulled into a smiling O, her blonde hair, which had been swept into a tidy coil, now loose and tendrilled from the invasion of my hands.
Her shirt fell open because I’d bared her, pulled her clothing loose, so now I could see one breast, the nipple pink and tight, puckered, wanting me.
She stared into my stunned gaze, eyes warm with trust and need and desire and the words she’d spoken, the na?ve expectation, the impossible nature of what she believed came home to me.
You’re mine, she’d said and now, far too late, those words, landed in the tiny corner of my brain that still grasped reality and, oh shit this isn’t I shouldn’t I can’t we should never—
Twining her fingers behind my neck, Grace pulled herself up, her gaze dropping to my lips, her intention clear, and panic ripped through me.
Mine.
No!
Can’t.
I will not be prisoner to a woman’s talons—
I straightened in a jerk, but pulled her with me, unable to release my grip as my body waged war with my mind.
Swaying, cheeks pink, Grace blinked.
The dragons called.
We both trembled.
“What is it?” she asked breathlessly, still fucking smiling. “Are the dragons—”
“What did you say?” I rasped, to buy myself time. I had to let her go. Had to get my hands off of her, cover up her beautiful body, remind myself—
She frowned. “I asked if the dragons—”
“No,” I snapped, and she blinked. I swallowed hard, my voice hoarse when I spoke again. “B-before that. A moment ago. You… you whispered.”
Our bodies were still pressed together. I couldn’t quite bring myself to let her go, but slipped my hand out of her trousers, weeping for the chill that replaced that honeyed warmth.
Grace’s brows pressed together, forming a small v over her nose. “Vane, what’s wrong?”
“What was it?” I growled. “What did you say?!”
“I’m not… I can’t…” she stumbled, stammered, clearly confused, and now nervous.
I knew it wasn’t fair to be angry. I knew she’d been overwhelmed just as I was—I knew she battled, just as I still did, because we were being drawn together in the dragonbond.
The link. The cord between two souls that tied us as surely as chains.
Between dragon and rider, it created unity, a singular purpose, and trust. I was more open with Kham than any person in my life.
I knew him, deeply. Our hearts felt each other.
But now, Kham had that same connection with Koa, Grace’s dragon, whether she knew it yet or not. And in their unity they’d find passion. Desire. Family.
I’d heard of dragon riders becoming physically intimate in the wake of their dragon’s bond, but it was rare. Usually, they became the closest of brothers.
Until Bren and Donavyn, that little voice in my head insisted. I swallowed. There’d never been female riders before Bren. Donavyn had hinted at the call of the bond. But I’d never imagined…
I could feel Grace. Feel her wanting me. I wanted her with a fire that matched my dragon’s flame.
No. No, it couldn’t… we couldn’t… I couldn’t!
Yet, it called as surely as a wolf’s howl in the night.
As I stared at her—these thoughts swirling in my head—Kham took his mate and both of us shuddered. A deep, primal roar rose over the woods, clenching my belly, and glazing her eyes.
But she finally answered the fucking question.
“Mine,” she breathed, once again deep in the trance of a burgeoning bond. To my horror, she clapped a hand to the back of my neck and pulled me down. “You’re mi—”
I spat a curse as fear, rage, and wordless terror crackled through me at levels fit to silence the need. Her touch burned. Her hooded gaze was poison.
She was danger.
With a panicked, guttural cry, I shoved myself away from her, scrambling back, releasing her, stumbling over a small rock that caught the heel of my boot and almost sent me ass-over-tit to the ground.
Grace swayed forward, blinking as if coming out of sleep, the consternation and worry pinching her pretty features as she stared like she didn’t understand what she saw.
And why should she?
She knew nothing.
She couldn’t.
She had no framework for this. I was stunned by it, and I’d been aware of a portion. Her dragon was wild, and she’d never spoken to a dragon rider.
As the two dragons came together, ecstatic with bliss, my body trembled in a wave.
Hands tightening to fists until my nails threatened to puncture my palms. My breath did not slow, but tore from my throat.
My heart hammered on my ribs—harder when Grace found my eyes with hers, and I heard the question, the plea in that vulnerable gaze.
Mine. All mine. Why did you pull away?
“No,” I hissed, shaking my head and taking another step back.
Grace visibly flinched. “V-Vane, what’s wrong? Can’t you feel that… that—?”
“No,” I snarled again, shaking my head faster this time, backing away further, because it needed to be true. I needed to make it true.
This couldn’t be. Between us? Never. I wouldn’t be taken by—
“But—”
“No!” I roared, stumbling back, snapping a hand up, palm flat, to stop her when she tried to reach for me. “Don’t touch me. We can’t… this isn’t…”
“We can. We must.”
“No!”
“But, why?”
God, my chest ached. She was on the verge of tears, and I felt her confusion. Her desire suddenly tangling with fear.
“Vane, you touched me and I wanted you. Did you not feel that as well?”
As if on cue, the dragons raised their song again, and my knees threatened to give. I groaned and clawed both hands into my hair, digging my nails into the back of my skull to ground myself. Remind myself. Remember.
“No,” I rasped. “I’m sorry, Grace,” I croaked when her face crumpled. “No. I can’t.”
And then, like the fucking coward that I was, I fled.