20. Endure
~ VOSKI ~
We’d flown for hours before Grace’s head began to nod.
At first, I brushed her with a hand, or cleared my throat to wake her without seeming to do it purposefully.
But soon, even those little touches didn’t work.
Her eyes dragged closed, then her chin slowly dropped until it hit her chest and she sucked in, her head popping back up and her eyes open—for a few moments, before the process began again.
She was exhausted.
‘She does not have your strength, yet she has kept pace with you,’ Kham pointed out.
‘She slept while I was at the castle.’
‘Without food, and she has not complained.’
I grimaced. I had been remiss in not finding something for her to eat before I went to the castle. But it was done now. I fed her as soon as we were airborne. Which was probably why she was so sleepy now.
In truth, dawn neared and we should let the dragons rest anyway. We were far enough from the Fyrehold city now that it was unlikely anyone would find us, even if they knew where to look. It had been a difficult week, and we had several days’ travel ahead of us.
As Grace’s head nodded forward and her chin rested on her chest without popping back up, the curve of skin behind her ear called to me.
Small tendrils of hair fluttered around her nape, loosened by the wind of flight. But it wasn’t those pale strands that held my gaze.
That sweet, pink skin below the ear had always enticed me. It was such a feminine place. Where a man’s jaw darkened and was heavy and sharp, the feminine jaw curved, the delicate skin unblemished by stubble or hair.
I’d never been able to resist tasting there when I’d been close to a woman—and I hadn’t with Grace, either.
In the same moment my mind’s eye filled with the memory of opening my lips on that sweet skin under her jaw and grazing her throat with my teeth, that hollow in my chest burned, igniting the fire of arousal low in my belly.
I sighed heavily.
Grace began to tip forward. I slipped a hand around her stomach to catch her before she broke her nose on an errant dragon spine.
But with her curled forward, my hand spanned her stomach, and my thumb and forefinger brushed the underside of her breasts.
I quickly closed my hand to a fist, but that only pressed the soft warmth against the back of my fist and ripped a soft groan from my throat that I caught and cleared away.
Grace’s head jerked up, but sank forward again, and a moment later she’d fallen asleep once more, her weight resting on my arm.
Not only was it not safe for her if Kham moved sharply, but I needed the use of that hand in the event of any problems.
“Come on,” I murmured to her through gritted teeth. “Sit up, Grace.”
Her head popped up and she straightened, inhaling sharply, and blinking—but her eyes closed almost immediately and because I’d urged her to sit up, this time she slumped back against me, until her shoulders pressed against my chest and her head slipped sideways so her forehead rested under my jaw.
I stiffened and my breath shortened, but the heat, low on my spine, couldn’t be denied.
I took one, deep breath, preparing to wake her properly.
But for the first time in days, something in my chest eased.
That painful coil that tortured me every time she was close suddenly didn’t hurt.
With her nestled in my lap, warm between my arms, one hand on her waist to keep her from slipping, I could breathe.
I heard the thought and stiffened. But Kham’s voice appeared in my mind before I could react.
‘Do all humans take pride in hurting themselves? Is it one of your strange, sexual practices that I don’t understand?’ he sent.
I snorted and Grace twitched in my arms. I went still until she slumped again, then relaxed.
‘This has nothing to do with sex.’
‘You have unraveled since she drew near. Usually when I feel that way, I am driven to—’
‘Yes, Kham. I am very clear on what you’re driven to. Trust me,’ I sent dryly.
There were a few moments when he didn’t speak, and I held her and told myself that I needed to stop because it was only going to make it all worse when I had to let her go. But Kham rumbled. ‘It isn’t good to resist a bond. It will only eat at you.’
I winced. I was familiar with that sensation as well. ‘If we never cement the bond, it will stop eating at both of us. And we’ll be free of it,’ I asserted.
‘I’m not sure a bond works in that manner.’
‘It’s already easier than it was. I couldn’t have held her this way two days ago.’
‘That is the passing of Koa’s heat. The bond is no less present.’
I disagreed, but my body was inconveniently responding to her. If I didn’t find a distraction, I would embarrass myself when she woke.
‘We’ll talk about it later. Right now, we need to find a safe place to land and rest. Can you see an appropriate valley or ravine? We’ll need water for you and Koa.’
Kham shook his head like he was irritated, but didn’t comment about the bond any further.
We discussed what he and Koa could see, and where we should stop for a rest. Usually this was a very straightforward conversation when we traveled, but for some reason, tonight of all nights, Kham dithered, reluctant to commit to a target, until I found myself tense—body brimming with desire for Grace who still slumped in my arms, and irritation for my dragon.
My body ached. My stomach pulsed with heat. My chest coiled with a strange braid of pain and need. Every limb grew tense, my muscles tying up as I tried to resist the urge to touch her in far more personal ways.
‘What has gotten into you? We need to land!’
Suddenly, I could smell her—those hints of vanilla and apple, which, despite her new, clean clothes, made no sense. She’d been living outdoors, and hadn’t touched soap in a week.
Hope and desire hummed in my belly until I gritted my teeth against the rising drive.
‘Pick a place. Now,’ I sent to Kham. ‘I need to relieve myself.’
He grunted, but called to Koa and banked slightly east.
Koa’s shrieked reply startled Grace out of her sleep.
She sat up straight with a little jerk and overbalanced.
I had to catch her. There was a strangled moment when she’d tipped forward, and I curled around her, which brought my crotch up hard against her ass, and she gasped, then pushed herself back, which rubbed us together and… oh shit.
‘Land. Now, Kham,’ I snapped.
He’d already started descent, but Grace was still bleary, so I had to repeat the instructions until she could take them in.
“Lean back and pull up—just like we did last time. I’ve got you, you won’t fall.”
The words were far more breathless than they should have been. But Grace just nodded and leaned back as I’d told her.
Right into my chest.
Right against my lap. Where I was hard.
Shit.
As Kham wheeled in a wide spiral, descending as quickly as was safe, I closed my eyes and prayed for control—but that only heightened my other senses, drawing her scent into my nose, making me hyper-aware of her breasts pressed over my arm that was clamped around her middle.
Even though she was awake, I needed to hold her into the landing because it was the hardest part to ride.
The dragons had sighted a long, wide meadow with a thicket of trees and a small lake nearby, that would be perfect for a rest. But the longer I held Grace, the more my body responded, until I was tight and aching, and knew she couldn’t possibly have missed the insistence.
But she said nothing.
Then Kham touched down, and the initial jolt bounced her off his spine.
I caught her weight and pulled her back down, which only pressed her ass harder against me.
My head tipped forward and I inhaled her as we bounced through the landing together, then as Kham slowed from a gallop to a trot I shuddered. And groaned.
I held her to me until he’d come to a complete stop.
There was a moment—just a breath—when my nose was against her hair and my arm wrapped around her ribs, and her body pressed against mine, when the temptation to stop fighting almost overwhelmed me.
I inhaled deeply, catching that hint of her scent again. She didn’t move and I wondered if she was dazed, or perhaps falling back asleep.
But then she lifted one arm and placed it gently over mine, her small hand cupped over my fist, that held her against me.
My breath rushed out of me like I’d been punched. I let her go, grabbed her hips and pushed her forward.
“Lean forward, over his neck and pull your leg over, but rest over his withers, don’t lean into your feet yet,” I muttered. “You’ll be stiff. Hang there for as long as you need until your legs will take your weight. You may need to roll your ankles for a time…”
She followed my instructions. As she lifted her leg over, I grasped her ankle to stop her kicking me, but had to close my eyes, because she was in trousers and—
Dear God, this was torture.
Kham crooned at me, which was a surprise. I expected his censure again. I was grateful for his grace, because my body trembled and my loins ached. Grace was still working to get her feet to take her weight.
I kept her clipped into the safety strap as she began, in case she lost her footing—and it was a good thing I did, because three steps down, one knee gave, and she fell.
Her head flew up, she instinctively reached for me, eyes wide, and gasped my name. But it was too late. She dropped.
My heart leaped into my throat and I almost dived off Kham’s back before the strap caught her. She gave a surprised cry of pain, but then swung at its end, hanging off her belt, shaking her head.
“I’ll have to practice that,” she said breathlessly.
With a sigh, silently begging my body to calm the fuck down, I slid down the mounting strap until I was alongside her and could catch her hand, then pull her closer.
I unclipped her from the safety strap and we inched the rest of the way down together.