CHAPTER 6
THE DRAGON
One month.
I've known for one month, and I still haven't told her.
I stand in the doorway of our bedroom, watching her sleep. The morning light catches in her golden hair, spreads across the silk sheets tangled around her body. I took her braid out last night to wrap her hair around my cock last night. She looks peaceful. Perfect. Mine.
But she's dying.
We're both dying.
And I have to tell her. Even though she may not understand. I know she can hear me, trapped in that darkness, and that's worse. The thought of her hearing this, understanding what I've done, what's happening to us, and not being able to react…
My wings shift restlessly against my back. My tail lashes once, twice, before I force it still.
I've been a coward. Putting it off. Taking her body again and again, losing myself in the only connection we have, pretending everything is fine. Pretending the increased frequency is just desire, just obsession, just love.
Not starvation.
Not the mate bond eating us alive from the inside.
I cross to the bed, my claws clicking against stone. She doesn't move. Doesn't even twitch. Just lies there, beautiful and still and slowly dying because of me.
"Adelaide," I whisper, sitting beside her. My clawed hand traces her cheek, down her throat, over the bruised bite marks that I'll have to renew soon. "I need to tell you something. But first…"
First, I need this. Need to feel her. Need the connection, even if it's killing us both.
I push the sheets away, exposing her body. The nightgown rides up easily under my claws, and I spread her thighs with shaking hands. My cock is already hard, already aching, the need so intense it borders on pain.
"I understand now," I tell her, positioning myself between her legs. "Why I can't stop. Why it's never enough. Why we both need each other so desperately. Do you feel it too?"
I push inside her in one brutal thrust, and the relief is immediate. Overwhelming. My wings flare wide as I bottom out after a few thrusts, all fifteen inches buried in her tight heat, the ridges of my cock dragging against her inner walls.
She’s always wet for me now. Always. I roughly rub the bulge that is now present on her stomach with the heel of my hand. Slowly, up and down. Jacking myself off through her belly. A groan escapes my lips.
"Fuck," I whisper, pulling back and slamming in again. "You feel so fucking good, princess. Always so perfect for me." I know I should go slower. Should be more gentle. But something inside me is screaming at me to take her roughly. I listen.
Her body resists me like it always does. She's smaller than me, but she's dripping wet and ready, like she's been waiting for this. The wet sounds we make are obscene.
"That's right. Fight me. Clench around my cock like you're trying to push me out. We both know you'll come anyway, you defiant little brat."
I fuck her hard, rough, my hips snapping against hers with bruising force. My claws dig into her thighs, drawing small pin pricks of blood, holding her open still as I take what I need.
"Such a good little slut for me," I growl, watching my cock disappear inside her again and again, only to bulge through her lower stomach all the way past her belly button.
"You'll take every inch I give you. Won't you?
You'll take all of me and beg for more." I lean forward and kiss her face, her chin, her neck, all the way down to her shoulders.
Her walls clench around me as I speak, that involuntary response I've learned to read. If she could speak, she'd probably tell me to fuck off. Tell me I'm a monster. Tell me she hates me.
Or maybe she'd beg for more. I like to imagine it's the latter, but I know it’s not.
"That's it," I pant, fucking her harder. "Squeeze my cock just like that. Show me how much your body loves this. Loves me."
I come with a roar, my wings trembling as I empty inside her. But it's not enough. It's never enough anymore.
I pull out and flip her over, dragging her hips up and making sure her head is to the side. My tail wraps around her thigh as I push back inside, the new angle letting me go even deeper.
"Again," I growl, setting a punishing rhythm. "Need you again, my beautiful slut. Always need you."
The wet sounds of our lovemaking fill the room as I push into her with force.
"Such a desperate little whore." My words come out rougher than I meant.
"Your cunt clenches every time I call you that.
You love being degraded while I split you open on dragon cock, don't you?
Love it when I fuck you over and over." My breathing becomes erratic, as does hers.
Four times. Five. Six. I lose count, lose myself in the desperate need to connect, to feel, to prove we're both still here. Still alive. I bite her after every time. Understanding now why my body calls for me to behave in this way.
When I finally stop, when I've exhausted even my dragon stamina, I collapse beside her. My wings drape over us both as I pull her against my chest, my clawed hand splayed across her stomach.
"Adelaide," I whisper into her hair. My voice shakes. "I need to tell you something. Something I learned. About us."
The words stick in my throat. I force them out anyway.
"Things have felt off for a while now. Maybe they’ve felt that way for you also?
I’ve been more… aggressive… Anyway… I went looking for answers in my library.
In my spell books. There isn't an easy way to say this.
But… from what I can tell… you're... you're my mate.” I breathe out nervous breath through my mouth.
“I know it sounds unbelievable but... we're fated mates.
It's the only thing that makes sense. I didn't know—I swear I didn't know.
But somewhere along the way, my magic recognized you.
Claimed you. And the curse…" I swallow hard.
"The curse can't coexist with a mate bond. It's failing. We're both failing."
My claws flex against her skin, careful not to cut. I press my nose to her hair and breathe in her scent, trying desperately to ground myself.
"If I keep you asleep, we'll both die. The magic is eating itself, eating us, trying to force what it needs. Mutual awareness. Choice from both of us. Things I can't give you while you're trapped like this."
I press my face against her throat now, breathing in her scent. I kiss her softly here again and again. I lick over the bite marks.
"I have to wake you. Maybe soon. Before it's too late.
But Adelaide, treasure, I'm so fucking scared you'll hate me.
Scared you'll try to leave. Scared you'll look at me with those amber eyes and see only the monster who took everything from you.
Or maybe I want you to hate me. Hate me and kill me.
Put me out of my misery for loving you so much.
For imprisoning you like I have. I deserve that from you. I know I do."
My voice breaks.
"I didn't know. I thought I was protecting you. Keeping you safe. But I was killing you instead. If I had never touched you that first time... maybe... maybe things would have been different. Maybe not. Maybe my heart would have always recognized your heart as my mate."
I hold her tighter, my wings cocooning us in darkness.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I can't lose you.
Even if you hate me. Even if you want to kill me.
I don't think I can let you die. We still have a little bit of time to figure it out, love.
I'll make this right. All of it. You deserve as much.
I just need to figure out how to keep you safe once I wake you.
How to stop people from coming and trying to kidnap you. "
The silence is deafening.
I stay there for another moment, then force myself to pull away. To leave the bed. To leave her.
My wings drag as I walk out of the room, down the corridor, down the stairs. Down and down and down to the lowest levels of the castle, where the stone is oldest and coldest, and the darkness is complete.
I pace. Back and forth, back and forth, my tail lashing behind me, my claws scraping against stone. My wings keep trying to spread, to fly, to do something with this nervous energy that's eating me alive.
She needs space. Even unconscious, even trapped, she needs space to process what I've told her. Or maybe I'm the one who needs space. Space from the truth. Space from the decisions I have to make.
I hear a rustling of leaves coming from the courtyard. Metal clanking against metal.
"Princess! I've come to rescue you!" A prince has made it past the thorns again. Just what I needed... a distraction. Somewhere to place all my aggression.
Perfect.
I take the stairs three at a time, my claws gouging the stone. The rage that's been building for months, years, decades, finally has somewhere to go. Someone to go through.
The courtyard is bathed in moonlight when I burst through the doors. The prince stands in the center, sword drawn, his armor gleaming silver. He's young. They're always young. Always so fucking sure they're the hero of this story.
"Dragon!" he shouts, raising his sword. "Release the princess, or face my—"
I'm on him before he finishes. My claws rake across his breastplate, and the screech of metal fills the air. He stumbles back, swinging his sword, but it's pathetic. Slow. Weak.
They've all been so weak lately.
Or maybe I've just gotten stronger. Faster. More vicious.
The aggression that's been eating at me, making me rougher with Adelaide, making me choke her harder than I mean to, making me fuck her with a brutality that borders on savage… It's made killing these princes easy. Almost boring.
Almost.
I catch his sword arm mid-swing and twist. The bone snaps with a wet crack, and he screams. The sword clatters to the stones.
"She's MINE," I snarl, my voice coming out deeper, more guttural than usual. "Did you really think you could take her from me?"
"Monster!" he gasps, cradling his broken arm. "She's a prisoner! I'm here to—"