Chapter 10 #3
He collapsed to the floor, releasing such a long breath that she wondered if he’d been holding it all this time.
She watched his face as he processed everything, unaware of how much time had passed.
Or even that Kye had quietly left some time ago.
Lyra held his hand all through it, hoping it wouldn’t overwhelm him so much that he’d have to go into isolation like one Caido had.
He had been gripping her hand back all along.
When he released his hold on her, she watched as his eyes slowly opened.
“Archer?”
He never took his gaze from her as he managed to sit up. “I felt grief and anger and joy and…you. I felt so much for you.”
She laughed and reached for the hand he held out to her. “Me, too. That was overwhelming, but in a good way.” She rubbed his palm with her thumb and let all of her feelings flow. “No pain?” she asked.
“Not even discomfort.”
Archer got to his feet, pulling Lyra up beside him.
He scooped her up in his arms and took her to his bedroom.
The moment he set her on her feet, she started unbuttoning his shirt.
He tore hers off, yanked her close, and devoured her mouth.
He let out the most amazing sounds, low moans and sighs, his hands sliding over her arms, her breasts, devouring her body, too.
He laughed while still kissing her. “No pain. I can feel all of it, desire, heat…you. All in full Technicolor.” He braced her face with his big hands, wonder in his beautiful eyes. “For the first time.” The enormity of it resounded in his voice.
And it was with her. Only with her. She ran her fingers across his face, finally able to touch him. “You’re not cold anymore.”
He shook his head, taking her thumb into his mouth.
She tilted her head back, lost in the sensation of his tongue, something so simple and yet so erotic.
His mouth moved across her palm, then down her wrist. He drew her other hand to his chest. “I’m on fire.
Right here.” He dragged that hand lower, across his ridged stomach, over the rough material of his jeans and the thick ridge beneath. “Here.”
She flexed her fingers, and he groaned. “Definitely there.”
Archer anchored his fingers in her waistband and yanked her closer. He unbuttoned her pants, and she shimmied out of them. She freed him of his jeans, sliding them down his contoured legs. She ran her fingers back up his body as she stood again, feeling the golden, coarse hairs of his legs.
“It’s been a long time,” he murmured, kissing her neck.
“How long?”
“Twenty, thirty years. Can’t remember exactly. And it was never with true desire, only a need for release. So, in effect, this is my first time.”
She gave him a coy smile, loving the idea of that. “Should I be gentle with you?”
He traced his finger along the edge of her panties, and with a flick of finger and thumb, broke the string. “I might not be gentle with you. The need for you is overwhelming.”
“Mmm, I think I can handle that.”
He pushed her back onto the bed and leaned down over her, holding his weight so he didn’t crush her.
But his mouth did, taking her in with a ruthlessness that spoke of all those years of hunger he’d suppressed.
She pulled him down all the way, reveling in his body pressing hers into the mattress.
He jammed his hands beneath her, squeezing her and pulling her against him.
As though he could pull her right inside him.
She ground her pelvis against his, digging her fingers into his back.
He growled, nipping at the curve of her neck and working his way down. Her Dragon growled back, and she released a roar as Archer’s teeth skimmed her skin, both pleasure and pain. He worked his slow, tantalizing way, nibbling, making her friggin’ crazy.
“You’re vibrating,” he murmured against her skin. “I think you’re about to combust.”
“I think I’m about to catalyze. My Dragon loves you. I mean, it was turned on by you before, but now it loves you.” She had to catch her breath as his tongue traced lines down her stomach.
“Well,” he said, breathless. “I have Dragon in me now, don’t I? At least a small part.”
“That explains why my beast is going so crazy,” she said on a laugh.
“And perhaps why I feel… hot.”
She lifted her head to look at him on that word, spoken so heavily. His eyes were heated instead of glittering like ice. “But you heated me right from the beginning. Once I drew that heat into me, I was done for.”
She released a soft sigh, falling back flat on the bed. “You bring me to life, Archer.” No one had made her feel this way, consumed, spellbound. Not the Thrall either. The Archer Thrall maybe. She held tight to her Dragon as it writhed in sensuality.
He moved down to her inner thigh. “You will warn me before I find myself kissing scales, won’t you?”
When his mouth covered her, she could feel his heat. And her own. “I’ll…try.”
She drew in staggered breaths, losing herself in him. She let the feelings roll over her, drowning in the sensations.
When she came back to herself, feeling light-headed, she found Archer watching her with a smile. “You’re quite beautiful when you’re excited. Your cheeks and chest flush, and your mouth—”
She pushed him back to the bed, kissing the embarrassing words away. “Let’s see how you look when I overwhelm you.”
But she made him wait for it, moving her mouth over his perfect body, reveling in touching him everywhere. She tortured him back, alternately gentle and hard as she nipped and caressed. Only when she’d brought him to the edge, with his fingers digging into her shoulders, did she straddle him.
He gripped her hips. “Gods…Lyra.” The way he said her name sounded like a prayer and a curse at once.
The muscles in his neck tightened, his teeth gritted. “Does the fact that I want to devour you come from the Dragon essence?” he asked. “I’ve…never felt this way.”
“Probably. My beast wants to let loose—”
He turned them so he was on top, and he did devour her mouth as he claimed her in a fierce embrace. “…want to tear into you, shatter you.”
Oh, yeah, he’s feeling the Dragon sensuality. The Dragon lent the passion, but not the technique. Caidos weren’t asexual; they were overly sensual. Everything he did, every touch and caress, he seemed to do by instinct.
They moved together for a wonderfully long time, his body covering hers, his heat enveloping her.
She felt a great pressure build inside her, like nothing she’d ever experienced.
When it exploded, she felt that ocean wave hit her the way his voice had earlier, sucking her beneath the water and tossing her about.
When she burst to the surface, she gasped for breath.
“It’s you, too,” she uttered, grabbing him tight as his body shuddered.
He filled her, physically, emotionally.
When his spasms subsided and he came back to himself, he wrapped his arms around her and rolled them to the side. “What?”
He was breathless, too, and she realized his hand resting on her hip was trembling. His whole body trembled, covered with a fine sheen of sweat.
She traced her fingers across his flushed face. “Your hunger, the fire, it’s not only the Dragon. It’s inside you.”
“No, it’s you, Lyra. You lit that fire.” He traced a finger across the lines of her face, rubbing his thumb over her lower lip. “I hold you responsible, Dragon Girl. I’m going to want more of it. A lot more. With you.”
She smiled. “Oh, yeah, I can definitely handle that.”
The magick settles, the shadows stir—and the story waits to be awakened again. Continue to the next section for a sneak peek at Bound by Fire and Lies.
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