Chapter 28
KARA
His arms wrap around me while the monster’s body stills, the silence after the battle ringing louder than the fight itself. His chest heaves in time with mine. I don’t want to move, don’t want to lose the feel of him holding me like this, as if I belong nowhere else.
His hand shifts, rough and cool against the small of my back, and I realize he isn’t letting go. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
I squirm in his grip, breath catching when his scars brush my cheek. His black eyes lock on mine, unreadable but burning. The air between us hums like the instant before lightning strikes.
“We’re alive,” I whisper.
His hand cups my jaw, thumb dragging slowly along the edge of my mouth. Pulse racing I lean into him before my mind can catch up. The truth is written in every line of his stance, every silent vow etched into the way he watches me.
“You fought, over and over,” he rumbles, voice low, almost reverent. “With me.”
The words shiver down my spine, sharper than any praise I’ve ever known. I nod, throat too tight to speak. My hand presses to his chest, to the scars carved deep into crimson-edged scales, to the steady thunder of his hearts. He doesn’t pull away.
Then his mouth is on mine.
The kiss isn’t soft.
It’s fierce.
Claiming.
As if he’s been holding back for too long. I gasp into it, lips parting, and his tongue sweeps in, rough and commanding. Heat floods me, molten and overwhelming, my knees threatening to give way.
I cling to him, fingers fisting in the leather strap that holds his lochaber. He gathers me up, lifting me against him as if I weigh nothing. My legs wrap around his waist on instinct, my body fitting against his with a rightness that steals my breath.
He carries me from the monster’s carcass, toward a outcropping, never breaking the kiss. The world narrows to the scrape of his claws against my skin, the steady flex of his muscles beneath me, and the way his mouth devours mine.
When he lowers me onto the sand, the heat between us spikes. He looms over me, wings half-spread, tail curling around my legs like a tether. His gaze rakes over me with such hunger I shiver.
“Mine,” he growls, the word vibrating through me.
“I’m yours,” I whisper back, no hesitation left.
His hand drags down my side, slow and deliberate. My body arches to meet it, desperate for more. My pulse pounds in my ears, in my chest, between my thighs—everywhere at once.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I cling even as I give myself over to him.
The coolness of his scales against the burn of my skin exciting responses in a way I’ve never experienced.
He kisses across my cheek then down my neck, nibbling as he moves.
The rough ridges of his horns drag along my cheek.
One of his hands moves down, over my chest, massaging my breasts through the cloth of my shirt. I groan in response, nipples stiffening before their even exposed. Little jolts of pleasure sparking as his hands move.
He moves his hand down, over my stomach, pressing between my legs. Cupping and pressing up. The pressure is almost enough to make me explode. The tightness is overwhelming. I squirm and groan as he rubs.
His cock strains against his pants, digging into my thigh. I slip one hand off his neck, seeking, needing. He lifts his hips, giving me what I want even as we continue the kissing.
His cock is impressive, even through the fabric of his pants. I rub its length and it jumps at my touch, spasming. Fuck I want him. Wetness soaks my panties as my desire finds new heights to achieve.
He grabs my shirt with one clawed hand but I break the kiss.
“Wait,” I gasp, pushing against his chest.
He stops, instantly. So fast it makes me pause too. I look at him, wondering if I was misreading this, if all I’m feeling is only one sided as he pulls slightly back. But when I look into his eyes there is no mistaking his desires. I blink, then it hits me.
“Sure?” he asks.
A shiver races down my spine. He stopped. The instant I asked him to wait, he pulled back. No man I’ve ever known would have stopped. Not when we’d gone this far. He did. No hesitation. No pushing. Nothing but respect. Concern.
“Yes,” I exhale, tears welling in my eyes, ridiculously, but they’re there. “Better than okay. I just…” my voice cracks, I swallow hard. “My only shirt, don’t want to rip it.”
A slow smiles spreads over his face as he nods.
“You will have many shirts,” he says. “But I understand.”
I laugh, blinking away the tears. He strokes my hair, brushing a strand away from my eyes. I unbutton my shirt, letting it fall open.
My breasts aren’t large enough to worry about strapping them down like a lot of girls. They jut out, free into the warm air, flushing hot under his burning, appreciative gaze.
“Treasure,” he whispers, raising his hands. Halfway to me he stops, looking away from my tits for the first time to meet my eyes. “Okay?”
I can’t hold back my grin as I grab his hands and pull them onto my chest. His scales are cool and smooth. Pleasure is a wave swamping over everything else.
Moments more and we’re wriggling out of our pants and moving into one another.
We press against each other, hands exploring, feeling, touching, kissing. Warm trails across skin. Mounting desire and need, but he moves with restraint, always holding back, as if he’s afraid to break me.
I don’t want his restraint. I arch up and into him, whispering his name, begging without shame.
“Take me.”
His growl shakes the air. He slips a hand between us cupping my delicate mound. No penetration, just holding, feeling my wetness.
He groans into my mouth. My entire body shivers then he slides one finger in and I gasp, thrusting my hips up, pushing him deeper.
He grunts, pulling his finger back then in deep again. His hips rock, dragging his cock up and down my thigh as his finger fills me over and over, then he adds a second one and I’m lost to instinct. Bucking and thrusting as he works magic.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I moan with each insertion.
I grab the shaft of his cock, only dimly aware of the infamous ridges that are the stuff of so much gossip between every human female I’ve ever met. He groans as I trail my fingers along the soft underside.
“Fuck me, gods take me now,” I groan.
He shifts, pulling his fingers out, and I hate the empty aching sensation. He positions himself between my legs. I grab his cock and guide it to the opening. He presses the head in, then holds, waiting.
“Yes,” I say, nodding, needing.
He moves slow. So. Fucking. Slow.
I try to dig my nails into his back, to pull him down, but his scales are smooth and slippery and his strength is more than I can overcome.
He continues to slide in slow. His large cock fills my pussy. Fuller. And fuller.
I gasp, clenching my eyes and teeth.
“Yes, yes, yes,” I pant in time with each miniscule progression of his filling me up.
A low, grumbling, continuous moan rattles from his chest. His tail slides between us, rubbing over my tits and it’s all I can do to not scream my pleasure.
The first ridge pushes in and I’m blinded by an overwhelm of sensation. Carried away from anything resembling rational thought. I thrust my hips up and he slides in fully. The intensity is overwhelming.
We move together, not awkward but inevitable, like two halves finally joining. Every stroke pushes me higher, every sound he makes deepens the fire in my chest. His scars press to my skin, marking me as surely as his body does.
“Mine,” he rasps again, voice breaking with the force of it.
“Yes,” I cry, nails scrabbling across his back. “Yours.”
The world shatters. I cry out, body seizing around him, every nerve lit with fire. He follows, roaring my name, his body locking tight against mine as if he’ll never let go.
When the echoes fade, we collapse together, tangled, gasping. His wings curl around me, sheltering. His hand cradles my head, his breath rough against my hair.
I close my eyes, heart still racing, but steady now in a different way. We survived. We fought. And now, bound together, we’ve claimed something bigger than survival.
Not just alive. Not just breathing.
Together.