Chapter 2 #2
“Memories aren’t gonna fix this shit. If anyone knows that, it’s me. A hundred years. A hundred fucking years and Audrey is still in hell.” He shook his head and kicked a rock out of his path.
“But I finally have the Focus Stone. I might have had to steal it from not only my oldest friend but also a man who’d called my dad brethren.
Hopefully, he’ll understand when this is all over.
Maybe he won’t try to kill me. Not that it matters.
I would do anything to save Audrey from an eternity with that beast, even face the wrath of a mentally unstable dragon with more magic than he knows what to do with. ”
Stopping to watch a doe and her fawn cross the creek to his left, Rian thought of his brothers and quickly pushed the thought aside. There would be time for explanations later. Turning south, he headed up the first of three inclines he’d built to serve as cover for his cabin.
“Never in a million years would I have guessed this mass of magical power was hidden with Drago. Hell, I would’ve never guessed Drago was alive.
Poor guy. I can’t imagine living in a silver box buried in the ground for a hundred years.
I’m glad he’s back and I know it’s a shitty thing to think, but I’m sorry he’s not the dragon from Audrey’s book.
” Rian patted the leather messenger bag draped across his body to reassure himself both of the precious items essential to his mate’s release were still in his possession.
He remembered the day Audrey finally gave him the journal.
From the moment she’d appeared, Rian could feel something was different with her…
off in some way. She wouldn’t even give him a proper kiss and stood as close as she could to the outer perimeter of the Devil’s Trap, keeping her distance from him.
It had taken less than ten minutes before she’d turned, held out the journal, and explained everything in a rolling rush of words it had taken his ears almost a minute to fully comprehend.
He smiled, remembering how Audrey had thought he would be upset that she’d held off telling him, when in fact it warmed his heart to know she worried for his safety just as he worried for hers.
Now, all these years later, the book’s existence was paying off.
Continuing to talk to himself, Rian made his way through the dense forest towards the cabin he’d built almost seventy years ago.
It was the only place he could be sure not to be interrupted during his all too brief monthly visits with Audrey.
It had taken over a year to build and was where he planned to bring Audrey as soon as she was free of her possession.
He came every full moon that clan or Guard business didn’t keep him at the lair.
The basement in his house was secure enough, but there was always a chance someone would sense the flair of magic when Audrey appeared and then disappeared.
Not to mention the fact that his brother’s mate was the most powerful white witch ever born and living just a mile from his home while they all searched for the rest of Drago’s men.
His mind making his way back to the Assassin’s return, the Dragon Leader mused, “I’m sure the dragon shifter referenced in the journal is Kayne.
I remember my dad, Alexander, and Drago talking about how he walked away from his crown to be a Guardsman.
I know Drago trained him. He’s the only of us I’m aware of who had royal blood from our ancestors and also a much more powerful faction. ”
Once inside his cottage in the woods, Rian locked the door behind him and took the first deep breath he could remember taking in almost thirty days.
Letting his enhanced senses fill the space to make sure he was alone, the Dragon Leader then reinforced the wards Eleanor had taught him to construct.
The glittering shadow of the last rune still hung in the air as Rian dropped to the couch and let his head fall back onto the cool leather.
Opening one eye and looking at the clock on the mantel, he noted there was still four hours until he had to prepare to summon Audrey.
Smiling as he patted the Focus Stone through the leather of his bag and its protective silver casing, Rian couldn’t wait to show Audrey that after all this time they were one step closer to her release.
Allowing himself an hour to rest, the Dragon Leader drifted off to sleep.
As always, dreamy memories of his mate awaited him.
Lying on the pallet he’d made for them to share prior to summoning Audrey, Rian simply ran his fingers through her long ebony locks while listening to the soft sounds of her sleeping on his chest. These few stolen hours every month were the only thing keeping him sane.
At first, it had simply been the distance that made both man and beast crazy, but Rian soon learned it was so much more.
He missed the ability to feel her thoughts and emotions through their slowly growing mating bond.
Cursed when her scent disappeared from his flesh.
Felt lost when he turned to speak to her only to remember she wasn’t there.
But the worse was when he thought about his Audrey locked away with a Demon Lord, battling for her very life, and him, the mighty Dragon Leader, stuck on earth with no way to defend his mate.
It was emasculating. It was infuriating.
And most of all, it was eating away at his soul.
There were days when it was all Rian could do not to summon his mate against the moon, haul her to a holy man for exorcism, and then hide her away until he could slay the Demon Lord holding her captive.
He’d actually gone to his basement and lit the candles before his good sense had returned.
It took several minutes of an especially ferocious inner dialogue to talk himself out of it and walk away.
It had been eighty years since he’d first laid eyes on her, seventy since he’d first summoned her and an hour since he’d kissed her lovely lips.
His dragon chuffed in his head, the same thing he’d been doing since the scent of brimstone filled the room proceeding Audrey’s entrance.
Rian had barely gotten hello out of his mouth before his lips were on hers.
His beast had once again pushed him to make love to his mate, to claim her as theirs in the most primal way, but it was not to be.
Rian would not damn their eternal souls to hell.
Eleanor had warned Rian that if they should consummate their union, the demon squatting inside his mate could and most likely would possess them all.
Once there, the malignant spirit would take control of his dragon and there would be no turning back.
With the old witch’s words echoing in his mind, the Dragon Leader had pulled upon his many years of training and somehow found the strength to only give his mate pleasure.
Knowing someday he would be able to love her as the Universe intended.
“What are you thinking so hard about, lubirea mea? I can hear the wheels turning.”
He loved that she spoke to him in Romanian, her mother’s native language, but was thrilled that her grandfather had taught her Gaelic.
Answering in the language of his ancestors as he slid his hands under her arms and pulled her up his body, Rian repeated a line of the song his father had read to his mother on their wedding day.
Ronin was a romantic for sure, but not much of a singer.
Tá gach mo smaointe de tú mo ghrá.
Tá gach anáil ar do shon mo stór.
Beats mo chroí ach amháin le mise.
Is tú mo , m'anam , mo ghrá go deo.
The last syllable was barely out of his mouth before Audrey began to sing the same words.
All my thoughts are of you, my love.
Every breath is for you, my darling.
My heart beats only with yours.
You are my heart, my soul…my love, forever.
She paused to breathe, and Rian could wait no longer.
He would be the air she breathed. He was helpless to be anything but.
Trying to be gentle but needing her more than life itself, the Dragon Leader slammed his lips to hers.
His heart and dragon soared as she opened to him, giving all that she could.
He moaned deep in his throat when her nails scratched his scalp.
His dragon howled as her elegant fingers grabbed at his hair, his back, his arms, holding tight as he made love to her mouth so that she would never doubt to whom she belonged.
Their kiss was never-ending, all encompassing, and life changing. Her hand moved over his back and across his hips until just the tips of her fingers ran the length of the underside of his erection.
Tearing his mouth from hers, Rian grabbed her hand. “Audrey…” he moaned with what little breath he could find, wanting nothing more than to find sweet release with his mate but knowing it simply could not be.
Snatching her hand from his, she wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft and looked him in the eye.
Fire burned deep in her hypnotic violet eyes.
“The Priestess said we couldn’t consummate our love.
She did not say I couldn’t give you the same pleasure you have so freely and so beautifully given me for all these years.
I am tired of being denied. I am tired of feeling helpless.
I am tired of waiting. I dream of nothing else but watching you come apart in my arms as I know you have watched me.
I will wait no longer, my wonderful dragon mate.
Do you hear me? No longer. I need this as much as you do. ”
He could see the impish grin on her beautiful lips. Went to argue but was cut short as the words were stolen from his mouth just as the breath was taken from his lungs.