Chapter 34 Tash #2
The next, his teeth slammed down at the base of my neck.
It wasn't gentle. He didn't ease in or warn me. He snapped through my skin, his teeth punching through muscle, creating fire that ripped up my spine. For a half-second, the pain was all there was, and I nearly blacked out.
I guess that's what it takes to shatter a person clean open.
The pain spun sharp and hot, tearing through muscle and then detonating, wild and molten. But before I could even process it, my brain short-circuited, and the agony flipped into something I didn't have words for.
Chance locked me down, one hand on my throat, the other braced on my hip. His cock sawed into me, fucking vicious and raw, and his mouth latched onto my shoulder, my blood pooling under his tongue. He drank, not like a vampire, but like he was sealing us together at the root.
My vision went gold, literally. The trees, the fire, the morning, they all bled out, replaced by this shockwave of light so pure it burned every fear I'd ever had.
I screamed and didn't give a flying fuck who heard me
The orgasm that tore through me was unholy.
It started at the bite, ripped through every nerve, and detonated in my pussy so hard I almost levitated off the ground.
My legs locked around his waist, nails carving into his shoulder blades, and I writhed under him, helpless, lost, begging for more even though I didn't have the words anymore.
He didn't stop. Chance pistoned into me, cock thick and perfect, and every time he bottomed out it sent a new aftershock up my spine to where his mouth still gnawed at the wound.
He let go, finally, his head snapping back. His face was transformed. His eyes were pure gold, with slits for pupils, sweat streaking his temple. He looked at me like I was the only goddamn thing on the planet.
"You're mine," he said, voice so deep I felt it in my clit. "Say it. Say you're my mate."
"Yours," I gasped. "Fuck, I'm yours. Forever."
His mouth crashed down on mine, bloody, messy. We kissed hard, teeth scraping, tongues dueling, until I lost my grip on the world.
He let go of my throat just long enough to reach between our bodies, thumb circling my clit. The second he touched it, I shattered again. White heat, stars, noise, the whole clearing spinning.
I could feel the magic. It arced through my blood, a living thing tearing through the spaces between skin and soul, welding us together. The taste of him, the smell. Smoke, sweat, iron and ozone, nothing like human, all dragon, fused with mine and made something new.
He ground down, ramming into me, cock flaring hard as he came, the heat pulsing deep. I could feel it. I'd never actually felt a man's ejaculation, but this time I felt his cum, hot and slick inside me, marking me as much as the bite did.
The air was full of noise, but it wasn't me. It was the dragon. Caden. His roar wasn't just a sound, it was a tremor that rattled the earth, shook the trees, bounced smoke off the clouds.
For a second, I saw the clearing through a different lens, the edges brighter, colors burning, the world tasting like the inside of a lightning storm.
Chance slumped over me, biting, sucking the wound, hips still driving slowly as if he wanted to fill me forever.
I didn't want to stop either, not even close.
He licked the wound, closing it with his tongue, sealing the bond. The pain vanished, replaced by this glow that broke out under my skin, gold and red and copper, rippling down my arms and belly, pooling low where his cock still pulsed inside me.
He collapsed on top of me, breath jagged, hands tangled in my hair.
"Christ, Tash," he groaned. "You have no idea what you just did."
I laughed deliriously. "I'm not sure I care, as long as it means you never let me go."
He moved, just enough to look at me, eyes still lit up like fire in a hurricane.
"I'll never let anyone touch you again. Not now. Not ever."
He thrust one last time, rocking us both. I whimpered, clinging to him as I rode out the last aftershocks.
Somewhere, the fire hissed, the world blurred at the edges, and I could taste every heartbeat and breath and shockwave of want between us.
He pulled out, slowly. The loss made me sob, but he shifted, rolling me onto my side, spooning me close so his mouth could land right on the bite again.
He kissed it. Then his hand found my thigh, hooked me open, and he slid his slick cock along my soaked, swollen folds.
Even empty, I needed more. "Again," I whispered. "Don't stop."
He obliged, rubbing his cock against my clit until I arched, then teased my opening, easing inside for round two.
It was different this time. Not desperate, but rich and slow and electric. Every nerve under my skin shivered. I could feel the magic winding through us, binding my pulse to his. Even as the pain faded, the bite still buzzed, an anchor sunk deep in my neck, throbbing with every thrust.
He cupped my breast, pinched the nipple hard, and I moaned.
We rocked together, slow and dirty, and he kept whispering things in my ear. Filthy, sweet, never-ending promises about how he'd keep me, how the girls would never be alone, how I was the only mate he'd ever want.
It was almost too much. I squeezed around him, chasing my orgasm up and over the edge, and when it broke, I saw stars. He came again, less wild but just as fierce, hips jerking as he buried himself inside me.
I'd never felt so alive. Every sense, every cell, lit up.
Chance rolled onto his back, dragging me across his chest.
"It's done," he said, almost in awe. "You're mine. We're—" He broke off, like the words had failed him for once.
I kissed him, softer now. When his tongue darted into my mouth, I sucked it, tasting the last traces of salt and blood.
The magic still prickled under my skin, chasing itself in circles.
I could feel my heart syncing to his. Could feel the way my body had started to change. My senses were sharper, heat blooming, muscles twitching under the new power.
But the real shift was inside. I wasn't Tash-the-stray, Tash-the-runner, not anymore. I was Tash Meyer, mate, mother, monster. Unbreakable.
The bond was done.
And neither of us would ever be the same. The tremor in my blood wasn't fading. If anything, the aftershocks got worse.
It started in the bite. The skin there still throbbed, but instead of pain, a heat poured outward, hotter than sunlight, sharper than new whiskey, bright as the fire licking just feet away. The sensation radiated, burning through my veins like molten metal. My bones twitched. My muscles jumped.
I gasped. Then I sobbed, because the avalanche was just that strong.
Chance noticed. He caught my jaw, fingers gentle. "Easy. It's working. You're strong. You got this."
I wasn't so sure. My vision doubled, then tripled.
For a second, I saw the woods in triplicate colors.
Ultraviolet halos around every blade of grass, the gold of Chance's skin pulsing in sync with the sunrise.
Under that, the heartbeat of the woods. Birds waking, squirrel paws, even the faint, stuttered gallop of a rabbit somewhere on the ridge.
It was insane.
I could smell the wet green of the moss, the sharp acid tang of the fire, the coppery note of my sweat and the iron-rich drip of blood where Chance had bitten me.
I could hear the snap of a beetle's jaw, the nervous huff of a deer fifty yards out.
Every sense cranked past human, past anything I'd ever imagined.
"Fuck." I whimpered, burying my face in his neck. "What's happening?"
He stroked my hair. "The bond's taking. Let it in. Don't fight."
But I wasn't alone inside my own skull. Not anymore.
Something huge and wild uncurled in my chest, a presence that was mostly heat and claws and wild, rolling laughter.
At first, it felt like panic. Then it felt like power.
Then she spoke, clear as a bell, inside my brain.
Taryn.
That was her name. My dragon. My impossible friend. "Her name is Taryn," I said softly. She shimmered, gold and copper, scales flickering along my arms for a second. Bright, iridescent, gone so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it.
But I hadn't. No way.
She danced up my spine, took me for a spin, and the joy, fuck all, the joy! It nearly knocked me over.
Taryn howled her pleasure, loud enough that my physical body arched right off the ground. Mate! She cheered, pride and hunger and love all mashed together. You did it. We did it. He's ours.
Chance held me tighter as my body jerked, rocked by a lightning-bolt pulse of new instinct. My skin crawled in the best way. For a second, I thought I'd double in size, shift right there on the moss.
Taryn laughed again, not mean, just delighted. Don't worry. You're safe. I'm here now. We're strong. Nothing's ever getting to the twins, or him, without going through us.
The words soothed and stung at the same time. I clung to Chance, trying to focus, but it was like trying to steer a speeding car with a slingshot for a steering wheel.
Magic rolled through me in waves. Each time, the world flickered, my arms, my legs, my belly all sparkled with scales, shifting from skin to copper to iridescence and back.
My fingers flexed, nails lengthening, going blunt again.
My jaw ached, teeth sharpening and flattening as my body rewrote itself at a cellular level.
Chance didn't give an inch. "You're doing better than anybody I've ever heard of," he muttered, pure pride in his voice. "Let the dragon in. Let her show you what she is."
I did. Fuck it. There was no going back. In for a penny and all that.
The next wave nearly broke me. I saw through my own eyes and Taryn's at the same time.
Every ant, every flicker of wings in the canopy, every breath Chance exhaled.
I could taste his pheromones in the air, could map the molecules in his sweat.
I catalogued every possible threat and dismissed them all, drunk on the knowledge that nobody in the world could touch us.
Taryn reveled in that. Her power licked along my bones, stronger than any spell, any shield. She wanted to fly, to tear down the ridge, to let loose a roar that would tell every hunter on the planet to back the fuck off.
But she was gentle with me. Kind, even.
We're partners. I'm you. You're me. Nothing can break us now.
I laughed. Or maybe I howled, because the trees stirred and birds exploded from the branches overhead.
Chance was grinning with wild pride. He stroked my spine, hands bracing me through the spasms as I settled. "See? You're a natural."
"Is it always like this?" I managed to say through the shakes
"The first time's by far the roughest. You saw how Fifi was. After that, you'll have much more control. You'll be able to shift whenever you want. The girls, they'll see Taryn, too. They'll know you're their mom, but they'll respect the dragon too."
The awe in his voice might've made me cry if I hadn't been so fucking happy.
As the chaos died down, the scales faded, leaving only a shimmer behind, like sunlight had gotten trapped just below the surface. I blinked, tested my fingers. No talons, just me.
But I was different. I was more. I was both.
Taryn quieted in my chest, curling up like a cat in a sunbeam. She pulsed, warm and fierce, her love for the twins, a protective, mad devotion, ringing almost as loud as her obsession with Chance.
I let myself collapse in his arms, the last vestiges of adrenaline draining away.
Chance tucked me under his chin, careful with the bite mark. "You did perfectly."
The bond sang between us, a thread of color and power. I reached up, stroking his cheek, marveling at the way I could feel the layers, man, dragon, mate, all smashed together in a single, perfect loop.
"I feel strong," I admitted. "Like nothing can stop us."
"Nothing can. Not when you let the dragon out."
"And the girls?"
He smiled broadly. "They'll be better. With both of us at their backs, nobody's ever going to fuck with them again."
I swallowed, tears burning at the backs of my eyes. "Good. That's all I want."
The fire popped beside us. The woods brightened. A new day, new senses, a new goddamn world.
Under my skin, Taryn prowled. I could feel her impatience, her rage at anyone who'd ever threatened our family. I saw the way she catalogued every path, every escape, every resource.
I saw the way she loved.
I smiled. "Want to see what she can do?"
"Anytime," he said. "But right now, you need to rest. Heal up. Let the power settle."
I yawned, suddenly exhausted. "I can't believe how good this feels."
He tucked me in tighter, firelight painting his skin gold. "Sleep, baby. I'll keep watch."
Inside, Taryn hummed a lullaby of her own making. I let it crash over me.
As I faded, the world blurred. Chance, the fire, the endless woods, the twin heartbeats of our new family.
I'd never be alone again.
I was a dragon now.
And Hell help anyone who came for us next.