Chapter 14
Vanya
DINNER WAS GREAT, AND the servants were courteous and lovely, as always. My sister, Jessa, had lived with them for almost ten years on and off, so they all knew me. Jaegar earned many curious looks, but the staff were kind and tried not to stare—which I appreciated, a lot .
He still didn’t seem to understand who he was or what he was capable of.
To me, it was obvious. He could do great things. But whether he wanted to or not was a very different question. He’d been born in poverty and thrust into the royal limelight. It was definitely a lot to digest, so my heart went out to him, though royal life was all I’d ever known.
“Are you ready for bed now?” he asked, having polished off two plates of food.
I nodded, pushing my own half full plate away. I’d served myself too much, thinking I’d be able to eat more after our long flight. “Yes, definitely. Though, I may need a shower.”
Jaegar’s grin was wicked as he stood up and took my hand. “A shower is a great idea.”
I rose from my seat and moved away from the table.
He placed his hand on the small of my back, sending a shiver of longing through me as we made our way to our room. As soon as we stepped inside our quarters, his arms went tight around my waist.
My eyes closed on a breathy sigh, and heat washed over me.
His lips pressed to my neck, trailing luxurious kisses down the side of my throat.
I tilted my head, giving him better access, eager to be ravaged by my fated mate.
His hands came up to cup my breasts and he tweaked my nipples through the fabric of my borrowed dress.
My knees turned to water. Without a second thought, I twisted in his arms, grabbing hold of his shirt to kiss him hard. I didn’t want a soft seduction tonight, I wanted to feel him inside of me, rugged and strong. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist, the dress pooling between us.
“Shower?” He panted as he caught me and held me close.
I nodded, pressing my lips to his neck and tasting his sweat. The taste of his heated skin and his scent, just like everything else about him, was delicious.
He walked us into the large ensuite and put me down, and didn’t step away. He simply leaned forward and kissed me, all the while stripping his clothes from his body and mine from me.
When we were finally naked, I leaped at him again, wanting to feel his rippling muscles against my fair, soft skin.
He lifted me into his arms once more and walked us into the shower, where he fiddled with the taps until water flowed over us.
I gasped out aloud at the initial blast as cold water prickled my skin, making my nipples pebble into tight peaks.
“Sorry, baby,” Jaegar gasped out and pressed me against the tiles behind us.
Soon hot water began to pour over us, and I forced my heavy eyes open so I could stare up into his ice-blue eyes. They were flecked with the silver of his dragon and stole my breath away. “God, you’re beautiful,” I managed to say, cupping his jaw as I stared up into his face.”
He didn’t respond with words, instead, he kissed me hard and surged into me in a single, swift and brutal move.
I arched up into him, crying out in ecstasy, meeting his stroke with my own. His cock delved deep, filling me up and reminding me of why the fated mate link was so strong, so perfect.
He pulled out almost all the way, then thrust forward again, rolling his hips as he pinned me, fucking me against the wall.
My whole body shivered with pleasure and desire. The stark contrast of the cold tiles against my back and the heat of the water at my front made every nerve in my body stretch and yearn for greater contact.
Jaegar plowed inside of me, his strong body holding me up effortlessly. His hands gripped my thighs, and his rugged rock-hard body pressed against my slight form as he lips captured my mouth.
Several breathless moments later, I broke our kiss to pant and cry out as my first orgasm stormed through me. My belly tightened and my pussy convulsed and contracted around him, squeezing his length over and over in undulating waves.
But he didn’t stop there. He moved faster and harder, determined to drag another merciless orgasm from me as he chased his own release.
I dug my fingernails into his shoulders and held on for the ride as he pushed me further and higher into the giddy heights of pleasure once more.
The sounds of our mutual rapture filled the steam-filled room. He groaned and grunted like a beast determined to breed.
It was the hottest and most raw and carnal thing I’d ever heard. I tangled my fingers in his long, dark, wet hair and pulled him even closer, sliding my tongue between his lips to indulge in him.
His movements became erratic and even more powerful, shoving me up the wall before he finally buried himself deep inside me and came in a great deluge.
The pulsing of his cock and the surge of his seed inside of me pushed me over the edge and I came again, whimpering with the sheer power of the waves of pleasure that rolled through my belly and over my senses.
We shivered together and clung to one another for so long afterward I began to think we’d soon just sink to the floor in exhaustion and bliss to fall asleep beneath the warm water.
But Jaegar managed to summon some sort of inhuman strength and step back, carefully letting me slide to my feet. He turned the water off, grabbed some towels, and wrapped us up in fluffy white robes.
We staggered to the huge bed and fell onto the mattress.
I had just enough strength left to climb beneath the covers and lay my head on the best pillow there was—Jaegar’s huge chest.
There, to the sound of his strong heart, I slept the most sated night of my life.
My new life has begun.
THE NEXT MORNING, WE took it nice and slow, having a leisurely breakfast before thanking the staff, and making our way to the highest balcony.
“You know,” Jaegar said to me, as he opened the balcony doors. “I’ve never shifted so much in my life.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“All this flying,” he said with a weary smile. “First flying to your castle, then shifting when we saw each other, then yesterday to reach this halfway point...”
I grinned at him. “Well, hopefully today is the last flight for a while, and you can rest.” After all, it would be at least a week or two before we went back.
He nodded far too quickly. “Definitely! I don’t think I want to make that flight again. Ever.”
I forced a smile to my lips and made a non-committal sound.
Surely, he can’t mean that?
I lived at Bravadok castle... and although I supported him needing to return to his homeland for a while, we’d be visiting all the time. Ultimately, I’d been holding onto the hope that he’d want to move in with me in the long run.
Perhaps it was a foolish hope?
I took a long breath and forced myself to remain calm and not spiral out of control. Jaegar was exhausted and homesick. I couldn’t take what he was saying too seriously. There was a chance he’d feel differently once he’d had time to find his feet and recover. “Well, let’s go then.” I smiled at him one more time before jumping off the castle balcony and letting my dragon take over my body.
Once inside my shifter mind, I forgot all about him not wanting to live with me at my parents’ castle. The only thing I wanted to do was to be close to him. To fly through the sky and play games. It was all I desired. In my human form, I wanted to live with him and love him, so hopefully we’d be able to work everything else out.
I hadn’t been to the Northern Kingdom in years, and as it came up on the horizon, a wash of dread coursed over me. I shivered, trying to dismiss it. I’d forgotten how thick the snow fell here, and how close the dark woods were.
Lucian and Dymitri had lived in those woods for years, and I just couldn’t imagine ever doing that. It would have been cold, feral, and primitive.
Jaegar began to fly lower, toward the village.
I wanted to go to the castle, where it would be warm and there would be servants around to settle us into my Uncle Damon’s home.
I could seriously use the comfort...
But I wasn’t there to see Aunt Cass and her family. I’d flown all this way for Jaegar and his need to go home. Perhaps this was what he’d meant? To go back to the house he’d grown up in with his mother?
I followed him down into the village, landing in a large field just outside the township where it was safe for two dragons to touch down. I shifted back to human as soon as I could and immediately regretted it as I started to shiver. “Brrr... it’s freezing!”
Jaegar shifted back also, letting his magnificent dragon go. When he saw how cold and naked I was, he immediately ran to me. “Come on then, my place isn’t far.”
He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hurried me over the field and up a narrow road.
The icy rocks hurt my feet, and I hobbled along like a delicate flower, a thought I hated..
He chuckled and seeing my level of discomfort, he picked me up like I weighed nothing.
I would have complained at his little show of male power if I hadn’t been so cold. Instead, I stubbornly tucked my head under his chin and plastered myself to his warm chest.
“No wonder you had to learn to make more heat,” I managed to say from between chattering teeth, amazed by his ability to be warm no matter what the temperature.
He laughed. “Hang in there, baby. We’re almost there.”
I’d never been so cold in my life, but I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing as best I could, trying not to freak out about the conditions I was enduring. I’d grown up in Bravadok. It snowed there also, but I’d never been outside for more than a few seconds in the snow before. I didn’t like it and never wanted to play in it. As a result, I’d never known the sort of cold that made your fingers go numb quickly.
“Here we are,” Jaegar said, setting me down on a stoop, then opening the wooden door into a little hut.
I rushed inside, and the space was only just marginally warmer than outside. “Jaegar... It’s freezing...” I managed to say as I shuddered violently.
“Oh... yes,” he apologized, grabbing a blanket from the small couch to wrap around my shoulders. “How about you climb into the bed, and I’ll start a fire?”
I looked around and saw there was a bed pressed against the wall. I didn’t have any other choice. I bolted for the bed and climbed beneath the rough, dark sheets. There were several blankets on the bed, but the sheets were icy cold to the touch and even beneath all the layers, I still shivered and shook until I rattled the teeth in my head.
Jaegar started a fire in the grate, and as the flames began to flicker and the wood began to burn, he stood up and sighed as he looked around the sad, humble abode. “It’s so good to be home.” He wasn’t shaking, or even shivering in the slightest. He didn’t look cold at all.
And yet, I was freezing and felt like the cold might be the death of me! “Can you come warm me up?” I managed to ask desperately.
He looked at me like he’d forgotten I was even there. “Oh, yes! Sorry!” Then he walked over, threw back the covers, and climbed in.
I scrambled on top of him, hugging his body and pressing my head into his chest, eager to draw every last scrap of warmth from him that I could.
He chuckled as he arranged the covers over me and brushed my hair back off my face. His hands and fingers weren’t even cold.
How is that possible?
His arms went around my back and the heat of his body eventually seeped into mine.
Slowly but surely, my shaking subsided, and I could breathe more easily again.
He kissed the top of my head. “We’re going to have to get you some warm clothes, aren’t we?”
I nodded but didn’t say much in return, because what could I say? That this was freaking horrible to me? That I hated it already? That the idea of actually trying to live in this tiny house terrified me. It was one room. I couldn’t see a bathroom or running water, though there probably was something somewhere.
An outhouse behind, maybe?
I shuddered at the thought. All I’d seen were the dirt floors, the threadbare furniture, and the suffocatingly low ceiling. I was so cold and tired, this was absolutely the last place I wanted to be in the realm. I wanted to be back in my castle, in my huge bed, warm and safe.
Lying on top of Jaegar, I did feel safe and warm finally, but we couldn’t stay in bed forever. And he couldn’t be by my side every day to merely ensure my survival. If this was the kind of life he wanted, then I didn’t know what I’d do. Because this was the last thing I needed.
Am I going to be a thirty year old princess living in an icy hovel like a pauper?
I closed my eyes and tried my best not to cry. The idea that he’d lived here all his life was devastating to me. Did he used to have to sleep beside his mother to keep her warm, too? Had he had enough to eat? How had he survived living here, in what was without argument the toughest kingdom in the whole realm?
I knew I was a spoiled, pampered, literal princess, but no one in our entire kingdom lived in a one-room shack. No one. My parents would never have allowed it. Everyone in Bravadok had a much higher standard of living than whatever this was.
I bit my lip and breathed through my nose, tears now dripping down my face to freeze on my cheeks like crystal. Had my beautiful man survived this world, only to now feel totally uncomfortable in the castle, and with the family he should have always been a part of?
Lying here in Jaegar’s hovel, the mountain climb ahead of me now seemed impossible. I couldn’t see how we’d ever be able to make our two lives work. Our differences were just too vast. There was a literal world between us. A wave of depression washed over me, drowning all the good feelings in my mind.
If this is the future my fated mate craves, I can’t be a part of it.
With my tears stinging my face, I listened to the steady beat of his heart and prayed that somehow, we’d find a way.