Chapter 38
Kier lowered his hindlegs towards the ground first, while his wings flapped to keep him elevated as he slowed his descent.
His claws touched stone, then his toes spread out before he lowered a singular front paw.
Carefully he placed the knuckles of his other paw down with his precious female seated comfortably in his loose grasp.
Still kneeling on his palm, she threw both fists into the air. “That was exhilarating!” she exclaimed, then slid off. “It was completely different to flying in Selene’s dreams.”
“Speaking of Selene.” He sniffed the air, checking to see if they were alone, and snorted out a huff. “She’s gone.”
Hopefully she has returned to her lair or left to approach Malachite. Anything that would help her move on from this. She better not tell the king until I’ve properly bonded with Carwyn just to spite me.
With dragons already choosing witches as mates, he saw no reason as to why he should need to ask for permission beforehand. He’d inform them after the fact... when it was too late to stop him.
Selene will come around eventually. She’d be cranky with him for a while, but in the end, he knew she cared more about his happiness than whatever feelings she harboured.
She will also like Carwyn. His sister just needed to give her a chance; he could see Selene trying to steal her attention from him – much like Aysu.
A grin curled his lips at the discovery that they were alone, only to fall when he looked upon the little witch who had lost her glee and now dug her fingers into her opposing wrist with a pouting bottom lip. He shrank his form, so she didn’t need to crane her head and possibly injure herself.
“Why don’t you look pleased that she isn’t here?”
“No, I am pleased.” Her eyes then had a spiteful squint to them. “It’s just... I’m realising she said some awful things about you just to make sure I went with her.” Her shoulders fell as she looked off to the side. “I would’ve left anyway, but I feel like they were said to incite hurt...”
I can only imagine what Selene said. He didn’t need the specifics; he knew his sister.
“They were lies,” he stated without hesitation, causing her gaze to lift to him unsurely. “Selene knew before I did that I wanted more from you – as a mate and not just as a focus of my desire.”
Her fingertips dug harder, and her expression darkened. “Geez. I should kick her when she’s small next time.”
The corners of his maw quirked at that, and he approached Carwyn on all fours before sitting back on his haunches until he was just slightly above her. He cradled the edges of her jaw in both palms, his expression soft and gentle, with the smallest crinkle in his eyes.
“I would absolutely adore seeing that.”
She laughed, and it was like a balm to his bruised chest. Kier never thought pining over a female would hurt as it did, and he had yet to heal the wound she had given him. She’d left him, rejected him, all to continue a journey for an answer he was the solution to the entire time.
They would have found out by accident if she’d had faith in him. None of these hurts would exist within them both.
He wouldn’t have needed to see her trembling with emotional anguish. She wouldn’t have needed to witness nor experience the darkest parts of his own fears of his future if he wasn’t careful.
But she came back here with me, and that’s all that needs to matter.
Although the fact that she’d been very insistent on him not killing Harietta still bothered him. He hadn’t liked leaving that witch alive – not after what she’d done to betray them. Especially with the knowledge she harboured about his kind.
Knowledge that could see male dragons bound and drained against their will. Not by blood, but in a way that was much, much worse. Prolonged and alive.
He shuddered at the thought.
Carwyn reached up to pull his touch from her, and he lowered both his hands at her drawn brows. “Kier, I need to ask you about my family. I’ll want to see them.”
He rested back on his tail to be comfortable. “Then we will see them.”
Her head cocked. “We? As in together?”
“Of course. I see no issue with meeting a coven of white witches. These are the people you hold most dear. I wouldn’t deny you their company, when I would hope you wouldn’t deny me the same, despite how much of a pain in the tail my sister has been.”
Her lips lost their tightened edges, and warmth swirled in her gaze.
“I think my mother would adore meeting you.” She raised her hands this time to cup his jaw, then brought him down to place a set of luscious lips to the line of his maw.
The kiss was soft, gentle, and light. “Will you let me mark you with my witchcraft, then?”
He pulled back with mischief lighting his gaze. “If that is what you want, but only after you have received mine.”
“I’ve read that it feels like a brand before taking shape. I’m hoping it doesn’t hurt too badly.” She laughed as she lowered her hands to scratch the side of her neck bashfully. “Did you want to do it today?”
The lack of hesitation regarding it smouldered in his heart. “No, and I don’t foresee us doing it anytime soon.”
Her shy pondering dissipated in an instant. “Why not?”
“I won’t mark you until I have been inside you.
Consider it penance for all you have put me through.
” He chuckled when disbelief parted her lips.
“Except for when we sleep, I will also no longer roam my home in dragon form until you have become accustomed to my human one. I will eat with you as a human, bathe with you, sit with you. You will learn to no longer be wary of me.” He lifted a paw to glide the back of a scaled knuckle against her high cheekbone.
“And I will steal touches from you until you’re ready for me to devour you. ”
As much as she’d taken the leap with him to become his mate, he could tell she wasn’t ready.
He would love nothing more than to be between her thighs this day, but much had happened.
They both needed rest, and he wanted her to reach for him.
For her to climb that hurdle on her own when he had done more than enough to prove himself.
He trailed the back of his knuckle and the round curve of his claw down her cheek, then the length of her jaw, until he caressed her fluttering pulse. A soft breath danced past her full lips.
“I will be patient, but know that the longer you take, the more ravenous I will become. I won’t hold back for you.”
His gut clenched when subtle desire sweetened her scent, and a dull throb lanced his groin. Already he could tell this would be torture.
Her hair looked thick and glossy, even in the shadows of his cave that had befallen them.
He wanted to fist her curls, then bury his human face into them as he groaned against her.
He longed to sink his teeth into any part of her skin, so she could feel how much he cared for her, and that he couldn’t fight back his aggression.
The longer she made him wait, the harder it would become to deny himself these things.
“You’ll also wear my hoard,” he demanded, ghosting his claw down the swell of her panting chest. “Once we have bonded, all of it will be yours. Every dress, every shoe, every piece of jewellery will be yours, and I will want to see you in them. I’ll want to tear much of it from you, or see you naked except for certain items.”
It would really depend on his mood. He thought it might excite him to see her in nothing but a heavy diamond-encrusted necklace. He’d like to see earrings sparkling amongst the cloud of her brown hair, or to see rings glinting as she tore at the sheets below her as she lost herself to lust.
Kier bit back his groan as one side of his face crinkled in restrained want and feverish need, his cock surging within his abdomen. He held it back by nothing but his protective slit and sheer willpower.
It’ll be quite some time before she feels comfortable taking me in dragon form. She’ll be afraid of being trapped on my knot.
He couldn’t think of anything better; her locked to him, his cock snuggled in her heat as he basked in all of her.
He pulled back, needing space before he did something foolish, like tackle this female to the ground with needy aggression, and lowered himself onto all fours.
“Where are you going?” she whispered hoarsely when he began to leave, taking a few steps after him as if she sought his nearness.
“To obtain clothing, since a certain female prefers me in their constraints.”
Her footsteps stumbled and ceased, and he could only imagine how cute her pinkened appearance had become. His warm chuckle echoed off the walls, bouncing back to her cruelly.
She is going to drive me mad.
All his fears of losing his mind... and it might end up happening if this female made him wait too long to have her.