Page 39 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Amaya

“What do you need me to do?” I stared at the wrist Cullen held in the shackle of his hand. “I can’t talk to you when you’re looking all bloody and pale enough to be half in the grave.”

“The murmurings of a lady in love.” He wavered again. I wrenched my wrist free so I could steady him. “What I need, Amaya, is blood. Your blood.”

My hand flew to my neck where he’d already bitten me, not that there was a gaping wound. “You already have my blood.” Clearly dragon blood—at least my destructive midnight dragon blood—was worthless when it came to healing vampire wounds.

“I didn’t take your blood, Amaya. Not without your permission. I just—” He turned away from me. “It was compulsion—a trick I played to make you believe I’d bitten you. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just—” He looked up. “When I’m with you, I make poor decisions. You—I’m not blaming you—but whenever you’re around, I feel like my mind glitches. I need you. I don’t want you. But I can’t stop thinking about you. You shouldn’t exist. And here you are, a threat to our kingdom. And I don’t care. The thought of never seeing you, never trading barbs with you, never kissing you again, breaks me.” He put both his hands on my face. “You break me, Amaya. But goddess help me, I never want you to stop.”

My heart hammered in my chest.

I didn’t—

I didn’t—

I didn’t know what to do with that.

I pushed his hands away. “You’re getting blood all over me. And the floor. And this lovely pantsuit. Stop it. Take my blood and stop bleeding everywhere already.”

“Are you sure?” He started to slide down that wall again.

“Goddess, yes. Do it before you fall over dead. And don’t blame me if our blood is incompatible. All my magic is good at—all I’m good at is tearing things apart, not putting them back together.”

“Amaya.” He leaned forward and kissed me, while herding me until my back bumped up against the nearest wall and until he had my body tightly wedged between the wall and his hard planes. His lips felt cool against mine when earlier the press of them had seared my skin. “If for some farfetched reason your blood doesn’t work,” his voice weak, barely a whisper, “please, find my brother. He’ll know what to do.”

I nodded and steeled my nerves as he tilted my head to one side. His breath tickled my neck before he struck.

I gasped at the pain. The bite felt sharper than before. Pain lanced through my entire body, causing me to jerk. I dug my fingers into his shoulders. But just as quickly as it hit, the pain vanished. There was a gentle tug on my neck as he lapped up my blood. The sensation curled its way down to my core.

I needed him.

We hadn’t finished what we’d started, and my body was gearing up as if this second round would give me the release it desperately wanted. As if sensing my growing arousal, Cullen leaned his hips into mine, spreading my legs with his knee.

His lips tugged at my blood, pulling it out of my body, making my head spin. I rocked against the hardness he’d pressed against my core.

I tightened my grip on his shoulders. Suddenly, this didn’t feel sexy. I was no longer a few thrusts from coming apart.

I was scared.

“Sorry. That’s because I’m scared ,” Cullen pressed into my mind.

“You’re scared? Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to know what he’s doing?” I was totally going to die here. I shouldn’t have let him talk me into this. If he hadn’t looked so pitiful, I would have left him to bleed out on the parlor’s floor.

“I do know what I’m doing. But I’m scared I’ll hurt you. My need… I’ve never felt like…”

“Like what?” My voice rasped. Terror pulsed through my veins, and my heart started hammering again.

He eased his hand between us to place it flat on my chest. “ Be calm .”

He pushed his compulsion on me. My heart almost immediately slowed, and I could draw a steady breath.

“Like what?” I repeated without panicking this time. “You’ve never felt like what?”

“I’ve never felt like I could lose control when feeding on someone.”

“What?” I started to panic again.

“Be calm.” He pressed the compulsion on me again. “ Calm, my gentle Amaya .”

And I did feel calmer, but not nearly as relaxed as I had the first time he’d willed calmness on me.

“I won’t lose control. I promise. I care for you too much to let that happen. But still, I—”

“You shouldn’t care for me,” I interrupted . We were enemies.

“But I do.”

“You’re a fool.”

“For you.”

I snorted.

He slowly dragged his lips—lips that now felt warmer—from my neck. “That’s enough,” he murmured against my skin. His tongue brushed against where he’d bitten me. And I moaned as warm tingles spread all the way down to my toes.

I rubbed against the hardness still pressed against my core.

I wanted—

I wanted—

I needed—

Dammit. I forced my body to go still as I drew a long, slow breath.

The jagged wound on his neck was still there, but it was no longer bleeding. And his skin had gained color. Still, he wasn’t in any kind of condition to do what my body wanted me to demand of him. Disappointment clogged my throat. I quickly cleared it. “How do you feel?”

“Better.” He nodded, as if reassuring himself.

I put my hand on his cheek. His skin still felt cooler than expected. “Are you sure?”

“Nothing a good night’s rest won’t fix.” He stepped away from me, leaving me suddenly feeling as cold as his skin had felt. “I do thank you for letting me—” He pointed to my neck. “I’m sorry I ruined your pantsuit. If you’d allow it, I’ll escort you back to my library. I assume that’s where you left your clothes?” His voice grew colder and harder with each word. His brown eyes no longer held any emotion. He looked at me with the same assessing expression as he had when we’d first met.

“What’s happening?” I asked him. Had my blood poisoned him? Was he now, like me, a bundle of angry kindling searching for a spark?

“I’m afraid you can’t return to the party. Not looking like that.” He gestured to the wettest bloodstain on the pantsuit’s white silky material. He wasn’t wrong. I looked as if I’d vanquished my enemies with no care for my personal appearance. Blood was smeared and splattered all over me. His hands curled into fists at his sides. “Please, let me escort you back to the library.”

“No.” I folded my arms in front of my chest.

“No?” He tilted his head to one side. Did he look pleased that I’d resisted him? Did he like poking the dragon to play with its fire?

“I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s going on.” We’d battled each other so much that this did feel like our unique way of flirting.

“I’m trying to take you back to your clothes.”

I reached into his mind to search his thoughts. And my head was flooded with embarrassment. Deep. Coiling. Grinding. Embarrassment.

My cheeks burned as hot as dragon fire as soon as my mind brushed up against the emotion. I immediately pulled back. And even though I was no longer feeling his emotions or listening to his thoughts, the burning lingered.

“That was rude,” Cullen grumbled. “Those are my thoughts.”

“Oh? You’re angry with me about that? Well, Prince Moody, I’m the one who should be testy. I was the one who had been at the brink of orgasm when your brother intervened. Denial of pleasure has never been a game I enjoy.”

“Denial of—?” Cullen dredged his hand through his hair. He walked away from me but didn’t get far before he turned around and marched right back. “I’m trying to be the gentleman here. And I have every right to feel embarrassed. I assaulted you…twice!”

“Everything we’ve done in here has been consensual. If you had stepped one toe out of line, I would have set your pretty hair on fire and used the flame to roast your balls that I would have twisted clean off—”

Cullen smashed his lips against mine. His lips were warm again and tasted of promises.

“Goddess, I love it when you threaten me,” he murmured against my mouth. “If I weren’t still weaving on my feet from blood loss, I would have you wrap your legs around my waist and demonstrate exactly how much I love it.”

“I don’t need all that.” I looped my arms around his neck and nipped his earlobe, careful not to break the skin. “Just kiss me.”

While our lips tangled—and my heart spun like a top—I gently pushed him across the room until the backs of his knees knocked against the sofa where I’d nearly found paradise not that long ago. He lost his balance and plopped down onto the cushion, pulling me down with him.

We both laughed, and his eyes sparkled. The corners of his mouth pressed into one of his infuriatingly smug grins that made him look like an indolent god as he gazed up at me. I was half-sprawled across his lap, my core pressed to the bulge in his pants.

“Amaya,” he groaned as I rubbed myself against him. “You make me feel like I’ve made my way to the feasting table in the Great Beyond.”

He untied the knot that kept the crisscross straps of my silky top. The loose fabric parted, baring my breasts to him. While he’d already seen me naked, his heated gaze caressed me.

“Beautiful .” The word purred in my head. He lifted my hips and eased out from under me, so I was lying on my back on the chaise, and he was straddling me. He dipped his head down and sucked a nipple into his warm, moist mouth.

“We need to get these off you,” he murmured against my breasts as he struggled with the thin, cord holding up my wide-legged pants. Frustrated, he ended up snapping the cord.

“That’s one way to do it,” I said feeling downright bubbly, which knocked me off balance. I never felt bubbly or giddy or anything resembling a fizzy emotion. “Hey.” I sat up a little as I helped him push my pants off. “When you took my blood that didn’t change me, did it?”

“You’re not going to become a vampire, my deadly menace.” He playfully nipped my breast. “Those rumors are ridiculous. Vampires are born, just like dragons.”

Pressing both my breasts together, he sucked on one and then the other while he rubbed against my now bare core. My body zinged to life from the sensation of his hot mouth tugging and teasing me.

“That—that’s not what I meant,” I managed to get out the words between halting breaths. And then he did something with his tongue that made tears well in my eyes from a flood of emotions that I had no hope of processing.

He lifted his demanding mouth from my breasts. “Amaya?” His voice was soft. “What did you mean?”

It took me several tries to get my breathing back under control. “I feel—I feel”—this was damned embarrassing to admit, but at the same time, I wanted to know if he was to blame for this. Because if he was responsible, I was totally going to bite his pretty head off his pretty body—“I feel giddy.”

“Giddy?” A single eyebrow quirked up. “Lightheaded, you mean?”

“No. Giddy, as in stupidly happy. Is this your doing?” My arousal throbbed harder, as if demanding to know why I’d stopped him from playing with me.

“You’re blaming me for feeling happy?”

“ Stupidly happy. I’m never—”

“I’m sure that’s true.” He kissed my belly. “But you’ve never been with me before. I’m really good.” He kissed the tender space below my belly. “An expert.” His hot kisses moved lower. “I’m a genius at making your body feel things.” He licked my damp seam, and my head fell back. “All the things your body needs to feel.” His hot tongue flicked over the tiny bundle of nerves down there. “Especially the feelings you’re not used to feeling.”

And then he began feasting. His mouth devoured me in the absolute best way. His tongue. Oh my goddess, his talented tongue had my toes curling and my back arching off the sofa. His fingers pressed into my hips as he held me steady.

“Mia kaida,” he whispered against my heat just before he thrust his tongue into me. He didn’t let up until the world burst into a rainbow of colors that left me panting.

And I still felt embarrassingly giddy .

Bastard.

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. His lips tasted like exotic spices as well as my own musky essence. And gracious, wasn’t that now my favorite flavor? I could spend the night here kissing him, on this sofa, as long as he held me in his arms like this.

Amaya. My name echoed like a groan through my head as we kissed. His voice sounded far away, muffled, which meant Cullen wasn’t projecting them into my mind. I must have accidentally slipped into his thoughts. Amaya. You make me need. You make me want more than I should ever dare ask for. Your fire calls to me like nothing ever has. Yet if I dared tell you that, I know you’d vanish on me. But, gods, I want to tell you. I want to tell you how much I’ve fallen in love with your prickly bits. You’re not nice. You’re rough and mean. I see through that. Did you know? That’s my talent. I see through to the pure essence of an individual. I see you, Amaya. From the first time we met in that cheap inn, I saw you. You are amazing. I should tell you that. But again, I know that if I did, you would vanish on me because you wouldn’t believe it. And I need you to believe me. I need you to share with me a little of that bright spirit of yours. You can’t begin to imagine how much I need that from you.

If he’d said that aloud, I would have panicked and vanished on him. But because I was in his mind, listening in on thoughts that weren’t meant for me, I held him tighter and kissed him with more urgency. True pain had been woven into his thoughts. He was hurting. Not physically, but in the same way that I often ached. Soul deep. Like we’d never be able to live up to the expectations of the perfect world we’d been born into.

“I need you, Amaya,” he admitted aloud as his deft fingers unbuttoned the flap of his trousers. He pulled his shaft from its confines and then maneuvered himself to be positioned between my splayed legs.

It was one thing to play with each other with our hands and mouths. It was quite something different to let him—

Was I ready for this level of intimacy? With my mortal enemy?

Sensing my hesitation, he guided my hand to his shaft. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” He felt warm and velvety. And, gracious fuck, I moved my hand along his length. I couldn’t decide whether the size of him was impressive or intimidating. And that was coming from a girl used to superior dragon parts.

I’d already told him that I didn’t enjoy playing denial games. And that shaft of his did have me intrigued. What would it feel like to have that much of him stuffed inside me?

Yeah, I needed to know.

“I want you,” I said guiding him to where I needed him to be.

He nodded. The head of his shaft was wide, stretching me in a way that hurt but I also welcomed. He pushed himself deeper. Deeper. Deeper. I sucked in a sharp breath certain I couldn’t take any more. But he had more to give. And I was still curious to know what taking all of him would do to me.

His fingers threaded with mine. His warm, brown gaze watched me as he slowed his movements. A ghost of his smug smile tugged on one corner of his lips.

“My beautiful Amaya .” The voice he projected into my mind made me think of spring and flowers and hope just as he thrust hard. The hilt of his shaft slammed against my already over-stimulated clit. My entire body shuddered with an orgasm while stars blinked in and out of my blackening vision.

“Stay with me,” he urged. And then he started to move.