Page 26

Aruan

I ’m bristling, scarcely holding myself together when Elsie and I enter my quarters. Even before I’ve finished closing the archway, I’m framing her hips between my hands. My mouth is on hers in a desperate, searing kiss, a necessary confirmation that she’s here with me. Safe.

By dragons, she tastes sweet. Her small body is warm beneath my palms. She’s gorgeous, hard-headed, too brave for her own good, and everything I want.

She’s everything I ever dreamed of having, the girl I saw growing into a woman in my mind’s eye, a beautiful woman who’s strong yet vulnerable.

There’s not a part of her I don’t like or admire, nothing I won’t do for her.

Except let her go.

Her arms come around my neck as I tangle our tongues in a deeper kiss and cup the round globes of her perfect ass. She goes on tiptoes, pressing her breasts flat against my chest, and it’s all I can do not to shred her clothes and sink my cock up to the hilt inside her.

I pull the shirttails from her pants as I walk her to the bed. I can easily dissolve our garments, but I want to undress her slowly. I want to savor it this time. I need to. I need this like I’ve never needed anything.

When her heels hit the edge of my bed, she lays a palm on my chest and tears her mouth from mine.

Her voice is breathless. “Aruan.”

I reach for the button on the waistband of her pants. “What is it, my sweet?”

Her gaze plays over my face. “Your bruises are gone.”

I kiss her neck while popping the button from its hole. “I just healed them.”

She bends backward to look at me with big eyes. “You can heal living matter?”

I plant another kiss behind her ear and nuzzle her temple, my lips sweeping her skin as I rasp out a reply. “Not nearly as well as Vitai. With my skill level, I can mend a few cuts and minor injuries, and I do it best on myself.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

I put just enough distance between us to push her pants over her hips. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know.” Holding her gaze, I crouch down to free her feet. “There’s more to me than natural disasters. Sometimes, I use my power for good.”

“I don’t doubt that,” she says with a sad little smile.

As I straighten, I trail my fingers up the backs of her legs.

Her breath catches when I reach the junction of her thighs.

The fingers I splay over her lower back anchor her to me securely.

It’s a dominant touch, a possessive hold—another thing I need.

Keeping her in that tight grasp, I make sure she can’t escape as I trace her slit with a finger.

Dragons.

She’s soaking wet.

A groan tears from my chest. I press her closer, trapping my rock-hard cock between our bodies.

I watch her face as I part her carefully before slipping a digit inside.

Her eyes are stunningly expressive, showing me how much she likes this.

She grips my biceps and throws back her head when I start to pump.

She’s impossibly tight, but after a moment, her inner muscles give enough for me to add another finger.

The whisper I brush over her ear sounds close to a growl. “I could’ve lost you, Elsie.”

I almost did. Again. And the thought makes me rabid.

Her nails bite through the fabric of my sleeves. “I didn’t know what was going to happen this morning.”

I pull my fingers from her body, inviting a protesting moan. “I’m not blaming you.” I take her wrists and lift her arms. “I blame myself.”

Ire sparks in her eyes. “Unless you can tell the future, you couldn’t have predicted it either.”

“No.” I pull the shirt over her head and drop it on the floor. “But I shouldn’t have let you go without me.” I bend down and kiss a nipple. Searching her gaze, I circle the tip with my tongue. “Which is why it won’t happen again. From now on, I’m keeping you at my side, night and day.”

“I—”

She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip when I suck her nipple deep into my mouth.

I bite down gently before arching a brow. “Was that a protest?”

She shakes her head. Her chest rises and falls with her panting.

I can hear the fast pace of her heartbeat and smell the sweet scent of her arousal.

I can see the vein that throbs in her neck and the black of her pupils that’s almost swallowed the turquoise of her irises.

I can feel her wetness when I cup her pussy.

But I don’t need my senses to know what she wants.

The bond reveals that to me, as it’s meant to do.

As it should. And yet, it’s still not complete.

I pull my hand away and set her free. She looks so disappointed I have to suppress a smile. I strip naked, taking my time and letting her watch. She likes this too—what she sees. Good. Because she’s stuck with me. For many moon cycles to come. For eternity.

When I advance on her, she wets her lips with the tip of her tongue in an action that seems nervous.

My command is clipped, my self-control already close to breaking. “Show me what a good girl you are for me, and get on the bed.”

Perhaps sensing that now isn’t the time to test me, she climbs onto the soft bedding and faces me with her knees pulled up to her chest. “Maybe we should talk first.”

“Turn around,” I say in a tone brusque from pent-up desire.

“What?” she stammers.

“You heard me.” I kneel on the bed, forcing her to scoot back to make space for me. “On your hands and knees.”

“Are you going to…?” She swallows without finishing her question.

“Take you from behind. What did you think I was going to do?”

Her cheeks turn crimson.

My smile is wicked. “Were you hoping I’d spank your ass?” I trace my bottom lip with a thumb. “If that’s what you’re into…”

Her lips part as she stares at me for a speechless moment. When she finally finds her voice again, it’s to stutter, “I’m not.”

And I’m done waiting. I show her just how impatient I am by gripping her hips and positioning her like I want her.

Locking her elbows, she braces herself on her arms. “Aruan, I?—”

I don’t know if she was about to beg me to go slow or to kill this need eating us alive hard and fast, but her words are cut short when I enter her with a single thrust, pushing halfway inside.

She makes a choking sound, crumpling the bedding in her fists.

I keep her up with one arm around her middle and grit my teeth hard to prevent myself from losing control.

This is new for both of us. Hurting her is the last thing I want.

Keeping still, I give her time to adjust while caressing her slender back. I can’t resist drawing a finger over the elegant line of her spine, memorizing her shape with my sight and touch. I inhale her floral scent, burning that into my memory too.

When her muscles soften around my cock, I slide in another inch, and another, until she’s taken everything.

She’s panting as hard as I am, both of us fighting our own battles—me not to get swept away by the unbearable pleasure and risk tearing her in a moment of wild lust and she struggling to take me inside her small body.

She’s even wetter than earlier, easing my way when I pull out and push back in, but her tight pussy milks my cock mercilessly.

I have to grip the base and squeeze hard not to come.

Slipping my free hand between her thighs, I play with her clit the way she likes.

I have to bring her closer to the edge so I can take care of her pleasure before I’m unable to hold back.

It doesn’t take long before she comes, nearly setting off my own climax. Cupping the soft curve of her hip in one hand and a pert breast in the other, I take her with a few shallow pumps until she gets the rhythm.

Soon, she’s following my lead, pushing back with every thrust, urging me to take her harder and deeper until I’m pummeling her ass with my groin.

Her moans only spur me on. I tweak her nipple, enjoying the hardness of the little bud between my fingers.

She gasps and hollows her back, but she doesn’t try to stop me.

If anything, she grows wetter around me.

I move faster still, pleasure gathering at the base of my spine.

The threat on her life has set off every protective response inside me. Elsie is mine, and I must keep her safe. The terrifying thought of losing her pushes me to wrestle a confirmation from her.

“You’re mine, Elsie.” I burrow the fingers of both hands in the silky skin of her waist to keep her in place and hammer my hips faster against her groin. “Say it.”

“Yours,” she cries out as her pussy spasms around me, triggering my own release.

I come so violently that streaks of light flash like shooting stars behind my eyes. My release goes on and on, the pleasure lasting for a long time. Thick jets of cum fill up her pussy until her body can’t hold any more, and it starts leaking out.

Unwilling to sever our connection, I sit down on my heels and bring her with me. My cock has gone semi-soft, but like an unsatiable beast, I’m already growing hard inside her again. Only she can have this effect on me.

Her knees are pressed together between mine.

I spread them, letting her straddle me with her back against my chest, and then I take her again, spearing into her with sharp upward punches of my hips.

I play with a nipple and rub her clit with the heel of my palm while making her ride me until she comes again.

My cum is still warm in her pussy, the excess dripping down her inner thighs, when I push her onto her stomach and spread her legs.

Securing her to the bed with a palm on her lower back, I give her another orgasm with my hand.

I only stop when she begs me, telling me she can’t take more.

Lying down next to her, I pull her head onto my chest. We’re quiet for a while, catching our breaths. I’m both sated and unsettled, content and wary.

Elsie broaches the subject responsible for my turbulent thoughts first. Intertwining her fingers on my chest, she rests her chin on her hands and looks me straight in the eyes. “Who do you think tampered with the bridge?”

I clench my jaw. “It must’ve been somebody inside the palace.”

“Someone could’ve done it from the side of the cliff.”

“The stairs are guarded. We would’ve known if someone who doesn’t belong in the palace climbed up to the bridge.”

She ponders that for a moment before asking, “Who knew I was planning on taking the humans onto the bridge?”

I brush a hand over her hair, enjoying the silky feel of the short strands under my fingers. “I told Gaia and Vitai you’d need someone to open the waterfall. My parents were present, as well as my cousins.”

“Do you think your mother…?” she starts uncertainly.

“The truth is that anyone could’ve eavesdropped.”

A frown pleats her brow. “What are we going to do, Aruan?”

I like the sound of that—of “we.” Since the day I found Elsie on Zerra, there’ve always been two people instead of one in this new equation of my life.

And lying here with her in my arms, I know exactly what I’m going to do.

I’m going to take her away from the danger until I can find the person or persons responsible for the attempts on her life.

I’m going to take her to Marikanea. At first, when my father brought it up, I thought it was too soon.

I was going to say no. But now I think it may be the best decision.

I’ll take Elsie there myself to make sure no one harms her.

“We’re going on a trip,” I say.

She eyes me curiously. “Where to?”

“Marikanea.”

“Gaia mentioned that kingdom to me.” Her turquoise gaze brightens. “To meet my biological family?”

My smile is wry. “Actually, they’re already here.”

She shoots upright, sitting on her knees. “Here?”

“I just found out myself. My father told me the news.”

Narrowing her eyes, she scrutinizes me. “Would that have been while you and Kian were giving each other black eyes?”

A smile plucks at my lips. “Black eyes? I’ve been told mine are the color of a gray sky.”

She draws a circle with her finger around her eye. “Bruises.”

“Why?” I tease. “Were you worried about me?”

She crosses her arms. “Why did you fight him? Was it because he took me to the village?”

Reaching out, I untangle her arms. I like to look at her pretty breasts. “He endangered your life and disrespected my wishes by taking you there.”

“I’m a big girl, Aruan. I know how to take care of myself.”

I push up on one elbow. “That’s my job, even more so when there’s an assassin on the loose.

” My tone is cold and hard, making it clear how serious I am about this.

“In the future, think twice before you let Kian convince you to make wrong decisions. He’s lucky my father showed up when he did.

Next time, my brother won’t walk away. The only way he’ll leave that clearing is if he’s dragged out by his feet.

I can assure you that Vitai will have his work cut out for him if that happens. ”

She scoffs. “For grown-up men, you’re behaving an awful lot like children.”

I shrug. “That’s how we settle arguments in Lona.”

“With your fists? You could simply lash at each other with your powers, throw sticks or something at one another with your minds.”

That makes me chuckle. “Our powers aren’t allowed in the clearing. That’d be cheating.”

“What’s the point of giving someone a beating if Vitai is going to heal him anyway?”

“The point, my sweet, is showing that I’m stronger and that I won’t hesitate to kill anyone, family or not, if their willful actions cause you harm.”

“That’s harsh.”

“That’s our law.” I sit up and get off the bed before offering her a hand.

Now that the brutal pleasure of our physical bonding has faded, the violence runs hot in my veins again.

“Come. We smell like we’ve been fucking.

We’d better have a bath before we question the palace inhabitants, unless you don’t care if they know what we did. ”

She rolls her eyes, climbs from the bed, and takes my hand. “You’re crude, you know that?”

My smile is forced this time, my mind already on the next steps.

First, I’m going to interrogate a few people and get Kian to read some minds. Then I’m going to have a word with the human woman, Sandy, for the way she spoke to Elsie. And then I’ll take Elsie away, making sure she stays out of Lona for a while.

I won’t rest until I find the piece of swamp slime who sabotaged the bridge, the traitor who’s trying to kill my mate.