Page 48 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Ashley

F or the first time in days, I rested. Full-on silence in my head, muscles relaxed, and libido spent.

Vanni continued to stroke into my ass, and I squeezed my ring tight around him, desiring to help him feel good.

“Ash,” he groaned, large hands sprawled over my chest, and he clutched me to him.

I laced my fingers through his, eyes closed, head still somewhat fuzzy as he gently chased his second orgasm. Heat tucked in close against my back, his heart thumping in perfect time with mine.

A small smile curved my lips. I loved this man.

More than anything, I looked forward to completing our bond, being one with both him and Dolyn.

Refusing to think on his absence and the hurt it caused my heart, I focused on my alpha, clenching my stretched pucker around his cock, coaxing him to fill me again like he’d promised.

With a deep growl, he buried deep.

Heat erupted in my ass, pulses of his cock throbbing inside me.

I moaned, tightening my fingers around his.

“Ash—baby. My love.” His hot breath ghosted over the top of my head, his euphoria, the sense of contentment and release wafting over me like a gentle, springtime breeze.

A heavy sigh shuddered through me, and we lay still, slowly relaxing.

Vanni nuzzled my hair. “I made a mess of you and this couch.”

“We’ll both clean up,” I murmured, still not ready to rouse fully.

“How are you feeling, baby?”

Brain somewhat more online, I took stock of my body.

Zero residual pain lingered along my backside where he’d flogged me.

Every impact had flooded me with a sense of Dolyn, like the toy crafted from parts of his beastly body made him present even though he hadn’t been.

I’d never enjoyed a scene more or fallen so completely into subspace.

“I’m perfect,” I assured Vanni. “ You’re perfect, and I want you to use that flogger on me again when Dolyn returns.”

“After I take the cane to his ass first.”

I shuddered. “Yes, please.”

He chuckled and slowly slid out of my ass.

A rush of cum gushed from my hole, and he groaned, attempting to shove it back in with his fingers.

“That is not normal,” I said with a chuckle.

“Never used to come this much until I met Dolyn. It’s like he woke something up inside me.”

Twin voices agreed with my alpha’s claim.

Vanni used his shirt to clean me up the best he could then carried me to the other couch and pulled me down, cradling my backside with me facing the library’s far wall with its ancient-looking arches rising above recessed bookshelves. We lay in quietness, a purr-like sound humming between us.

My eyelids grew heavy, and I snuggled into his warmth.

Absently, he stroked a thumb over my nipple, but rather than arousing me, the caress soothed.

Look .

I blinked at the clear voice in my head, making my eyes focus on the distant, antique bookshelf. It was crafted out of wood when the others lining the walls had been carved into stone that wouldn’t sag with age?—

The old shelving didn’t sag.

“That bookshelf still glows as though it got a fresh coat of poly and polish lately,” I said.

Vanni lifted his head. “Probably because Primrose is a neat freak and had nothing better to do all winter long than clean this place.”

“No. Look.” I pushed up onto my elbow, gaze narrowing. “It’s the only wooden one in this room, and it’s set into the rock wall.”

Closer .

“You heard that too, didn’t you?” I asked Vanni.

He hummed an agreement and climbed off the couch, ass and thighs clenching as he moved across the cavern.

I stood, surprised to find my own legs sturdy when a scene like we’d shared usually left me rubbery as a wet noodle. Sidling up next to Vanni, I slid my hand into his. We both studied the piece of furniture that somehow didn’t…belong.

As one, we both reached out with our free hands as though instinct dictated the movement. At the brush of our fingertips, energy licked over our bodies like flames, radiating heat and a sense of rightness.

“What the fuck?” Vanni ran his hand over the dustless shelf at eye level, and I did the same on the one below, my fingertips gliding along the wooden grain.

“It’s warm,” I breathed the words.

“Almost…”

I could sense Vanni’s frown.

“Almost like it’s alive. ” He pressed his palm flat on the shelf’s back between two books, same as he’d done with the rock wall—door—leading into the dungeon.

The bookshelf shifted inward without a noise, causing both of us to flinch backward a step.

A burst of golden beams appeared around the shelf’s curved edges before the entire bookcase slid to the left, revealing a cavern beyond.

Three orbs, close to two feet in diameter sat at the room’s center on individual pedestals, their inner glow casting light on dozens of dimmed other orbs beneath arches lining the perimeter of the room.

Enter .

As one, we obeyed the echoing voices in our heads, stepping through the hidden doorway. A gentle warmth radiated throughout the circular cavern, smelling slightly of brimstone and earth. The scent reminded me of Dolyn.

Sadness seeped into my chest, and I whimpered, pressing a hand against my breast.

Vanni wrapped his arms around me, his own hurt mingling with mine and causing tears to well in my eyes.

“What is this place?” I croaked through the thickness in my throat.

“Maybe a mausoleum? But those aren’t urns.”

I had the sense Vanni was onto something. The three orbs at the room’s center drew my attention. One gray, one blue, one…golden.

“They’re scales,” I breathed.

Touch .

Our feet moved us forward, hands outstretched as our inner beasts demanded.