Page 23 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

A stred inched toward Kai. The hearth light flickered over his handsome face, deepening the bronze of his skin.

She’d been watching every nuance of his expression when she spoke the words that had haunted her since she’d left him that night.

To avoid giving the answer she couldn’t give; that she’d wanted him. Always had, always would. She couldn’t tell him how much his proposal had made her heart soar, only to break an instant later when reality crashed in, with jagged shards piercing her soul.

She hadn’t answered him.

Instead, she’d made love to him, and left in the cooling hours of the night, as she’d always done.

Never a goodbye.

Only, she’d never returned to his port, either.

This? Now?

Everything was different. She still couldn’t have him, not even with all the truths finally stripped away, thanks to their unexpected reunion on a tiny island that led to their journey into the Nexus. But now he knew why.

Can you forgive me?

Drawn by the intense heat of his body, she leaned ever closer, until his back bumped the closed door.

“Yes, Kai, I am different now. I realize I can’t run away anymore. I can’t run from my duty. And I can’t run away from facing what lies within.”

She stared at him, willing him to understand her meaning. To understand what she couldn’t say.

I love you. I always have.

He’d already said it, so long ago, that night he’d asked her to commit.

Did he still?

There was no doubt that he desired her, no matter how aloof he tried to be. The memory of their recent encounter on the beach before the wedding blazed through her. His magical hands on her, the taste of his tongue entwined with hers.

There’d been no tenderness in their heated exchange. What his body wanted might not be what his heart wanted, now.

Maybe. Her thoughts flicked back to their last night in Black River, and their brief encounter in the hallway.

She hesitated, leaning back.

Cool air invaded the space between them.

She straightened her shoulders, finally turning to give him space. “Wine? We’ll have to discuss what happened and what’s coming next. I—”

His hand, firm and warm, spun her back to him. His fingers gently cradled her face as his dark eyes stared directly into hers. “Red, we will always have what lies within. Don’t ever doubt that. Ever.”

The ferocity of his growl melted her against him, heart pounding as desire pooled at her core.

His mouth descended to hers as he finally claimed her as she needed him to.

“Do you still want me, Kai?” she breathed against his mouth when they parted for air, linking her fingers into his.

“Always, Red. You know this.” He dragged their linked hands over his pounding heart. “And this.” He brought their hands lower down to his belt and lower still, grasping his hardened anatomy with their clasped hands. “Always.”

A flash of molten heat blazed through her.

She unfastened his belt, button and zipper, needing to feel him hot and hard in her hand.

Leaning her forehead against his chin, she worked him, caressing, pressing, squeezing as he claimed her lips again.

He released her mouth, pulling her shirt up over her head, exposing her naked breasts to the warm glow of the firelight.

He paused, eyes fixing on the thin sheen of scales covering her chest, then flicked up to her face.

She offered no explanation to the question in his eyes.

His hungry mouth descended to her gold-tipped nipples.

She moaned his name as he suckled, nipping and nibbling at their taut peaks.

She worked him harder until pre-cum moistened his tip.

Kai’s hand slipped into her pants, fingers moving with his special magic.

Releasing him, she shoved at his jeans, then her own, so that they stood naked.

He spun her so that her back was to his chest as his hands explored her lean body, periodically sliding into her core as he nuzzled her nape, nipping her throat until she crackled hotter than the hearth fire.

Astred pressed her bottom against Kai, moving her hips until his hard length slipped between her thighs, where she gripped him tight, sliding back and forth as he continued to work her over with his hands.

Her self-control grew hazy under the rising ardor. Her dragon pushed at her surface.

‘Take him. He is ours.’

“No!” she growled, fighting her need to give in.

Kai stopped immediately. His chest rose and fell against her back, he pulsed between her thighs. “Red?” His velvety voice caressed the shell of her ear.

She gripped his hands, pressing them against her chest and belly, pulling his powerful arms tight around her.

He nuzzled the crook of her shoulder, pressing a heart-breaking kiss below her ear. “I’ll leave.”

Astred tightened her grasp, seeking strength to control the erratic pounding of her heart as her body continued to smolder. She didn’t wait for her mind to clear. Pressing his palm to her heart, she whispered, “I don’t know what’s left of me to strip away during the next ritual, Kai. We both know I want you as much as I can’t have you. Even as consorts, like King Long and Jolena Kane. Committing to you will only make our time apart all the harder.”

He nodded against her hair. “They seem to make it work. But I understand how it’s different for you. I see that now.”

“Maybe they aren’t bonded at all. Just… an understanding?”

He shrugged around her, tightening his hold. “I couldn’t even begin to guess what their arrangement is, my love.”

My love.

Astred squeezed her eyes shut as her heart wrenched on those words.

I opened the door. I invited him in. This is my doing.

‘We want this.’ Her dragon’s voice drowned out her human thoughts. ‘We have the right to our heart.’

What of my mother? The Dragon Mother?

‘They were not the ones that created the divide and forbade males from cohabitating with us. As you’ve seen, others have made it work.’

The refugee camp. Kymri and Jori—though that was still so new. The Eastern Dragons. Other paranormal communities.

But could we?

Can Aeleftheria risk her safety, and that of the Dragon Mother? Their existence is bound to her protection. They didn’t have the luxury of love and domestic happiness.

“Aeleftheria can never have a king, Kai.”

His body tensed, then slowly eased from around Astred, releasing her. “Do you think that’s what this is about?”

“No, I—,” She spun around to protest. To deny the rest of the words.

“I don’t want your fucking crown, Astred. Why would I? If you think that’s who I am, then what the fuck am I doing here with you?” The intensity of his dark, glittering eyes boring into her made her drop her gaze for the first time in her life.

Her pulse rushed in her ears as they stood face to face, barely inside the threshold of her stateroom, naked.

She met his eyes again, bearing the anguish and flare of anger in them. The hurt.

She may as well have slapped him in the face.

Shame filled her.

I’ve hurt him again.

“As a hybrid, I don’t belong in any one place or to any one people. Not like you.” His voice was so soft it fractured the last vestige of her resolve to hold him at bay.

She searched his face, waiting for what came next.

‘But I belong to you,’ his eyes seem to say, where his lips didn’t.

Completely naked, body, heart, soul. Woman to man. Dragon to dragon to tiger.

“I accept who I am. Man, tiger and dragon. Yours.” He swallowed hard, “But I won’t be played, Astred. I’m not a toy, or a whim, or just a weekend fuck. Not anymore. There’s too much at stake now.”

‘My Love.’

His words echoed back to her again.

He leaned down, forcing her to step back without touching her. Collecting his clothing in a swipe, he met her eyes as he straightened. “But you have to decide.”

He slipped out of her room into the darkness of the corridor on silent feet, clothing balled in his tight fist.

Astred gently pressed the door closed, resting her forehead on the frame to release a shaky breath.

‘Fool.’

Astred slid to her knees, still leaning on the door as the rest of her heart fell to pieces on the floor around her.

“Yes, fool,” she whispered back to her dragon.

K ai pulled his shirt and jeans back on, ignoring the path to his old room. Instead, he made his way to the servants’ corridors and out through the courtyard to the gardener’s access gate.

He needed to run.

There, he stripped again, laying his clothing on the branch of the same mulberry bush he’d always used as a hook, and turned his face up to the dim sky.

Dawn lightened the horizon, surfacing from her night’s rest.

He drew a deep breath and shifted on the exhale.

Glossy fur sprouted from pores, bones crackled and merged, muscle stretched and reformed until he was whole.

He was Kai Sun. Shield Claw son.

With an effortless pounce of his powerful haunches, he ran.

Away from Astred.

Away from the political turmoil of the shifter world.

Toward the dense tropical forest that surrounded The Watchers’ royal compound. Aware of his presence and habits, the guards wouldn’t stop him. They never did.

His paws flashed under the moonlight as he bounded over rock, root, and turf, up through tree-strangled hills, down the deep maws of nearby gullies. Home. The jungle was cool, dark, peaceful.

Aside from the local dragons and other tiger shifters, he was the apex predator in this wild place and feared nothing in it.

Kai ran until his muscles burned, sides heaving.

Padding to a stop, he panted, scenting the cool night air before stepping out onto the ledge. The delicate pre-dawn air swirled as his gaze took in the pristine natural spring pooling at the bottom of the ravine.

Here, he was roughly mid-way between the dragon compound and the edge of his tiger clan’s boundary.

The distinct sound of air rushing over wings drew his attention to the sky above.

Dawn crested, sunlight illuminating the glorious scaly body of the dragon hovering over his sanctuary.

Astred.

Gliding in a gentle, circular downward spiral, she landed with the delicate light-footedness of an uncertain deer, her keen eyes trained on his location on the ridge above her.

The breeze pressed her scents against the far wall of the gully, robbing him of the chance to know the chemistry of her emotions before he descended.

Kai wouldn’t turn away from her.

Though he would meet her, he took his time, picking his way down the steep ridge to the glittering pool’s edge.

As he reached the bottom, stepping from the thick trees and tall grass into the clearing, she shifted into her human form, waiting, still watching him approach. The glittering cloud of magic surrounding her scales now clung to her skin with a glossy sheen, giving her an ethereal glow for a moment, until that too dissipated under the dawn light.

He passed her, drank the cool, clean water from the spring, then scented the air again now that he was closer.

Remorse clung to her as the remnants of her desire faded.

The sound of her elevated pulse tickled his sensitive ears.

Larger than most Siberian tigers, Kai stood on all fours, eye to eye with Astred, to remind her of who he was.

To remind himself of who he was.

In these last weeks, he’d started to forget himself, surrounded by dragons, calling to that shut-away part of his identity. That rejected aspect.

The part that The Watchers had welcomed, initiated and fostered.

And for that honor, he’d always be grateful.

Kai decided which of the voices was his. And coming home reminded him that the tiger was his primary identity. Reflective of who he was. Dragon was just an additional aspect that he could tap into when he chose—which was rare.

Important, but not defining.

The morning light crested the ridge, gilding Astred’s beautiful human form. She would always be that brilliant gold in his life, dazzling when illuminated by the purest light.

The heiress to the dragon mother’s oracle and throne of Aeleftheria stood naked, as hesitant as a fresh maiden.

The fear in her eyes wasn’t for the tiger facing her. It was for the heart of the man waiting for hers.

Her eyes shone as she looked at him, crystal clear and vulnerable, as she lifted her fingers toward the fur protecting his throat.

He remained still, allowing her to reach for him. Waiting.

A watery smile as she looked into his eyes. “You’re so beautiful. Magnificent.”

He didn’t preen under her praise.

“And deserve an equal, that I don’t think I am,” She rushed on, “You’re too good. Steady. Noble. Strong in your silence. Wise in your restraint. All the things that I am not.”

She stepped closer, sliding her arms up around his neck.

Without meaning to, he leaned into her, inhaling her scent deep into his being.

“Maybe that’s what I need. Dragongoddess knows I’ve always wanted you, since that first moment. I don’t know how to make this work, with them, out there. But I’m willing to do it, Kai. Just you and me. If—if you’ll have me.”

The thick emotion in her voice twisted his heart, making it thump harder.

Kai let go of the tiger magic, allowing her to feel the intimate changes in his body as he reduced to his human form, her arms still around him. He pulled her closer. “I told you, Red, we’ll always have what lies within. Always. No one else has a right to that.”

She went up on tiptoe, pressing her sweet lips to his. “This place… it’s your special place you told me about?”

He nodded, his mouth a breath from hers.

“Is this okay? Here?”

The deep uncertainty in her voice, the vulnerability in her eyes, melted the remains of his anger, allowing his own heart to pound in his chest for new reasons that had nothing to do with the recent strain of his run.

She meant it.

Now.

“Here is perfect. You are perfect,” he whispered against her exhale, pulling her closer still.

She gasped, drawing his essence into herself as her hands kneaded his shoulders and nape.

He’d never, in all their time together, seen her so deeply exposed and raw. The final facet.

The moment branded on his memory.

Finally, he allowed his fingers to drift over her flesh, tracing the tattoos adorning her body, some centuries old, others fresh and bright. Astred was her own artfully crafted treasure map. Body art had never been of interest to Kai, except for the curiosity it invoked in Astred’s designs.

His gaze fell to the tropical flowers gracing her shoulder and biceps and he noticed the addition of tiger eyes peeking out from the shadows of the foliage.

“When did that happen?” He slid his thumb over the image.

“After you asked me for forever,” she swallowed, leaving the explanation there.

He nodded. She didn’t need to say more.

“You’re sure about this?”

She turned her face so that her eyes were level with his. “I’m sure about us .”

“There’s no failsafe, Astred.”

“I know, damnit.” The vestiges of her uncertainty fell away, decision made.

He smiled as he dipped his head to claim her lips, whispering as he hardened against her belly, “There’s my dragoness.”

She sighed, rubbing against him, igniting them both.