Page 24 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

A stred met Kai’s dark eyes, illuminated by the morning sun rising over the ridge, giving them depths she’d never fathomed before.

In that moment, she saw all three facets of his soul: the rich dark chocolate she loved, the steely stare of his dragon and the sky blue of this tiger, layered behind the iris, shifting and swirling as their magics reached for one another.

Astred shivered in Kai’s embrace.

She’d done it, made the biggest decision of her life.

The throne wasn’t a decision. It was a duty—a destiny.

Now they just had to complete the ritual where they bound themselves in eternal promise.

‘Just us. All five of us…’ her dragon purred. ‘I like my soft kitty as well as my steely dragon.’

Astred chuckled low in her throat.

“What is it?” Kai smiled back at her, brushing tendrils of her hair from her face.

“This is going to be one hell of an adventure,” she grinned up at him, nibbling his lips, then lifted a brow, “Shall we?”

There would be hell to pay when she got home. Brimstone and sulfur would erupt from the council matrons.

Her thoughts brought up the image of Kai’s grandmother, Matron Zadora Steelscale.

What would she think about this?

The conflict would turn her inside out.

So be it. I’m so fucking done with her—them, all of them.

But this wasn’t about them.

No.

This really was about just Astred and Kai. Completing something she had wanted to do the instant he’d asked her. She’d re-examined her charts, aligned the compass and re-calibrated her course.

Kai was her guiding star.

The one that gave her assurance and calmed her in a world of storms. It was why she’d returned to his port again and again.

Her crew had teased her mercilessly about the convenience of this same port, no matter her excuses that it held the best bars, beer, and brawls in the world. It did. But only because Kai added the right flavor to the night. They all knew it.

Now, she wished she did too. Truly.

Astred wasn’t going to waste any more time, now that she knew they’d weather the counter-wave together.

Whatever it smashed against them.

She’d always been strong, especially with her crew surrounding her. With Kai? The way he looked at her—into her?

They’d be invincible.

Linking her fingers with his, she stepped toward the glittering pool, fed by a freshwater spring tumbling from the rocks above.

The peace of Kai’s sanctuary reminded her of the magic and natural silence of the Nexus’ companion grove. Birds and glimmering insects flitted by, ignoring them as they began their day.

As Astred and Kai would begin this new era of their lives.

After so many years of fast weekends and slow returns, and a too-long break, she was ready.

Once the edge of the water slid silky cool around her waist, she turned to face him, heart threatening to gallop out of her chest.

Her dragon rose to the surface with a huff, calming her racing pulse.

Kai smiled down at her, though there was a hint of weariness in his eyes.

In case she left him again.

No more.

Astred wove her hands around his waist and up his muscled back, drawing them together.

His fingers traced her spine downward, causing her to shiver when he reached the cleft of her bottom, caressing her haunch before pulling her thigh up onto his hip.

He dropped below the water, taking her with him toward the deeper center.

She clung to him, linking her ankles behind his hips, her belly pressed to his, her breasts pebbled against his solid chest.

Floating, supported by Kai, she reached down between them, grasping his length, working him till he filled her fist, hot and hard.

This wasn’t happening because of a haze of passion. Instead, this union was going to be in the full clarity of intentionality, eyes and hearts wide open.

Kai nuzzled Astred’s throat, lips and teeth trailing a blaze from the spot below her ear, igniting fires down at the apex of her thighs. His hands worked her muscles from her hips, up her back to her ribs, where his callused thumbs rotated over her peaked nipples.

Oh, but there would be passion.

There never wasn’t, between Astred and Kai.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered against the shell of her ear as his fingers sought her entrance, testing, massaging her nub.

Throat tight, she nodded, grasping his hair in her hands, pulling his mouth to hers, “And I, you.”

He drove her higher. She deepened her claim on his mouth until she could stand it no more and tore her lips from his with a gasp. “Now, Kai, now.”

Hands firm on her hips, he held her solid as he aligned his tip to her entrance and slid home, burying himself so deep he sent her over the edge with a cry.

She opened her eyes into his, heavy lidded, face taut with concentration and restraint. Her chest heaved, panting and breathless.

He was still rock solid, filling her, taking the shock waves of her fading orgasm.

Before she could sag against him, he gently withdrew as far as he could without leaving her completely. With slow deliberation, he filled her swollen channel, drawing a moan from her depths.

Again and again, rebuilding her shattered pieces, until she clutched him tight and fierce, ready to bite and scratch all over again.

Watching her, he listened to the melody of her gasps and cries, timing.

This time, as she climbed, he ascended a heartbeat behind.

“Astred,” he breathed her name, strained, urgent.

“Yes, Kai,” she gasped, closing her eyes as she searched for her magic, inviting her dragon to the surface in a glittering cloud that rose from her flesh, coating both of them.

A breath later, Kai’s rose, a swirl of white, grey and black mist.

His eyes flashed silver, then blue, and back as his incisors descended.

The sight ignited Astred’s instinct, rocketing at the erotic sight of his primal form meeting hers.

Eye to eye, she took control of the pace of their lovemaking, riding him hard and fast as a silver thread formed in the mist, looping around them in a magical spiral.

“I’m yours, Red.” His whisper filled her head with the tones of his soul.

“And I, yours, Kai,” she growled in return, her dragon joining in the consent.

Need and instinct took over as the magic thickened, heat blazed through Astred as her gaze landed on Kai’s thick, muscled throat. Her tongue slid along its column before she opened her mouth, allowing the predator to grasp him, deliberate and merciless.

He grunted, tensing against her an instant before he bit down on her shoulder, penetrating flesh and muscle down to the bone.

She rode against the pain, the magic a raging storm around them as they fought for mastery over each other and themselves, binding their souls together. Forever.

Kai’s deep, deep, dual toned growl, both dragon and tiger, reverberated through her. Astred’s dragon opened their heart, submitting, yet taking Kai’s with her as she spiraled inward.

Magic exploded in the peaceful gully.

Kai’s hands clutched Astred’s hips as he drove deep, striking her sweet spot.

In a flash, lightning struck, blinding Astred, her body rigid. She gripped Kai so tight within her, he had no choice but to release his restraint and give in to her.

Astred’s spasming body drew Kai ever deeper. He surged, filling her, hot and true as their magic descended in a mingled, glittering mist, coating them and everything around them.

Astred opened her eyes, absorbing every inch of Kai’s features in that moment before he opened his. Traces of gold dust flared before receding into the depths of the dark brown.

He smiled, his gaze sweeping hers.

“What is it?”

“Your eyes flared blue for a second,” he grinned.

“Did they?” She laughed. “Well shit, yours were gold for a bit, too.”

He grinned back at her.

“What chaos have we stirred up?”

“Who the fuck cares?” He kissed her, deeply, with all the tenderness in his heart, so that it brought tears to her eyes.

“I love you, Kai.” Her fingers fluttered over his damp hair.

“I know you do, Red. As fiercely as I love you .”

She closed her eyes before the droplets could fall, shaking her head. “I don’t know how—”

“It doesn’t matter how, yet, but we will make it work, Red. Trust us.”

Astred drew a deep breath.

Inside, her dragon purred.

She smiled. “I do.”