Page 21 of Firebird (The Fire That Binds #1)

XX

MALINA

Those Roman soldiers who’d been injured by the smoke and fire—and had not died trapped beneath nets—were mostly recovered, according to Trajan. Julian had been the only Roman physically attacked by one of the barbarians face-to-face besides the standard bearer, who hadn’t survived his injuries.

Trajan informed me that their scouts had found no trace at all of any of them camping nearby. They’d truly vanished this time. And while the remaining soldiers had begun to pack, they still awaited their general’s recovery. None would leave without him .

Julian had slept most of the day, the color returning to his face. It was near sunset, and yet he slept on. But there’d been no more fever and last I changed his bandages, the wound seemed to be healing well. Trajan said that was due to his dragon blood and my good nursing skills.

I lit a second oil lamp as the tent darkened with the setting sun outside and sat beside Julian on his bed. He was no longer feverish, but I liked wiping his brow with a cool cloth.

Over the past week, I’d had many opportunities to observe him closely. As he lay quietly, his eyes closed and not bewitching me, I could look all I liked.

Right now, for example, I observed that his harsh features—his blade-like jaw, his sharp cheekbones, his long slash of a nose—appeared more beguiling on close observation. And his mouth. Soft lips that made me wonder and imagine, that made me reach out and touch them.

I trailed my fingertip along his lower lip, then leaned in closer, easing my weight onto my other elbow and stretching my legs down the bed. Settled closer, I went back to my inspection, drawing a line with my fingertip along that sharp jaw and over his brow.

He wasn’t scary at all. Not to me. He was utterly beautiful. I was in the process of grazing my fingertip along his cheek when those golden eyes slid open.

I froze, holding his gaze as I continued my tactile exploration, reaching his mouth yet again. His lips parted when I went back to tracing his lips, his breath hot on my fingertips, my gaze fixated on his mouth.

He said not a word, nor did I, both of us afraid to break the spell we were under.

I wish I could say I hated him from the start, from that moment he snatched me off the battlefield from my Celtic clan. I should’ve loathed him. But I never had.

The Romans, his dragonkind, yes. I’d always hated them. But Julian, he’d been set apart. Ever since that night he wandered into our traveling troupe as a centurion, since he watched me dance and gave me a coin for good fortune.

I grazed my fingertips along his jaw to his throat, where his pulse beat furiously.

“I’m your treasure, the gods have said?” I whispered, wondering, if I spoke it too loudly, if the gods might hear and refute my declaration. But I wasn’t listening to the gods now.

I trailed my fingers lightly across his prominent brow and back along his jaw.

“I care not what they say, for what I feel is all my own. Not forced or given to me by the fates or anyone else. It comes from my own soul.”

The witch inside me may have luxuriated in the maddening desire Julian sparked, but this feeling went deeper than my magic. It was my own will guiding me now, speaking a truth I could no longer hold inside myself.

“I can finally confess to you,” I murmured, stilling my hand where it cupped his jaw, my thumb settling at the corner of his wide mouth, “that you are my treasure too.”

Julian lay perfectly still, not speaking a word, watching me with that otherworldly gaze burning bright hot like the summer sun.

Gripping his shoulder, I shifted my weight up, leaning across his chest, then lowered my head carefully. He waited, still as stone. Until I brushed my lips against his.

His giant hand cupped the back of my skull as he groaned and swept his tongue into my mouth. This kiss morphed quickly from slow and tentative to hot need. He nipped and licked and ate my mouth hungrily. When I made a soft sound of pleasure, he rolled me beneath him and pressed my body into the mattress.

It was divine. He made sure not to crush me but wedged his glorious weight between my open legs. His free hand slid underneath my tunic, bending my leg and gripping my thigh to make room for his body to settle more deliciously .

“Malina,” he groaned, nipping along my jaw and down my throat.

I speared my hands into his short hair, scraping my blunt nails along his scalp, arching my neck so he could lick and kiss me to his heart’s content.

Desire sizzled through my blood. I rocked my hips up, feeling his hard cock press sweetly at my core. Only a tangled sheet and my thin tunic separated us.

His mouth was back on mine, delving, sucking, biting, bruising my lips as I moaned, “More.”

A steady, low, rumbling purr vibrated from his chest to mine, his dragon making himself known. I had a fleeting thought that I should be disgusted, but I banished it at once. I would no longer rebuke myself for what I felt for Julian. I trusted myself, and everything inside me yearned for him. I ground harder against him, my sex soaking the linen sheet between us.

Through the tether binding us—the one I could not and would not ever break—I felt his desperate longing, which spun me higher, increasing my arousal.

“Gods,” I shuddered as I rocked up and rubbed my quim against his hard length.

He gripped the inner neckline of my tunic and ripped it open, one breast popping free. Instantly, he lowered his head and sucked the tight peak into his mouth, that low purr stimulating me further.

I was a writhing mess when his hand on my thigh moved between my legs and stroked my slick slit.

“Mmmm,” he moaned against my nipple before he slid a finger inside me. “Malina,” he groaned, his raspy voice beckoning me toward climax.

I cried out and arched my neck, already coming when he thrust a second finger inside me, pumping deep and fast, his teeth grazing my breast .

Then he was hovering over me, still stroking his fingers, his thumb pressing against my clitoris, his gaze ever watchful, burning me with want.

My mouth dropped open as I came, a keening moan pouring from my throat. The pleasure was so great, I couldn’t quiet myself if I’d tried.

“Mmm,” he hummed again, holding his fingers deep as I pulsed around them. He lowered his mouth as I panted, brushing a soft kiss against my swollen lips. “You come so sweetly, my wild firebird.” Another sweep of his mouth. “I had no idea you’d be so soft and perfect.”

He pulled his fingers from my body, causing me to gasp and squeeze my thighs together. Shifting his body up, his weight on one arm, he watched me as he sucked his fingers clean, letting out another purring groan.

It was frightfully shocking to discover that made me squirm with desire yet again. He grinned, his canines sharper than they should be for a human, but not what they would be in half-skin.

“Did you let your dragon slip his leash?” I asked while a blush flushed my cheeks.

“I can’t deny him what he wants.” He stared at me with soft adoration.

I gaped at Julian, trying to reconcile myself with the boundary we’d just crossed and how I still wanted more when he winced. I pushed him off me, and he let me roll him onto his back, where I saw dark blood had seeped through the sheet and onto my tunic.

“Gods! You’re bleeding.”

“I believe a suture or two popped while we were… engaged.”

“Julian! Why didn’t you stop?”

He frowned. “Not on my life. I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.”

I pulled the linen down gently, trying not to hurt him further. “Only a man would rather bleed to death than end his pleasure. ”

“It was your pleasure I wasn’t willing to end.”

I glanced up at him while I pulled the cleaning rag I kept folded over the bowl beside his bed.

“You should’ve stopped anyway,” I snapped, dabbing the blood clean. Only one stitch had popped, but two more were stretched wider.

“By Jupiter,” he rumbled, cupping my chin to make me look at him, “I’d have bled to death just to see that look of sweet ecstasy on your face. Knowing I’d put it there.”

“Stop it, Julian.” I shoved his hand away and leaned across the small side table where I’d been keeping the medicinal supplies, including the needle and thread. “You’re embarrassing me,” I said low as I bent to restitch the one that had come loose.

His laugh was soft and deep, his hand finding my knee and giving me a squeeze. I kept my eyes on my work.

“Malina,” he rasped when I ignored him too long. “Thank you.”

Finally, I looked at him. “For what?”

“For being exactly who you are and nothing else. For not pretending this”—he gestured between us—“doesn’t exist.” A frown pinched his brow. “I was afraid you might deny me. Deny us. I was afraid you wouldn’t allow even this.”

“Will there be more than this ?”

“So much more, Malina. There will be forever.”

I laughed, finishing the suture without him even wincing. “You jest.”

“Not at all.”

I swallowed hard against his certainty. I’d only recently given in to this madness between us. The idea of forever felt a little terrifying.

I set the needle and thread aside and wrapped a clean bandage around his wound. When finished, I tidied his table and replaced his bed linen with another. I’d have to wash tomorrow. I blew out the oil lamp on his table and walked to my side, where my smaller bed was waiting for me .

“Malina,” he called to me.

I stood above the second oil lamp burning on the table where we usually ate meals, about to blow it out. Julian outstretched his arm.

“Come sleep with me.”

“Absolutely not. I just redressed your wound.”

“Just sleep,” he teased, his mouth quirking in that insanely attractive half smile.

“I could still jostle you.”

“Please, Malina.” He sighed. “I just want to lie beside you.”

I glanced through the sheer curtain toward the tent opening, wondering if that was wise. What if someone caught us? Then again, what if they did? They all thought I was his pleasure slave anyway, so who cared?

Julian wanted me beside him for comfort, and I couldn’t deny him. Not anymore.

I blew out the lamp and climbed in beside him. Instantly, he pulled my body close, my head lying in the crook of his shoulder and chest, his arm wrapped down my back. He exhaled a heavy sigh, then a grunt of satisfaction when I tucked my hands between our bodies against his side.

“There,” he whispered. “That’s perfect.”

There were a dozen sharp protests on the tip of my tongue, about how this was stupid considering we’d just reopened his wound. But I didn’t say anything at all. I snuggled closer.

“Good night, Malina,” he murmured against the crown of my head.

“Good night.”

I’d known that our tether had never broken, but I’d often kept the connection closed, fearful what I would feel if I opened it wide. Tapping into the line, our bodies warm and entwined, I opened our connection.

Stunned but not surprised, I exhaled deep relief at the overwhelming affection pouring into me from Julian. I let his potent emotions soothe me into a warm cocoon of sleep. I relaxed further into his embrace, grateful that for tonight I could let my worries go, that I was wrapped in the strong arms of Julian, my dragon. Nothing had ever felt more right.