Page 17 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

~ brEN ~

I was stunned.

Somehow I had ended up on the bedroll, the fur soft against my naked, sensitized skin.

And though my breath made a cloud in the air and my skin pebbled, I didn’t feel the cold in the slightest. There was a massive, precious, steel blanket pinning me into the bedroll, hot breath against my skin, and a strange heated chaos in my chest and between my legs that pulsed with my heartbeat and kept my breath short.

I shook like a leaf.

I laid there, blinking, before Donavyn’s head suddenly jerked up and he stared down at me, searching my eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a hushed, worried tone.

I nodded, but I blinked again, because he looked different.

His dark, heavy brows drew down. “Bren, talk to me,” he rasped, one hand, which had been curled over my head like he feared I’d be pulled from him, stroked strands of hair back from my damp cheeks.

“That was…” I trailed off into a smile.

His eyes crinkled as he nodded. “It was.”

“That was real?”

He huffed and there was a jangle of both thrill and nerves in me because I felt his chest expand, and felt him move within me. My cheeks heated. Instinct was to curl up, to cover myself from his eyes, or close mine, but he stared at me with awe.

I swallowed again.

“Yes, Bren. Beautiful. Very real. Dear God. I’ve been an ass.”

I frowned. “What? How?” Did he regret it? But the questions in my head stopped there, because I felt him tense. Not on my body, but in my chest. My eyes widened and I blinked rapidly, clinging to him because my head spun.

There was a space under my ribs, nestled next to my heart, that was him.

“Bren, what’s wrong?” His tone was quiet, but sharp.

I shook my head and put my palm to my chest, feeling my heart flutter. Then I frowned and put my hand to his, astounded when I could feel his heartbeat under my palm, and so much more inside me.

“I can feel you,” I breathed.

Some of the tension went out of him. “Yes. I know. Me too.”

He looked awed, but I frowned. “Donavyn, what’s happening to us?” My voice grew higher, thinner on every word, hope and fear tangling together because I was confused, but he was smiling.

“It’s a matebond,” he whispered, eyes searching mine. “It’s us, together. The dragons have clearly sensed it for a time and they were… well, being patient. But Akhane came into heat and it seems to have braided us in along with them,” he concluded with a wry smile.

Patient. I frowned harder, then remembered why that word sounded significant.

It was the day of the second trial and I’d had to select whether Akhane and I would fly attack or defend. I’d put the question to her, asking if she had a preference. And she had.

‘Attack. We’re too impatient for defense. Kgosi teases me about it.’

I’d been confused, and a little stunned to hear that the stern Primarch dragon, Kgosi, teased at all. But that he teased Akhane about impatience? I was dying to know the context for that. From my perspective, Akhane was breathtakingly patient…

“Oh shit,” I breathed, then clapped a hand to my mouth. Donavyn grinned. But I had a moment of struggle. He was the Commander. We’d sworn in front of each other before, but it was something I tried to avoid. It seemed disrespectful to his rank.

But here we were, entangled. Did his rank even matter?

Of course it mattered. He didn’t stop being a General just because we’d had sex.

Oh, God. We’d had sex.

I sucked in a breath and tried to roll him off, to sit up, but Donavyn’s gaze went wide and he caught me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—what was that, Bren? What scared you? Tell me. I won’t do it again.”

“No, it’s not—it wasn’t you, I just…”

Royal whore.

The General’s favorite.

I hid my face in my hands and a low rumble puttered in his chest, vibrating against my breasts and stomach, making my body thrill, and the rest of me suddenly very aware we were still joined.

Muttering, Donavyn took my wrists in his hands and pulled them away from my face, peering down at me as he pinned both my hands on the furs above my shoulders. Which arched my back slightly and made my body thrill again. Instinctively, I tightened on him and felt him swell.

An image of the dragons flickered in my head again, Akhane on the ground this time, splayed out, Kgosi rearing over her, rubbing his chin along her neck gently, but his teeth bared—

My breath grew shorter.

“Shit,” Donavyn muttered, quickly looking over his shoulder towards the cave door, then back to me. “The dragons are giving in again.”

I gave a nervous laugh, but he turned back to stare down at me, and I was struck by him.

Braced over me, his muscles bunching on his shoulders, his jaw tight, those tendons in his neck that had stood out so proud when he fought for control.

Between the flying, the landing, and the sex, the tie he’d used to keep his hair back for flying had pulled loose.

Long, dark strands of his hair fell either side of his handsome face, shadowing his cheeks and eyes, making his bright gaze even more penetrating.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his eyes glazed for a moment—the dragons again—before he blinked and focused.

“Bren, this will keep happening. I want… Before we get lost in it, I need you to know, I meant every word.”

I sucked in, my mind conjuring those moments when we’d vowed.

“Will you have me, Bren? Take me forever?”

“I…” I searched his gaze, overwhelmed with need, but the smallest part of my heart and head still fearful as I searched his eyes for the deception.

“I vow myself to you,” he rasped. “Forever, Bren. You’re mine. Will you have me?”

His piercing gaze and frank tone shoved at the tender spots in my chest. “Yes—oh god!” I reached for him, desperate. “Donavyn, yes.”

Donavyn rumbled again and his eyes closed, his chin dropping, hair dangling in my face as he shivered. My body tingled with anticipation as I felt him fight for control, which only made my breath more shallow.

“What did you just think about?” he croaked, then swallowed, his eyes tight with desire and restraint.

“You,” I breathed. “You vowing. Those words—”

“I meant them,” he said. “I meant it, Bren. You’re mine now. You’ll always be mine. I don’t know how the fuck this will work. There’s no precedent here. But I won’t deny it. I won’t let them deny it.”

Kgosi gave a high, resonant call and Akhane answered him, and my body thrilled.

I was starting to pant. “Donavyn?”

“Yes?” he asked through his teeth, his chest heaving again.

“I don’t know how this will work either, but I want you. I want all of you.”

“Oh, thank God,” he rasped, then descended on me.

And though I was apprehensive, my mind torn between heavy need and instinctive fear, it was a relief to take his kiss, to wrap my arms around him, and welcome him into my body again, and again, and again.