Page 13

–Broderick–

EVERY STEP IT took to bring Aspen up to my private chambers felt like a lifetime because I wanted her there so much. Not just because I wanted to bury myself in her again and feel the intense pleasure she brought me but because I wanted her to be in a space that had been all mine until now. That had been my dragon’s and would now be hers if it were the last thing I did.

Before I resumed fuming over the supposed pact with the Sutherlands, I pushed it to the back of my mind because I wanted to enjoy this moment with her. Or at least I hoped this was a moment to enjoy, and she liked it here.

“Like?”

she whispered, awed as she took everything in, from my sizeable fur-covered bed designed like a dragon flanked by torches to the considerable open-air wall with a sprawling balcony, or rock ledge as it were, overlooking the sea. Not just any balcony, either, but one with staggered layers that went down nearly to the water.

“I absolutely love this,”

she gushed.

Tracing her fingers over a portion of the dragon that made up my bed in passing, she drifted to the open wall and shook her head.

“Don’t people see this, at least from the water? Even though it’s made of the same stone, it doesn’t look like it should be attached to a medieval castle.”

“Like the doors, ‘tis unseen by anyone but a MacLeod dragon and their mate,”

I explained, in no mood to differentiate between a mate and fated mate and potentially ruin the moment because there was a difference, and both would have the ability to see these things.

“Unlike my fellow dragons, I chose not to establish a lair beyond the castle so I would always be close if my clan needed me. To that end, I had to make some mystical adjustments to suit my inner beast, as being cooped up within man-made walls doesnae suit any dragon, let alone mine.”

“Looks a little treacherous out there,”

she commented, the excitement in her violet eyes unmistakable. Although the rain had lessened, it was still gusty and the wind chilly. Thunder still rumbled, and lightning flashed over the angry sea.

“’Tis treacherous,”

I agreed, chanting a railing into place when she tossed aside her fur cloak, flashed me a brilliant smile, and headed out into the elements just like I knew she would.

“What’s this all about?”

Aspen pouted from me to the railing.

“Doesn’t this kind of defeat living on the edge?”

She snorted when I joined her, then swung over the railing as effortlessly as she’d placed her beautiful arse on my desk and called over her shoulder.

“Any idea what it’s like climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world? There’s certainly no railings.”

“I imagine ‘tis something—”

I chanted the railing away because it was clearly pointless.

“and done with safety equipment lest you slip.”

“And I have that here just as much, if not better, I’d say.”

Her dragon eyes flared at me, and she grinned.

“Safety equipment can falter, but I guarantee an alpha dragon shifter like yourself would keep me from plummeting to my death if I slipped.”

She shrugged and smoothly made her way down the small sets of slick stairs to each rocky level despite the erratic wind and ocean spray.

“And who knows, maybe my inner dragon would finally emerge, and I’d save myself?”

“I would save you,”

I confirmed, not surprised by my intense worry about her regardless.

“But it doesnae stop the fear I would experience at you coming so close to death, to begin with. ‘Twill be better once you shift, and I know you can handle your dragon.”

“Understandable.”

Soaked but loving it despite how cold, thanks to her ever-emerging dragon blood, Aspen finally reached the lowest level, which wasn’t in the water but close enough that waves higher up could crash over and rush into a sizable pool carved into the rock.

“This is incredible,”

she murmured, taking it all in from the far larger pool to a smaller one tucked against the cliff wall where I’d chanted a wall torch aflame. Water frothed and churned in both pools, caught up in the storm as if they were part of the sea itself.

“You use these pools often, don’t you?”

She looked from me to the pools.

“In both forms.”

“I do.”

Where most women who dared this far on such a night might be inclined to head back up to the warmth and safety of my chamber, Aspen was no such woman as her eyes met mine.

Instead, she removed her shoes and slowly untied the strings at the front of her dress before she pulled it down, exposing her breasts.

Lush enough and well-rounded, they were as exquisite as the rest of her as she let the dress pool around her ankles, revealing a toned hourglass body I intended to spend a lifetime exploring.

I didn’t bother removing my clothes but chanted them away when she sauntered toward the smaller pool, sensual in her movements like a sea goddess, giving me a view of her lovely backside and long, shapely legs.

Where the borderline frigid temperatures would be dangerous for humans, dragons thrived in them, so I wasn’t worried about her stunning flesh being exposed to the elements.

Nevertheless, because it would lend even more intimacy, I chanted warmth into the smaller pool, followed her in, and yanked her into my arms before she could go any further.

No words were exchanged, only a long, lingering look as I sank into the water, and she wrapped her legs around my waist.

I couldn’t help but groan with approval at the feel of her flesh against mine.

Her hot, moist center against my eager cock.

A bit rougher than before because it was in my beast’s nature, I dug my hand into her hair and angled her head back, pleased when I sensed she liked how I handled her now.

Even more pleased at the little rumble of pleasure in her throat when I laved the flat of my tongue up her neck, savoring the taste of her sweet flesh before I closed my lips over hers in a near-violent, hungry kiss because I was so desperate for her.

Desperate in a way I had never come close to with any other and knew I never would again if I lost her.

Somehow, she was everything to me, and I’d had no idea until hours ago.

No idea someone so extraordinarily important to not just my inner beast but my very soul was out there.

Out there waiting for me, whether we knew it or not.

I knew it now, though.

More pointedly, I felt it to the core as she slid onto my swollen erection as if she’d been taking it inside her for years and rode me so slowly at first my dragon eyes ignited, and I growled in both pleasure and need, unable to hold back anymore.

When she grunted in approval, and her dragon eyes flared as I went from caressing her firm backside to grabbing it more tightly and steering her up and down my shaft, I knew we would pleasure each other greatly as the years wore on because she belonged to me and I to her.

It was right there in the way our frenzy to let go together synchronized, and she rode me as intensely as I did her, our every move fitting together like a puzzle piece.

Despite icy seawater crashing over the edge and sizzling against our steamy skin, our actions were almost more volatile than the elements themselves.

My back hit the edge of the pool, and she rode me even faster, pushing me over the edge before I could stop it...stop her.

Right there with her, I slammed into her one last time, locked up, roared with release, and poured myself into her.

When I did, as if she had timed it because she probably had, Aspen cried out in pleasure like I knew she’d wanted to the first time we lay together and let go as well.

And nothing had ever felt so good.

Not even the first time with her, and I thought nothing could outdo that despite how brief it had been.

This time was supposed to be slower so I could cherish every inch of her, but I imagined that would happen soon enough.

Either way, as we held onto each other tightly, afloat in the ecstasy we could bring one another, I knew every time would be unique and feel incredibly good.

Beyond good.

It would be addictive and hard to stay away from because I could already tell we would be insatiable when it came to one another.

We would struggle to keep our hands off each other when we were together and suffer with longing when we were apart.

Not just for the physical aspects but whatever else blossomed between us because I suspected it would be a profound love.

“So much, so fast,”

she whispered hoarsely in my ear as we continued holding on tightly to each other, and she shook in my arms, releasing with her whole body in a way that greatly appealed to both sides of me.

“Yet not nearly fast enough.”

“Aye.”

I rested my cheek on top of her head and closed my eyes, soaking up the moment amid my ongoing release.

“I couldnae agree more.”

We said little after that but held one another until we eventually made our way back to my chamber and into our bed because the moment I laid her on it, I knew it had been designed for her.

Although my inner beast’s magic had created it years ago, I suspected it depicted her dragon.

Could my dragon have somehow seen past the spell cast on me? Past all the lies? That saddened me more than I wanted to admit, but I’m not sure I would have wanted to forfeit knowing Storm because she meant a great deal to me and always would.

Just not the way she had before, and I think she knew it if not when we last saw each other, then certainly now.

Based on the fact Aspen was truly my dragon’s other half, Storm’s letters had merely prepared my mate for me in the best ways possible.

How else could it be when Aspen, a strong, independent woman eager for her next adventure, was willing to give up the future and all its technological advancement and excitement to be with a man living six hundred years in her past?

“I don’t know,”

she pondered drowsily, a smile in her voice after we lay together again and finally took the time to adore each other’s bodies properly.

“Something tells me the adventures I’m going to find right here by your side, whether in bed or not, are going to be far better than anything the twenty-first century has to offer.”

Recovering from her last release, she lay belly down, draped across my chest as I trailed my fingers down the soft curve of her spine.

My heart leapt into my throat at her implication, and my brogue thickened with my emotion.

“Does that mean ye will stay? That ye will become my wife?”

“We really need to work on your proposal skills,”

she murmured, clearly still smiling.

“And no, it doesn’t mean anything yet, except I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

We would see about that first part, but now wasn’t the time, given we had just found each other, not to mention the uncertainties we might face tomorrow when the king arrived.

In no mood to think about it, let alone discuss it, I went to kiss her again, but the pattern she aimlessly doodled on my chest caught my attention.

“What is that you’re drawing, lass?”

“Just something I’ve seen lately,”

she replied.

“Hazel saw it first in her tea, and then soon after, I saw it carved in my aspen in front of the colonial.”

“’Tis not an aspen but an old oak,”

I said, getting the oddest sensation after her revelation.

“It has been there for hundreds of years, overseeing countless generations of time travelers.”

“That’s what everyone else sees, too, but not me.”

She propped up on an elbow and met my eyes.

“Why do you think that is? Of course, I’ve seen my aspen on and off over the years elsewhere, but this time, it stayed constant, and this time with the spiral carved into it.”

“Mayhap with good reason,”

I said and proceeded to show her the last thing she expected.

Something that made all of this make sense.