Page 14
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Nothing?” Zoey prompted when she heard Hunter give another frustrated sigh from across the room.
“No,” he confirmed impatiently.
So far, he had spent two hours before dinner, and now several more after it, searching every available security feed in the UK, as well as hacking into satellite ones. Without any luck. It was as if Edgar Wallis and his helicopter had totally disappeared into the ether.
Zoey sat up from where she had been lying back against the pillows on Hunter’s huge four-poster bed. Hunter had offered her the use of one of the guest suites farther down the hallway, but she had wanted to stay wherever he was. It had felt almost painful to consider doing anything else.
Which was when she had realized that, in a very short time, Hunter had become as necessary to her as breathing. Or, to put it another way, as necessary as she now was to him as his one true mate.
And it felt right.
So very right that Zoey had no doubt being Hunter’s mate was the reason for her existence.
Hunter’s suite was like something out of a medieval movie, with its stone walls and colorful tapestries.
All the furniture, the bed, a huge dresser, and an ottoman placed at the bottom of the four-poster, were carved from dark oak.
Ranulf’s work again, Zoey would guess from the beautiful craftsmanship.
The central heating, and laptop and three screens on the large desk near one of the windows where Hunter was seated in front of the latter, working, were the only incongruous things in this room.
The adjoining marble-tiled bathroom was also modern, with a huge glass shower along one wall, a big clawfoot bath, and a double vanity and sinks.
It had still been light outside when Hunter began his search, but it had been dark by the time they returned downstairs to eat the dinner Ranulf had cooked for them all.
After dinner, Hunter returned to his search, and Zoey took a twenty-minute shower in the glass enclosure in the adjoining bathroom. It had been a relief to remove the clothing she had been wearing since she left London this morning.
What a difference a day made!
Just this morning, she’d had no idea that dragon shifters existed, and now she knew she was the true mate of one of them.
She hadn’t wanted to put on the same clothing after taking her shower, so Hunter had offered her one of his T-shirts to wear.
Despite being clean, it still smelled intrinsically of him.
It was also long enough to reach down to her knees, and so big that the shoulders hung to her elbows, meaning what should have been short sleeves actually reached down to her wrists.
Wearing it made Zoey feel as if she was surrounded and protected by Hunter.
Until she’d met him, she hadn’t realized how much those feelings of security and acceptance had been missing for most of her life.
Now she never wanted to give them up.
Or Hunter.
She stood to cross the room to where Hunter was sitting. “I think you’ve probably spent enough time on that for one evening, don’t you agree?” she cajoled as she placed her hand lightly on his shoulder.
Hunter’s lack of success in locating Wallis, after all these hours of searching for him, had left him feeling frustrated as well as impatient. But those emotions vanished the moment Zoey put her hand on his shoulder.
Overwhelming heat and desire took their place.
He turned in his seat, and Zoey immediately stepped between his parted legs before she rested both her hands on his shoulders. The flush in her cheeks and the brightness of her eyes, the pupils blown, told him she was as affected by their physical closeness as he was.
Hunter’s self-control had already been severely tested by being in the same room with her and her delicious scent for all these hours.
It was tested even further by the fact that she was wearing one of his T-shirts and nothing else beneath it.
It was huge on her, but even so, he could now clearly see the outline of her engorged nipples pressing against the soft cotton material.
His eyes widened when she held his gaze as she slowly bent toward him, her intention of kissing him clearly shown in the focus of her eyes on his lips.
The moment their lips touched, Hunter was overwhelmed by a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions. Zoey’s gasp told him that she was equally affected.
Hunter’s arms moved about Zoey’s slender waist as the kiss deepened, becoming wild, more desperate, hungry.
They were both breathing hard by the time she pulled back slightly to look at him. “Can you…have normal sex?”
Hunter’s eyebrows rose. “As opposed to what?”
“Mating sex.” Heat colored Zoey's cheeks. “I fully intend for us to get to that too.” She smiled when Hunter’s dragon gave a low growl of approval. “But I thought maybe for my first time, we should just have…normal sex?”
Her first time? Hunter didn’t need to hear his dragon growl again to know how possessive the thought of being Zoey’s first and only lover made him feel.
Zoey began to chuckle. “It sounds silly when I actually put that into words. But the truth is, I really want the closeness of having sex with you, and the gentle aftermath, and I’m guessing mating sex is a little more intense than that?”
Hunter’s arms tightened about her waist. “Yes, I can have normal sex. But whether it’s normal or mating, the two of us will be making love, not having sex.” His brows lowered. “Although you’re quite correct in assuming our mating will be very intense.”
“Tell me,” she encouraged softly.
“The mating ritual calls for me to mount you from behind, and that I then bite you as I come so that our essence and blood can mix and unite us as mates.”
“That sounds…highly erotic.”
“But maybe not—did I understand you correctly?—for your first time?” Hunter looked at her searchingly, desperately hoping that was the case.
Her blush deepened and her gaze avoided meeting his.
“I’m one of those people who needs to care deeply about the person I’m going to have something as intimate as sex with.
Which has been difficult, because I really haven’t trusted anyone enough to fall in love with them. Until you,” she added shyly.
Hunter stilled. He had already been overwhelmed and grateful that he would be Zoey’s first lover, but hearing her say these words totally stunned him. “You love me?”
She nodded. “Not only do I love you, but I trust you too,” she stated without hesitation. “And I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally have the freedom to feel that way about someone after so many years of living with a man who clearly doesn’t know how to feel either of those emotions.”
“Don’t give him the power to even begin to make you feel sad,” Hunter encouraged as he captured her gaze with his own.
“I love and trust you too, Zoey, and not just because we’re mates.
That you are beautiful is beyond dispute, but I also know how strong you are, how kind.
That you are also a happy person, despite the losses in your life.
I also know that you cared enough to protect a complete stranger, me, from any unpleasantness you feared might emerge from the man who has been your guardian for the past twelve years.
” Hunter fully intended to look further into that situation, because something about it didn’t quite ring true to him.
“I love you, Zoey. Completely and utterly.” A purring sound rumbled in his chest. “My dragon loves you too.”
“I love you and your dragon too!” Zoey laughed, a totally joyful sound.
“Will you marry us?”
“Oh yes,” she accepted happily.
Hunter kissed her long and deeply. “We can choose our rings once we’re with my treasure hoard.”
“Which is where? Sorry.” She grimaced. “I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“Of course you should. What’s mine is now yours.” Hunter kissed her gently. “Our dragon hoard is inside the mountain at the back of the castle.”
“Inside it?” she echoed.
He nodded. “We hollowed out the mountain so it could accommodate the bulk of our combined treasures. We also have smaller caverns where our more personal treasure is stored. When the time comes, the two of us will go there to mate.”
“Is that where Lachlan and Belle are now?”
“Yes. But our personal caverns are completely private from each other,” he reassured.
“That sounds amazing, and I look forward to going there with you, but for the moment… Can we just have normal sex—make love now?” She looked at him expectantly.
“It will be my absolute pleasure.” Hunter stood to lift her into his arms and carry her across the room to place her on top of the bed. “I hope that it will be yours too,” he murmured before joining her, and his mouth claimed hers.
“Whoa.” Zoey was surprised when she looked down minutes later to see they were both naked. “Don’t tell me, you can disappear clothes too.”
“I can do many things I haven’t yet told you about. Did I go too far?” A frown creased Hunter’s brow. “Would you rather I had asked first?”
She laughed. “Absolutely not. I’ve always thought how awkward it looks in films and TV when people try to continue kissing while attempting to rip off their clothes so they can be closer still.
Besides…” She looked at him from beneath lowered lids.
“The fact that you’re so breathtakingly gorgeous when you’re naked completely nullifies any awkwardness I might have felt at also being naked. ”
Hunter had defined muscles in his shoulders and arms. His chest was as beautiful as a carved slab of marble, each ridge of muscle and the hollows in between clearly defined on the eight-pack revealed by his nakedness.
Zoey’s breath caught in her throat at her first sight of his cock jutting up from the dark curls surrounding its base.
Her first sight of any cock.
Hunter’s was long and thick, with a slight inward curve and pulsing blood vessels along its length. The balls beneath were lightly furred and drawn up tight beneath his cock.
His waist and hips were narrow, his legs long and as muscular as his chest and arms.
In other words, Hunter had the appearance of a marble statue and was just as breathtakingly beautiful.
Zoey wasn’t sure how her own body would measure up to such perfection. But one glance at Hunter’s heated and mesmerized gaze as it ate up every inch of her naked body was enough to reassure her that to Hunter she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
That was a huge compliment considering Hunter was twelve hundred years old and admitted to having had “normal sex” during that time.
“Your breasts are perfect, my mate,” Hunter murmured throatily, his hands cupped beneath those twin mounds as he lowered his head to capture and then suck one of her ruby-colored nipples into the heat of his mouth.
His tongue was a rough rasp across that sensitive flesh as he suckled deeper and harder, the soft pad of his thumb caressing her other breast.
Zoey arched her back, feeling even more pleasure by pushing her nipple deeper into that heat. Hunter squeezed its twin between his thumb and index finger, Zoey becoming even more lost as that pleasure shot straight to her clit.
She let out a protesting groan when Hunter lifted his head, releasing her nipple. But she needn’t have worried because he immediately turned his head and captured her other nipple, sucking on it hard and deep.
The hand previously squeezing her nipple now slid down over her belly, fingers seeking the slick nubbin beneath the auburn curls covering her mound.
One of those fingers pressed down on her swollen clit, before stroking along one side and then the other, not quite touching that swollen nubbin again but still awakening previously unknown nerve endings and causing her clit to pulse and ache.
“Please.” Zoey lifted her hips up to meet the caress of those now-slick fingers. “Please, Hunter,” she pleaded.
Hunter lifted his head to look at her, revealing his gaze as being hot and fierce and his lips swollen, before he began to slide his body down hers. His lips and tongue kissed, sucked, and laved against her flesh on his journey down to where her restless thighs were already parted in invitation.
Zoey let out a soft scream when Hunter’s fingers parted her curls and his tongue licked against her pulsing clit. That scream turned to soft groans of pleasure as he sucked and licked that nubbin for long and pleasurable minutes.
The tension built to an unbearable pitch before it exploded in a climax so intense it was painful.
“Again!” he demanded gruffly before taking her to that height of ecstasy again, and then again. “So wet and ready for me,” he murmured his satisfaction long minutes later, his fingers stroking through that wetness.
“Yes, please,” Zoey begged, wanting him inside her, claiming her. She wanted to be physically joined to him and for him to become a part of her.
Hunter moved up onto his knees between her parted thighs, the top of his cock a fierce red and glistening with the release of his juices. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he admitted gruffly.
“It will be one little pinch of pain and then so much pleasure.” She chuckled softly at the realization she was the one reassuring him. “I want you inside me, Hunter.” She reached up to curl her fingers about and then stroke his jutting cock. “I want that now.”
He grimaced. “Much more of that and I’m going to come before I’m inside you.” He removed her fingers and replaced them with his own before guiding the bulbous tip to the entrance to Zoey’s channel. “Ready?” His voice sounded strained.
Zoey watched the silver flames in his eyes as they turned to red and then a bright gold. “I love you, Hunter.”
His expression immediately calmed. “I love you too, Zoey. My mate.”
Zoey was right. It was a twinge of pain, followed by a fullness, a feeling of completion as she grasped hold of Hunter’s shoulders and he began to thrust inside her, igniting nerve endings of ecstasy she hadn’t known existed.
“Come with me, Zoey,” he rasped. “Come with me now!” he instructed as his cock began to throb and his release pulsed into her channel.
Zoey’s climax wasn’t only bone-deep, it was light and color, and a feeling of finally belonging.
With Hunter.
With her mate.
“You were right,” she murmured sleepily minutes later, after Hunter had been to the bathroom and brought back a warm wet cloth to clean them both, Zoey now drifting to sleep in his arms. “Absolute ecstasy.”
“Absolute,” Hunter confirmed gruffly.