Page 167 of I Dream of Dragons

“Beautiful,” he whispers, “so fucking beautiful.” His head falls back, throat arching, his hips rolling up in a thrust, but then he tenses and visibly tries to restrain himself.

He lets me take the lead, though I can feel how much he’s holding back, how much he wants to take the reins and rock up into me, keep thrusting until he finds his release. I’m not an expert, but his cock is so hard it has to hurt, and the way he shakes as he tries to keep still tells me he’s on the brink.

He’s like a leashed animal, a ferocious beast straining at the bit, and yet being with him is… sweeter. Gentler. But also deeper, and the pleasure is building up more slowly to what I fear will be a shattering peak.

He’ll catch me when I fall. I know he will.

I trust him.

My mind shies away from all the doubts and I move faster. He’ll catch me. Jai will always catch me.

I just know it.

I know him, I know his heart. The king lied, Phaethon lied. Jai could never hurt my family, oh…Gods.He feels so good. The pressure, the heat is building and building in my core. His heated gaze moves over my body and I can almost feel it against my skin. I can feel… shit, I can feel his excitement, his arousal, his need for me?—

“Fuck.Makhair.” He arches up, his cock hardening impossibly more inside me, wrenching a cry from me. “I feel you, I feel…”

He sits up again, his hands now gripping my ribcage, his mouth crashing in mine, his cock impaling me even deeper. Oh damn, this is onslaught on all fronts. Pleasure zings down my spine, from the tips of my breasts pressed to his warm, solid chest, his tongue delving in my mouth, his hands stroking my sides, and that large cock lodged inside me.

I can’t… I’m going to…

We rock together, racing toward the end. He’s shaking against me, his kiss punishing, violent, and I give as good as Iget, desperate, going crazy with the need to come, chasing after that last nudge to the precipice?—

Shit.

I jerk, spasming inside. The release is so intense it hurts for a moment, then pleasure rolls through me.

“Jai,” I moan.

“Yes, Little Thorn,” he grunts against my mouth, “say my name, let go. I’m right here, let go…”

The world fades. The pleasure rises like a wave about to swallow me down—pain, darkness, the water cold, so cold as I plunge into its depths—my core clenching around his hard cock, triggering another explosion of sparks and flames, making me cry out—and darkness fills my eyes, my mouth, my chest, thick like foam, like water… My body comes apart, breaks into beams of light, a cascade of stars falling through the night.

I’m dead. I know it.

“Makhair…”The whisper in my ear jerks me out of that dark. “Makhair, breathe…”

My heart gives a thunderous beat.

Another.

I gasp in a breath of cool air.

“You’re alive,” Jai says, and gradually I become aware of his arms around me, his chest pressed to mine, his heart beating in time to mine, and his cock still filling me. “You’re alive.”

Alive.

A heat starts in my lower back, a low-burning fire, and after a few heartbeats, I realize it’s where my birthmark is. I moan as it grows hotter.

“Rae…” Jai draws back just enough to gaze down at me. His dark eyes meet mine and I swear I see silver sparks raining through them. “Do you feel it?”

“It burns,” I whisper.

“We’re burning,” he agrees. “It’s the bond. It’s shifting, it’s… it’s coming alive.”

But it can’t be. I have the king’s mark on me. A betrothal mark should trump a bond that was never realized. We never marked one another, never shared blood…

I see the reflection of my thoughts in his eyes, I see the wonder and confusion and elation, before something shatters.