Page 4 of Merry in Moonvale (Moonvale Matches #3)

CHAPTER 4

Fiella

I t turned out that baby dragons were extremely adept at playing hide-and-seek. So much so that even after hours of searching, we couldn’t find the newly hatched creature.

It was like it hatched and promptly poofed out of existence.

Still, we kept looking.

We crept through Town Square, peeking under benches and behind shrubs, around tree trunks and in squirrel nests. We poked our heads into shops and peered into cottage windows. We tried to catch a scent trail.

No luck.

We even ventured to the edges of the forest, disturbing piles of fallen leaves and searching through foliage.

The problem was, nobody knew enough about dragons to predict where they might want to hide.

In old legends, dragons typically hatched in the caves beneath the Rockward mountains, far, far away. Dread settled like a stone in my stomach when I considered that the tiny dragon might be on its way to the mountains now, braving the Barren Lands in an attempt to get there.

No. That was too awful to consider. They had to be around here somewhere.

A soothing hand settled onto my neck, fingers digging into the muscles there. “Let’s take a break,” Redd insisted. “It’s getting dark—we can look again in the morning.”

I resisted. “No! We can’t leave the dragon in the forest alone! It’s just a baby! It doesn't even have a name yet!” I was horrified just thinking about it. Violent creatures lurked in the depths of the Greenwood Forest. Predators that could swallow a small critter in one bite.

I was going to be sick.

“We have to. Let’s meet with the others one last time, and then we’ll get a fresh start tomorrow. It’ll be okay. It has survived hundreds of years trapped in a tiny shell. Surely it can survive one night of freedom.”

My throat tightened and the backs of my eyes prickled. I was not going to cry. Not now. Not when I didn’t have something real to cry about. “Are you sure?”

He stroked my skin soothingly. “I’m sure, love. Let’s go.”

I sniffled. “Okay. I hope you’re right.”

We stepped over fallen logs and our boots crunched through dried, icy leaves as we made our way back to town. The smell of frost and sickly-sweet decaying plant matter was hardly a comfort. I kept imagining a tiny dragon, cold, all alone, curled up by itself…

“Stop thinking about it,” Redd insisted. “It’s going to be okay.”

But I wasn’t too sure.

And then, I caught a whiff of something unexpected at the edge of the forest.

Smoke.

I inhaled again to be sure.

Yep, something was on fire.

I glanced frantically at Redd. He too had his nose turned up, smelling the smoke as well. “Oh,” he murmured. “That might be something.”

We took off running.

I wasn’t one to run when it wasn’t necessary, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And this was the most desperate of times.

We sprinted toward the smell of smoke until we could see the thin wisps crawling through the forest, gray and mysterious. My thighs thrummed with the effort.

And then we found the source.

Small, barely larger than my palm, was a pile of leaves aflame on the ground. And beside them, red and wriggling, was the dragon.

I didn’t think—I simply lunged .

Throwing my entire body forward, hands outstretched, I dove for the little winged creature.

And I was so close, too. My fingers brushed its scaly surface, nearly finding purchase, but then the dragon squealed, loud enough to nearly burst my eardrums, and let out a blast of steaming hot air directly into my face.

Reflexively, I slapped my palms to my cheeks, sure I would find my skin had melted off. Or that my blue hair would be aflame.

I heard Redd shouting and scrambling amidst my panic.

Luckily, my skin was intact. My eyebrows, though, felt a bit singed.

Much to my dismay, the dragon had escaped with Redd hot on its tail.

I laid in the dirt for long moments, feeling bad for myself while Redd flew through the forest chasing the dragon.

It was hopeless. The flying creature was impossibly fast.

But it was still here. Still in Moonvale. And that made my spirits soar.

I folded my hands together and slipped them under my cheek while I waited for Redd to return, letting the chill of the ground sink through my clothing, into my skin.

Any nearby critters had surely been scared away in the commotion, but the forest was still so alive. Leaves settled and creaked in the breeze, rays of gentle freeze season sun fought to reach the ground through sprawling, sparse branches of trees, and a bird happily chirped somewhere in the distance.

I couldn’t help but smile through the turmoil of emotions.

Eventually, Redd returned, his boot crunching blades of dead grass. Air sawed in and out of his tired lungs.

I turned my head to glance at him. He looked impossibly tall from this angle. Like one of the Old Gods returned to the realm, ominous and all-powerful.

His shoulders rose and fell with his heaving inhales and exhales and sweat glimmered on his forehead. The fact that he had worn himself ragged chasing down a baby dragon made me love him impossibly more.

I grinned, flashing my fangs. “Hi.”

He huffed. His hands hung limply by his sides. “Hi, little vampire.”

“Did it get away?”

“I followed it all the way to the clearing by the edge of town, but then I lost it. Little menace is fast .”

My stomach squeezed with a weird sense of pride. What a powerful little baby, outrunning full grown vampires. “But it’s still here. In Moonvale.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “It’s still here. We’ll catch it.”

We would. We would catch it. If we had to chase it to the ends of the realm, we would catch it.

Hopefully it didn’t raze the town to the ground first.

Redd bent and hooked his hands under my arms, hoisting me from the ground and onto my feet. “Let’s go tell the others—they’ll be happy to hear that the beast is okay. And then let’s get home,” he murmured. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We’ll need to come up with a new plan.”

I slipped my fingers between his, letting him fill the spaces in my palm. “Let’s.”

R edd’s breath ghosted over the back of my neck as we entered our cottage, sending a shiver down my spine. I barely noticed as the door shut behind us. He reached around to unclasp my cloak and trail his fingers softly over my throat, cold from the frigid outside air.

With a sigh, I tilted my head to give him more access.

He chuckled, his fingers leaving my skin to pull off my cloak, and then his. He tossed them aside, where they landed with a soft thud on the floor.

I turned to face him.

He was so unfairly gorgeous, my mate. His dark hair was mussed from the wind, and his brown eyes gleamed with mischief. He bit his lip, fangs poking into the flesh.

I wished those fangs were poking into me instead.

He grinned, as though he could sense what I was thinking.

Just when I was about to step forward and wrap my arms around him, he crouched to the floor, his hands reaching for my feet.

Fingers strong and sure, he unlaced my right boot, and then my left. I stepped out of them and kicked them aside. I didn’t care where they landed.

Redd settled his hands on my calves, stroking the muscle through the fabric of my trousers. His fingers dug in for a moment.

Slowly, his hands rose, over the backs of my knees, my thighs, and then over my ass. Exploring. Kneading.

Quickly, before I could even tell what was happening, he stood and grabbed me by the waist, lifting me and whirling into the kitchen, where he settled me onto the edge of the table.

Reflexively, I wrapped my legs around his waist.

I was out of patience—I needed to kiss him. With a groan, I threaded my fingers into Redd’s windblown hair, yanking his face to mine.

He kissed me like a man starved.

He tasted like ice and something primal, something that heated my veins and tightened my stomach.

His lips stroked along mine, desperate, hurried, hungry. When I parted my mouth to deepen the kiss, desperate for more, he retreated, his mouth dropping to my chin, my throat. I whined.

I couldn’t decide what I wanted more—for him to kiss me or bite me.

“Redd,” I pleaded.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured against the tender skin of my throat. He lingered for a moment, scraping his fangs against my jugular in a tease that made me writhe with need.

My hips churned, desperate for contact. “Please.”

“Patient, Fiella. You know I’ll always take care of you.”

“Just bite me. One little bite,” I begged. My fangs ached at the thought of the euphoria that accompanied the bite. He would drink from me, and then it would be my turn. It would be utter bliss. I salivated.

“Not yet,” he said softly. He unbuttoned my blouse, slowly, letting it drop to the table behind me.

My breasts were free beneath—I didn’t bother strapping them down when I was wearing thick clothing and cloaks anyway.

He dragged his mouth from my throat, over my sternum. His hands settled onto my ribs.

Redd’s callused thumbs stroked the undersides of my breasts until I was squirming. Panting. When I was prepared to beg once again, he turned his face, capturing one of my nipples in his mouth.

I groaned, my head dropping back. I buried my hands in his hair, clutching him to me.

“Yes,” I hissed. “Bite me.”

He chuckled, but he did as I asked, lightly nipping at my sensitive flesh. The sting was delicious, traveling down my spine and pooling in my center. My heart thumped heavily in my chest.

It wasn’t enough to draw blood, much to my dismay.

He teased my taut nipple with his tongue, drawing a quiet moan from my throat.

I allowed my hands to settle onto his shoulders, my fingernails digging into the fabric of his tunic. When I tried to tug on his tunic, to pull it off, he dipped out of my grasp, dropping to his knees on the floor in front of me. He glanced up to meet my gaze.

The sight of him on his knees before me was enough to destroy me completely.

He grinned, his fangs glinting.

And then he hooked his long fingers into the waistband of my trousers. He tugged on the fabric. “Lift,” he commanded.

“You don’t have to; it’s been a long day?—”

“Lift. Or I’ll tear them off.”

The look in his eye told me he wasn’t bluffing. Obediently, I braced my hands behind me, lifting my ass from the table. He yanked my trousers and undergarments off in one smooth motion, leaving me completely bare.

He shoved my knees apart, as wide as they would go.

I was spread out obscenely on the table in front of him, and he looked at me like a treat he wanted to devour.

He licked his lips. “Gods, woman. You have no idea how much of my day I spend craving the taste of you.”

Before I could formulate a coherent response, he dipped his head, swiping his tongue over my pussy.

I groaned. My fingers fisted in his hair, desperate for something to hold onto.

He didn’t hold back.

He feasted on me, unrestrained, scraping my tender flesh with his fangs and drawing hoarse cries from my throat. His tongue teased my clit in a rhythm he had perfected that was sure to send me hurtling over the edge.

He knew my body better than I thought possible—every inch of me bowed to his command.

When he slid two fingers into my core, fucking me slowly, I shattered.

Lights danced in my vision as my body convulsed. I screamed, the sound garbled and strained, but I could hardly hear it through the ringing in my ears. The orgasm tore through me, fast and hot, leaving me breathless.

When my lungs could draw air again, I released the punishing grasp on Redd’s hair, allowing him to stand to his full height and lift me from the table.

And when Redd tossed me onto the bed, slowly unbuttoning his trousers and letting them drop to the floor, I knew we wouldn’t be getting any sleep after all.