Page 34 of Red Fury (The Dragon Tributes #8)

“It’s almost too much to take in, and yet it makes a strange kind of sense. Why would we be the only supernatural beings?”

“Well, we’re not.” I move and wince, grabbing my ankle. “Damn, that’s painful.” I look at Fury, feeling sorry for myself. I can’t help it. “Just so you know, Roman plans on auctioning us off to the highest bidder. I think this auction is going to take place tomorrow night.”

“Why?” Fury asks. “What does he—?”

“As food. We’ll be walking blood bags. Apparently, shifter blood is amazing, and dragon shifter blood is the absolute best. He’s talking about keeping me for himself.”

Fury growls low despite his dragon being suppressed. “Over my dead body,” he snarls. Then he calms down, taking deep breaths. “We need to find a way to get out of this.”

I open the heel of my shoe and pull my cell phone out.

“Thank fuck!” Fury mutters.

“Don’t get too excited. I don’t have any signal.” I wave the phone around, but it doesn’t make a difference.

“Let me see that.” He takes it from me and does the same, his arm reaching further. “Fuck!” he finally mutters. “It’s no good down here.”

“In which case,” I make a face, “I’m fresh out of ideas for escape. Not with this shit in our veins.”

“I’m so sorry,” Fury says suddenly, his voice rough with emotion. “I messed up. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have—”

I frown. “Sorry for what? It’s not your fault at all. You didn’t have me abducted.”

“No, but I didn’t save you either. I walked right into his trap. I was supposed to rescue you, and instead I made everything worse.” He scrubs a hand over his face, wincing as the movement pulls at his injured shoulder. “I couldn’t save you. I failed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, though my voice wavers slightly. “You were winning that fight until he called in his men with those dart guns. How could you have known what you were walking into? You thought they were human. You thought it was a fair fight.”

“I quickly realized that it wasn’t. I let my anger cloud my thinking. I should have known better. With males like Kozlov, it’s never a fair fight.”

Tears prick at my eyes, which is so unlike me that it’s almost alarming. I never cry. Never show weakness. But something about this situation, about seeing Fury blame himself for trying to help me, breaks something loose inside my chest.

“I’m grateful you came for me,” I whisper. “That you risked everything. But you shouldn’t have. Not for me.”

“Hey,” he says softly, reaching out to cup my face in his hands. “Look at me.”

I meet his gaze, seeing the sincerity burning in his eyes. They’re eyes I’ve come to know well in such a short time.

“You’re worth every risk and then some,” he tells me. “You’re worth everything.”

Before I can argue, his mouth is on mine, gentle at first, then with growing heat and desperation. I kiss him back with equal fervor, pouring all my fear and gratitude and confused emotions into the connection between us.

His hands tangle in my hair as he deepens the kiss. I whimper.

His answer is a low growl that rumbles beneath my nipples, a vibration that shivers through my bones, reminding me what I am and what I could become. He splays his hand over my hip, his fingers digging into the flesh, anchoring me to him.

I pull away a little. “I want you. Right here and right now,” I say against his mouth, rubbing myself against him.

“Are you sure?” His eyes are such a beautiful blue. “You’re still healing, and we don’t know—”

“I’m sure,” I say, cutting him off. “If this is our last night together, I want to spend it with you doing more than just cry about how bad we have it. I want to live.”

He watches me, lips slightly parted, as if he’s starving and I’m the only food left in the world. The air between us sharpens, hot as dragonfire and just as likely to burn. To show him I mean it, I drag the dress over my head.

When Fury puts his big, warm hands on me, I feel like things might just work out somehow, although I have no idea how. I don’t want to think about that right now. I just want to feel.

I slip off my panties, and they land forgotten somewhere in the shadows surrounding the mattress.

He takes me in. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers.

My skin prickles where his lips press soft kisses along my collarbone, trailing lower until he’s suckling lightly at my breast, his tongue circling the nipple until I arch against him, hungry for more.

“Yes,” I moan.

He doesn’t rush, not this time. He guides me gently to my back, though the way his hands shake betrays how much he’s holding back. I wrap my legs around him, drawing him closer until there’s nothing but our warmth, our heat, our need.

The first time we were together, it was frantic and desperate. This time, it’s different.

He spends an eternity kissing me, his mouth lingering at the hollow of my throat, my shoulder, the stretch of my belly.

My hands tunnel through his hair, clutching at the inky black when the need builds too high to contain.

When he finally slides his fingers between my legs, I gasp, a harsh sound that echoes in the small room.

He rubs circles around my clit, gentle at first, then firmer until I’m writhing.

His mouth finds mine, and he swallows my moans, feeding them back to me, each sound making him harder as I feel him against my thigh.

He takes me almost to the edge before stopping. I gasp in frustration. I’m so needy, so desperate, so damned aching for more. For all of it. For him.

“Please,” I gasp.

He moves to cover me with his massive body and puts the tip of his cock at my entrance, where he hovers.

I curl my hand around the back of his neck and pull him down, lips to his ear. “Are you going to make me come, or what?”

Fury chuckles. “I think I can manage that.”

Then he thrusts inside me, slow and deep, and my world contracts until there’s nothing but the exquisite stretch and the bright, bursting sting of being filled so completely. I cry out, digging my nails into his shoulders, and he shudders.

“Fuck, Shadow,” he gasps. “Fuuuuck! You feel so good.”

He starts to thrust using deep, punchy movements that take my breath.

Every time he moves inside me, it’s as if he’s driving out the darkness I never knew I had.

The intensity of it makes me shake, makes me want to claw at him until I draw blood.

His forehead presses against mine, both of us panting, and I see my reflection in his eyes.

I also see how much pleasure I’m giving him, how taut his features look, how he is dragging in air like a dying male.

He pulls out almost all the way, then thrusts back in, setting a rhythm that’s slow but relentless. His hands roam constantly, one curled around my thigh, the other stroking up my arm, grounding me. He keeps whispering my name, like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.

“I thought I had lost you,” he rasps, taking my mouth in a searing kiss.

He slips his hand between us, rubbing on my clit a few times, his cock thrusting…thrusting…thrusting.

My body is making wet noises. I’m rocking up into him. Gasping, whimpering, and moaning. Inside, my belly is coiling up tight.

There is a slow-building hurricane that starts as a flutter in my belly.

I keep my eyes on his. It’s intense, but I can’t look away. It’s like looking at the sun.

The coiling reaches a crescendo, and everything releases all at once.

I come hard, my pussy tightening like a vise around him. My body shudders and vibrates around him as I shatter into a million hot, glittering fragments. My orgasm rips through me, and I sob his name, loud and raw. My fingers digging into him. My eyes wide. My mouth, too.

He’s not far behind. The feeling of my body clutching at him pulls a strangled groan from his lips, and he bites into my shoulder hard enough to leave a mark.

He thrusts deep, then stills, shuddering as he spills inside me.

His body jerks. At first, he groans low and hoarse; it turns into a snarl as he keeps jerking into me.

He whispers my name as he comes down, his hips still thrusting.

By now, we’re both vibrating from the sheer force of it. We’re clinging to each other, still moving. Still panting. Still feeling.

When it’s over, he collapses on top of me, burying his face in my hair. We’re both shaking. I run my hands over his back, tracing the lines of muscle.

I feel his heart hammering against my chest, gradually slowing to match the rhythm of mine.

“Holy shit,” he whispers. “It’s never been like that for me.”

“The fear of potential death will do that to a person.”

“We’re not going to die anytime soon. I think it’s more the case of us being good together.” His eyes flare with something that looks like panic. “In bed. We’re good in bed.”

“There’s no doubt about that.”

He grunts softly as he pulls out of me. “I’m sorry about the bite. That wasn’t—”

“Your dragon is suppressed right now. I know it wasn’t mating behavior.” I put my hand to the mark, feeling the indents of his teeth right where that asshole bit me earlier. I’m glad that Fury’s mark now covers Roman’s.

“Does it hurt?” he asks, looking concerned.

“Nah…not at all.” I frown. “Come to think of it…” I flex my foot and realize with surprise that the throbbing pain has lessened. I look down, noting that the swelling has gone down, too. “My ankle is so much better.” My voice is shrill. “How’s your shoulder?”

He rolls it carefully, testing the range of motion. “The bruising is gone. And I can feel my dragon a little more than before.”

We stare at each other as the implications sink in.

“I think I do too…” I close my eyes and try to reach her. The connection is still dulled but nowhere near as murky as before. “Holy crap!”

Fury’s eyes are wide, and he’s grinning. “Do you think it was the sex?”

“It must have been.” I nod. “You release endorphins during sex. Especially if you orgasm. Maybe it’s the endorphins counteracting whatever was in that drug.”

“It has to be. We might need to try one more time to be sure.”

“And if it works?” I lift my brows.

“If it works, I’m making you come until you get your dragon back,” he says, his voice dropping to that rough timbre that makes my core clench with renewed need.

“That sounds like a plan. You’ll need your dragon back, too.”

I feel him hardening against me, and despite everything we’ve been through, desire flares hot and bright inside me.

“If we want to escape, we need to be strong. We need to have more sex.” His eyes are hooded.

“To get our dragons back, of course,” I murmur, moving to straddle his hips. “When we leave here, this…well…it can’t happen again. We need to—”

“Of course. It’s just fucking, Shadow. I know that.

” He nods, his hands gripping my waist as I position myself above him.

“We need to build up our strength if we’re going to escape.

We don’t have much of a choice.” He shrugs.

“I’m not afraid to say that I’ll enjoy myself while doing it. ” He grins at me.

I sink down onto him slowly, savoring the stretch and fullness as he fills me. His eyes flutter closed, and he makes a sound of pure pleasure that goes straight to my core.

“Just fucking,” I whisper, beginning to move up and down on his cock, feeling him stretch me…fill me…touch me in places I’ve never been touched before.