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“I wonder why the throne is empty,” he said. “Usually an elaborate religious display like this would have the object of worship in plain sight.”

Erika countered sharply. “You’re a geologist. What the hell do you know about religious displays?

To me, this looks like a place to hold court.

Not symbolic. Functional. See the alcoves in the mezzanine?

” She pointed at the second tier above them.

“I’d bet you anything those lead to more rooms, maybe back into the surrounding structure as well.

This place is more than just a shrine, it’s a compound.

People—or dragons—actually lived here.” And maybe they still do.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to wait for the experts to say otherwise, huh?” He raised an eyebrow and crouched in front of one of the draconic figures flanking the throne. “They look so real, like they could wake up at any second.”

“Master artisans, I guess.” She walked up to the other statue and stroked the dragon’s snout affectionately, trailing her fingertips over its polished white brows and the curling horns extending backward from its skull.

Her fingertips tingled strangely and her nipples hardened against her coarse linen shirt.

The texture of the stone sparked memories of her dreams—of the feel of hard, scaled flesh beneath her palms and the huge, red-skinned half-man, half-beast who possessed her body through the night. She had to find him.

The stone was so smooth and warm it would have felt like flesh, if it had any give to it.

It was polished to leave no evidence of the maker’s tools anywhere.

When she looked over at Eben, he was stroking the prominent stone phallus of the dragon statue in front of him, the lewd gesture instantly clearing her mind of the delicious fantasy she’d been having.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” she said.

“Tell me you don’t want to play with it. They’re all so … anatomically correct. I always wondered what a dragon’s dick looked like. Almost as nice as mine. And it’s so smooth . Seriously, you need to touch it.”

“It’s just a reflection of their virility.” Her heartbeat sped up. Her assessment was accurate from an academic standpoint, but the growing heat between her thighs made her sure there had to be more to these statues than met the eye.

“So erect cocks are only symbolic, is that what you’re saying?”

Erika gave him a sidelong glance. “In a statue, yeah. In you, it just means you haven’t jerked off in a few hours.” She looked pointedly at the huge bulge in his crotch.

“I always have a cock. It’s not my fault if you’re too big a prude to want to touch it,” he muttered.

She scowled at him, knowing he was digging at her for kicking him out of her tent the night before, but she’d been too distracted by their imminent discovery to entertain him.

Her plan had been to find that semi-dream state where her fantasy lover existed, imagine the things he did to her in her dreams, and rub out enough orgasms to send herself into a mini-coma so she could sleep through the night without the distraction of another body beside her.

It was unlike Eben to take issue with a night apart, but her sexual interest in him had waned the moment they’d set foot in this jungle.

She’d probably taken advantage of his eagerness to please her one time too many.

He’d just as soon go hungry when they were in a tiff, rather than come begging to her for sustenance of the carnal variety.

A hesitant throat cleared nearby and they both glanced up. Camille stood fidgeting, her bright blue eyes locked onto Eben’s hand where it still absently stroked the rod of polished stone.

“What is it, Cammy?” Erika asked.

“Uh … um … Do you mind if I start translating?” Camille asked, darting a look at Erika.

“Everything is covered with text. Well, almost everything.” Camille’s attention slid back to Eben’s hand on the dragon statue’s cock.

Erika narrowed her eyes when she caught the wicked smile on Eben’s face while he watched Camille blush.

“Have at it,” Erika said. “The sooner we find out the secrets of this place, the better, right? The boys can set up camp. It’s their night, anyway.”

Camille nodded and left, clutching and twisting at the end of her long, blonde braid, a nervous habit she only seemed to affect when she was around Eben.

“You’re such an asshole sometimes,” Erika said. “She’s got the hots for you and you keep taunting her like that. It’s not fair.”

He chuckled and let go of the dragon’s penis. “I’d love a taste of her, but I have a feeling she’s nowhere near as experienced as you. I like women who take the initiative.”

“Or men?” she asked, reminded of his excuse after she’d found him entangled with a fellow geology TA named Jared.

Eben had been cocky enough to invite her to join them, but she’d been too shocked to take advantage of the opportunity.

Later when she questioned him about it, all he’d said was, “He asked.”

Eben shrugged. “Depends on the man, but yeah.” His expression grew thoughtful as he turned to watch Camille bend over to extract a notebook from her gear. “I don’t know … maybe I could teach her something.”

Erika let out a long-suffering sigh. “Behave yourself while we’re here, all right? I can’t have my linguist falling to pieces mid-month because you popped her cherry and she’s too in love to keep working.”

“Yes, mistress,” he said with a gleam in his eye.