Page 5

Chapter Four

A fter exploring for a time, Erika and her team erected their equipment and set up camp in one of the four alcoves that flanked the mezzanine.

Each of the alcoves possessed a fire pit that seemed to work the same way the wall sconces had and put out sufficient heat for cooking.

They settled into camp to plan their study and catalog their finds.

Kris began cooking dinner. Within moments, the entire area was awash in aromatic spices that made Erika’s mouth water and distracted her from her planning.

She’d only mapped out a fraction of the compound that afternoon.

They had mostly encountered a lot of jade corridors lined with locked doors.

Tomorrow she would focus on the doors, but now she was distracted by a deeper need.

It was like an itch she couldn’t scratch—a presence in her mind filled with a deep craving she couldn’t explain.

She shoved it aside for the time being to eat dinner, thanking Kris when he brought a steaming bowl of curry and rice to her.

The sculpted Thai made Erika think of a Mongolian warrior sometimes.

While she ate the spicy food, she imagined him naked on horseback, clad only in scant fur armor, coming to ravage her.

The delicate flavors of her dinner made her salivate more with every bite; the spice on her tongue sent a zing of pleasure straight between her thighs.

Her nipples pricked and a sheen of sweat broke out on her skin.

She found it tough to keep her eyes off Kris now, or any of the men, for that matter.

Yet when she looked at each one, she saw something more, as though they each embodied the essence of that strange man from her dreams.

She shook her head, trying to dispel the fantasy, and took a deep breath. These men worked for her. Aside from Eben, she’d never have entertained a tryst with any of them as long as they had a professional relationship, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate what she saw.

They were all attractive, though Eben had always been the most forward one of the group.

Dimitri was soft-spoken, though quick-witted, and flirted in a very subdued manner with everyone, even the other men.

His sweet face and short-cropped blond hair afforded him a resemblance to a Nordic god.

His full lips mesmerized her for a moment as she watched him consume the delicious food.

Her heart sped up when his tongue darted out to lick his lips.

She shifted her gaze away, replying to the group’s steady banter mindlessly while her eyes continued to roam.

Corey ate quickly in general, but tonight he seemed to savor the meal for a change.

He took slow bites in between conversation about their find.

The normally prominent lines beside his blue eyes relaxed, making him look ten years younger, and oh what a pretty boy he must have been when he was in his mid-to-late twenties like the rest of them.

Now he was a very attractive man who’d probably been hurt one time too many, if the sad look in his eyes was any indication.

He’d always been the most aloof member of the group, but he’d been a more than competent team member during their arduous trek to get here.

Camille was still giving Eben that puppy-dog look, but appeared more flushed this time, her glance periodically darting to his crotch.

Erika eyed Eben’s lap and raised an eyebrow.

The man still had a hard-on. What the hell was up with him?

He’d been a tad oversexed for at least as long as they’d known each other, but this was something new.

She glanced around at the others to gauge their relative levels of excitement.

When she met Hallie’s gaze, the pretty brunette raised an eyebrow and shot a pointed look at Eben.

Erika just rolled her eyes in response and smiled.

Hallie was the reliable one. Even though Erika was sure she hid some deeper darkness, Hallie wasn’t afraid to share her opinion, and had eagerly and competently jumped at every task Erika assigned.

She had also managed to adeptly rebuff Eben’s periodic advances.

Erika had wondered if the woman was gay until they’d actually talked and she expressed that she preferred men who were just a little more mysterious.

“Why not Corey?” Erika had asked.

Hallie had pursed her lips and confided, “He’s way too laser-focused on his own agenda. I don’t do casual sex and neither does he, from what I can gather. If I’m gonna sleep with a guy, I need to know he’s doing it because he wants me—not some feminine ideal I probably wouldn’t live up to anyway.”

But now Hallie had pulled her long hair up and was fanning her face while she eyed Kris.

Kris was the mysterious native, his Asian features a contrast to the other men.

He’d spent their weeks-long trek being the ideal guide, regaling them with stories of the jungles they traveled through, protecting them from potential predators, and cooking the best food they’d ever tasted.

Yet he’d shared very little about himself.

Mysterious didn’t begin to cover the large man who was now collecting their dishes to clean up, smiling politely at each of them as he went around the camp.

One thing she did note when he collected her bowl was the unmistakable bulge of an erection pressing against the front of his khaki shorts. It caught her eye before she could censor herself. When she looked up at him a second later, he just smiled and said, “Still hungry?”

She blinked at him and swallowed. A vivid image of taking his cock in her mouth right there blazed across her mind and her thighs clenched involuntarily. What the hell was happening to her?

“Ah … I’m full.” Full was an understatement …

she’d have loved to be full of him. So much that her vaginal muscles ached.

God, she wouldn’t normally think of it so clinically, but the feeling was akin to an affliction now.

It was no longer just a dull itch, but a very present distraction bordering on discomfort, one only made worse by the low-pitched whisper of a male voice inside her head.

It was the same one that had occupied her dreams for years, but now seemed to be bleeding into her waking hours.

“Thanks for another great dinner, Kris. I’ll be right back.” Erika stood and wandered into the dimly lit corridor leading to the back of the alcove behind the tiers of the amphitheater seats.

Past the offshoots of a side-corridor she knew spanned the circumference of the temple was a cozy rear chamber harboring a fountain made of the ubiquitous jade.

Its water spilled into a shallow pool, and the space was lit with the same small globes that had come to life when she and her research team had opened the outer doors.

Erika bent over the edge of the pool and splashed water on her heated face, undid a few buttons of her shirt, and splashed more onto her chest. Something in the air made her too hot.

It couldn’t just be the excitement of finding the temple.

Ever since they’d opened the doors, she’d grown more and more aroused, finding it nearly impossible to stop thinking of that man from her dreams who owned her so completely with his touch.

It wasn’t unlike her to want sex after a find like this, but she normally had control over her fantasies.

Here she feared she was completely losing it.

She was driven to the point of insane lust and she couldn’t shake the sense that she was close now.

Close to him , whoever the hell he was. And as fearless an explorer as she tended to be, the idea of proving her dream lover was real terrified her.

She shook her head again, trying to clear it of the cobwebs of desire. She was a scientist, she had to keep a level head, remain analytical about the situation, even if her thesis had stated that dragons existed, which was ludicrous on a good day.

“You okay?”

The deep voice startled her. “Oh, hi, Kris. Yeah … I think so. This place is pretty epic. I guess I’m just a bit overwhelmed by it.”

“You don’t look okay. Did the magic get to you already? I tried to keep the spice light tonight.”

She blinked at him, not sure she’d heard right. “Magic … what magic? And the spice was fine.”

He looked around like there might be invisible things floating in the air, then smirked at her.

“Dragon magic. It’s everywhere. It’s affected me, too. Dragons are horny beasts.”

“Not Dwarves?” she asked, shakily laughing about Eben’s earlier joke.

“Nah … Dwarves are a myth. Dragons are real, and they live here.” He leaned closer and said in a conspiratorial voice, “And they feed on our pleasure.”

His words made her quiver and she had to close her eyes to get herself under control.

When she opened them again, Kris was kneeling beside the pool and stripping off his shirt.

His shoulders rippled in the warm glow of the lights.

He leaned over the edge of the pool, bracing both hands at the lip, and plunged his entire upper body through the surface, down into the cool water.

She watched the expanse of his olive skin submerge, the tattoos that twined around his torso nearly obscured.

A single huge dragon adorned his body, its head draped across his back, eyeing her steadily from where it rested on the surface of one bunched shoulder. It coiled around him in a proprietary fashion, its tail twining around his waist. The eyes of the tattoo seemed to follow her.

Kris emerged from the pool and flipped his head back, flinging water behind him. He sat gasping and blinking, his glistening form covered with little rivulets of water. Erika’s mouth watered, and her pussy began to tingle in a way not unlike her tongue had during dinner.

“It won’t take long,” he said cryptically, swiping a hand down his face and flinging water off into a corner.

“What won’t take long?”

“The magic. You don’t really need to translate the text for it to happen. It’s your destiny as much as it is mine. Now that you’re in the current of the magic, it’ll take you where it needs you to be, to the dragon Fate has claimed you for.”

“And where is that?” she asked, latching onto his words.

Did he know where her dragon was? Wait …

Why the hell was she humoring him? He was speaking nonsense.

Magic? She needed to get hold of herself, for Christ’s sake.

As much as she wanted it all to be true, she was still a scientist, bound by logic and an analytic mind.

It shouldn’t be that easy to just let go of everything she’d been taught.

Kris raked fingers through his wet hair and stood up, gesturing down the shadowed corridor. “I’ll show you.”

“Should I be scared?” she asked, the result of the last shred of logic in her.

He chuckled and let his eyes drift down over her sweaty, dirty trekking shirt that was already half undone. The fabric was soaked through from the water she’d splashed on her chest to counteract the heat welling from deep within her. Her nipples were clearly visible, pressing against the weave.

“With tits like yours, no.” Kris took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes, as if savoring some aroma that lingered in the air. “And power that sweet, definitely not. Your dragon will be very pleased when you awaken him.”

Her dragon? “Who the hell are you?”

“Your guide.” He grinned and turned to walk away.

“Wait!” Erika yelled after him, then ran to catch up. “What the fuck about the fucking dragon magic?”

“It’s everywhere in here,” he replied with a wave of his arm that made the muscles in his broad back flex alluringly.

“And it’s the strongest it’s been since they were sent to sleep half a millennium ago.

Now it’s time for them to wake and live in the world again.

To mate with the humans Fate promised them. ”