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Chapter Five

K ris led her down a pale corridor that glowed with magic dragon light, or she supposed that’s what it was now.

She felt a little drugged. Her skin tingled, so sensitive the rub of the material of her shirt over her nipples sent jolts of pleasure through her with every stride.

She’d been horny enough upon opening the doorway into this place, but now her normally healthy appetite seemed to be magnified tenfold.

Magic, she thought. A little thrill went through her at the memory of some of the stories her father had told her, but she still wasn’t quite prepared to believe it.

The dreams, though … was she prepared to believe them ?

Was her desire for that elusive red-eyed man strong enough for her to abandon her scientific principles?

“I guess magic might explain Eben’s perma-boner,” she joked, trying to dispel her anxiety.

It might also explain the personal porn video that kept running through her mind—the one of Kris nailing her against the warm jade of the temple wall, or bending her over the edge of the pool and fucking her from behind, or countless other scenarios she’d imagined just in the span of the last fifteen minutes, not the least of which involved him , her dragon.

In a moment, they emerged at the back of the main room, outside one of the heavy carved doors that flanked the dais.

“Those doors are locked,” she said.

Kris smiled back at her. “Not if you know how to open them.” He pushed against the smooth surface of the door.

It swung open just enough for them to slip into the darkness beyond.

More sconces lit, illuminating a row of closed doors set deep into the curved wall of the corridor, each one set between a pair of majestic white jade dragons similar to the ones that stood guard beside the throne in the main chamber.

All of them sported erections similar to the one Eben had so lewdly stroked earlier.

Kris paused in front of the first door, one carved out of red and lavender jade.

“This door will kick off the ritual. Then this …” He moved to stand in front of the door beside it, staring up at the shimmering golden carvings.

Not gilt, Erika realized when she looked closely, but more carved jade in a hue that resembled gold.

“Then those over there.” He skipped the central door, which was larger than the others and a translucent grass-green that matched the throne.

He pointed at the two on the far side. One of solid black at the end, then then one next to the green door—a twisting swirl of almost every color in the rainbow.

“The ritual happens in that order,” Kris said. “My door …” He walked to the rainbow door. “Is this one, the last one before the Queen.”

“Your door?” Erika asked. She had too many questions. She’d only gotten as far as the first door and stood mesmerized by the carved figures of the dragons on its face.

“The doors open to chambers each of the team are fated to enter. I’m not immune to Fate’s plan any more than the rest of you.

This is my door. That is your door.” Kris came back and stood close behind her, his breath audible in her ears.

Goosebumps rose up on her skin at the caress of his words.

She wanted to spin to face him, kiss him savagely, then fall to the floor and fuck him.

She spread her fingers, thinking to reach back and touch him.

It was like some strange impulse—another entity—was in her head urging her on.

“You can’t touch me,” he said in a near whisper that tickled at her skin. “I know you want to, but it isn’t allowed. Not by human hands. No one has touched me since I was a child.”

“What?” she asked, finally turning to face him and staring at him in disbelief.

She tried to remember any moment during their trek when he’d touched another member of her team, but he’d always been oddly distant, camping a little farther away from the rest. She’d interpreted his attitude as a cultural divide of some kind, but his brash declaration by the pool a moment earlier contradicted that.

“I’m destined for this.” His dark eyes met hers, intent and steady. He didn’t look like a crazy man. Should she believe him?

“What the hell is this, Kris? I hope you understand I’m having a very hard time believing what you’re telling me. Fated mates, seriously?”

“You and your team are the mates Fate sent to the Court. I’m the sacrifice that will revive all the rest of the brood.”

She laughed. “You’re crazy. You just need to get laid.”

“I’d love to. But you can’t help me unless you walk through that door and begin the ritual.”

She gave him her best skeptical, scientific once-over. “So how did you get that tattoo? Someone had to touch you to give it to you.”

“I’ve had this since I was a baby.”

“You’re telling me they gave a newborn baby a tattoo?”

“My mother gave it to me. She was one of them—a dragon—before she died. Two of the monks who helped raise me were also.”

“Ohh-kayy … I believe that about as much as I believe you can’t be touched.” She narrowed her eyes. His story was so outlandish she couldn’t wait to prove he was full of shit. The contradicting desires warred inside her. Yes, she wanted this, but she still couldn’t believe it was happening.

“I’d love to feel your hands on me, Erika.” His voice held a hint of challenge, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t decide how to start.

“I’ll help you out,” he said. He stripped off his shirt again and dropped his pants.

He stood in front of her, resplendent in his nakedness and glowing in the warm light.

Not only did he have the dark coil of the dragon around his sculpted torso, but his strong thighs were tattooed in a scaled pattern all the way up over his hips.

His erection was spectacular, too. Long, thick, and uncut, with a glistening bead already dripping from the pink tip that protruded from his foreskin.

Erika reached for him but stopped, her knuckles curling in like she’d hit a barrier just an inch away from him, so close his heat seemed to sear her skin. She shook her head, thinking it was hesitation.

“As much as I want you to touch me, Erika, it can’t happen.

This magic I’m bound by is too strong. I’m the sacrifice.

I’m too sacred for contact, and it’s driven me crazy my entire life, but the frustration is nearly over.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t touch me.

Not until we walk through my door over there.

Before we get there, you and your friends need to open the other doors.

It’s my job to watch you carry out the first four stages of the ritual. ”

“You’re telling me you have some magical dragon curse that won’t let you come into contact with another human? And what … that you’re destined to be some blood sacrifice to resurrect a mythical race?”

He smiled. “It isn’t a curse, and they aren’t a myth. I’m a gift to them, and it isn’t my blood they want, but my lifetime of pent-up need. You just need to play your part. You’ve been destined for this. Now that the magic is in you, all you need to do is let it carry you.”

“So, we do our part and you get laid? What exactly are we putting on the line here?”

“The Dragon Court’s fated mates give up their pleasure, and they awaken.”

“Who is this Dragon Court?” she asked.

“They’re the ones who make the rules, or they will be soon.

The sons and daughters of the previous Court.

The rest of the brood sleeps in the other chambers in this place, protected by the Guardians.

” He reached out and stroked the wing of one of sentinels outside the doorway they stood within.

“They’re all asleep, but when the ritual is done, they’ll be awake.

And free to live among humans again. To find mates among your kind.

To extend their existence for another generation. ”

The tattoo around his middle seemed to shift in the flickering light.

Kris’s cock twitched. Erika slicked her tongue across the smooth inner skin of her lower lip, imagining what he must taste like.

She dropped to her knees, intent on proving him wrong, but just knelt poised and fevered at the effort to get closer.

Her mind wanted him, but her body was commanded by something beyond her.

“Fuck,” she muttered. “Fine, if I can’t give it to you, I’ll give it to myself.”

“Don’t,” he said, crouching in front of her, but she’d already pulled her shirt open and shoved up her tank top to expose her firm, bare breasts.

Her nipples were hard as small pebbles. She pinched them between her thumbs and forefingers—her own favorite brand of foreplay.

Twin jolts of pleasure shot straight between her thighs.

Having his eyes on her, all smoldering and hungry, just made her hotter.

“Don’t what? Don’t jerk off in front of you? You like looking at me. I know you do.”

“I love looking at you, but this won’t help. Your Nirvana is meant for him.”

“It’ll help me.” She unzipped her shorts and shoved her hand down the front.

Her pussy was slick, her clit a hard, thick bundle, swollen and throbbing.

Erika swept her fingertips over it, sending a rush of tingles through her body.

She continued down, sinking into the sodden heat of her channel, gathering wetness, then back up to rub with two fingers over her clit in delicious slow circles.

She squeezed one breast in her free hand, rubbing her nipple with her thumb while she watched him.

Kris’s eyes stayed fixed on the movement of her hand underneath her shorts.

After a second, he swallowed and cleared his throat, then met her eyes.

“It won’t help.”

“It will when I come, and you’ll wish you did it to me.”

“That’s just it. You can’t. Your Nirvana belongs to him.” He glanced to the tightly closed door beside them.