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Stepping back, he took in her body, then shook his head as if fighting his urge to join her. “I must go. Tana will be here soon.”

“I swear you don’t let that woman sleep.” Tana had brought them refreshments during the three days. Never seen, and Kai didn’t hear her, but often, in between sex and sleeping, there would be a tray of food and water on the dining room table.

He chuckled. “Like all dragon-shifters, Tana doesn’t require much. I’ll be back.” Turning, he headed out of the bathroom. At the door, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “Promise you will not leave the suites without me.”

She stared at him. Since her parents’ death long ago, she was unfamiliar with anyone telling her what she could do or where she could go. She couldn’t force her tongue to respond for a moment.

Aodh held her gaze and waited. His chest was puffed up, giving his body that ‘I’m the king of my people’ posture.

Kai knew she had to give in. But she told herself it was because she didn’t know his people, and her trust that a dragon would not make her a snack was nil. “Fine. I will stay here. But I don’t like to be idle.”

“I will return soon.” With that, he left.

She knew he was gone, not because she heard him walk out or the door shut, but because she could no longer feel his presence. Her awareness of him, which had only become more intense since they had sex, would baffle her for a while.

~YH~

Aodh walked into the great hall. It was empty.

Still early. Most wouldn’t be up for a couple more hours.

For a moment, he thought about seeking out Ninki by going to her place and addressing the incident, but it could wait.

He knew if he came to her at such an early hour, she would think he was there for a more nefarious reason.

Now that he had Kai, that time between him and his ex-lover was over.

Instead, he went to the small suite on the side of the kitchen.

After one firm knock, it opened.

Tana, with her ice-white cap of hair, smiled at him. Dressed and fully awake, she commented, “Morning, Mckenna. You are up late this morning.”

His heart warmed at the older Drahkelle’s sight. “For good reason.”

She nodded and started from her place. “I will get you food.”

He moved in step with her, keeping his strides shortened. “I don’t plan to stay. I figured I’d take a look at the territory.”

“I figured as much.” She held up a hand and went to the kitchen for a moment. At dragon’s speed, she was back. She held out a big pack with thick straps. “When you land, you’ll be hungry. No need to starve your dragon because you’re all tangled up in emotions.”

He chuckled and shook his head. He didn’t address her comment but took the heavy bag. The aroma of roasted meat and fruit came through it. His dragon rose, but Aodh ignored him. “Thank you. Kai is in the bath now.”

“Leave that worry to me. I’ll care for her.”

“She is not to leave the suite,” he commanded as he shifted the bag to his shoulder and started but stopped. “And set a guard at my stairs. No one is to go up.”

“Ah...Ninki’s visit did not sit well with you.”

“I will address it.” With that said, he left.

Outside in the pitch black, far away from the Mckenna building, Aodh paused.

He took a few breaths, needing this moment alone.

There were too many emotions warring inside of him.

This was a new experience for him. Before Kai, his life had been simple, but she was a complication.

It was thrilling, but he feared his dragon did not feel the same.

After the days in bed with her, he was sure of who Kai was to him.

It had been too long since he’d let his dragon out.

Even now, his beast was scratching and clawing at him with the need to stretch its wings and soar.

It would have been easy for him to allow his beast to launch from his loggia off the side of his suites, but he opted not to do it, unsure of his dragon around Kai.

Aodh wouldn’t put her in danger, even for his beast.

He continued forward until he found a large enough clearing.

He quickly found space since it was so early, and most were still in their homes or working the night shifts.

Finding a clearing was prime with the laws around not cutting down trees.

Setting his pack down in the flat area, he glanced at the dark sky.

The moon was no longer visible through the dense ozone.

Unlike other shifters, dragons had a bit of mage blood, which helped them change without the fanfare of stripping or ripping up their clothing.

Aodh inhaled deep.

“Rrrr!” His dragon exhaled with a roar as he appeared and stretched his wings up into a high arch. There wasn’t room enough in the clearing for him to expand them out. He swished his spear-like tail left then right over the hard, dirt-packed ground.

Staring out from his dragon’s slit pupils, Aodh saw everything from the tremor of a leaf on a branch thirty feet away to the red-orange hues of the heat off those in his thunder moving in human form.

He noted many of them halted on their path to glance in his direction.

More than twenty feet in height, his dragon would cause trembling of awe, with a hint of apprehension. He was their Dragon King, and they respected him with a healthy amount of trepidation.

His dragon leaned down, inhaling the savory meat wafting from the sack. When he started to open his mouth and consume it, Aodh yanked on the internal reins that tethered them together.

Dissatisfaction rumbled through his beast. The dragon, just like the man, didn’t like to be controlled.

Snatching up the pack with one of his front claws, the dragon launched into the night sky, the ground shaking in his wake.

One, two, three flaps of his wings as he rose above the land, the treetops bowed under his wind gusts.

Off in the distance, his dragon saw the others who were part of the security detail as they flew and surveyed the perimeter.

Aodh would do that, too, but he would start with the furthest point north, needing to give his dragon time to soar.

He rose higher and higher in the air, relishing the Icy chill of the wind along his thick skin. There were only a few hours until dawn, and he wanted all that time to align his mind and beast. There was a peace flying this high above the land.

Aodh’s dragon barely flew fifty miles when he realized he wouldn’t be granted the solitude he desired as a giant royal Egyptian blue with two large horns glided up alongside him.

~YH~

The beast beside Aodh, with its long snake-like body’s wings, spanned just as wide as his own. He didn’t need to look into yellow, slit eyes to know who joined him.

Brother, why are you here?

Ah, you know how much our dragons love to soar after a good round of sex.

It was true. Even though the human part of their forms preferred a bit of rest after sex, their dragons gained energy.

The only way to burn that off was through battle or a harrowing flight.

Since multiple treaties bound them around wars, and it was too early to drag another from their bed for exercise with broadswords that left Aodh—and Liekki, apparently—with taking to the skies.

How were your days with your little human? Liekki chuckled.

Aodh’s dragon’s screech rumbled along his skin, but Aodh kept silent.

Not that his brother was seeking a response to his taunts.

Even if he did, Aodh’s mind was unavailable because it had returned to memories of the last few days with Kai.

How many times and ways he’d fucked her.

He craved her taste even now as he recalled how swollen and wet her pussy became as his tongue speared her center or he sucked on the tight bud of her clit. She came so quickly against his mouth.

But as much as he hungered for the honey of her pussy, it didn’t beat the feel of driving inside the tight fist of her sex.

Whether he was instructing her how to ride his cock by arching her back and rolling her hips each time he brought her down on his hardness, or Kai with her knees spread wide and her plump, round ass high in the air as he drove into her over and over again causing her pussy to quiver and clench twice in her release before he came.

What had his cock twitching now was recalling the vision she made laid bare on the dining table as he fed her and ate food off every inch of her body before he had her ankles locked behind his neck as he slammed into her tight, slick pussy.

He’d ridden her hard and long, keeping her sweet sex stretched around his thickness, but she’d pleaded for more and begged him not to stop.

Her cries of pleasure had seared his soul’s spine and kept the fires of desire blazing inside of him.

His little flame was as addicted to his cock as he was to her pussy.

It had been hard to tear himself away from her and not give in to the need he saw reflecting in her gaze as she sat in the tub. But Aodh knew if he continued to deny his dragon freedom because of her, it would be harder to convince the beast to see her as a mate and claim her.

The massive, flying eclipse of the sun was a jealous fucker.

Hearing his private thoughts, his beast rumbled an agreement in response.

His dragon tipped his massive head down as he glided over the land.

Aodh’s chest filled with pride as he saw the lush hills and the vast expansion of trees standing high and tall.

Glancing left and right, he took in the dotting of buildings and homes nestled in clearings.

His people cared for the territory they had claimed over twenty years ago.

Back then, most of the area was still engulfed in radioactive flames or thick dust. Most of the attacks by North America’s enemies had been aimed at the central part of the country instead of the major cities along the coastlines, as suspected.

Those enemies abroad had sought to divide the country by land.