Page 39 of The Dragon King’s Claw (The Dragons of Serai #17)

I ran a hand through my hair. Again. Dinner had been hours ago. I was back in the King's office, staring down at the case notes. I had them spread across the King's desk, with the notes I thought held the most importance on the top. And I saw nothing. Nothing I hadn't already seen.

“Enough.” Tor'rien took my hand. “It's time to get some sleep.”

“I can't.” I waved at the case. “He's going to kill someone else if I don't stop him. I feel it.”

“If he does, that crime lies on his shoulders, Tekhan. You are not responsible.”

“Yes, I am!” I spun to face him. “Haven't you been paying attention? This is about me. I don't know what I've done to attract Hallaxgral's attention, but he's doing this for me. I can't just hand this off to another claw and get some sleep.”

“Again, that doesn't make you responsible. We are in control of our own actions. That's all. You cannot control what that bastard does. And so, you cannot take responsibility for his actions. Now, come to bed.”

I was exhausted enough that I let him lead me out of the office and up the stairs.

Fucking stairs. A lifter had brought us up to the royal apartments, but once inside, we had to use the stairs to access the floors.

Something about security. I couldn't care less about it when I was that weary, each step a study in willpower.

And then I was in Tor'rien's arms.

I yipped in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“You're about to fall on your face, and we still have two flights to go.”

“Of course, you sleep on the top floor,” I muttered as my head fell onto his shoulder.

He chuckled. “You're even grumpier when you're tired.”

“I'm not grumpy.”

He laughed harder.

I fell asleep on the way up and woke as the King was removing my boots. “Oh, dear Gods! I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I can do that.”

“Lay down!” Tor'rien pointed at me. “I am not your king in here. I'm your lover, and it's my right to take care of you. So, be still while I remove your clothes.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. Then added, “ Tor .”

“Look at you, showing some sass. I happen to like the nickname, especially since you gave it to me, Tek . Tek and Tor. Yes, I like that.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

He undid my trousers next and slid them off.

Then came my shirt. My coat had been discarded sometime after dinner.

I couldn't remember exactly where I'd left it, but I assumed it was in the office.

Probably. I arched my back so he could remove my shirt, then flopped down.

A few moments later, I was tucked beneath thick covers and the King—I mean Tor—was sliding into his big bed beside me.

My last thought before I gave in to slumber was how perfect it felt to lie beside him. Even if it was in that massive bed. Exhaustion took me, but it didn't hold me for long.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Something wasn't right.

Moonlight streamed into my bedroom through the tall windows.

Too much of it. The bed was too soft. Too warm.

This couldn't be my apartment. A body lay beside me.

My skin crawled. I had to get out of there.

I didn't spend the night away from home.

Not ever. Too risky. Bad things happen to people who trust others enough to sleep beside them. Sometimes, they don't wake up.

With a whimper, I rolled out of bed and fell onto the floor.

All-fours. I caught my breath and stood up.

Shaky. I had to calm myself. But the room was too big.

Everything was too big! I didn't belong there.

Among those expensive things. I preferred simplicity.

Ease. Worn-in belongings that I knew were mine.

None of this was mine. I wasn't safe there. People died in castles too.

“My clothes,” I whispered and spun. “Where are they?”

“On the chaise,” a soft, velvety voice slipped through the darkness.

I shouted. All right, I screamed.

The King chuckled. “What are you doing?”

“I need to go home.” I hurried to my clothes.

“You need to sleep.”

“Yes, at home.”

I heard him moving. I didn't look. Too busy getting dressed.

“Tekhan, it's the middle of the night. Come back to bed. In the morning, you'll see the case with fresh eyes.”

“It's not about the case!” I shrieked and then gaped at him. “I'm sorry for my outburst.”

“What's happening right now?” He took me by my upper arms and steadied me. “Why are you scared? It's not of me, is it?”

I swallowed roughly. “Approximately twenty-six people a year are attacked in their sleep by a lover.”

The King blinked.

“You're only safe at home.” I jerked away from him.

“Safe at home. No, not safe. Forty-two people die or are injured by thieves who break into their homes. A smaller home is better. A clear line of sight.” Pulling on my shirt, I cleared my throat.

“I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but there's nothing you can do to make me comfortable. I just need to go home. I will be able to rest there.”

Warm, strong hands stilled mine. “Tekhan Shinkai, you have no idea what you need.”

I looked up into his calm, kind face, and my fears unwound. Tension started to drain from my muscles. “I need to go home. I want to go home.”

He cupped my cheek. “Don't you know yet, sweetheart? Hasn't that incredible intellect worked it out? You are home.”

“No. No.” I shook my head. “The likelihood that I'm your mate is low. Especially when you factor in our differences. I would not be beneficial to you and your goddess would want a king to have a mate who would benefit him. I make no sense as your mate.”

“We have been nonsense from the start, Tek. And I've never been happier.”

“No, there are too many reasons for us to not work. This won't work. The odds are against us. I've accepted you as a lover, but I can't live here. It's too much. You ask too much.”

“Stop it.” He added another hand to my face and stilled me. “Just breathe, Tekhan. You feel it too. That's why you're so frightened. You know how amazing we will be together.”

“Well, of course it contributes to my fears! I told you as much. But it doesn't change the fact that this place is too big! It's just too big. People can hide in a place like this. It's not secure.”

“It's the safest home in Rushao.”

“No. No, it's not. You would like to think so because of your knights and your army and your walls, but it's not. The very number of people here makes it unsafe. The space! Someone could slip in and out easily. You'd never know.”

His hands went to my shoulders. “Maybe. But they'd never make it past my guards. There is a Dragon at every entry point, Tekhan.”

“Not that one!” I pointed at the window.

“That's a window on the fifteenth floor.”

“As if that matters? You are aware that there are races with wings, are you not?”

His lips twitched. “Yes, you adorable boy, I'm aware that some of my subjects are winged. I can also be winged if I wish. But anyone with wings who wanted to do me harm would have to fly over the castle walls first.”

“No, they could sneak in on the ground, then go to the back garden and fly up here.”

“They'd still have to get past the Dragon knights on duty.” Tor'rien shook his head. “Tekhan, breathe. Come on. Breathe in with me.” He took a deep breath.

I breathed in and used it to say, “I want to go home.”

“You sound like a child.”

“I don't care.” I crossed my arms.

“Are you seriously going to abandon me in the middle of the night because of some foolishness about security? In a castle ?”

“I know what happens to people, Tor'rien. I know the price of being reckless.”

“Ah. Reckless. This isn't about security at all. Not castle security. You're worried about falling—”

“I am not a child!” I snarled. “I'm not running away because I think I'm falling in love. I just want to sleep in my own bed, with my own pillow, in a room that is small enough for me to see into every corner with a single glance. That is not fear, it's prudence.”

Tor'rien yanked me into his arms and kissed me.

I jerked back. “What are you doing?!”

“Trying to make you forget where you are.” He jerked me back and kissed me again.

This time, it worked. I fell into the kiss and let go of the rest. Honestly, it was a relief.

All that anxiety bowed to the King. It was more in awe of his authority than I was.

I sighed in both pleasure and release. With his lips moving over mine, urging me to open to him, I melted.

It was exactly what I needed. Of course, it was. Tor'rien always knew what I needed.

How had this man figured me out so quickly?

And were we as well matched as he thought?

What did it matter? At that moment, it didn't. I let those thoughts go along with my fear and focused on the sensations of our bodies pressed together, only thin layers of fabric separating us.

But even as we kissed, Tor'rien pushed down my undershorts. I kicked them off as he dealt with his.

And that's how the King got me back into his bed.

Lying beneath Tor, with his body undulating against mine, leaving did indeed seem foolish.

I could spend a night away from home. I wasn't a toddler.

Even if the place wasn't as secure as I'd like.

It would be fine. I was with the King, for fuck's sake.

I would be fine. Not because of his guards or his walls.

Because of him. With a shiver, I realized that I trusted Tor'rien to keep me safe. I trusted him in many ways.

“Put your legs on my shoulders,” Tor'rien whispered in my ear, then drew back and helped me position myself.

My ass and lower back lifted from the bed and my cock flopped onto my belly. It was the perfect position for penetration. But Tor'rien didn't move into me immediately. He eased a finger inside instead, stretching my opening, then spun it, gently working my muscles open before pushing deeper.

Sounds of need slipped past my lips as he pumped my channel.

And then he reached out. A bottle on the bedside table floated over to him on a ribbon of water.

After seeing his display of Water Magic at the paper factory, this didn't surprise me.

I was far more interested in what he was going to do with the contents of the bottle.

Tor didn't disappoint. Inside the dark glass bottle was a slippery liquid.

Oil. He applied some to his cock and my entrance before sending the bottle away.

Then Tor'rien sought my stare. He held it as he slipped slowly into me, and that connection made it feel as if he were entering me in multiple ways.

Especially once he was lodged and leaned forward to bring our faces closer together.

“How do you feel now?” his lips brushed my skin.

“Much better.” I moved onto him as I gripped his biceps. “But I haven't forgotten yet. I know exactly where I am.”

Chuckling, Tor'rien set his hands on the bed to either side of me and then shoved deep.

I cried out, but he didn't pause to tease me.

Instead, he pulled out and slammed in again.

And again. And again until he had a savage tempo going.

The sound of his flesh hitting mine made me moan nearly as much as the feel of him stroking me from the inside.

His cock was the perfect size, filling my channel without pain.

Just pleasure. So much of it. Enough to do the King's bidding and make me forget where I was.

“Tor'rien!” I cried out.

He nearly bent me in two with his thrusts, his expression going feral. “Where are you?”

“What?”

“Have you forgotten yet?” He grinned viciously.

“I had until you reminded me.”

Tor'rien's face, so set in pleasure and smug victory, flinched at the turnabout in his emotions.

It had to rearrange itself quickly to allow for a sudden burst of laughter.

But he didn't pause in his thrusts, just kept delving into me, merging our bodies.

Staring up at him, I was mesmerized. That deep laugh.

His beautiful face bathed in joy. And beneath that, his pleasure.

It was almost too much to bear. But I didn't look away. I couldn't.

I grabbed my legs and pulled them even further back, out to the sides, nearly laying them on the bed. Tor'rien's stare slid over me, down my chest to my shaft, and then further to where we came together. In a second, he slid back into his wild demeanor and quickened the pace.

“Look at me,” Tor'rien demanded. “Tell me what you see.”

“I don't understand,” I gasped out, breathless.

“Use your skill, Claw. Tell me what you see.”

I looked. Really looked. Not as a lover but as a claw.

“I see tension in your shoulders and around your eyes.

You're holding back. You're flushed. Your lips are swollen and trembling.

You keep baring your teeth. You want to rut like a beast, but you also want me to feel how much you value me.

Your pulse is rapid. Your balls are tight—they're hitting my ass with more weight now. You need to come. Badly. And you keep staring at my lips. You want to come in my mouth, but you think it would be inconsiderate to pull your shaft out of my channel and shove it into my mouth.” I licked my lips.

“I don't find it inconsiderate at all. Rut, Tor'rien.

Take me any way you want. I'm enjoying every second. Fill my mouth—”

That was as far as I got. My words broke his resistance and Tor'rien never got the chance to rut or pull out to take my mouth.

His release took him. He came with a deep roar that doubtless traveled through the night, soaring across the city.

Then he fell forward, panting, his breath hitting my face.

Even as Tor nuzzled me, his cock slipped out, going flaccid.

I tried not to be disappointed.

Tor'rien eased my legs down, rolled to the side, and laid down. His hand went to my belly, rubbed me in a circle, and then ventured lower. When he found my shaft still hard, he gripped it and grinned. “You think I'm going to leave you like this.”

“Yes, of course.”

He lifted his brows, then chuckled. “Never. Well, maybe if you make me very angry.” He rolled again, back over me to slide between my thighs. Then, still smiling, he sucked me into his mouth. The very thing he wanted me to do to him.

I lasted a total of five seconds.

And when I found my release, Tor'rien drank it down, sucking hard.

Taking every drop. At last, when I was jerking from overstimulation, he eased off me and fell back onto the bed to resume his place beside me.

With a sigh, he slid his arm beneath my shoulders and pulled me toward him.

I nestled in against Tor's side, laying my head on his chest, and was asleep in a moment.