Page 6 of The Dragon Queen (Ember: Queen Of Dragons #6)

JIANYU

Be here with me. With us. I silently plead my mate to focus on the present. My dragon is still close to the surface, my teeth sharp and my instincts possessive.

Stupid. Making broad statements about her magic when the electric crackle of our mating bond is tugging at us all so hard.

I want to pull the words back, but they're already out there in the air. Her beast has barely receded; I can taste the ash and shadows on her breath as I kiss her senseless, skating my hands down her soft flesh. I'm achingly hard, ready to throw her down and press inside.

The entire time we were flying together, the need to claim her and mate her was hot fire in the very center of my being. She was so beautiful--so graceful and perfect. Exactly as I knew she'd be.

And there was magic. Strength.

She may have lost the Shadow Bracer, but in her dragon form, she was every bit the would-be queen who tore a score of Shadow and Air Dragon aggressors from the sky with hardly a thought. Her destiny is still intact. We're here with her; together, we can defeat anything.

Or at least that was what I was trying to say. In my attempt to reassure her, though, I've only reawakened her human mind's anxiety.

With my hands and mouth, I try to bring her back to a place of primal connection. The instinct of a mated dragon is to possess his or her mate entirely, and I can feel it through our bond. Her dragon is as wild and desperate to melt into me and her other mates as we are to press ourselves into her.

She yields to my kiss, opening for me, and I glide my tongue against hers, my cock hard and ready against her hip. Rafe drops to his knees to take the tender point of her breast between her lips, and Malik is sliding the last of her clothing from her skin. Storm reaches between her legs to cup her where she's swollen and slick, and she whimpers against my tongue.

But even as she's twining her fingers in Rafe's hair and clutching my body to hers, she's reaching out into her connections with us all. Electric prickles of magic permeate our bond, heating my skin, but instead of igniting the way they might have, back when the Shadow Bracer still had its hold on her, they gutter and die away, and she growls--but not in a sexy way.

I shake my head, cupping her face and keeping her close.

"We'll figure it out," I promise her. "Your magic, your destiny, your fight against the Shadow King. All of it."

"Later," Rafe rumbles.

"But--"

"Don't you feel the need, beloved?" Malik asks, his voice rumbling and deep. I have no attraction for other men, but even I am not unaffected.

She gasps as Storm does something between her thighs that sounds so wet and soft. "I--"

"The magic is here," Storm promises, kissing her throat. "In what we have."

"I mean, the sex is pretty good," she admits.

"The sex is phenomenal," Rafe corrects.

She shakes her head. "But I'm not sure it's magic."

"Of course it is," I tell her, and can't she see that? Can't she feel it? I kiss her deeper, stealing her breath--and hopefully her thoughts as well. I cup her breast and twist the nipple between my finger and my thumb, making her moan. "Everything that's happened between us--it's all been fueled by what we have together. The power of our bond."

"Tell me that's not magic," Storm says, and she melts a little further.

Tilting her head back, she softens, parting her legs and sliding her hand down my torso, over my abs to wrap, warm and perfect, around my cock. "I mean..."

"Give in to it," I beg her, and not just because she's giving me the softest, sweetest stroke of her palm along my length. Lightning shoots up my spine, the need to be inside her crackling like fire in my blood.

My dragon's instinct to claim his mate is overwhelming, and it's pure relief when Ember finally relents. She yields to my kiss, losing herself in it fully at last. Triumphant, my dragon roars inside my chest, and I curl my hand more tightly around her breast, scraping my teeth over her tongue.

Our mating bond ignites, pure heat flooding the connection.

"Need--" she pants, shuddering. "My dragon--"

"Listen to her," Rafe urges.

She pulls away from me, and for a moment I worry she's going to get distracted by petty things like fate and destiny again. But she slides her mouth down my jaw. Biting at my collar bone, she keeps sinking, until she's kneeling before me, my cock in her hand.

I twist her hair between my fingers. It's all I can do not to throw her down and mount her like an animal.

As it is, she looks up at me with dark eyes that glint purple in the sun.

Slowly, she licks a stripe up the underside of my cock.

I shudder with the absolute pleasure. The wet heat of her tongue drives my mind to the brink, and I grasp the back of her head--too tight; I have to remind myself to be gentle.

But she shakes her head, urging me on. She's staring me straight in the eyes as she opens her mouth and takes me in.

My knees buckle, my dragon soaring through my chest. I'm blind to everything but her--there's just the softness and the slick suction of her plush lips, the pillow of her tongue.

"Ember--" It's too good, I can't get enough.

Her other mates are just as hungry to claim her, though. Malik follows her to the ground, kneeling behind her. With Storm out of the way, he slips his hand between her thighs, and she groans around my cock, which only makes me throb harder.

She pulls off just long enough to look over her shoulder at him, her eyes fire. "Your cock," she breathes. "Mate me."

There's a catch to her voice--a growl. Her dragon is as passionate as we are, and a dim bell rings in my mind, but I can't listen to it right now.

Not when she's sliding her mouth back over me again, taking me in so deeply I nudge her throat. I start to retreat, but she forces me in deeper, and there's nothing to hold on to--no way to brace myself against the exquisite tightness, the heat.

Cursing, I surrender to my instincts and to her prodding and to the absolute need resonating through our bond. As I thrust in and out of her mouth, she moans in pleasure, shifting backward. With one hand wrapped around the base of my cock, she braces the other against my hip.

A deeper, more desperate sound escapes her, and I force myself to look beyond the gorgeous sight of her sucking my cock. Malik is right behind her, his huge, dark length buried within her. I expect my dragon to rebel. Now that he's taken to the sky with our mate, his need to claim her is painfully sharp.

But his growl is one of pure satisfaction, and my eyes roll back in my head.

Being with her like this--sharing her...

It seemed impossible at first. I wanted to tear Rafe limb from limb.

But now that she's Emerged, the rightness has only grown. This is how we were always supposed to be. We were made for her, and her for us.

Our union is magic.

Just like she is.

Shivers of our shared power radiate through our bond, reaching into me and into her other mates, tying us all together even more deeply than before. But even as the hum of our magic grows, tiny tugs ripple through it, as if she's still testing the limits of the power she can wield.

Before I can think too much about it, I give her hair a gentle tug. She moans around my cock in approval, and I thrust harder--careful not to push too roughly against the back of her throat but determined to leave her with no option but to remain here in the present with me and Malik and Rafe and Storm.

Malik seems to have the same determination. I glance his way and meet his eyes. Nostrils flaring, dark skin gleaming, he presses his hips into hers faster, holding onto her, keeping her steady as he pounds deep inside her.

Even held within the perfect heaven of her mouth, my cock kicks, my dragon aching to fuck her properly, but I'm not envious of Malik.

I'm patient.

The ripples in our bond smooth out. There are still hints of friction, little flickers in the magic of our union, but the pleasure is starting to overwhelm my ability to concentrate. Unwilling to slip over the edge so soon, I slow my pace, only for her to quicken hers, gazing up at me with those impossibly wide eyes. Her lips are swollen, her cheeks red, and she's the most precious, perfect being in the universe. She deserves to be cherished.

And I'm dying to wreck her--to ruin her, to claim her.

As she bobs her head on my faster, the soft, wet heat of her mouth brings me even closer to completion. My balls draw up, lightning blazing up my spine. Malik's thrusts begin to go erratic, and I pray to the gods for him to finish first.

He slips a hand beneath her, and she whimpers so sweetly, grasping my side so hard she'll leave bruises, but I don't care. I want her to mark me; I want to be claimed and bound and hers. I press forward as deep as I dare, and she chokes, but even as I'm pulling back, her eyes roll back. Her mouth drops open, and she digs her nails into my flank as her orgasm rocks her.

Malik gives his own shout of triumph as he empties himself into her body. I drag myself free of her mouth through sheer force of will. Around us, Rafe and Storm are closing in, and they'll have their turn.

Just as soon as I've had mine.

Malik drops backward onto his haunches. I catch Ember before she can fall. I press her down into the grass, spreading her sweet thighs. I take a moment to slip my fingers up the length of her spasming pussy. She's all wet and messy and swollen--searing hot and slick and dripping Malik's come. Gasping, she shudders, clawing at me.

I pull my fingers free and line my cock up with her opening. The wet heat wants to drag me in, and I press forward, beyond self-control. She's so open that I slide right inside, groaning at the slick velvet of her body as I thrust in to the hilt.

My dragon shakes the ground.

It's not the spectacle that Ember and I made the first time we discovered our magic together, but it feels nearly as deep inside my heart.

She writhes, arching into me and dragging me in. Our mouths crash together, and something primal unlocks within me. I'm glowing and lost in her, falling head-first into pleasure and connection. Silver light eclipses my vision, and I hammer into her over and over, fucking my mate into the ground.

Wrapping her legs around me, she meets my every thrust, and it's too fast. I try to hold on, but as my hips meet hers, she crests again, screaming my name. Her body ripples around me in undulating waves, squeezing my cock, and it's exquisite torture.

It's perfect.

I pummel into her a half dozen more time, and then my entire world flashes white. My dragon roars, and maybe I do, too, but my ears are filled with nothing but static. Slamming home, I explode with the force of my release, shooting a hot gush of my essence into the deepest parts of her, and she takes it--she takes it all.

Our bond explodes in a cascading burst of stars.

We're not raising a wall from sheer rock. But the stone deep within the earth trembles.

The magic she fears she lost--it never left her.

It's here. With us.

It's always been here.