CHAPTER 12
Loke took slow measured steps towards Anais where she sat on the furs near the fire. Her eyes slowly lifted away from the flames, rising up the height of him, coming to meet his. The darkness in them began to fade, burned away by the heat of desire as her pupils widened, swallowing the rich sapphire of her irises.
The air around them thickened as he closed in on her and her lips parted, luring his gaze down to them.
They had been warm against his, her taste sweet on his tongue. He wanted to taste them again.
He wanted to taste her again.
He halted in front of her and she swallowed as he held his hand out to her. She hesitated only for a fragment of time before placing hers into it and allowing him to pull her onto her feet.
His cock stirred in the tight confines of his leather trousers, his desire rising again as he stared down into her eyes. Was she his mate? There was a way of finding out, but it was dangerous. If he made love with her, he would know if she had been made for him, but he would discover it by awakening his deepest instincts as a male dragon.
He would rouse a fierce need to mate with her to complete the bond.
Loke looked down at her delicate hand. It was callused from her battles, a sign of her strength, but it was also weak. It felt fragile in his. Breakable.
She was mortal.
A mortal was no match for an immortal, and definitely not for a dragon.
A mating between a dragon and another immortal was dangerous enough. A mating between a dragon and a mortal was unthinkable. He would hurt her.
He could kill her.
But he needed to know whether the beautiful creature standing in front of him was his mate.
He couldn’t survive another moment without knowing, and definitely couldn’t face the next thousand years or more wondering whether she had been his one true fated female and he might have been able to have forever with her.
He needed to risk awakening his dragon instincts to mate in order to find out.
He pulled his arm back, luring her towards him, and her head tilted up as she approached. His gaze lifted to meet hers and the heat in her eyes stole his breath away and shattered every last fear and reservation he had.
She wanted this. Him. She welcomed it.
His little Amazon still needed him, and he would satisfy her.
Loke dipped his head and captured her lips, swallowing her gasp as her free hand leaped to clutch his shoulder and the one he held crushed his. She leaned into him, rising on her toes, seeking more that he gave to her willingly. A need filled him, a dark commanding urge to give her everything she desired. He released her hand, slid both arms around her waist and hauled her up the length of his body, so her mouth was level with his.
She moaned again, the soft sound drawing a groan from him as heat chased through him and his hard length kicked against his trousers. He lowered one hand to her backside and clutched it as he kissed her, stealing her breath and leaving no part of her untouched. She mewled and wrapped her legs around his waist, and he concealed his pain from her as the wound above his left hip burned. He didn’t want her to worry, because she would stop him from making love with her. He was strong enough now.
He kneeled and slowly lowered her onto the furs, covering her body with his. She flexed beneath him, rubbing herself up and down his cock, and he grunted as he joined her, thrusting against her and cursing his clothing and hers. It dampened everything, stealing the pleasure from it and leaving only a frustrating glimpse of what they might have experienced if they had been naked.
Loke wanted her naked again.
He sat back between her legs and attacked her trousers, dealing with the complicated fastenings. She lowered her hands from his shoulders and helped him, tackling her trousers with ease before shoving them down her thighs.
He groaned and tore his gaze away from the triangle of pale curls at the juncture of her thighs.
When she reached her knees, he took over from her, pulling the black trousers down her legs and off over her bare feet. He tossed them to one side and focused on his own trousers, using a sliver of magic to make them disappear.
Loke shuffled backwards on the furs, wedged himself between her knees and delved his tongue between her soft petals. She cried out, the sound filling the cave, stirring his need for her. He growled and stroked her with his tongue, tasting her. Gods, he needed more of her. That need only increased when she dug her fingers into his hair and held on to him, gripping him tightly as he pleasured her.
“Loke,” she husked, breathless and beautiful. His little Amazon.
He knew what she needed.
He eased two fingers into her and she tensed around him, muscles flexing and drawing him in deeper. She moaned and writhed against him as he began to stroke her as he laved his tongue over her sweet bud. Her actions grew more frantic with each plunge of his fingers into her hot moist sheath and he could feel the wildness rising within her as she careened towards the point where she would become a slave to her need for release. He drove her to it and then eased off, giving her a moment to come down, before he sent her soaring again.
His cock pulsed against the furs, as hard as steel and aching for her touch and for some relief.
She arched against his mouth and moaned, the strained sound of her pleasure too much for him to handle.
He pulled away from her and rose over her, bracing himself on his hands above her. Her eyes slowly opened and locked with his, dark with desire and need. He growled and swooped on her lips, claiming them in a kiss that seared them both.
She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down against her.
The soft feel of her warm body giving beneath his and the wet heat of her against his length tore a groan from his throat. He couldn’t stop himself from rocking, rubbing his erection against her, his face screwing up as a ripple of pleasure flowed through him.
Still not enough.
She kissed him harder and he took the hint, crushing her lips with his as he drove against her and swallowing her cry of bliss. Another growl curled up his throat and rumbled through his chest, and need overwhelmed him. He shoved back, gripped his cock and rubbed the tip of it down between her folds, towards her sheath. She moaned and arched again, raising her hips towards his, an invitation he wouldn’t turn down and couldn’t resist.
He groaned as he edged inside her and his arm trembled beneath his weight, threatening to give out.
Her moan joined his as he eased into her inch by inch, holding himself back and forcing himself to take it slowly. She was hot and slick with need, but tight around his length. He didn’t want to hurt her. He gently moved deeper and then eased back, working his way into her. She moaned with each move he made, driving him into thrusting into her, and he struggled to hold himself back.
Anais took that struggle out of his hands as she wrapped her legs around him, pressed her feet into his bare backside and drove him into her. She cried out and he grunted as she flexed around him, giving him a brief flicker of exquisite pain. She dragged him back down to her and her lips sought his, her kiss searing him as she slowly relaxed beneath him, loosening her hold on him and freeing him to move.
Loke clutched her shoulder with one hand, resting on his elbow, and her hip with the other, raising it off the furs. He held her hard as he thrust into her, long slow strokes that had him reaching every part of her.
He drank her moans as she shuddered in his arms, her kiss turning frantic even when he tried to keep it slow and tender. Her need stoked his, fanning it into the same wild inferno and stripping control from him. He clung to a fraction of it as he began to pump her harder, clinging to the piece of his sanity that constantly reminded him to be gentle with her.
His little mortal.
He groaned and kissed her harder as he plunged into her.
A deeper connection bloomed between them, a stronger thread that tied them. It strengthened with each thrust and kiss, with every meeting of their hips, becoming a powerful force that slowly seized control of him and filled him with heat and light.
She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his, her fingertips digging into his shoulders as she moaned with each panted breath that left her lips. He clung to her as he drove into her, a flicker of awareness stirring in his soul, growing stronger with each passing heartbeat.
She stole that awareness from him as she flipped him onto his back and rose off him. He snarled and clutched her hips as she rode his cock. She was beautiful as she threw her head back, her tangled knot of blonde hair fraying and causing spun gold to cascade down her shoulders and over her breasts.
Loke groaned and could only lay beneath her and drink her in as she bounced on him, pleasure written across her face. It echoed within him, an intoxicating kind of bliss that had him melting into the furs even as his body cranked tighter, his balls drawing up and his cock thickening as release coiled at its base. She moaned and held his hands as he began to counter her thrusts, driving up into her as she came down and withdrawing as she rose off him.
“Loke,” she whispered, her face screwing up and her actions turning rougher.
He could sense her need. It blasted through him too.
He drove deeper into her, losing himself for a moment and unleashing a fraction of his strength on her. She groaned louder and he grunted as she tightened around him, stealing more of his control from him.
He gripped her hips harder and seized control of her movements as he thrust into her. She tangled her hands in her messy blonde hair, her face etched in lines of frustration and pleasure, impending bliss. He brought her down harder, driving deeper into her, and she threw her head back and cried out. Her body shuddered around his, heat scalding his length as her release took her. He grunted and pumped harder, seeking his own release as her sheath milked him, drawing him towards it.
It came swiftly, staggering him and sending a hot rush through every inch of his body as his cock throbbed inside her, spilling his seed. He grunted softly with each pulse, still thrusting shallowly as he fought for air and to stop his head from spinning.
Anais slowly drifted down to rest on his chest, her moist breath fanning across his pectorals and her body trembling against his.
He wrapped his arms around her and stared at the roof of the cave as the awareness that had been growing within him finally sharpened into focus and his deepest instincts roared to life.
Demanding he claim his mate.