CHAPTER 14
Loke beat his broad leathery wings, the slow methodical rhythm and the feel of the breeze against his face soothing him and giving him something to focus on other than the fears crowding his mind. At the forefront was the terrifying thought of dropping the precious cargo he held tucked in his huge front paws, close to the broad blue plates of armour that protected his chest. That precious cargo was stroking her palms back and forth over his talons, the steady consistent tempo of her caress only adding to the calm front that battled the storm of his emotions.
He could feel her disappointment and he wanted to reassure her that their scouting mission tomorrow would go better and they would locate some of her friends. The journey today had turned up nothing, but they had only checked ten caves from a distance, using his superior senses to see whether the dragons residing in them had a mortal with them. There were many more in the area and he felt sure that they would discover which dragons had taken a huntress soon enough, and then they could set in motion her plan to save them.
He angled his head to one side and dropped his blue gaze to her, the vertical slits of his pupils narrowing as he watched her as he continued to fly over the valleys and mountains, carrying her home.
Over the past two days, his cave had begun to feel different, but it was only now that he realised what that difference was.
Anais had made it feel like a home.
A home for him and for her.
He snorted at that feeling, knowing deep in his heart that her home was many miles away. Ice filled that same heart as the most constant of his fears pushed forwards to fill his mind and flood his veins—the fear that she would leave him.
The other huntress was coming for her.
Anais’s words had played on his mind for the past two days, throughout all the time they had spent planning the route they would take in order to scout for her fellow huntresses and discussing the dragons of his clan and their locations, and all the time they had spent in each other’s arms, lost in bliss. They plagued him and he couldn’t shake them. She had told him with such confidence that Sable would be coming and there had been a look in her blue eyes, an edge to her emotions that warned him she wanted her friend to come and she wanted to return to her world.
She cared for him. He felt sure of that. She had revealed a hint of her feelings for him when he had suggested they fly to Zephyr’s cave first to see whether he really did have one of her friends.
Anais had rebelled against that idea, quickly gripping his arms and forcing a promise out of him, a vow that he would avoid Zephyr’s cave until they knew of the locations of all the other huntresses. She hadn’t pressed him to promise that because she feared the other dragons would discover what they were doing and would hide the females they had taken.
She had pressed him for that promise because she feared he would fight Zephyr again.
She wanted to keep him safe.
He could understand her concern and it warmed him right down to his aching soul.
She cared for him.
As deeply as he cared for her?
And what if she did?
Loke carefully adjusted his paws, holding her close to him, so she was sandwiched between his paws and his chest, locked to him and safe. Perhaps he could convince her to stay. He would do whatever it took to make her see that she belonged with him, even when he feared what would happen if she agreed.
The need to mate with her was already growing stronger, increasing in ferocity whenever they made love, and it was getting more difficult to hold back that urge. It was primal and powerful, stronger than his will and his desire not to hurt her. It controlled him and left him feeling weak, vulnerable in a way he didn’t like. He was used to being the master of his body and his mind, but the instinct to claim his fated female kept pushing and breaking through, seizing command of him.
He fought it as hard as he could, battling to suppress it and somehow mastering it, but each time it swept over him, it was a longer fight and a harder battle, and he feared that next time he would lose the war and his ability to hold back his instincts.
He would claim her, whether she was willing or not.
He would kill her.
Loke closed his eyes and beat his wings harder, a growl rumbling up his throat that tore a startled gasp from Anais. He silently apologised to her, and vowed once again that he would never allow his instincts to control him like that. He would find a way to master them so she would be safe with him.
Her steady stroking started again, this time against his chest, offering him comfort that he drank down, greedily stealing every drop of it because he needed it. He needed to know she was safe and she felt something for him. He needed her, close to him like this, touching him with love in her caress.
He held her closer to him, fearing that something would take her from him and there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening.
Whether it was the one called Sable or the grim shadow of death he kept seeing in his vision.
He was going to lose her.
His heart stung at the thought and his grip on her tightened. It was only when she pushed her palms against his chest that he realised he was holding her too tightly and was hurting her. He loosened his grip as he flew over the peaks of the mountains surrounding his valley and looked down at her.
Her expression softened as her sapphire blue eyes met his and her eyebrows furrowed as she tucked the wild strands of her golden hair behind her ears, holding it back from her face. She was so small and fragile. His little Amazon. So easily breakable. So vulnerable. A need to clutch her to him filled him and it was only her sweet action that stopped him from pressing her back against him to protect her and shield her from the world.
She placed her right hand on his chest, over his heart, and held his gaze, hers filled with affection and tenderness, as if she had felt his pain and his conflict, and all of his fears, and wanted to soothe him.
Perhaps she had.
He knew of bonds, but not of bonds between a mortal and a dragon. It was possible that the connection he had started the first time they had made love gave her insight into his emotions, tying them with an invisible string.
That invisible string linked his heart to hers, and it was short. Even venturing as far from her as his larder or the bathing pools made him ache with a need to return to her, that thread pulling tight and tugging him back to her.
He felt sure that if she returned to the mortal world that the string would break or yank free of his heart, rupturing the fragile organ, and he would bleed out and die.
Gods, he needed her.
That need was fierce, like a fever. He couldn’t get enough of her and no matter what they did together, how many times he made love with her, he was left unsatisfied in a way. His body was always sated, but his soul wasn’t.
It craved a bond with her.
One that would tie them together forever with an unbreakable string.
He scouted his cave from a distance, afraid that the one called Sable would have found it and would be waiting for them.
Waiting to take his precious mate from him.
When no signs of life flickered on his senses, the relief he expected to feel didn’t come. The threat of her friend coming for her hung over him.
Haunted him.
He carefully landed on the broad deep ledge of his cave and furled his wings against his back before reluctantly setting Anais down. She smoothed her black combats and the strip of dark cloth she had tied around her chest to cover the garment she had called a bra.
Would she leave him when her friend came?
He had promised to return her to her people, but now he wanted to break that promise and refuse to let her go. The thought of her leaving chilled his blood and hollowed out his chest, making him feel dead inside. He couldn’t bear it. It stirred a deep need to clutch her to him and kiss her, to somehow drown in her so he could shake the dreadful feeling and replace it with something good and beautiful.
It refused to go though, only growing stronger the longer he stared down at her.
He was going to lose her.
No matter what he did, she would want to return to Archangel and her world, and he couldn’t follow her into that realm, even though he would fiercely desire to do such a thing. A darkness grew inside him, a desperate need to make her see that she belonged to him now and belonged here with him, and somehow find a way to make her stay.
He had to make her stay.
He couldn’t lose her.
He focused on his body and shifted, and her blue eyes followed his as he shrank down to her level, his wings folding into his back and his horns withdrawing into his skull.
He stood before her on the ledge of his cave, naked both physically and emotionally. He had never felt so vulnerable as he did as he stood there, waiting for her to react, hoping she would do something to ease the pain in his heart and make him believe that she wanted to remain here with him in his world, where he needed her.
She took a slow step towards him, her face softening again as her eyes searched his, and he felt certain she could feel his emotions. She knew he was suffering and she wanted to ease his pain, even when she didn’t understand where it stemmed from.
Her irises gradually darkened with each step, the hunger that filled them awakening his own fierce need of her and setting his heart pounding. When she reached him, she stopped so close their fronts were pressed together, tiptoed and looped her arms around his neck. Her fingers ploughed into his hair and she drew a swift breath before obliterating his fears and driving them out of his mind.
Her kiss wasn’t tender. It wasn’t sweet as he had expected it.
It was intense as her lips claimed his, passionate as she delved her tongue into his mouth, and fierce as she pulled him down to her, bending him to her will. It relayed every drop of her need, telling him that she craved him as ferociously as he craved her.
It stoked the fire in his veins until it burned as an inferno, a wildfire that was impossible to tame and bring back under control. He growled as his need of her roared to the surface, breaking free of its tethers and demanding he satisfy it this time.
Both his body and his soul.
He growled into her mouth as he claimed her hips and then ran his hands down, over her bottom, and lifted her off the ground. He didn’t break the kiss as he walked with her, carrying her into his cave. His mouth fused with hers, devouring her, unable to get enough of her. He rocked his hips, grinding his hard aching length against her, and she responded by wrapping her legs around his waist and rocking against him.
Her breathless little gasp tore another growl from him and he diverted course, unable to make it as far as the furs and the fire.
He needed her now.
He needed her taste on his tongue and the sound of her crying his name in his ears.
Loke set her down close to the wall near the entrance of his cave and swiftly tackled the fastenings of her trousers. She wriggled as he shoved them and her underwear down her legs and yanked them off her, her eagerness only driving him on, increasing his need. He needed to satisfy his female.
He kneeled on the ground before her and looked up at her, meeting her hungry blue gaze, seeing her desire and need burning in it. His female needed.
He narrowed his eyes on her and growled low in his throat as she responded by leaning back against the black wall, lifting her left leg, and placing it over his shoulder. The scent of her arousal swept over him and he couldn’t hold himself back. He grabbed her hips, pulled her to him and delved his tongue between her petals. A jolt rocked him as her sweet taste flooded his mouth and his cock pulsed, as hard as steel and aching for more.
He clung to the tattered threads of control, barely holding his instincts at bay as he licked her, flicking her pert nub and eliciting a soft gasp of pleasure from her. Pleasure that flowed over him, through him, heightening his desire and his need. He groaned and laved her, sweeping his tongue over her, relentlessly pursuing another sweet sound of bliss from her lips. She moaned and rocked against his face, her right hand coming down to clutch at his blue hair.
She tangled the threads between her fingers and tugged as she angled her hips, rolling them and rubbing herself against his tongue. He hungrily devoured each gasp she gave, each breathless moan and each frantic jerk of her hips, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted more from her.
Needed more.
He ran two fingers down her, from her nub to her sheath, and groaned as he eased them into her. She was hot and wet, already needy of him, and he wanted to replace his fingers with his cock and give her what she desired. He held back, forcing himself to remain where he was, kneeling before her and worshipping her. His female.
His little Amazon.
His mate.
His primal instincts rushed back to the fore and he snarled again as he pumped her with his fingers, ripping a moan from her throat and feeling her tense around him. His mate. She belonged to him. He would make her see that. He would make her confess it. He wouldn’t stop teasing her until she was weeping for him, begging him to fill her and take her, telling him that he was the only male she needed.
The only male she wanted.
A feral growl rumbled through him as he felt her dancing on the precipice of release and halted his assault. She mewled and writhed, the sound born of pure frustration, but he refused to move his fingers inside her and grasped her hip with his free hand, pinning her in place so she couldn’t shift her body on his. He slowly laved her bud, teasing her back down but keeping her balanced on the edge, filled with need and hungry for him to push her over into the warm abyss of bliss.
Anais tugged at his hair, moaning softly and sweetly, each breathless gasp filling him with a need to start pumping her with his fingers again. Not yet. He held back, lapping at her with his tongue, refusing to submit to her and obey her silent commands.
“Loke,” she whispered, a desperate edge to her voice.
He groaned and his cock kicked, jerking with a need to hear her say his name like that when he was inside her.
He began thrusting his fingers into her again, a slow steady invasion that had her gasping with each plunge and each flick of his tongue over her sensitive flesh. She reached the precipice faster this time and he backed off again, weathering her frustrated growl and her vicious yank on his hair. He smiled against her, withdrew his fingers and tongued her there, tasting her need. She moaned and shuddered, her body quaking against his.
“Loke.” It was more frantic this time and he could feel her desperation.
It pulled at him, his primal instincts telling him that his female needed him and demanding he satisfy her now.
Demanding he make her belong to him now.
He growled as that need blazed through him, a hunger he couldn’t deny. He needed to possess her.
Anais gasped as he shot to his feet, knocking her back towards the black wall of the cave. She bumped against it and he eyed it, and then her, and then snarled as his need to possess her and make her know that she belonged to him now overwhelmed him.
He caught her waist, spun her to face the wall and grabbed her hip. He drew it back with one hand and pushed between her shoulder blades with his other one, forcing her to bend over. She moaned and planted her hands against the wall, and he swallowed hard as he looked down at her pert backside.
He couldn’t contain the deep growl that rumbled through him as he grabbed his cock, fisted it hard and then guided the head to her entrance. He nudged inside, her moist heat scalding him and tearing at his fragile control. He needed to possess her. She belonged to him. She needed to know it. She needed to be his.
He entered her in one swift hard plunge, ripping a startled cry from her that turned into a moan as he pressed deep, as far as she could take him, filling her completely. Her fingers tensed against the wall as he withdrew, her short nails digging into the rough black rock. Her golden hair spilled down her back and he wrapped his right hand around it, gripped it tightly, and pressed forwards with his hips, rocking back into her. She cried out, the sound of her pleasure drugging him and filling him with a need to do it again in order to have another fix of that addictive sound.
Loke grasped her hip with his left hand and her hair with his right and began thrusting deep and hard, frantic plunges that had her rocking forwards with each meeting of their bodies. She moaned and arched into him, and he groaned as she welcomed his dominance and surrendered to him. The knowledge that she enjoyed being at his mercy only increased the ferocity of his need to master her and show her that she was his now.
He grunted and quickened his pace, filling the cave with the sound of their lovemaking. He devoured each gasp and moan she offered up to him, his hunger for her feeding off them and demanding he elicit more. He pressed deeper, each swift stroke of his cock sending a hot thrill chasing through him and ripping another moan from her. He groaned and then growled as he lost himself in the feel of being inside her.
She responded so sweetly to each thrust of his cock, shuddering and moaning, whispering his name, and then she did something that threatened to tip him over the edge.
“Loke, please. More. God, I need more.” She pressed back against him, forcing his cock into her.
He growled through sharpening teeth and tightened his grip on her hip and her hair, a deep need flooding him, a hunger he couldn’t master.
It mastered him.
It owned him.
He snarled and thrust deeper and faster, possessing her and claiming her body. Her gasps of pleasure only drove him deeper into his instincts, allowing them to possess and claim him.
His gaze zeroed in on her neck and he bared his sharp teeth, hungry with a need to sink them into her soft warm flesh and mark her as his mate.
He would do just that.
He released her hip and reached for her arm, intending to pull her up to him so he could reach her neck and complete their bond.
She cried out in that moment, the sudden flexing of her body around his cock shattering the hold his instincts had on him and he grunted in shock as her climax ripped one from him. He screwed his eyes shut and breathed hard as waves of heat tore through him, shivers following in their wake, and he pulsed inside her, seeing stars in the darkness of his closed eyes as he struggled to cope with the sudden onslaught of bliss.
Anais sagged against the wall, her own breathing ragged and fast, her ecstasy washing over him as his slowly waned, allowing his scattered senses to fall back into place.
He opened his eyes and stared at his hand where it still reached for her with the intent of bringing her up to him so he could bite her.
So he could claim her against her will.
Loke closed his eyes and lowered his hand and his head, shame engulfing him as he thought about what he had been about to do. He stepped back, slipping free of her, and schooled his features when she straightened and turned to look at him. Her smile was stunning, brightening her blue eyes and enchanting him.
When that smile wobbled and her eyes gained a curious edge that warned she could see through him and knew something was wrong, he managed a smile of his own and opened his arms to her. She stepped into them and nestled close to his chest, her cheek pressing against it.
“Your heart is racing,” she whispered, a smile in her voice.
“You have that effect on me.” He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her golden hair.
He closed his eyes again and breathed her in, afraid of the other effect she had on him. He wouldn’t claim her against her will but he wouldn’t let her go either.
He would find a way to make her see that they belonged together.
He would find a way to explain that she was his fated female and that he couldn’t live without her now.
He would find a way to tell her that he was in love with her and that heart she spoke of was hers forever if she wanted it.