Ry’s counsel floated through Cao’s mind again. Dominate her.

Right. It had worked last time. He gritted his teeth, tightened his grasp around Ling, and pinned her with his weight. If her dragon didn’t view him as powerful enough to subdue her, she’d never stay with him.

“It’s about bloody time I made you scream again.” Cao shifted back and gazed into Ling’s silver eyes. They flickered, luminescent, for an instant, the dragon revealing herself. Setting his jaw, he wrapped his hand around her throat and drove hard, once, twice. Ling’s depths started to glow, a sign he was on the right path.

Grunting, he withdrew from her, grabbed her about the waist, and bent her toward the floor, arranging her on her hands and knees. Perhaps her dragon would respond better to this. What was more animalistic than mounting, after all.

Fisting himself, he pumped his hard-on a few times, ensuring he was rock solid. Ling tipped her head back, those orbs ablaze.

Fucking good. Her ass in the air, she rested on her knees and forearms, lips parted and focused on his actions.

“Hmm? You going to come for me, Ling?” He stepped to her and parted her lovely curves, baring her silky pink pussy. As he positioned himself atop her, she bucked and struggled beneath him, but he leaned over her, weighted her down, forcing her surrender. He sank his length inside her and pounded into that tightness. Ling clawed the ground and hissed, her dragon awake for the show. She arched her back, as if to throw him off, testing him.

Cao growled against her neck, pumping faster and harder, relentless. He skimmed his hands around her front and cupped her breasts, squeezing them as he braced against her.

She opened to him, her body collapsing into the floor. A whimper escaped her throat and her core gave little spasms around him.

“That’s it, baby. You’re mine, and you’ll fucking come when I say.” He gave several deep thrusts. “Now.”

The scream from her lips shattered his ears. Her sheath clamped around his width, pulsing wildly, and her entire body jolted with the rhythm.

The pressure in his ballocks passed the breaking point and Cao slammed himself inside Ling, his cock shooting its load into her wet heat. He tossed back his head and roared at the ecstasy, then collapsed against her.

Her hot tightness clenched around him, demanding greater pleasure, so he dipped a hand between them, slid it around in the cum slipping down her thighs, and used the lube to work her, hard.

A couple minutes later, she was screaming and writhing in his arms, sensual as hell.

It made him rigid again.

Considering he’d been rough enough with her for one night, Cao scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He placed her in the center and stretched out beside her. She rolled to wrap her long legs around his, snuggling against his chest.

With her hand on his heart, the entire world faded, their problems dissipating like clouds blown away by a cool breeze. He stared at the stone ceiling, counting their breaths and heartbeats.

Ling circled her finger across his pectoral. “What did Ry tell you?”

He closed his hand atop hers. “Dragon females can’t orgasm during sex unless they’re dominated. They can’t become pregnant unless they orgasm, and they’re not going to do that for just any male. If she doesn’t believe he can best her, the female dragon won’t have his kids.”

“Huh.” Ling’s laughter chimed through the air. “Well, you certainly proved yourself worthy.”

“Did I?” He tilted his face to her and winked.

“Mmm. Very much so. Although, Chosen can’t have children, so no pregnancy risk.”

“Probably a good thing for now, considering everyone wants us dead,” he droned.

“Yeah.” She sighed and snuggled tighter against him. “Tell me your story, Cao. The real story of how you became immortal.”

His heart gave a little stutter. He’d never shared his tale of immortality with anyone. No one had ever asked.

Ling was asking.

She longed to know him.

Did this mean she’d set aside her hatred for immortals? Would they leap past that bump in their path?

“There’s not much to tell, not much you wouldn’t already have learned,” he hedged, judging what she sought.

“Reading about you in a book isn’t the same as getting to know you.” She lifted her face to peer at him. “I want to be yours, Cao, but that means no more secrets from each other. Everything in the light. Remember?”

Right. He swallowed thickly. Though he longed for her to view the real him, what if she decided she’d been right all along?

Well, nothing was hidden anymore, anyway. “You already know that my sister married the Emperor. As kids, she was the one who raised us after our mother passed. When Mum passed, she made me promise to care for our younger brother. He was so small, and it was so unfair for him to never know her like I had. I tried to do my best by him. After we moved to the palace, he started hanging out with the wrong people. I was busy managing things, and before I realized it, something had taken ahold of him. My brother became savage, in a manner I didn’t comprehend. He had no moral compass, no compassion. Jingzhi abused his position and didn’t care who got hurt, not even if it was me or our sister.”

“Sounds like a jerk.” She snorted.

“Yeah, he was, but his bad deeds caught up with him. The council demanded to press charges. My sister begged me to save him. What our brother had become was beyond saving.” Tension hunched his shoulders. “I didn’t stop it; I deemed it was for the best. They executed him. Afterward, I wandered. Constantly wondering if I’d done the right thing by not defending him. Betraying my own blood.”

Ling trailed her fingertips across the bands on his left arm. “Which one?”

“Which what?”

“Band. What band did you get for betraying Jingzhi?”

He stiffened, unsure how to answer. “I don’t have one for that.”

Ling’s scrutiny flicked across his tats. “Ah.” She dropped the issue, but it sludged within him like thick muck clinging to his insides.

Continuing his story, he added, “That was when the other Eight Immortals, Lü Dongbin and Zhongli Quan, found me. They showed me how to repent, how to make something worthy of myself. For years, I followed their teachings, until one day they offered me the Peach, and I accepted. I figured, if decades of doing the wrong thing had broken my family, centuries of doing the right would atone for it. I took the immortality not as a reward, but as punishment.” He released a long, slow exhalation. Though the truth had always been in him, he’d never admitted it to anyone. Never aloud.

“Is that why you’re so determined to face him in Dìyù?”

The gentle prodding of Ling’s question didn’t bother him as it once would have. Now, he longed to be open to her. “Yes. He’s suffered for a thousand years. It has to be time for him to be freed. He must have earned his penance.” He shifted to his side and studied her. “I never knew it was possible to travel to Dìyù and come back alive. Not until your friends did it. Otherwise, I might’ve been tempted to make the journey sooner.”

Ling rested her hand against his cheek. “I can help you. Price and Daji can get us there. Cao, I just want to make sure you’re ready for whatever it is we discover on the other side.”

* * *

Pain, guilt, and hope mingled in Cao’s eyes, tugging at Ling’s heart. He was so desperate to do right by his brother. Yet, souls got sent to Dìyù for a reason. That reason being, they’d committed heinous crimes and had to be punished for them. What if the person Cao hoped to meet in Dìyù had never existed?

“In Dìyù, they hate immortals. I mean, loathe them even worse than I…used to.” She stumbled over the words, but laughed them off.

“Right, because someone who can never die can never be punished for their crimes.” Cao let out a wry chuckle. “I’m sure I’ll be very popular with the locals.”

“And the guardians. It’s not just yāoguài in Dìyù. We’ve kind of had a few run-ins with Ox Head and Horse Face. We’re not their favorite people, but I’m sure we can determine a work-around.”

Ling forced on a bright smile, hoping it concealed the clouds of doubt and worry in her mind. She didn’t blame Cao for needing to learn his brother’s fate. Still, it was a huge risk.

Risk was all they had. Nowhere was safe.

Except, in Cao’s arms.

She snuggled tighter against him, soaking in his pure strength. As a half-dragon and a Chosen, she ought to be formidable, but a part of her was still a scared little sheep, abandoned, lost. Desperate.

With Cao, she wasn’t any of those things. She was simply Ling. A woman with an unwritten future before her.

“There’s something else you should know.” Cao tensed.

Ling’s heart pounded. “What? You can tell me.” Please don’t be anything horrible.

“The stone I gave you. I told you it was one half. What I omitted was that my brother has the other half.”

“What!” She hopped up to sit and gape at him. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? I would’ve—”

“Exactly.” Cao eased to the floor. “You would’ve gone head-first into Dìyù without knowing any of this” He jerked his chin at the room. “That’s the reason I held back. I sensed you had to go on your own journey first.”

“This changes everything,” she mumbled to herself, her mind spinning. If Jingzhi had the other half of the stone, her collection would be that much closer to completion. The insurmountable task seemed lessened. It became a mountain she might be able to climb.

“Hey, don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Cao rubbed her arm and shuffled closer. “We’re doing it together, or not at all. I can’t even guarantee he has the stone or can tell us where it is.”

Right. She furrowed her brow, stewing over the possibilities. Spirits couldn’t bring physical items into Dìyù, but that didn’t mean the stone hadn’t traveled with him, connected to his spirit. It was anyone’s guess whether he still possessed the stone, or had traded it. The demons in charge were often negotiated with. Like a precious stone in exchange for skipping the next torture chamber. Or worse.

In the desperation of torment, would Jingzhi have bargained the stone away? The trail might be centuries old.

Damn.

“Don’t go there,” Cao’s deep murmur penetrated her dark conclusions.

She blinked and focused on him. “Having a lead on a stone I can’t recover would be even worse than knowing nothing about it.”

Cao curled his hand under her chin and grinned at her, the corners of his honey eyes crinkling in assurance. “Who said we were ready to surrender yet, heh?” Shifting forward, he slanted his mouth across hers.

A quick peek at his thick erection declared this conversation over.

At least, for the next hour or so.

* * *

Despite deciding to let Ling rest, Cao hadn’t been able to resist taking her again. And again. After all, she’d requested a thorough demonstration of sex positions, hadn’t she? Her dragon had acted eager to be dominated, a fuckload of times.

With Ling straddling his lap as he knelt, he thrust inside her, and emptied himself again. Gods, it felt so good to do that. An intense gratification deep at the pit of his soul. There was something primal and instinctual about claiming her. As though this was what sex was meant for and he’d been doing it wrong—and with the wrong people—all these centuries.

He grunted into her breasts, waiting as their respirations evened out.

The sun would be up soon and their shit-ton of problems would demand solutions.

Should they contact Price from this place? Venturing into the open meant putting targets on their backs.

Dragon Ling wasn’t ready for that. Hell, she hadn’t even attempted flying yet. She required training in her new form. It would take time.

Doubtful her grandfather would give her the resource.

“Ughn.” Regretfully, he plucked Ling off his spent cock and laid her beside him. Then he flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling for answers.

She huffed and copied him. “What do you suppose Ry and Tae have been up to? Wait, scratch that. I don’t want to know.”

He chuckled at the squeak of embarrassment in her tone. “Nah, I don’t think they see each other that way. Now, these other dragons are probably horny as hell.”

She punched him in the arm.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t talk smack about my kind.”

Heh. It was odd hearing Ling identify dragons as her people. She’d found where she belonged. He envied her that.

“I was thinking…” Ling braced on her elbow, facing him. “What if we don’t need Price’s help? What if we don’t have to go to Dìyù?”

He furrowed his brow and studied her. “What do you mean?”

“Well, this place exists on its own plane, in its own realm. At once part of every dimension and belonging to none. We might be able to access Dìyù from here. To bring your brother here.”

He whistled low and contemplated Ling’s suggestion. They had no clue where in Dìyù his brother was, but if they located him, it might work. “It’s worth asking Gen.”

“Great. I’ll go gather the others.” She nodded, hopped from the bed, and rummaged through the armoire. It was packed full of clothes in varying sizes. She plucked a pair of jeans and a loose—but not baggy—white sweater. “Hmm no mirrors. Weird.” She ran her fingers through her long locks, then tied them into a bun.

Watching her dress, humming and flitting around gathering her things, so happy and excited, squeezed his heart. She sent him a bright smile and sauntered from view, through the cave entry.

Groaning, Cao shifted to plant his feet on the ground and push himself to stand. Part of him was eager to reunite with his brother.

The other part was fucking terrified.