Her eyes opened slowly. Wooden walls. Wooden ceiling. Cabin. Fabric beneath her body. A mattress. She was in a bed. Her skin was clammy and warm. She was soaked with sweat. Gentle pressure on her lips—ceramic—made her open her mouth. Cold water dribbled through them. She swallowed.

Then everything came rushing back.

Great beasts—a red and a black dragon—had fallen from the sky right into the clearing where she was trying to photograph Alaskan wildlife.

Pretty sure dragons were not native to the valley. They’d seen her. Chased her into the trees. She’d thought for sure she was about to be a reptilian snack. Then everything had just gone black.

The next thing she remembered was another dragon setting her gently down in front of an old snow-covered cabin. He was black also, but much bigger than the first one that’d attacked her with the red. Then he’d been a man. How was that possible?

Of course, that was saying that dragons were possible too. She wasn’t ready to admit to the existence of either.

“Shuarra?” The rumbly dark sexy voice from her dreams was speaking to her again.

He’d made her feel safe. Desired. She’d dream-walked through the best sex of her life. Whatever had happened to her head, she wanted it again.

The air held the scent of sweat and…

Emotions slammed into her head, drowning her in pain and guilt. How could sex with a stranger have been better than what she’d had with the love of her life?

But it had been.

She’d loved Tommy since grade school. They’d been planning a wedding. A family.

Everything.

Then the accident had taken him from her. Had taken everything from her. She never thought she’d have another chance at being happy. At feeling anything close to what she’d felt with Tommy. She didn’t want to. She didn’t deserve to.

It’d been her fault Tommy had been in the car when he was.

She had sent him to his death…

“Ohmygod!” Naomi sat up straight. She was in a bed. Her lungs clamped down, like a vise was tightening on them. It couldn’t be real. But he was right there. The man from her dreams, the dragon who’d saved her was sitting on the edge of the bed with a cup in his hand.

Everything came tumbling back.

He’d said he was hunting the first two dragons. That he wasn’t from this world. That kiss in the bathroom. Then sex…mind-blowing, earth-shattering, crazy hot sex with a dragon man. And—he’d made her forget. Well, she’d had amnesia. For a few moments she’d felt what it was like to be held and loved by a man.

It’d been so long.

A dull throbbing pain between her neck and her shoulder brought her out of her memories. She turned to the man at the foot of the bed. “You bit me!” She craned her neck trying to get a look at the shoulder he’d sunk his teeth into. She remembered feeling the pain through the fog of her incredible orgasm, but nothing after that. Her body had been so heavy and tired. Sleep had been the only option.

She traced her fingers along her bare left shoulder. There were four puncture marks, two on the front and two on the back. She could feel the ridges where a scar had formed. “How long was I out?” she asked.

The beautiful man with bronze skin and black tattoos swirling up and down his arms, cocked his head and paused a moment before answering.

His name was Col. She recalled from her muddled memories.

“You have been asleep several hours. My bite seems to have caused a fever in your body.”

She nodded. “Everything burns. Why would you bite me?” Naomi pulled the blanket up to cover her breasts. “And how are the holes from your teeth already healed?”

“You’re mine, shuarra.” He yanked the blanket down and leaned into her personal space. “My mate. Do not hide yourself. You are beautiful and have the most exquisite breasts.” Col dipped his head. His mouth closed around one of her nipples and he suckled on her, sending sparks straight south.

Her mouth opened, and she panted. Naomi’s core ached and throbbed from the sex they’d had hours before. Now, she’d be damned if her body wasn’t craving more like an addict that desperately needed their next hit.

“No, no, no,” she protested, shoving his head away, but missing the warmth of his mouth on her the moment it came off her breast.

How could she want this? Another man.

Tommy had been her whole world. No one could replace him. Ever. But all she could think about was this man’s presence. How big and strong and muscled and exciting.

It was the first time since Tommy’s death two years ago that she’d actually felt alive. Her family had begged her to get away. Take some time for herself.

She’d avoided everyone and everything, except her job. This Alaska shoot had come up at the magazine where she worked. It’d originally been given to an intern, but for some reason she’d begged her editor for the opportunity.

Something deep inside her had needed to get away. From the city. From her grief. From her inability to move forward in life without Tommy. And now that it’d worked…now that she had taken that first step, she felt like a traitor. A rock sat in the bottom of her stomach, weighing her down, pulling her even further away from the present.

“What saddens you?”

“I—” Naomi started, then stared at the man sitting a foot away from her. Was she that obvious? She’d learned to bury her emotions and hide them from her family. At least that was what she told herself.

Mostly, they just accused her of avoiding them. Even her friends at work accused her of becoming a shut in. So, what if she had? She didn’t deserve to be happy. She’d killed her fiancé. He’d died, and she’d just been left alone and lost.

A low rumble made her look back at Col again, but she didn’t want to talk about Tommy.

“You can’t distract me away from the fact that you bit me. You might be sexy and covered in muscles and have a really magnificent cock, but I’m going to need more explanations now that I’m…me.”

He sat back, giving her space immediately. “You remember?”

“Yep, dragons falling from the sky. Check. Getting ass kicked by aforementioned dragons. Check. You bringing me here to this abandoned cabin and telling me you were hunting the dragons that attacked me. Please feel free to butt in at any time and tell me I’m just on some drug, tripping so high, I don’t know up from down. Then we had mind-altering sex. And I woke up, right now, with all my memories intact.”

“I don’t understand all the words you said, shuarra, but you seem to have the order of events correct in your mind.”

His voice was like a purr, and she wanted to rub all over him like a cat in heat.

“What the heck is wrong with me?” Why couldn’t she control her desire? Why couldn’t she just shut down this feeling burning inside her?

She’d had sex for the first time in two years because she’d had amnesia. Well, that was over. Now she should be able to get back to work. Focus on her career. Nothing more. She didn’t need anything more.

Liar. The little voice in the back of her mind spat out. Fine. Maybe she was lying to herself. It didn’t remove the feeling she’d betrayed Tommy—was still betraying Tommy—by letting this stranger touch her, pleasure her, make her forget…

A hint of a satisfied smile curved the corner of Col’s mouth.

Naomi narrowed her gaze and gave him her best tell-me-now-or-else look. It didn’t affect him in the least.

“You are my mate. Your soul glowed for mine. We are sealed together forever. I will protect you with my life until the day I die.”

Mate?

Hold the freaking horses. She did not agree with that.

And well, fuck.

She wanted to yell and rant and tell him he’d had no right to make that choice for her…except for the fact she remembered very clearly her telling him she wanted it. Wanted him.

But I didn’t want a mate. I had my chance and lost it.

The biting and claiming was a bit overboard. Couldn’t they have just had monumental sex and called it an amazing fling?

Naomi hadn’t been looking for one. But now… Now she was shacked up in the middle of nowhere, naked and horny for the dragon man sitting at the foot of the bed, smiling at her like he knew her thoughts had drifted into the gutter. Again.

At least he wasn’t naked. That one small detail was helping her control her carnal urges just a tiny bit.

He’d put his barbarian kilt thing on again. He was probably cold. Even with the fire burning across the room, the air still had a very icy chill to it. Typical January in inland Alaska—or so she’d read.

Not that the chill was cooling off her horniness in the least. Her nipples were puckered and needy beneath the blanket. Her arousal was slicking her thighs. She needed some damn clothes. Staying on the bed naked was only going to keep her mind on the super-hot, half-naked, dragon-man in the room.

“Look, I’m going to need my clothes back. And then a ride back to where I had my shoot set up. I have a snow machine back there. And hopefully my camera is still intact. I’ll be out of your hair and back to town in a jiffy. Then you can get back to your hunting, right? Win, win.”

“Your shoot?”

“I’m a photographer. I was out here on assignment for a nature magazine.”

Col shook his head, obviously not understanding.

“I take pictures. Art.”

“An artist,” he repeated. “What was left behind in the snow? I didn’t see anything.”

“My stuff is back there. It’s expensive. So, let’s just call this a wrap.” Naomi grabbed her panties off the floor.

Where the hell are the rest of my clothes?

She slipped on the panties, trying to keep the rest of herself modestly hidden. It didn’t work. With only one arm to cover both boobs and a pair of panties that refused to slide up her legs, she flashed him everything more than once.

“You are my mate, shuarra.” He stepped forward, taking the hem of her panties and pulling them up into place.

His warm fingers lingered on her skin and she wished for a moment that more of his thermal skin was touching her. Wished his whole body was wrapped around her, warming her all the way through to her soul. Excitement rippled through her heart, tingling along the surface of her skin, as if she were awakening for the very first time. Just for this man—dragon—just for Col.

“My name is Naomi, by the way. Naomi Parker. Not that I don’t like the shuarra name, especially the way you sorta purr it out like a big cat. Ohmygod. I’m doing it again. It’s like I’m sixteen and can’t control my hormones. I’m pretty sure if you keep touching me right now, I’m going to completely lose it. Can you hand me my pants, please?” She pointed to the corner of the floor where they’d been tossed during their dynamic lovemaking session. Maybe he would just ignore all of the word-vomit pouring from her mouth.

Mouth. His mouth. His tongue.

Damn. Her mind was in the gutter again.

The man knew how to use his mouth. And his fingers. And his…cock. Okay, everything. Col knew how to use everything and everything on her body felt used. There were little red marks all over her breasts and her hips from his teeth.

Her pussy was sore and well-used. It had been. She remembered every exhilarated moment of ecstasy.

And, her unused-underappreciated-girly-bits were hungry for more.

“These?” He picked up the pants from the corner.

“Yes, pants.”

He returned and knelt, allowing her to slip one foot in at a time. Then she stood, still holding the blanket against her chest to cover her boobs.

He pulled up the ice-cold denim jeans and she tried to hold back a gasp, but the chill from the half-frozen fabric temporarily sucked all the warmth from her entire body like a dip into an ice bath. Chill bumps sprouted all over her body.

“Naomi is a beautiful name, my shuarra.”

“Thank you. But, back to what I was asking. You’ll take me back to where you found me?” she asked, hoping to capitalize on his positive mood. “And I still need my bra and my sweater and coat.”

He shook his head. “You are safer hidden here. I must fight the traitors before they injure anyone else in your world. They are dangerous. And my responsibility.” Col grabbed her hand and tugged. “Come sit and warm yourself by the fire.” He paused, his gaze dropping to her chest. “Unless you would like me to crawl back into bed with you and warm you a different way.”

“Ho, buddy, eyes up here. I may have a boob hanging out, but I need your attention.” Naomi could’ve sworn he smirked before meeting her gaze and nearly boring a hole through her with the intensity of his stare. Brown eyes flecked with metallic gold. So beautiful. So un-earthly.

She shook her head, trying to put her thoughts back in order.

Stop thinking about the gorgeous dragon man.

“I just need to get back to my stuff and back down the mountain. I’ll come back out later and get the pictures I need.”

Hopefully, all the dragons will be gone in a few days.

Though after saying it like that, it sounded ridiculous. They’d just arrived. Why would they leave? And how many were there really? Just three?

Col and these other two traitors as he called them. That seemed unlikely.

Also, dragons were real…that was still not truly computing in the brain.

“It is not safe.” His voice was more of a growl again. He stood and paced to the end of the cabin room and then back to the foot of the bed. “If you go outside they will pick up your scent.”

“There’s nothing here. No food. No way to contact anyone. I’ll freeze.”

He snarled, obviously not liking her protests.

Naomi pondered a moment and changed tactics. “What if something happens to you? I’ll die up here. No one will ever find me. And I’ll never get down off this mountain alone without equipment.”

“You are not alone. I am here.”

“But you keep saying you’re leaving to hunt those other dragons. What about me?”

“This cabin is safe.”

“No,” she insisted. “This is someone’s cabin. We’re lucky there’s even water. Most of these cabins are dry. This one has a tank-less water heater and an indoor tank. Somebody spent some money on this place. Which means they probably won’t leave it empty for long. So, I guess if you want strangers to take care of me.”

What the…what am I saying? And when did the dragon man become not a stranger? After the wild sex?

Was she really entertaining the idea that she might want a man again? That she wanted Col to take care of her? That she didn’t want to go back to the monotonous sadness that had enveloped her life since Tommy’s death? Or allow the lung-crushing paralyzing weight that’d threatened to suffocate her for the last two years to return.

Could she really move forward…with a dragon?

How did she not think she was crazy? If she wasn’t crazy, and Col was real and not a fantasy in her mind, did she really think there was an option to stay with the barbarian dragon guy? What was he going to do for a job?

She sighed. Staying with him wasn’t realistic.

Was it? Her mother’s voice echoed in her mind. Would Tommy want you to live your life unhappy? What would he say if he saw you today?

Naomi shoved down the thoughts. She couldn’t love anyone but Tommy. It wasn’t possible, and she didn’t deserve the chance. Staying with a dragon man from another world was on a whole different level than trying to get out there and date again. It was crazy. She was being crazy.

“Look, you have your business to take care of, and I can’t stay here. So, take me back to my stuff or I’m walking out on my own.”

“Not yet.” Col’s eyes flashed solid gold and he snarled. Not at her, just in general. He stalked over to her, picked her up, and carried her back to the bed. He laid her down and pressed his body over top of hers.

His mouth crushed hers and his taste flooded her senses. She was locked between his powerful arms. One hand cupped her face, directing the kiss. His other hand had ripped away the blanket and was now kneading her breast, squeezing and flicking at her traitorously hard nipple. A whimper escaped into his mouth. He tasted so good.

What’d she been complaining about? Being crazy?

Maybe a little crazy was just what she needed. Maybe this was Fate’s way of giving her a kick in the ass.

The only thing Naomi could concentrate on right now was the length of Col’s hard cock pressing into her belly, and the way his tongue plunged in and out of her mouth like a promise of what was to come.

His kiss was intoxicating. His hands felt cool against her burning skin. The need for him was primal. Desperate. She wanted to feel alive. Somehow, he was giving her that. For now, she’d take it.

“Col.”

His mouth trailed from her lips to her ear and down her neck. Every touch was tender and demanding at the same time. He was trying to shut down her argument with him about leaving the cabin. And—surprise—she was totally fine with allowing it.

“I need—” Her voice carried a deeper and huskier quality than she’d ever heard before. What did she need? What did she want from Col. More distraction?

It felt like more than that.

He reared his head up and smiled down, then crawled down the length of her body. Her pants and panties were quickly stripped off again.

So much for getting dressed.

Then his mouth was between her legs again.

Naomi cried out and bucked her hips, but he held her in place, erotically torturing her pussy until her whole body shook with more need.

His fingers slipped inside and stroked, finding just the right angle.

She pushed her head back into the pillows and moaned as his mouth closed around her clit. “Ohhhhhh—”

His tongue flicked deftly across her, driving her higher and higher.

Bliss was so close. She could feel it wrapping its warm tendrils of pleasure around her whole body.

Everything slowed. Every stroke of his fingers and tongue left her breathless, but desperate for more.

“Yes,” she panted. “Yes,” she screamed, bucking against his hold.

Heat and tension blasted through her like a racecar jumping from zero to sixty. Stars exploded behind her eyes. Pleasure washed over her in waves.

Col kept sucking and licking and stroking. It was so much.

She screamed again as he wrung yet another climax from her body.

“Mine. You will not leave me.” He crawled up her body and stared. Waiting.

Naomi nodded. She wanted this with every fiber of her being. All of it. Whatever came with it. She couldn’t go back to being an empty sad shell. Even if this wasn’t permanent, she wanted to experience everything she could with Col. She wanted to feel alive again.

“Vow it.” His eyes flickering gold. The dragon was impatient for an answer.

“I won’t leave you.” It was a promise. Every tone. Every syllable. She didn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life. Haunted by the memory of the man and love she’d lost.

Tommy wouldn’t have wanted that for her either. It was killing her family too. Every time they looked at her, the pity cut to the bone.

Not anymore. Whatever her dragon man wanted. That was fine by her. If Col was the trade-off, she could manage the guilt.

You’re lying to yourself.

No, she wasn’t. She could be happy. She could. She would. Naomi had never cared enough to try.

Col made her want to try.

The choice lifted a weight from her chest. “I need you, Col.”

He huffed out a loud breath and flipped her to her stomach.

She turned and watched him over her shoulder, quivering in anticipation.

His hands trailed over her back, then to her ass, kneading and pinching as they went. He was so beautiful. The swirling tattoos. The rippling muscles. How the hell had she ended up right where he would be in the middle of Alaska?

Her mind drifted back to the way he was caressing her ass. He gripped her hips, lifting her up toward him. She watched as he removed the kilt. His massive cock sprang forward and bumped against her aching clit. She wiggled her hips, rubbing against it.

Col grasped the erection and guided it to her opening. Slowly. Gently. He pressed forward, filling her inch by solid inch until his hips were flush to her ass. Then he pulled backward with excruciating slowness.

“Col,” she panted, “Please.”

His hands clenched down on her hips and then he drove deep and hard. Naomi bowed under him, and he bent down over her back, thrusting and driving until she could feel nothing but him. Inside her. Around her. His hands clutched her so tightly to his body that it felt as though they were one being.

One of his hands slid around her hip and brushed between her thighs. One little touch. That was all it took to send her careening over the cliff.

She screamed his name and he roared hers, an animalistic carnal sound that shook her to the core, but instead of making her afraid, she just felt even safer.

More content. More satisfied.

They slumped together, Col’s cock still inside her as he rolled to the side pulling her with him.

She fit perfectly against him. His cock still twitched and throbbed, as if at any given moment he would swell and fuck her senseless again.

“My shuarra.” The heavy vibrations of his voice rumbled against the back of her neck.

“Mmmm, yes,” Naomi murmured as she drifted to sleep in his warm arms, not aware of the chill in the air any longer.