GWEN

Daniela's disapproval shouldn't hurt as much as it does.

I know she's mad. I know she has every right to be mad. I expected it, but in the face of her anger, it's hard to remain calm. For the last seven years, all we've had is each other. She's struggling with her recovery from a traumatic ordeal. I should have been there for her, and in her eyes I'm frolicking with a naked dragon-man who should be the enemy. She feels betrayed on all fronts.

I should go after her. Explain. Apologize a thousand times and hope that just one sinks in. I don't, though, because it's hard and I'm not strong enough to handle her anger and vitriol and not come out completely shattered. Daniela wanted me to do more to save her. Maybe I could have, and the thought eats and eats at me.

Make a decision, Gwen, I chide myself.

It should be so easy. Just come in swinging, like Amy does. Tackle problems head first and don't take no for an answer. But…there's a determined core inside Amy that I'm not sure I have. All my past choices have paralyzed me.

So I end up making no choice at all.

I must be more physically and emotionally exhausted from my journey than I thought, because I fall asleep instead of going after Daniela.

A sound wakes me from a deep sleep, and I realize I'm curled up against Vaan's scorchingly hot stomach and my skin feels sensitive where I've been pressed against him. My arm's thrown over his hips, and even though he's naked—and erect, always erect—I'm not fazed by it. I'm also drooling a little in what could probably be the world's least dainty nap. I lift my head and glance over at the door, wiping my wet mouth even as Vaan puts his hand in my hair, rubbing my head.

Just as I swipe at my lips and sit up, Andrea peeks in through the door. She takes one look at me and her face flames bright red. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry," she exclaims, stricken. "I didn't realize I was interrupting. I'll tell everyone you're not to be bothered."

"Wait," I call out even as she shuts the door. "We're not…" I sigh, because it's useless. She's not going to believe me anyhow. She saw me wiping my mouth as I loomed over Vaan's crotch with his hand on the back of my head. Of course she's going to think we're busy.

"Gwen?" Vaan rumbles, a question in his smooth voice.

"Oh, no big deal," I tell him, curling back up against his side. "Everyone's going to think I'm blowing you, that's all."

He gives me one of those low growls that doesn't mean he's angry at all, just content, and looks up at me with sleepy eyes whirling with deep gold.

My hand's on his stomach and my toes curl at that possessive, pleased look on his face. I glance down at his cock, and sure enough, he's straining and hard, his skin flushed a deeper gold. Of course Andrea thinks I'm blowing him. I lick my lips again, and suddenly sleep is the furthest thing from my mind.

I wonder how he'd react if I touched him? So far it's been all about me and less about him and…I want to return the favor. More than that, I just want to make him come, to see the look on his gorgeous, wild face when he climaxes. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I'm past caring.

How many times has he given me comfort and asked for nothing in return other than my company? I don't want things to be one-sided between us. I want him to realize how much I want him, too. It's time for me to show it.

I slide my hand up and down his stomach, just enjoying the feel of his skin under my palm. Touching him is ridiculously pleasurable, because he's heated and hard with muscle and not scaly in the slightest.

Vaan groans, his eyes turning an even deeper shade of gold at my caress. His claws dig against my scalp—not hard, but just enough to send a shiver of excitement through my body. I glance down at his hard shaft and there are beads of precum on the head, and my own arousal kicks up a notch.

"God help me, but I don't think I've ever wanted to touch anyone as much as I want to touch you." My whisper feels loud in the silence of the room, the only sounds that of our breathing.

I lean over him to put my mouth on his cock, but he stops me. "No, Gwen."

Shock and hurt roll through me. I sit back, staring at him in surprise. "No? Don't you want me?"

His touch is almost frantic as he traces my jaw and then takes my hand in his. Guiding my fingertips, he brushes one over a pearly bead of precum.

It's like touching boiling water. I draw back with a gasp, surprised. I remember now—when he came before and I cleaned him with a towel, I was surprised at how hot his fluids were. They're scorching right now. "I don't understand how this works, Vaan. How are we supposed to have sex?" Amy didn't mention the heat part, or if she did, I missed it.

But he's not concerned, and Amy wasn't, either. Nor was she walking bowlegged, so I assume it all turns out all right in the end. All she mentioned was a bite and him giving me his fires…I just didn't think it was literal.

It doesn't stop me from wanting to touch him, though. I'm starting to become addicted to Vaan, like an addict craving a fix. Just one more touch, one more kiss, one more caress. I want to test his boundaries—and my own. So I reach for his cock, mindful of the wet beads building on the head, and grip the base of him.

His lips part, showing a hint of fang, and his eyes close in ecstasy.

"That's what I'm talking about," I murmur, fascinated by his response. Lord, this man is sexy. I watch as his entire body tenses and he pushes up against my hand, trying to thrust into my grip. I squeeze tighter, then make a circle with my fingers and try to move it up and down. My hands aren't slippery enough to get good movement, though, and I give up, caressing his sac instead. He feels super-heated here, too, the skin thinner and more delicate, and it's fascinating to see the scaled pattern. Even this part of him is beautiful.

I let my fingers dance along his cock, avoiding the head of it even though I'm dying to touch him there. Instead, I trace over his length, learning him with my fingertips. The scales are closer together, the color deeper here on this part of him, and I notice they form a ridge along the top of his cock that makes me shiver. How did I never notice that before? And holy shit, how is that going to feel? Now I'm the one moaning, imagining him thrusting into me and that thick ridge dragging back and forth inside me.

"No wonder Amy's such a happy girl, hmm?" I haven't seen Rast naked, but if he's anything like my Vaan… And I just thought of him as “mine.” Warmth flushes through me. I glance down at the man sprawled in my bed. He's alien looking. A little feral. But there's no doubt in my mind that he's mine. Not anymore.

And I want to make him come like he did for me.

I grip the base of his cock tightly again and stroke him. I'm acutely aware of my calluses, though, and how much softer my hands could be. It gives me an idea, and I climb over him to my bedside nightstand (pilfered from a nearby house) and dig through until I find one of the lotion bars that Cass makes for all the girls. It's not quite the same as lotion from the Before, but it's lightly scented and more important than anything, it gets my hands nice and slick when I rub it between them.

"Gwen," Vaan rasps, reaching for me. He rubs his knuckles along my thigh, returning my attention to him. "Kissss me."

"There are all kinds of kisses, Vaan," I tell him. I pull off my T-shirt and use it to swipe the precum off of the head of his cock and then press a kiss there. He's hot to the touch, but not so hot that I burn myself.

The breath hisses between his teeth. A pleased rumble—almost like a purr—vibrates in his chest, and when more precum appears to take the place of the last, he swipes it away almost angrily and then looks to me again.

Laughing, I lean down and kiss the head of his cock once more and then glide my slippery hands up and down his shaft.

Vaan makes a sharp noise in his throat, half snarl, half choke. He rises up from the blankets, staring at me with a dazed expression. A moment later, he falls back again, takes my hand, and puts it on his cock once more. With his other hand, he swipes away more precum and growls my name again.

Who knew that teasing him would be so much fun? I run my hands up and down his length, getting him extra slick from cock-head to balls, and then I begin to work him, encircling him with one hand and working him while teasing his sac with my other hand. And I say all kinds of filthy, raunchy things to him, because he can't understand a word I'm saying. It's all in my tone, and his eyes are molten pools of gold, watching me as I work him with quick, tight motions of my hands.

It seems like I've barely gotten started when he grits out my name once more and then bats my hands away. He takes his cock, strokes it twice, and then rolls away as he comes, spurting all over my sheets and bedding.

I'm not even mad. Rather, I'm quite proud of myself. I made him lose control and come quick and hard. I wipe my slick hands off on another corner of the blanket as he collapses onto his back, utterly spent. He's beautiful like this, and my breath catches in my throat. I move closer, leaning over him. "Let's make tonight the night, Vaan." My pulse is pounding and my pussy aches with need. "No more holding back. No—"

The door opens. Daniela steps inside and gives me an angry glare, holding her chin high as she heads to her bunk. It's clear that Vaan and I were in the middle of something…and it's also clear she doesn't care. She crawls into her bed, turns her back to us, and the room is silent once more.

Vaan caresses my cheek and I press a quiet kiss into his palm, but that's it. There's no way I'm having kinky dragon sex with my traumatized sister in the room. It's just gonna have to wait another night.

Damn it.

I get up to steal Andrea's blankets and then return to bunk down with Vaan. Tomorrow we find someplace private to room, I decide. No sharing with two other people. That's just not going to work.

Tomorrow suddenly seems very far away.