Max’s booted foot kicked open the door to his bedroom. She got the impression of far more space and much more extravagant furnishings than what were in her room, but none of those things really registered upon her brain because his lips were back on hers, and then they were gone and she was flying through the air to land on an incredibly soft mattress that yielded under her weight.

Max’s clever hands found her buttons and then the hem of the dress. It went up and over her head, forcing her to stop kissing him for a moment. Then it was gone, and his hands were on her bare skin, stripping off her bra and panties and leaving trails of shivers in the wake of his fingers.

Her breath caught in her throat as he licked his tongue down the hollow of her throat and then pressed a kiss right against her pulse. Everything in her responded to that touch. Her fingers curled around the ledges of his shoulders and her legs spread more widely while a small cry came from her mouth. That cry got longer and louder when his tongue, teeth, and lips all moved to her breasts. He tugged and licked at her nipples before sucking them hard while his fingers squeezed the fleshy globes around her areola.

Her legs kicked out and opened wider as his lean body wedged itself between her thighs, his hands tracing along her ribs and then the soft skin of her belly. Pleasure broke over her, making her bottom jiggle as she tangled her fingers into his coarse hair and arched her hips up higher, wriggling as his breath stirred the wet curls at the apex of her thighs.

His tongue found her button, making her scream softly. That touch was amazing: it was vital and real and want ran through her body, refusing to take no for an answer as he began to lick her in earnest, his tongue applying the perfect pleasure to that hard ridge of flesh at the top of her hood. Her body rose and fell as she ground herself against his eager face, her heels dug into the mattress and her fingers kept yanking at his hair as friction and heat bloomed into being and then, hard on the heels of those things and far too soon, came an intense and mind-shredding orgasm that sent long gushes of slick oils splashing from her body and onto his face.

She wanted him. She wanted, badly, to feel that hot and hard staff of his inside her clenching walls and slippery core. But she was not ready to let him do that yet. She wanted to taste him as he had tasted her, to give him the same pleasure he had just brought to her body.

She flipped herself over, pressing him into the mattress. As she lowered herself to his rod, she found herself fascinated by it. He was huge, so huge that she wondered for a moment if she could take all of him. The starchy masculine smell of a man hit her nose, and her fingers stroked along the vein-wrapped shaft of his organ. It throbbed, and the head went dark and wet with juices.

She bent her head and let herself collect those creamy drops, relishing the salty flavor that lay on the back of her tongue as she did so. He was too large to swallow so she settled on licking up and down his shaft and fisting it before sucking his head into her mouth and letting her tongue roll around the delicate flesh there to impart more pleasure to him.

His groan was loud and shattering. She worked harder as his hands cupped the back of her hair and his hips moved up and down in an urgent way that made her heart pound and fresh slippery and fragrant juices spill from her inner walls to collect on her outer lips.

He yanked her upward, and she straddled him, her center, wet and quivering, poised over his member. She glided her hips downward, twisting them just a bit. His cry met hers and then she was moving faster and faster as he used his hands to guide her into a pace that soon had her panting from not just exertion, but the need for release. She felt her inner folds cup and cradle him and then they let off a trembling spasm that sent more silken fluids spilling from her to coat his enormous staff as she rode it wildly, intent on not just releasing herself but taking him right there with her.

He released splattering into her sheath. Heather, spent and totally limp, slumped into his chest and he rolled over carefully, withdrawing his now flaccid member from her body as his arms went around her body and pulled her closer still.

As they lay in bed with their bodies tangled and slowly cooling, Heather said, “I’ll admit I was afraid for a second there.”

He gave her a long look. “Oh?”

The corners of her lips went up, and the skin around her eyes crinkled just a bit in a very attractive way. “Well, yeah. I mean I was afraid you’d decide to snort fire into my hair or something.”

He gave her an amused look. His hand rested on the space right between her breasts and one of his fingers traced up and along her sternum, making her want to wriggle closer. “I try not to catch a woman’s hair on fire. Women can be testy about their hair.”

Her grin became a laugh. He had a sense of humor, something she never would have believed when they’d met. “True.” She let her hands glide over his smooth hip, enjoying the feel of the muscle and bone below his skin. “What’s it like to grow up as a dragon?”

“We don’t change until we’re older, so much like growing up as a human, I guess.”

That caught her by surprise? “Oh? That’s interesting. In my world, it’s all dragon babies born in eggs and breaking out of the shell fully formed and giant.”

“No wonder you and your friend said no so adamantly to Blake’s proposal. That sounds incredibly painful. Unless you laid the egg, I guess, but who wants to lay an egg? I can’t say I have ever known a woman who envied a fowl.”

There it was again. Either he had a sense of humor or zero filters. Either way, it was cute and very witty. Their laughter was shared that time. When they sobered, he said, “And no, it is not like that at all. We are born as humans are, and in much the same manner, just sooner. But there are differences. Those born with powers are taught the law from an early age, so they know what is right and what is wrong. The law is not made to be broken, no matter the reason.”

“You said that earlier.” She hesitated, but her curiosity got the better of her. “What can someone do to break the law?”

“There are a lot of laws, and they are all able to be broken. Mostly though, one cannot kill another dragon. One cannot share with a human blood or the dragon heart.”

That caught her attention. “What does that mean?”

His hand bore down slightly over her breast. She could feel the steady pump and flow of her heart below his hand, and she drew in a deep breath, letting his hand flatten a little more onto her breast.

He said, “We are born without a heart like yours. Ours are flesh, yes, but they are more than that too. They are forged in some way that has to do with the spell, and I won’t bore you with the details. We can also give a bit of our heart to a dragon that is dying because the fire in their heart has stopped burning.”

Her breath caught. “You mean you could die? I thought dragons were immortal!”

“No, just long lived.”

“How does…” her mind spun as she tried to take it all in. “How does the fire in your heart go out? Does it just happen because you get older or something?”

“That and a dragon can choose to unleash it and let it consume his heart and himself: choose to die in that fire.”

That sounded horrible! “Why would they do that?”

His body tensed slightly. “It’s an honorable death—a death a dragon must choose for themselves. Nobody can force the dragon fire. It must be their decision.”

Okay. She had no idea why anyone would choose to die like that, but it seemed that he found it a reasonable way to die. That she didn’t wasn’t really worth arguing about so she said, “I didn’t expect there to be so many humans here. All the ones I spoke to said they were born here, that most of them descended from humans who got sucked through the portal when your ancestors were cursed, or their ancestors refused to give up their loyalty, and since they were not knights, they stayed human while the knights became dragons.”

Max’s thick lashes covered his eyes for a moment. “It’s true.”

“So, you really seriously got turned into a dragon by a wizard?” Heather rolled onto her belly to look Max in the eyes. “How does that even happen?”

“Not me, personally.” His fingers traced along her bare skin, sending heat through her body even though he’d just taken care of her in such a mind-blowing way. “My father. My mother was cursed too, because she wouldn’t leave or betray him.”

She rolled over, her eyes locked onto his. “Where are they now?”

“They died.”

Sympathy hit. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” She wet her lips. Death was the last thing she wanted to talk about, especially the death of a parent. Grief hit hard, but she swallowed it back. Before she could frame out a question or decide not to, he spoke again, “But there’s only so many centuries a being wants to live through. Life loses its luster. It loses its beauty. My mother died because she was old, human’s age, as you know, and when she died from her age, he felt as if he had nothing to live for.”

She sat up. “Hold up. You said your mom was cursed too.”

His hands caught her and brought her back to his body. “She was. Cursed to stay at his side, which was no curse as she loved him. But she had to come here with him, that was the curse: that she would and could never go back. The portal would never open for her. Not that she wanted that. That was what the wizard didn’t understand. That it was no hardship for her to give up that world: to give up her life there. He thought that she would refuse to stay knowing he was a monster in that world’s eyes, and that she would not want to give up her station. She was, after all, the daughter of a powerful king.”

“Your mom was a princess?”

“Here she was a queen.”

She asked, “So other women came too? As humans?”

“Some fought the wizard right along with the men. Aura for one. So, they too were turned into dragons.”

Aura was the scariest of them all and knowing she was that old made her scarier yet. “How did they fight him?”

“Aura had magic. My mother had some too, though hers was far weaker. She could spell-cast, but not like Aura. When she came here, her abilities magnified and grew. When she died, she had strong powers, and she had already passed them down to me.”

“Not all of the dragons have magic.”

That had not been a question, and he knew it. “No, they don’t. Those descended from the witches and the dragons who had children together did, and still do. Those who were born to human women without power who simply refused to be taken from their husbands never gained any powers or passed them on to their children.”

“Is that…do those without get jealous?”

“Some do. Some don’t care. Magic’s a heavy burden. It can corrupt even the strongest dragon heart. After all, it was a corrupt wizard who let his magic rule his ego and heart that made us.”

She asked, “Why? I mean, why did he do it in the first place?”

“He was in love with my mother, and she spurned him. If it had been any other man—maybe a king or even a prince—he might have let it go. He would have known that despite his magic he had to bow out because of politics, and he would have used his influence to get what he really wanted, which was power. That was what he loved about her, or so she and my father always said. He did not love her, just her small powers and the power she held as that king’s daughter.”

Wow. His parents had really loved each other. She asked, “Have other women come here since then?”

His fingers went tight and then relaxed, but there was an impassive expression settling onto his face. “Yes.”

“Were they kidnapped?” She was teasing, but his face went flatter than ever, making her instantly regret the words. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I didn’t mean to upset you by saying that.”

His eyes went lidded and heavy. A flash of what looked a lot like pain moved over his face, but it was gone so fast Heather was not sure that she had even seen it at all. He spoke carefully though, making her wonder if she had seen that pain, and if so, where it had sprung from. He said, “No, it’s okay. And no, not kidnapped. Most were witches or had some kind of power. They found the portal through that power.”

“Why would they come?” It was a question that came before she could stop it and that flash of pain came back again, making her feel even worse. What was wrong with her that she just could not seem to see he didn’t want to talk about this?

His hand dropped away from her skin. She immediately felt that absence. His eyes closed and he spoke in a wooden tone. “They came, mostly, because they were hoping to magnify their powers and then return to the other lands.”

Not going to ask. Just not. “Oh. You look tired.” The abrupt change in subjects made his eyes fly back open. He searched her face with those eyes, and she felt them probing into her very soul. She shivered a little, and his hand came back to her skin, resting on the edge of her hip and stirring up desire and comfort in equal measures.

He said, “I am. Tomorrow’s going to be a hard day.”

Her throat went tight. Tomorrow he would fly over to the lands where the Orcs lived to see if they were indeed building those war machines that supposedly could take a dragon down while in flight. Was such a thing possible?

A new thought came. “If dragons were made by the wizard, did he make the Orcs too?”

“The Orcs are unfortunate side effects of his evil magic. Any time there is evil, there is trouble. They were born from that evil in his heart and created with this world.”

Huh. Who knew? “And elves?”

“Elves are part of nature. Nature exists here so do they do as well.”

“Are there elves in my world?”

“Yes, and Orcs too, though in your world they look much different than they do here. In your world Orcs look like politicians.”

Was he joking? She felt a grin rising upon her lips. Then his lips twitched upward, and their shared laughter broke the tension that her questions earlier had brought up. She snuggled in close to him, letting the warmth and strength of his body soothe her and send her into sleep.