Chapter Twelve
We belong to each other
Jakob pushed Ciara behind him and down to the floor, before shifting into his Dragon form. No one would question she was his mate, or harm her.
His body filled the space, cracking the kitchen island and tossing it across the room. He thanked the first Dragon for his enormous size, because it also blocked match. Jakob shoved the red wyvern out into the great room with a lash of his tail.
“Damn. I knew this would come to blows,” Cage said.
Jakob trusted Cage and Kai to keep Ciara out of harm's way while he kicked the crap out of the red Dragon who was supposed to be his mentor.
Match used his claws to dig into Jakob's shoulder, and tossed him so hard he broke through the window and wall landing in the garden. What the fuck was wrong with Match?
“She's a charlatan, preying on your need for a mate.”
He hadn’t even known he needed a mate until he’d met her. He could have been perfectly happy dicking around for years until he was coerced into finding a companion to have an heir with.
Except he hadn’t been with a woman in quite some time. Too damn long.
“You have no idea what you're talking about, red.” Jakob shook the debris off and barreled back into the house. He slammed into Match's side and plowed him through the living room, into the office, shattering the glass French doors, and landing them both in the garden.
“I know more than you think, youngling.” Match flipped them both and pinned Jakob to the ground.
That was a mistake. Jakob called upon the earth to open up, sucking them both underground. He turned and tunneled back to the surface and waited for Match's next move. Fire bellowed up through the tunnel he'd dug through the ground, burning the grass and shrubbery. Dick.
Ciara, Cage, and Kai ran out into the garden. Jakob snarled at the trio. “Get her out of here.”
“Don't you two touch me.” She held up a hand and the two other wyverns stayed where they were.
Dammit, he didn't want her to get hurt. “Ciara, sweetheart –”
“Don't sweetheart me, Jakob. I'm not going anywhere until this is resolved.”
“This is how dragons resolve their differences. Don't get in the middle of it.” He didn't have a chance to warn her off any further because match climbed out of the whole and jumped into the air.
Shit, he had to go and take this into the sky. Jakob unfurled his wings, but didn't get a chance to take off, because match plops to the ground, his wings frozen stiff.
“Your witch did this to me.”
Jakob glanced at Ciara and back to Match and his icicles for wings squirming around on the ground. He shifted and burst into laughter.
“What’s he laughing at?” Ciara asked the other Wyverns.
Cage and Kia joined in the chuckles. Kai pointed and added a a layer of black ice underneath Match making him flail around even more. “It’s pretty damn funny seeing a big bad fire dragon frozen like an ice lolly.”
“Shut up, you assholes and get her to melt this trap she’s put on me.”
“Melt your own damn ice.” Jakob left match to his freezer burn and walked straight over to Ciara, swooped her up into his arms and kissed her right there in front of everybody.
She blushed adorably and they heat poured off of her. Cage and Kai both took a step back. Unfortunately, her warmth spread over to Match to and freed him from his icy bonds.
She’d shown him, shown the mall her power. Hopefully, that would satisfy Match.
The big red Dragon shifted back into the dickhead.
“Do you need a further demonstration of her powers, or that my soul shard has chosen her for me?” Jakob wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him as Match approached.
“Those could still be a bewitching. There's only one way I will believe she's a true white witch or that you two belong together.” Match folded his arms and glowered, a smug look on his face. “Give her the ring of Inanna.”
Because Jakob was the wyvern of the Green dragons, his lair held many treasures besides gold, art, and heirloom seeds. Beneath their feet also lie the the legacy of the Dragon culture. The relic was only one part of the items under his protection.
“Who is Inanna and why do you want me to have her ring?”
Match had come up with the one test that would prove what Jakob already knew in his heart. Ciara was the one thing he never thought he'd have, what no Dragon alive today thought they would see again in their lifetimes.
“If that's what it takes, you will see she is my true mate.”
“She'll have to find it first,” Match growled.
“What do I have to find?” There was a hint of irritation in her tone.
“Inanna was the first and only white witch and the first Dragon's mate. She bequeathed a ring to the mate of every wyvern, as a test. A true mate could not only find the ring, but was also gifted with power.”
“And what happens if one is in a true mate?”
Jakob didn't know. His father had no mate, and his grandparents were gone long before then. He looked around to Cajun Ky, but they both shrugged. None of the three of them had even met their grandparents, much less been to a wyvern mating ceremony. Which was why Jakob had never even sought to give Ciara the ring in the first place.
Match glared at Ciara. “The last ring in existence was my grandmother's. She fought a wicked battle against another witch who claimed to be my grandfather's true mate. When the other woman took the ring my grandmother found and put it on the elements tore her apart.”
Jakob waited for the knot of fear that statement had to form in his throat. But it didn't. Ciara would be fine, more than fine. She would rock the hell out of this challenge and put Match in his place once and for all.
But, did she know that? Did she actually believe they were mates?
He would have to reassure her as they prepared for the ceremony.
Or maybe not. The wind whipped through her hair and that enticing fire lit up her eyes. She held out her hand, palm up, and motioned Match closer.
Match narrowed his eyes at her but deigned to lean down, eye to eye with her.
“Bring it on.” Ciara turned on her heel and marched back into the house, the rest of them followed her while Match stayed outside smoking.
“Time to show us to your lair, you secretive bastard.” Cage looked around the room as if he could spot the entrance.
Fuck. He was going to have to take them down there. But, after losing the relic and the attack by the horde of demon dragons he was going to have to move his treasure anyway.
“Not yet. This is not something to just pull out of our asses. Why don't you two go find out from the big red Dick in the garden how this ritual goes.”
“What are you two going to do?” Cages tone implied exactly what he thought they were going to do.
“Help Ciara get ready.”
“Yeah, I just bet you are.” Kai winked at Ciara and waggled his eyebrows.
Jakob punched him in the arm and dragged Ciara away from the chance of any more innuendos from those two. He pulled her up the stairs and back to his room to do exactly what they had both implied.
He shut and locked the door behind them and watched as Ciara took in the veritable jungle of his bedroom. “I guess you like to have a lot of plants around, huh?”
He made the space as much like the outdoors as he possibly could have. One side of the room was completely covered with a living wall. Moss and other small plants grew from floor to ceiling. He had a large king size bed, but spent most of his evenings sleeping in front of the fireplace on the mat of grass in a Dragon sized planter box.
Imagine taking her over and over in that grass but today she would probably be more comfortable in a bed.
“What are we doing up here?”
“This.” He picked her up in his arms and in three strides was across the room and dropping her into the bed. He didn't give her any chance to ask any more questions. He'd waited far too long and had three too many interruptions before getting her under him again. He crawled over her, caging her beneath his body and slid his tongue across her lips until she opened for him and returned the kiss.
Ciara reached down and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and yanked it over his head. “I don't think this is what we are supposed to be doing.”
“All of those supposed to's can go fuck themselves. I've been waiting to do this since we got back to the house.” Match and the stick up his ass could wait a few more hours.
“I like how you think, Dragon.” She wrapped her thighs around his hips.
He loved how she was just as anxious to be with him as he was her.
“I want you to know that I don't need this test that match has set up to prove you are my true mate.” He brushed the hair away from her eyes and settled his hips against hers.
She wiggled under him almost making him forget what he'd wanted to say.
“You're not worried that I won't pass?” She bit her lip and he hated to see the bravado she'd displayed earlier fade from her eyes.
He captured that same lip between his teeth and sucked it into his mouth. He tasted and teased her tongue with his. He needed her and not just her body.
“Not even a little bit. Match doesn't understand, but even if he and the other wyverns hadn't questioned whether you were my mate or not, they eventually would've seen how I've fallen for you.”
She stilled. “You're not just saying that? It's not just this whole mating thing, is it?”
“Babe, you're everything I didn't even know I wanted in a mate. Your power, your fierceness, and the way you get a little crinkle between your eyes when you coming. How could I not already be a little bit in love with you?”
“Love?”
I know we started off bumpy, and we've only known each other for a short amount of time, but there's no other way to describe how I feel when I'm with you.” He didn't let Ciara ask any more questions. If she was having a hard time believing the words, maybe she would understand the actions better.
He grabbed the edge of one of the reps in her dress and tore it more. He wrapped the strip of material around one of her wrists and secured it through a decorative notch on the headboard. He'd paid close attention to her responses when they'd been together before and knew she got a sense of freedom out of this part of the submissive role.
The skin on her chest and neck flushed and she closed her eyes. “Did I say that I like how you think?”
“You didn't have to.”
He tore more of her dress exposing the rest of her thighs to him. Later later he'd be using those thighs as earmuffs. He loved the way she smelled and tasted.
“Wait, what if I want you to, well what I mean to say is…”
“What, cupcake? Tell me what you want, what you like.”
“How do you feel about doggy style?”
He sliced the knot he'd already tied open and flipped Ciara onto her stomach. “You mean Dragon style.”
He ground against her pushing the hard ridge of his caulk still covered by his pants against the cleft of her ass.
“Oh God, yes I did.”
He was about of material so instead he grew the small tree near the bed so that a branch looped around the bottom of the headboard. “Grab onto that and don't let go until I tell you to.”
He waited until she had her fists wrapped tightly around the wood before he lifted her ass into the air. The remaining fabric bunched and fell away so that her soft white skin was fair for him to touch. Or spank.
“Oh,” she cried out when he slapped her ass the first time.
“Do you like that, Ciara?” Pink spread across one of her ass cheeks. Please say yes, please say yes.
“Yes. But I'd like it even better if you did it while you were fucking me.”
Dirty, dirty fucking witch.
Jakob yanked down his pants without even unbuttoning or unzipping, shredding them and tossing them aside. His cock pointed the way, knowing exactly where he wanted to be. He slipped two fingers inside of her, making sure she was ready for him. She pushed her ass back, grinding onto his fingers. She wasn't just wet for him, she was soaking. He didn't wait another second before sliding into her.
“Ooh, you feel even bigger inside of me from this position.”
He smacked her ass and watched the little pucker of her hole tighten. So damn sexy. He sunk into her wet heat over and over, reveling in her gasps and moans. Each and every one of them was his. Each time he spanked her she would groan and clench both her pussy and her ass. He used his other thumb to circle and tease her pucker. “Tell me you'd like to have me here to.”
She shuddered and he felt the contractions of her inner muscles clench around him.
“Yes, yes I would.”
That was all he needed to hear. With his cock still buried deep in her cunt, he gently pushed the tip of his thumb in to her asshole. Then he slapped her ass again and she cried out his name.
“Jakob, that's going to make me come.”
“That orgasm is mine, don't you dare take it until I tell you to.”
That husky whimper he loved to hear came from deep in her throat. He increased his rhythm sliding his clock in and out of her, and spanking her over and over.
“Please,” she sucked in great lungful of air, “please, Jakob I need to come.”
He was going to make her come so hard she saw stars. He waited until he felt her pussy fluttering around his caulk and then moved his thumb, matching the rhythm in and out of her sensitive tissue.
“That it, my love let me hear you scream. Come for me Ciara.” She sank her face into the pillows and the branch in her hands broke in half before her body buckled under him. The force of the contractions squeezed him so hard and tight that her orgasm became his. If every time they had sex it got better, pretty soon they would never leave the bed room.
Ciara crumpled underneath of him and he lay down beside her rapping her in the blankets, his arms, and cocooning them in his wings. What could he say, but she brought the beast out in him.
He’d never lost control of his dragon shift, except around her.
She was asleep instantly. He grinned loving the fact that he'd fucked her sleep.
It had been a long few days for them both. But, while she rested he had work to do. As soon as she seemed settled he slipped out of bed and into the en suite bathroom. He cleaned himself and grabbed clean washcloth two use on her.
She moaned a little when he wiped the warm cloth across her body, but didn't wake up.
Jakob watched her sleep and sent up another prayer to the first Dragon Dragon for.
He threw on some clothes and crept out and all the way down to his lair.
Inanna’s ring was exactly where it should be in a smaller cave off the side of the larger cavern, where he stored all of the items important to Dragon lore. He would leave it where it was, for Ciara to find later. He opened a chest next to the stand the ring was on and rooted through until he found what he was looking for. He hoped she would like it.
He slipped back into the room, hoping she would still be asleep and that they might have time for one more round before match and the other wyverns got tired of waiting.
Jakob slid a box on the bed. It was one of those large rectangular boxes he’d seen in the movies with feathery tissue paper and a gorgeous gown inside. He’d love to see her twirl around holding it to her chest.
Ciara rolled over and blinked sleepy eyes at him. “Where did you go?”
“To get you this.”
He’d never given a woman a gift like this before. God, he hoped he’d done a good job and that she liked it. Women were weird about gifts and especially clothing. It wasn’t like she could go return it and get a handbag or something instead.
“Open it.”
“Come back to bed.”
“Open the box, my love.”
She glanced at it and tried to hide her smile. “Fine, but only because I'm insanely curious about what's inside.” She lifted the lid and slid open the layers of tissue paper. “Oh, Jake, it's so beautiful.”
A dress with hues of teal, jade, and gold, like a tropical island oasis made of silk and fairy dust sparkled in the box. “I can't wear it.”
“Why not?”
“It breaks every fashion rule don't for the plus-size girl. I'll look like giant couch masquerading as a bright green disco ball and it’s pretty impractical for a treasure hunt, don’t you think?”
“Those sound like stupid rules. You’ll look beautiful and this is a special occasion.”
“Nobody has ever bought me a dress before, besides my mother.”
“Put it on.” When this mess was over he’d buy her a new dress every week just so he could see how her face lit up at the gifts. Besides, it gave him the perfect excuse to undress her. Like he was going to do right now.
She pushed the box away and shook her head. “No.”
He slid the tattered sleeve of the top of the dress she still wore down her arm and followed his hand with kisses. “Yes.”
She gasped softly. “Don't think that because I let you get bossy with me in the bedroom that you can tell me what to do anytime or anywhere else.”
“We are in the bedroom, cupcake.”
She laughed and wagged her finger at him.”And we won’t get out of it if you don’t stop that.”
“I’m not sure I have a problem with that.” In fact, he didn’t. Once this damn ritual was over, and Ciara was officially his mate in the eyes of the AllWyr he’d spend hours, days, a month at least making love to her.
“Naughty dragon. I have to go prove to your friends that we belong together.”
Her words alone were nothing to make him worry. He knew they were meant for each other. The slight wobble made him want to kill someone.
He traced his fingers over her dragon mark. “I’ll tell them to fuck off if you want me to.”
“No.” She took his hand in hers. “We have enough other problems what with that horde of snake people. I have a horrible feeling we haven’t seen the end of them, have we?”
He’d almost forgotten about the demon dragons and the missing relic. “Afraid not.”
Ciara slid out from under the covers taking the sheet with her and wrapping it around her body. She climbed out of the bed looking like a goddess. “I didn’t think so. But, we can fight them off together.”
The thought of having Ciara fight by his side both terrified him and turned him on. The sex afterwards would be incredible.
“Come on, let’s get ready for the ring ritual and get the rest of the Wyverns the hell out of here. Because I’m looking forward to fucking you in every single room of this villa.”
The glimmer in her eye and the naughty grin on her face told him she liked that idea. “How many rooms does this place have?”
“Nine bedrooms, two great rooms, a kitchen, and office, and don’t forget about the lair. I’m pretty sure I have some golden handcuffs hiding down there somewhere.”
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