Chapter 12
Chloe had no idea what was happening to her as she felt something swelling at the base of Nathaniel’s cock, stretching the entrance to her pussy to an almost painful degree, before it stroked and stimulated that knot of nerves inside her. She cried out as her body was convulsed by a climax that threatened to rip her apart, followed by another, and then another.
“Nathaniel!” Her fingers gripped tightly to his tensed shoulders. Her body quivered and shook from the gut-wrenching intensity of those multiple climaxes.
“Just go with it,” he encouraged throatily
“As if I can do anything else!” Nothing happened when she tried to lift up and off Nathaniel. The pulsing hardness of his cock was literally locked inside her. That swelling on his cock filled her pussy entrance, something stroking the knot of nerves and stimulating her clit from the inside. “Is this normal?
“I wasn’t sure this would happen without the bite,” he ground out through gritted teeth.
“It’s part of the mating?”
“Yes,” he confirmed distractedly, his climaxes seeming to be as powerful as Chloe’s as he shot more hot cum deep inside her each time she climaxed.
This was going beyond pleasure and taking Chloe into a world where Nathaniel, the pulsing of his cock, and that stroking inside her became her only reality. “Is this going to happen every time?” she gasped a long time later when the climaxes started to subside.
“No.” Nathaniel didn’t feel it was the right time to tell Chloe that Dylan had warned him to expect it to be like this between them until Chloe became pregnant with his offspring. Which Dylan didn’t believe would happen until the mating was complete. Nathaniel hoped his brother was right about that, or he was going to have one seriously pissed-off Chloe on his hands.
He wasn’t even sure how he felt about it himself, let alone dropping that life-changing bombshell on Chloe.
Offspring.
That might or might not be born human.
“How close to your period are you?”
She raised her head to look at him. “What?”
Nathaniel knew by the blush in her cheeks that she had heard him the first time. “When did you last ovulate?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Past ovulation, then, Nathaniel calculated quickly.
“I’m taking the pill, if you’re worried about me getting pregnant,” Chloe added at his silence. “I’m not—Oh God…” she groaned, and Nathaniel felt her pussy contract as she lost herself in yet another climax. “I’m not completely stupid,” she spoke again minutes later, once the quaking of her body had abated, her damp forehead resting weakly on his shoulder. “But I’m obviously not completely sane either,” she muttered. “How can I be when I allowed myself to be carried off to Iceland and half mated by a dragon?”
“Chloe—”
“Don’t,” she warned fiercely. “How long are we going to be locked together like this?”
“Dylan believes ten, fifteen minutes tops.”
“Dylan knows about this? Which means you knew about this and didn’t tell me,” she added accusingly.
Nathaniel’s mouth tightened. “I couldn’t be sure,” he defended. “It doesn’t do this unless we’re with our mate, and none of us has ever mated before.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “What about the woman you said died from the lust fever?”
“It was almost two hundred years ago.”
“You said your brother Rufus died almost two hundred years ago, so was she his mate?”
“We believe so. He didn’t tell us about her, or what happened between them,” he snapped his impatience as she glared at him. “We’re the first we all know about, Chloe, which is why we can’t really be sure about any of this.”
“Oh God,” she choked. “I’ve just realized… I’m human, Nathaniel. What’s going to happen after I’m dead?”
“Jesus…”
“Well, it’s going to happen one day,” she blinked back tears, “so there’s no point in thinking it isn’t. Do you take another mate then?”
He gave a slow shake of his head. “There’s only one mate for each of us.”
“Fifteen hundred years alone, fifty, maybe sixty years with a mate, and then you’re left alone again?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore right now.” Even talking about Chloe dying made him feel violent.
“Fine,” Chloe snapped. “The mating lust seems to have abated now anyway, and I need some time to think about all of this. Away from you,” she added as he would have spoken. “As soon as this, whatever it is, stops, I need you to fly me back to England. As close to my apartment as it’s safe for you to land without your dragon being seen— I can’t believe I’m even saying these things!” She gave another groan. “You’ve totally bewitched me with all your dragon magnificence.”
Nathaniel didn’t know what to say to that. What could he say? He doubted Chloe was in any mood to hear, bite or not, that he believed the mating had already gone too far to be reversed. Yes, the mating lust had abated for now, but he had no doubt it would come back. That if they were apart for any length of time without satisfying that lust, Chloe would waste away and die, as Rebecca had after Rufus was killed.
Heavy stuff for a first date.
Well…it wasn’t even a first date, Nathaniel acknowledged with an inner groan, knowing he had gone about this in totally the wrong way. The two of them should have talked more before they did anything else. Discussed the situation so that Chloe knew exactly what she was getting herself into.
And if he hadn’t gone to her apartment and found her in that feverish state, if he hadn’t brought her to Iceland and started the mating, what then?
Chloe would have died, as Rebecca had died.
Nathaniel’s arms tightened possessively, and he held Chloe even closer against him. She was his, damn it. As he was hers. There would be no one else for either of them. Ever.
He would do whatever Chloe wanted him to do to in order to make this work for her.
Everything except let her go.
Chloe ached, everywhere, inside and out, and her bottom still felt as if it was on fire from where Nathaniel had spanked her when she woke from an exhausted sleep. She felt as if she had been in a battle—and lost. Badly.
She was also, she realized as soon as she opened heavy lids, lying on a bed of furs in a cave deep in the bowels of a mountain in Iceland.
What had she done?
All the memories of last night came flooding back to her.
Seeing and being mesmerized by Nathaniel’s dragon.
Being flown to Iceland by that dragon.
This cave.
That powerful lovemaking.
The way Nathaniel’s cock had swelled and locked inside her.
Those multiple orgasms.
My need to get as far away from Nathaniel as fast as I possibly can.
And then she had fallen asleep in his arms.
Sometime during the night, she had been vaguely aware of the shrinking of the barb on Nathaniel’s cock. Of feeling that still semihard length finally sliding from inside her. Followed by—
Ew.
She was lying in a sticky, uncomfortable mess, a result of her own and Nathaniel’s many releases.
Speaking of which, where was he?
She glanced cautiously about the cave and realized Nathaniel wasn’t here. Maybe he had gone off in search of that food he had promised her today. In the meantime, she was completely alone. In a cave deep in the heart of an Icelandic mountain.
A cave that had its very own hot and available bath, she reminded herself.
Chloe threw back the furs covering her and rose slowly to her feet, every muscle in her body aching as she hobbled over to the side of the hot spring. She gave a relieved sigh as she slid gingerly down into the soothing water. Keeping one hand on a rock, she used the other hand to explore beneath the milky blue water. It wasn’t that deep against the sides, maybe four feet or so, and there was a ledge along the side about three feet down.
It was a bit like sitting in a hot tub, Chloe discovered as she sat on the ledge and leaned her head back on the side. The gentle swirl of the water over and on her aching body had the same effect as a hot tub too. Her muscles started to unlock, and the soreness between her legs began to ease.
And she was no longer being consumed by that unbearable fever of arousal.
Which was something, at least. It made no difference to her, having decided she wanted to go back to England, to have some time away from Nathaniel and the craziness. But it was certainly a relief to no longer have that feeling of ants crawling across her skin, or as if she was being consumed from the inside out by her own desire.
Nathaniel insisted they were fated mates, but what did that mean?
Lots of out-of-control sex, for one thing!
Which, all things considered, wasn’t as unacceptable as she had told Nathaniel it was.
Except it had probably ruined her for being with any other man. How could a human man possibly compete with the sexual stamina of a man who was also a dragon?
Chloe gave a self-derisive snort as she acknowledged, to herself, at least, that the sex had been incredible. On a scale of one to ten, it had been a twenty. Way off-the-charts amazing.
Relaxed and no longer burning up with fever, she allowed one of her hands to wander across her thigh and explore between her legs. The soreness had gone now, and the lightest touch caused the lips of her labia to swell and her clit to throb.
If Nathaniel was here, she knew she would want him inside her again. But as Nathaniel wasn’t here…
Oh God, yes.
Slowly stroking her fingers over and around her clit caused her neck to arch, her breasts to thrust forward, the hard nipples being caressed and aroused by the swirling water.
Nathaniel came to a halt in the entrance to the cave the moment he saw Chloe in the hot spring and realized what she was doing. Her head was thrown back, eyes closed, her cheeks flushed, and her breathing ragged. The rhythmic movement of her arm told him she was stroking her fingers between her thighs, maybe even fucking herself with a couple of them at the same time as she masturbated her clit.
She had still been sleeping when he left the cave earlier, but obviously she was awake and needy now.
He left the fish he was carrying by the wall before moving stealthily across the cave, closer to where Chloe was totally lost in her own pleasure. He continued to watch her as he slowly began to peel the clothing from his own body.
Tiny pearl-white teeth fastened onto Chloe’s bottom lip, and the flush deepened in her cheeks, the movement of her arm increasing in speed as she neared completion.
Nathaniel was completely naked by the time Chloe pinched her nipple and groaned long and deeply as her body was racked by the deep shudders of her climax.
He slipped easily into the water beside her before speaking. “I think I enjoyed that as much as you obviously did.”
Chloe’s eyes opened in shock, embarrassed color heating her cheeks. “Where the hell have you been?” she attacked in an attempt to hide some of that embarrassment.
An attempt that failed if Nathaniel’s knowing smile was anything to go by. “Hunting down our dinner,” he answered calmly. “But there’s something else I urgently need to do before I start cooking.”
There was no way Chloe could miss seeing the predatory gleam in his eyes as he moved closer. Or that nine-inch club bobbing below the water. “Dinner?” she repeated defensively. “Shouldn’t that be breakfast?”
He shook his head. “You’ve been asleep for almost twenty-four hours.”
She’d slept almost a whole night and all the next day?
Well, she had been exhausted. But even so… “What are you doing?” she demanded sharply as Nathaniel moved to stand between her parted thighs, resulting in an instant return of her arousal.
He chuckled. “Guess.” He gave a low groan as the tip of his cock easily penetrated the entrance to her sheath. “God, that feels good.”
There was no denying it did feel good. It also felt right.
But it wasn’t, and Nathaniel must know that as much as she did.
All this, the attraction and instant arousal, was a result of the mating fever and the aphrodisiac saliva. Nothing had changed. They didn’t really know each other. Didn’t know if they even liked each other. Had no idea if they had any interests in common. From the moment they first met, conversation hadn’t been high on their list of priorities.
“No.” Chloe placed her hands against Nathaniel’s chest to stop his cock penetrating any farther. Good as it felt, one of them had to be sensible about this, so it might as well be her. “Sex isn’t the answer to everything.”
He placed his hands on the wall behind and either side of her, his head dipping as his lips began a delicate exploration of the sensitive flesh between the curve of her neck and shoulder. “Right now, it is.” His tongue rasped across that flesh, causing a shiver of reaction through the whole of Chloe’s body.
“No,” Chloe’s protest was only half-hearted this time, the touch of Nathaniel’s lips having their usual effect on her, the tip of his cock breaching her pussy and making her ache for him to go deeper. “I’m too sore from last night to take you knotting me again so soon. I— How about you sit on the side of the pool and I pleasure you instead?”
Nathaniel raised his head and studied her face for several long seconds. There was undoubtedly desire in the glitter of Chloe’s eyes and her puffy and slightly parted lips. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her with full penetration if she really was sore from last night.
“Okay.” He gave a low groan as he slipped his cock from between the heat of her pussy lips. He used his arms to easily pull himself from the water before sitting on the side of the pool, splaying his legs apart as Chloe stood in the water and moved to stand between his thighs.
He drew in a hissing breath as one of her hands moved to encircle the hardness of his cock while the other cupped the weight of his balls. Her long, damp hair brushed against his sensitive thighs as she lowered her head to lick the top of his cock.
She glanced up at him uncertainly mid-lick. “The barb isn’t going to swell up in my mouth, is it?”
“Doubtful.” He knew from experience Chloe wouldn’t be able to take the whole nine inches into her mouth or down her throat, but wisely decided not to tell her that.
“But not certain?”
“I’m certain.” After her panic at the end of their lovemaking last night, he wasn’t going into the details of how it was her cum that had triggered the swelling and knotting of his cock inside her.
And then he couldn’t think at all as the heat of Chloe’s mouth enveloped the full tip of his cock, her tongue probing and caressing the slit at the top before she took him to the back of her throat.
Jesus!
Nathaniel leaned back on his hands and watched through slitted lids as Chloe’s hand stroked along his length and her head began to bob slowly up and down in the same rhythm. Her tongue was a sensual swirl along the length of his cock each time she moved up, the head of his cock fitting perfectly in the back of her throat when she moved down again.
It was heaven and torture at the same time.
It felt so good, he wanted it to last forever, but the tightening of his balls and the steady leak of pre-cum down the length of his cock told him he wasn’t going to last long.
He wasn’t going to last at all if Chloe continued to press her finger against the sensitive skin beneath his balls and along his perineum.
“Shit!” He let out a hoarse cry and came the moment that finger penetrated the tight ring of muscle farther back. Hot cum shot along the length of his cock and exploded into her waiting mouth. That finger inside him and the reflex of her swallow squeezing the top of his cock caused him to keep pumping into her mouth until there was no cum left in him for her to swallow. He fell back weakly onto the stone floor the moment Chloe raised her head and her fingers stopped their torment. “You’re far too good at that,” he groaned.
“I am?” Chloe crawled out of the water to lie down at his side, her head on his shoulder, fingers lightly playing with the dark misting of hair on his chest.
“I don’t—” Nathaniel stilled, his dragon senses telling him there was another predator close by. Several predators. Too close to his mate. He sat up slowly, taking Chloe with him. “I want you to get dry and dressed.” He spoke softly as he rose to his feet and pulled on his jeans.
“Nathaniel?”
He hated the sudden look of fear he could see in Chloe’s eyes. Whatever this predator was, it would die for frightening his mate. “There is something, or someone, up above. I’m going to the surface. There’s a gun in my backpack, if it isn’t me that comes back through the cave entrance.”
“A gun?” She looked startled as she slowly rose to her feet. “What is it you think is up there?”
“I don’t know yet. But don’t be afraid to shoot them if you have to,” he instructed distractedly, his attention all centered on the danger he sensed above them.
“I don’t have the faintest idea how to fire a gun.” Chloe looked and sounded panicked.
“The safety catch is already off. Try not to tense up and just aim and fire it. Whatever you hear, do not come up to the surface. You’ll have the advantage if you wait for them to come to you.” His movements were predatory as he stalked toward the cave entrance.
“Nathaniel!” Chloe knew she sounded slightly hysterical. But that was probably because she was! Two minutes ago, she hadn’t had a care in the world except to hope she had pleased Nathaniel, and now it seemed Nathaniel had sensed there was some sort of danger close by. Although how the hell he knew that, she had no idea.
Dragon.
He paused in the cave entrance to turn and look at her. “It will be okay, Chloe. I promised I wouldn’t let anything hurt you,” he reminded her grimly.
“And we both know you keep your promises,” she choked out as she moved swiftly across the cave. Her hands rested against the warmth of his chest as she reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips. “Stay safe,” she said gruffly.
His smile was confident. “Nothing will happen to me, I’m the biggest predator in the world.” He kissed her. “Now get dressed.” He gave her a light smack on her bare bottom. “I’ll be back before you even miss me,” he assured her before disappearing out and along the passageway to the surface.
Chloe felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she watched him go.
Being the biggest predator didn’t mean he was also the swiftest.
But he could breathe fire, she reminded herself.
And the length and thickness of his powerful tail was a weapon in itself.
As well as those lethal claws.
Nathaniel would be safe.
He had to be.
But Nathaniel wasn’t back before Chloe missed him. How could he be when she missed him the moment he disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel outside the cave?
Waiting for him to come back, the minutes slowly ticking by, and having absolutely no idea what was going on above her was excruciating. She had never felt so alone.
She filled some of the time by doing as he’d asked, drying herself and dressing, before searching through his backpack for the gun. Merely looking at it made her feel slightly queasy, so she doubted very much there was any way she was ever going to be able to fire it.
When she simply couldn’t stand the waiting any longer, Chloe picked up her flashlight and left the cave to follow Nathaniel, the gun gripped tightly in her other hand.