“Looks a little treacherous out there,” she commented, the excitement in her violet eyes unmistakable. Although the rain had lessened, it was still gusty and the wind chilly. Thunder still rumbled, and lightning flashed over the angry sea.
“’Tistreacherous,” I agreed, chanting a railing into place when she tossed aside her fur cloak, flashed me a brilliant smile, and headed out into the elements just like I knew she would.
“What’s this all about?” Aspen pouted from me to the railing. “Doesn’t this kind of defeat living on the edge?” She snorted when I joined her, then swung over the railing as effortlessly as she’d placed her beautiful arse on my desk and called over her shoulder, “Any idea what it’s like climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world? There’s certainly no railings.”
“I imagine ‘tis something—” I chanted the railing away because it was clearly pointless— “and done with safety equipment lest you slip.”
“And I have that here just as much, if not better, I’d say.” Her dragon eyes flared at me, and she grinned. “Safety equipment can falter, but I guarantee an alpha dragon shifter like yourself would keep me from plummeting to my death if I slipped.” She shrugged and smoothly made her way down the small sets of slick stairs to each rocky level despite the erratic wind and ocean spray. “And who knows, maybe my inner dragon would finally emerge, and I’d save myself?”
“Iwouldsave you,” I confirmed, not surprised by my intense worry about her regardless. “But it doesnae stop the fear I would experience at you coming so close to death, to begin with. ‘Twill be better once you shift, and I know you can handle your dragon.”
“Understandable.” Soaked but loving it despite how cold, thanks to her ever-emerging dragon blood, Aspen finally reached the lowest level, which wasn’t in the water but close enough that waves higher up could crash over and rush into a sizable pool carved into the rock.
“This isincredible,” she murmured, taking it all in from the far larger pool to a smaller one tucked against the cliff wall where I’d chanted a wall torch aflame. Water frothed and churned in both pools, caught up in the storm as if they were part of the sea itself.
“You use these pools often, don’t you?” She looked from me to the pools. “In both forms.”
“I do.”
Where most women who dared this far on such a night might be inclined to head back up to the warmth and safety of my chamber, Aspen was no such woman as her eyes met mine. Instead, she removed her shoes and slowly untied the strings at the front ofher dress before she pulled it down, exposing her breasts. Lush enough and well-rounded, they were as exquisite as the rest of her as she let the dress pool around her ankles, revealing a toned hourglass body I intended to spend a lifetime exploring.
I didn’t bother removing my clothes but chanted them away when she sauntered toward the smaller pool, sensual in her movements like a sea goddess, giving me a view of her lovely backside and long, shapely legs. Where the borderline frigid temperatures would be dangerous for humans, dragons thrived in them, so I wasn’t worried about her stunning flesh being exposed to the elements. Nevertheless, because it would lend even more intimacy, I chanted warmth into the smaller pool, followed her in, and yanked her into my arms before she could go any further.
No words were exchanged, only a long, lingering look as I sank into the water, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I couldn’t help but groan with approval at the feel of her flesh against mine.
Her hot, moist center against my eager cock.
A bit rougher than before because it was in my beast’s nature, I dug my hand into her hair and angled her head back, pleased when I sensed she liked how I handled her now. Even more pleased at the little rumble of pleasure in her throat when I laved the flat of my tongue up her neck, savoring the taste of her sweet flesh before I closed my lips over hers in a near-violent, hungry kiss because I was so desperate for her. Desperate in a way I had never come close to with any other and knew I never would again if I lost her.
Somehow, she was everything to me, and I’d had no idea until hours ago. No idea someone so extraordinarily important to not just my inner beast but my very soul was out there. Out there waiting for me, whether we knew it or not.
I knew it now, though.
More pointedly, I felt it to the core as she slid onto my swollen erection as if she’d been taking it inside her for years and rode me so slowly at first my dragon eyes ignited, and I growled in both pleasure and need, unable to hold back anymore.
When she grunted in approval, and her dragon eyes flared as I went from caressing her firm backside to grabbing it more tightly and steering her up and down my shaft, I knew we would pleasure each other greatly as the years wore on because she belonged to me and I to her. It was right there in the way our frenzy to let go together synchronized, and she rode me as intensely as I did her, our every move fitting together like a puzzle piece.
Despite icy seawater crashing over the edge and sizzling against our steamy skin, our actions were almost more volatile than the elements themselves. My back hit the edge of the pool, and she rode me even faster, pushing me over the edge before I could stop it...stopher.Right there with her, I slammed into her one last time, locked up, roared with release, and poured myself into her. When I did, as if she had timed it because she probably had, Aspen cried out in pleasure like I knew she’d wanted to the first time we lay together and let go as well.
And nothing had ever felt so good.
Not even the first time with her, and I thought nothing could outdo that despite how brief it had been. This time was supposed to be slower so I could cherish every inch of her, but I imagined that would happen soon enough. Either way, as we held onto each other tightly, afloat in the ecstasy we could bring one another, I knew every time would be unique and feel incredibly good.
Beyond good.
It would be addictive and hard to stay away from because I could already tell we would be insatiable when it came to oneanother. We would struggle to keep our hands off each other when we were together and suffer with longing when we were apart. Not just for the physical aspects but whatever else blossomed between us because I suspected it would be a profound love.
“So much, so fast,” she whispered hoarsely in my ear as we continued holding on tightly to each other, and she shook in my arms, releasing with her whole body in a way that greatly appealed to both sides of me. “Yet not nearly fast enough.”
“Aye.” I rested my cheek on top of her head and closed my eyes, soaking up the moment amid my ongoing release. “I couldnae agree more.”
We said little after that but held one another until we eventually made our way back to my chamber and into our bed because the moment I laid her on it, I knew it had been designed for her. Although my inner beast’s magic had created it years ago, I suspected it depicted her dragon.
Could my dragon have somehow seen past the spell cast on me? Past all the lies? That saddened me more than I wanted to admit, but I’m not sure I would have wanted to forfeit knowing Storm because she meant a great deal to me and always would. Just not the way she had before, and I think she knew it if not when we last saw each other, then certainly now.
Based on the fact Aspen was truly my dragon’s other half, Storm’s letters had merely prepared my mate for me in the best ways possible. How else could it be when Aspen, a strong, independent woman eager for her next adventure, was willing to give up the future and all its technological advancement and excitement to be with a man living six hundred years in her past?
“I don’t know,” she pondered drowsily, a smile in her voice after we lay together again and finally took the time to adore each other’s bodies properly. “Something tells me the adventures I’mgoing to find right here by your side, whether in bed or not, are going to be far better than anything the twenty-first century has to offer.”
