He brought my thumb to her mouth, and she sucked it in, laving it with her tongue. When it was wet and shiny, he brought it back to her clit. She mewled in pleasure.
It was as though I could feel everything, but couldn’t do anything. The sweetest kind of torture. I felt her responses with all of my heightened senses. Her thoughts screamed at me, and I felt everything my beast did to her. Heard how much she liked it, how she wanted more and more.
When she clenched around me, my dragon yielded, victorious. I came back to myself and cried out, unsteady as my senses whirled. My dragon only half gave the reins back, merely wanting to share the moment fully.
Elena was sobbing with her release, her hands in my hair, her body wrapped completely around me with abandon.
“Rhys,” she said. “I can’t…”
“I’m here. I’ve got you.”
She turned blindly I met her mouth with mine, tongues battling as I swallowed back her moans.
As Elena settled into aftershocks, instinct had me wanting to put space between us, but her legs locked around me like tangled vines. I had no words as instinct turned to panic so I couldn’t protest, but she didn’t let me.
Trembling though she was from exertion, she rolled with me until I was on my back, like she’d done in the beginning. Her eyes met mine, and she began to ride, adjusting until she found a spot that had moans coming from deep inside her chest. All I could do was hold on.
She was wet and warm and tight around me. Not quite steady because she was tired and twitchy from her orgasm, but she knew what felt good and worked herself over me until all my muscles were tense, trying to hold myself back.
There was no holding back from her. She listened to my breathing, read the spasmodic jerks from my muscles as I grew closer and closer to the edge, and adjusted herself accordingly until her hips were rocking back and forth over me, driving my cock deep inside her with each movement. I tried to distract myself by nibbling on her breasts, which swayed and bounced in front of my face, but it only made it worse. She tasted so good and felt so good. There was no denying it.
I clamped down on her hips with my claws, restricting her movement and she fused her mouth with mine. I was afraid I was drawing blood, bruising her sweet flesh like a tender piece of fruit, but she lapped at my mouth, murmuring sweet words of encouragement.
I needed no encouragement. There was no stopping. I wrapped my arms around her waist as she brought me to the precipice and over. She bewitched the orgasm out of me as I pressed my lips to the mark at her neck, much to the satisfaction of the beast who prowled inside of me.
15
Elena
The nights aboard the ship became ours.
Rhys healed quickly, more quickly than I’d ever seen any shifter do. He showed his gratitude for taking care of him by splaying me out before him on the furs like a feast and licking at me until he deemed me well satisfied. The only complaint I had was the journey across the sea came to an end much too swiftly for my liking. I enjoyed having Rhys to myself, isolated as we were amongst the group of his men, who left us alone under strict instruction.
Haran was a small village on the southernmost tip of the Northlands. It wasn’t navigable by amateurs because of the steep cliffs of rock and ice. Few ventured to the port save for the shifters who called the frozen continent home. From my vantage point at the bow of the ship, I studied the treacherous approach with more than a hint of disbelief. No one could maneuver the jagged rock without the gift of flight, but somehow the industrious captain angled the boat with a deftness akin to magick. I wondered if the skill was characteristic of the Dragon-Clan.
“Better hold on tight, Lady Blaque,” Rhys murmured and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Wouldn’t want you to fall over.”
I glanced down over the edge of the ship to the dark, glacial water below. Was it my imagination or were there shadows the size of small carriages shifting underneath us? It was a strange unfamiliar world I was traveling to. The thought was exhilarating. The novices and the temple felt very far away from this foreign land. Rhys pulled my attention from the water and pointed to something in the distance. Peaks of winter white thrust against the clear, blue sky.
“Is that your home?” I wondered aloud. Or maybe I thought it.
“Ancestral palace to the Dragon-Clan. A short ride from Haran.”
“I’m eager to see it.” I was, truth be told. Something had happened on our journey north I couldn’t put into words. A shifting of heart, maybe. I’d had his blood on my hands. The threat of losing him had bound us together more thoroughly than magick ever could.
I let him hold me until the ship docked and his soldiers disembarked. His hand was on my arm as he led me down the rough-hewn wooden planks where another carriage was waiting in the slush-brown snow.
Leisha climbedinside when Rhys took my arm. I turned back to him with a quizzical expression.
“You aren’t riding in the carriage,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“I’m not?”
“We’re going to fly.”
My responding smile was automatic. “We are?”
I’d been too afraid after our binding ceremony to enjoy our first flight together. It was considered taboo for shifters to fly with those who weren’t their mates, so I could never ask Gideon to take me to the skies. I was certain he’d say no, anyway.
