His expression tightened, and around me, the air seemed to go freezing cold for a flash of a second. Then it all withdrew, and this languorous, tingling heat was left in its wake, raising goosebumps all along my flesh. “Bianca,” he said, mouth practically on mine, his tone implying he wanted to tell me to go away—though it begged me to turn him away. I didn’t. I nipped his lush bottom lip instead. The answer was a growl so deep and loud it rattled through my flesh and made my most sensitive core tremble against the warmth of his leg.
“Yes,” I said again. “More. I will never turn you away.” I meant it; it was a vow that felt as natural as breathing.
Chapter 10
Isárr
I’ll never turn you away. How could she say that, knowing what I was and what I did? The curse it was to live in my presence and to share my life, it should have sent her running for the hills. Did she not understand it? I could kill her at any moment without meaning to. The thought alone made the air chill around me, and even that did not seem to bother her one bit.
It felt like I was being torn in two, caught between conflicting desires and instincts. My dragon half insisted, with utter faith, that I could never hurt her, but the more human, rational side couldn’t believe it. The desire to protect her was something all of me agreed on, but when it came to how… stay, leave, hide her with my hoard? Right now, it was very hard not to toss her over my shoulder and drag her to the hidden cave behind my cabin—to lay her on my pile of gold and diamonds and fuck her so she said my name over and over on that sweet, sexy sigh.
My cock was an aching brand inside my pants, and I pressed more tightly against her eagerly wriggling body. She was so warm, so welcoming, and I couldn’t understand how she could be so willing to let in a flawed monster like me. If I wasn’t holding on to the last shreds of my control, I would shred her clothes right here and take her, claim her. Claim her body the way I’d already staked my claim on her pretty mouth.
“Bianca,” I said again, tempering the urge to growl, to warn everyone far, far away from my mate. “Aren’t we out here tofind your missing idiot?” Against my better judgment, I slid my hands from her hair, along the curve of her spine, and cupped the incredible curves of her ass. Then I raised her in the air, pinning her further against the tree. Her legs splayed wide, then curled around my hips, and her fingers dug into the wool covering my shoulders.
“Did you have to bring him up?” she complained, a smile that was all tease before it seemed to sober. “Do you think he’s alive?” I immediately shook my head, unwilling to give her any false hope. Anyone outside in the storm last night was dead. Even animals with more sense and access to shelter had perished, and not just because of my deadly power. Not to mention the evil that had been on the prowl, hunting for vulnerable souls. If this Kevin had not died from exposure, he’d have fallen prey to the thing in our dreams.
“I don’t think so either,” she said softly, a hint of sadness in her tone that I instantly wanted to banish. A novel, crazy thought rose to the surface of my mind then: Could I use my powers to track him? I’d never tried it before, but, sensitive as I was to temperatures, could I sense his body heat if it existed? It was not something I’d ever heard other dragons in my family discuss, but then, how long had I been out of touch with them? Three centuries?
“Let me try something, Elskling,” I said, then bit hard on my tongue when I realized what had slipped out. Elskling? Darling? Seriously? When was the last time I’d said that to anyone? And now here she was, crashing into my heart the way she’d crashed into my house last night.
She offered me this trusting smile, her arms growing tighter around my neck, not a hint of unease. She looked perfectly comfortable—and even in the cold breeze—cozy and warm. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes sparkling, her mouth inviting. I had not even realized I was sheltering her from the weather with my powers, but I was: a gentle, careful tug on the coldness in the air near her body, designed to keep her comfortable. I was almost impressed with my control when I discovered it.
“Are you going to do something dragonish to find him? Can I help?” she asked, her eyes roving my face as if it held all the answers. Dragonish, like it was an adventure, a mystery. Like it was magical and exciting, and not certain doom. She was too sweet, too hopeful, and I was going to tarnish that brightness with my three hundred years of built-up resentment and self-loathing.
“Yes, just… stay with me,” I heard myself say, and my arms shifted around her, cradling her closer while making our pose slightly less sensual. Not that it helped much. If I lowered her just a little, she’d be pressed right against my cock. How was I supposed to concentrate knowing that?
“Not going anywhere, remember?” she whispered, and then I felt her fingers swirl through my hair—my blue hair, which I’d always resented. If the horns didn’t do the trick, the blue hair ensured I had to be an outcast anyway. “Your hair is so pretty, Ísarr. My friend Claire would be so envious! She’s currently rocking purple, but she was blue last winter.”
I huffed out a surprised and slightly confused laugh. “Stop distracting me, Elskling.” Seriously—pretty? I supposed I really had been out of the loop if she thought blue hair was totallynormal. Luther had been telling me they made dye for it now, but I hadn’t quite believed him.
“Sorry,” she said, her guilty expression so adorable that I couldn’t resist leaning in and quickly pecking her lips. Her taste was even more of a distraction, but I pushed it aside to focus on what I was going to try. I sank into my senses, letting my powers uncoil inside my gut, and relinquished control just a tad. Not so tightly clasped for fear of letting even the slightest bit of it slip, but lowering all my walls one by one to send them rolling out into the snow-covered world.
Sensing the warm spots in the ice was not as strange a task as I had thought it might be. There was my mate, my bright, kind-hearted Bianca, like a flame in my arms. Then I found all the little mice tucked in their tunnels and nests, a fox in his den, a doe and her year-old young in a thicket, resting before they would use the cover of falling dark to forage for food. Yes, this might work. I needed to stretch a little further, to encompass my entire domain. The dragon in me huffed, pleased with this exercise. Yes, know my land, know my subjects, and rule with icy claws.
I did not think I’d find him; this would only work if he’d survived the storm, after all. Given the idiocy of his actions, that seemed extremely unlikely. A man willing to abandon his lady on a snowy hill in the middle of nowhere was not much of a man in my eyes. He did it right before a storm hit, and right before nightfall. That didn’t just make him an idiot; it made him scum.
When I found the flicker of warmth, I thought at first it might be some other big animal—a bear maybe, or cattle that had wandered off. There were Peter’s goats, but the old Satyr livedacross town; it was unlikely they’d wandered this far. I tested my findings over and over, but it was definitely a heat signature, and it was moving—slowly but steadily—in our direction. It was still at least a couple of miles away.
This part was speculation more than fact. I couldn’t actually know for sure, but I was certain it was him. Not one of the residents from Hillcrest Hollow. I’d recognize the shape of the werewolves. Luther would be moving much faster as a vampire, and both the sheriff and the deputy could fly. No, it wasn’t them, which left only one option.
“I think I found him, alive,” I said softly, a whisper only. My eyes had scrunched tightly shut, and I was almost afraid to open them and see how Bianca responded to that news. Happy, sad, relieved? Did knowing her ex was alive mean she wanted to go back to him when we rescued him? The jealousy that sliced through me was sharp, swift, and terrible. I’d kill the bastard for what he’d done, and I’d kill him if he dared to take her from me.
Her mouth on mine jerked me back from the edge. I’d been extremely close to losing control and shifting—just so I could quickly pounce on my rival and make him vanish, make sure there was no competition for my mate. That kiss, it was like she was telling me that he didn’t matter, but I did. Only a very small part of me was rational enough then to remember that distance was the only way to protect her. The bigger part of me knew that distance was impossible now.
Against her soft mouth, I sighed, then greedily drank in her taste. “He’s actually moving in our direction. I’ll pick him up in a minute and drop him in Jackson’s lap first. We need to do this.” I shifted her in my arms, then kissed her to distract her fromhow I was undoing the zipper on her coat. She might protest that she’d get cold, but I’d never let the cold touch her. I was in absolute control.
Coat open, I slid my hand beneath the too-large clothing I’d lent her that morning. My shirt, my flannel, covered her pale skin and silky bra. She moaned as I cupped her breast and stroked my thumb over her hard nipple. It would be so easy to open her pants, open mine, and slide home—claim her. I couldn’t, my mind tried to remind me, but that voice was silenced by the red tide of passion. She clawed her nails along the back of my neck and sucked my tongue the way I wished she’d suck my cock.
I needed her. Right now.
Chapter 11
Bianca
Learning that Kevin might be alive was barely relevant when Isárr suddenly unleashed all that passion on me—I knew he’d been holding back. Like a dam breaking when I kissed him, he became a man possessed, and I was all too happy to go along with it. Was it crazy to let him undress me in the freaking snow? Perhaps. Was it crazy to do this outside, where anyone could just walk up to us? And was it perhaps craziest of all to believe that being with Isárr was exactly what my life had always been headed for? Fate?
My North Star pendant felt hot against my chest, where it dangled between breasts my dragon was pawing as if they belonged to him. It felt as though it were telling me, Yes, this is exactly right. This is where I guided you to go.
