He ventured deeper, the smooth stone walls shrouding them in darkness, and he followed the large paths—large enough he could walk through them in his dragon form—down into the belly of the rock. His den.
Luella was quiet in his arms. Her hands no longer touched his face, but she held them to her chest, as if scared to touch him, never mind that her legs were wrapped around his hips, his cock digging into the soft flesh of her inner thigh. He felt himself grow hard at the soft feel of her, the creamy strawberry scent of her. A perfect temptation.
Luella gasped. "V-Vale?"
It seemed she felt him, too.
She wiggled against him, and he stilled her with a hand at her nape, gritting out, "Quit moving." Every shift of her against him rubbed against his sensitized flesh. He was walking a thin line, suspended over nothing but embers and ash and desire.
The top of her head brushed his jaw as she tilted her head down, tucking it against his neck. Still, she did not touch. Her cheek hovered above his chest, breaths cool against his overheated skin.
He felt her shame, and as the smooth walls opened up into the heart of his den, waves of wonder washed over him through their bond.
Vale rumbled, pleased.
The heart of his den was a warm, dark space. Small enough that his dragon could curl up and touch the walls as if cocooned, but large enough that, as a male, Vale was dwarfed by the towering cavern of stone.
Stalactites dripped from the ceiling, their ends wrapped with shimmering chains of gold that reflected the mountains of jewels scattered in the corners. Ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond, and small chunks of gold heaped in piles, casting flickering strips of light on the walls and floors.
The center of the room dipped naturally in a soft concave shape from how often his dragon had lain, curled up, on the ground. The edges were flat, the difference startling.
Vale walked the circumference of the room, staying away from the impression in the center as he headed for the thick pile of furs nestled between a stone hearth and a case set into the stone wall, filled with even more of his possessions. Stolen crowns, daggers, velvet cases stuffed with coins lined the bottom, but on the top shelves… possessions his dragon had been accumulating since that godsdamned day he had been called to the Fate’s lair.
It had started with a small ring he had taken from a visiting noble when he had been a youth, growing as the centuries passed. A rose gold ring, a shimmering necklace made entirely of diamonds that dropped from the delicate chain like snow.
Sometime between growing into the King he was, killing his father, and watching as Caliban had fallen prey to love’s tricks—or so he thought—he had felt less of an inclination to steal jewelry for his future Vincire. But, when he hadseenher…
Most of the additions that graced the shelves were new.
Because he had finally had a face to envision when he coveted jewelry. Imagined Luella’s skin, draped with deep sapphire, amethyst, and white gold.
"Oh," she breathed, "all of this jewelry… It’s yours?"
Vale tapped her hip, signaling he was going to let her down. "Yes—my hoard." He bit back the urge to ask if it was pleasing to her. "Can you stand?" She nodded, and he gently slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor, gritting his teeth when she pressed against the source of his desire. "I must make haste and return to the castle. You will be safe here alone."
He bent, exposing his naked back to her. He didn’t care to wrap a fur cloak around him, not when he was going to shift again soon. Shifters did not care for such things as nudity. It was as normal as night and day.
And she would know his flesh as well as her own—one day, he hoped.
He closed his eyes as he knelt over the hearth, calling forth his dragon fire. Puffing a great breath of air, he allowed the flames to seep from within him and light the hearth. The orangish glow chased away the chill surrounding his furs, and he stood, finding her watching him, wavering with one foot balanced on her tiptoes and the other awkwardly stretched behind her on her heel.
"Turn around. Let me see your back." Vale did not wait for her to obey, but simply walked to her back, staring at the pure white of her feathers, and the glamored bandage he knew wrapped around her midsection. The air was filled with the iron tang of her blood. But it was less than it had been.
Gods, he was scared to even touch her.
Luella turned her head and peered up at him, her windswept hair falling around her face in frizzed curls. "Do not worry about me." She looked down, lashes casting shadows on her cheeks as the fire warmed her profile. "Go get them.Now." She took a teetering step away from him, and his hands lashed out to catch her, but she righted herself without him, chest heaving. "Do not let them die, Vale. I will… never forgive you for any of it if you do," she told him.
Vale nodded slowly. He had too much to prove to her. And barely any time to do so. "I will bring them to you," he said. He looked at her, then his furs. "Try to get some rest. It may be a few hours."
He lamented the fact that he did not have food or water stored in his den. Usually, he would leave to hunt.
Protect her. Don’t leave.
Stay.
She is ours.
Vale knew he must leave now, or he would never be able to go.
