Page 51 of Dragon’s Rogue

Yeah, right. On the other hand, he had saved her from the coven. And from smashing onto her own terrace in a bloody heap. She shivered again and Zane tightened his hold on her fractionally, pulling her a bit closer.

As if he were trying to comfort her.

Maybe he was a friendly dragon. “Your name’s not Puff, by any chance, is it?”

If you start singing that ridiculous magic dragon song, I’m dropping you. But he still sounded like he was kidding. Probably.

Slowly, Blaze relaxed in his arms. He was holding her so gently. She would never have expected a dragon to be gentle. They were supposed to be terrifying. Cruel and arrogant and uncaring about anything but themselves and their clans.

Contemptuous of humans.

And yet, he’d saved her. She put a hand tentatively on one of his big scaly fingers, stroking the skin, marveling once more at its unexpected softness.

She felt him smile again, in her mind, without even saying anything. Warmth spread through her.

“I guess I could go there for a little while. To your lair,” she said. “But don’t try anything. I have magic powers and I’m not afraid to use them.” Although she felt right now like she’d used them all up.

There was a feeling of silent laughter. Don’t worry. I don’t eat humans.

That was a relief.

Unless they’re beautiful women, and they beg me.

She got a sudden flash of herself lying back in a huge, medieval canopy bed hung with rich velvet curtains. She was leaning against a pile of down pillows, naked, with her hair spread over the pillowcases like a flame. Hundreds of candles illuminated the room, giving it a romantic, rosy glow.

And Zane was there, also naked, candlelight burnishing his skin to bronze, his head between her legs, lips and tongue worshiping her sex, driving her to the edge…

She could physically feel it. She gasped, and a rush of heat and wet pooled between her legs.

The image cut off abruptly. Sorry.

Wait, he could put things in her mind without realizing he was doing it? That would explain what had happened the first time he kissed her.

But now she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in her gallery. How gentle he’d been, how intense. The song of the gold, and the feeling like her whole body was glowing.

Holy hell. She’d had sex with a dragon.

And she still wanted him. Blaze leaned back against the soft, warm dragon skin, with no idea what she was going to do next.

When they’d passed the graceful curve of the Fremont bridge, sparkling with lights, Zane beat his great wings hard, climbing in a wide curve. Then he swooped down towards what looked like a huge, rocky cliff. The ragged stone rushed toward them at terrifying speed.

Blaze closed her eyes.

She felt Zane lift his chest and swing his hindquarters down, backwinging to slow them down. They landed with almost no vibration, and Zane set her gently on her feet, holding her with his forepaws until he was sure she was steady.

Blaze opened her eyes and looked around.

They were on the roof of a huge stone house that looked like part of the cliff. For a moment it looked like nothing more than a pile of rocky crags, and then she blinked and it looked like a house again. Like one of those 3-D optical illusions, where you could see a figure against the background if you looked at it just right.

There was a glamour on this place, Blaze realized—a spell that hid it in plain sight. The idea of trying to place a permanent glamour on a mansion made her feel faintly nauseated. Trying to use that much power could kill you.

There were no lights to be seen, but there was a soft luminous glow surrounding her, allowing Blaze to see dimly.

She turned to look at Zane.

His huge head hovered above her, looking down. His snout was elongated, just like a fairy-tale dragon, with a backward-curving horn on his nose and two smaller ones protruding from his eye ridges. She could see a hint of long, wickedly pointed teeth.

But his eyes—the glow was coming from his eyes. Electric blue irises with thin vertical pupils, deep black slits except for a pinpoint of flame right in the center. They were mesmerizing.