Page 52

"Kavan," she gasped, her hands finding my hair and gripping almost painfully. "I'm going to—oh God, I'm—"

I slid two fingers inside her, felt her tight heat clench around them, and that was all it took. She came apart with a cry that echoed off the stone walls, her body gripping my fingers in rhythmic waves, her thighs shaking against my shoulders. I worked her through it, gentling gradually, pressing soft kisses to her inner thighs as she came down.

When I finally looked up at her, she was staring at me with dazed eyes, her chest heaving, her skin glowing in the candlelight.

"That was..." she started, then stopped.

"Just the beginning," I promised, and kissed my way back up her body.

When I reached her mouth, she kissed me with a desperation that matched everything I'd been holding back all night, her tongue tangling with mine. Her hands were everywhere. In my hair, across my shoulders, sliding down my back to grip and pull me closer.

"I need you inside me," she said against my lips, raw and clear. "Please, Kavan. Now."

My dragon surged in full agreement, ancient and absolutely certain, but I paused. I looked down at her flushed face, the trust shining there, and took a careful breath.

"If I hurt you—" I started.

"You won't," she said firmly, her hands coming up to hold my face. "I trust you."

Three words. That was all they were, and they undid something in me I hadn't known was still holding.

I positioned myself at her entrance, feeling how hot and ready she was. I was bigger than any human male she'd been with. I was conscious of that, and careful with it. So I pushed in slowly, watching her face for any sign of pain.

Her eyes went wide as I entered her, her mouth falling open in a silent gasp. She was so tight and so hot, and the feeling of her gripping me was so overwhelming that it took genuine effort to hold myself still.

"Okay?" I managed through gritted teeth.

"Yes," she breathed. "More. Give me more."

I pushed deeper, inch by careful inch, feeling her body adjust to accommodate me. She made small sounds. Not quite pain, not quite pleasure, balanced somewhere between.

"Breathe," I said, pressing my forehead to hers. "Just breathe."

She took a shaky breath, and I felt her relax slightly around me. I pushed deeper, and this time she moaned outright, her nails finding my back.

"That's it," I said, my voice dropping. "Take me. All of me."

When I was finally fully seated inside her, we both went still for a moment, just breathing. She was perfect around me. Close and hot and exactly right in a way that bypassed rational thought entirely.

"Okay?" I asked again.

"More than okay," she breathed, her legs wrapping around my waist to pull me deeper. "Move. Please."

I started slowly. Careful, measured thrusts, watching her face constantly. But she met every one of them, her hips rising to take me deeper, her nails dragging down my back in long lines I'd feel tomorrow and wouldn't mind at all.

"Harder," she gasped. "I'm not going to break. Kavan. Harder."

Something in me gave way entirely. I gripped her hips and gave her what she asked for, and she cried out in pleasure. A sound that settled into the air of my chambers the way music does, like it'd always been meant to be there. The sounds of our bodies coming together filled the room, and underneath it all, her blood sang.

Not Marion's gentle melody. Not the soft, sad song I'd been carrying in my memory for seven centuries. Something completely different. Complex and bright and absolutely specific to the female beneath me, her scent and her sounds and the particular way she said my name when she was close.

I could feel her getting there again, the tension rebuilding in her body. I shifted the angle of my thrusts deliberately, and she practically shouted.

"Kavan," she gasped, her nails breaking skin. "I'm close. I'm so close."

"Let go," I said against her neck. "I've got you."

She came with a cry I caught with my mouth, her body clenching around me in waves so intense they bordered on pain. The sensation, the scent of her pleasure, the sound of my name. All of it together shoved me over the edge.