Pursing her lips, Hope shook back the hair from her face in a gesture he was beginning to recognize. "My grandmother, Nora, and her mate were the first to settle in Mauritania. She gave me this pendant before she died." She touched the amber around her neck. “She left each of us seven of her grandchildren something of value. She said it would help us when we most needed it."
"And you believe her?"
"I do." Hope wrinkled her nose. "After all, my grandparents came from the mountain kingdom of Druk Yul."
"The legendary land of the Druk, in the eastern-most corner of the Himalaya mountains." Aaron snapped his fingers. "Where dragons lived. Dragons so beautiful they'd make you cry. Dragons that breathed red fire—"
"—that manifested as sparkling thunderbolts, which swept down the valleys of the kingdom." She completed his statement, a smile playing around her lips.
"Well? Is it true?" He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin.
Her attention was drawn to his jaw. Her gaze followed the rhythmic movement of his fingers.
Ah! She was turned on by him all right. She wanted him. She just didn't want to admit it.
Hope moved the weight of her body from one foot to the other. "Some of it has been romanticized over the years. I remember when we were young dragonlings and the Elysians attacked us. Our parents led a small team of dragon and wolf shifters to attack them. The combined fire of the dragons turned the skies red, the sound of it like the biggest thunderstorm to have hit this island. So, the name of thunder dragons seems apt."
"Have you been back to the mountain kingdom?"
"We can't return." Hope gripped the wheel, her fingers sliding over the smooth surface. "My grandmother was banished from the kingdom of Druk for falling in love and breaking her betrothal. The Druk dragons and those of Mauritania have never been in touch."
"She left because she wanted a mate of her choice," he mused. "Yet she wants her granddaughters to be duty-bound to only mate with those chosen for them?"
"She did mate a dragon." Hope stared straight ahead, a pulse jerking at the base of her throat. He knew then that she was going to tell him something he didn't want to hear.
"Besides, no other species has the power to withstand the psychic force of mating with a dragon. Not many dragonlings make it to adulthood, so our species is declining fast. It's important I mate one of our own."
"Like Jason?" The image of the man who had called out Hope's name came to mind. Rage roared through him.
"Like Jason." Hope set her jaw.
"A dragon shifter has never mated with another species?" His voice came out harsh.
Hope angled her body away from him. "The only times it happened, the mate of the dragon shifter died."
"Perhaps that is what you were told?" Aaron welcomed the clean bite of anger that pulsed through his blood. Better to focus on that than the thought of any other man laying claim to his dragoness.
Her eyes swiveled to his. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know unless you try it. Perhaps this is a story that has been propagated, just to make sure you keep your bloodline pure." Aaron was not sure where the words had come from.
It wasn't something he had consciously thought of. He'd wanted to pull back from the attraction this woman had for him. There was no place in his life for her right now, for he needed to fight his own demons first.
Yet he couldn't help but goad her. As he spoke, he sensed a thread of truth in his own words.
She felt it, too, because she cut the motor of the cruiser a second before she turned and raised her hand to slap him.
He reacted on instinct.
Grabbing her hand, he twirled her around so her back was plastered to him. His arm snaked around her neck, holding her flush against him.
Too late, he realized his mistake.
Her body curved over his, her hips thrust into his groin.
His chest muscles flexed brushing her shoulder blades.
His arm lay just above her breasts, he could feel the thunder of her heart beat.
Her head fit into the crook of his neck.
His breath stirred the hair that curled around her ear.
A tremor ran through her body.
He felt it like his own. Desire licked his nerve endings, sending a rush of blood to the part of him that was molded to her.
He didn't stop himself from sliding his other arm over her waist or from swaying in tune to the breeze that rushed at them.
He held her until her muscles relaxed, even as a fine tension simmered between them.
In the quiet that surrounded them in the middle of the ocean, Aaron turned Hope to face him.
"Don't." Was he cautioning himself or her?
Her scent was spicy with a simmering lick of heat. His heart ached with desire. He wanted to reach out and consume her whole. She'd fill parts of him he hadn't let anyone else reach.
Zayn had always had his back.
But for the first time, Aaron realized how much he'd missed having his own identity.
Him. Immortal warrior. Ascendant. He thirsted for this woman. She made him feel more alive than he ever had in his life. Her psychic energy was so in sync with his that he had to let her in. He could find himself by letting her soul twine with his.
The force of his thoughts had his eyes flying open. That's when he saw the flames that enveloped them both.
It was the most beautiful thing he had seen, a physical manifestation of her desire.
They may deny their mutual attraction, but there was the evidence of how combustible they were together.
The flame was a living embodiment of the alluring woman he held in his arms.
The fire didn't hurt him, yet it was as if he were immersed in her essence, a taste of how it could be when he buried himself in her, for they would burn each other with the force of their desire.
He pulled her up until she was balanced on tiptoe and melting into him. From chest to hip to thigh, they were one.
Her eyes were closed, an expression of such rapture on her face that he was loath to disturb her.
As he watched, a tendril of green-violet flame curled around her, and the tips of the long strands of her hair flickered to life.
"Baby, you are on fire."
She chuckled, the sound rolling up her chest and reverberating off the wall of his, where they were fused together.
When the meaning of his words sank in, her eyes snapped open.
His breath caught in his chest.
She'd gone dragon on him. Gold flecks swirled in green pupils with vertical slits. They widened as they took in the green-violet flame enclosing both of them.
Her gaze clashed with his. "I am on fire." Her voice was stark with surprise. Her eyebrows furrowed.
Reaching down, he brushed his lips over hers. "It's not burning me."
Her fingers fluttered over his shoulders, his arms. "How? It can't be…" The shock in her voice seemed to snap her out of the final throes of desire.
Her eyes cleared, showing she was back in control. The violet flames echoed in those green depths blinked out, and with it, the flames that covered them both.
He let her slide down.
She brushed against his aching hardness, and he groaned.
Her cheeks flushed. When she made to step back, he didn't stop her.
She started the engine of the boat, giving it throttle as the boat jumped forward.