“She can wait a few more minutes. I haven’t seen you since we last parted on the beach.”
Now that she was in his proximity again, she could feel the heat of him through his clothes. She’d forgotten that she stood naked, apparently, he was well aware. He pulled her against him, his arousal hard against her belly. Turning her face up to his, the intensity of his gaze drank in her features before his lips descended over hers. He kissed her with such tender hunger, she could feel him wrapping around her heart, the final pieces of him sliding into place and she knew. She knew the threading of their bond was nearly complete.
Scooping up her clothes, he led her back to the stone bench, pulling her down to straddle him. Reaching between them, she unzipped his shorts and pulled him free, fingers sliding over the ridged length. Jori’s hands grasped her face, tongue testing her lips. Sweeping her tongue against his, she lowered herself onto him with a sigh.
“God I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
He throbbed inside her. Relaxing her muscles a fraction, she slid lower, eliciting gasps from both of them.
“I’ve missed you too.”
Holding his face between her palms, her lips touched his again. His hands gripped her hips, encouraging her to move against him. As soon as she started to move, his hands roamed over her ribs, her back and her breasts, then locked her to him.
She rode him hard.
They came together, their breathing filled the stillness of the courtyard.
With extreme deliberation, Jori eased his hold on Kymri to help her dress before returning to the queen to face the rest of the story.
He knew he’d missed her during their time apart. Now that he had her back in his arms again, he knew with certainty they wouldn’t be forcefully parted again. When his lips touched her again, he knew. Something slid into place within him.
And she was going to have his child. He felt like she’d thumped him right in the chest.
He looked at her, fastening the last of the straps of her ceremonial armor.
Was this what Jonathan felt when he looked at his mother? Knowing she was pregnant with someone else’s kid?
He studied Kymri. If this child hadn’t been his, would he feel the same?
Finished, she smiled up at him.
Hell yes.
He always knew how much his father loved his mother.
Now he understood it better.
This was for life.
He was just sorry that the relationship between himself and Jonathan Mountainside hadn’t been able to withstand the loss of the one person that held them together.
He reached out a hand toward Kymri’s belly. His fingers shook. Could he be as good a father as Jonathan had been before his mother disappeared?
Kymri closed the distance, taking his hand in hers and pressing his palm to her womb. He could feel the hard lump.
He searched her face. She was watching him closely.
“The child seems to have created a shell around itself to protect against the magic of the shift when I go into dragon form. Because we are connected, the energy is pulled from my reserve.”
“Does it hurt you?”
She shook her head, linking her fingers through his, “We must go back,” she began to walk back toward the door that would lead them back to the queen’s antechamber and all those waiting for them.
He picked up his pace, inserting himself in front of her so that she walked into him.
There was so much he wanted to say but it was all lodged in his throat, so he pulled her into him and kissed her, trying to translate all of it in a way he could express.
When he finally released her lips, she stared up at him, eyes wide and full of unshed tears.
He kissed her eye lids and the tip of her nose.
They entered the antechamber hand in hand.
The queen looked at both of them, “Good.”
The woman Kymri had been seated next to looked on them with a warm smile.
Odson wore an expression of deep relief and everyone else looked as though they wanted to get on with the discussion.
Odson took a moment to collect his thoughts to resume his story. “Once Jonathan got his bearings and was able to accept seeing both of us shift in and out of our dragon forms, he just went with it. I’ve never seen a human accept something so completely.” Odson’s attention turned back to Jori “Your father’s a rare guy.”
Jori nodded, not knowing what to say to that.
Odson went on, “I didn’t stick around, just checked in now and then. When you were born, I couldn’t tell who was more delighted at your arrival, they both doted on you so much.” He smiled at the fond memory. “Elora always held a deep-seated tension in her. She never knew when and if they would find the two of you. She didn’t talk much about it, but I could see it in her eyes, it was the same look that had ingrained itself when she’d come to me for help.
“Jonathan was concerned about all the trips she took you on, trying to teach you about your heritage without actually telling you the truth of it. She wasn’t ready for that. As much as she desperately wanted you to know who you were, she was terrified to lose you to it, too.”
“Why would she?” he asked.
“As much as males are not welcome here among the females, it’s very different among the male tribes. They’re prized, indoctrinated, and instilled with a belief in their superiority and their right to dominate and rule the weak. They believe it is their right to take any female they want to procreate with, and then take the male child to make themselves stronger.” Odson sighed, looking tired. “It’s a fucked-up system.”
“Ours isn’t perfect either,” Kymri said, her voice low.
The queen’s head snapped toward her; eyes narrowed.
The woman next to Kymri stood, putting herself in the queen’s line of vision. “Your Majesty,” she said softly, drawing her attention. “In her current state, my daughter is acutely aware she will have to make a hard decision when the child comes.”
“I’m aware of the choices too, Kolina, we all have to make them for the continued safety of our people.”
The woman named Kolina inclined her head and resumed her seat beside Kymri.
Odson’s expression held compassion as he looked at Jori’s woman and then to Jori. “You can’t stay here, Jori. And she has to decide what to do with the child.”
Jori’s fists clenched.
The queen spoke, her voice strong and absolute, “Males are not welcome to live on this island for a reason. There has been far too much strife, and attempts to dominate and subjugate in the past.”
Odson’s nod confirmed it, “They will come for you as soon as they know where you are, Jori.”
Jori blinked.
Kymri’s hand tightened on his.
A fissure fizzled in his brain as the realization of everything they were saying began to work its way into his consciousness. They weren’t just dragon shifters. His mother had been, and she had been impregnated by one. That made him one too.
Jesus fuck, I’m a goddamned dragon?
He felt as though a layer of frost was creeping up his spine as he recalled the battle between the large dragon and the two smaller ones outside his prison walls.
He looked around at the faces of the woman gathered in the room.
Kymri.
The queen.
The Queen’s Guard.