It was at some point during this time that they became two very different people from who they were in their separate worlds. The bond hooked, sinking its barb with that first kiss, then began to thread around them.
They did chat about the beach, fish, the island and the ocean. The state of Jori’s plane, and his frustration and inability to get his equipment working to call for help.
“I will see if I can find help for you, but I can’t promise anything.”
“Fair enough,” he said. They had reached the camp and it was growing dark. He retrieved his shirt and pulled it over his head.
They both stared at the small tent.
“Jori, I can’t take you back with me, at least not yet.” She turned to face him.
“Of course,” he said, his voice wasn’t as easy as it had been moments before.
She didn’t give him an explanation, nor did he ask for one.
He didn’t ask for her to stay or return.
Instead, he stared into her eyes so that she could see the flecks of color in his irises even in the fading light, and brought his hands up over her shoulders, slid them up her neck—sending shivers through her body—to cup her face. Then very, very deliberately let his gaze smolder as he dropped his focus to her lips, stretching out the seconds until he decided he was ready to taste her again.
Her insides felt as though she’d done barrel rolls through descending altitude.
By the time he was done with her she had nearly decided his small tent was the perfect place for their first mating.
When she started to sink into him, he eased the kiss and backed away, releasing her face.
She blinked, then remembered to breathe.
“It’s getting dark.” She had to finish her patrol and report back. “I have to go,” she said and turned to walk back through the woods on weak legs.
6
Jori watched her go, hips swaying as she climbed the rise through the trees.
He seriously questioned the sanity of letting her go.
He was painfully engorged and all he could think about were her lips and the feel of her body pressed to his. He’d developed fantasies of devouring her body and pounding her till she screamed with ecstasy days ago. Several rolled through his brain, making him throb with a hair trigger.
He stripped down, leaving his clothes in the middle of his camp where he dropped them and went straight into the warm sea water.
The waves lapped at him until the water was above his waist. His hands slid over his cock and began to work it. Images of Kymri in various positions, sighing and moaning, rolled through his mind. Biting her and licking her lips, his lips, his flesh, her mouth encasing his cock.
Lying on her back, thighs wide, while he licked every inch of her. Jori lying on his back while she rode him, grinding, her breasts heavy, her nipples taut.
Kymri bent over while his hands gripped her round hips as he pounded into her.
He groaned her name as he came, head thrown back.
When the orgasm subsided and he opened his eyes to the vast sky, a long-tailed bird flew past high overhead.
He stood breathless for several moments, staring at the brightening constellation of the dragon.
Kymri adjusted the angle of her wings as she glided over the city toward the patrol tower’s platform. The image of watching Jori alone in the sea after she left him was hovering in her mind, distracting her from focusing on her duty. He was inhibiting her ability to do her job properly. Closing her eyes and clearing her mind of the tumbling erotic desires, she set herself right and finished her patrol, spiraling her flight pattern back toward the core of the dragon territory.
Below her, women worked in their gardens and bustled along narrow paths between patchwork properties. The central marketplace was so alive that she could smell the wares and hear the calls and hagglers from her height. She loved the view of her city from this vantage point, where everything looked as though it were in miniature. She glanced at the queen’s tower as she banked and turned toward the landing platform.
She could see her mother watching her come into land. Her jaw clenched and the ease and budding happiness that had been creeping into her dissipated with a little fizzle.
As soon as Kymri landed, Kolina pounced, “Where have you been?”
Irritation rumbled in Kymri’s chest before she shifted into human form. “Doing my job,” she snapped, bypassing her parent to retrieve her robe from the change room.
“You’re late.”
“Yes I am. And?”
“You’re never late.”
“Right.”
“I’m told there’s an intruder on an outer island.”
Kymri paused, fastening the buttons on her robe. “There is.”
“Why haven’t you eliminated them?”
“I was assessing threat level.”
“Your job is to keep everyone out.”
“I know my job. Why are you here instead of doing yours?”
“I’m also told you’ve been fraternizing with the intruder instead of getting rid of him.” Kolina’s gaze was hyper focused on her daughter’s face.
“I told you I was assessing whether or not he was a threat.”
Suspicion suddenly glimmered in Kolina’s eyes; her posture eased back as she considered her daughter anew. “He.” Kolina’s nostrils flared, scenting Kymri.
Kymri ignored it. “He’s stranded.”
“Has council been notified?”
“The situation is documented in our reports, we haven’t reached the point in our schedule to relay them to the counsel yet.”
“Schedules are overridden when there is a threat,” Kolina reminded her.
“He isn’t a threat.”
“And you just know this because?”
“As you said, I’ve been fraternizing with him.”
“Have you mated with him yet?”
Kymri blinked at the sudden turn of subject. “No,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Do it and get rid of him.”
“Why would you think I’d mate with him?”
“I can smell him on you, you’ve clearly been in considerable contact beyond an assessment,” Kolina said. “And it’s my understanding you’ve been uncharacteristically distracted and moody, risking your ability to do your work.”
Kymri’s hackles went up, “Who?”
Kolina’s lips compressed.
“You have someone spying on me?”
Her mother maintained her silence, and her anger bubbled.
“Do your schemes never stop? What did you do to me? Did you put a tincture in my food or drug me in some other way to try to get me to do what you want?”
Kolina’s brow went up, curiosity in her eyes, “What makes you think I would do such a thing?” she said with exaggerated innocence.
“Because I know you’ll do whatever it takes to get what you want, and you’ve been riding my scales to mate and have young.”
Kolina watched Kymri carefully.
Kymri’s sudden flare of anger and pent up frustrations rippled through her body.
“You’re not even denying it.”
Kolina’s expression shifted, “You’re experiencing a heat.”