His taste swept me away, at once familiar and exotic, comforting and so fucking arousing.
“Fuck me, Nyfain,” I murmured against his lips.
“As you command, my princess,” he replied.
THIRTY-SIX
FINLEY
Nyfain swept me up into his arms and walked me past all the standing dragons and into the rear of the castle. I held on to him tightly, almost not believing I was in his arms again.
I’d finally made it back to my dragon.
“Nyfain, I lo—”
“No,” he said, not taking the stairs up to the tower but instead bringing us into the back where the salons were located. “Don’t say that yet. I can’t…”
Heavy emotion wove through his tone and the bond, a kaleidoscope of intense feeling that hammered into my heart and melted me against him. As we reached the outer door to the salon lobby, he put me down and leaned me against the doorframe, opening the door with one hand and keeping me put with the other.
“For a moment, I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, his voice ragged. “You shouldn’t be back here. You shouldn’t have come back. But…”
His mouth crashed onto mine and he picked me up again, carrying me through the doors, into the hallway, and into the last room in the corridor, the one we’d used before.
“This is a quick stop,” he said by way of explanation as he pushed past the curtain and walked me into the tranquil waters of the bath. “I just want to wash the blood and grime off us. I want us to have a semblance of cleanliness for our first time.”
“Our first time?”
His golden eyes pinned mine as he lowered us into the warm water.
“You’ve never experienced what it’s like with scales.”
He ran his lips along my jaw as he grabbed the soap and made quick work of washing my body, his hands gliding over my fevered flesh in a kiss of pleasure.
“And it’ll be the first time,” he whispered, “that you tell me how you feel. I’m desperate to hear it and dreading it at the same time.”
“Is the broody guy just around the corner?” I teased, and then sucked in a breath as he ran his thumb over a taut nipple.
“Maybe, but it won’t matter. You can handle my rage as easily as you handle my sentimentality.”
He slowed his ministrations as we sat together, his eyes drinking me in, roaming my face.
“Fuck, how I’ve missed you, Finley,” he murmured, running his fingers down my neck. “I shouldn’t allow you to stay. I shouldn’t relish in the fact that you’re back. But I can’t resist you…and I can’t bring myself to give you up.”
I rested my hand against his cheek as he quickly cleaned himself. I let my other hand drape down his chest and then take hold of his large, straining cock.
He jolted like lightning had run through him and then grabbed my hair in a hard fist and yanked my head back. He ran his teeth along my neck before sinking them into my flesh, over his bite. My stomach swirled, and hot, sweet pleasure ripped through me. He ran his tongue over the tingling mark before he pulled my hair harder, making me lean back, and sucked in a hard nipple.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard you forget your name,” he growled, kissing up my chest and pulling me in toward him, taking control. “You’re mine, little dragon, and I mean to prove it. Over and over.”
His kiss was dominant and intense and erotic as he pulled me up to standing, trapping his cock between us. He grabbed hold of my jaw with one hand, the fingers of the other curling though my hair. Heat throbbed in my core. His eyes shone like those of a predator looking over his prey. His power curled around us, dangerous and wild but not a threat to me. Never a threat to me. No, he was only a threat to my enemies.
I knew Nyfain would always protect me, even if it cost him his life or his sanity. I’d broken him a little, I knew, needing to feel his pleasure when I was suffused with pain. But he’d never faltered. He’d never pulled back. I knew he never would.
“Take me,” I said in a husky whisper.
“No, princess.” He gripped me through the bond, pulling me into that place we’d found where nothing could reach me but him. “Now you will take me. You will mark me as yours.”
He scooped me up into his arms again, water splashing around us, and walked us out of the now-murky water. Without covering up, he took me through the castle, still deathly quiet. The space was totally empty. The others were giving us time and distance, hoping we’d do what only we could—break the curse. Free them.
My heart hammered. Nervousness peaked inside of me.
Nyfain climbed the stairs to the tower, and the second he pushed his way inside, I knew this had been his home when I was gone. He’d stayed here, with my smell around him. He’d forced himself into a dungeon of his own, trapped with my memory. He’d never planned to move on. Not for a moment.
Desperation overcame me as he set me down, but I didn’t rush. I didn’t jump him. Instead, I peeled back the covers and slipped into the silky sheets. He came in after me, watching my every movement, taking my cues. I could feel his anticipation growing, and mine with it, but he didn’t let it show. He didn’t rush me.
I reached for him, running my hand over his shoulder and across the top of his back, gently urging him closer. Closer still. His hot flesh brushed against me as he put one of those large, strong arms to the other side of my body, holding himself off me a little as he moved his body over mine. His delicious chest, cut with battle and muscle and branded with ink, rubbed against the hard peaks of my breasts. My eyes fluttered shut as I ran my hands across his skin and my thighs up the sides of his hips.
“I envisioned this, when you were feeding me pleasure and power through the bond,” I whispered, fighting the memories. “But it wasn’t the same. I didn’t feel your heat. My memories of your strength were only a pale echo compared to actually being with you.”
I pulled him down until he was flush with me, large and heavy and hard, pushing me down into the soft mattress. His lips found mine softly, and then a little harder, until he was filling my world with his taste. With his body.
“You saved me,” I said, wrapping my arms around him, my eyes squeezed shut, all the pain and fear I’d held back in the demon prison now flowing out of me. Tears fell down my cheeks. “By claiming me, you saved me from…the worst of things. The worst of everything.”
I shook with sobs, still gripping him tightly. This wasn’t why we were here, but I didn’t want to go any further until I got this out. Until I exposed the dark places of my soul and let him wrap me up in his safety.
“You saved us all,” he murmured.
“Hadriel, Leala, and Hannon saved us all.”
“No, they helped you get out of the dungeon. But it is your blind love that will save us all.”
I opened my glassy eyes and met his golden gaze, so beautiful. So full of emotion. And suddenly I needed him inside me with a desperation the likes of which I couldn’t remember experiencing before.
I pushed his hips back, and he caught on to what I needed immediately. His lips crashed down onto mine, and he dragged his big cock down my slippery folds. The blunt tip prodded my opening, and then he thrust. Color and light flashed behind my closed eyes, the feeling of him better than anything I could remember. Anything my (very vivid) imagination had conjured. He held himself fully seated for a moment, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly.