“I—”
I slip my fingers from her pussy and she whimpers at the loss. My free hand digs into her hip, pulling her farther down the matters, closer to me as I close my mouth over her. I lap from her entrance to her clit, over and over, at a maddening pace.
“Niressa,” she hisses, her impatient hips grinding toward me for more. My fingers trail down lower, finding her ass and I circle the tight entrance, spreading her slick across it. “Oh,” she murmurs, her legs spreading beneath me as I press carefully into her. “Oh,” she moans.
“Mmhm,” I groan before dipping my tongue into her core. My finger works in and out of her ass as my tongue curls inside her. Lapping back up to her clit, I slowly work another finger into her and she gasps. “Shhh,” I whisper before closing my mouth around her clit.
“Oh Gods, it’s—” Whatever Taryn was going to say dies on her lips as a throaty moan spills out of her instead. I plunge in and out of her, my tongue tracing circles over her clit as she shudders beneath me. When her orgasm begins to slow, I pull my fingers from her and slip my tongue into her core one more time, just to taste.
When I lean back, wiping my mouth, I chuckle. “How do you taste like silver?”
“I—” she shakes her head. “I have no idea what silver tastes like.”
“You don’t eat with silver?”
“Yes,” she scoffs, bracing her hands on her head as her chest rises and falls quickly. “But there’s always food on it. I’ve never tasted the silver.”
“Hmmm,” I shrug. “Perhaps humans just don’t quite understand it.”
“Perhaps,” she laughs. “You still won’t let me taste you?”
I shake my head, even as my core clenches at the thought. “It’s not a wise decision, Tiny Treasure.”
“Mm,” she muses, patting the bed beside her. I crawl up to her and press a kiss to her temple as I slip my arm around her waist.
“Sleep,” I chuckle as she mumbles under her breath.
“I was sleeping,” she points out. “Someone decided to wake me up with their tongue between my thighs.”
“You’re very welcome,” I growl, leaning down to nip her ear.
Taryn’s silent laughter rocks her against my chest as she snuggles in closer, preparing to fall asleep. I close my eyes, too, willing myself to rest.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to give her back.
The thought drifts through my mind like snow. But there’s nothing I can do about that now.
I roll over, my hand falling away from Taryn’s hip as my eyes blink open. Something woke me up. I sit up carefully, my heart pounding in my chest as a familiar scent fills my nostrils.
Fire and ash fill my nose and my blood runs cold.
A dragon.
It’s a scent I can only attribute to my own kind. Dragons always smell like a fire that’s just been lit or is about to die out. I carefully slip from the bed, trying not to wake my Treasure before I make my way into the tunnel. Once I’m through the door, I run for the main cavern, my teeth already sharpening.
My scales rip through me as soon as I reach the edge of the tunnel, my lip snarling back as my eyes land on the small golden dragon sitting on the ledge of my nest.
“Niressa,” she purrs.
“Leave, Anaka,” I growl, slowing as I near the center of the cavern. “There’s nothing here for you.”
“You were supposed to return the girl. Aeronel was clear,” Anaka sniffs, her golden scales shining in the early morning light.
“Do not speak of her,” I snap, my claws digging into the stone beneath me as I slowly make my way toward her.
“You can’t be serious,” Anaka laughs, her wings spreading behind her, blocking the light. “Return the silly human to her silly human father and you can go back to your isolation uninterrupted, Niressa.” White fire falls from her nostrils as her narrows her eyes on me. “You know he’ll get what he wants, one way or another.”
A roar tears from my chest as I rush her, rage filling my bones. I haven’t spoken to Anaka since before—
Our bodies collide and her eyes go wide before we spill over the edge and into the air. My teeth gnash at her shoulder, her side, as we fall.
“It’s been a while since I saw you so passionate, Niressa,” Anaka laughs, lashing out at me with her tale as we spin through the air.
“Murderess,” I snap. My claws dig for her belly, desperately trying to latch onto something, to hurt something. Her claws do the same, gripping onto my hind legs.
The ground rises quickly toward us as we freefall. My wings open a second before Anaka’s, and she uses that momentum to shove me into the side of the mountain. Flames pour from my mouth and onto her face—not that it will hurt her, but it should blind her long enough for me to defend myself.
Anaka roars her anger as she beats her wings, shaking her head to dislodge the fire spilling across her eyes. I lunge forward, sinking my teeth into the vulnerable part of her wing, and pull.
She screeches, pulling away from me. That only worsens the damage to her wing, and when I let go, she falls to the ground below. I hover there for a moment, searching the sky for Aeronel. The two are hardly ever apart from one another.
From the ground below, Anaka shoots flames toward me and I dart away from them before slowly making my way to the snow-covered ground. When I land, however, I find her waiting in her human form, holding her arm to her chest. I call my own human body back to me and step toward her, narrowing my eyes. Steam rises all around us, the snow melting everywhere we step.
“Why do you care what I do with the human?”
“Foolish girl,” Anaka laughs. “Vanir is the heart of Lazoreat. Taking a seat in this realm only makes sense. The largest communities of dragonkin are here, the humans all look to this kingdom as an example. Vanir is the new Lazoras.” With that, Anaka shrugs her uninjured shoulder and meets my gaze, her golden eyes sparkling in the sun. “You’re interfering with plans beyond your comprehension.”
“You betrayed me,” I whisper, my chest rising and falling as I really look at Anaka for the first time in years. Her long blonde hair—nearly the color of her scales—falls down her shoulders and hides her breasts as she licks her lips and tilts her head to the side.
“I was loyal to my family.”
“You were supposed to be loyal to me!” I roar. Rage, grief, hurt, and fear all war for power inside me, threatening to shred me to pieces. “You betrayed my family to your own. When we were still mated . . .” I shake my head as I admit those words out loud. I regret ever taking this vile creature into my heart. The painful process of breaking that mating bond nearly drove me mad. “Anaka, do you have no conscience?”
“My conscious is clean. You were a pawn as much as she is,” she sighs, turning around. How she could say something so cruel . . . how she could do something so cruel as trick me into a mating to achieve some espionage for her brother, is beyond me. As she walks away, the snow melting around her feet with every step, my fists curl up at my sides.
“Where are you going?”
“You should check on your hoard, Niressa. You’ve always been too easily distracted.”