Page 49 of Born of Blood and Thorns

My face, already red from the wine consumption, was now six shades redder. "I thought you said pounce."

"Pounce, bounce it's all the same." She giggled and, with a sharp inhale, drained the recently filled wine glass.

I was also feeling the effects as I swayed slightly. I had minimal experience with alcoholic drinks and even less so with the kind that tasted good. I was only one glass in and already feeling braver than usual. It wouldn't last long; my vampire blood would burn through it.

"You're right. I should confront him." I stood, and Alysha didn't move from her spot; instead, she seemed more inclined to nod off to sleep in the chair.

The sun was still high, so a brave thought entered my mind. I knew Lore liked to take a nap right before departing for the night in his dragon form. As I watched Alysha nod off to sleep, I slipped silently out of the room with a mission in mind.

After leaving Alysha, the wine buzzing through my veins fueled my determination as I went to Lore’s bedchamber. My hands trembled, though I could not say whether from nerves or intoxication. Still, liquid courage galvanized my resolve. Tonight, we would confront the truth looming between us.

I slipped inside unnoticed, then waited in the shadows as Lore entered. He moved about the room, shedding his tunic and boots until only thin linen pants remained. I drank in the sight of him, resplendent even in the dim candlelight.

As he sat heavily upon the bed, weariness bowed his proud shoulders. Now was the moment. I emerged silently from the darkness, and Lore’s gaze collided with mine, raw yearning shining in his eyes. For an endless moment, we simply stared, the air molten between us.

I went to him, tilting his chin up as I stood before him. “No more hiding, Lore. Tonight, we end this.”

He grasped my waist almost desperately, pulling me closer still. “There are some truths that should remain buried,” he rasped, even as his hands roamed my body wantonly.

I captured them, stilling their fevered motions. “I know your dragon claimed me as yours. I must hear the words from your lips, Lore. What lies between us now?” Though my body trembled with vulnerability, I held his tortured gaze unflinchingly.

Lore surged to his feet, pacing in agitation as one hand raked through his hair. When he finally turned back, raw emotion burned in his eyes. “You madden me, temptress. I try to resist, but it’s useless.” His hands curled into fists at his sides. “I want you, I need you, though it dooms us both.”

His confession shattered my defenses. I flew into his arms, claiming his mouth hungrily. Lore returned my passion twofold, his kisses scorching trails of fire across my heated skin. We tumbled onto the silken sheets, lost in sweet delirium.

That night, our bodies wrote poetry too profound for mere words. We moved together in sublime harmony, every caress and kiss a whispered avowal. The release found me keening his name, ecstasy coursing through my veins.

Yet, I wanted more. Even with the sun sinking in the horizon, his eyes again shone crimson, showing he was about to transform soon. I took control as I straddled him, taking his length deep inside me as I positioned myself.

His hands grabbed my hips as a groan escaped his lips. I leaned down to capture it with my lips, my moans filling the late hour as I looked into those crimson eyes. Both my dragon and Lore. I moved my hips in an instinctual rhythm.

I rocked and felt him stretching me out, filling me in impossible ways. Lore’s dragon made a guttural sound as he leaned up to take my nipple in his mouth. Biting it to bring me a mix of pain and pleasure that made me rock my hips faster and needier as I chased that building pleasure that started at my center.

His half-lidded eyes locked with mine, dark with desire. As my orgasm began to build further, threatening to shatter any moment, I closed my eyes only for Lore to grab my hair.

“Look at me, princess,” he demanded, his eyes blue again. I locked eyes with his and saw the same conflicted feeling, need, and want that I felt, pushing me over the edge. I cried out as my orgasm rocked my body on top of him. My center clamping down around him with each spasm clenching around him. Soon, I heard his grunt as he found his release. He spasmed with me, inside me, spilling himself deep into my core.

Afterward, I lay replete against Lore’s chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. At this moment, the curse and prophecies faded away. We were just a man and a woman, souls recognizing their mirror image.

Yet, as I drifted toward sleep, an insidious doubt crept in. Despite baring our hearts tonight, Lore still withheld his deepest truths from me. Shadows would remain between us until he entirely relinquished his demons. I could only trust that Lore would lay himself completely bare before me someday. With that silent prayer upon my lips, I slipped into dreaming, barely aware, as he slipped from the bed and into the night.

CHAPTER 24

Lore

As Bella slept peacefully beside me, I was consumed by grief and indecision. I had intended to use her to break this curse once I realized she was my fated mate. Only now, I wanted nothing more than to lie back down with her and spend an eternity between her pretty thighs.

Pushing her away had not spared me the agony I knew was coming. To free my kingdom and people, I must sacrifice the one joy fate had granted me in endless centuries of pain. The moon goddess was merciless in her vengeance.

My dragon raged within, desperate to take Bella far away and keep her forever. Though our minds were sundered, I sensed fragments of his emotions. He cared deeply for her. Yet lately, I felt a growing disconnect, lost in an impenetrable fog that filled me with foreboding.

The goddess had never decreed an end to her bitter curse. I had assumed it was everlasting until the wheel of fate brought me face-to-face with my fated mate. What vicious irony that it should come to this, only to lose all at the bitter end.

The decaying thorns, my dragon's distress, and Bella's whispered fears all heralded the approaching climax. Time grew short, yet I wavered. Could I sacrifice the one ray of light that had pierced my endless darkness to save those already condemned? Was the greater good worth such a devastating price?

I gazed upon Bella's sleeping form, my fractured heart splintering anew. My dragon's frantic denial screamed within me. "I will burn the world for her."

Perhaps we both would if that was what it took to defy the curse. Either way, I feared the coming dawn would see one or both of us consumed by fire. It would not be her who paid the price of my sins.

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