Page 34 of Born of Blood and Thorns

"What is different?" I demanded as his hands trailed up the side of my body.

"You." He dipped down and rubbed his face on my lower stomach.

Gods, I didn't know a simple act such as that could be so erotic. My head fell back, and I felt my legs part a little. The robe had hiked up, revealing my upper thighs. I was now kicking myself for wearing little more than a thin chemise and robe when searching the library because now, with him above me and his body on me, I felt everything. I wanted more.

"May I touch you?" he asked, uncertainty in his tone.

I nodded because, apparently, I was an idiot. I couldn't allow myself to feel for him. I couldn't let my heart or body fall for something doomed from the beginning. Lore—or rather Lore's dragon—parted the robe, untying the sash and revealing the thin chemise that now showed my marbled nipples poking through the thin material at my arousal. Lore looked his fill, then as he moved down my body, he lifted the chemise higher above my legs and my core, my most intimate spot.

Before he did anything, he lifted his eyes to mine, the red shining within them telling me the man was not in control, but the monster was. Oh, my goddess, did I want him. Maybe I was perverse to desire a dragon, but he was a far cry better than Lore had been to me.

I felt the need, the want, the desire to feel passion for once to the very core of my soul. With his face so close to my intimate parts, his warm, rough hands on my skin. I wanted to feel him there, damned be the consequences.

I nodded. "Fuck it," I said, realizing belatedly it had been out loud.

I put my lips to his, taking the pleasure he offered while still seeing the red eyes of the dragon as he met my kiss. It wasn't a sweet kiss, but one meant to conquer and claim. To war with each other until one of us conceded to the other. Only we didn't. Instead, our passion soared higher, and I was soon moaning, rubbing against his hard length like a cat in heat.

The dampness between my legs grew until it was unbearable. I longed to feel him, to touch him. It was all wrong.

"Wait. Lore, does he know what is going on? That you are using his body?" I asked, terrified of the answer. Horrified at the fact his consent could be taken from him.

"He is here, he knows, he is…" the dragon trailed off, kissing the side of one of my thighs as he caressed me. He moved teasingly across to the other thigh until I was panting. "He wants this, too, even if he is being a stubborn… How did you put it? Ass."

His lips left a trail all the way to my breasts as he licked and treated me until my head began to spin. His lips took the pink nub of my nipple into his mouth and suckled until I was a panting, begging mess and up again.

My back arched again as I threw my head back, his lips cascading over my collarbone to my jaw, teasing me before he claimed my lips again. Hot wetness pooled between my thighs, and a burning need hit me as I trembled.

As suddenly as it happened, Lore tore himself away from me, his gaze no longer crimson as he stared at me. "I'm sorry. I didn't…" He looked around before he narrowed his eyes. "You tried to get out of stealing my book by kissing me?"

"No, you kissed me!" I scooted further from him, my fists balling up at my sides as the desire to knock him out crossed over me. Instead, I gave him a taste of his own medicine. "Stay away from me, you fucking beast!"

I stormed out, angry and confused once again.

***

Lore and I trained keeping ourselves busy as we were reserved, cold, and distant to one another as we pretended the kiss had never happened. It was much like when we initially avoided each other, except this was different.

There was a charge between us that seemed to pull us to one another despite everything we did to fight it, like magnetism, where the magnets were doing everything to resist the inevitable pull of their attracting ends.

We trained in the yard with weapons and basic combative moves and found ways to be busy away from each other. Until dawn set one night, and a pained roar shook the castle walls. I ran to investigate, only to find Lore shifting into his dragon form… only his shift had stopped halfway through. He was half man and half beast.

I'd seen the magic of the shifters many times, and it was fast and seamless. When the magic took them, it was almost in the blink of an eye. This was painful to look at. I could only imagine what he was feeling.

It was slower as he shifted into his form as if the human side knew that the transition to a dragon would soon be permanent, and it was fighting it however it could. Lore's time was coming soon. The dragon's face contorted in deep pain as it finally finished its transition, bones snapping and popping slowly as flesh gave way to scales.

"Lore, are you okay?" I asked, approaching him slowly. A garbled grunt escaped him, and all fears dissipated as I rushed forward. "What is wrong? How can I help?"

I remembered what Nan would do when I was hurt or scared. She would sing me a lullaby or tell a story as she stroked my hair.

Lore's gaze, still blue in the fading light, locked onto mine. He shook his head as if to tell me there was nothing I could do, but the pain was etched in every plane of his features. I reached out, stroking the visible scales, and began to sing.

A song told of the dragon prince that loved his kingdom. With each note, I moved closer, stroking his scales and the areas where skin remained. He seemed to relax, and slowly, he began to change as the dragon took shape. He pushed me away as the shift finally finished, but I kept singing. As crimson eyes turned toward mine, I saw gratitude in their depths before the dragon took off into the night sky, leaving me to stare after him.

CHAPTER 16

Bella

Ifound Lore asleep in the library the next day, in the same seat I liked to use. I leaned over as I stole a glance at his resting features. He appeared softer, less lethal in the early morning light, and that damn auburn lock of hair fell into his eyes once more as I gave into the desire to brush it away.

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