Page 29 of Betrayed By Dragons

It's catharsis and relief. I punch harder, faster. My vision blurs, and for a moment, all I can see is Jianyu's face. The boy who was like a brother, the young man who accused me of something I didn't do. The enemy. The asshole who humiliated me in front of the entire kingdom, who stole a woman's affection from me once before, and who stole time with my mate, who's trying to steal her from me even now, but I won't let go. I can't. Not this time.

"Rafe--Rafe--"

Ember's soft touch on my biceps wakes me out of my fugue. I pull my punch, and then I'm standing there, my fist raised as I turn toward my mate.

Cold horror splashes over me.

What did I just do? What was I about to do? Could I have hurt her?

Never. But I lost control. I showed this ugly rage inside of me, and it was so close to swallowing me whole.

I taste smoke. Heat rises off my body, the fire dragon contained within my chest setting my insides ablaze, and I want to let him out.

Ember trails her soft hand up to my face. I resist the urge to flinch. She should be recoiling.

But she steps closer. She takes my hand in hers. Tension leaks out of my straining muscles, and it's like I can take a breath for the first time after minutes under water. I'm still buzzing, still too hopped up on adrenaline and anger, but this woman--she's a balm to my soul.

My knuckles sting at her touch, but I don't care. She brings the raw skin to her lips and kisses the bruises that probably would have already started to bloom if I were human. Gently, she uncurls my fist and rubs her thumb against my palm.

"Did that make you feel better?"

A huff of laughter escapes me. "Kind of."

"Good."

I glance down. All I can focus on is the soft warmth of her hand surrounding mine. The closeness of our bodies, the sweet scent of her hair and her breath.

My cock twitches, and I swallow hard against the sharp spike of arousal that floods my system. Biting her full bottom lip, she looks up at me, and our gazes connect.

And forget restraint. Forget focusing on self-defense or whatever bullshit I claimed was more important.

My voice drops to a rough growl as I pull her in. "But I know something that would make me feel much, much better."

And then I crash my mouth to hers.

* * *

EMBER

Rafe's kiss is hot and rough and insistent, and it's all the more intense because we've both been resisting the need brewing inside of us for what seems like ages now.

Having sex with Jianyu felt desperate, but it was also the culmination of this fresh new vulnerability he'd finally shown me. Rafe puts his feelings on his sleeve; he hasn't shown me anything new today, but he's still been working so hard to keep himself in check.

He lets it all go now, and the hunger he attacks me with is overwhelming in its force.

I respond at once, as needy for him as he seems to be for me. His teeth nip and scrape at my lip, and when I open my mouth for him, he presses forward with his tongue, asserting his dominance. I welcome him in, wanting him inside of me in every way.

I'll never choose between my two mates. It's impossible; they're both necessary to me, like air.

But I want Rafe to claim me in this moment. I want him to take out all of his possessiveness and jealousy--I want him to unleash them on my body. I'm Jianyu's, but I'm also his. I never want him to doubt that. Not for a moment.

Groaning, he grabs at me with eager hands, tugging at my shirt, palming my ass and my breasts. I run my own palms over every inch of him that I can reach, relishing in the hot ripples of his hard muscles. It's not only his physical strength I admire, though.

There's power in the very soul of him that means even more to me.

But let's be honest--the washboard abs don't hurt.

He pushes into me, and I moan, turning my head to the side so he can kiss his way to my jaw and then over to the shell of my ear. He turns me and walks me backward until I'm pressed into the mat he was just punching as if he were a man possessed. I lean into the warm surface, blanketed by his bulk, held up by his hands and hips and mouth.

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