Page 18 of Crown and Dragon

Her hand darted toward him and she produced his hat, an even larger disaster of fabric as bright red as Ragewing’s back. She hopped up and slammed the hat onto his head, then collapsed in a fit of snickering.

“You look amazing.”

“Please stop talking and get dressed. The sooner we do this, the sooner I can have Ragewing burn this monstrous headgear into ash.”

“But you said we have an hour before we need to blend in with the parade.”

He only growled again and shook his leg to dislodge yet another furred tangle of chaos. He headed toward the hallway to disrobe, not wishing to do so in the company of the demons.

Smiling in that irresistible way she had, Tahlia joined him, and it was all he could do to keep from pulling her to him. It took every ounce of his rigorous training in self-discipline to refrain from running his palms up her smooth sides as she changed into the uniform’s tunic. The bond between them hit him sometimes like this—incredibly powerful and completely out of nowhere. The feral side of him wished to cover her in his scent so the multitudes of people outside these walls would know she was his, but of course, that was a silly thought. They were humans, not Fae. But his blood didn’t seem to give a shit.

“Oh, hells.” He rushed toward her and pushed her against the wall as she smiled wide.

Chapter 9

Marius

“This is unexpected, Commander Marius.”

Growling into her deliciously soft-scented neck, he pressed himself against her and savored her little moans of delight. His body rose to meet the challenge and he rubbed his length along her center. She gasped and lifted her hips. Pleasure coursed through Marius and his blood pounded in his ears.

Tahlia licked the tip of his ear, sending shivers of want down his neck and back. Gods, he wanted to ram himself into her with no regard for missions or crowns or humans with their heads up their arses. He longed to feel her warmth surrounding him in full.

“Another contact will be here shortly, won’t he?” she asked in a breathy voice.

“Don’t care,” he muttered as he moved her carefully to the floor. There was a carpet lining the flat stone and it would keep the chill from her, not that he truly worried she might get cold with what activities he had in mind. “Be good, Tahlia. You want this, yes?”

He pulled away, suddenly worried he might have assumed too much. But she smiled saucily.

“Oh, yes, Marius. Yes, I do.”

She helped him shuck off her Midhampton special guard trousers and his as well. Just the scent of her skin made his head swim…

His tongue licked its way down her bared stomach and she squirmed under him, her fingers digging into his scalp. Pinning her hips with his forearm, he brushed his mouth over her navel. He longed to take his time, but time wasn’t something they had much of. At least one very tiny part of his mind was cognizant of that fact.

He met her gaze and she nodded, permitting him to continue. Rising up onto his elbow, he used his free hand to lift her leg. He drove into her and his body lit up with pleasure. The sensations roared through his blood. He kissed her hard and her mouth opened to him just as her body had. She felt like an afterlife he could never, ever deserve. Perfectly created for their joining.

“Perfect. You’re perfect,” he gasped out.

Her head fell back against the floor and she cried out, bucking her hips as she found her peak. He gripped her low around the hips, his hands squeezing her fine backside, and he thrust and thrust and thrust again until his climax claimed the last shred of his mind.

Falling gently onto her, feeling the movement of her blessed lungs and the beat of her darling heart, his pulse beat out one truth. “Mine. My mate. All mine.”

“Aye, Commander Marius, and you are mine as well.” She kissed the top of his head as he rested on her chest.

He hadn’t realized he’d said the words aloud. A smile tugged at his lips and he held her close.

A fuzzy demon approached. It mewed directly into his face and marched onto his back. Marius growled and shifted his shoulder to dislodge the kitten, but the beastly thing held on with its foul claws. It curled up between his shoulder blades.

Tahlia dissolved in a fit of laughter. “The kitten…” She could barely speak and her laughter jostled his head. “Loves you.”

A knock sounded, loud and so insistent that it had to have been going on for longer than they had noticed.

Removing the kitten from Marius’s back, they hurried to clean up. In the water closet at the back of the house, they dressed while the knocking continued. Tahlia tucked Fara’s letters under her tunic and into the waist of her trousers. They would be hidden, so he figured that was all right. If they were captured, their potions would fade and it wouldn’t matter if the letters contained information that exposed Tahlia and Marius as Fae.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into lovemaking,” Marius said.

“Don’t apologize. I’ll go again if you’re up for it.”

---