Page 15 of Bound to the Dragon

Her words stirred my memories, and I nodded. Yes, last time therehadbeen a vampire who’d stirred things up in town preceding the attacks. I recalled Zachary rumbling about some kind of legal hassle then too. It was what had called him back to the farm when all he’d wanted was to remain in New York and woo his woman.

A male vampire then, and now that it was brought up, I remembered breathing fire on his body during the attack. I remembered opening my maw and swallowing him whole, to die a painful, crushing death inside my throat and belly. We had defeated that evil, only for his flailing, retreating forces to strike us a hard blow too. A battle of mutual destruction.

I needed to return to the farmhouse and dig through Zachary’s papers. I had this faint idea that this ‘Sunworld’ might be thename on the documents from that time, too. If so, this new vampire had to be related to the last, and the reason they’d bought up as much as they could from the townspeople might mean that she had, at first, not known the precise location of the prison. But they definitely knew now, because they’d found Rosy and me.

“Thank you,” I said roughly. “I need to return to Rosy, but this helped. We will defeat this evil like we defeated it last time.” Come what may, this Sunworld wasn’t getting their hands on a Galamut. I might have been called the Destroyer, but I knew that true destruction was what followed when you let a Galamut out of its cage. It had happened in Pompei a long time ago, and though most supernatural creatures did not know exactly what had caused that disaster, it even lived in the memory of mankind.

“Just be careful. You know we are loyal to your cause. Call us if you need help,” the woman stepped into her little car without another word and drove away. I was grateful for her offer, reinforcing an alliance that had been in place for several hundred years. Since the moment, Lizzie had arrived here to settle down with her pack.

I didn’t shift, but jogged along the path back to the farm. I hoped I could locate the tracks the vampires and her allies had made, and from that decipher which way they’d gone, but they were good. There was no sign of their passage and I was still contemplating that information when I jogged into the yard and discovered that my mate had not rested, but instead worked her magic on the garden.

My stomach rumbled at the sight of all that fresh promise of nymph-grown vegetables. They would be so very tasty. Since that was not an option, I’d have to make do with a sandwich from the kitchen. Once the outside of the house had been restored, that would be my focus, and I could already eagerly picture myself cooking meals for my mate in it once I’d fixed up the counters, floors, and fixtures.

An older truck was parked in front of the barn, the scent of Gregory all over it and the keys dangling from the ignition. Ah, so the mechanic had figured something out to get my mate some wheels. Good. I took the keys and headed for the porch, dropping them on an old sideboard in the hallway with a quiet clatter.

Everything was peaceful inside, my mate softly sleeping in her bed upstairs. I could sense every breath she took, feel her heat radiating down on me when I stood in the living room directly beneath her. Eventually, temptation won out, and I made another sandwich in the kitchen as a flimsy excuse for heading upstairs.

I’d been fighting to keep my thoughts to myself, forcing my desire for her to remain contained now that I was this close to her. She had worked her earth magic, and she needed to rest, not get disturbed by my mental touches. But two hours was probably enough, wasn’t it?

I walked on my toes as I went up the stairs, but the floorboards in the hallway creaked when I approached her door. This was Zachary’s old room, and across from his room were several spare bedrooms that we’d never had much use for. Rooms he’d wanted for his future mate and children, because Zach hadalways dreamed of family and love. A dream I hadn’t believed in because mates were that rare, a dream I now wanted to claim as my own.

Her door was open, and I peeked inside with the plate clutched in my fingers. She was tangled with the sheets, wearing little more than a tank top and a lacy pair of panties. All her silky skin was on display, contrasting beautifully against the creamy white sheets. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and it set my blood on fire.

Chapter 19

Rosemary

I was dreaming of Chardum, of his body hovering above mine and his calloused hands stroking along my skin. My mind went from zero to a hundred in a heartbeat, picturing his dragonish tongue as he lapped at my core, piercing me deep. How could I stay away from him when my dreams filled me with images like that?

I tossed and turned, throwing the blankets off when I got too warm and slumbering lightly in between fits of intense desire. Those thoughts pushed away my worry about that vampire, the lawyer lady from Sunworld. We’d scared them off for now; they’d need time to regroup. So the parts of me I’d been trying to ignore came roaring to the forefront.

Had I not been thinking that I wanted to jump Char as soon as I had the chance? My dreams were all over that idea, turning up the heat. I heard his dark voice as he whispered naughty things in my ear, felt him everywhere stroking my flesh, and then it felt like he was watching me too, but from afar.

Confusion made me blink open my eyes, drawing me from the depths of my sensual dreams. How could he be watching me from afar and touching me from so close by at the same time? My sheets were clammy beneath me, my core slick and wet, and when I lifted my gaze from my empty bed to the door, there he was.

His expression was sensual and stark, a plate hanging forgotten from his fingers, a sandwich scattered on the floor in front ofhim. He was staring, his golden eyes eating me up the way I’d dreamed he’d been doing just moments ago. I knew what had happened right away, but I was no longer bothered by how his mind seemed to blur the edges between reality and dream. I just wanted him to do all the things he’d been making me dream about.

Lifting my hand, I curled a finger at him in a come hither motion. He followed that gesture into the room, his feet making the floorboards creak with each step. His shoulders filled up my vision, wide and bare. He was only wearing jeans, and he had left the top button undone. A tantalizing trail of fine black hairs led from his belly button into his pants, and I wanted to see where it went.

“Do you know what you’re asking for?” he drawled as he reached the bed and pressed his knee onto the mattress next to me. It dipped, and my body started sliding toward him, my hip pressing against him. On my other side, the mattress left a gap between the frame, too small to fully fit the giant bed, but it would still be big enough to fit the two of us together. Especially since I wasn’t planning on leaving much space between us.

I nodded my head, my teeth nibbling on my bottom lip. “I want you. You want me. It doesn’t need to be more than that right now, does it?” That whole soulmate thing was something too big to fully contemplate right now, but I did know that I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted a guy. Of course, he did sneak seduce me in my dreams on a regular basis, but I was definitely not about to complain about that.

“Is that so?” he said, for a moment just hovering there, his knee warm against my hip. I felt like he was waiting for something,but I didn’t know what. My declaration of undying love? He’d have to wait for that; I didn’t fall that quick, even if he was getting damn close to making me want everything he offered me.

“Yes,” I said firmly. He moved then, his body all restrained power as he brought his fists down to the mattress on either side of my head. I saw the flex of his biceps, the veins that ran along his arms, and I got a fantastic, tantalizing glimpse down his abs into his unbuttoned pants.

Chardum definitely had issues with clothing, but he was no longer some bizarre stranger. He really had turned into Chardum the Destroyer in my head. A man named Destroyer could do whatever he wanted, including walking around buck-naked and ravaging me in bed.

Tilting my head up a little was all the invitation he needed to dip down and press his mouth to mine for a kiss. He blazed hot, like always, his body caging me in as he took my mouth firmly. This was no seduction, it was a claim. His tongue tangled and licked; he nibbled on my lip and sucked it into his mouth. As he did so, palms seemed to slide down my face, over my throat, and along the slopes of my breasts, a mental touch as his hands were still planted on the mattress.

I grabbed the hem of my tank top and started pulling it up, eager to touch my skin to his. He sat back, finally letting me come up for air, and helped me. When my breasts were freed, his eyes glowed with flames and I found myself flung back, a growl rattling from his chest as he captured a nipple in his mouth.

“Oh,” I moaned, my body jerking in his grip, but this time he was keeping me pinned with his hands. He’d flung his leg over myhip and when I bucked, I came up against his muscled thighs. He lifted his head just enough to meet my eyes, his tongue flicking out, just a tad too long to look fully human, and he lapped my other nipple until that one was an equally stiff peak.

“So pretty, so tasty,” he murmured, sliding lower to lap at the underside of one breast, then trail his tongue down to swirl it in my belly button. I shivered on the edge of ticklish. He hooked his thumbs into my panties, claws sliced, and the fabric fluttered away. My stomach swooped, shocked by the sight, instantly even more aroused. I hadn’t thought about it before, but all those little hints that he wasn’t quite a normal man were so freaking hot.

Now I was completely naked while he still wore his jeans, the rough denim pressed against my thighs when he scooted down. His hands were on my hips to pull me into whatever position he wanted. I felt owned, cared for, as he just did what he wanted and it was somehow exactly what I needed. I should have known he’d been part of my dreams, that he knew that I’d fantasized about his mouth on my clit, his tongue in my channel.

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