Page 26 of Iced Heat

Chapter Fourteen

Sequin

Heat was always like time traveling. Time sped up, slowed down, and seemingly paused at the most random intervals. I distinctly remembered the others being there when we arrived back at the house that night after our claiming vows but when I next resurfaced enough to think about them, they were long gone.

I lost my sense of time to Xav. He was everywhere, touching me, knotting me, making love to me when I needed him the most. He fed me and dragged me into the shower and then back out into the bed for a nap. Sometimes I slept on the kitchen table spread out with the fan blowing on my balls to stop myself from overheating. For the first time since I had my first phone, I didn’t bother with it. I didn’t check texts, missed calls, or social media. It didn’t even cross my mind to worry about what I might be missing. The world was on its own because Xav was the only person in existence that I wanted to think about. What I couldn’t figure out was how I ever lived without him.

“Didn’t know what you were missing,”my dragon whispered back into my thoughts one afternoon.

I blinked up at the dark ceiling. No lights came through the windows either. Must’ve been night. The fan was blowing right on my balls and I was once again stretched out on the kitchen table. I smelled soap and fruit. Somewhere in the kitchen Xav must’ve left a snack plate for later. My eyes bounced from chair to chair around the table, but they were all empty. Then the chilly air caressed my thigh and a smile pulled at the corners of my lips. One day that wouldn’t startle me. One day, I’d know exactly where he was even when he was ice.

A second later, a tiny almost translucent ice wyrm sat on my thigh. He nuzzled into my flesh before walking up to my chest, leaving behind a trail of tiny cold footprints. I ran a finger over his head and down his back. He was perfect. My perfect Xav. My stomach growled and that meant he’d shift back to his elven form and make me eat again soon. Though, this time I actually felt hungry. Though, I wouldn’t have said no to another knotting. I touched my forehead, cheeks, and neck. I wasn’t as warm as I had been when I dozed off but that didn’t mean my heat had finally gone away. Xav had been all over me in his ice form.

“You were starting to cool down before I did that. I just wanted to take a nap too but didn’t want to leave you alone,”he said over the mating link.

“I’m sorry I’ve run you ragged. I’m going to have to turn the tables when this is over,”I said, stretching my arms and legs as far as I could. My spine crackled as if I’d slept in the fetal position for a month.

“I’d settle for you actually being hungry a few times a day. I was worried at first. This isn’t a Starscale world. I wasn’t sure how you all handled taking care of newly met mates. Thought I might actually have to hunt down a kraken but the baskets came nonetheless. I think either Teddy or Liatris made the trip to bring them over. Maybe they took turns.”

“How long has it been?”

“I think we’re on day seventeen.”

“Seventeen?”I sat up, nearly knocking him off my chest and having to grab him at the last second.

“Yeah. I was marking it on the calendar but then I lost track of if I marked one day or not. So, I think seventeen give or take a day or so,”he said, shifting back to ice and then to his elven form, sitting next to me at the table.

“Seventeen days?” I blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a heat last that long. Where’s my phone? I don’t want to call anyone.I just want to see what day it is. The night of the cave was the fifth.”

“Wherever you left it. Mine too. They both made it back that night. I didn’t---”

“Think about them until now?” I laughed. “Me neither.”

It took a few trips around the house for us to find our phones in the laundry room without any memory of how they were put up on the top shelf above the appliances between the washing powder and dryer sheets.

“Eighteen days,” I said after doing some quick math. “I was in heat for eighteen days.”

“I did miss a day then,” Xav mused.

“Are you okay?” I looked him up and down. He wore only a pair of boxers and looked as tired as I felt.

“I’m fine. I probably missed a few meals here and there but I ate more than I could get you to eat,” he touched my cheek as he spoke. “I’d never heard of a dragon refusing food before.”

“Sorry,” I said and bit my lip.

“It’s not your fault and I kept you hydrated. That was easier. Got you a few shakes down the hatch too.”

“I vaguely remember drinking something chalky that tasted vaguely of vanilla and raspberries.”

“That was the protein shake,” he nodded. “You hated it, but you managed.”

A grin spread over my face as it all came back to me. Not so much the shakes. Those fuckers were gross.

“Is it bad that it’s been eighteen days and I still don’t want to go outside?” I smirked.

“No.”

“Shit! Did you extend our stay or are we just squatting now?”

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