Page 38 of Cage Me

He could see how she thought they were going to ram into the trees, but he was a better flyer than that. He unfurled his wings once again, catching the air like a parachute, and then drifted softly to the ground.

“Azy, you can open your eyes now.”

“Are we dead?” She didn't open her eyes and didn't release her grip on him. Her knees were tucked up next to her chin, which had her plump bum curled into his claw. He liked the feel of that. He'd like to have his human hands on her ass even more.

“No. I don't think so,” he teased.

She pried one eye open and glanced around. The other eye followed. One arm tentatively reached out and when her fingers touched the ground Cage felt her entire body relax.

“Thank goodness.” She tumbled out of his grasp and stood up. “Where are Jett and Fallyn? They made it out to, didn't they?”

“I'm sure they did. I am more concerned about you than them right now.” He lowered his head and snuffled at her injuries.

She smacked him on the snout. He wasn't having any of that. He snuffled her again, this time at her neck, pushing her head to the side so he could get access to the mark he'd left on her. He knew it was here somewhere, he could sense it, scent it, practically taste it. She was his and the whole world would know.

“Stop that. What are you doing?” She tried to push his snout away, but he would not be swayed.

“Looking for your mark.” Hmm, maybe he'd bitten her on the other shoulder.

“My what?” She had stopped resisting him and let him pull the tattered remains of the shirt away from her shoulders with his teeth.

“Your mark. When I claimed you and that your shoulder, I bound us together and placed my mark on your skin. You are mine and any other dragon will know it.”

Aha. Once he had her shirt pushed away the gold dragon tattoo glowed on her skin. He couldn't imagine anything more beautiful than the look of liquid gold across her brown skin. He swiped his dragon's tongue across the mark and shifted into his human form replacing the rough scales with his lips.

“I am adding that misogynistic attitude about belonging to you to my list of things were going to talk about. But, later because damn, that feels really fucking good and I don't want you to stop.”

Cage chuckled and followed the pattern of the mark from her neck across her shoulder and then traced the path of the tail to where it disappeared beneath the leather.

“Oh, yeah. Right there. I don't understand how my clavicle got to be an erogenous zone, but I'm down with that. Wait, are we safe? Are demon dragons going to interrupt this celebration?”

“We are safe. The earth has collapsed back over the gap and the magic of this oasis is stronger than the ward on Fallyn’s treasure trove.”

“Sweet.” She grabbed him by the collar and mashed her mouth to his. Her tongue darted into his mouth and her salty flavor exploded into him. “Wait. Did you say oasis?”

Cage sucked her lip into his mouth and mumbled, “mmm-hmm.”

Azy wrapped one leg around the back of his calf, pulling their centers together. “Like with a pool?”

“Yes. I believe it is a spring.” Which she needed to be in right now. Cage ran his hand over Azy’s thigh and and then lifted her up so she straddled him. This was rapidly becoming his favorite place in the whole wide world to be. Between her legs.

She put her arms around his neck and dipped her head to nibble at his ear. The woman’s lips were like magic, sending shots of pure desire through his system.

He took long strides, headed in the direction he saw the water from the sky. It couldn’t be more than a few hundred meters from where he landed.

Yes, there, up ahead, the water gleamed in the morning sunlight, throwing a reflection of sparkles into the air around it like a mirage. A mirage that looked strikingly like a woman standing next to the pool’s edge.

“You know I can breathe underwater, right?” Azy’s voice had gone husky and seductive.

Was she hinting at what she wanted to do to him in said water? Fuck, yeah.

“Hello, my lord Gylden. I see you retrieved your mate.”

Cage stopped dead in his tracks. God dammit. As much as he had wanted it to be, the figure at the water’s edge wasn’t a mirage. It was a beautiful young woman in a gold toga.

Azy froze in his arms. All except her head and neck, which turned to stare at the woman.

“Azynsa.” The woman in gold nodded. “I’m glad to see you returned to the land of the living. We were worried about you for a while there. Hell is no place for a creature of the water, like you.”

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