Page 113 of Phoenix Rise

She detached with reluctance as I crouched, pushing her over to lie on the soft moss. Kissing her, I kicked off my pants and then lowered my lips to her belly.

My fingers slid her leggings off, one slow inch at a time, as my teeth nibbled and my tongue licked along her soft skin. She arched up, her hands buried in my hair. Her legs fell open for me, and I sank between them, licking and nibbling until she moaned and humped against me.

Her scent enveloped me, and the beast in me howled for completion. It wanted this, and as her eyes gleamed at me, I knew she wanted it too.

I rolled her over and kissed along her spine as she pushed her buttocks into me, legs spread wide in invitation.

I plunged into her warmth and draped myself over her as she rode me as much as I did her. My tongue traced the path to where her neck met her shoulder. The previous bite was now merely a scar...

She tightened as I swelled, until the liquid friction had me hissing through my teeth. My balls were so tight I thought they’d pulled up inside me.

And then, I sensed it. Her beast, using our joining to pull from me. And I let her do it, reveling in the way it fed into my lust, driving me to a fever’s pitch.

She gasped. “Do it, Matt.”

I opened my jaws and bit down. And we shattered together, my cries muffled against her shoulder, but hers rang out across the forest.

So much for remaining discreet.

I held on as the waves rode us, thrusting gently to ride out the pleasure, aware of the draining of my life energy as a pleasant, almost dreamy thing.

I released the bite, and she reversed the flow of energy with much less effort this time. It flooded me—I felt as though I were expanding, becoming so much more than what I’d been. I was hard again in an instant, and when she squeezed those inner muscles, I erupted with a cry, and brought her with me.

As the waves slowed, Anna pushed into me before squirming off and rolling over. She looked up at me, and then beyond—her eyes flew wide, and she gasped.

Something cast shadows against the moonlight. My eyes traced the shape, and my heart stuttered as I finally felt them. With horror, I recognized the new extensions to my physical self.

“Matt,” she whispered. “You havewings.”

No.I vaulted off her. My wings crashed painfully into the vines above us, sending leaves and fireflies cascading down.

“Wait!” she called after me as I plunged through the vines. Banging my new additions hurt like hell, but I almost hoped they would rip right off...

I bolted across the clearing with no definite idea of where I was going, only that I had to get away from her. From the disgust that must surely be reflected in her eyes. I’d become a monster, a horrible mutant creature, neither Dire nor Dragon.

“STOP!” Her shout, rich with her alpha power, rang across the small clearing, and I could no more disobey it than stop breathing. My feet skidded to a halt.

She ran up to me and grabbed my arm. Searched my eyes. “Did Xumi do this to you?”

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at her. “She had Talakai bite me.”

“Bitch,” she said succinctly. Then she nudged her way into my mind.

Why didn’t you tell me?

I answered her question with one of my own.Why would you want to be mated to a mutant?

She stiffened.A mutant?

Something part Dire, and part Dragon.

Like Dani?Her confusion carried along the link.Why would I mind that?

I opened my eyes, and hers scanned my own. I sensed her sincerity.You really don’t care?

Why would I care?As she read my own disgust, her mouth pulled straight, and she frowned.Did it cross your fool mind that until recently, I had no idea werewolves or Dragons even existed?

No. No, it hadn’t. But her confusion was a revelation—Anna didn’t think I was a mutant. It wasmethat had the issue.

---