Page 43 of Dragon Fire

They’d both been through a lot that day. Gowan had fought alongside the fey. He’d wielded his sword and spilled pirate blood in defense of an ally of Draconia. He’d faced death and come out on top.

She, too, had been asked to do things quite out of her ordinary experience. The desperate flight, the walk over land into an uncertain situation. Meetings with gryphons and wizards. Magic and mayhem. It was more than her usual boring business day, and it had left her feeling rough in places…especially those close to her heart.

Tonight, she needed complete openness between her and her lover, and Gowan was giving it to her now. Just what she needed from him.

No time to think. Only to feel. To give and receive pleasure in its most basic form.

She turned the tables on him, tackling him to the bed. He let her. She climbed over him, tearing at the trousers that separated them. He helped.

Finally, when he was freed, she took him almost brutally. Surging down onto him, claiming him for herself. Wild with need, potent with emotion, she began rocking on him, wanting…needing…desiring all he had to give.

And he was with her. Blessedly so.

When she came in a fast, hard climax, he held her. When she collapsed onto his chest, almost sobbing with each breath at the intensity of her feelings, he comforted her. And when he rolled them over, carefully maintaining the connection between their bodies, he began to seduce her all over again.

Gowan was a powerful man, and he used his strength wisely that night, bringing her to climax after climax, letting her rest for short periods before he started it all again. They rarely spoke, but they were always touching, speaking in caresses and murmurs of skin on skin.

He took her hard and fast, then soft and slow. Languorous, one minute; hectic, the next. He gave her everything and demanded all she had in return, which she gladly gave. She was raw emotionally, but his loving presence put a balm on her inner turmoil. When the night started to fade into the next day, she felt renewed in spirit and soul.

He’d done that. He’d restored her. His loving embrace had rebalanced her battered emotions, and she felt she could face whatever the new day brought them in better spirits.

When she left his bed, reluctantly, she was a little sore, but Gowan—for all his hard use of her body that night—had been careful not to harm her. He’d taken exquisite care of her in every way, and she loved him all the more for it.

She hadn’t thought it would be possible to love the man any more, but she’d been wrong. Every time they were together, he burrowed a little deeper into her heart.

She left him with a last lingering kiss, wishing she didn’t have to go. They both knew, however, that she had to be careful. Gowan had told her that he didn’t want anything ruining the memory of the night they had just shared. He got up and opened the door to his room, checking the hall before he let her out.

She made her escape back to her own room just as the first bird began to sing in the darkness. Collapsing onto her own bed, she sighed in bliss and couldn’t stop the smile that curved her lips. She fell asleep that way, still smiling.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sir Leo was on watch again when dawn broke over the ocean to the East. Lizbet had not reappeared when he’d gone back on watch, and he was both glad and sad. Glad because he wanted her to rest, but sad that he didn’t have her company during the long lonely hours before dawn.

In the pearly light, Leo saw a gryphon approach. It looked like he was making directly for the beach and the bonfires that had died down to mere coals. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a proud gryphon of noble bearing walked soundlessly into camp, giving the glowing coals a wide berth, Leo noticed. Feathers and fur didn’t do well with fire, he supposed, unlike dragons who could bathe in the flames with impunity, their flexible, armor-like scales protecting them.

Atop the gryphon was a man. Not a fey. A dark-haired older man. The wizard.

“Hail, Sir Leonhardt,” the wizard called as he jumped down from his seat astride the gryphon’s massive shoulders. “How is the patient this morning?”

“Greetings of the day, milord,” Leo answered politely, standing to face the last of the great wizards of old. “I believe Seth is already at his work, checking on Lady Shara’s wounds,” Leo told him, unsurprised when Gryffid strode right past him and into the cave without hesitation.

Leaving Leo, of course, facing a rather fierce-looking gryphon. Leo tried to keep in mind the proper etiquette when meeting a gryphon for the first time. He didn’t want to do anything that might offend such a fierce creature.

“I am General Falthith,” the gryphon said to Leo, surprising him.

“Greetings of the day, General. May I offer you breakfast? Or a snack? I have apples in my pack that Xanderanth often enjoys.” Leo wasn’t quite sure what to offer a gryphon. They might be roughly the same size and shape as a dragon, but they were quite a different beast altogether.

“No, thank you,” the general replied. “We have been touring the island, looking to ssee the sscope of the damage for oursselvess in the light of day.” Falthith turned suddenly, looking toward the water. “Ah. Company comess.”

Seth looked to where the gryphon was gesturing and saw at least a dozen dragons walking out of the waves and onto the beach. Sweet Mother of All, the sea dragons had come to visit their injured friend. Or maybe they’d come to see the wizard…

As it turned out, the sea dragons had come to do both. Several went into the large cave to check on Shara. A few went to visit with Hrardorr. Leo noticed that Xanderanth stayed by Shara’s side, even when her fellow sea dragons came to see her. Xander seemed almost possessive of the female dragon, and he was definitely protective to a degree Leo had never before witnessed—except maybe when Xander was watching over Leo’s youngest siblings.

About half of the sea dragons gathered around the wizard when he came out of the cave. Leo heard only a small a portion of their conversation, but he got the idea that Gryffid was thanking the sea dragons for helping to defend the island and offering them a more involved role in future. They walked off a short distance away and seemed to be discussing things in earnest when Seth came out to sit by the small fire Leo had kept burning, and over which he was cooking breakfast.

“Is Lizbet still sleeping?” Leo asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“LadyLizbet is with Lady Shara,” Seth answered, stressing the fey woman’s title as if reminding Leo just how out of his league the beauty truly was. Seth sighed heavily and walked around the cook fire to face Leo. “Look, just be careful, will you? She is fey. The next best thing to immortal. Not human, you know? I just…I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

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