Breath of Fire (22 page)

“Relax,” he whispered.

“Easy for you to say.”

“If you’ll quit thinking so much and open yourself to the possibilities, the ritual will happen as it is supposed to.”

I kissed him again because it was easy to lose myself when I did. My skin was alive to the touch and vibrated with every stroke of his fingers. My hands were still immobile as Julian dipped his finger between my thighs and entered me. He pushed in and out of me, stroking the hidden nub in my folds with every pass. I moaned as something coiled inside me, begging for release.

His teeth were sharp as they scraped over the skin at my neck—sharper than they’d been the last time he’d kissed my mouth. My eyes widened in surprise as I realized what he was going to do, but by then it was too late. He bit down on the pulse point in my neck just as his finger pushed back inside of me.

Colors swirled behind my eyelids as an explosion rocketed through my body, and I spiraled over the edge into a climax so strong I was sure I’d pass out. I screamed out with pleasure when the sucking on my neck pulsed in time to the spasms between my thighs.

My mind opened with the pleasure, and I knew instinctively that the Drakán mating ritual called for the sharing of not only flesh, but also blood. Something shifted in my mouth, gums tearing and the taste of my own blood against my tongue. My teeth elongated and became impossibly sharp.

The urge to bite into flesh became need. It was the most overwhelming sensation I’d ever experienced—more consuming than the instinct to kill when on the hunt. I knew I could lose control very easily in my current state, the inborn violence of my being so closely entwined with the pleasure.

I didn’t want to hurt Julian, and my mind didn’t want to love him. My body, on the other hand, needed his flesh between my teeth and thighs more than I needed to breathe. And as much as I tried to fight it, I knew that loving Julian would be inevitable. We were the definition of true soulmates, our connection created by the gods—closer than two people could ever hope to be.

I knew what I had to do to complete the ritual, but I wanted full control over my body. I was incapable of speech, so I had to speak mind to mind.

“Release my hands.”

My hands fell from the ceiling as if the invisible cord had suddenly been cut. I wrapped my arms around Julian’s neck and tried to bring our bodies closer. I teased him with the scrape of my teeth, and he growled low in his throat with frustration and yearning. I bit down gently and felt the give of his flesh. The sweet, coppery taste of blood hit my tongue just as he wrapped my legs around his waist and entered me with one hard thrust.

He worked in and out of my body, hitting every part that would eventually send me spiraling back over the edge. I kissed his mouth again, and blood mingled on our tongues. We were both close to fulfillment. My thoughts and feelings were his just as his were mine.

Julian’s thrusts became faster and his rhythm more frantic, but the pleasure was quickly overwhelmed by the most severe agony imaginable. It was familiar agony, and the last time I’d experienced it I’d been with Noah.

“Don’t think of him,” Julian said through gritted teeth, even as he pushed harder into me.

A searing pain burned down the entire left side of my torso. Julian tensed in my arms. I opened my eyes to see what was wrong. Patterns of gold fire curled around one side of his body, and the smell of burnt flesh—his and mine—mingled with the scent of our passion.

We were being branded—branded by the gods to spend eternity together.

The pleasure and the pain interchanged, back and forth, until I was delirious with exhaustion. I was no longer whole but a part of someone else. And when the blue fire around us turned white, I experienced a climax that couldn’t be compared to anything I’d ever felt before. Julian’s cock swelled inside me, and I felt the power of his release against my inner walls. I knew from the fierce shout and the joyous wonder that filled him that the pleasure was like nothing he’d ever known.

We glided back down to the floor, still wrapped in each other’s arms, and I floated on the hazy wings of unconsciousness until everything went dark.

Chapter Nineteen

I awoke lazily, disoriented until the details of the round room came into focus. The night before played over and over in my mind. There were a lot of things to remember, and my body heated and my heart pounded with each memory. The worst thing was that I wanted to do it all again.

I stretched and winced as my muscles protested. I was sore everywhere.

The only light in the room was from the small window we’d flown through the night before. It looked to be just after dawn by the hazy, grey hue that teased the window with its light. I could smell the rain in the air and knew we’d get a downpour by midmorning.

I sat up slowly and realized I lay dead center of the big black bed from my dream. Julian’s bed. The satin sheets were twisted around my body and the pillows were strewn on the floor. Julian was nowhere in sight.

I was relieved not to have to face him just yet. We’d done things that even now brought a blush to my face. I pulled the sheets up higher around me, covering my breasts. I looked at the ceiling and then back down at the bed. I’d thought Julian had said he couldn’t get a bed into the tower.

“No, Rena. I never said I couldn’t bring a bed to our tower. I simply told you the truth, that there was no bed. I felt we should not use such conventional means the first time. It should be different between us, no? We have a lifetime to try out all the beds you want.”

I slammed my mind shut, cutting Julian off before he could say any more. I really wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. I sat there a few seconds longer before I realized how easy it had been to get Julian out of my head. I wondered if this was one of the advantages of being true lifemates.

My neck burned fiercely, and I touched a finger to the ragged skin there. It was healing slower than a normal wound would have, but at least it was healing. I looked down at the rest of my body, afraid of what I’d see. A beautiful tattoo scrolled down the side of my body—henna in color. It was written in the old tongue, but I couldn’t make out the words from this angle. I needed a mirror. The burns were still tender to the touch, and I remembered that Eunice had told me she would give me some salve for them.

I gingerly got out of the bed and made my way over to the window. It didn’t take long to realize I had a problem. How the hell was I going to get down from this tower?

“A good question indeed,”
Julian said.

“You did this on purpose.”

“Of course. It is now my job to teach you how to survive as I have.”

“Well, great master, what do you suggest?”

“You must fly, of course. And if I were you I’d do it quickly. It will be full daylight shortly. I’m not sure the good citizens of my country are ready to see a dragon over their morning commute.”

“What if I can’t do it?”

“Then you will have a long, lonely day spent in the dark.”

“Shit.”

“Indeed.”

I looked out the window at the threatening light of day and then down to the gardens. It was a long,
long
way down from where I stood. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. I was going to have to change into my dragon form. I’d never heard of a Drakán being able to fly without it. The problem was, other than the time I’d changed in front of Eunice, I hadn’t been able to shift into my dragon.

Just thinking of my dragon brought her to the surface. Her joy was contagious as she moved inside me. She’d gotten what she’d wanted the night before, and now she was up for anything. She wanted to fly, to feel the wind under her scales. I closed my eyes and fought against the nausea. I could see her clearly. Her silver eyes were pleading. She gave me a final nudge and then disappeared.

Bones and cartilage slid and re-slid inside of me. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable. I was cold. A clear fluid burst from my skin and was replaced by silvery scales. But the scales were dry and cool to the touch when I felt them. Smoother than I thought they’d be. My teeth were sharp. My vision extraordinary. Every particle that floated across the air was crystal clear. Every color vividly bright. The change brought a rush of power I never could have imagined.

I was stronger. Everything about me was stronger—including my magic. My sense of smell was powerful—scents from the city below me rose up and tickled my snout. But it was the scent of meat—flesh and blood—that had my mouth watering. I wanted to fight. And I wanted to hunt. My dragon was in charge now, and just as she’d been trapped inside me, writhing to get out, the same was now true for my human self.

But first I needed to get out of my prison. Even my dragon looked down from the window with trepidation. She wasn’t sure what she was meant to do.

“It will all happen as it is meant. Success and failure are up to you.”

“You’re not helping,”
I answered.

I looked out the window once again at the plunging depths that awaited me and closed my eyes. My dragon didn’t know the mechanics of flying. But she wanted to jump. Instinct took over. I took a last deep breath and plunged over the edge.

The wind rose beneath me, and for a short moment I soared. But the ground grew closer and panic clouded my mind. Dragon and human both screamed as I sank like a stone several hundred feet. I lost control of my dragon form, and I shifted back into myself. I opened my mind and pleaded for help.

A black dragon swooped in from out of nowhere and caught me in a rush of speed just before I hit the ground. He set me down a few feet away and quickly transformed back to his human form. I dropped to my knees and closed my eyes, willing my heart to slow and the nausea to go away. Julian conjured clothes for both of us and then helped me to stand.

“Th—thank you,” I said.

He ran his hands down the length of my arms and stepped away from me quickly, as if he was afraid to touch me.

“That was less than impressive, Rena. You’ll have to do better next time.”

I snarled in his direction. I was itching for a fight and Julian was as good of a target as any, but he turned and walked away, leaving me impotent in my rage. As if I weren’t there. As if the two of us hadn’t spent the most incredible night of our lives together.

“Come. Eunice will tend to your burns and then we must talk.”

I’d had enough. I was just to the edge of the breaking point, and I couldn’t be responsible for what I might do if anything else traumatic happened to me.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.

Julian turned around and arched an eyebrow. “We do not have time for you to play games.”

“I’m not playing. If you’d like me to go somewhere with you then you might try asking. Hell, you might try even saying good morning first.”

He looked at me strangely. “You are displeased with me.”

“You’re very astute, lifemate.”

His expression turned hard, and I knew that I’d somehow hurt his feelings. It would be wise to remember that Julian was as new to being a lifemate as I was.

“I’m not displeased,” I corrected. “I wanted you to kiss me. To speak with me as if what we shared mattered to you. But you didn’t. You just walked away and acted as if I didn’t matter in the least.”

“I saved your body from considerable damage. If you hadn’t meant anything to me, I would have let you fall.”

He moved closer to me until he stood less than a breath away. I could barely see the edge of his own tattoos over the collar of his shirt. “And the reason I do not kiss you is because once I start, I will not want to stop.”

I put my hands against his chest and leaned into him, daring him to kiss me anyway. His eyes darkened with desire. And then we vanished. One moment I was about to be kissed in the garden. The next I was gone into nothingness.

Chapter Twenty

My body was weightless, and it floated across a great void in millions of tiny little pieces. My atoms fizzled back together, and when I was able to get my bearings, I noticed we were somewhere back inside the chateau. Julian backed away from me and headed toward the door.

“Wait, what the hell was that?” I asked.

“It speeds up travel time tremendously, yes?”

“If you like your insides to feel like scrambled eggs.”

I now had proof to the rumors that Julian could travel through time. I wasn’t sure I’d believed him yesterday, even when he’d admitted he could. I’d never seen—or felt—anything like it before. But Julian wasn’t the Destroyer. He couldn’t be. Because a lifemate would know something like that. Right?

“Where are we?” I asked. “I take it these aren’t your private quarters?”

The room was wholly feminine in its décor—Queen Anne furniture, lace curtains, crystal candlesticks. Knick-knacks and photographs covered every surface, and a fire blazed in the hearth, making the room toasty warm.

I wondered if I’d ever get to see Julian’s private space. I’d slept in his bed, and I knew what every part of his body felt like against my skin, but I really didn’t know anything about
him
. And I found it a little surprising that I very much wanted to know.