Dragon Claiming (Year of the Dragon) (4 page)

                “It was my duty.”

                Sippora sighed, leaning up so she could look him in his eyes.

                “There are some protectors who have not done as much.” Though she could be patient when it came to declarations of love, she would not allow him to belittle how much he meant to the tribe. “You have great honor and, yes, love. After every tribute you always return our gifts with so much more. You have left water in the dry seasons, you have provided herbs to our healers. You didn’t have to do this. All you are charged with is the overall protection of my people, not our well-being.”

                There was no fast and easy retort to this because it was the simple truth. She saw a slight resignation in his gaze.

                “Do not make the mistake of thinking I am soft or easy,” he warned, though his voice had gotten markedly gentler. “I cannot offer you more than what I am.”

                “Oh?” she challenged right back. “So perhaps I should gather my clothing and make my way back to my village. I wouldn't want to force you to change for me.”

                “You will go nowhere!” Uryen snapped, pulling her even tighter against him before he seemed to remember himself. “Sippora, I pledge all that I am to you,” he sighed after a few deep breaths. “I will protect you with my life, honor you with my body, and give you everything you could ever desire.”

                “I know you will.” Drifting off to sleep, she placed a soft kiss on his chest. “That and more.”

***

                Uryen loved her. Just three days since bringing her to his lair, he was more sure of that than he was anything else he had ever claimed to know. Watching her in the courtyard that had once been nothing but packed dirt, but now boasted exotic flowers that hadn’t grown in these lands in over a millennium, his chest felt tight and full. He had been right about her; Sippora was sweetness and light, soft, gentle and kind. The only ferocity he had ever witnessed in her was in bed.

                Remembering the night before made his cock heavy watching her now, the gauzy white linen he had provided for her to wear hiding nothing of her dark beauty from him. His mind wandered back to the way she’d been bent over while he drove inside her from behind, her hands tied by the rope she had come to love. But she would only allow him to tie her for a short time. He had ended up on his back while his little dragon tamer had rode him to oblivion.

                Ahhh, how the walls of her impossibly tight quim had tightened down on him. milking his essence from his body. How was it possible to be that snug and that wet at the same time? And although he watched her now with building lust in his heart, the memory that came to him with the most force was the clinging kiss that had followed their explosive lovemaking and the way she had cuddled into his side.

                Yes, he loved her. There was little point in running from that very real truth.

                “Ummmm, it looks like my dragon needs taming.”

                It was hard not to smile—he could never remember being this happy in all his long existence. Was this how humans felt when they mated? He doubted it. What he felt was too possessive, too all-consuming for him to even consider sharing her with another man as many of the humans did because of their lack of women. In any case, she was his. She was his and he'd protect and cherish her for the rest of their lives. The fates might have a wicked sense of humor, but Uryen couldn't find it in him to feel anything other than gratitude.

He put his hand over Sippora's and guided her to his growing erection. “This dragon certainly does.”

“I'm up for the challenge if you are,” she replied, humor and love shining in her eyes.

But first there was something more, a confession he owed her and he wasn’t going to put it off any longer.

                “I love you Sippora,” Uryen admitted finally. How freeing it felt to finally but voice to the sentiment he had so long feared. “I love you with all my heart for all of eternity.”

“I know,” she smiled gently, reaching up to cup his cheek in her palm. “I’ve always known.”

Epilogue

                The sights and sounds of Annwn played in Tura’s mind even while deep in sleep. Centuries of history were seen and heard, felt even, but he had been helpless to participate. Trapped in a sleep so deep he had not so much as rolled over in so long he could no longer number the years, Tura had given up hope. Prophecy be damned, he had been convinced the Dragon King had damned them all. The tribe dragons had roamed free, unable to seek companionship but sworn to protect dying tribes on a dying world. Tura felt the seven dragon lords under his command in their loneliness and despair. There had been nothing he could do to help them, to console them. In a way Tura thought himself lucky, because at least in his sleep he had not been banished to be so close but to never be a part of their world, not like they had once been.

                But then something had happened. At first, Tura thought it was his imagination. One single claw had moved. Not much, less than inch, but it definitely moved—the sound of the sharpened, deadly weapon against the stone castle floor echoed loudly throughout his hidden keep. Then he felt the desires of the dragon protector of his clan. One after another, tribe after tribe, the dragon libido so long dead had awakened with a vengeance. What was this? Was the prophecy being fulfilled?

                And then it happened. His eyes opened, snapping wide suddenly to peer into the darkness of his own bedchamber under the dust and decay of the lost centuries. His gaze was fuzzy at first, as if unable to focus, until it fixed on a spot directly in front of him—deep into the burning violet eyes of a witch.

                “It is about time you woke up.”

                The voice was smoky; not deep, but a kind of husky that from the right female was incredibly sexy. As Tura didn’t have a cock in dragon form, he couldn’t really say he was erect. However, he was definitely aroused. Desire slammed into him hard, forcing him to take a deep, calming breath. A deep breath of centuries’ worth of dust that had come to cover him while he slept.

                The coughing was immediate as he tried to expel the dust he’d just inhaled, managing to snort smoke that filled the room that was already swirling dirt.

                “What do you want with me, witch?” he managed to cough out as soon as he could drag in enough unpolluted air.

                To her credit, she hadn’t moved even when he had been hacking up what he’d unintentionally inhaled. He couldn’t see much more than her eyes, their eerie purple light boring into him without blinking. Although he couldn’t make out much of her, his desire for her was growing by the second. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to move the rest of his body. It was believed the witches had fled this planet long, long ago. They didn’t live amongst the tribes, but then they never really had. Instead, Tura knew they had simply gone underground. He had felt them, but he hadn’t been able to “see” or hear them. Witches and dragons weren’t friends.

                “What do I want? Nothing at all,” she sneered in his direction. “But the damned tattoo on my shoulder dictated that I had to come to you as you awakened. I have been here for seven moons, dragon. I am getting sorely tired of waiting for you.”

                None of it made sense. Seven moons? Waiting for him? A tattoo. Her baffling words did manage to allow him to lift his large head to peer more clearly at the puzzling woman. Sweet Fate, she was gorgeous! With skin a deep, dark chocolate and locks that flowed to her waist, she looked every inch the powerful witch. And Fate help him, he wanted her. But in that way lay danger. He would never touch her. Could never touch her.

                “Explain yourself before I decide to eat you. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had a good meal.”

                That didn’t scare her, or make her mad. Instead she did the oddest thing. She smiled.

                “Well, I should certainly hope so. I have intense sexual appetites, as you will learn, seeing as how you are my mate.”

The end...?