Fire of Stars and Dragons (30 page)

Cait steps toward me, reaching one hand out. Her fingers glide along my stomach, sending a shiver coursing through me, her touch cool on my skin as her hand finds its way to my chest. “Then why does it feel like you keep giving me away to him?”

“Truthfully?” Truthfully, to keep her with me, to never lose her, I may be willing to break far too many rules, and to cross lines between my duty as a dragon and my desires as a man.

“Don’t lie to me.”

She moves nearer, her body against mine, making breathing difficult, yet she wants answers to complicated questions. “I do not deserve your love, Cait. I fear my honor cannot withstand adhering to my responsibilities, to my duties in the face of…” I take an uneven breath, grazing her body with my eyes, my self-control threadbare, my desire intent on taking her in this moment. “… you. You are my North Star, Cait, but stars burn far hotter than dragon fire, and I fear you may burn me.”

“You don’t need to deserve my love, Theo. I’ve given it to you, and I’m not taking it back.” Her hands snake around my neck, fingers in my hair, and I cannot resist the need to hold her closer, touch her, feel her in my arms. “And I think you’re the only one who can handle me without getting burned… or can at least survive the damage.” She laughs. “Take a bath with me.”

I do not answer. I kiss her, leaning her back as I shut off the water, pushing my shorts down, kicking them out of the way before sweeping Cait off her feet, and lifting her into the tub as I step in. “Do you not want to relax?” I ask, pulling her into the water with me, enjoying the way she settles atop me, straddling my lap, arms around my neck again.

“With you in here?… No.” Playful, biting my ear, Cait rocks her hips, teasing me, eliciting a deep growl, and I slide my hands down, grasping her, directing her body closer, easing her to where I desire her most.

“Then what do you want?” My voice is husky in my need for her, but the teasing, the playfulness… I love that part of Cait.

Her hands on my face, she holds my gaze steady on hers. “I want you to give in, Theo.” It is not a soft request but a demand, sending a surge of arousal through me. “You. Are. Mine. Don’t fight it.”

Cait’s lips are on mine, hard, insistent, hands fisting my hair, and she’s taking control, grinding her body to mine, finding ways to pleasure herself with my body. I am a willing slave to her desires, no intention of fighting her punishment for my resistance in accepting her love. Slipping a thumb between us, I add to her pleasure, rewarded as she takes me in hand, still holding my head by my hair in one fist, controlling me as best she can, and I allow it, want it, finding it erotic in ways I would not expect.

My Cait.… Always unexpected.

She bites my lower lip, slow and enticing, then pulls back, grazing her teeth in sensual torture before running her tongue along my lips, a divine apology for the pain. “I’m not sure what ‘North Star’ means.” A breathless moan escapes as her arousal heightens with the pressure of my thumb. “But I know it’s important,” Cait whispers, “that I’m important. So don’t deny what I want.” Commanding yet pleading, she drives me mad.

“I will not. Never again.”

I swear it, hoping I can satisfy her every need, fulfill every role she wishes, and I ease two fingers into her, my tongue capturing my name from her as she cries out, tightening her grasp on me, her desire fueling my own. Cait is so near the edge already, driven by many strong emotions or by the sense of control, I do not know. “Cait.” I yearn to feel her, to be inside her, to claim her as she claims me.

The water splashes me in the face as she responds with little guidance, my hands on her hips. She rises to her knees, still gripping my shaft, stroking, urging me on with her until she impales her body with mine, gasping at the fullness, and I growl out a sense of satisfaction, as physically connected to Cait as I feel in every other way.

Cait is not shy in her wants, in her needs. Letting go, leaning back, and placing her hands on my legs, she sets her own pace. Her body arched so beautifully before me, I explore her with passionate caresses, roving every curve with my hands, marveling at the softness of her skin under my fingers, finding her nipples and rolling them, pinching them into stiffened pink peaks. “Harder,” she moans as she moves faster, rougher, her need building, and I comply, further aroused by her desire for dominance.

She rocks her hips, riding me vigorously, and I cannot resist the temptation to take hold of her, lifting her out of the water as I reposition, sitting on my feet for better leverage, keeping her body against mine, allowing me to match her own movements and thrust into her with the passion she so desires.

Grabbing my shoulders, steadying herself, Cait digs her nails into my flesh, crying out my name, incoherent exclamations following. ‘More’ is the only intelligible word she speaks, and I give it to her: more, everything, the passionate love I promised her—the fire of a dragon.

One arm wrapped around her waist, I tangle my fingers in her hair, pulling her, guiding her, arching her back, baring her breasts, flicking her nipples with my tongue, teasing them with my teeth, commanding Cait to come for me in the ecstasy rising to a crescendo within her.… And she does.

I do not stop her from screaming out my name, do not quiet her, but continue thrusting, harder, unapologetic in claiming her. Let them all hear. Cait calling my name, her body clinging to mine, and knowing she is undeniably mine in every way draws me beyond the edge, a thunderous roar released as it does. A rite of my claim, an instinctual declaration.

Fingers still tangled in Cait’s soft hair, I pull her to look me in the eyes. “You. Are. Mine.” I make the same declaration of possession. “As I am yours. No longer will I forsake our marriage, Cait. You are my wife in the eyes of the Goddess.”

And I kiss her deeply, sealing my promise, forging our souls as one in the fire of stars and dragons.

Chapter 20

*Cait*

“I know what I said, but that was last night, and this is a new day. Today, I want him out here. I want you all out here.” Claaron pauses as though he might argue before turning to get Oliver.

“Would you like me to keep watch over Corrin?” As much as I appreciate Dante’s offer, I shake my head. “You trust him?”

“No, but I would hope he’s not quite so insane as to try escaping with a houseful of dragons… and you, all practically twitching in anticipation of the order to pop his head off.” Rearranging the four dragons’ engraved water bottles that are still taking up space in the refrigerator, I finally find my cranberry juice. “Do you honestly think he’ll be a problem?”

“Corrin is always a problem,” comes the answer as a very large and warm body presses me against the counter when I reach for a glass, opening the cabinet before I do and getting it down for me. Theo leans over, kissing me on the neck, his stubbly face grazing across my cheek, and the rise in my own body temperature has nothing to do with the heat radiating from him.

“I could have gotten that.” Pouring the juice, I pretend he is not the most distracting thing in the world.

“Of that, I am quite sure. You are capable of many feats.” There is an undeniable smirk in his voice, and I’m glad Claaron hasn’t returned to the kitchen. A small snort of laughter slips from Liam at the island.

Turning around to face Theo in the small space he allows between us, I open my mouth, ready with a sarcastic comment, but those green eyes, smoldering, ablaze with all we’ve reclaimed in each other, stop me. “Whatever am I going to do with you, Crazy Dragon?” I tease, shaking my head.

He lifts me onto the counter, missing knocking over my glass by a mere inch, placing me at eye level to him. “I am quite sure you will figure out something, Cait.” Theo manages the perfect façade of seriousness. “Now… about this meeting…”

“Do you think that evens the odds?” Claaron enters the kitchen, smirking. “Putting her at your height won’t give you any advantage, brother. My money is still on Cait any day.”

Theo gives a good-natured huff of faux disbelief, and Dante steps nearer, out of the corner by the refrigerator. “Indeed. I would wager my entire collection of Zambian emeralds on Caitriona. Dear friend or not, I would bring a hell you hath not seen down on your head and allow her to finish you off should you ever harm her… in any way.” His tone is steely, cold, and the unspoken
again
, lingers in the air.

It’s hard not to glare at him, knowing he means well. “I don’t believe that’s necessary, Dante.”

With a slight bow of respect, he steps over alongside Jai and Clifford as they join us from the living room.
My
dragon, Theo, stands rigid, unmoving, jaw set tight, refusing eye contact with me. “You are my ward, Cait. I will not harm you. I am eternally in your service, honor-bound to protect you. A destiny such as yours permits no kindness toward failure.”

“And this,” I say, taking his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me, “is why I wanted Oliver here too. I want every dragon with me, even the wishy-washy fence-riding dragon, to hear this. Yes, I am your ward, and you
are
my dragon, Theo.” I let my hands slide from his face along his neck, wandering across his shoulders and down his arms, grasping his hands, intertwining his strong fingers with mine. “But you are more. You are mine, and I am yours.” I can see he wants to argue, to refuse accepting such a statement in front of his brothers.

“Cait…”

“No. Whatever being the North Star means, whoever I am to the dragons, to them…” I wave a hand around the kitchen at those gathered; Jai, Clifford, Liam, Claaron, and Oliver, even Dante, though I don’t know how he fits into this. “Whoever I am to you in that respect, you are my equal, Theo—the one I love, the husband I chose. The day we met, after court… what did you tell me marrying you would mean?”

The corner of his mouth twitches, and I know he recalls every detail of the day, the events leading to those words he said, just as I do, even more vividly with his supernatural memory. “Unconditional eternal love, protection, loyalty, fidelity.” He omits the promise of being a most passionate lover, but I think the entire apartment, possibly a few floors of the building, got that idea last night.

“You may not want this broadcast until whatever change I’m going through is complete, until you feel I’m safer, but in front of those here, those you trust—that we trust—I promise you the same.”

He releases one of my hands, running a finger along the dragon crystal hanging at my neck, his necklace I wore today and never want to take off again. I hold a piece of Theo near me every second of the day. “Then let it be acknowledged by those present that you are my wife, Cait. I am your husband, and we are one. Though we cannot marry in the truest eternal bond before your transformation completes, the honor of a Pendragon is unquestionable, and my promise unbreakable, Cait.” He places a chaste kiss on my lips, smiling. “However, you can promise me many things, but I am a dragon, and you cannot promise to protect me.”

With a sharp laugh, I slap him on the chest, and he grins. “Like Hades’s fire I can’t!”

“Oh, no.” Claaron sighs. “Do not do this again. Theo. She nearly clipped our wings over yesterday’s fiasco.”

“And I’m not sure it can be said enough, Claaron… and the rest of you. You’ve pledged your loyalty and sworn to protect me, at least to some degree.” I toss a harsh glance in Oliver’s direction, a dragon with the good grace to look chastised for his indecisiveness. “Theo’s trying to do everything for everyone and be everywhere, holding too much responsibility on his shoulders when you’re all supposed to carry some of the weight. Clipped wings will be the least of your worries if I
ever
find another arrow stuck in my husband again. I’ll fillet your precious scales off.”

Theo laughs. “And you call me crazy.”

“I’m not talking crazy, just territorial. You are mine, and I will protect what is mine.” I meet his eyes, unrelenting, daring him to challenge me.

“Cait has heart of dragon,” Jai says softly.

A smirky grin creeps across Theo’s face. “Indeed she does.”

“Yes. Indeed,” I agree. “What would you do if any one of them failed you, allowed anything to happen to me?”

There’s a collective breath held in the room, silence falling with a deafening thud, and despite six furnace-like dragons crowding my kitchen, the ambient temperature plummets to an Arctic climate as Theo’s expression darkens.

“I have lived over ten thousand years, twenty maybe, perhaps longer. I do not know. Too long… but long enough that I know many ways of torture and killing. They do not want to know. They do not need to know. It is enough I
know
they fear my wrath should they do so.”

I hear a slow exhale and glance at Dante, receiving a mild look of amused innocence. “Many times I felt some jealousy of the Dracopraesi, yet in this moment, I am quite glad not to be one of your brothers, Theo.”

Theo doesn’t even look away from me. “You made a promise to protect her as well, Dante. Deities may be eternal, may not die, but you feel pain. You still bleed. You can suffer. Do not believe I hold you any less accountable to the honor of your word than my kindred brothers.”

Any amusement shrivels up and dies on his face. “Very well then, Theo. Consider your warning dually noted.”

Every one of their heads jerk upward, attention alert on something above us, something on the roof, and Corrin comes running in the room. “
Beloduvae
,” he announces, tone tinged with anger. “I saw them approach through my window. They’ve wasted no time.”

I recognize the word but can’t place where from or what it means. The expressive responses on the eight other faces in the room tell me whatever it is or they are, I should be displeased by this turn of events.

“It seems they wish to bring the battle to us.” Theo states this with a valiant air of satisfaction, which doesn’t make me feel any better, keenly aware these damn dragons enjoy a good fight well beyond a healthy alpha male appetite for conflict. “Then it is excellent I am healed and hungry for the blood of my enemies.”