Authors: Michelle Howard
Purple scales slid over Kon’s visage and his fingers grew claws. The partial shift came quickly and faded just as fast.
“Please,” Kon snarled, the words garbled from his elongated teeth.
“I will do my best.” Ry sighed, knowing he’d given a commitment that would put him in a difficult position.
“It is all I can ask, Ry.”
Chapter 15
As soon as Kon was off and on his way home, Ry rushed Dara to his rooms. He wanted her so bad his balls ached.
“Rylin!” she gasped when he slammed the bedroom door behind them.
He spun around, pinning her body to the wall, his arms caging her. “I want you. It’s been two days.”
Two days with nothing but the memory of her touch. Her scent.
Dara clasped her arms about his neck. “You can’t blame me for the time apart.”
No, he accepted full responsibility for his actions. Ry thrust his hips against Dara and lowered his head to nuzzle the thumping pulse at her throat. He tongued the smooth column, absorbing her taste. “I was…foolish.”
She arched her neck and moaned. The hard press of her nipples stabbed his chest. Fiery longing surged through Ry and his shaft swelled to painful proportions.
“I can agree with that.” Dara slid her fingers into his hair as she spoke, the tips grazing his mantle.
Ry growled and tugged at the skirt of the black dress she wore. As much as it turned him on to see her wearing his colors, he preferred her bare. Once he had the bottom of the dress hitched to Dara’s waist, he allowed his weight to rest fully on her. He reached down and snapped the underwear she wore, letting the scraps of silk fall to the floor.
The black curls between her thighs glistened with her excitement. Ry moved back just enough to shove his pants to his knees, then closed in on her again. He wished they were skin to skin, wanting to feel her silken flesh. But it would take too much time to rid her of the dress and remove the rest of his clothes.
“I want to be deep inside you.” Ry kissed the curve of her cheek, the tip of her nose, and then he sampled her parted lips.
Rich, sweet, and tasting of the finest wine. Dara curled into him with a moan and wrapped one leg about his hip. Ry’s tongue stroked along hers, teasing with gentle flicks. She clenched tighter around him and he broke away to growl.
“Dara.”
Her eyes glazed over but she held his stare. “Don’t make me wait.”
The plea broke through and Ry vowed the next time to savor her touch. He gripped her waist and lifted her higher against the wall. She gasped but never lost her hold on him. With one final check to make sure he didn’t frighten her, Ry released his restraint, thrusting forward and entering her moist passage. Heat enveloped his throbbing erection. Wet flesh greeted him. Feminine muscles began an internal massage, creating more rumbling growls from deep in his chest.
Ry held back his release with brutal control. Arousal surged as he set a determined pace guaranteed to bring them both to an explosive end.
“Don’t stop, Rylin, don’t stop,” she chanted, eyes lowered as her teeth bit into her bottom lip.
Ry practiced every mental restraint technique he knew. Nothing worked. Lust spiraled through him, igniting a blaze that demanded to be satisfied.
“I need.” Ry choked the words out to Dara.
The muscle in his jaw clenched. Goddess above, he needed. Her touch. Her kiss. Her soft caresses.
Ry needed it all. Would she understand the need coursing through his veins? Accept it? His teeth raked across the column of her neck. Her shiver encouraged him and Ry increased the pressure of his teeth as they sunk further into the softness of her flesh. Dara moaned and his shaft pulsed in time to her erotic gasps.
When blood tinged his tongue, Ry eased back on the bite and leaned up. A sense of satisfaction encompassed him. He slowed the fierce pumping of his hips to stare at the marks he’d left. His Dracol rumbled in pleasure. The visceral need to see more signs of his possession on her had Ry sliding free of her warm intimate grip.
He eased the top of her dress down until her breasts bounced free and licked the berry tips. When Dara cried out, his lips ticked up in a smile. He squeezed and lifted her breasts, pushing them together. The full mounds created the perfect crest. Ry laved the nipple on the right before switching his attention to the one on the left. He nibbled and sucked, leaving behind red blemishes each time his head lifted.
“What are you doing to me, Rylin?”
“Loving you,” he answered without hesitation, gazing down at her twisting body.
And Ry realized the moment he said the words that he meant them. Even if he’d wanted to consider their earlier sexual interaction an aberration, he would have been mistaken. As rare as it was to have an instant connection, Ry knew Dara was indeed meant to be his
lira
.
Continuing his downward path, Ry didn’t stop until he reached the apex of Dara’s thighs. The scent of her desire for him was undeniable. This was the true treasure. The heart of her. He smirked. She’d accused him of having a hoard earlier. Dara was the finest treasure he’d ever add to it.
Ry released a little of the hold he maintained on his essence, allowing the man to recede and the raptor to come forward. A heady rush poured into him. “Mine.”
He buried his tongue in the moist, rich prize splayed in front of him. Dara cried out, giving Ry pause. His gaze peered over her undulating torso. Reassured that the sounds she made were ones of rapture, he returned to her lush center.
She whimpered, whined, and pulled on his hair with painful intensity. Ry wanted to laugh. His Dracol wanted to roar in triumph.
His. She belonged to him.
“I’m coming!”
He didn’t need the warning. The sweet taste of her pleasure spilled over his tongue in abundance and Ry licked every drop, sucking hard on her button nub. Dara screamed and her heels pushed back as she tried to escape his attention.
Ry stayed on her until her body collapsed in a shivering heap with only his hands keeping her propped along the wall. Satisfied, that she’d finished her release, Ry stood up.
“Ry. Rylin,” she gasped, tossing her head from side to side.
He pinned her arms above her head. “Now, it’s my turn.”
His hips jutted forward as he entered the warm haven between her thighs. She gave a muted cry and slid her thighs high up on his hips. Ry leaned back and glanced down to watch, loving the sight of her squeezing him. Her body clung each time he pulled out to the tip.
He lowered his head to slide his tongue over her reddened nipples. Dara’s swollen tissues pulsed about his length and she arched against him as he sucked one tiny bud hard. He wanted to sip at their sweetness as if they were small berries.
Her hips twisted against him and Rylin choked back a moan of pleasure. He gripped her wrists tighter to hold her wildly gyrating body still. “So wet. Deep. Take all of me, Dara.”
“Come now, Rylin. Come inside me.”
There was no resisting her allure. Ry drove forward, sinking into her tight core. Her muscles rippled over his shaft as he pistoned faster, burying his face in her hair where he groaned out his release. Dara locked her fingers with his and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Look at me. Keep your eyes on me, my sweet
lira
to be.”
Their gazes connected and Ry watched as she choked out a broken whisper and came again. Her eyes drifted closed on a soft sigh seconds before he pulled out. Ry carried her limp body to his bed and lay beside her. With his arm about her waist, Ry absorbed every breath Dara took. She slept deeply after the two orgasms he’d given her. He smiled and wrapped himself tighter about her body in the tangled sheets.
Observing her climaxes rocked him as well. The slight catch in her breath, the surprise in her gaze, and then the fiery red blush spreading across her throat as she gasped out her pleasure. Never had a female shared herself so openly with him.
The pounding knock at his door had Ry out of the bed and crouched in front of Dara before he thought. He straightened and checked on Dara, who slept on undisturbed. He couldn’t control his arrogant pride at her exhaustion.
When he opened the door Mikal and Avi stood on the other side. Their dark looks spoke volumes. “Not here.”
They nodded and stepped back. Ry grabbed his pants, closed the door on Dara, and followed them to his outer office. He dressed quickly. “Tell me.”
“Another attack. This time against the Green,” Mikal said.
Avi grunted. “King Varyk will be on a war path.”
That was putting it mildly. Ry muttered a curse under his breath. “Everything the same?”
Mikal flashed a grim smile. “She got away. Fought back and ran.”
Ry’s brows shot up. “Who?”
“Varyk’s sister.” Avi’s response stunned Ry.
“We need to stop him.” How did the rogue bypass the search of four talented Kings? “I want to know everything about the attack.”
“Milana was out for a walk. Her mate appeases her need to hunt by herself. The killer came from behind and was on her before she knew it.”
Ry prayed for a miracle. “What did she see?”
“Nothing.” Mikal face conveyed his own disappointment. “She fought, raking his mid-section, and reached for her mate. Santos arrived shortly after but found no signs of the attacker. He didn’t pursue because Milana was visibly shaken.”
Rage gathered at the female’s narrow escape. “No
lira
is to be left alone. Tell the others.”
Avi bowed. “Of course, my King.”
***
Dara drifted in a haze, but woke to gentle lips kissing her on the side of her neck. The weight of a warm arm rested across her hips, and behind her a very hard object nestled against her butt. In a flash, the events of the night before flooded her mind and she relaxed.
“Rylin?” The kisses ended as she was rolled onto her back.
“I need you.” Gold eyes filled with lust stared down at her.
His weight shifted until he came over her, chest to chest, forearms braced at the side of her head. Two things came to Dara’s attention with the move. The first—he was very naked, and second the hard object prodding her was an extremely aroused man.
“Are you alright?” She braced her hands against his broad chest. There was something different about him.
Violence added a rippling current to his lovemaking.
“Someone attacked Varyk’s sister, but she escaped.”
Sympathy poured through Dara. “I’m sorry. Is she alright?”
An abrupt nod was his response as well the rough glide of his hard body settling between her thighs. Dara brushed back the dark wave of hair covering his brow. His skin burned hot to the touch, his gold eyes holding her in place with the intensity of his stare. Heat seared along her skin wherever they touched.
“She is fine. Milana managed to escape.”
Every word came out in a harsh growl. He bared his sharp teeth and rotated his hips. The firm pressure of his hot length stroked the growing dampness along her center.
“I-I‘m glad she’s alright. Did she see anything?” Dara couldn’t completely mask the arousal in her voice.
Rylin rasped his jaw along the side of her face and emitted a low purr. “She saw nothing. It was dark and he approached from behind.” He licked the pulse beating in her throat. “Milana is Varyk’s twin but many don’t know that unlike other female Dracol she can partially shift her limbs with claws and scales. She raked the attacker’s middle.”
Dara tried to focus on his words but his hands were now threading through her hair and tilting her face up. Warm lips pressed to the spot at the base of her neck. She shivered, her legs shifted as she attempted to get closer to the probing thickness at the apex of her thighs.