Shades Of Dragon (A BBW Dragon-Shifter Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

      “B-but you can’t leave me here,” Ciara said, her voice trembling. “You can’t leave me alone in the dark, where animals can find me. I’m defenseless, and I’m also still bleeding from this wound. Something could come and attack me while I’m sleeping.”

      Tegan cursed at the truth in Ciara’s words. It was true; something could absolutely come and attack her while he was gone. And yet… “I’m going to cover the entrance with a boulder,” he said. “So that way we don’t have to worry about anything getting in here with you.”

      “No!” Ciara launched herself at him, clutching his legs and practically prostrating herself to him. “Please, you can’t leave me here in the dark. I can’t stand being alone in closed spaces. Please, please…” she began to sob, her body shaking.

      Frowning, Tegan sank to his knees, sensing there was something more on her mind. “What’s wrong, Ciara?” he asked, taking her into his arms against his better judgment. Instantly his body warmed in reaction to her proximity, something inside him easing up that he didn’t realize was tense, as her body came into contact with his. “Why are you so afraid of the dark?”

      “I… it’s just that I spent so much time in that cellar,” she whispered against his neck. “Huddled between the wine barrels and listening to my people getting slaughtered, to buildings being crushed, and burned, and ruined. I know that if you leave me here in the dark that I’ll be consumed with those thoughts again, and I just can’t face them right now. Just not right yet. Please.” She clutched at his tunic shirt, “Please, I beg you, don’t leave me to my demons right now. I can’t stand the idea.”

      Tegan nodded, knowing that he couldn’t put Ciara through that. “Alright,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “I’ll stay with you. But then in the morning, we’re going to have to leave at first light.”

      “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She squeezed him tight. “You have no idea how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me.”

      “You’re welcome,” Tegan assured her, and he was. Just seeing her face brighten, the tears clearing from her eyes lifted his mood and satisfied some primal urge inside him.
Of course, this would be a lot easier on him if she didn’t also awaken other urges within him…

      Pushing the thought out of his mind, he entered the cave with her, and lit a torch he’d brought with him, checked it for any kind of animals that might be hiding inside. When he was satisfied it was safe, he used several more sticks to create a very small fire close to the entrance so that they had enough light to see, and also ensure that the smoke did not clog up the area.

      “We’d better get to sleep now,” he said to her. “We have to be up as early as possible.”

      Ciara nodded, and sat down on the ground. He could feel her big green eyes on him as he pulled off his tunic and unpacked the supplies in his sack – a small pillow and blanket. These he gave to Ciara, and then he lay down on the ground, and used his own tunic as a makeshift pillow.

      “You should use these for yourself,” Ciara said, and she tried to give them back to him. “They’re yours, not mine.”

      Tegan shook his head and tried to push them away. “No, you need them more than I do. I need you to be well rested, and healed up for the trip tomorrow. Please, use them.”

      “At least take the pillow,” she insisted, pushing it back toward him. “I can make do without that.”

      “No.” He pushed it back, chuckling, and they engaged in a playful tug of war that somehow ended up with her stumbling over herself and onto his chest. “Be careful,” he warned her, thinking about how she still had to heal. She ignored him, cradled against his hard chest.  He sucked in a sharp breath, as desire flared hot within him, and they both froze, neither willing to take the next step that would push them over the edge.

      Gingerly, as if he were carrying something extremely hot, he pushed Ciara off him, and then compromised by tucking the pillow in between him, fair game to whomever grabbed it first – which was certainly not going to be him. With a tired sigh, he lay back down on the ground and closed his eyes, hoping to escape the maelstrom of feelings with him, but her sweet scent and the heat coming off her body in such close proximity distracted him to no end.

      “Tell me more about your family,” he murmured, opening his eyes so he could look at her. After all, if he was going to suffer, he might as well enjoy the view.

      She gave him another puzzled frown, but did as he asked, sweeping a curl of her hair behind her ear. “I don’t have any other family by blood,” she told him, “But I consider all of the villagers family. My neighbor is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met. She’s got a houseful of cats and kittens, and she runs the town bakery. She’s been sneaking me cookies since I was two years old. I always considered her to be my Nana” She giggled a little, her eyes bright, and Tegan fell just a little bit harder into them.

He could watch her like this forever,
he realized.

      “That sounds really nice,” he said, not wanting her to stop talking – he loved listening to the lovely lilt of her voice. “How do you usually pass the time? Did you have certain duties?”

      “Well, I did help my father with some of his day-to-day affairs,” she said, biting her lower lip as she thought, and drawing his attention back to the way her mouth felt against his as they’d kissed – silky, smooth, and warm. He bit the inside of his own cheek to stem the flare of desire that resulted, and forced himself to focus on her eyes. “But mostly I just assisted Mr. Brown, our school teacher. He taught school every day, and he’s an elderly man so he often needed help with the more rambunctious children.”

      “So you were a bit like a nanny, then?” he teased.

      She nodded, smiling. “I would help them with their words, and read with them, and I would always play with them during lunch time and make sure they were all getting along.” Tears sprang to her eyes again, and this time a big, fat drop rolled down one of her cheeks. “Do you think the children are being treated well by those slavers? I hope they’re being fed and allowed the comfort of their parents. That is, if they’re still alive…” She trailed off.

      Tegan didn’t know what to say; he was at an absolute loss for words. So he simply pulled Ciara into his arms and stroked her back, letting her soak his shirt with her tears. As she sobbed and trembled in his arms, he began to realize just how much worse she’d had it than him. True, his parents had abandoned him, and he’d been kicked out of his own clan, and forced to find refuge in another, but at least he hadn’t formed particularly strong attachments to any of the ones who’d shunned him. Ciara clearly had a very close bond with most of her villagers, and she probably felt each and every loss keenly in the big, beautiful heart that shone through her eyes.

      “Shhh.” He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the fragrant scent trapped within her curls. “It’s going to be alright.”

      She let out a long sigh, and then rested her cheek against his chest. “I know.”

      He froze. “You do?”

      She lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze with her own slightly reddened, but still beautiful eyes. “Yes, I do,” she said, reaching up to touch his face. “You’re a man of your word, Tegan. I have absolute faith that you will take care of me, and help me save my people.”

      He knew that he should be concerned that she placed such a heavy load on his shoulders, but her faith in him lit a warm glow inside his chest that he recognized as pride. It was similar to the way he felt whenever Grey praised him for a job well done, but even more intense, as if it meant more to him.

      He didn’t know how this woman had wormed his way past his outer shell and into his heart, but she had, and he was filled with the overwhelming urge to please her. Wherever, however he could.

      “Tegan?” she asked, her voice slightly breathless.

      “Yes?”

      “Do… do you think you could kiss me again? Like the way you did back at the stream?”

      “As you wish.” He dipped his head a little lower, his mouth hovering just above hers, and he smiled a little as he heard her pulse increase. He wondered if she knew that his heart was pounding just as hard beneath his chest, wondered if she could feel it hammering against her own skin. “If you’re sure.”

      She hesitated for just a moment. “It’s just… when you kissed me earlier, you drove away the demons, and helped me forget about my troubles for a little while. I want to feel like that again. And besides,” she added with a smile that was somehow shy and seductive all at once. “I have never met a man quite like you.”

      “Oh, is that right?” His lips curved into a sly smile of his own. “Well, in that case.” He pressed his lips against hers, and the slow burning embers of desire in him flared into a full fire. Her lips were just as soft and delicious as they’d been before, and they moved so perfectly against his, it was like they were made for him. Her arms slid around his hips, and he groaned a little as they slipped beneath his tunic to squeeze his ass.

      “Sorry,” she murmured against his lips, her voice full of suppressed laughter. “It’s just… I’ve always wanted to do that, and now I finally got my chance.”

      He growled playfully at her. “Oh yeah? Well I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I saw you bathing in the stream,” he said, and slid her dress down her shoulders, mindful of her shoulder injury. She gasped as he took her breasts in his hands, squeezing gently, and he grinned, then took a moment to admire them. They were round and wonderfully plumped, with large, rosy nipples that were already stiff, as if they were waiting on tenterhooks for his attention.

      He dipped his head down, and swirled his tongue around one of the stiff peaks, then dragged the tip of his tongue from base to tip before lightly sucking on them. Her tiny moans excited him, making his blood pump faster, and his cock hardened even more beneath the fabric of his trousers.

      “I love the way you taste,” he told her, pausing so he could look up at her. “I want to lick every inch of you.” Her face was lightly flushed, her pupils dilated, and as he watched her tongue dart out to wet her lips he thought she was the most erotic creature he’d ever seen.

      Returning his attention to her other breast, he licked and teased her until she was squirming beneath him. “Tegan,” she gasped as she reached for his hair, tugging at the soft locks so that she could meet his gaze. The raw need in her jewel-bright eyes was nearly enough to undo him. “Please. I want to feel you. Inside of me.”

      “Ciara,” he groaned as her hands slid up and down his bare chest, the smooth, soft skin of her palms doing strange and wonderful things to him. A gasp slipped from his mouth as her hands scraped over his nipples, rubbing them to hard peaks and sending electric sensation rippling through him and straight to his groin. “Are… are you sure?”

      “I am,” she insisted, rolling him over so that she was on top of him, her skirt spread across his hips. Her womanhood came into direct contact with his tunic trousers, and he groaned as he felt her wet heat pressing against his manhood through the fabric of his clothes. “I… I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. I want to know what it’s like to be taken by a man I desire.”

      Her green eyes glowed hungrily in the darkness, pulling at the hunger in his own chest, and he found it impossible to deny her. Pulling her back down for another kiss, he plunged his tongue into her mouth, wanting to devour as much of her essence as possible. At the same time his hand dove beneath her skirt, one gripping her bottom, and the other sliding between her legs to tease her folds.

      “Gods,” he groaned against her mouth as she moaned. “You’re so wet and slick already.”

      “Yes,” she breathed, her body trembling against his. “I want more of this. Please.”

      Wanting to feel her against him, he gently pulled the remainder of her dress off, careful to avoid her injury. She didn’t even seem to care about it, the poultice doing its magic, and she eagerly climbed back on top of him as soon as she was free of the garment. But now that she was naked, he wanted her under him, so he rolled until her back hit the ground, and he was crouched between her creamy thighs, looking down at her from above.

      “You’re gorgeous,” he told her, his eyes roaming over her bare body. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

      She smiled shyly up at him. “That can’t be true. I’ve seen female dragon shifters. They’re exquisite.”

      “Maybe,” he agreed, ducking his head down so he could taste her mouth-watering nipples again. “But none of them can hold a candle to you.”

      She gasped as he took her taut bud in his mouth, her body arching toward him, and he smiled against her breast at the deliciously feminine sound. Wanting to hear more, he sucked hard on the nipple, then rolled it with his tongue and nibbled it lightly with his teeth. Her moans became needy cries as she writhed beneath him, pressing her body against his in ways that were wanton, and wicked, and only made him hotter for her. A groan escaped him as she pressed her wet pussy against him, and suddenly he needed his pants off in the worst way.

     
But no, not yet. He wasn’t done with her yet.

      Moving lower, he kissed his way across her abdomen, and buried his face in her curls, inhaling the musky scent of her womanhood. Her chest rose and fell with her labored breaths as she looked down at him through half-lidded eyes, and he thought to himself that had to be the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. Spreading her legs wider, he licked her wet, silky folds, sliding his tongue against them so that he could taste her fully.