Waking the Dragon (23 page)

I reached back with both hands, one on his hip, the other wrapping his neck. Arching my spine, I rocked back against him, pushing him even deeper. He groaned like a desperate man lost at sea. He clung to me as if I were the only thing keeping him from drowning. A fine sheen of sweat made our bodies slide over and into each other, wave after wave of pleasure pushing us closer to the edge.

I turned my head, whispering into his ear. “Come with me, Kol. We’ll be lost together.”

I bit his earlobe and he came. Hard. His pulsing shaft ripping an orgasm from my body and a scream from my throat. He didn’t let go, clenching me tighter as he spilled into me, a thunderous growl vibrating from his chest. For that brief moment, I understood what it meant to be consumed by another. My body, my will, my entire being was encased within the control of one man. And my heart soared at the euphoric sensation.

Minutes later, breathing heavily, still clutched in his arms, neither of us spoke a word. He pulled out of me, and I whimpered at the loss. Hauling my limp body into his arms, he carried me through the dark house to the bedroom, tucking us both into the guest bed. Curled around me from behind, we lay there in silence, both our thoughts too loud to let us sleep. I finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What are you thinking?” I whispered.

No answer. I thought he might have fallen asleep after all, but then he spoke, shocking me with vulnerable, honest words. “I’m afraid of never waking again without wanting you. Needing you.”

His arm tightened around my waist. I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut, knowing with bone-deep certainty I feared the same thing. “Is that really something to fear?”

“Yes.”

Another honest answer. Another wall crumbled.

“I need you like I need to breathe, Moira. Like I need to fly.”

Was it the dark that made him speak words he never would in the light? I didn’t know. I didn’t care. It was enough that he’d said them.

I turned in his arms and cupped his face, tracing my fingers lightly over his raised scar. I couldn’t see him clearly, but I knew he could see my face with his dragon sight as if it were daytime. I let my eyes shine with a hope I knew he would understand.

“Like Morgons, I don’t date, either.” My fingers traced to the tip of his scar. “Nor am I the kind to sleep around to satisfy carnal cravings.” I trailed lightly over his lips. “I need you, too, Kol.”

I pressed my lips to his, prying them apart to slip my tongue inside. I kissed him the way a lover would kiss her mate. Boldly, shamelessly, like a woman who knows her right.

“I want you,” he grumbled. “Again.” Heavy hand on my waist.

His desire grew hard against my abdomen. I crooked my leg over his hip, opening for him. “Then take me.”

And so he did.

I rolled over to find him gone. With the terrace door sealed shut, I couldn’t tell what time it was. My comm sat on his pillow, blinking a green light. An audio message.

Propping up on my elbows, I pulled the device to me. The time read 10:33 a.m. in the top corner.

“Damn. Talk about oversleeping.”

I played the message.

“Good morning.” Kol’s deep rumble.

I couldn’t help the silly smile from creeping across my face.

The recording continued. “I didn’t want to wake you. Thought you might need your rest.”

Boy, did I.

“I didn’t get the chance to speak to you about my visit with Petrus last night. Lucius can fill you in till I return. I must meet with the Morgon Guard immediately. You’re safe to move freely within the Nightwing Tower, but don’t—”

He stopped himself. He heaved in a deep breath and sighed. His voice lost the note of tyranny, morphing to something gentler. “Please, Moira. Please don’t leave this building. I will return as soon as I can.”

“Not a problem, Captain.”

Too tired to go to class or report to work, I thought a sick day was definitely in order. I stretched my body in the bed.

Before we had sex, I’d been able to pretend our attraction was just physical. Chemical. After last night, I could no longer believe this to be true. Nor did I want to.

But one thing puzzled me. I knew soulfire burned inside him. For me. He’d made his feelings quite clear. But he hadn’t sad a word about it. Not that I was ready to leap into such an irreversible commitment, but I still wanted to know why he hadn’t mentioned soulfire. Could I be wrong?

I scooted out of the covers and stood up. “Ow.”

I was sore. Everywhere. My Morgon man had loved me long and hard. I smiled as I remembered and walked stiffly to the bathroom. Peeking at myself in the mirror, I laughed. Even my lips were sore. Swollen from many, many rough kisses, not one of which I regretted. I had a mammoth-sized hickey bite-mark on the slope of my shoulder. “Now, that’s a doozy.”

Strangely, the only thing not sore was the stitched injury from two nights ago. I lingered in a hot shower, then slipped into my favorite jeans and a comfy rose-colored sweater. After braiding my damp hair into a tidy rope down my back, I rummaged through my drawer and found the silver case I’d hardly ever opened except to take it to the firing range. Popping open the lock, I pulled out the sleek Volt handgun I’d packed.

About a century ago, the Volt gun was a weapon specifically designed by the Wellington Manufacturing Company in Primus to kill Morgons . While my father held animosity toward Morgons, the Wellington family openly despised every one of them. Because of their powerful political sway in Primus, they’d kept desegregation laws from ever passing in the human-only city out west. A Volt gun worked by using a Morgon’s dragon DNA against them. Because of their dragon lineage, electricity voltage amplified the electric energy coursing through their blood and harnessed in their bones. A Volt gun essentially launched an electric missile, detonating on impact with a Morgon’s natural DNA. Although the blast could kill a human by heart failure, most could survive a direct hit. A Morgon definitely could not.

My father had insisted I take the gun and practice shooting on the range when he learned I was venturing into Morgon territory to investigate stories. Though I never went anywhere I knew to be too dangerous, Father still worried about my sense of self-preservation. After seeing
The Herald
icon carved into Layla’s skin, I had decided it was time to keep it close. Especially with Kol away. Strapping the harness around my waist against my skin, I then made sure the safety button was on and tucked it in place. My long sweater hid the harness. I didn’t want to frighten Julian. For one, he would be terrified to learn why I felt the need to carry it. Two, he’d want an explanation of what the Volt gun did. I’d keep him from learning about the blind hatred of the world as long as I could. And three, he was a good kid, but also a mischievous one. If he saw it, he’d want to play with it, regardless of the danger.

My stomach rumbling, I meandered upstairs via the elevator to see what leftovers Ruth might have lying about.

Two brawny Nightwing Security guards stood outside the door in the foyer. The one with hunter-green wings and short-cropped hair gave me a tight nod.

“You’re clear to enter, Ms. Cade.” He tapped a code into the alarm panel on the wall. His eyes swept to the mark on my neck before gliding away just as fast. The other guard stepped visibly away from me, avoiding my gaze altogether. Weird.

“Uh, thank you.”

As soon as the door closed behind me, I heard the alarm reset. Shuffling into the kitchen, I found Ruth rolling out some dough on a marble cutting board, flour dusted on her apron.

“Good morning.”

She glanced up and out the window, the sun high overhead. “Well, now. It’s nearly noon. Don’t know that it’s morning anymore.”

“Right.” I smiled. “Ruth, you wouldn’t happen to have some of that delicious dinner left from last night, would you?”

She arched a brow at me, pounding her rolling pin right to left, then up and down, then the other way again. “I’m afraid not. But as soon as I get this crust on the chicken pies, I’ll whip you up a bacon and cheese omelet.”

My stomach growled just thinking about it.

“Seems you need sustenance sooner rather than later.”

“Thank you. Yeah. Much appreciated.” I ducked back into the living room to avoid her scrutinizing looks of I-know-what-you-did-last-night.

My sister walked into the room from the bedroom quarters. “There you are.” She smiled, stopping in her tracks when her eyes saw my neck. “Whoa. Someone was a little…aggressive.”

Self-consciously, I touched the mark, knowing my concealer did little, if nothing, to hide it.

“Sit down, sister,” she ordered, pointing to the sofa. “We need to talk.”

I didn’t resist. Now that I’d settled in my mind I wanted more than a fling with Kol, I didn’t care who knew we’d crossed that line.

“Spill it.”

I folded my legs under me and snuggled a pillow into my lap. “There’s nothing to tell.”

Jessen threw her head back with a hearty laugh. “Um. Yeah. There definitely is. Kol has marked you in a way that screams to everything with a penis to back-the-fuck-off. And from what I can gather by your mood, you’re pleased about it. There’s butt loads to tell. So let’s hear it.”

That was something I could always count on with my sister—she was blunt and to the point. It was a comfort to know she’d always give it to me straight. No beating around the bush.

“Tell me something first. This whole Morgon marking, scent thing. Does it really make other Morgon men back off?”

She grinned at me, nodding. “Oh, yeah.”

“That explains the two guards at the door. They acted like I had the plague or something.”

“Of course they did. They don’t want Kol stringing them up and flaying them for ogling or touching his woman.”

“He wouldn’t do that. How did you know it was Kol, anyway? And I’m not his
woman
.”

“Puh-lease. The sexual tension between you two is ridiculous. Lucius and I had bets on how long it would take for you both to give in.”

“What? You bet on my sex life?” I punched her in the arm.

“Ow! Don’t punch pregnant ladies. We’re delicate.”

“Yeah. Right.” I laughed but felt a tad remorseful as she was starting to get that soft roundedness of expectant mothers. “Sorry.”

She waved me off. “I’m fine. So you’re pretty serious if you’ve slept with him. I know you. You’re not the sleep-around kind of girl.”

I laughed. “That’s what I told him.”

“What did he say to that?”

“Well, he didn’t do a lot of talking.”

“I can see that. You look exhausted.”

“And hungry.”

As if on cue, Ruth bustled in with a silver tray and set it on the coffee table. “Here you are, dear. I’ve brought you some coffee and orange juice as well.”

“Gah, Ruth, you’re an angel.”

I caught her smile before she clip-clopped back to the kitchen. I pulled the dish into my lap and started devouring the omelet. Pure heaven on a plate.

“Worked up an appetite, did ya, Muffin?”

“Shut it,” I muffled with a mouthful of food.

She watched me as I finished it off and started on the coffee. By gradual degrees, I began to feel like a human being again.

“You said the guards were acting skittish around you?”

I gave a stiff nod, sipping my coffee. “Yeah, why?”

“So you haven’t shared soulfire, yet.”

Somehow, that made my heart twist. “How’d you know?”

She rested her hand on her belly. “When Morgons mark their mates, there’s a period of time before the female accepts him that’s sort of precarious. Most would-be suitors back off, especially if the marking was done by a dominant male.”

“I’d say Kol is fairly dominant.”

“I’d agree with you.” Jessen giggled. “Any pursuit of you would be considered a direct challenge to Kol.”

I realized then that Kol had marked me first under the ruse to protect me from the Devlin Butchers before our botched operation. He must’ve known even then that I was meant for him, choosing not to tell me.

“What’s wrong?” Jessen placed her hand over mine.

“Nothing. It’s just a lot to take in. I mean, just a few weeks ago, I was perfectly content to remain single, shoot for a successful career in journalism, and live my life blissfully free of complications. Now, I’ve got this extremely dominant Morgon man suddenly at the center. It’s almost too much.”

I sighed heavily, confused for the first time since last night. Everything was so clear when I was in his arms. When I wasn’t, I only saw the problems that would arise in a relationship with someone like Kol.

“Is that what Kol is to you? A complication?”

“Yes…I mean, no.” I shook my head, pulling on the tassels edging the pillow. “I’m just afraid of things being difficult for us. For me.”

“How would they be difficult?”

“Well, for one, can you imagine him allowing me to enter harm’s way to do my job as a journalist?” I scoffed. “Would Lucius let you?”

Her expression softened to one of sympathy. “No man, Morgon or human, would let the woman he loves enter into harm’s way.”

I set my coffee down, the cup rattling in the saucer. “That’s what I’m talking about. Everything gets all muddled and confused when…when your heart gets all tied up with someone. Then you start doing things and making decisions based on their wishes and not your own.”

Jessen laughed. “You mean when you love someone. I’m afraid that does tend to happen.”

My heart skittered. Was I? Was I speaking of the famed four-letter word I’d avoided for so long? Was I in love? Mikal had confessed his love for me many times in our relationship, but never had I returned the gesture.

Needing to escape this conversation before my head exploded, I changed topics to something I was more comfortable discussing. “Speaking of Lucius, where is he? I wanted to talk to him this morning.”

“He headed out to meet with Lorian and the entire Nightwing Security. Kol’s visit to Petrus revealed something dangerous is definitely lurking in our midst.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to Lucius about.” I tossed the pillow in frustration.

“You mean, you and Kol didn’t discuss it last night?” Her wicked grin was totally unbearable.