Burned (Dragon Mates Book 3), page 18
part #3 of Dragon Mates Series
"Ash," she murmured, the mere sound of her voice igniting his blood even more.
He gently shook his head. Moving his lips to hers, he gave her a long, lingering kiss that stoked the flames of desire in him ever higher. Return his kiss an equally ardent manner, Teagan pressed up against the hard length of his body with her lush, softer one. The sensation threatened to make him lose control.
Not quite yet. Pulling his head back from her, he let a wicked smile edge his face. Pushing his hand beneath her, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. "Hang on to me," he murmured.
Teagan obeyed, lacing her hands behind his back. Ash reached down, guided his straining cock to the entrance of her soft, slick heat. She went completely still at that touch, sucking in a gasp. It was Ash's turn to groan as her eyes turned the color of black licorice, desire written across her entire face. Allowing his lazy grin to fall away, feeling his expression tauten now in focused seriousness, he slowly began to slide inside her.
She gasped again, her coppery hair tumbling wildly around her gorgeous face. He desperately wanted to grab her hips, pull that sweet, wet pussy of hers onto his cock, and drive himself deep inside her. His dragon roared encouragement in his mind, but Ash managed to hold on to the last shreds of his control. He wanted to draw this out by every agonizingly delicious second that he could.
Her next words, however, almost stopped his heart.
"I—wait,” she gasped.
Ash froze, suddenly scared he was hurting her. That she had changed her mind at the last second.
“This is rocking my world,” she said, her darkened eyes scanning his as if searching for an answer. “I'm not scared at all, Ash. But I, uh, have a confession to make.”
She swallowed convulsively, suddenly biting her lower lip in a sign of nervousness even amidst the erotically charged haze of her expression. “I've never done this before.” She gave him a hesitant little smile. “I don't really know what to do. Not for sure, I mean. I just don't want to disappoint you." Her last words barely vibrated out of her throat, lower than a whisper.
Ash felt his world tumble end over end. She—was she saying that she was a—?
"Teagan. Are you a virgin?" His voice seemed almost hoarse to his own ears.
Her eyes suddenly wide, she slowly nodded. “Yes,” she whispered, the sound flowing over his overheated nerves like raw silk. “You're the first man I've ever been with.” She hesitated, then boldly plunged on, “You'll be the first one to ever touch me this way. To ever, um, be inside me.”
He would be the first man ever to touch her this way.
He would be the first man ever to be inside her.
Something huge swelled in his chest, sending a shudder of pure male possessiveness roaring through him like a freight train. His dragon trumpeting, Ash snarled, "And I'll be the only man to ever touch you this way, Teagan." A wondering smile burst over his face as he said her name. He said it again, savoring the sweet strength of it. Of her. “Teagan.” But even so, he waited for her to let him know it was okay to go on.
Teagan firmly pushed down on his back with her hands, slipping out one leg to hook it behind his. Her eyes, dark and heavy with her arousal, caught on his. "I want this, Ash. I want you.” Her words whispered, shivered over his skin and down into his bones. “I want to feel every inch of you inside me. I trust you. You won't hurt me. Please, Ash." He voice begged him, as did her eyes. “Please be inside me. Now?”
The sweet tip of her tongue came out to wet her top lip. Ash felt every fear he'd had about the ruined side of his body, his strength as a man, vanish in the face of the pure, eagerly accepted eroticism of the moment with her. He felt his last bit of control dissipate into the furnace of his need for this woman.
For his mate.
“Yes,” he growled, dipping his head to nuzzle her neck, then graze it with his teeth.
Without another warning, he slid his heavy cock the rest of the way into her, letting her fervent cries urge him on.
* * *
Teagan's world exploded just from the feeling of Ash's huge, hard length sliding the rest of the way into her. He was so big, so thick. She'd been a little afraid it would hurt, and there was a stinging sensation, but she was so turned on, so wet and ready for him, that he fit inside her just right.
Like they were made for one another.
His eyes, bright green, looked at her with the barest whisper of a question. She simply nodded, lifting her hips up to his. Tilting herself up made it feel even better, causing a sighing gasp to fall from her lips. Bracing himself slightly more on his left leg and arm, Ash slowly pulled back, then slid forward again into her. Back, almost leaving her entirely, then forward again. Back, then forth. It felt so good, seemed to flip on the switch in so many of her nerve endings, that Teagan felt jolted sideways, swirled with wild, delicious sensations as he did it.
“Teagan,” he groaned, his thrusts becoming longer. Harder. “You feel so damned good. I can't,” he gasped along with her as he thrust into her again, sliding them over the sheets, “I can't hold back.”
“Don't hold back,” she said in a breathless, immediate order as she tightly gripped his back with her arms, letting her legs slide up and down his with his movements. “Take me,” she whispered, looking directly into his feverish eyes. “Take all of me. No holding back. I want all of you,” she whispered.
A rumbled snarl of possessive joy whipped out of Ash, the sound of it echoing around his bedroom, slamming into Teagan's heart. He pulled back, then thrust deep into her. Hard. There was a single flashing throb of beautiful pain, which quickly became a rising blaze of frenzied ecstasy. Something white-hot, shaking in the spiral of excitement that seemed about to combust, blazed through Teagan's entire body. It felt like a thousand tiny points of sensation, teetering just on the verge, raced over every inch of her skin.
Ash plunged in and out of her, his cock seeming harder than steel yet encased in a velvet softness that wrenched rhythmic cries from Teagan with each mind-spinning thrust. He swelled inside her even more with each stroke, his face hard and strong yet open and vulnerable all at once. She felt unmasked, stripped bare, willing him to come inside her with not just his body, but his entire being. The bright cedar and wild mountain wind scent of him surrounded her. She felt delirious with need.
“Mine,” Ash roared, his fingers threaded in her hair, the sweet pain of the individual strands being pulled only adding to the incredible rush of hot joy that suffused her. “You are mine,” he snarl-whispered. His mouth came down to her neck, breathing onto her, seeming to send a blast of molten lava spreading through her body. The hum of his name, Ash, somehow vibrated throughout her skin and blood and bones, touching every molecule within her.
Somehow, she knew with an unshakeable certainty that overwhelmed her in shattering joy, Ash was making her his. Claiming her as his, and his alone.
With a keening howl, she felt the inferno erupt within her, cracking her apart into sheer bliss. She screamed his name out loud, shocked by how intensely good this felt, by the primal scream of her voice, the shuddering wave of her release as it throbbed over every inch of her body. Clutching at his shoulders, his back slick with sweat, she stared into his eyes, her mouth open as her body rocked with the fierce storm of her orgasm.
Ash drove his enormous cock into her again, this time shuddering out his own release with wild abandon and a bellowing roar of exultance. She felt his hot spurts deep inside her, watched the savage, feral expression on his face as he loosed himself into her, her name on his lips as they both rode the sweet explosions. Together.
Timeless moments held them together in ecstasy, wiping all thoughts of anything else in the world out of her mind except this man. Her man. Her gorgeous dragon shifter man. Slowly, slowly, she eventually spiraled back down to earth, her body wrung out, feeling dopey with a sweet languor. Her muscles felt like jelly, her brain a mush of serene knowing that didn't need the usual spiky jumble of nervous thoughts. The entire world was sweetly hazy yet also crystal clear.
“Teagan,” Ash murmured, his voice as wrung out as she felt. “Mine,” he added in a soft rumble. “Mine.”
The sound of their breathing mingled in cadence, slowly dropping off to quieter rhythms. Ash moved himself to the side, then gently collapsed on the bed, off of her but still pressed to her and holding her close. He unwound his fingers from her hair and wrapped his arms around her. Sighing in relaxed pleasure, Teagan curved herself around him, nestling her head into his chest, into the hollow just below his throat. His heartbeat sounded loud and steady against her ear. The sound soothed her. It gave her the deep assurance that he had done something to her, something deep and marvelous that bound them together.
It felt like the safest, most comforting knowledge she had ever had.
Long moments passed with her cocooned safely in his arms, his spicy scent all around her. Slowly, she became aware again of the faint battering sound of the rain outside, the quiet creaks and soft hums of the house around them. The bedside light cast a soft glow into the room, leaving the edges of the form of the amazing man beside her bathed in a soft golden glow. She ran light fingers down his back. "Thank you." Her voice was low, a little scratchy from the vocal exercises she'd just put it through. She blushed.
His lips brushed the top of her head even as his arm squeezed her once. "For the most amazing experience ever?" A soft tease gilded his tone, but seriousness and surety sounded in there as well.
She nodded, then lifted her head and pushed herself onto one elbow so that she could look into his eyes. They were still green, although now closer to their usual darker forest shade. Curious, she said, "Your eyes. Do they always do that when your—your dragon is close to you, or something?”
A smile lit his face as he stroked the back of his hand down her cheek. "Do they do what?"
"Turn bright green, like they did before." She sighed in pleasure at the feel of his gentle hand on her skin.
He nodded. "Yes. That means my dragon is aroused, very close to the surface of me. It's when that side of me is more prevalent than my human side. Such as,” he cured his fingers down her chin, stroked her neck, “when I'm around you."
She nodded again, still trying to puzzle everything out. Wrapped in his arms, the soft nighttime rain outside adding to the protective sanctuary, she felt thoroughly safe. "Ash, what you did. When you—well, I'm not even sure what you did." Slowly, encouraged by his steady gaze and slight nod for her to continue, she went on. "It was like you put yourself into me, somehow. Not the way we just did, I mean. I mean," she blushed so hard her face must be brighter than a ripe cherry. “Oh, my gosh. Not that. I'm just shutting up now.”
Ashe laughed in sheer delight. “I never want you to shut up. You're very cute when you stammer and stutter and then blush like the sunset." She lightly smacked his arm, then giggled in return. Being gently teased by him felt—amazingly good. As if she belonged.
“As for what you meant,” he went on more seriously, looking right into her eyes, “I can tell you exactly what that was. That was me claiming you as my mate, Teagan.” The strength of those words seemed to vibrate in the air. “You are my mate.”
She felt another delicious tingle slide up and down her body as he said that. Yes. She'd been right in what she'd felt when he did it. Mate. She still didn't know exactly what it meant, but she did know that it felt completely right.
Ash's eyes got a little harder. “This way, all other dragon shifters who ever meet you will know that you are my claimed mate. It helps keep you safe."
Her eyebrows skyrocketed. "Safe? From what?"
Such a dark, feral possessiveness dropped over his features that she almost gasped. “From any dragon who would think he might claim you as well.”
Well, then. That sounded a bit—barbaric. And old-fashioned. Before she could say so, though, Ash's face slowly melted back into hunger. Hunger just for her.
“There is an entire other world you will get to know, Teagan.” He pulled her back down against him, then reached out to shut off the light beside the bed. “But for now, my beautiful sexpot”—okay, that was cool—“let's get some sleep. I have plans to wake you up in the middle of the night and ravish you all over again.”
Why, yes, please.
“I like all of this so far.” Ash's lips found her neck, nipping and kissing. Teagan let a shiver of delight tickle up and down her body. “But now I don't think I can fall asleep thinking about what those plans will be like,” she admitted. Of course, she promptly ruined it by yawning.
Ash laughed against her neck, wrapping his entire body around hers and breathing in her scent or something. “We have all night ahead of us,” he promised. “Sleep for now, my beauty.”
“Mmm,” she murmured back, snuggling deeper against him. That sounded like a perfect idea.
18
When the harsh ring tone of his phone sounded practically in his ear, Ash muttered incoherently beneath his breath, heart hammering as he was jolted from deep sleep. Teagan started beside him, murmuring something unintelligible. He slapped his hand around in the dark on the small bedside table until he found the offending instrument of hellish noise, pressing around on it with his fingers until he managed to decline the call. The phone went silent mid-ring.
Sighing, Teagan snuggled closer against him. He pulled her toward him, nuzzled at her ear. His cock, seemingly eager for a repeat of the three glorious times during the night it had spent buried deep inside her, pressed hard against her sweet, lush ass. Sucking in a sharp little breath, she wiggled against it. Ash groaned into her ear. His only desire right now was for yet another round of exquisite lovemaking with this most amazing woman.
The phone promptly and noisily rang again. “What in the hell,” he snarled. Teagan murmured, but he ran a soothing hand down her arm before turning slightly on his side to grab the phone again.
Dammit. Sebastian. At this time of night, he had to answer. "This had better be good,” Ash snapped into the phone.
Rage emanated from the phone almost before Sebastian's voice sliced through it. “The Center security just notified me. A thief broke in.”
Abruptly, Ash sat bolt upright in the bed. "Impossible.” The Bernal Center was one of the most secure places in the country. Millions of dollars' worth of irreplaceable art insured that.
“Yes, it should be impossible.” Sebastian's voice was almost blank with fury. “But it gets even worse.” His harsh inhale sounded very loud in Ash's ear. “They took your books. The ones Ms. Lambert was repairing. They're gone.”
Ash snapped on the light and thumped his feet to the floor. Alarmed and abruptly wide awake, Teagan sat up behind him. He shot a brief glance at her, the tousled red hair falling over her face, her sweet breasts hidden as she clutched the sheet to her in some sort of automatic defense against whatever bad thing she could tell was happening somewhere. "What's going on?” she asked in a low voice. “What's wrong?"
Already standing, reaching down for his jeans that had ended up in a heap on the floor, Ash shook his head at her. Struggling for a moment to both pull on his jeans and hold the phone to his ear, he swore, then placed the phone on the floor. He put it on speaker so Sebastian's voice spilled into the room.
“I am not in Los Angeles at the moment.” Ash vaguely recalled something about some gala event on the other side of the country. Sebastian traveled a lot. “I need you to get to the Center as quickly as you can. Whoever broke in is still somewhere inside the premises.”
Ash swore at that. Teagan gasped, then lightly thumped her own feet down onto the floor. Despite his alarm, Ash couldn't help but admire her curves as she darted to a filmy heap of cloth crumpled on the floor. She snatched her skirt up from the throw rug it had landed on and shimmied it up her hips. Ash watched her dress, simultaneously enjoying the sight while also grappling with his growing anger at what had just happened.
Somebody had stolen not just from the Center, but from him personally. From his hoard. His dragon roared inside him, filling Ash's head with fury—and worry. Ash needed his hoard items. He had his mate now, but he still needed what little remained of his decimated hoard.
“Who possibly could be able to get into the Center and steal something?” he ground out. “Why my books?” Ash's gaze snagged briefly on Teagan's.
But even as he thought it, he knew. Another dragon shifter.
"A shifter.” The same dark rage Ash felt rippled beneath Sebastian's voice. “One who thoroughly understood the value of those objects is behind this. One who knows they are a part of your hoard."
"No one there knew the value," Ash retorted. “We kept that very quiet for a reason.” Glancing around for the shirt he'd ripped off himself last night, he was briefly rewarded by a view of Teagan's delectable ass as she bent over, apparently searching for the rest of her clothes. He allowed himself a brief smile of awed gratification once again that she was here with him.
"Someone obviously did," Sebastian said. “Someone who has to be one of us.” A dragon shifter.
Ash tightened his jaw as the rain gusted outside. He stalked over to his closet, searching for a shirt that still had intact buttons. "You vet everyone who works there. Particularly anyone from the shifter world. Even so, how could they possibly have guessed the value of the books?” Books were rarely a part of a dragon's hoard.
Sebastian swore creatively over the phone. "I can only surmise that the underground operation run by our old friend Malcolm still exists. Whoever's in charge of it now must have had access to all the pieces he was keeping an eye on over the years."
Malcolm. Ash bristled at the memories of the duplicitous shifter who had dealt extensively in the shadowy black market of stolen antiquities. Teagan glanced from the phone to Ash, her eyebrows raised in question. Ash grimly shook his head and quietly mouthed to her, "Later."
