Charred Hope (#3, Heart of Fire) (10 page)

“You’ll always be my dragon,” she said with a hint of a smile.

“You’ll always be my heart.” He gave a wicked half-smile and positioned his hips to penetrate her. He let the head of his arousal settle against her opening.

“Damn dragons,” she whispered, the pinkish glow of her face growing darker.

He eased into her, inch-by-inch, relishing the heat and exquisite tightness of her sheathe while listening to her husky moan. He pushed himself deep into her and shuddered. He wasn’t able to remember a time when simply entering a woman’s body made him want to come.

Chace lowered his head beside hers and breathed in her scent, astonished by how good being inside her felt.

“We belong together,” she said breathlessly. “Like this.”

“Yeah.” He gave an unsteady chuckle. Being inside her, pressing her to the bed, was far too natural. When his control was back, he met her gaze again. “I am so sorry for everything I did to hurt you.”

“Show me.” She smiled mischievously.

“Show you,” he repeated. He moved in and out of her a few times with slow control, holding her gaze as he did so.

She groaned.

“I think I can do that,” he said casually.

“Shut up!” She ordered in a breathless whisper and pulled his face down to hers.

Any thought he had of a long night of controlled passion melted under the intensity and demanding of her full lips. Dragon fire tore through him and into her, edging their desire higher, hotter than any he’d ever felt. Chace thrusted steadily but quickly, feeding the fire growing between them. He pressed himself the length of her body, needing to feel every inch of her against him, to capture every sigh and moan in his memory. His hands roamed her body in an attempt to satisfy the primal need to possess her fully, to brand every inch of her with his touch.

Skylar held nothing back, calling his name, arching, digging her nails into his ass … She was uninhibited, responsive and intoxicating, a combination that left him pushing their passion farther, harder, closer to an explosive ending. Light sweat soon covered them both.

Chace rolled onto his back, his lips never leaving hers and his hips never still as he pumped faster and harder. She moved with him, her nails digging into his chest and shoulders, her hips riding his with building urgency.

“I never want this to end!” she gasped.

“It never has to,” he responded.

Skylar smiled and closed her eyes, tossing her head back as the orgasm within her reached its peak.

Chace had never wanted to please anyone the way he did Sky, to feel her body respond to his touch and hear her cries when she climaxed. As many times as he’d touched her, it always felt like the first: magical, thrilling, and satisfying on a level that reached his soul. Everything from the flush of her cheeks to the wetness of her core was branded in his mind, an intangible treasure for him alone to safeguard. The dragon in him roared with triumph while the man wanted to weep in gratitude for being granted such an incredible gift as the woman in his bed, the other half of his heart.

They made love over and over, unable to satisfy the primal need to be one, to unite their bodies and magic with the powerful emotions stretching between them.

I’ll never get enough of this woman.
The thought stuck with him, even when sheer physical exhaustion forced them to take a breather some time later, curled in each other’s arms. He breathed in their combined scents, more at peace than he’d ever experienced before. For the first time in his life, he not only knew where he belonged, but he’d found what made him happy. And he had a lifetime to experience every inch of her body over and over again.

Chapter Eight

After the fireworks of their long, sleepless night, Skylar should’ve been too exhausted to try to shift the next morning. If anything, she’d never felt so renewed, alive, or hopeful as she did standing across from the man who tenderly agreed to become the family she didn’t have with emotion that left her feeling humbled and honored. Of all the people he’d met in a thousand years, the most incredible man in the world had chosen
her.

The joy it caused was a source of amazing depths of energy, fed by the fire of his magic in her blood. She’d been unable to stop smiling like a lovesick fool. His honey-bonfire scent was ingrained on her skin and in her senses, saturating her with a smell that drove her wild yet left her feeling at peace as well.

“Where are you?” Chace’s laugh drew her out of her blatantly adoring stare.

Skylar flushed. “Can’t help it. I’m pretty happy right now.”

Chace was eyeing her like he was ready to eat her or toss her back into bed, where they’d spent the night making love.

“Would you stop?” she asked with a playful laugh. “You’re distracting me.” Naked and exhilarated, she stood a few dozen feet from him in the field outside the cabin, trying hard to concentrate on shifting into a dragon instead of wanting to feel his skin against hers.

He crossed his arms, eyes lingering on her breasts. Chace wore a pair of sweats that rode low on his hips and nothing else, his chiseled features and muscular chest making her almost giddy with need and something deeper – the knowledge she had a home finally and a family.

Chace was her dragon. Forever.

Focus, Sky!
She closed her eyes and internalized her senses, seeking out the strong flow of dragon magic that kept her from getting cold despite the chilly morning. She concentrated hard on the image of Chace in his dragon form then braced herself for the pain of shifting.

Agony and fire shot through her as her body broke, contorted, grew and reformed. The world fell away, and she surrendered to the pain, familiar fear going through her at the idea of what she was really doing: changing shapes. Turning into the creatures she used to hunt.

The pain diminished and disappeared when her body was done. Skylar lay still, trembling, exploring her new senses. She was able to smell every flower within miles and hear the soft hop of a rabbit making his way to food on the other side of the forest. The grass in the field tickled her nose, and the breeze ruffed her tufts of fur.

She cracked one eye open then the other, amazed at how far she was able to see. A glance at her wings told her she was a color of dragon between Chace’s teal and Gavin’s dark blue. Her talons appeared huge, her thick legs almost stubby. Her center of balance was much lower to the ground than when she’d been a cat, and her tail was heavier.

“Amazing,” Chace said.

Skylar lifted her head to see him and tested her ears, making them flicker. When she stood up, her head would reach the top of the tree line around the meadow. She stayed hunkered down, with her belly on the ground, uncertain if she was ready yet to stand.

Chace approached and ran a hand down her side. Skylar shivered, not expecting her thick dragon hide to be so sensitive to touch.

“You’re about my size,” he said. “Looks like if we ever get in a spat, we better be human.”

She snorted. Heat warmed her throat and mouth, and smoke spiraled out of her nostrils.

“Fire is like coughing. Just don’t do it here. We can’t set the forest on fire,” he advised. He finished circling her and stood in front of her, gazing up at her with no short amount of satisfaction. “How do the wings feel?”

 Skylar stood cautiously and then stretched them out on either side of her. They were light and thin enough to be translucent. She’d never thought of Chace’s strong wings as being delicate, but they were, compared to the size and strength in the rest of her body.

“Flying is about balance and control. Your wings will always carry you, but you have to know when to adjust and when to let the wind guide you. It becomes instinctive after a while but can be a challenge at first.”

They feel like tissue paper.
She began to doubt her wings would hold her, even if they did stretch the length of the meadow.

“Give ‘em a whirl,” he instructed.

She eyed one doubtfully then lifted and lowered them. They didn’t move straight up and down like she expected but at an angle. The simple movement lifted her a few inches off the ground. Her belly dropped the way it did when she drove too fast over a hill.

“Good. Take it nice and slow,” he said.

Skylar did it again. She hovered in place for a moment, understanding what he meant by balance. The two wings had to move in sync and her legs had to be still, or she tilted one way or the other.

“Keep your head in place.”

Cautiously, Skylar pulled her huge body a few more feet off the ground, focusing on her balance.

“Good. I’ll show you a few things.” He trotted away to put distance between them. “Trust your wings. They feel flimsy until you’re in the air.”

Skylar dropped to the ground, watching in interest as he slid the sweats down past the tight globes of his ass, thick thighs and lean calves. She grimaced and looked away when he changed shape, now knowing just how painful it was.

When he was done, he unfurled his wings and shook them out then approached her, nuzzling her with his long snout.

She rubbed her cheek along his and down his neck, fascinated by the sensitivity of her skin and the feel of his smooth scales gliding beneath hers. Chace nudged her in return then took a step back, lifting himself into the air above the meadow with ease.

Skylar studied him, watching how he held himself and balanced. She tried to do the same and climbed tentatively into the air, not at all certain she wanted to be so far from the ground. She was wobbly at best, her balance little better than it had been when she tried rollerblading once before. She focused hard on keeping her wings moving as a unit.

Chace lifted himself higher and began circling. Skylar did so as well, her heart flipping in her chest when the first wind current knocked her off balance. She teetered, eyes on the ground a few meters below, and then caught herself.

Flying clenched in Chace’s or Gavin’s claws was frightening enough. Knowing she was the only thing standing between her and falling? Terrifying. She didn’t feel in control enough of her new body to perform any of the aerial feats she’d seen Chace do.

For hours, she followed his lead, learning to balance her body weight and use her wings to maneuver through the sky. In early afternoon, she caught a whiff of something that made her snort.

Chace was already looking in the direction from which the smell came, and he hovered in midair, assessing.

Skylar wasn’t able to identify what it was. An animal of some sort, she guessed, but she couldn’t pinpoint what based solely on smell. It was difficult for her to tap into her Protector senses when her focus was on staying in flight. She wasn’t able to figure out if it was a shifter, let alone identify the signature of which shifter it was.

Chace tossed his head towards the cabin and wheeled, soaring back in that direction. Skylar followed him, nose wrinkling at the scent. He circled the meadow and landed gently. She followed suit.

Sensing he wanted to talk, she concentrated on shifting quickly. It seemed slower when going from animal to human, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the pain.

Hot agony spun through her. She didn’t fight it but descended into a haze of pain. It left her exhausted and relieved a few minutes later.

“You really gotta shift faster,” Chace advised. He knelt beside her, clothed once again in his sweatpants. “It hurts less that way.”

“I’m working on it.” She sighed and sat.

He handed her a t-shirt, and she tugged it on, eyes falling to his muscular chest. Instinctively she reached out to touch him, loving the way his skin felt beneath her fingers. His scent was intoxicating, a sweet, smoky perfume that wrapped around her senses and made her want to climb into his arms.

“What was that?” she asked, glancing upward.

Chace took her hand and held it. “Griffin.”

“They smell awful!”

“Definitely.” He snorted. “They’ve been hovering around for a while. They can sense us outside the cabin. We need to leave before they work up the nerve to attack us.”

“Um, no,” she said, eyeing him. “We’re supposed to do the opposite. I need to stop Dillon.”

Chace’s eyebrows went up. “How?”

“I want to talk to him first.”

“So you’ll just
ask
him to stop whatever it is he’s doing?” His gaze was intense, his doubt clear.

“I’ve got to start somewhere,” she said.
And I will find out what happened to my mother.
“Besides, things are different now that you have your magic back and I have a better idea what I can do.”

“Skylar.” Chace’s frown was deep.

“This is what I’m supposed to do,” she replied firmly.

“Put yourself back in the line of fire? You barely survived him the first two times, and it’s going to take time for you to learn to use the skills each shifter has.”

“I’m the Protector, aren’t I?” she said with an upbeat smile. “Besides, you’ll be there with me.” Without waiting for any more objections, she rose and walked back to the cabin.

Chace followed, his unhappiness palpable. Skylar pulled off her shirt to put on a bra. His muscular arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her into his solid, warm body. He’d taken off the sweats, and she felt his thick, hard arousal pressed against her backside.

“I can’t let anything happen to you again,” he whispered into her hair.

She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder for a moment, tracing her fingers along the roped muscles of his forearm.

“It would kill me, Sky.”

“I know, Chace. We’ll work together this time. There’s nothing that can take down two of us,” she said. “But I know we have to do this. We have to protect those who deserve it and put those to sleep who threaten that peace.”

“You are the sweetest and bravest person I know.” He squeezed her closer. “I’ll go to the ends of the earth with you.”

You just may have to.

“Or to the shower,” he added with a hungry growl.

Skylar’s body was already humming with need for her mate. Twisting in his arms, she gazed up at him, astounded she had
this
to look forward to every morning she awoke for the rest of her life. His noble, chiseled features were softened by the tenderness of his blue gaze, and she tucked a lock of his blond hair behind his ear. Lust and dragon fire were in his eyes, but something else was, too, an emotion so deep and warm, it made her tear up.