DragonMate (12 page)

Authors: Jory Strong

“I’m just glad you’re safe.” Jazzlyn said, standing, ready to put thoughts of Carolyn’s life aside in favor of concentrating on her own.

“Me too, obviously. Your friend Aislinn told me about the restraining orders and the woman in Nevada who’s missing. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have ended up permanently missing, but self-delusion is beyond me at the moment.”

Carolyn gave a weak laugh. “Actually, this a wake-up call, not that I needed it. I’d already sort of figured it out for myself.”

Jazzlyn sat back down abruptly. “Really?”

She winced at the hopefulness in her voice.

“Really. That’s why I wanted to meet you for lunch. I intended to tell you about a shrink I met at a party, a woman. We talked some casually, mainly about men. She gave me her card. I met with her once and decided it was something I wanted to keep doing, only I wanted to go into it without a boyfriend. To kind of clear the slate, you know.”

Jazzlyn could easily guess the sequence of events. “So you told Mark you didn’t want to see him anymore and it set him off?”

“I actually said I needed some space to figure out some things in my life and wanted to stop going out for a little while. I wasn’t ready to give him up, at least not emotionally. In my head I figured I wouldn’t know if he was different than the other guys until I put some distance between us.

“Looking back on it, it’s easy to guess one of his past girlfriends said the same thing to him, about needing space, or something like it. At the time Mark seemed okay with it.

“I didn’t see any harm in spending one last night at his place… Well you know how that story ended.”

“Happily,” Jazzlyn said, her voice firm.

For you and for me
,
she thought, warmth flooding her as Kirill sat up and began placing tender kisses on her neck.

She remained on the phone for a minute more, mainly to assure herself Carolyn was really, finally, going to be okay.

Kirill’s hands were on her breasts by the time the call ended, cupping and kneading, sending delicious pleasure and liquid heat to pool in her belly and cunt.

“Have you changed your mind about leaving?” Jazzlyn teased, covering his hands with hers, loving his touch. Needing it.

“You tempt me unbearably,” he murmured, hugging her more tightly against him. “Don’t expect to leave our bed for several weeks.”

She couldn’t stop herself. “Not even for a game of chase.”

He shuddered and his breathing quickened. She knew what was in his mind. Remembered all too well their conversation at Hakon’s.

She grew wetter imagining Kirill catching her, spanking her, fucking her. She could hardly believe she was the same person who’d had such difficulty entering Inner Magick.

“Let’s go,” he said, voice strained, conveying the same desperate hunger for her as she felt for him.

The long drive to an old, weather-beaten house along the coast helped bank the fires, turning heightened desire into heightened anticipation and curiosity. When they got out of the car, he took her hand, escorting her to the front door.

There were symbols carved into the frame. Kirill’s fingers danced over them, as if somehow they were a magical combination lock and he was keying in the code.

The click of the door unlocking seemed to confirm it. But the sound of it sent a wave of sudden nervousness through Jazzlyn, making her wonder if she could really handle this.

Kirill turned and touched his lips to hers as if to feed her courage and reassurance. She felt his tension and in his eyes she read his fear that she would lose her nerve and not be able to accept
all
of him.

“I’m ready,” she said on a shaky breath.

He led her into a sparsely furnished living room, then down an equally bare hallway. They stopped in front of another closed door. It had symbols carved in the frame, too, and a small slot set in the wall next to it.

There was a waiting feel to the house, an expectant hush. Kirill touched the glyphs, his movements sure and quick though Jazzlyn couldn’t tell if they were the same ones he’d used at the front door.

For no reason at all as far as she could tell, the hairs on the back of her neck rose. But it was her jaw that nearly dropped when Kirill put his hand in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a fortune in gems.

“And I thought the bulge in your pants was all you,” she teased, the words tumbling out of the person she was coming to think of as the new Jazzlyn.

Kir’s laugh was husky and ultramasculine. He tangled a hand in her hair and drew her face close to his. “Tell me which you prefer. These, with their cold beauty. Or the fire of the family jewels I’ve already shared with you.”

She laughed. “I think I need to weigh the possible answers before I decide.”

She cupped her hand under the one he held the gems in, then slid her other hand between legs. “Mmm,” she said, rubbing him, taking his measure. “I think the family jewels win.”

Growl and groan merged. His hips bucked, sending an answering throb through her clit.

“Behave,” he said, stepping away from her and pushing the gems through the slot in the wall.

There was no sound of a latch yielding. This time the door simply slid open, revealing a room in total darkness. What sunlight entered the other parts of the house through windows didn’t cross the threshold here.

“Ready, beloved?” Kirill asked, reclaiming Jazzlyn’s hand and carrying it to his lips.

She took a deep steadying breath. “Ready.”

They stepped in and the door closed immediately. In less than a heartbeat, less than the blink of an eye, one reality folded completely into another and they stood in the middle of a stone building with window-like openings in the rock.

A cold breeze swept through, its source the snowcapped mountains visible in the distance. Kirill squeezed her hand and she turned toward him. “I must leave this chamber before shifting into my first form. Otherwise I won’t be able to pass through the doorway.”

She nodded her understanding and allowed him to lead her to the opening meant to serve as a door. She’d known by the view that they must be high up, but it didn’t keep her from experiencing pure terror when Kirill stepped out onto the outer platform and she saw just how far it was to the ground below.

He’d have to carry her. That much was obvious.

She trusted him not to drop her. But despite believing in him completely, she couldn’t stop shaking.

I can use my mating talons to render you unconscious
, he said, the shock of hearing him speak directly into her mind shattering her fear.

We can talk this way?

He purred in satisfaction, then answered by grasping the neckline of her blouse and pulling it downward far enough to reveal the dragon above her breast, a smaller version of the one on his chest.
Our mating bond is sealed. As long as we are in the same realm, we are only a thought away from one another. Are you ready for me to carry you home?

Yes.

The air shimmered silver and blue. And then he was standing there, a creature of fantasy. He was bigger, bulkier than in his human form, and yet when their eyes met, she saw Kirill, the possessiveness and tenderness, with a hint of worry thrown in.

Jazzlyn took another steadying breath and stepped out onto ledge. She put her hand on his chest and found the silver scales warm and smooth. And very, very real.

“I’m one of those people who closes their eyes and hangs on to the safety bar on rollercoaster rides. It might take awhile to change that, but I’d rather stay conscious for this.”

Good
, Kirill said, his heart swelling with love and pride at her bravery.

Rather than linger and allow instinctive human fear to return and make her tremble again, he clutched her to his chest and launched them from the ledge.

A small whimper was the only sound that escaped Jazzlyn, though he heard the thunder of her heart.
The lair is close
, he told her, anxious to get there, his need for her building with each beat of his wings.

As long as I don’t open my eyes, I’ll be okay.

In an effort to make her transition easier, he willed himself into his human form as soon as he landed. He carried her into the outer chamber, setting her on her feet next to the pile of gems serving as his daybed.

She opened her eyes then, and laughed in surprised delight, all traces of fear gone. “Don’t ask me to make a choice between these and the family jewels,” she teased, acknowledging his nakedness with a slow perusal of his body.

“Jazzlyn,” he growled, more than willing to return to their earlier play. Now that she was here, in his lair, he craved an intimate connection so desperately it was all he could do not to pounce.

“Disrobe,” he told her, remembering how she’d tormented him by slowly putting on her clothes before calling Carolyn.

Jazzlyn remembered it too. She remembered more. His threats. His promise to demonstrate how dangerous it was to tease a male dragon.

Her scent gave her away. It was heady, a lush perfume that made his cock leak in preparation for mounting her.

Rather than command her again, he sent his fire. It caressed every inch of her, burning away her clothing and leaving her bare, ready for her mate.

She’d been shell-shocked before. But now, in his lair, her nipples were hard points and her inner thighs glistened.

You know what I want. Get on your hands and knees.

She blushed, something he found adorable in her. If she’d denied him, he would never have forced her. But when she turned her back to him and did as he commanded, parting her thighs to reveal her wet slit, he acknowledged to himself that he might claim to be the master of his human mate, but he was a slave to his feelings and need for her.

He covered her body with his, the magic construct of his second form dissolving as soon as his cock found her opening. She gasped as his human arms gave way to dragon limbs, but her scent signaled her acceptance.

Mine
, he said, thrusting all the way in.

Mine
, she echoed, her channel rippling along his length, sending ecstasy shimmering through him as she staked her own claim.

About the Author

Jory has been writing since childhood and has never outgrown being a daydreamer. When she’s not hunched over her computer, lost in the muse and conjuring up new heroes and heroines, she can usually be found reading, riding her horses, or hiking with her dogs.

Jory welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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