Authors: Jade Allen
****
Their return to Germany
brought April a level of peace she hadn’t anticipated. Despite only being there
once before in her life, she experienced the undeniable sensation of returning
home. When she stepped into the huge fortress, she saw it with the eyes of a
weary traveler finally coming to a place of rest. Something unknotted itself in
her chest and she almost broke down in tears. She had to turn away from Mads
and blink until the stinging sensation passed.
“Are you well?” Mads
asked.
“Yes. I’m fine.” She
smiled up at him, hoping he wouldn’t notice the tears still swimming in her
eyes. “I just need a few minutes to freshen up.”
She didn’t leave the
bathroom until the tears were dry and the wave of emotion completely passed
over her. She showered, changed out of her traveling clothes into comfortable
pajamas and then went in search of her man. She found Mads in his library,
standing knee deep in books, his face creased with a thoughtful frown.
“Busy?”
“Not at all. I was
just doing a bit of reading.”
“On what?”
“You. I wanted to be
prepared in case you had any further questions.”
“I’m sure I’ll have a
lot of questions for you.” She stepped forward and gently took the book from
his fingers, scanning over the open page. Her eyes fell on the illustration of
Medusa—a monstrous face with a crown of hissing snakes. “But I don’t know if I
feel like talking about it right now.”
His hand fell over the
page, obscuring the image. “I know how it feels. Looking for yourself and
finding a monster. But April, you’re not a monster.”
She let him take the
book from her and his arms closed around her. She melted against him, closing
her eyes and taking a deep breath, blocking everything else from her senses.
She reacted that way each time he held her, utterly devoting herself to the experience
of the embrace, doing her best to brand every second to her memory, as though
it could all be taken from her in an instant. It nearly was stolen from her. It
almost ended before they really even could begin.
“Oh, Mads,” she cried,
burying her face in his chest. He stiffened slightly and she could feel the
tension in his arms and along his ramrod straight spine and suddenly his silk
shirt felt as rough against her cheek as a burlap bag. She tore at the garment
mindlessly, tugging the buttons open until she finally felt his skin. She
sought out the heat of his body with her mouth, inhaling him, tasting him,
still needing more of him. The mark on her thigh throbbed as her lips moved
over the expanse of his chest.
“April—”
“I need you. I
need...I need to know that you’re here. I need to feel the fire that burns
inside of you.” She kissed him with each word, tears streaming down her cheeks,
her mouth ravenous, moving up his throat, along his jawline, back down his
shoulder. She felt like she was in a freefall until the moment he grasped her
arms, his fingers like bands of iron hot from the forge.
“April!” Her name was
a joyous roar, a sound that felt like long nails scratching down her back. Her
spine arched and she tingled with goose bumps. Her mouth became bolder, her
hands exploring every inch of him she could reach. She scratched and teased
with her nails until she felt a shiver work down his spine.
His hands were busy,
too, removing the silk pajamas she wore after her shower. They fell from her without
a sound, pooling at her feet to reveal her sensitive body to his questing
fingers. His left hand went directly to her breast, cupping her with a
possessive, yet gentle, touch. His right hand moved to her waist, pulling her
closer against his erection, then moved over the sensitive skin at the small of
her back. He found every sensitive spot, every place that made her knees
quiver.
April had the taste of
his skin in her mouth, but it wasn’t enough. Not even close to enough. She
hooked her fingers over his pants and tugged them down, not even allowing him
to step free of their confines before closing her mouth around his cock. She
closed her eyes and nearly whimpered with the delight of him—of the texture of
his skin, the salty taste, the heat, the rhythm of his vein against her tongue.
She inhaled deeply to take in the scent of his skin as well, and it mingled and
created the true,
living
scent of him.
His fingers threaded
through her hair, his palm coming to rest on the back of her head. He didn’t
try to guide her, simply held her, as if to anchor himself. She eagerly took
his full length, drawing the fat tip to the back of her throat and holding him
there, using her tongue and throat muscles to draw long moans from him. They
were so deep and low they were almost growls, punctuated only occasionally by
words.
Yes. Oh yes. Oh April.
Her pussy clenched
with each vibration of sound, reminding her incessantly that she still
needed
him. That as good as he felt in her mouth, as good as he tasted and smelled and
sounded
, it still wasn’t even close to enough. Her clit throbbed, and
the mark in her thigh was now almost screaming for relief from an itch that
went deeper than any human fingers could scratch.
“God, I can feel you,”
he said on a sharp intake of breath, and she knew he didn’t mean her mouth or
her hands. He meant he could feel the fire roaring through her. A fire that
couldn’t be quenched or drowned. A fire that could only be stopped with
matching flames.
Mads jerked her from
him and lifted her like she weighed no more than a doll, carrying her the short
distance to his desk. She spread out over the wide, smooth mahogany expanse and
drew him as close as she could.
“I want to see.”
“What do you want to
see,
mein Schatz
?” He leaned in close, his mouth moving over hers.
“My dragon.”
She felt his smile and
then his broad wings filled her vision. They were still wounded from battle,
but not truly damaged, and they were still majestic. She felt his shaft against
her thigh, moving up her leg, and she unconsciously moved toward him, rocking
closer. She knew she could never take his full length, but her pussy was so
wet, quivering and ready that she didn’t stop the tip from sliding between her
lips.
“
My
dragon,”
she said between gritted teeth, thrusting her hips forward and impaling
herself.
First, there was the
sensation of stretching, a low burn that was only chased away by the other,
immediate sense of relief. She bent her knees, bracing the bottom of her feet
against the desk and thrust forward, claiming even more of him between her
legs. It was too much but just enough, just right, and it felt so good, like
she could never survive it and she could never get enough of it. Her body was
made for his, and soon there was no twinge of pain, nothing to match the
explosive pleasure she felt with every long, slow rock of her hips.
He was
hers
.
Nothing, not even death, could claim him. He was hers to claim, take, and have.
She didn’t know how to understand her new identity, what it meant to her and
how it might change her, but she did understand
this
. The balance they
found between them, the sense of the completion of one whole from two halves.
April’s body was fully
unleashed, unlocked, unhindered. Wave after wave of pleasure rolled through
her, finite and dazzling. She knew there was something more, though. A final
release that she couldn’t quite conceptualize but she still raced towards. Her
blood boiled and her skin pulled tight and she thought she might be on fire.
She might have created actual sparks between their bodies and was being
consumed by a glorious, merry haze. Eyes unseeing, she reached for him, fingers
running over scales and talons and then his hands closed around hers.
Her eyes focused just
as Mads thrust into her raw body, his velvety smooth shaft filling her to the
hilt. His eyes were green when they met hers—no sign of the dragon at all. The
moment between the gorgon and her dragon gave way to the touching of man and
woman. She saw herself reflected in his eyes—beyond that, she saw a reverence
she’d never experienced before. Wrapping herself around him, she pulled even
closer, as close as she could, and buried her face in his neck as the final
lightning bolt reverberated through her. She clenched down on him, holding him
deep while she rode out the final crests of pleasure.
“Oh April…oh my
sweet.” She felt him tense and tremble, felt the moment of his release like
another shockwave through her. She shivered and jerked her hips, every
incidental moment of contact an overload to her system.
****
Mads had been in
possession of
Dracheschloss
for centuries, but it had been decades since
he spent so much time there. Once the world rushed into modernity, with all its
attendant comforts, Mads built himself a new empire of glass and steel, and a
new throne, high on top of the world. And though he still could see the people
scurrying like ants, he lived among them, enclosed by their laws and
boundaries, surrounded by their humanity. He’d been content.
But with April secure
in his arms, he felt free.
The castle was hers
now. Perhaps it had always been. Perhaps he had conquered it not for glory, but
so he could provide his mate with her own sanctuary. Perhaps she herself had
claimed it from the moment the first stone was laid. She wore the face of a young
woman, but Mads now believed her life began more than twenty-six years ago.
He gazed down at her,
making a loving note of her slightly crooked nose, the little quirk of her
lips, the dimple in her chin, the shape of her eyebrows, the flush of pink
across her cheeks. She was an angel now, peaceful and sweet; nothing like the
woman he’d seen in his library. The woman who had staked her claim on him and
branded him for life.
She
had been living fire, writhing and welcoming.
The heat from her body had been so overwhelming that for the first time, he
hadn’t felt the fire burning him from the inside out.
She’d been so hot he
now had a ring around the base of his cock—a slightly red circle to match the
mark on her thigh.
He dropped his mouth
to her cheek, closing his eyes and pausing to inhale the scent of her skin and
her sleep. She was having pleasant dreams and not the nightmares he feared she
would. Shifting against her, he wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her
even closer, fighting the urge to shed his human appearance so he could enclose
her with his wings. More and more, she brought out the dragon.
My dragon
. Yes,
her dragon, as this was now her castle. Even his life now belonged to her as
she was the only reason he still existed. His memories of the fight were
sketchy, and he didn’t know exactly how Savannah had bested him. He didn’t
remember hitting the ground. He remembered only the cold—the frigid, bitter
cold. A cold he thought he could still feel in the core of his bones. Just
before the cold had frozen him forever, there was a single, glowing spark. And
from that spark, life was allowed to return.
She moaned softly and
shifted back, pushing her ass against his member. His body responded
immediately, the mark throbbing to life. Within seconds, he was painfully hard
and ready to take her again. With a low groan, he rolled onto his back, trying
to get himself back under control, listening for the sounds of her waking. She
continued sleeping, but no longer peacefully. Not quite. She moved until she
found the heat of his body again, rolling over to lay across his chest, her
head coming to rest on his shoulder.
“I think I’m dreaming
about you,” she mumbled.
“Are you? Is it a good
dream?”
“Mmmm.” She slid her
hand down his body and grasped his dick. “I was dreaming about boats and
suddenly—” She squeezed him, stroking from the top down. “Suddenly I see this.”
“Do you like boats?”
Her chuckle was
throaty and sleepy. “Not as much as I like this.”
“Oh...
oh.
” Her
fingers slid over the mark and the rest of the blood in his body rushed to his
cock. Electricity spiraled from his balls to his throat and everything in
between clenched with the anticipation of more. The contact had been so brief,
but the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
“What was that?” She
lifted her head, blinking the sleep from her eyes.
“It was…” He exhaled,
cleared his throat and tried again. “It was something new.”
“What?”
He reached over and
turned on the bedside lamp, casting enough light to show the delineation on his
skin. She gasped, reaching out to touch him but pulling away at the last
second. “What is that? Is it a burn?”
“A type of burn.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No more than the one
on your thigh.”
“On my thigh?” Her
eyes widened. “I did that to you?”
“Yes.” His hand went
to her thigh. “Which is only fair.”
“Does it feel like
mine feels?” She leaned forward, the tip of her tongue emerging to slide along
the mark. His fingers immediately clenched into tight fists and for a moment he
forgot how to breathe, or maybe he simply lost the ability due to the
constriction around his chest. The heat of her tongue disappeared and he
exhaled in a long, slow sigh, already craving more.
“I think that’s a
yes,” she murmured.
He pulled on her
shoulder, guiding her back up his body so he could claim her mouth. She threw
her leg over his, straddling his hips, his cock sliding between her slick,
swollen folds. She rocked her hips, grinding against him as their tongues
danced. Her nipples slid over his chest, hardening and drawing his attention.
“Honey, please,” he
moaned against her mouth. Her skin was so soft, so welcoming and pliant that it
only increased his need for her. He could have reached between them and angled
his cock to drive into her, but that thought didn’t occur to him. He felt
bound, tied in place by invisible ropes, completely at her mercy, willing to
bend to her will in all things.
April broke the kiss
and sat up, settling more firmly on his member. Her blonde silky hair was a
tousled halo, her eyes still heavy with sleep, her lips full and bruised from
the force of his kiss. She reached behind her to grip his shaft and reposition
herself, rising to come down on his aching flesh. Inch by inch, she consumed
him until she was fully seated, igniting the mark into a lit fuse.
She began to rock.
Slowly at first, almost hesitantly, but it wasn’t a pace she could sustain. Not
when he jerked his hips upward, begging her silently to move faster, harder; to
ride him until they were both soaring. His eyes were half-lidded but marked
every detail—the golden beauty of her face, the sway of her breasts, the rapid
beating of her pulse. He’d tried to get her on top before, but this was the
first time she’d been interested in the position, and he really hoped it
wouldn’t be the last.
Especially since it
freed his hands to explore every inch of her while she commanded the rhythm. He
massaged her full breasts, weighing them against his palms, squeezing and
stroking and god did he love the way they felt in his hands. He loved the solid
feel of her against him, loved the shape and curves of her body as she rose
above him, loved her rapid gasps and shouts that seemed to take her by
surprise. Loved the way she tensed and her eyes widened when he found her
clit, pressing his thumb over the sensitive tip and massaging with slow,
careful intent.
“Oh...oh god...oh...oh
my god…” Her body trembled around him, like the earth before a great quake. He
could feel it building within her--he could hear it in her voice and sense it
in the way she jerked, the way her rhythm altered, punctuated with short, rapid
strokes. His balls pulled tight, the base of his spine tingling with warning
that soon he would not be able to hold himself back. “Oh
Mads
.”
April slammed down one
final time, her channel clenching and quivering around him as the pleasure
swept through her. He rose to meet her, muscles pulling taut as he spent
himself. She collapsed forward, falling into the safety of his arms, and they
slowly came back to the earth together.
“I love you,
mein Schatz
.”
“I love you, my
dragon.”
Sleep was already
pulling her back, and this time he felt himself following her into the
darkness. He closed his eyes and unconsciously tightened his hold on her,
slipping away into dreams infused by his love’s scent, her warmth, and the
peace she brought him.
THE END