"Not yet. I want to enjoy your big cock first."
Valentine grinned, his hands gripping her ass. "Show me what you got, baby girl."
Yelena's eyes flashed silver at the challenge, and she began to move. Valentine bit his lip, trying not to blow too early as she rode him hard and fast and with complete abandon. She always knew when he was about to lose it because she would change her speed or would roll her hips in a different way until he was struggling to breathe.
Yelena licked the drop of blood off his lip. "You taste so good, my mate. I want to lick and bite you all over."
"Do it," he gasped, moving his hand back to her clit. "Fucking bite me, Yelena. I need you with me before I..."
"Shh, don't say it," she said, kissing him. "I'm always going to be with you." Her magic pulsed, making the threads of Valentine's own power rise up out of his skin. "We might not be able to mate properly yet, but this we can do."
Yelena's power dropped into his threads, and Valentine sobbed. He had never felt anything so good. And then she bit his neck hard.
"Yelena..." was all Valentine managed to say before his magic and soul lit up, and he was coming in wave after wave of pleasure and pain and love. He held her tighter to him, their hearts and breaths syncing in erratic pants. He buried his face into her neck and bit her back, making her cry out and then melt against him.
"If that's what it's like, just with magic thrown in, I'm pretty sure actually mating might kill me," he said, kissing the top of her head.
Yelena sighed and said dreamily against his chest, "Survive long enough so we can find out."
36
The dawn sky was like a slash of blood on the horizon. A storm was brewing above them, and Valentine tilted his face to the sky as the first drops of rain hit his skin. It wasn't the worst way to start a day.
None of the guards at the entrance of the platform had noticed him as he had slipped past, a glamor wrapped tightly around him. They hadn't expected anyone to try to leave.
Taranis is going to be furious. He grinned. He had always been more of the type to beg forgiveness than ask permission anyway. His uncle could berate him later.
Valentine breathed in and out, slow and deep, before dropping over the side of the cliff. Adrenaline and magic exploded through him, and he shifted into his dragon. There were no alarms, the invisibility glamor held, and Valentine didn't waste a second as he flew through the tight canyon.
He had spent the rest of the previous evening working with Yelena, perfecting each aspect of his plans and writing letters to various family members with instructions. It was his turn to savethem, and he was more than ready for it.
It wasn't arrogance that made him confident. He trusted his family to do as he asked, and Yelena would make sure they didn't argue for too long.
Taranis's wards sizzled in warning as Valentine drew closer and closer. He had modified them after the attack and had grounded all the dragons of Mag Argatnél.
This is going to hurt, Valentine thought, and then sped up, wrapping a shield around him tighter and tighter.
He plunged headfirst into them, and agony ripped through him, the wards fighting to keep him inside of them. He roared and lashed until a tear opened. He shot through, the repairing wards ripping through his shield and burning the skin of his wings and back. It hurt like he had been splashed with acid, but he kept flying, determined to get the job done.
The breaking of the wards would have alerted Taranis, and Valentine knew he didn't have any time to waste. The knights would be after him, and he could only hope that Yelena would intercept them in time. A few burns, he could live with.
Valentine didn't stop flying until the charred husk of Midir's fortress came into view. Now that he had felt the distinct signature of Midir's magic through the token, he could sense it in the land around the blackened scar of earth and melted rock. He landed in the middle of what remained of the walls.
Rain was falling, turning the ash into black slurry. Valentine shifted back into his human form and took the melted token from his pocket.
Focusing his magic, he reached into it and found the echo of Midir's power. He could see how it worked, how he had woven it together to serve as both a communicator and a means to open a portal wherever it was.
It was how he had been communicating with Afon and howthey had sold out Yelena and Avallach's location weeks ago. Valentine ground his teeth together and tried not to think of it. He would get his revenge on that piece of shit soon enough.
Valentine pushed his magic into the token and felt a surprised jolt from the other end of it. He couldn't see Midir, but his presence flared up around him, like he was breathing on the back of his neck.
"King Midir, I would speak with you if you are willing," Valentine said, pulling out the cold bastard that was his easiest mask to put on.
"Sorcerer, this is a surprise," Midir's silky voice replied. "I thought that communicator had been destroyed."
"It was. I repaired it in the hope that we could talk privately together."
Valentine knew Midir wasn't dumb enough to just walk into a trap. He needed to reassure him that he was alone.
