He licked his lips and traced the tips of his fingers back to her inner knee, then began the slow climb again, loving the way her body reacted to his touch.
“Colin, I feel…” She pressed a hand to her lower belly. “I need… more.”
Leena thoughtshe might explode from the pressure building inside her. Colin’s fingers were teasing her in a way that sent sparks shooting through her like velvet lightning. A feeling was building low within her core. Exquisite pressure. If he’d just touch her in that spot again, where her nerves seemed to ache for him…
“You want more?” he asked her, his eyes dark as a thunderstorm.
She writhed beside him, too distracted by pure sensation to speak.
His fingers crept up again, and this time, they lingered, pressing and circling right where she needed it. A rush of heat traveled from his touch, through her torso, puckering her nipples and making her breasts feel fuller, heavier.
“Colin…” Everything on her had grown hypersensitive at his touch. She desperately wanted to strip out of her robes, to free her breasts from the constricting fabric. She wanted more from his fingers, and she worked her hips to increase the pressure.
“Oh, Leena, you’re so damn wet,” he whispered, and the sound of his voice was like velvet over her skin.
Two fingers dipped into her, spreading her. She parted her knees, pulling her robe up to give him access. The growl that rumbled through the tent sent another storm of lightning through her, to the tips of her fingers, her breasts, her lips. Every inch of her skin seemed to wake up.
His fingers moved faster, dove deeper, spread her wider. Her breath caught. She was so close, achingly close, to something—she didn’t know what, but it was something she needed… Something…
With a gasp, she arched off the floor of the tent, pleasure ringing through her body like a bell and radiating out, out past the stars, into the beyond. Magic, enchantment, pure light! Slowly she came back together, back into herself.
She gazed up at him, panting. “That was…”
He smiled wickedly. “Better than a kiss?”
Yes, it was much better than a kiss, but she couldn’t speak. Just nodded dumbly, shaken by the power of what he’d just done to her. He adjusted her robes around her. “Come on. We should get moving if we want to get you to the temple before nightfall.”
Colin took apartthe tent in record time, anything to distract him from Leena and the absolute frenzy his dragon was in to mate with her. He’d made certain she experienced her release, but he hadn’t taken his own. If that wasn’t painful enough, he’d done it all while forcing back his mating trill. It took supernatural restraint not to come when he saw her arch off the floor, but he knew if he let himself go there, his dragon would bond with her and there’d be no going back. Now his inner beast was making his skin feel tight and his head throb.
“Is everything all right?” she asked him as he swept the pack onto his back, trying his best not to make eye contact.
“Perfect,” he said. “I’m just anxious to get going. We’ve got a long trek ahead of us.”
She nodded, but a look he couldn’t quite read passed behind her eyes. Thankfully, whatever it was didn’t linger. They fell into step, making their way at a quick pace toward the main road to Asfolk. At this rate, they’d make it to the city by late afternoon and from there could catch a carriage to Niven.
“Oh!” Leena hopped beside him. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!”
“What’s wrong?”
She reached down and plucked something from the bottom of her leather slipper. She scowled at the two-inch-long creature with the barbed shell. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“What is that thing?”
She flung it into the woods as far as she could throw it, then wobbled on her feet. “Mystic snail. They’re not usually at this elevation. They like the swamps better. Fucker’s shell broke my skin.”
He cleared his throat, not used to hearing Leena swear. “Is that something to worry about?”
She looked at him and started giggling. “Perfectly harmless. Just makes you a little…” She waved one hand and staggered forward, a smile spreading across her face. As she came closer, he noticed her pupils were dilated.
“Are… are you high?” He laughed. “Are snails intoxicating?”
“That’s the word!” She held up a finger between them, then pressed the side of it to her widening smile. “Shhh. I am intoxicating…intoxicatedby snail venom.”
She attempted to whirl around and continue down the path but tripped over her own feet. He lunged forward and caught her by the waist. Something crunched under his foot. Steadying her in one arm, he turned his boot to see another snail’s remains smeared across the bottom. He could feel it now. The shell had poked through his boot but couldn’t pierce his dragon skin. Still, now that he knew what the little bastards looked like, he saw them everywhere.
“Leena, the path is covered with mystic snails. You can’t walk here. Let me carry you. They can’t hurt me.”
Before he could lift her into his arms, her chest slapped his as she leaped into him, standing on the tops of his feet, arms circling his waist. He let out anoofat the impact.
