“Come on.” I motion for her again. “I won’t hurt you or molest you—I just want to keep you warm.”
“No. I don’t trust you—not after the things you said.”
She lifts her chin defiantly and turns away from me. Then she lies down in the grass and wraps her arms around herself. She’s shivering but stubborn—clearly she’s made up her mind.
My immediate instinct is to grab her and wrap my arms around her…but then I decide not to.
“Fine. Freeze then,” I growl. I face away from her and lie down myself. My Drake roars inside me—saying that we need to keep her warm. But I tell him we can’t—she doesn’t want us to. He fights me for a moment—I’ve never known him to be so vocal before. Mostly he’s mute—just the other half of me who never speaks. But now he’s insisting we must protect Irena and keep her warm.
At last I subdue him—I have the upper hand since I’m in my human form—and manage to drift off to sleep.
As for the Princess, she can do what she wants.
I tell myself I don’t care.
30
IRENA
It’s so cold. Cold enough that I retrieve the smelly old shirt and wrap it around me. The smell is almost unbearable though. Ugh—did the person who owned it never take a bath?
A few feet away from me, Valen is lying on his side with his back to me, sleeping peacefully. I can’t help thinking of the scandalous things he said to me—about wanting to taste my pussy and put his huge shaft inside me. And, even worse, letting his dragon do the same!
It makes me remember the huge red dragon I rode on across the desert—how enormous he was. I can’t help wondering how big his shaft is compared to Valen’s…and how different it looks.
Also, what would it feel like inside me? I have a brief picture in my head—of me crouched on all fours with my legs spread, the same way I saw a mare being bred by a stallion at the Fair. At first I see Valen behind me… and then he changes into his dragon.
I wish my mind would behave and not show me such things, but I can’t seem to help thinking them. Especially when I can’t get to sleep because I’m so cold and the shirt stinks so badly.
Valen is sleeping deeply and I wonder if I could get close enough to steal some of his warmth. Slowly…stealthily, I shift closer until I’m up against his back. He radiates warmth like a furnace and, unlike the fire—which had burned down now—he doesn’t pose a threat of stray sparks.
I think I’m being stealthy but the next thing I know, he’s turned around to take me in his arms.
“I knew you’d come when you got cold enough,” he growls, pulling me close.
“Let me go!” I struggle against him, but he’s too big and strong. I suppose I could command him with the ring…but I dread that feeling of someone driving a spike into my eye.
“Settled down, Princess—I’m just going to warm you up.” His nose wrinkles. “But that shirt has to come off.”
For the second time that night he strips it off me. Then he pulls me close to his broad chest and I find myself pressed against his big body and breathing in his warm, spicy, masculine scent.
“Let me go!” I protest, but I’m not even fighting him anymore.
“No,” he growls. “Settle down—we’ve got a long journey ahead of us tomorrow and we both need to be well rested.”
Since he doesn’t seem to be trying anything sexual, I settle against him. I can feel the long thick ridge of his shaft branding my belly through my shift and his trousers, but he doesn’t try to take it off, just growls softly and holds me close.
I want to fight more—to protest. He’s my enemy—I shouldn’t trust him. And yet, the soft crackling of the fire and the rhythm of his breathing…his warm, spicy, bonfire scent and the feeling of his big body wrapped around mine…they all seem to work together to make me relax.
I feel warm and safe—well, as safe as I can be, wrapped in the arms of my enemy. Before I can talk myself into trying to get away, my eyes close and sleep claims me.
31
VALEN
When we wake the next morning, my little Princess is curled like a kitten in my arms. I’m surprised by the surge of affection I feel when I look down and see her pressed so trustingly against me.
Then I see the glimmer of silver on her forefinger and push the feeling away. I can’t help feeling some satisfaction, though. She thinks that she’s my Mistress, but she’s the one who had to come to me for warmth.
