Digging her nails in a little harder, she found the courage to rasp, “Keep going.”
His groan reverberated through his deep chest and into hers. “I don’t have the energy in me to take my time like you deserve, but I’ll be damned if I don’t see what it looks like when you come. Now.”
His fingers, which had been fairly gentle in their exploration, began to move in a way she’d never experienced. They shuttled back and forth with breakneck speed, so fast it was almost like they were vibrating.
Alashiya gasped, her back arching until her arms were straight between them. Taevas supported her with a grip on the back of her neck. When she could open her eyes for a handful of seconds, she found him staring avidly at her, his expression a mask of pure determination.
Sweat broke out across her body as he settled into a pattern of overwhelming speed and gentle, circular strokes. Everytime he paused, he’d growl something she could barely hear over the buzzing in her ears.
“A dragon is what you need. Nothing and no one else,” he muttered as he ramped up the speed again. “A dragon isallyou need. Can’t you tell? Your body knows. Look how well it responds to me, Shiya. Look how much it needs me.”
It wouldn’t have taken much to get her off, but Taevas was right. She did respond to him in ways she never had to anyone else. It felt like it took only seconds before she began to tense.
“Yes, yes, yes,” he chanted, drawing her in close again, but not too much. She didn’t even need to open her eyes to know he was staring at her face. She could feel it just as much as she could feel the glide of his fingers.
When her orgasm crested, it was sharp, fast, and everything she needed. Alashiya tossed her head back and let out a soundless cry as it swept her under. All the while, Taevas continued hisrelentless back and forth motions, until she finally slumped in his arms.
His chest rose and fell rapidly under hers as he gathered her close. He didn’t seem like he really wanted to, but eventually he extracted his hand from her overalls, too. Resting his cheek against the crown of her head, he breathed, “It’s a good thing you didn’t agree to meet me.”
It took a lot of effort to follow what he was saying, but she tried. “Why?”
“Because if you’d gone to dinner with me, I would’ve done that at the table. If you’d showed up at my office, I would’ve done it on my desk. If you’d met on the fucking street, I would’ve done it there, too.”
“That’s…” She had to work hard to find her voice again. “That doesn’t sound like something the leader of a territory should do.”If he’s telling the truth.
“You’re right. It’s not.” Taevas took in a shuddering breath. “But here I am.”
Alashiya’s heart hadn’t stopped racing even as the sweat began to cool on her body. Embarrassment edged in, forcing her to turn her face into his shoulder again.
He made atskingsound. “Are you hiding again?”
Instead of answering, she asked her own question. “Would you really dothatin front of other people? Where they could see?”
Taevas tensed. “I’d hide you. No one but me is allowed to see that face. You’d be where you belong when I made you come. You’d behere—”There was an oddwhooshingnoise, a displacement of air, and then a sudden darkness beyond her closed eyelids. Surprised, Alashiya opened her eyes to find a great pair of leathery wings enclosing them — for all of three seconds.
Taevas jerked backward, severing their connection. He didn’t say anything, but rather made a breathy, choked sound deep in his throat. Alashiya watched, alarmed, as his skin went chalky.
His wings trembled violently before they tried to fold intoposition at his back, only to slump into two undignified heaps behind him. Sweat dotted his brow and his eyes went glassy as he collapsed into the pillows.
“What happened?” she demanded, lust cooling even faster than the sweat on her skin.
“My wings are damaged,” he gasped. “I knew they were, but I hadn’t extended them all the way before.”
Eyes wide, she gripped his shoulders and craned her neck to peer at the trembling appendages slumped behind him. “Do you have a broken bone?”
“Don’t think so. It feels—” He swallowed hard. The light glistened off the sweat that had begun to coat the column of his throat. “It feels like a muscle. Or a nerve. I don’t know.”
“You need a healer.” Alashiya raked her fingers through her disheveled hair. Worry beat hard at her chest. The golden glow of her orgasm vanished. “I have to call the rangers,” she announced, moving to clamber out of his lap. “They can send a medical evac team to?—”
“No, Shiya.” He grabbed her wrist and held on tight, refusing to let her leave his lap entirely.
She tried to shake him off. “Taevas, look at you! You’re in pain. I can’t take care of you the way you need. Ihaveto get you a healer.”
Wrestling with her until he could place her hand on his pounding heart, he explained, “If you go to a healer now, with that dragon around, we might both be dead, but I will not die of this,metsalill.Broken wings are better than bolts to the head. You mustnottell anyone I’m here.”
“Then how can Ihelpyou?”
Rubbing her wrist with his thumb, Taevas gave her a shaky smile. “Stay with me. Don’t leave so soon after giving me such a gift. Change into one of those pretty nightgowns and lay with me in the nest, my Shiya. It will ease my pain better than any medicine.”
