Twisting my lips, I revel in the explosion of new emotions spreading through me. “I think this demon needed a family.”
Cupping my cheek, he says, “Welcome to the Drakes. I’m so happy you came.” He presses a sweet kiss to my forehead. “Now, love of my life, show me how to demon bond. I can’t wait.”
Chapter Twenty-four
VALENTINO
Abeautiful smile stretches over Xaze’s lips as he wraps his legs around me, his hard, ridged cock nudging mine under the surface of the boiling water. He nuzzles my nose and releases a wave of pheromones that are so powerful they make my cock jerk and my breath catch in my throat. I groan, tangling my fingers in his hair and claiming his lips in a fierce, biting kiss.
“Deliciae,” he murmurs against my mouth before licking his way inside and tangling our tongues together.
I grab his ass cheeks in both hands and carefully stand up, letting the water run off us like a sudden downpour. Xaze wraps his legs and arms around me even tighter and laughs around my tongue, sucking and nipping at it sharply. My cock jerks against the heat of his inner thigh while his ends up pressed flush against my belly, hot and stiff and pulsing with every ounce of desire that vibrates through our bond and swells in the air all around us.
I can taste my own burning need for him just as clearly as I can taste his tongue in my mouth. Through our bond, I can feel everything he feels, and the thrill of knowing how desperately he wants me, how intensely helovesme, is enough to make me dizzy with lust and adoration and so much love it’s almost too much to bear.
Xaze breaks the kiss and grabs my jaw roughly, a wicked grin tugging at his pretty lips.
“Lay me down on a pile of priceless jewels, my mate, and make me come so hard on your cock that I see deities that don’t even exist,” he commands, then gives my bottom lip a teasing bite for good measure.
I pant and nod obediently, stepping out of the tub and carrying him out of the bathroom and back to my hoard, leaving a trail of wet footprints. Our mouths find each other again, and as I suck and nip at his lips, the stray water droplets on our skin sizzle with the rising heat between us and evaporate into a cloud of steam all around us. My beautiful demon giggles and kisses his way down to my chin and along my throat. He drags his long, dexterous tongue over my fluttering pulse point, and I hiss happily at the searing heat as he flickers and swirls it against my skin in an interesting pattern. It takes a second for me to realize what he’s doing, but when I do, my cock throbs and a hot shiver rocks me.
He finishes what he’s doing and grabs my jaw again to admire his work, his demon eyes flashing with possessiveness, another jolt of lust pulsing through our bond to weaken my knees.
“Your skin looks so pretty with my name seared onto it,” he purrs. “It’s a shame it can’t be permanent.”
The burn fades with his words and I know the branding mark he licked onto my throat fades with it.
“I guess you’ll just have to do it over and over again so you can enjoy the sight of it whenever you want,” I say.
Reaching the bed in the center of my hoard, piled high with some of my shiniest jewels, I pause just long enough to crush our mouths together before playfully tossing my mate on top of the pile. Priceless pieces scatter over the floor like raindrops, and Xaze laughs again. The sound is so joyful and pure that my dragon purrs loudly, the sound rumbling through my human-shaped throat as I climb onto the bed to join my demon.
“You like that, pretty dragon?” Xaze coos, his thighs falling open wide in invitation as he splays himself out underneath me, stretching his arms up and tilting his head to offer me the long column of his throat. “You like seeing me here among all your favorite treasures, coveted and owned and protected as long as we live?”
It’s like he’s reaching right inside my head and whispering the words my dragon needs the most. There’s no teasing or lightness in Xaze’s eyes right now though. He means it.
I growl possessively, rolling my hips to grind my cock against his, letting a partial shift swell and lengthen it. Smooth, sensitive scales ripple along my shaft. His lead lolls back and he arches up to meet my thrusts. The ridges of his demon cock against my scales makes me gasp and whimper, fucking against him harder as we fall into another all-consuming kiss.
I don’t notice that he let his tail out to play until it strokes down the length of my spine, petting my skin and calling even more scales out of hiding. Precum pours from my cock like a faucet, coating his and slicking the frantic thrusts that scatter even more treasure off the bed and leave us both panting into each other’s mouths.
“I want to do the bond first, Xaze,” I rumble between kisses. “I want you to be completely mine before I fill you with my cock and give you my fire again.”
He rasps a laugh. “So traditional, wanting the wedding before the fucking.”
“As long as you don’t count the fact that we’ve had a ton of sex already and I technically bonded you while you were unconscious and nearly dead. But yeah, super traditional.”
He slides his hand along my arm until he reaches my hand. A tender feeling swells in my chest that’s too intense to be just mine alone, and he presses his hand to mine, fingers to fingers, palm to palm. The smooth metal of the ring around his finger feels warm against my skin, and I can’t think of a single object I’ve coveted more in all my life.
“I, Xazedose of the third circle of Hades, bond myself to you, Greka Drake. May our souls be one for all eternity, twinned even in death. Do you accept this ring and my mating bond, which, like my love for you, is unbreakable, irrevocable, and eternal?”
My throat tightens and my eyes burn with happy tears, threatening to fall. I nod rapidly.
“I do, Xazedose. I accept.”
I understand what he meant now about the power words hold to a demon. I could feel the weight of each one on his tongue through our dragon bond. And, as soon as I accept, they wrap themselves around us like steel, strengthening the tether we already created and weaving their way through every cell in our bodies, all the way down to the depths where our beasts reside, to knit our very essences together.
Joy and wonder and love so intense I’m sure it will shatter me into a million pieces all swell inside of me until I can hardly breathe as Xaze transfers the ring from his finger to mine, sealing us for all eternity, which suddenly doesn’t sound like nearly long enough.
“Now kiss me, dragon, before I lose my mind,” he demands, but then with all the impatience and confidence I love abouthim, he tangles his fingers in my hair and slams his mouth into mine first.
