Caz’s eyes darted to Ella, and seeing her on the ground, her eyes rolled back into her head, he immediately pulled back on his power, reining it in. The women both slumped to the ground, gasping for air.
Out of the corner of one eye, I noticed Ella’s eyes land on me, and a tiny frown crease her face.
But I didn’t have time to address it because Caz was lunging forward with impossible speed, his snarl a whipcrack as it echoed out across the landscape.
“Sorry?” I whispered as he snatched me into his arms and drove us into the sky.
“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “That washot.”
And his mouth found mine, covering it in a searing kiss. Stunned by the totally unexpected desire and lustful aggression, I froze at first. But his lips found my neck seconds later, and I melted up into him, my legs wrapping automatically around his waist as heat coiled in my pussy and began to soak my panties.
“Caz,” I moaned, his strong fingers touching me everywhere and driving me wild with passion.
His cock was rock hard in his pants, and I ground my hips against it as best I could while we were in the air, becoming more feral with every lustful groan I worked from his throat.
“Mate,” he growled again and again, his fingers threading through my hair and pulling back to expose my throat to his mouth and tongue.
The heat and fire were on another level as he ravished me. Worshipped me. Pleasured me. We spun in the air, his wings easily keeping us aloft. I traced their lines with my fingers up his back, awed as always by the power in them.
“Caz,” I said once more. “We have to stop.”
“Don’t want to stop,” he growled, curling one hand under my ass from behind as his long fingers reached for my clit.
“We have to. Ella is down there with the others. She’s scared. I have to go to her.”
His eyes flashed blinding green, and the growl he let loose would be heard far away. “Mate.”
“I’m not saying we’re never going to have time together again,” I told him, patting his chest. “But not now. We have a mission to complete. Ella needs me. I have a duty to her.”
“Duty.” His dragon seemed to understand that, and slowly we began to descend back toward the ground.
“Thank you,” I said, scratching a fingernail against his chest.
Caz blinked and shook his head, the green light fading but not disappearing. “You used alpha power on me,” he said, staring wondrously.
“I know.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, his feet touching the ground and legs bending slightly.
“I don’t know. We can think about that later. Once we get Ella somewhere safe, okay?”
He nodded, setting me down with more than a little reluctance. I leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek before dashing over to my friend. She was still on the ground, though she’d pulled herself into a coiled ball, ready to strike at anyone who came near.
“Ella, it’s me,” I said as I approached. “It’s Anna. I’m here now. Everything is okay. I promise.”
“Anna?” Her voice was ghostly soft and thin, weaker than I’d ever heard.
“Yes, it’s me.” I dropped to a crouch at her side, biting back a sob as I saw the silver band around her neck. “I’m here. You’re okay.”
Ella blinked and then threw herself into my arms with a ragged cry of pain and happiness. We held each other, and I wanted to let it linger, to reassure my friend everything was going to be okay now. But we didn’t have time.
“We need to get moving, Ella. We can’t stay here. Okay? Do you understand me? These men are going to take you somewhere safe. You can trust them.”
Ella’s brown eyes peeked out from under the tangled mess of her dark hair. “Is that the guy from the market? Did you find him?”
I smiled. She was terrified. In horrible shape. Had a slave collar on that was doing who knew what to her mind. But she was still sharp as a scale edge. That was my Ella.
“Actually, he found me,” I told her, “but there’s time for that later. We have to go now. We can’t be caught here. Can you stand?”
