“I missed you,” he finally gave me his traditional greeting, always delivered upon my return from another realm.
“You couldn't have,” I teased him. “You didn't know I was gone.”
“I did know,” Arach insisted as he snatched up my trailing hand and pressed it to his chest, directly above his heart. “Here.”
I smiled against his skin. “I missed you more,” I whispered and kissed my way down the dip between his hard abs. “Allow me to prove it.”
Arach rumbled in anticipation as I moved even lower, my lips brushing the thin trail of crimson hair that just touched his belly. I wedged my way between his thighs until he was completely bared to me—rose-tipped shaft rising from a nest of crimson curls with those heavy dragon stones beneath. I tickled his stones as I set my lips to the rosy tip, and Arach's moaning turned into a sharp roar.
I took the sound as encouragement and slid down on him to the base, tightening my lips and sucking a little. The scent of dragon and man exploded in my head, making me reel with wanting. I wouldn't be able to tease the Dragon King for as long as I'd hoped; I was already clenching my thighs and squirming in need. So, I moved faster over him until he was clutching at me, pulling on my hair and shoulders, trying to get me to straddle him.
“By the flame, A Thaisce, I need to sink into your sex this instant,” Arach growled as he sat up.
Oops, there went that lovely lethargy. Oh, shucks.
Arach's hands went to my waist to lift me and toss me backward. I went sprawling, and he took a moment to appreciate the position I'd landed in—legs bent and partially open. With a savage snarl and one sleek movement, he grabbed my knees and pushed them apart while he bent his head and licked me up my center. I moaned and spread my legs further, thighs shaking with pleasure.
Arach rose to his knees and laid his cock atop my sex. Keeping it in hand, he rubbed it over me, splitting me and making me shiver. Once he had me wet and writhing, he lowered the tip and pressed inside. My body welcomed him and spread around him anxiously. This was exactly what I needed—this aching oblivion. The dragon sank deep and pressed his pelvis to mine. We ground together—Arach lying above me while I wrapped my arms around his back to draw him even closer.
“There is no greater feeling than this,” Arach whispered in my ear. “Your sex tightening around mine, hot and wet, drawing me into you.” He lifted onto his forearms and started steadily thrusting. “Your hands on my ass, pulling me deeper. The rapturous tension that only grows more urgent with each thrust.”
“If you had been a little more patient, I would have spent all morning building that tension,” I teased him. “I wanted to lie between your legs and suck that glorious dragon dick until you came.”
Arach growled and pumped more powerfully, his eyes flaring with fire. Every slam shook the bed and vibrated throughout my whole body. I reached between us and rubbed myself but Arach snarled as he rose onto his knees, then pushed my hand away to replace it with his.
“Is this what you want?” His voice had gone even lower. “You want me to rub this pink bud while I fill you?”
“No,” I purred, surprising him. “I want you to fuck me while I rub myself and you watch.”
Arach's whole body twitched with the F word and he transferred his hand back to my thigh, then slid both of his palms beneath my ass. With his strong grip, he lifted me to meet every thrust, and I went back to touching myself. My husband's eyes fastened on my flicking fingers, his body tensing—muscles rippling and twitching. I watched his lips part on his heavy panting breaths, the tips of dragon fangs glinting. He was close. I rubbed faster.
Just as we were both cresting, Arach blew a stream of fire between us, right where we were connected, and the heat sent me blasting in orgasm, my screams combining with his roar. I kept my stare on him even as I climaxed, watching him throw back his head and arch his back as if accepting a divine gift. The morning light spotlighted him, adding to the illusion of a miracle. As his roar faded, he fell forward, then rolled onto his side to draw me up against his chest.
“Good morning, A Thaisce,” Arach rumbled with satisfaction.
“It is now.”
Chapter Sixteen
After a shower, Arach and I got dressed, then went next door to wake up our twin sons.
“I guess we don't have to wake them up,” I said as Arach and I stepped into their room.
Not only were our boys awake, but they also had Hunter, Prince of the Fire Cat-Sidhe; Dexter, my nurial (a fey animal with a lion body, a fox face, and six legs); and Deirdre, Dexter's daughter with them. Hunter was a couple of years older than the twins but they all looked to be around the size of human 10-year-old boys. Brevyn and Rian had aged faster for a few years while Hunter had matured more like a human. Somehow, they managed to even out with each other.
Hunter looked a lot like his daddy, King Roarke, with the fiery eyes of his race and raven black hair cut in rakish swags. But his hair had developed a red streak at his left temple, just like his mother, Queen Anna had. I'd seen Hunter in the future (the broken one that I fixed) in, of all places, Pride Palace. His father had been bringing him for visits to hang with the Intare, and Hunter had become friends with Lesya. I frowned as a thought occurred to me: Roarke hadn't been bringing Hunter by. Maybe I should start encouraging him to.
Or maybe not. You never know what's best where fate is concerned. I'd have to go with my instincts.
Rian was looking more and more like his father too. The only differences were the vibrant green color of his eyes and dragon scales and something around his mouth—his lips were more like mine, fuller than Arach's. In all other ways, including his attitude, Rian was a miniature version of Arach. Brevyn, on the other hand, was me. Ull and me.
Brevyn's blond hair had darkened to my color—a deep brown. It had been lighter just a few months ago and his face had been fuller. But the baby fat was finally leaving his cheeks and revealing the bone structure beneath—a structure that was all me. Staring into my face done smaller and masculine was a miracle that I never expected to receive. It made me feel more like a goddess than any magic I owned. I love all of my children and as they grow, I'm able to see pieces of myself in them but, so far, Brevyn resembled me the most.
I've learned long ago not to get hung up on appearances—knowing gods has really cured me of that—but there is something visceral about seeing proof that your blood runs through the veins of another person. It's instinctual, like the smell that binds us to our babies. I didn't love Brevyn more than the others, but I appreciated having one child that was more me than my husbands. Well, except for those deep blue eyes—those were all Ull.
I'd been wrestling with the fact that I'd placed the soul of my friend into Brevyn's body—trying to come to terms with the fact that this boy wasn't all mine and Arach's. But I finally realized that a child's soul never originates from its parents. A soul has nothing to do with genetics or blood. A body can affect a soul but only in the way of learning—of experience. It didn't matter that Ull wasn't my child in his last life. None of my other children had souls or essences that had been taken from mine. Of course, they didn't; I only gave them magic to go with their souls.
Ull had been in my life—he had been like a brother to me. In a way, he had more right to be born as my son than any of the other souls who had randomly entered my children. Once I realized that, I also realized that giving birth to him and raising him is what made him my son in this life. He wasn't Ull anymore, though Ull was there, even some of his memories were emerging. But despite who he was and what he remembered, he was Brevyn now and each day revealed more about the new man he would become.
