“Our lair.” His lips brushed the side of her neck as he helped her out of her coat.
She looked around. The corridor went further into the mountain, lights dimming the deeper it went. “Are you going to show me around?”
“I’m going to watch you discover it on your own. My mate, exploring what is hers.” There was a wild light in his eyes that made her breath catch.
He prowled behind her as she padded softly down the corridor. His presence was so distractingly predatory, so deliciously, draconically masculine, that she hardly noticed her surroundings. She thought the lights did get dimmer the further she went, but was that just her imagination? The rush of the wind through the trees outside faded away, replaced by heavy silence, and the soft sounds of Corin’s footsteps behind her. He was stalking her. A dragon, hunting down the one who’d come to see his hoard. What would happen when she reached it?
The corridor turned once, twice. Darkness pressed in. It was as though the whole place had been designed to make intruders think one thing:No escape.
Maya had been chased by a dragon before. This dragon.Herdragon. But this was different. This time, desire gripped her so hard she could hardly breathe.
At last she reached a door. She only knew it was a door because thin threads of light gleamed through the sides of it. She groped for the handle and glanced back to look at Corin, but he was invisible in the shadows.
“There’s something in there, isn’t there?”
“You can feel it?”
She could. The hum of something precious on her skin. Anticipation coiled in her stomach and she pushed the door open.
Gold. Rows and rows of gold, coins and ingots and jewelry, in textures from polished silkiness to hand-beaten. All held safe under glass, and lit by a wall of softly flickering red-gold lights, like a waterfall of molten lava.
And in the middle of it all, a massive bed, piled high with pillows and blankets that had a telltale shimmer in their weave.
Something in it called to her, and something in her called back.
“This is all for you.” Corin kissed the back of her neck. His lips were like a brand, hot and possessive. “All the treasure I’ve fought and tricked and stolen for. My life’s hoard. For you.”
She was speechless. He wound his arms around her.
“Everyone knows dragons seek hoards. We all want to be the most powerful, and what better way to show our power than through precious treasure?” His teeth grazed her neck. “When we’re children, and youths, we fight for the rarest valuables, we covet the glitteriest, shiniest baubles. And then when we’re grown, we realize why. The greatest treasure in the world steps into our lives, and all the wealth we’ve hoarded is nothing in comparison. A pitiful offering to throw at her feet.” He nipped her shoulder and covered the bite with a kiss.
“I’m going to claim you,” he said, dark promise in his words. “And then everything I have, everything I am, will be yours.”
She swayed, hypnotized by his touch, his smooth, beguiling voice. “This is how dragons make it official?”
“Yes.”
She turned in the cage of his arms and put her hands on his chest. His heart beat against her palms and his eyes flamed green as he looked down at her. “Then let’s do it. I want all of you.”
He kissed her with furious need. She held onto him as though he were her only safe harbor in a raging storm, but the only storm was the one between them. Heat rolled through her, violent, agonizing need. It was only when her legs hit the bed that she realized they had moved across the room.
“I’ll be gentle,” Corin promised, chains of self-restraint strangling his words.
“Don’t,” Maya gasped, her breath hot against his lips, his neck, his hard collarbone. “Don’t be gentle. Bemine.”
He tore her dress down over her shoulders. Cool air hit her skin, and she gave up fumbling at his buttons and ripped at his shirt. His muscles gleamed in the rippling light. She fell back, boneless with joy and desire, and he climbed on top of her.
“My mate,” he said, pulling her dress the rest of the way down and staring at her with naked lust. “Will you let me make my offering?”
“Yes,” she gasped. She strained against him, desperate for more touch—and he was gone. “Corin!”
Glass tinkled somewhere deep in the cavern.
Strong arms wrapped around her from behind. “My heart,” Corin whispered, and something cold brushed against her neck. “You are more than rubies.”
A red stone the size of a chicken egg fell between her breasts. It was so brilliant it seemed to shine with its own lustrous, sinful light.
She twisted, searching for his lips to kiss, and he was gone again.
