Azh understood her exhaustion. She’d been fighting a battle she didn’t understand for months. Every instinct inside him screamed for him to sweep her off her feet and carry her to his lair. Once she was away from this world she could have the peace she so desperately desired.
Unfortunately, the danger was all too real. For everyone, including the dragons. Right now all he could do was offer her support to face the enemy lurking in the mists.
“You’d never do that.” He crossed to stand directly in front of her, cupping her cheek in his hand. “You’re a fighter.”
She thankfully didn’t pull away. “I’m tired of fighting.”
“Then lean on me,” he urged in gentle tones. “Fate brought me to you for a reason.”
The lavender eyes darkened, as if she were tempted to snuggle against him, but even as she swayed forward, her expression abruptly hardened. As if she suddenly remembered why she didn’t trust him.
“You mean it was fate that brought you to Gabriela,” she said in cold tones. “You’re obsessed with her magic, not mine.”
Ah. Azh was smart enough to hide his smile of satisfaction. She was jealous.
“I followed Gabriela’s magic,” he cautiously agreed. “But my obsession is with you, Wynn.” He stepped closer, wrapping her in his heat as he allowed the flames to dance over his fingers before he smoothed them over her cheek. “The extraordinary lavender of your eyes. The soft silk of your skin.” Hunger blasted through him as she shivered in response. It was perilously easy to imagine having her stretched beneath him as he pleasured her with the brush of his flames. And lips. And teeth... “I’m obsessed with the threads of gold in your hair,” he continued, his arousal pressing painfully against his slacks as he lowered his head to stroke his lips over her brow and down the slender length of her nose. “And the sensual promise of your lips.” He pressed a kiss against her mouth, growling as the taste of her seared through him. It wasn’t dragon. Or demon. Or human. It was something utterly unique. “I’ve longed to devour you from the moment I first caught sight of you.”
She reached up to grab his upper arms, as if her knees were weak. “Devour me?”
“Does that frighten you?”
“You are a dragon. I’m pretty sure you really could devour me.”
Azh chuckled. There was curiosity in her scent. And desire. A blazing desire that matched his own. But no fear.
Inside him the dragon stirred awake, lured by Wynn’s sweet floral scent and the sensation of soft, silken skin beneath his fingertips. Then, without warning, it released a low roar of possession, the flames erupting to flare around them in a cyclone of flames.
“I promise that my beast will give you nothing but pleasure,” he assured her in a rough voice.
Wynn tilted back her head, her face flushed and her eyes shimmering with enchantment as she watched the sparks dance over her skin. But before Azh could sweep her in his arms and carry her to the nearby bed, she flattened her hands against his chest.
“Azh.” She had to stop and clear the lump from her throat. “This isn’t the time.”
He pressed a hungry kiss against her parted lips. “No. It’s not the time,” he agreed.
She trembled. “Or the place.”
“Definitely not the place.” His fingers trailed down the curve of her neck.
“So what are we doing?” she rasped, her head tilting to the side to allow him greater access.
Unable to resist temptation, Azh skimmed his lips down the same path of his fingers, lingering on the rapid pulse at the base of her throat.
“A small taste of what’s to come,” he whispered.
Her nails dug into his chest, her breath ragged. “This doesn’t feel small.”
“No. It feels...”
Deep inside him, Azh’s dragon parted its mouth to reveal the razor-sharp fangs, then with a smug contentment, it released a white blast of magic. Azh shuddered as the power raced through him, allowing the beast to absorb Wynn’s essence until she was imprinted on his soul.
Wynn leaned back, eyeing him with a wary expression. “It feels what?”
“Earth-shattering.”
“Azh.”
“Ssh.” He slid his arms beneath her coat and around her slender waist, pulling her tight against him. “I’ve got you.”
