19
KELAN
The air over the northern ridge bites cold, but in my arms, Aura is warm. She’s tucked against my chest, wrapped in furs, with her cheek pressed to the hollow below my collarbone where dragon heat pulses strongest. Her even breath ghosts over my skin, soothed by the rhythm of flight. I fly higher than I need to, giving her the sky. The view of peaks layered in frost, a black river winding like a serpent through the evergreens, and far in the distance, the subtle glow of the human city we’ve left behind stretches around us.
Behind me, Darial banks in a lazy arc, sleek and golden in the sunlight, his claws tucked beneath him with our pack of clothes and other items secured. Ronyn cuts through the air beneath us, wings tight to his body, the burden of a food package and some of Aura’s art supplies held in his claws.
I don’t land immediately when the cabin comes into view. I circle wide, to let her see the way our timbered retreat nestles against a cliff face, shielded by pine. It’s a dragon’sden, but no one knows that except us.
I land gently on the frost-hardened earth, wings mantling protectively as I shift with her still in my arms. The heat of the change flows through me, and when I’m fully human again, I still hold her close, lowering her slowly so her feet touch the snowy path. Her boots sink slightly, and she laughs when Ronyn nearly skids trying to stop with too much momentum.
Darial touches down beside us, already shifting, steam rising off his golden skin.
Aura clutches the fur closer. “You built this?”
“Yes,” I say. “We had time on our hands while we waited for you.”
She lifts her head, flushed and windblown, smiling in a way that settles all the tension inside me. “I want to see everything.”
“You will.”
“I call first cocktail duty,” Darial says. “No offense, Ronyn, but you go too heavy on the spirits.”
“That’s because you’re soft,” Ronyn growls, hooking the food package over his shoulder and grinning at Aura. “Hope you’re hungry, little flame. We brought half a beast.”
“Sounds more like your thing,” she laughs.
She isn’t wrong. Our dragon appetites are huge.
My friends fall into rhythm immediately. Darial ducks inside the cabin to warm the hearth with his dragon fire. Ronyn stomps around to light the stone grill with a breath of flame, ready to prepare a feast for us. I show Aura around the cabin.
She takes in the rustic surroundings with the same kind of awe she had in response to the penthouse. When we get to the edge of the deck, where the hot tub waits, she’s wide-eyed.
“Isn’t it too cold for this?” she asks.
“Nope.”
I uncover the tub and breathe fire into the space beneath it until the water steams.
“It’s natural and spring-fed. But dragons make it better,” I grin.
I dip my hand into the water to test the temperature. It swirls into perfect heat.
Aura’s already unwrapping herself, and when I move behind her and breathe low across her nape, she tilts her head in welcome.
“There’s no one around to see you naked,” I murmur.
“Except three dragons,” she smiles.
“Your body is ours.” In case she’s forgotten, I slide my hand into her pants and cup her heat. She’s already wet enough to take me, and my dragon growls with satisfaction.
Aura turns, staring into my eyes, then removes the rest of her clothes until the only thing covering her is my hand. I lift her without a word, one arm below her thighs, the other around her shoulders. She comes willingly, snuggling into me like I’m her throne and her home. The water laps gently at the stone edge when I step into the tub, sinking with her cradled in my arms. She shudders as the heat wraps around her skin, her glowing runes reflecting off the water’s surface like stars scattered across a midnight ocean. Her nipples harden in the air before the water claims her, and my cock hardens even more at the sight.
Her legs unfold, sliding against mine, and her breath catches as she feels my cock, now fully hardened and thick against her hip. Her skin is slick already, but as she caresses my abdomen, down to where scales bloom along my thighs,my restraint begins to fray.
“You’re staring,” she whispers, voice breathy and teasing.
“You’re a vision,” I reply, more growl than words.
