I groaned, lifting my head to see her ruined, wrecked, and beautiful—exactly how I wanted her. Every trembling, dripping inch of her was mine. I licked my fingers, soaked in her luscious release, devouring every drop of her essence. She was watching me, still panting from the pleasure I just made her feel. My arms pulled her into an embrace, stroking over her back to calm down her heartbeat.
“It was intense…” she whispered, as she came down from her high.
A smile tugged at my lips, holding her in my arms. “I know, and it was just what this sweet body of yours needed.” My hands slidthrough her hair.
“Maybe someone has seen us...” she said.
“You mean Damien flying over in his dragon form?”
“You noticed?”
“Loving you, giving you pleasure, and cherishing you is my goddamn life’s task, and yes… whenever something inside of you changes, every emotion floods right through me too.”
“And it was okay for you that he watched us?”
“He probably flew to the Ancient Springs and accidentally captured your gaze,” I said with a smile, cradling her face in my hands, stroking over her face in soft circles. “In my realm there will never be foreign eyes watching what belongs to me… nothing to worry about, my love. You are always safe with me.”
Gwendolyn was the goddess I’d kneel for, not even the water in the Ancient Springs could be as sacred as the sweet essence between her legs.
And there was no way I’d ever allow her to think any less of herself, especially not the shame of being drawn to all her mates.
Chapter 20
I had so many thoughts inside me, most of them surroundingher. And some of them were very unfamiliar. In all of my years, I’ve restricted myself from pleasure—not because I hated it, but because my inner dragon only longed for intimacy with its mate. Whenever I slept with someone, there had been this chaos inside me, while I just yearned to let loose, the dragon within me wanted pain and destruction.
I knew I was only allowed to feel this sort of intimacy with my mate, it would be the only person the animalistic side within me could accept.
And now I’ve found her… it was all I could think about. Claiming her, owning every single inch of her skin, marking her with my claws.
But I needed to be patient. She was a human, fragile and sensitive. In addition to that she had been just getting used to being mated to a vampire. It was such a shock for her to also get to know being also mated to a dragon and an angel… my brother who I haven’t seen in almost fifteen years.
My own abilities had always been a curse to my father. He couldn’t fathom the scar on my eye, but later interpreted it asa gift from the devil himself. The first time I transformed into a dragon, he tried to kill me. Aetrum was the most traditional Elven Kingdom, blessed with the Silver Forest and the Lake of the Moon. Our palace was even older than the one in Marabour, being gifted the Eternal Throne by the ancient gods and goddesses.
The older I got, the more the effects of divine blood showed on me. My father hated that I possessed more power than him, although I’d never considered usurping his position as King of Aetrum.
My brother Malakai was my only light during this difficult time. He protected me from my father’s wrath, especially during the times when I couldn’t control my dragon form well enough. My father never saw Malakai as his own—too jealous of the fact that he was the product of an angel. A creature more holy and divine than all ofuscombined.
During my childhood, the storm raged outside for many nights, it was torrential. At some point my father noticed that it was my sadness that was affecting the weather outside our palace. He locked me in the basement and covered my eyes to disturb my senses, hoping it would mute my powers so the storms would stop. But they only grew worse.
My mother was one of the first elves to carry divine blood. She was descended from the goddess of nature and wind. Born of fire and water, blessed by gods and goddesses, she was said to be expecting a water god with the help of an elven man of royal blood. The first in five thousand years.
There had been reports of dragons before, but none described one without wings that could control water and people’s emotions. My father always saw me as a threat, while my mother regarded me as justherchild. Driven by desperation and fear that my father would later exploit me as a weapon—or worse, even plan to kill me again—she took me far away from Aetrum.Away from her, and away from Malakai.
Xavier was a few years older than me when I found him at Carnivalland, and I stayed here.
Even though I was safe now, my father had to choose a future successor in order to preserve his reputation. This served as security and reassurance for his people that the newest generations would also be ruled by their own kind.
Nathaniel was my cousin. We often played together as children, but at some point, Nathaniel started to isolate himself from everything and everyone. As if something had happened that he couldn’t talk about. Unfortunately, at that time my skills were not yet so well developed that I could use them to understand his feelings and thoughts.
And even now I’d finally found her… found the light of my life, the only essence I needed. There had always been this side of me wondering where he went.
I felt like my powers were more of a curse than a blessing, and then the ridiculous legend of thenightmare bringerspread around the kingdoms, only made my situation worse. AVeilhad to be erected around Carnivalland to prevent potential enemies and assassins from entering or hurting the people in it.
They thought my dragon transforming into a possible threat for Gwendolyn was my biggest fear. Fear was the most dangerous feeling for my strength. It paralyzed my thoughts and caused violent storms to appear. It caused lightning to strike the moonlight garden one day, narrowly missing Xavier by a few centimeters. I swore to myself that I would never allow fear to take away my control again.
At some point the time came when I no longer felt fear, but rather hope. It was when a girl with long ginger hair fell through the portal and came to Carnivalland. To Xavier.To me.Because of her, I began to think there were indeed so many things possible. If I had a world of my own, everything wouldbe nonsense. Only because of her love and her affection, she gave my world colors, dreams, and a purpose.She was the key to everything. I would never have been able to mentally locate Malakai if it weren’t for my connection to her and my brother.
Right after I listened to Gwendolyn speak of the angelic presence and the unfamiliar feeling she felt. I knew it was my brother, Malakai. Wherever he was, no force in this world could truly sever the thread that bound him to her. They were meant to be, just as I was meant to be hers.
