Page 27 of The Naga Maverick’s Determined Mate

I couldn’t believe that I’d agreed to this, at first a tad apprehensive about being suspended against Sesethul’s side like this. But I knew that Zsekhet would deliver on his promise, and that he’d always keep me safe. When I caught a glimpse of the long fall beneath me, I shivered, my stomach dropping, but it was easy to forget such things when he played my body like a master.

I lost count of how often he made me come, and when I lapped up his seed and pleasured him, my body was on fire. I just wanted what he offered, I wanted to fly with him, do this thing, and release myself from any fears.

With each wing beat of the dragon, my body felt like it flew a little higher, passion climbing. Zsekhet was right, once I let go, it was easy to focus on nothing but his touch and my body. On the sounds of pleasure he made when I sucked on his cock, lapping up each delicious, salty-sweet droplet he spilled.

Through the haze of passion, I could admire how his muscular body moved around me, how he used the straps and coils of his tail to keep himself tight to the dragon’s body while still seeming to move freely. It took a lot of strength to do that, but he made it look effortless, which was sexy.

Then he made me come just as the dragon made a drop, my stomach soaring up in my belly and my hair whipping around my face. The adrenaline from the slight fall, the passion his seed brought out in me, it all enhanced the pleasure until I screamed with abandon. If not for the straps holding me in place, I would have clawed at his scales.

My flesh was slick and wet, so ready for him that I ached, despite just having come. I sobbed in relief when he declared I was ready for him, damn right I was, I was ready ten miles ago when he started this. He withdrew his fingers slowly, teasing my hypersensitive folds as he withdrew. “Easy. I know it’s empty, but I’ll fill you up so good,” he promised when I whimpered.

He did just that when he aligned our bodies, my hands slipped from behind my head to clutch at his horns, as much as the straps allowed me to. I felt the slick tips of his cock wriggle against my folds, spreading me for him, and then they pressed inside, spearing my passage as he sank deep. He stretched me wide, the texture of his scales rubbing my entrance just right. When he bottomed out, his pelvis pressed against my clit, a marvelous friction that instantly pushed me back to the edge, ready to fly into another climax that flashed through my body like wildfire.

I clenched down on him, my passage tightening as the pleasure broke. He held still, his golden eyes glowing as they pierced me with a heated look. “That’s it, do you feel it? Can you take another one? You can, can’t you?” His seductive words made me moan, slickness from my release coating us, my body tingling wherever his seed had touched. Then the tips of his cock stroked along my walls and I shuddered and nodded for him.

“That’s right, you’re mine, and you can take it,” he swore, and then he started pumping his hips in a fierce, steady rhythm. I groaned, feeling so full, stretched to the limit. My body felt so claimed, so owned, I couldn’t do anything but hang on and take it. I clung to his horns, to the heat of Ses’ scales at my back.

The wind whistling past my bare legs just sensitized me more, and when I dared to glance over Zsekhet’s wide shoulder, it was a rush to see the desert flying by below me. I knew that this orgasm was going to be the biggest one yet, my entire body primed to fly with my mate. The rasp of his scales against my thighs, his fierce clasp on my hips, I was helpless against the onslaught of pleasure.

If Zsekhet gave a signal to the dragon or not, I wasn’t sure, but suddenly, the dragon nosedived, plummeting down far more than just a little. My stomach shot up, as it would on a rollercoaster, making me feel weightless, held to Ses and Zsekhet only by the rivets and straps on my body and my Naga’s tightly coiled body. I screamed instinctively and all that combined to make me explode.

I saw stars, flying just as Zsekhet had promised. And I wasn’t alone, I felt his heat as he seeded me, filling me with each powerful thrust of his hips. He groaned my name against my throat, his body pressing close, as gravity took hold of us. Then Ses spread his wings and caught a current, beating them steadily to climb back into the sky.

I jolted in the straps, held in place by my mate, by his cock impaling me to the side of the beast. I was breathless, shocked, and exhilarated. I wanted to do it all again, and again. He hadn’t lied, that was amazing, that was better than flying.

Chapter 17

Cosima

My heart was racing in my chest from the moment that Zsekhet pointed out a silhouette in the distance. Beneath Ses lay an endless desert, sands as white as snow glittered harshly in giant dunes. It stretched out as far as I could see in every direction, leaving me completely disoriented. For three days we’d been flying over these sands with not even the smallest hint of plant life or water. Now I understood why Zsekhet had pulled out several large water skins and filled them up before we started the final stretch of our journey.

I squinted against the glare of the light to try and figure out what it was that Zsekhet had seen. A dark smudge against the sand, and the closer we got, the more it resolved itself into a streak of purple. An oasis of tall, front-heavy trees that offered lots of shade over a large shimmering lake of water.

Above it, I saw winged shapes take to the skies, coming and going in several directions. Dragons in all kinds of jewel shades, many of them not nearly as massive as Sesethul was. “Ses is an older dragon,” Zsekhet explained. “Not like, senior or anything, just a fully matured male. When I was allowed to go to the dragon nesting places to let a dragon choose to bond with me… no one expected it to be Ses. A bond is nearly always initiated by a dragonling just leaving the nest.”

I touched the golden scales of Ses’ neck just in front of me; each scale was as big as a dinner plate or even a hubcap. They were hard as stone, probably bulletproof, so it was no wonder he’d flown through a hail of arrows and come out unscathed. What had made a mature dragon like Sesethul decide to bond with Zsekhet?

“How old were you?” I wondered and was startled when he answered that he’d only just gotten out of his fourth molting. I knew enough of the Naga by now to equate that to about seven years of age; he’d been a tiny little boy when he’d faced a whole nest of dragons, and this giant golden beast had singled him out.

“My parents were both killed in the outcast attack on Serqethos. I begged my trainers to be allowed to bond with a dragon, they figured the dragons would find me too young and pass me over. But Ses and I… We just clicked right away.” I tried to imagine a seven-year-old with a giant dragon for a companion and found the image rather frightening, even if imagining Zsekhet as a young boy was cute.

But any further thinking on what that might have been like fled my mind when we got closer to the oasis. Now I could see the shapes of buildings of stone in the far distance of the lake, curving and round, they flowed with the landscape. Many of them were at least partially buried beneath the white sands, but just as much still stuck out above ground.

The bustling activity was happening on this side of the lake’s shore, however. I saw tents of pale lavender and tan rising like little domes beneath the lush trees, and golden Naga hurried every which way between them. The trees themselves were a surprise too, reminding me of date trees and tamarinds. We’d come at the right time too, I could see them bowing beneath the weight of the heavy fruits hanging from the branches.

Zsekhet had explained more than once that the Naga females in his Clan did not fight to the death like those of other Clans did, yet it was still a surprising sight. Maybe it was especially shocking after I’d seen what had happened at Bitter Storm. Here, the females seemed as numerous as the males and they bustled about, equally as busy.

On one side, next to the tents, I saw round buildings, and excitement thrummed through me. I recognized those shapes from one of my architectural lectures, and I was shocked to discover that someone on another planet had conceived of the same design. A yakhchāl, an ancient Persian design to cool, store, or even create ice. I spotted two of the sharply domed, nearly triangular roofs, connected by a long, thick shade wall, beyond that was a large stone basin in which water could freeze during the cold desert nights. Ice that was then moved into the yakhchāl to store.

I nudged Zsekhet with my elbow, unable to contain my enthusiasm for the discovery. “You’ve got a yakhchāl! I can’t believe it!” I pointed at the distinct shape of the nearest building, bouncing on Sesethul as much as the riding harness allowed. “Look! Is it fully functioning? Do you know how to build one? We should make one at Haven too!”

Zsekhet chuckled, leaning forward to rest the side of his head against mine, his long black hair sliding silkily along my skin. “You mean the nylarashé? The ice pits? I should have known that those would catch your fancy.” His hand stroked along my belly, up toward my breastbone where he pressed with warm, gentle firmness. “I have helped mix the clay for restoration once or twice, but other than that…”

He didn’t realize just how good that information was. The clay mixture they’d used here had to be different from what was used on Earth in ancient times. They didn’t have eggs or goat hair here, for example. I knew how to construct one, the basic elements were all quite simple. I couldn’t help but squeal in excitement when I discovered that he had the missing piece of the puzzle! “That’s good enough!” I leaned back to peck his cheek, my excitement for a short while overshadowing my nerves at meeting his Clan.

When we started a descent, I realized that what I’d taken for a pile of shimmering rocks at first was actually a pile of slumbering dragons. I knew Ses liked to sun himself, he was a desert creature who eagerly soaked up the sun. But the sheer amount of dragons just lying there, sleeping, was stunning to see. It was even more exciting to see the dozen or so darting through the sky.

When we got closer, cries went up, and some of those flying dragons circled to come toward us. “Breathe, my flame-haired mate. That’s just the welcoming committee.” I hadn’t even realized that I’d sucked in a breath and hadn’t let it out. I couldn’t help it, there was just some primal instinct that struck me at the sight of those dangerous creatures winging toward me.