Authors: Jory Strong
DragonGames (11 page)
Rather than launch from the platform, he
turned and perched on the edge like a high diver ready to perform a backflip,
then he simply leaned into space, falling with great speed toward the ground
hundreds of feet below as he allowed human form to shatter in a magical
release.
Silver-and-gold wings stopped his descent
with a jerk, then lifted him, their span and his strength carrying him upward
until he was well above the portal building. The wind took him then, in a glide
toward his lair that allowed him to simply savor everything around him.
It had been years since he’d been home, and
now that return was made more profound by the woman he held tight against his
chest.
Lush valley floated by beneath them, filled
with abundant prey and dotted with sparkling lakes. This was the southern end
of the dragon realm, a warm and bountiful paradise unlike the harsher territory
to the north. Everywhere he looked there was an explosion of color. Yellow,
purple, white, blue, all merging and mixing and blending, patches of flowers
adding to the beauty.
He soared until he neared the border of the
neutral territory surrounding the portal, then he used powerful muscles and
sweeping wingspan to hurry, keeping well away from the fairytale castle
belonging to his aunt, Severn’s mother.
Relief filled him at reaching his lair. He
landed on the narrow ledge and used the tip of his tail to trace the magical
command to open doors strong enough to keep his treasure safe from theft during
his long absences.
A daybed of polished stones took up the
majority of space in what human’s would call a foyer, or possibly a front room.
He bypassed it in favor of carrying Lyra to the very heart of his domain,
forcing himself to relinquish his first form and take on a human one after
carefully placing her on a bed of smooth diamonds.
Thin streams of flame directed at sconces
set in the wall lit the room, creating color so she might well have lain on a
rainbow, a sight marred only by the fabric of the shirt.
She didn’t need it, nor did he want it
cluttering the lair. In truth, she would never have left the portal building
wearing it had Sonata not been present.
A blast of dragon fire reduced it to
particles of ash so fine as to be nonexistent.
Perfect
.
A purr of satisfaction vibrated in his
chest at seeing the silver-and-gold dragon curling contentedly around her left
nipple, a magical manifestation tying them together.
He could sense her waking, could read the
hazy remnants in her mind of what she thought had been an erotic dream, and
purred again because pleasure had her fighting to remain asleep.
She’d know even greater pleasure in the
moments to come. He straddled her, cock thick and hard against his belly, its
true size and appearance revealed.
Leaning down, he captured an areola,
drawing it deep into his mouth. Sucking, rousing her fully from sleep.
“You’re insatiable,” she said, as yet
unaware of her surroundings.
“Complaints already?”
She laughed, hands tangling in his hair.
“Your ego will explode if I answer that question.”
“Possibly. You have a powerful effect on
me.”
She tugged on his hair, and he answered
her, lying on her though keeping her thighs closed with his, so he wouldn’t
immediately slide inside her. His mouth covered hers in sensuous welcome to his
lair, pleasure magnified, doubling back on itself because of the bond.
I warned you that dragons played for
keeps
, he said, speaking into her mind before he
lost complete control of the situation and answered the call of her body.
She stilled beneath him, signaling she’d
heard him even if she thought herself imagining his voice.
He lifted his mouth from hers, rolled onto
an elbow so it was impossible for her not to finally note her surroundings.
Lyra hid a smile, deciding she’d make him
work at getting her to acknowledge she’d passed out at orgasm and stayed passed
out as a result of amazing sex. “Let me guess. This is home, and perfectly in
keeping with the dragon role-playing.”
He snorted, flame leaving his nostrils.
She yipped in surprise, not at the trick,
but at feeling the fiery caress on her bare skin.
He followed that trick by opening his mouth
and sending a blast of fire in a concentrated focus on her nipple.
She saw the dragon circling her nipple and
sat abruptly. Not yet panicked, but…
He pulled her onto his lap. “Not
role-playing, Lyra. Reality. If it eases you, you’re not the only human to
learn of our world. Pierce is indeed fey, as is his cousin Tristan, and Storm
knows what the men who share her as wife are. Aislinn is half-elf. Magic does indeed
exist, just as dragons do, though our covenants forbid it from becoming common
knowledge. Only mates are allowed to learn supernatural beings aren’t merely
things of fantasy or myth.”
“Or nightmare.”
His heart took a dive and Lyra felt it as
though her own hurt, ached, was being seized by fear.
Is that how you now see me?
he asked, the pain beneath the question cutting through the
suspicion and fear she’d been grappling with as she wrestled to get her head
around what couldn’t really be true, and yet…
It must be, because otherwise she’d lost
her sanity at Drake’s Lair as well as her heart.
She hadn’t imagined being drawn to the
mirror upon entering Inner Magick, or the way the stones set in the frame had
warmed just before its shiny surface had become summer storm clouds thinning
for an instant to reveal a silver-and-gold dragon.
The matchmaking deck had certainly been
real, as had the card squirting out with Tielo’s picture on it.
She heard his shout of laughter in her mind
as well as with her ears.
“Tricky, but in this case I’ll forgive
Pierce his manipulation.”
“I take it these are real too,” she said,
scooping up a handful of diamonds then letting them fall through her fingers.
“Yes, my mate, they are real.”
But I’ll
ask you not to reduce the comfort of our bed by selling them off to pay for
school field trips or other causes. Adequate funds will be made available for
you when we return to the human world.
His words melted her heart, leaving no room
to fear either the future or the present. “Let me see you.”
He set her away from him to stand, legs
apart, arms across his chest though her gaze never lifted above his cock. “I
wasn’t imagining things.” The lick of her lips caused his cock to pull away
from his abdomen and the tip to grow wetter.
Dragon males have been mounting their
human mates for centuries, Lyra. If I show you my first form, my true form, I’m
not sure I’ll have the will to change back into this magical construct until
after you’ve allowed me to cover you.
“Let me see you.”
You’ve been warned
.
In a shimmer of gold and silver very much
like the haze she’d thought she imagined before, he became what the tattoo
around his barbell-pierced nipple depicted.
Her breath caught in her throat.
He was magnificent. Mesmerizing. Raw and
primordial. Her heart rushed, not the rabbit-race of a prey animal but with the
exhilaration of a female who’d snared the interest of the strongest, most
powerful male to serve as mate and father of her children.
Natural instinct or dark carnal fantasy,
she went to her knees and elbows, her thighs open, the insides glistening with
arousal, her vulva swollen and already parted. She wanted him inside her.
Needed it, as if only by covering and filling her with his cock would she know
this, and what they had, was real.
Never doubt it
, he said, his scales hot and wickedly erotic against her back. His
cock filling her, stuffing her, making her writhe and cry out and finally come
as hot jets of semen flooded her.
Perfect
,
Tielo said, the ecstasy of orgasm fading enough so he could manage a word as he
curled around his mate, content to cuddle with his cock inside her.
Pleased with yourself?
she teased.
Very.
Where are we?
And he heard echoes of his mention of returning to the human world.
In the dragon realm
. He showed her images of the portal and their arrival, his chest
puffing a bit at reliving the dive from the platform and his display of
superior strength and ability.
She snorted, dragon-like, increasing the
wealth of pride he felt even as an image formed of a small creature running on
a wheel, its cheek pouches stuffed with food.
It took him a moment to identify it by
name. Hamster.
An aperitif?
Very funny.
Her concern for the small creature, apparently in her apartment and belonging
to the Ochoa children, became his.
I will get word to Pierce.
His gaze went to a collection of magical artifacts, in the process
striking a treasure chest half buried under centuries-old coins.
His heart plummeted. Regardless of his
avowal not to shackle himself to a female, dragon instinct had prevailed. Over
the years he’d gathered some fine things, but nothing close to what another
male, his cousin Severn or friend Xanthus, had probably offered their human
mates after bonding with them.
Reluctantly he pulled from Lyra’s sheath
and went to the chest, digging it out with a casual disregard for the old
Spanish coins. Insecurity crept in at presenting it to her, making him loath to
open it and reveal the contents.
It’s tradition
. A rumbled growl to mask what he felt, though the connection formed
by magic allowed no escape or hiding it.
Tears came to Lyra’s eyes.
Foolish man.
How could you know what to collect? You hadn’t met me yet.
And besides,
I could have everything in this cave in a night of playing poker.
He laughed, adoring her, already in the
first troughs of love.
What makes you so sure of your victory?
I won you, didn’t I?
I’m afraid not. I’m the victor. Dragon
games are not so simple, nor are they for the faint of heart. And at Drake’s
Lair, the odds always favor the house. I
am
the
house, along with Pierce.
That was your office we were in? Your
bed?
Yes.
Your home?
No longer. It would hardly be
appropriate for my mate, the third-grade teacher
.
Though in truth, the prospect of her constantly in the presence of other male
dragons made him gnash his teeth and growl.
Giving up his first form in favor of a
human one, he opened the chest, casually spilling its contents as he looked for
and found what he wanted near the bottom of it. He pulled out a stunning
necklace of diamonds and put it on her, then kissed downward, to the dragon
circling her nipple.
I’ll buy another residence, one more
suitable, provided, of course, you remain naked when you’re there
.
Completely naked? Not even high heels?
Desire scorched through him, the scent of
her arousal drawing his mouth and tongue to her smooth, beautiful pussy. She
splayed her thighs and he draped her legs over his shoulders, imagining her in
shoes that glittered to match the jewels around her neck.
Perhaps I’ll allow them. But nothing
more
.
About Jory Strong
Jory has been writing since childhood and has never outgrown
being a daydreamer. When she’s not hunched over her computer, lost in the muse
and conjuring up new heroes and heroines, she can usually be found reading,
riding her horses or hiking with her dogs.
Jory welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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Supernatural Bonds
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Ellora’s |
Dragon Games
ISBN 9781419943416
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Dragon Games Copyright © 2012 Jory Strong
Edited by Kelli Collins
Cover design by Syneca
Photo: Romancenovelcovers.com
Electronic book publication November 2012
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