Rendan (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance) (Dragons of Preor Book 4) (17 page)

“The warriors came up from the ground. They blinded me with flames and overwhelmed my senses with their roars.” He recalled the blood, his
dam’s
screams. “I could not fly against trained warriors.”

Another of her tears escaped and he brushed it away as well.

“My
sire
arrived as I fell,” he whispered, emotion clogging his throat. “My
dam
could not be saved.”

Carla pulled his hand away and the air in his lungs left him in a silent rush. She would abandon him because he’d failed his own
dam
so grievously, and he mourned the loss of his mate.

No. That was not correct. She eased closer to him, rising and then sitting on his knee.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Her words soothed some of the churning emotions, but he did not deserve her comfort.

“I brought her to—“

“Did you take the same path as any other warrior would have?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Then who’s to say they wouldn’t have been overwhelmed, too?”

Rendan’s
sire
, just before he’d taken his final flight.
A hatchling with his dam’s shell on his scales should not—
His
sire
bared his teeth with a snarl.
You are the cause of her death.

His
sire
had merely shaken his head then, those words tearing through Rendan like a wild
katoth
.

Those had been his
sire’s
last words.

“She went to the skies in his arms. Her hand clutching mine. She told me I would always be in her heart while she flew the skies…” His eyes burned and he accepted the tears, accepted the relief that came with releasing them.

Carla sifted her fingers through his hair and he took solace in the gentle, rhythmic strokes. When she cupped the back of his head and encouraged him to rest his cheek on her shoulder, he gratefully conceded. He needed her touch, her scent.

The moisture from his eyes soaked his mate’s shirt, but he could not stop the unending flow. “She asked him to love me as he had loved her. My
sire
was not a soft man, but she begged him to give me the care of a
sire
—not the gruff old scale attitude of a military male.”

Rendan recalled his
dam’s
earnest voice and his
sire’s
quick agreement.

“He did not,” he whispered. “He flew her to our aerie and prepared her to be sealed within the walls of our family’s,” he sought the word. “Crypt. And then he returned to the border. We did not speak. He did not acknowledge my presence. He…” Rendan hated the rejection and betrayal that still filled his memories. “I challenged him. I threw my
dam’s
words at him. He took his final flight the next day.”

Rendan’s sire had flown to the very edges of the Preor atmosphere and then taken the flight a wing-beat further—into space.

“I am the reason my
dam
died, but more, I was left to grow alone. Mates find life without their other half impossible—unless a dragonlet exists between them. But my
sire
proved that even that was not enough.” He lifted his head and met Carla’s stare, his emotions pushing words past his lips. “You hold my heart,
shaa kouva
, but I did not believe I could ever risk leaving a dragonlet should your life be taken. Young deserve more. They deserve better. I could not bring a dragonlet into the world only to leave—“

As he was once left.

“Oh, Rendan…
shaa kouvi.
” She brushed her lips across his.

His heart soared with the endearment and soft kiss, but he did not let hope grow too quickly.

“You are not your father.” She stroked his shoulders, palms gliding up his neck until she cupped his jaw. “If something happened to me—“

He squeezed her tightly, panic and anger suffusing him in a blinding rush. “You
will not
die.”

She gave him a small smile. “Not on purpose. What I’m saying is, if we have children, neither of us would leave them. No matter what happened, we’d always be there. We wouldn’t let grief hurt someone so precious.”

“You cannot know—“

“I can. Look at how hard you fought to get me back. Look at what you’ve gone through. You say I have your heart and you almost killed yourself to rescue me. I know that if we had dragonlets, they would own you just as completely.”

“How do you know this?” He ached to believe her, but he found himself doubting her words.

“Because I wouldn’t leave our children if something happened to you. We have a genetic connection, Rendan. The Knowing manifested between us. We’re different, but at our core, we’re very much the same. You had a horrible father—we both did—but we aren’t
them
. We’re stronger because of our pasts.”

He wanted to accept her words at truth with everything in his body. “
Shaa kouva
…”

“If you can’t trust our connection, then simply trust
me
.”

Effortless words not easily accepted.

Yet he knew she was correct. He was not his
sire
and Carla was the strongest female he’d ever known. If the worst happened… their dragonlet would not be alone.

“I…
Shaa kouva
… How can you ever forgive me?”

“That’s what love is, Rendan. It’s devotion, cherishing, forgiveness, and acceptance. Life—mating—isn’t perfect. It takes work and compromise. We’ll figure this out together.”

“Together.” Her words were more than he’d ever hoped. “I do wish to have offspring with you,
shaa kouva
.”

Her eyes softened, her smile small. “And I want them with you, but I also don’t want to be on the front lines of a conflict. I don’t want our dragonlets there.”

“We will discover a compromise,
shaa kouva
.”

He would not tolerate any less.

W
ho knew
the word
compromise
could be sexy? No one. Except maybe Carla. Then again, it could be the feel of Rendan’s bulging muscles flush with her body and that bit of extra hardness beneath her ass. His length thickened and grew firm between them, and her body immediately responded, heating with his growing arousal.

Rendan caressed her, his large hands sliding over her clothed body and his warmth sinking through the thin fabric. Her nerves sparked to life, goose bumps rising in his wake, and she relaxed into his sensual attentions. She leaned forward, her chest pressed to his, and her nipples hardened with the new pressure. They practically begged to be licked, nibbled, or sucked. Something. Anything.

“Rendan,” she whispered his name, not sure what she asked for.

No, that was a lie, she did. She wanted more of him, all of him. She ached to be surrounded by his wings and wrapped up in his body, enveloped and… loved by her mate.

“
Shaa kouva
,” he murmured in response and lowered his head. She tipped hers back, lips slightly parted, and he brushed his mouth across hers.

Once. Twice. And then he lapped at her mouth before he nibbled the plump lower lip. He bit, a slight sting accompanying the nip, and then laved the ache away.

She whimpered, enjoying that bite of pain and the sensual attentions that followed. She wiggled her hips, pressing her thighs together, attempting to alleviate some of the ache that grew with each passing second.

He gave her another teasing kiss, another flick of his tongue followed by a stinging nibble. It drew a whimper from her throat, a soft sound of need that drifted on the cool air. Instead of giving her more, he kept them at a simmer, his hands tormenting her body while his mouth… his mouth stoked her cravings.

He rested a hand on her hip, squeezing her flesh. His palm slid around to her lower back before lowering to the curve of her ass. He kneaded the plump flesh, squeezing and caressing her, and the movements went straight to her center. Her pussy clenched, tightening and begging to be stretched and filled by him.

She wanted to be possessed by him.

His fingers skimmed the crease between her ass cheeks, fabric blunting his touch, but a shudder of pleasure slid through her regardless. His hand was so close to her forbidden entrance, his teasing touch enough to arouse her but not give her what she craved most—release.

Carla whined against his lips, releasing the sound with a soft exhale while she wiggled her hips and shifted forward. She wanted more of him there—everywhere.

She cursed her decision to put on clothes, hating that the fabric separated their bodies. She wanted to feel him wholly, completely. No barriers, no words, just the slide of skin on skin.

And she’d have it, dammit. Soon if she got her way.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”

She’d say it as many times as needed if it got her what she wanted—him.

“What do you desire,
shaa kouva
?” His voice was a rough scratch through the air, the low growling tones from his dragon tingeing every word. Both halves of him were present and asserting themselves and that… spurred her arousal to rise even higher.

She liked that forceful, animalistic part of him just as much as she reveled in his soft touches.

Carla had only one answer to his question. “You. Need you.”

He gripped both her hips, easily lifting her and then settling her astride him. Her pussy nestled against his thick cock, the firm length flush with where she craved him most.

He cupped her ass then, squeezing the mounds, and then encouraged her to rock her hips. “Is this what you desire,
shaa kouva
?”

He rolled his own hips, countering the movements he forced and she released a deep moan. “Yes.”

So much yes.

He curled his fingers and a sharp sting joined the pleasure that filled her, adding to the increasing ecstasy in her veins. She knew the source of those pricks, recognized the feel of her mate’s claws sliding free of his fingertips. And then he’d…

Rendan scraped at the cloth of her pants, shredding the thin cotton in one, smooth pull. The fabric parted with ease, the room’s air bathing her heated skin and her skin pebbled with the rush of coolness. God, how she wanted. And now she was bare for him, easily accessible by his tormenting fingers.

“Here, my mate?” His touch ghosted along her cleft and she trembled, wanting him there yet not. Not when she was so desperate to have him in her pussy.

She buried her face against his neck, clutching him while she relaxed more fully onto his lap. She straddled his thighs, rocking her hips so his hard cock caressed her slit through fabric and
katoth
. He shifted his grip, reached around and beneath her, easing close to her back entrance but moving on. He rubbed a fingertip over her taint, teasing that small spot of flesh before he reached where she ached the most.

He slipped the tip of his finger inside her, teasing the opening. She clutched his shoulders, digging her small nails into his bare flesh. “
Rendan
.”

He chuckled—the bastard—but thankfully didn’t stop. “You are hot and wet for me,
shaa kouva
.” His free hand tightened on her hip. “Only me,” he snarled the words.

“Always. Only.” She tipped her hips and wiggled, trying to find a way to take him inside her. She needed more than the shallow penetration and barely-there caress. She needed to be taken—needed to be fucked.

Hard.

Rendan grasped her top, fingers wrapping around the neck, and he tugged it down until one breast was exposed. He cupped it, cradling the weight in his hand, and then rubbed his thumb across the tip. She stared down at him, chest heaving and needy mewls escaping her lips, while he bent and captured the nub in his mouth.

He nibbled and sucked, dragonish eyes on hers while he pleasured her more and more. She became nothing more than a ball of sensation, a rolling wave of need and want. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Could only ride his teasing penetration and arch her back in a silent demand that he take in more of her breast.

She sifted her fingers through his hair, the strands like silk against her hands, and fisted the soft tresses. “Need more.” Rendan gave it. He sucked harder and pushed his finger into her core, his palm flat against her ass. “Rendan!” But that wasn’t all. His teeth… fuck he pricked her nipple with his fang, a rough spear of pain zipping through her with the tiny cut. “Fuck!”

She shuddered, body no longer her own. She was owned by Rendan—completely.

Rendan released her breast with a soft pop and blew a puff of cool air across the red, hard nub. A bead of blood escaped the small scrape he’d given her, and his tongue darted out to capture the droplet. His eyes flashed reptilian for a moment, the dragon inside him asserting itself, and her breath caught in her chest.

The dragon enjoyed the flavors of her blood. How did she feel about that? She—

He withdrew his finger, damp digit trailing along her crease, painting her in the proof of her arousal. Yes, she was soaking wet and so very ready to be claimed.

“You are beautiful in your need.” The rumble was more dragon than man, eyes flashing with his inner beast once again. “You are
mine
.” He curled his lip, fang exposed. “I will kill any who dare try to take what is
mine
.”

The nails on his fingers grew, some piercing her flesh, and she should have pushed him away. She wasn’t normally a pain girl, but Rendan’s dragon… It was a statement of possessiveness and domination and it
so
made her want to come.

“Yes,” she hissed out the word, the
s
trailing softly. “Yours.”

Dark dragon eyes bled yellow, his scaly half out in full force. “Always.”

“Always.” He shoved two fingers into her pussy, stretching her with the sudden penetration, and she shouted the word again. “
Always!
”

Rendan grunted, that deliriously pleasure-inducing touch vanishing once more. She found herself lifted from his lap and then laid on a hard, unforgiving surface. She swore the clank of metal striking metal and the splash of liquid came at some point during that repositioning, but she’d worry about that later. Right then, she had an aroused Preor warrior staring down at her. Two halves of his violent whole were looking at her as if he was thirsty and she was the only water for miles.

“I must see all of you,
shaa kouva
.” He flexed his hands, fingers curling into tight fists, before relaxing them once more. Those midnight nails gleamed in the room’s soft light. Deadly, yet with her, gentle. “I must.”

Carla pushed herself upright, ignoring the confused and then disappointed expression on her mate’s face. She reached for his hands and encouraged him to place them on her body, to grasp the neck of her shirt. “Then strip me,
shaa kouvi
. Reveal your prize.”

His prize. Words that were a throwback to centuries upon centuries ago when the warriors would battle for a willing female and then—

The rending of cloth and tug on her body brought her attention back to Rendan. She watched him as he revealed every inch of her, her top not much of a barrier for a warrior and her half-shredded pants seeming to simply disintegrate.

“My prize,” he whispered with a rough edge to his voice. “I see my prize.” His eyes stroked her as if they were invisible hands. He paused on her breasts, hungry stare flaring brighter for a moment. “I welcome my prize.” Then he continued down her body, zeroing in on her pussy. “I claim my prize.”

Carla leaned back onto—she flicked a glance at the hard surface beneath her—the dining table. Resting her weight on one elbow, she teased her breasts with her free hand. She circled the hard nubs, toying with the firm tips before venturing farther south. She caressed the curve of her stomach, pussy heating the closer she got to her destination. She paused just when she got to her closely cropped curls, toying with the very top of her slit with a single finger.

Rendan’s eyes no longer wavered between male and dragon, but sank into the reptilian shape and remained there.

Her next words—the end of their faux ceremony—came out as a husky whisper. “The prize welcomes the victor.”

Those talon-tipped fingers went to his
katoth
pants, tearing at the lacings until the strong hide was nothing more than scraps that fell to the ground. Then he was there, the blunt head of his bare cock sliding along her wet slit, taunting her with what was to come.

He gently thrust against her, shaft gliding along her heated flesh, nudging her clit with the tip of his length. She jerked and twitched with each glance, a jolt of pleasure zipping through her each time. The taunting stoked her desire, pushing her craving higher and higher.

“
Shaa kouvi
…”

Rendan grunted and pushed her thighs farther apart, exposing her inner sexlips, and then… Then he was there, blunt head snug against her center and he pushed into her in one, fluid thrust. He shoved deep and hard, stretching and filling her, consuming her with his possession until their hips met.

“
Mine
.” He bared his fangs, gaze daring her to argue.

She never would. “Yours.”

He stroked her outer thighs, hands gliding from hips to knees. He lifted her legs, encouraging her to wrap them around his waist, and she enjoyed the feel of her mate firmly between her legs. That was when he shifted his hold once more, gripping her hips and—

He withdrew and slammed forward, her breasts bouncing with the fierceness of the thrust. His grasp kept her from moving, held her steady while he fucked her in long, deep strokes. He slipped in and out of her wet sheathe, his dick caressing her inner nerves with each thrust and retreat. She moaned and groaned with every movement, his pubis rubbing against her clit and simply adding to the bliss she experienced.

Carla cupped her breasts, plucking and teasing her nipples while Rendan pleasured her pussy. She kneaded the mounds, adding to the growing ball of joy that bubbled and grew inside her. Her nerves were aflame, burning with the inexplicable pleasure caused by Rendan’s passion.

It was fierce, it was rough, it was an animalistic mating of two bodies. The lewd sounds of their sex—the slap of their bodies meeting—battled their moans and groans that filled the room. She let herself get lost in the sensations—the sounds—of their lovemaking. She drifted on the unending waves of pleasure, reveling in each and every one.

But she needed more. Needed an extra push or pull or… something.

She released one breast and slid her hand between her thighs, finger searching out the small bundle of nerves that would make her scream with joy.

Only to have Rendan snarl at her. “
Mine
.” He narrowed his eyes. “My pussy.”

Carla shook, ecstasy skating down her spine and spreading out to fill her. It doubled when he pushed her hand aside and replaced her finger with one of his own. The soft pad of his thumb circled her clit, teasing and arousing the nub.

“Yours,” she gasped the single word, arching her back and looking for more from her mate. He circled and tapped, cock steadily working in and out while he lured her orgasm closer.

She let him do as he wished, allowing herself to get swept up in the passionate waves of his attentions. He caressed and scraped her clit, alternating between seductive touches and pain-edged caresses. She was torn between begging and crying, his taunting making her balance on the edge of agony and ecstasy.

One of his hands moved, going from gripping her hip to her shoulder in an effort to keep her from sliding off the table. His nails scraped her flesh, adding to the pleasure that burbled inside her.

“Mine. Mine. Mine.” He grunted and chanted the word. She wasn’t sure if it was to reassure himself or remind her. Regardless, she loved hearing him claim her.

“Yours.” She tightened her legs, squeezing him, needing just a little more…

Pleasure consumed her body, sinking into her flesh, sliding deep into her bones. Her pussy clenched around him, adopting a rhythm that seemed to match Rendan’s. Still his finger toyed with her clit, the provoking attentions adding to the joy building inside her.