Taming the Dragon (4 page)

Knowing that made his manners, or lack thereof, a little easier
to take. But that still didn’t solve their necklace problem. Or the fact that
there was absolutely no way he was staying here.

Tess nibbled her lip, trying to decide where to begin. Finally,
she said, “Okay. This is...a lot. Look, Kaden. I don’t know about
dragyn-ka
or whatever. I don’t know anything about
you. I don’t want you to get killed, but I don’t know how much I can help. I’m
in kind of a tight spot right now.”

Tess decided that sounded at least slightly less pathetic than
the “no job, no money” truth of it.

Kaden didn’t appear deterred. He took a step toward her, then
another. Tess stood her ground. She wouldn’t end up backed against another wall,
no matter how much she might have secretly enjoyed it the first time. She had a
feeling Kaden was the kind of man who took a mile for every inch you gave him.
But they were on her territory now, and she wasn’t in the mood to cede
anything.

The heat coming from the dragon at her neck flowed over her
skin, giving her what felt like a second skin of warmth. Tess tried to think of
it as armor. It bolstered her.

“Watch it,” she warned him.

He stopped, but his smirk threatened to take her legs right out
from under her. “I am. I am watching you. Which I will continue to do. Did you
not hear me? I keep what is mine.”

That word again. “My name is Tess,” she reminded him. “Not
mine.
And I’m perfectly capable of taking care
of myself, thanks.”

She was dismayed to find out just how sexy Kaden looked when
disgruntled.

“You deny me?”

“Yep.”

He glowered. “It is an honor to be possessed by a dragon.”

Tess could only glare at him for a moment. “Says who? Dragons?
The only stories I’ve heard about people and dragons end with one or the other
dead. That doesn’t sound a lot like honor, so no thanks.”

His eyes began to glow more brightly. “No, there is no honor in
killing a dragon. But I am the last of them, and I assure you, neither of us
will be killing the other.”

His assertion, that he was the last of his kind, startled her
enough that Kaden moved even closer before she realized it. Then he was just
there,
big and dark and just inches away from
her. Tess felt her heart flutter in her chest. It wasn’t right for any man to be
so irresistible. And damn it, she could smell him again, a sensual musk that was
all heat and moonlight. When she spoke, the best she could manage was a
whisper.

“You’re really the only one?”

“In this world, yes. In my own, most likely. The hunters took
everything. I fought them. I saw fields drenched in—” He seemed to catch himself
then, and there was a flicker of that intense sadness in his eyes again, just
for a moment. “It doesn’t matter,” Kaden said. “I will hide us away. You will
have no more troubles.”

His complete focus on her was disconcerting. No man had ever
looked at her quite this way. Tess wanted to tell him to take off, that she
could handle it. That she always had. But his nearness was doing things to her,
clouding her thoughts in a way that had nothing to do with magic and everything
to do with pure, animal lust.

Something rippled through her, a wild and fierce longing that
had her fingernails digging into her palms. She flushed again with heat, and her
muscles tensed. Kaden looked into her eyes, and whatever he saw gave him
pause.

“Not yet,” he said, a rough command that made no sense to her.
“Slow down.”

At last, Tess was sure of something. She was absolutely certain
that she was done with Kaden’s commands. It was a relief to give in, let
go...and throw one of Kaden’s answers right back at him.

“No,” Tess said, grabbed the front of his shirt, and dragged
his mouth to hers.

SIX

The instant his mouth touched hers, Tess was lost.

All her confused thoughts, all her trepidation vanished in the
face of a need that burned through her like wildfire. This was what she needed.
Only this, here and now.

Kaden’s hands caught her against him. It only took seconds for
him to gain control, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth to taste her. She
could feel the dagger points of his incisors scrape against her lips, and the
mix of pain and pleasure had her hot and throbbing. When she moaned, it sounded
rough and unfamiliar, more animal than woman.

Kaden’s answering growl gave her the urge to drag him to the
floor, biting and scratching as he took her. It wasn’t anything she’d ever
imagined before—and it was intensely erotic nonetheless.

Tess felt his fingers hook into the thin fabric of her shirt,
dragging it up to expose heated skin. He pulled it over his head, exposing a
chest that rippled with muscle beneath the tribal markings that covered it. Then
he was kissing her again, his hands roaming over her back, her ass—he seemed to
be trying to touch her everywhere at once. Tess fumbled with her own shirt,
wanting nothing more than to feel his skin against hers.

A growl, a tearing noise, and she was not only without a shirt,
but her bra had vanished. There was a quick sensation of the cool air on her
skin before Kaden had hauled her back up against him.

Tess gasped at the feel of her breasts pressed against his
chest. He was so...
hot.
Everywhere. And her own body
temperature seemed to be rising to keep pace. Kaden began to move, and Tess
stumbled backward, stopping abruptly when her back hit the wall.

“This...seems familiar,” she breathed. Only this time, she knew
she wouldn’t stop him.

He pulled back just enough for her to see the wild look in his
eyes.

“This time I’m going to taste you. All of you,” he said. He
pressed her back against the wall and began to trail hot, hard kisses down her
jaw, then her neck, then—

“Kaden,” Tess moaned when he began to suckle at one swollen
breast. He scraped his teeth over one taut nipple before turning his attention
to the other, sucking and teasing it with the decadent little flicks of his
tongue. If he kept heading in this direction, Tess knew, that was only a hint of
things to come.

The thought nearly took her legs out from under her.

She felt her jeans sliding down her legs as his mouth went
lower, teeth and tongue driving her slowly into madness. Tess threaded her
fingers through his purple-black hair, thinking that the sight of his dark head
against her belly as he knelt at her feet was one of the most erotic things
she’d ever seen.

He glanced up at her, eyes dancing with gold fire.

“I want you hot for me,” he growled.

“I am,” Tess breathed.

“Not hot enough. Not yet,” Kaden said. “Open for me.” He
pressed her knees apart, and Tess obliged, though she hardly knew what she was
doing. She couldn’t seem to hear anything but her own ragged breathing, the
uneven beat of her heart.

Then Kaden dipped his head and pressed his tongue up hard
against her swollen sex.

Tess cried out, her hands fisting in his hair as she began to
slide down the wall. Then Kaden’s hands were at her hips, holding her up,
keeping her still while he began to taste her. He made a sound that was almost a
purr, and it rippled right through her, winding her so tightly she could barely
breathe.

Kaden was excruciatingly thorough, tormenting her with light
flickers of his tongue interspersed with long, hard licks. Tess could do nothing
but hang on, held completely in thrall as he pushed her closer and closer to
what she knew would be a shattering peak.

When she began to tremble, so close to orgasm it would only
have taken a breath of air to break her into pieces, Kaden stood. His movement
was so swift and graceful that he caught her before she even began to fall. She
heard the soft rustle of cloth, and then his voice.

“Put your legs around me.”

Somehow, Tess made her muscles work well enough for a light
jump. He caught her, hands cupping her ass, and then drove into her with a
single hard stroke that buried him deeply inside.

Tess came with a harsh cry, the shock of release so bright that
for an instant she could see nothing but stars. But even as she pulsed around
him, he began to move, fast, hard strokes as he braced her against the wall. The
throaty little growls he made at the apex of each thrust only served to prolong
her climax...and then, impossibly, push her toward another.

Tess clung to Kaden, rising the waves of sensation as they
built again, tightening around him as his thrusts grew wilder.

When he breathed the words into her ear, he sounded more animal
than man.

“Come for me.”

And with a final thrust, he made her shatter, roaring his own
release.

SEVEN

He awakened to the sound of the shower.

Kaden surfaced groggily, wearing what he knew was a foolish
smile. Nothing about Tess was as he expected. He had come here to order her to
obey him. Instead, she had used him, and used him well, on her own terms. The
woman had fire in her.

His smile faded as quickly as it had appeared. The woman had
fire in her. Too much, and too quickly. Already she understood the language of
his kind, though he didn’t think she even realized he had spoken it to her. Or
that she had spoken it back.

He knew the dangers of bonding with a human in his own world.
In this one, it seemed it would work the same way.

“Doesn’t matter,” he growled. If she lived through the change,
so be it. If she did not, it was one less treasure to protect. He refused to
care about one more thing that could be destroyed. Enjoy, yes. Care, no.

He was glaring at the ceiling when the singing started.

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme...”

Kaden just lay there a moment, listening. Tess had mentioned
she was a singer, but he hadn’t expected her voice to sound like this. It
was...wondrous.

Tess’s voice rose and fell, first high and sweet and then
dropping to a throaty purr. He heard the words, but they hardly mattered. Every
note resonated with her happiness. It had been many years since he’d heard
something so pure. His people would have loved to hear her. His people...

Kaden pushed the thought from his mind, and all the hurt and
anger that went with it. If there were any left, they were scattered, and he was
trapped here regardless. There would be no help for a dragon, and the hunters
had sealed all the old ways shut. It was hopeless.

“For once she was a true love of
mine...”

He could hear her smile in that beautiful, husky voice. It
stirred something deep within his chest, where his ancient heart beat. Tess’s
song reminded him of things long forgotten, and feelings better left buried. And
yet he was hungry for it...for her.

When the water stopped and Tess padded back into the room, he
was waiting for her, propped up against the pillows. The silken material of the
bedding slid against his skin, and he wished it were her fingertips instead.

The way her eyes moved over him made him as hard as he thought
he had ever been.

“You’re awake,” Tess said.

He simply watched her come in, her deep red hair tumbling wet
around her shoulders, blue eyes alight. Already he could see the glow their
lovemaking had put there. She should be warned...but then, what good would it
do?

Guilt was another emotion Kaden wanted no part of. He buried it
as best he could and focused on the beautiful woman with his
dragyn-ka
glinting at her neck. The wave of possession
that swept him was more than satisfying.

Mine,
he thought.

She wore nothing but her towel, and Kaden enjoyed letting his
eyes wander over her curves. He wanted to peel off the fabric, shred it with his
teeth.

“Come back to bed,” Kaden said, though he knew already that she
would take her time about listening to him.

“But I’m all wet.”

“Good.”

She laughed softly, and he could see that a little of her
apprehension had returned. It gave Kaden pause. He was no expert at soothing
nerves, not any more than he was at seduction. His kind had always been sought
after sexually, lovers to play with before the
dragyn-ka
was given—if one was lucky enough to find the woman it had
been meant for.

He’d had many women, taken them hard and fast, made them weep
his name with pleasure. But that had been long ago...and Tess was nothing like
any of them. It made him feel...odd. Uncertain. He hated feeling uncertain.

“What would you have of me?” Kaden asked. It was not a question
he’d ever asked before. The words felt strange to him. Tess, however, seemed to
appreciate them. Her eyes softened as she spoke.

“I...don’t really know,” Tess said. “We didn’t exactly do a lot
of talking last night. I don’t feel like we sorted anything out.”

Kaden tilted his head, puzzled. “What was there to sort? I said
I would protect you. Then you fell upon me like a wild thing. What else was
needed?”

Her blush was lovely, even if he didn’t understand it.

“Yeah...I’m not really sure what came over me.”

Kaden chuckled. “It is the same force that made my
dragyn-ka
yours. Some things are made to belong to
others. And you are—”

“Don’t say it,” Tess interrupted, holding up a hand. Her grasp
on the towel slipped with the other hand, and barely managed to stop the entire
thing from falling to the floor. Kaden gave an approving growl.

“When fate speaks, you should listen. And when your towel no
longer wants to be wrapped about your body, you should also listen.”

The look Tess gave him, utterly flustered, touched him in a way
he didn’t expect. He found himself trying to reassure her, another first.

“Come, Tess. I will not hurt you.” He patted the bed beside
him. For whatever reason, he wanted nothing more, in that moment, than to have
her there.

“I know you won’t,” Tess sighed. “Even if I don’t know
why
I know that.” Her eyes skimmed over him, pausing
between his legs before returning to his face. She tucked a lock of wet hair
behind her ear.

“I don’t think we’re going to get much talking done if I come
over there.”

Kaden arched an eyebrow. “Talk quickly, if you must,
atirra
. Or sing for me instead. Your voice was a
treasure I did not expect.”

He was glad he said it, since it made her smile. And not just
any smile...this one seemed to light her from within.

“You liked it? I figured you were still dead to the world.”

“Dragons love music,” Kaden told her. “We value it as much as
we value our gold and jewels. Our cities are—were—built high within the walls of
cliffs, and the air would echo with song.”

The memory was bittersweet. But somehow, here in this room, it
didn’t hurt as it once had. Even when he looked away, he could feel Tess’s eyes
on him, and he feared he had given away more than he had intended.

Her words, though light as a caress, confirmed it.

“You lost everyone,” she said. “Are they really all gone?”

She made him wonder, when he had forced himself to stop
wondering long ago. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “We were already few enough.
When my city was attacked, I saw many killed. There were sorcerers among them,
and the air was so thick with magic it was hard to see.” He could hear the
bitterness in his voice, but there was nothing to be done for it. “They had
opened a doorway from my world into this one, where every human would find me
terrifying, a monster fit only to be killed. And in the confusion, I went right
where they wanted me to. I only heard the way slam shut.”

“But—”

“There are no more doorways,” Kaden said, answering her
question before she could ask it. “I have looked. Even the hunters here are pale
shadows of their ancestors, descendants of the ones who chased me through.
They’re bound here as much as I am.”

“You could fight them, at least. Make them stop chasing
you.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. How did a dragon admit that
the fight had gone out of him? He guarded his treasure. But he would fight no
more. Kaden leaned back and blew smoke at the ceiling. He had never spoken of
this. He would rather not be compelled to speak of it now. It was the witch’s
doing, all of this, Kaden thought with a frown.

“We will go see the witch today,” he said. “If she’s still
there to be found.”

When the bed sank a little beside him, he turned his head to
find Tess sliding onto the mattress. He dreaded the pity he’d see in her eyes,
but when he finally looked, he found none.

It was impossible for a human to know what was within a dragon.
Yet even so, Kaden could swear he saw understanding.

“Today,” she agreed, pulling her towel off and letting it drop
to the floor beside the bed. “But not yet.”

Kaden was a dragon. He had never wanted or needed solace. But
that was exactly what he sought when he dragged Tess into his arms. He slid into
her in one swift, graceful movement, burying himself deep inside of her. When
she tightened around him, he groaned, burying his face in her neck. Her scent
enveloped him, so sweet, so female.

Then he began to move, gentle nudges that quickly became hard
thrusts. Every gasp he drew from her was music, the tempo quickening until the
bed rocked beneath them. He could feel the prick of her nails in his shoulders
as she hung on, but this was no playful battle. Last night, he had seen the
dragoness in her.

But this...this was all soft human, and it seemed to be exactly
what he needed. Kaden savored the feel of his skin against hers, losing himself,
just this once. He slid a hand down to grip her hip, lifting himself to change
the angle of his thrusts. Tess’s broken moan was all the encouragement he
needed.

She tightened around him as they moved together, the only
sounds that of their harsh breathing and the creak of the bed in the early
morning silence. Then Tess arched beneath him, and Kaden watched her eyes turn
to blue fire before they closed.

It was only then that he let himself go, thrusting wildly until
he came deep inside of her, forgetting everything but the pleasure for a little
while. When the tremors had subsided, he pulled the covers over the two of them
and fit himself against Tess’s back, into the curve of her body.

Then, as he had done many times before, Kaden lost himself to
sleep. But this time, there were no jumbled, violent dreams of his past.

Kaden knew what the difference was, even though he refused to
contemplate what it meant. He had sworn not to need anyone again. And yet here
in Tess’s arms, at least for a short time, he found peace.