The Dragon Legion Collection(87)

She put her hand in his and the light of the firestorm flared brilliant yellow between them. “And how will you compensate for that one?”

“By having a partner who can be trusted completely.” He kissed her fingertips, his gallant gesture prompting her smile. The heat in his eyes filled her with anticipation, and the touch of his lips on her fingers made her knees melt. He turned her hand and kissed her palm, folding her fingers over the burning imprint of his lips.

Aura sighed with delight. Thad spared her a mischievous glance, his hair falling over his eyes, then kissed the inside of her wrist. He trailed kisses up the inside of her arm, blazing a trail to her shoulder that dissolved every last shred of her inhibitions. Aura let her head tip back when he kissed her shoulder, her throat, her ear, then gasped as he bent to kiss her breasts.

She had never felt anything so good in her life.

She ran her hands over the muscled breadth of his shoulders, then up his neck, spearing her fingers into his hair. She laughed at the sight of the firestorm’s sparks in his dark wavy hair, like fireflies in a thicket at twilight. She ran her fingertip over the dark blue mark on his skin, the image of a dragon, and the firestorm’s light made it look touched with fire. He straightened and captured her lips beneath his own, claiming her with a kiss.

Thad swept Aura into his arms in one easy gesture. He carried her into the fountain, and Aura felt the water surround her as he sank into its depths. The fountain was deep enough that the water came to his shoulders, and the cascading spray fell all around them like a spring shower. The water, too, turned golden in the firestorm’s light, as golden as Hera’s apples and gleaming just as richly. She felt his hands slide over her beneath the surface and liked that his touch was both firm and gentle.

Thad pulled her astride him and Aura felt the size of his erection. As much as she wanted to feel his heat inside her, she twisted in his embrace. Thad broke his kiss and regarded her with concern, his expression making Aura feel playful. “You didn’t change your mind,” he whispered and she laughed, because it wasn’t possible.


Not now.

“No, but the firestorm won’t burn long this way,” she teased, and his grin flashed. Then she pushed him back so suddenly that he lost his balance. He disappeared beneath the surface and Aura pursued him, seeing how he was holding his breath. She ran her hands over the hard lines of his body with unrestrained delight. She had wanted to touch him before and had caressed him as a breeze, but now she wanted to feel him with her hands. She felt his calves, his thighs, his buttocks, then closed her hands around his erection.

Thad caught his breath and locked his arm around her waist. He lunged out of the water, carrying Aura with him, and caught a deep breath at the surface. “I can’t swim,” he confessed.

“But I can,” she said with a smile. She dipped below the surface and cupped her hands around him, then replaced them with her lips. She felt him moan as much as she heard it. As a nymph linked to the element of air, she was at ease in the water as a naiad. She breathed a stream of tiny bubbles, which frothed against Thad’s skin even as she took his strength in her mouth. She closed her eyes against the brilliant glow of the firestorm and bent her attention to giving him pleasure. She felt his hands close around her head. She heard him catch his breath. When she wrapped her arms around him, she felt the pounding of his heart against her palm. The firestorm glowed with greater intensity, even as she gave him all the pleasure she could give.

She sensed that he was on the cusp of release when Thad seized her by the waist and drew her to the surface. He kissed her deeply and possessively, then lifted her to sit on the lip that surrounded the central pillar. He parted her thighs and kissed the insides of her knees, his playful glance making her blood simmer as much as his artful kisses. When his mouth closed over her, Aura leaned back and moaned from the depths of her being. The water was cascading all around her, the golden glow of the firestorm lit the night and her dragon was determined to make her roar.

Three times Aura found her pleasure that night, each peak higher than the last, before Thad lifted her out of the water, spread her on the lush grasses of Hera’s garden and claimed her, body and soul, forever.

* * *

Chicago—June 1, 2012



Erik, leader of the Pyr, sat vigil.

He had been watching Drake sleep for three days and three nights. The other warrior had been utterly still in his slumber. Only a Pyr could detect the slight motion of Drake’s chest as he breathed, and Erik had leaned close several times, just to be sure. Drake didn’t move or roll around, just remained supine with his hands folded on his chest.

Three days and three nights.

Erik had to wonder if Drake would sleep for months. Forever? He leaned back in his chair and let his own breathing slow. Erik had been sure that Drake would have stories to tell him. He wanted to know what had happened to the other Dragon’s Tooth warriors.

He wanted to ask if Drake knew why Erik’s mind was afire.

Where had they been? Where had they gone? What had befallen them?

The darkfire crystal no longer held a spark. It was dead and empty, the crystal too faceted to even make a good scrying stone. Erik had stored it in his hoard, but he wasn’t certain it had value anymore.

He let his eyes narrow to slits and listened to Drake’s slow breathing. Eileen was maintaining the normal rhythm of their lives, sleeping at night and rising with the alarm clock. She looked in on him and reminded him to eat, even as she hurried to work and took Zo? to daycare. Erik waited with Drake, wanting to be the first one to hear of his experiences.