The Dragon Legion Collection(9)

“Is that why you watch me so closely?” he teased. “To have me naked whenever you so choose?”

“Maybe I’ll keep you naked for a while. Until you please me enough.” Katina laughed, then stopped, confusion lighting her gaze. She stood up and reached a fingertip to touch the tattoo on his upper arm, the one souvenir he still bore from the future. Alexander winced when she touched it, not because it hurt but because he didn’t want to explain all of that as yet. “A magical beast upon your skin,” she said with wonder, and met his gaze. She clearly was curious.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alexander said, his voice rougher than he intended. He knew that once her questions began, she would not fall silent until she knew everything of where he had been. Her inquisitiveness was a trait he admired, but he needed her touch first. He put a fingertip on her lips, savoring their softness. “This first,” he urged, knowing he would beg if he had to. “I’ve been without you too long to keep to the thread of any story otherwise.”


“So honest.” She smiled. “You never could lie.”

Alexander shook his head. “Not to you.”

Katina was clearly pleased by this. She drew him into her embrace, then granted him a thoughtful glance. “How many other women?” she whispered when he would have kissed her again. Her gaze was searching. “Just tell me that.”

“None,” Alexander said with finality. “For there can be no other woman for me.”

“Only you could have managed that feat,” she said with pride, which confused him.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your word is your bond, Alexander. I knew that long ago. It is something I admire about you.” She ran her hands over his head again and her eyes glowed. “Only you could have denied your pleasure so long to keep a pledge to me.”

Alexander took that as an invitation. He kissed her and his embrace soon turned hungry, his passion for her contained far too long. Now that he was with Katina, he wasn’t certain how long he could last. He’d denied himself for so long, and his passion was a tide that couldn’t be stopped. He moved them with purpose to the narrow bed, not wanting to rush her, but compelled by his body’s need. Katina smiled and leaned back, opening her thighs to him in invitation.

She’d always understood him so well. Alexander couldn’t have refused her to save his life. He slid into her wet heat with a sigh, unable to remember when any sensation had felt so good.

Or so right.

Katina ran her hands over him, delight in her eyes. Alexander rolled on the bed so that he was on his back and she was sitting astride him. She smiled as she pulled her tunic and chiton over her head, then tossed them to the floor. She was even more beautiful than he had recalled. Her nipples were tight and dark, her breasts high and just large enough to fill his palms. Her waist was narrow and her belly not quite flat. He ran his hands over her, remembering how he had loved the look of her when she’d carried his son and wondering if they would have more.

The idea made his chest tighten. It seemed impossibly wonderful that he could have a future again, that he could plan his days and nights with his beloved, that the darkfire had given him such a gift as this.

Then Katina unfastened her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders like a dark veil. It was as glossy and thick as he remembered, as wavy as the curl of the ocean’s tide and darker than a river at midnight. It flowed over her shoulders and down her back, cascading all the way to her hips. He’d always loved her hair. At the sight of its loosened splendor, Alexander was lost all over again.

Katina moved atop him, caressing her own breasts as she rode him, her smile making Alexander dizzy. He ran his hands over her slender strength and let the scent of her skin inundate him. How he adored her. How he had missed her. How could she have imagined there could be any other woman who might compare or even suffice? He gripped Katina’s hips and urged her to move faster as his need built.

Alexander murmured her name even as his heart pounded with greater intensity. She tormented him as he had teased her, building his passion to a peak then slowing her pace, before building his desire again. Alexander heard himself moan and the bed creak, even as all rational thought left his mind.

There was only Katina with her slick heat, her shining eyes and her sweet smile. He lost track of how many times she teased him, but suddenly knew he could bear it no longer. He whispered her name with greater urgency and she leaned over him, surrounding him in the dark spill of her hair. Alexander closed his eyes and held fast to her, wanting to lose himself in the embrace of the woman he loved. His heart pounded as her breasts fell against his chest, his breath caught when she kissed him. The tide rose within him with sudden vigor and this time, he couldn’t hold back.

Alexander caught Katina’s nape in one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, driving deeper and faster. Her sweet perfume enveloped him, her soft curves were crushed against him, her hair tickled against his skin. Her fervid kisses eliminated his awareness of anything but his lovely lady wife. Alexander came with explosive force, an orgasm that seemed endless and left him shaking with exhaustion.

And then he kissed Katina’s temple, feeling more fortunate than he had ever expected to be in this lifetime.

Alexander was finally home.





Chapter Two



The hot spill of Alexander’s seed recalled Katina to her senses.