Dragon Actually (Dragon Kin #1)(61)

The pair laid against the table, tiny spasms rocking their bodies. Until Annwyl looked back at him.

“Fearghus?” He looked asleep. His eyes closed; his breathing even and deep.

“Aye?” he finally answered without opening his eyes.

“So is that it then?”

He smiled. “Yes, Annwyl. That’s it.”

She looked across the tent to the tub, then back at him. “That tub certainly is far away.”

He opened his eyes and glanced over. “Aye. That it is.”

“Think we can make it?”

“Leave it to me, woman.” He took a deep breath, wrapped his arm around her waist, and lifted her off the floor. He walked over to the tub, carrying her easily, his c**k still buried inside her. With his free hand, he reached down and dumped the tub over, the used water splashing across the floor.

“Watch. Learned this from Morfyd.”

He spoke an incantation in a language Annwyl never heard before. In moments, the tub filled with steamy water.

“Nice trick.”

“I thought so.” Fearghus stepped into the tub, still tightly holding Annwyl in his arms. He lowered himself into the hot water and relaxed back. “Of course, somewhere I may have just caused a drought.”

“Couldn’t be helped.”

“Selfish bitch.”

He kissed her neck, licked her ear, while his hands roamed slowly over her flesh. His shaft still buried deep inside of her.

“You know, Fearghus, you can let me go now.”

“I know,” he muttered against her neck. But his body seemed to have a plan of its own, as his hands did nothing but excite her, his c**k hard again, growing in response to her moans.

Annwyl smiled. This was going to be a long night.

Annwyl forced her eyes open. Based on the shadows crawling across the dirt floor, most of the day had already passed. She’d probably missed luncheon.

She didn’t reach for Fearghus. There was no point. He was gone. She didn’t know when he left, but as soon as she awoke, she felt his absence.

The dragon took possession of her body all night. A few times she’d wake to find him inside of her, making love to her until she climaxed. One time she thought she dreamed that she’d taken him, only to wake up to find herself straddling his hips and riding his c**k until he exploded inside of her. But the last time he came to her she knew something was different. He moved slow and gentle inside her. Taking his time, giving her the sweetest experience she ever had.

And she knew that when dawn came, he’d leave her. Tragically, she’d been right.

Annwyl dragged herself up to a sitting position, the fur cover slipping to her waist. She ached all over. And she did mean all over. Wounds from the battle littered her body. And her muscles and skin were sore from Fearghus’s Claiming of her.

Remembering the Claiming, she glanced down at her forearms and froze.

“Brastias!”

In a few moments her head battle lord strode into her tent, his eyes averted from her naked br**sts that she didn’t bother to cover. “Is Morfyd still here?”

“Aye.”

“Fetch her.”

He didn’t ask questions, he just moved. In a few minutes Morfyd came in, she saw the look on Annwyl’s face and immediately became concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Your brother’s gone.”

Morfyd nodded. “Yes. I saw him this morning.”

“Why?”

“He said you needed to do this on your own. You would be the one ruling these people. It was up to you to earn their loyalty. All he could do was bring their fear.”

Of course, he spoke true. The bastard.

Annwyl pointed to the marks on her chest. The pain she endured made her hope it had some useful significance and wasn’t merely the queen having a bit of fun. “You never gave me a straight answer about this.”

“That is the Chain of Beathag. It’s now a part of you, like your skin. The marks will never go away. And it has extended your life five . . . maybe six hundred years. Perhaps a bit more or less than that. Hard to tell, really.”

Annwyl stared at her friend. “Oh.” Well, that might be worth a few minutes of excruciating pain.

She cleared her throat and held out her arms. “And these?”

Morfyd took Annwyl’s forearms in her hands and studied them. She smiled. “Fearghus Claimed you last night, I see.” Clearly Morfyd slept somewhere else last night, since anyone within a league of the camp site could hear their exhaustive couplings.

“Yes. Now what are these?”

Morfyd shrugged. “He branded you.”

Annwyl looked again at the wounds. Last night they had just been areas of burned skin. She assumed that once she healed, scarred flesh would remain. But that’s not what she saw now. Instead she saw a dragon brand on each of her forearms. The lines were dark, the dragons clearly defined. Easily seen. Each dragon different from the other, both wrapped around her forearms. Otherwise the flesh on her arms remained healthy and clear.

“He really branded you,” Morfyd added.

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve just never seen one so . . . dark before. Except my mother’s. These lines are coal black.”

“He said it would be clear that my love and loyalty was to the dragon. Your brother was not joking.” Annwyl blinked as she remembered all of the Claiming from the previous night. She lifted the fur covering over her legs and sighed. “Oh, honestly!”