A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #2)(98)

“What?”

“I do not want you to go in undercover, no. I don’t want anyone else servicing you but me. Not even women. I can see my reaction gives you pleasure.”

“I want you to claim me.”

His hands pulled back from my knees. Silence curled around us, and my animal vibrated in pleasure.

“Sorry,” I said, realizing what I’d done. I’d called to the dragon.

“It’s good. I’ve got that bastard locked down.” The strain in his voice said otherwise. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “But if you want to maybe…ask Leala about the situation in the salon…”

“No problem. She’s not real bashful, I don’t think. I mean, she’s definitely professional—she’s very polite and doesn’t swear—but she’s not reserved.”

“She was a lady’s maid to a noble who lived in the castle. A woman a bit older than I am now. She wasn’t a blood relative, but I thought of her as a cousin. Her parents lived in the Red Lupine kingdom—a wolf kingdom. Her father was a beta, her parents both wolves, but despite the odds, her animal was a dragon. They thought she should come here to learn guidance from those with the same animal. She was welcomed, of course. Dragons always are. With her connections in the other kingdom and several vicious, well-placed challenges, she was working her way to the top tier of the noble hierarchy.” Water sloshed, and waves reached farther up my chest. “Okay, I’ll be washing you first and then shaving you. You are wearing the blindfold because I don’t want you to see the room.” Humor entered his voice. “Don’t worry, I won’t accidentally slice your clit off. I need you to be able to come, and working with that is the easiest way.”

I sighed as his hands rubbed my neck and moved down my body, leaving suds in their wake. Soon they dipped under the water, where suds obviously wouldn’t form. He should’ve made me stand to do this. And also used a sponge. Clearly he wasn’t used to washing other people.

“How did she turn out a dragon if her parents were wolves?” I sucked in a breath as he rubbed his thumb across my clit.

“It still shocks me how little you know about your own kind. If this curse ever ends, I worry about how many will die trying to accomplish their first shift. It’ll be chaos.” He worked down my legs.

“We didn’t have many shifter books. I need to hunt for those in your library. I got distracted by all the fictional stories and…notes.”

“Easy to do. I, myself, have been quite distracted. And was a little later than I could’ve been this evening because I got engrossed earlier.” He kneaded my feet, and a little more tension drained out of my body. “A person’s animal is almost always chosen by genetics. More often than not, if a person has two strong wolf parents, the child will be a strong wolf. If they’re weak, the child’s power will be weak. Same with dragons, bears, whatever. Occasionally a latent gene presents itself within a child, though. Two wolf parents turn out a bear. Or a dragon. Typically, the child will stay with the parents until they come of age, since the first few years as a shifter are all about learning one’s animal—how to shift and share space. After that, most often the child will be grouped with similar animals so they can learn more about that animal. Dragons aren’t much for packs, so a dragon would not understand the pack mentality of wolves. And vice versa. So usually dragons are sent here, since this…used to be the largest collection of dragons in the world.”

“Do shifters tend to mate with like animals?”

He washed water onto my exposed areas, probably getting rid of the suds. His palms touched down on my knees, and he gently pushed them apart. Nervousness swirled in my belly.

“Oh, Finley…seeing you so vulnerable and nervous, trusting me completely to take care of you… You’ll be my undoing in this life.”

His body lay on mine, his hard cock rubbing against my clit. I moaned softly as his lips touched mine. His kiss was soft and sensual, his tongue lightly skimming across my bottom lip but not darting in when I opened my mouth to him. Instead, he continued to use his lips, sucking a little, nibbling, teasing. He’d taken the note.

“Why are you smiling?” he murmured.

“You’re a quick study.”

“For the first time in my life, I’m listening to the teacher.” He backed off, his hands flowing down over my body and back to my legs. His forearm came across my thigh, and my butt rose a little on reflex. The water line now cut across my pussy, tickling.

“Oh wow,” I said, wiggling just a little, wanting to reach down and stroke. I resisted, though, knowing he’d get to it. Wanting him to remain in control.

He applied something cool to my mound and beside my folds, probably shaving salve.

“For the more powerful shifters, yes, they absolutely mate with their animals in mind,” he said. “They seek out shifters who have the same animal and a similar power level. The goal is to produce the most powerful shifter possible.”

“But if power is the most important factor, then it shouldn’t matter if the offspring’s a wolf, a dragon, or whatever.”

“You’re forgetting that often beasts are sent to be with like beasts. So if a dragon and a wolf mated and had a wolf offspring, the wolves would get a powerful shifter instead of the dragons. Not to mention the parents might have to send their offspring away.”