Knock Down Dragon Out Read online

  He slid home with one forceful stroke.

  Naomi cried out, nearly coming just from the fullness. “Please, Col.” She bit back a whimper. She’d been so close, but now he was moving excruciatingly slowly, drawing out her pleasure, keeping her just far enough from the edge that she couldn’t climax.

  “What does my mate desire?”

  “More. Make me feel more,” she moaned into his mouth as he swept her lips again and moved to nibbling down the side of her neck.

  She clenched around him, her body begging to be taken harder. Begging to feel the pleasure only he could give her.

  When they were together it was like the rest of the world faded away. Naomi could feel how much he cared for her. Feel the walls around his heart coming down at the same time hers were crumbling to dust, allowing him to see more of her. All of her.

  She pushed into his thrusts, matching move for move.

  Faster and faster. Harder. Deeper.

  Naomi buried her face in Col’s neck and arched her hips, drawing him even closer.

  He growled in her ear and nipped at her shoulder. Not a bite this time, but it reminded her of the mark he’d given her that sealed their mating.

  She still didn’t quite understand it, but she wanted him.

  Above everything else in the world, he was now the most important person.

  Col turned just slightly, giving himself room to slip a hand between their sweat slicked bodies. His fingers brushed her clit and Naomi’s pants went ragged and she whimpered, as her release rushed toward her with the fury of a hurricane.

  “Col, oh God, I’m—” Her body rippled and spasmed around his cock, as blinding pleasure coursed through her veins. She writhed in his arms, but he didn’t give an inch. A scream tore from her throat and she dug her fingers into his arms. She bit down on his shoulder and continued to cry out as the first orgasm rolled into the second.

  He roared, joining her on the climax.

  She felt his warm seed filling her, making her slicker, as Col continued to pound into her until his movements slowly stuttered and came to a grinding halt.

  His weight pressed her down into the couch and they lay there panting and sated and Naomi wished nothing would ever change.

  Col rolled to the side, putting her back against the back of the couch, pinning her without being on top of her. His cock was still inside her, pulsing and twitching ever so often as if it had a mind of its own and wasn’t at all done with her.

  She laid a leg over his hip and wiggled.

  He shoved his hips harder against hers so that she could barely move.

  She peered over at him in the lowlight of the fire from the hearth.

  His brown eyes were golden. Molten.

  “You do not fear my dragon,” he said, a pleased hum in his tone. He nuzzled her face and placed light kisses on her cheek and forehead and then one right on the tip of her nose.

  “Why would I fear something that cares for me?”

  “That loves you,” Col corrected, his voice breathy.

  “That loves me,” she repeated. How did they skip over the get-to-know-you part and straight to the hearts-are-locked-as-one part?

  He stroked in and out of her swollen sex and she couldn’t help but moan in pleasure.

  She chuckled, “I get that you make love to me, but actually love? You don’t know me.”

  There had to be a catch, a caveat to the fantasy-dragon-man and his soulmate stuff.

  “When I saw you lying in the snow, your soul glowed for me. I abandoned my mission, because I couldn’t leave you there. You were mine. I needed you more than I needed anything else, even justice for my family.”

  “I don’t remember looking any different.”

  “You are not Reylean. I don’t think you can see magick. But I can. Fate marked you. Your soul glowed like a flame from inside your body. Only a fated mate can see that kind of magick,” he said, stroking a little faster. His cock had swelled again, stretching and filling her so full that Naomi could barely think past the pleasure of his touch.

  “When my soul reached out to yours, I knew nothing mattered more than you. If I abandoned you, Fate might decide to take back her gift. I couldn’t risk losing you, even if it meant the other dragons had to die another day.”

  He reached between her slick folds and stroked until a dam broke inside. The world rushed around Naomi as she climaxed again. She heard him groan. Felt him come.

  She just kept sailing higher and higher. Her body pulsed like it’d been struck by a lightning bolt.

  Everything tingled and burned—in a good way.

  “You are my shuarra, Naomi. There will be no other for as long as we both draw breath.”

  A cry tore from her chest and she let her head fall against his breastbone. “I’m just a woman, a selfish, broken woman who’s been hiding from the world for the last two years. How can I be your soul mate? How can you know for sure? I mean, I feel so good when we’re together, but it’s been so long since I let a man touch me. I think I may just be starved for affection. I isolated myself after—” Tears poured down her cheeks. Her lungs gasped for air between the cries. “It was my fault I lost him. And it will be my fault when I lose you too.”

  All the guilt and pressure of the last two years came crashing down. She’d thought she’d put it behind her. She’d thought she’d made the choice to start over, but really, she’d just slammed the door on that part of her ragged soul and tried to say she was over it.

  “Who did you lose, shuarra?”

  Naomi shook her head, sucking in a quick breath. How could she talk about Tommy with Col? He’d hate her or resent her or think that she was still in love with Tommy.

  Was she? Was she incapable of moving on?

  He pulled his cock out of her and a profound sense of loneliness overwhelmed her.

  Col would leave her. Just like Tommy had. Something would steal him away and she’d be alone again.

  A moment later his fingers parted her wet folds and slid inside her.

  Naomi drew air into her shuddering lungs. “W-what are you doing?”

  “Reminding you, you are mine. That you are not alone. Even if my cock is not inside you, nothing has changed shuarra. Your body. Your soul. We are bound for life. If you need to feel me inside you to remind you of that, I am more than willing. Now, tell me who you lost?”

  “I can’t.” Her voice broke with the weight of the pain bearing down on her like she was carrying the car Tommy had died in on her back.

  His fingers curled inside her, drawing a gasp of pleasure.

  “Tell me,” he ordered, his voice firmer this time. “I can feel every part of your soul, Naomi. I can feel the broken parts and the whole parts. The sad and tired places and the places where you cling to happiness. Tell me who you lost. Let him go, Naomi. For yourself. For us.”

  “I thought I had.” Her voice broke as the pain gushed to the surface. “I thought I’d made peace with it after you marked me. I’d closed the door on that part of my life. I wanted you. I wanted to be happy with you. I buried him.”

  Col chest rumbled next to her. It wasn’t an angry growl, but more a soothing purr…or hum as he preferred it to be named. “You must tell me.”

  “What if I lose you?” The fear stabbed at her like a dagger of ice straight into the heart.

  “You will not,” he said, as if it weren’t an option.

  Could she trust that? If she told him about Tommy, would he still look at her like she was the only woman he would ever look at? Would he still want her for always?

  He slipped his fingers from her core and cupped her face instead.

  Col pulled her face up just a little, so she had to meet his gaze.

  God, those golden eyes were her kryptonite. The way he looked at her. Like she was the center of his universe.

  Only one other man had ever looked at her that way.

  “Tommy died because of me,” Naomi said, her voice hollow and filled with pain. “I loved him, and
he died because of me. I was sick, and he went to get medicine and it was so late and dark and a drunk driver hit his car. He died because of me.” She cried through the words, but she got them out. It was what Col wanted and she wanted to do what he’d asked of her, even if it meant that look in his eyes went away. “We were supposed to get married. Have babies. Grow old together. And I lost him. He left me.”

  Her dragon man kept holding her. Kept staring. His gaze hadn’t wavered. Hadn’t changed. He just waited. Like he knew there was more.

  There was.

  “It was my fault. Everyone told me it wasn’t, but it was. And then I met you and you said those things about losing me earlier, and for a moment I thought I’d let it go. I thought I’d put the pain behind me and let Tommy go. But every time I think about what you still have to do. You have to hunt those dragons. Now there are wolves out there that hate you. And what am I going to do if I lose you too? I think it might kill me, and then I feel guilty all over again, because how is it fair that I get to fall in love again and Tommy is gone?”

  All the pain and pent up years of self-loathing and guilt and torture came bubbling up to the surface and just kept spilling out into words.

  “And I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to be alone again.” She gasped for breath and her whole body shuddered.

  “I can’t promise you a certain number of years, shuarra. No one can. The man you loved died caring for you. There is no greater honor for a mate. I would die doing the same without a second thought. We can only live the time we have, but we can’t be happy if we’re always thinking this moment might be the last. Would your Tommy want you to be in pain? If it’d been you that died, would you deny him happiness and wish him to always be sick for you?”

  Naomi shook her head.

  “I’m going to try something.” He released her face and leaned back so that there was a little space between their bodies. “It is very old. I do not know if the magick will work in this world. I’m not a magick-bender, but this ceremony is part of Reylean custom when mates find each other.”

  She watched as he put his finger to his mouth and pricked it with one of his fangs. Blood ran down his finger and Naomi swallowed but didn’t speak.

  Col pressed the bloody finger to her collarbone and drew a symbol.

  She couldn’t tell what. Something from his world.

  Then he drew it on his chest as well.

  He spoke a phrase of something she couldn’t understand. Over and over he chanted.

  Each time he finished, her body grew warmer. The fire she’d felt right after he’d bitten her returned tenfold.

  She cried out, and then gasped. Light poured from her chest and his. It filled the space between them with a beautiful soft glow.

  Naomi’s breath caught. Then it hit. The love he felt for her. The dedication. The kindness and caring that made him who he was.

  Then the anger and drive for justice he felt was necessary so that his parents and family would find peace.

  All of it.

  She could feel every day of joy he’d had. Every day of sorrow. Every achievement. Every loss. In the midst of everything, she could feel how she now lay planted like a hundred-year-old willow tree right at the center.

  She was at his core now.

  He was hers.

  Everything she felt in his soul…in his heart.

  He could feel hers just the same.

  She’d loved Tommy completely and wholly, but she’d never known the depths of his soul, never felt his every hope and dream and heartache.

  Col had allowed her to see a part of himself that no one else had ever seen and would never see again.

  He was right. Now that she’d told him about Tommy, it was like the dark secret of his death had been set free. She wasn’t chained to the memory. Wasn’t afraid it would come out and ruin what’d been formed between her and Col.

  She would always love Tommy, and that was okay. Now, she could love Col and move forward with her life with him, too.

  “I love you, Col,” she said, her voice shaky, but determined.

  The light between their bodies slowly faded as each soul returned to its place.

  The warmth filled her with a peace she hadn’t felt in so long.

  Col’s arms wrapped tightly around her, and she took a deep peaceful breath.

  “And I love you, shuarra. Sleep now, my beautiful mate.” He nuzzled her curls with his lips. “Be free.”

  7

  Sunlight streamed in the front window of the cabin, giving the large room a bright glow. Col was already up. He’d doused the fire, cleaned up, and disposed of the leftover food.

  Her clothes were folded neatly at the foot of the bed and her boots were standing next to the end of the couch.

  They had to leave. This cabin belonged to other people who could come back any time. They’d already used some of their precious water supply. Naomi felt guilty for not having anything to leave in exchange.

  “Did you sleep well, shuarra?” Col asked, his gaze falling on her as he entered the cabin and stomped his snow-covered boots on the rug. “Everything is ready to go.”

  She slithered out of the bed and pulled on her clothes one piece at a time. Strangely the cabin didn’t feel too cold, even with the fire out. She pulled on her long wool socks and traipsed across the room to the couch. “How are we getting back to my stuff?”

  “I will shift and carry you,” Col answered, dropping into the seat next to her.

  Naomi’s stomach bottomed out, a whole different fear coming to roost. “Ummm, that doesn’t really sound pleasant.” Heights weren’t something she handled well. In the back of her mind she recalled he’d flown her here. But to get back, she been hoping for…what? “Maybe we could just walk.” Her mouth dried instantly. Her hands became clammy, even in the biting cold. Fear clambered aboard her mind like an old friend who knew they would never be left behind.

  “I would never drop you.”

  “I get that, but it’s just. I’m…well…I’m afraid of heights,” she said, tugging her other boot on.

  Col slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “The sooner the battle is fought, the sooner it can be won.”

  “Are you talking about your battle with the dragons or mine with puking from being up too high?”

  He chuckled and rose from the couch, pulling her along with him. “Both.” He took her puffy blue coat down from the peg by the door and handed it to her.

  She put it on and zipped it up, like somehow it was armor for what she was about to do. Was she really going to allow a dragon to carry her as he flew through the air?

  Yes. Granted, it was Col. She trusted him. But still. Carry her? In the sky. High above everything?

  Yes.

  Her stomach fluttered and a small, still voice in the back of her mind soothed her fear. She was his mate. His shuarra, as he so liked to call her.

  He’d never put her in harm’s way. Naomi could do this. They really did need to get out of this cabin before the owners showed up and threatened them or pressed charges for breaking and entering. The last thing she needed was Col to be put in jail.

  What if he got angry and lost his temper? Could he control his dragon?

  So many questions.

  “Are you ready?”

  She took a deep breath and released it. “No, not really,” she said without thinking.

  He smiled and walked to her, wrapping his strong arms around her body, making her feel small and safe and loved. How he did that with just a hug, she’d never know.

  It happened. Every single time.

  “You will be safe, Naomi.”

  She took another deep, fortifying breath to still her nerves and her overactive brain that’d possibly flashed half a billion ways this scenario could go wrong.

  Col went out the door, glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was following.

  Naomi stopped on the steps of the cabin.

  He was already out about twenty
feet into the clearing. One moment he was a man and the next he was a dragon. A winged black fantasy creature, with a body the size of a Mac truck.

  His black scales shone like they were made of onyx stone. His wings unfurled and stretched above her like a canopy of black leather. After a few shakes he tucked them close to his sides.

  His head was rimmed with several long horns that curled back over his neck, almost creating a protective plate like a triceratops. The spikes continued along his back, several rows of yardstick sized spears, that tapered off in a heavily spiked tail that reminding Naomi of a medieval war weapon, except ten times bigger than anything a person would try to lift. Hell, one of his muscular legs was the size of her entire body.

  Col lowered his elongated neck and shoved his nose toward her, nudging her hand gently until she rubbed him right above the lips that covered a row of teeth as long as her legs. She’d touched him in this form before…well, she hadn’t really been that conscious last time.

  So, this really counted as the first time. Her brain still couldn’t truly wrap around the fact that he was real.

  A real fucking dragon.

  “Wait. Shift back,” she said, staying in the doorway. His clothes hadn’t shredded or anything. They just sort of disappeared and reappeared when he needed them.

  Col’s dragon morphed in an instant and he was standing before her, clothed in his kilt and boots, and looking sexier than the latest Conan the Barbarian movie character.

  “How do your clothes stay intact? Your dragon is huge. But when you shift, you don’t destroy them.”

  He tapped the side of his arm where a leather band was wrapped around a couple of times.

  She’d seen it before but hadn’t really paid much attention.

  “The magick-benders in my world make charms for us.” Col turned to show her the carved bone amulet tied tightly to his arm.

  “So, if you lose the charm…”

  “I would lose the ability to shift with clothing.” He raised an eyebrow. “Should I take it off?”

  Heat rushed her face. She wouldn’t mind the view but didn’t want anyone else taking a peek. “No, I think it’s better on.”