Ascend (2 page)

Chapter Three

C
orey felt like such a lech sitting across from Racha and struggling not to imagine how open her book might be just then. Was it some trick of the air currents in there that he could imagine the lush scent of her sex thick in his nostrils? He was at least grateful that she’d covered up, though her wispy gown left little to the imagination.

Now she sat looking attentively at him, waiting for him to speak to her, to tell her what it was he wanted to know.

He couldn’t think of a damn thing to ask. All he kept thinking about was his first date with his ex and how they’d hit it off so spectacularly that they’d ended up in bed forty-five minutes later. He hadn’t needed any prompting for conversation with Jill—they’d had too much in common already, including both professional and extracurricular interests. Not to mention there had been that amazing spark of attraction that he’d felt instantly when they shared a joke. He’d always been that easygoing with women. It wasn’t until after she’d left him for some corporate executive only a few months later that it became pretty much impossible to carry on a conversation with another woman without instantly comparing her to Jill.

He owed this lovely young woman something.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you have no idea what a ‘date’ is, do you?” he asked.

She frowned and shook her head. “I admit I will have to reacquaint myself with human conventions, but I’m hoping you’ll be the one to show me.”

Corey was struck by her unassuming attitude now that they were seated across from each other, on fairly equal ground. He took a fresh look at her, trying to shed the preconception of her as a dragon queen. Her sleek, black curls were a little mussed and one of her gauzy straps had slipped off one shoulder. Her slightly slanted, almond-shaped, green eyes watched with intelligent curiosity, maybe just a little eager for him to move things along.

“We’d be having sex right now if things were going your way, wouldn’t we?” he asked softly.

She lowered her dark eyelashes until they brushed the tops of her pink cheeks and nodded. “Yes. You don’t understand the effort it takes to wait, but we will wait if it makes it a better experience for you.”

“Tell me what it feels like… to be… like you are.”

“Like a dragon? Or like the Queen of Dragons?”

He shrugged. “Both, if you want.”

“You observed the others, did you not? Being a dragon is like that. Giving pleasure to as many as we can, or to one person many times. It’s that energy which sustains us, allows us to do our magic. Even this gown I wear for you required energy. Maintaining this form requires energy, but it is second nature. Some of my energy is innate but not all of it. What my brother gave me does not belong to me, it belongs to the others. I must give it to them soon.”

“The others… do you mean this
brood
that Kris mentioned?” Corey couldn’t disguise the apprehensive tone in his voice. He still didn’t quite know what to think about the idea of a multitude of magical flying, fucking creatures taking over the world as a result of what he might do today.

Racha smiled proudly. “Yes, the brood. They’re my children.”

“Hang on,” he said, shifting backwards a couple inches. “You’ve gotta have a…a…
mate,
or whatever you call it to have kids, right? How many are there in this brood of yours?”

“Corey, no, they are not my blood children. We are all of the same generation. I’ve never mated. I’ve never even played at it like other young dragons do. But as Queen, I am both mentor and caretaker of all of them. I spent my early life training for this honor before I slept.

He relaxed again. “So you’re like the CEO or something. Or maybe a cult leader,” he muttered.

Racha laughed, the sound low and melodic. “I know of cults. It used to be a cult that we relied on to awaken past generations, but the mates from those groups made poor parents. I had the good fortune to have two dragon parents, but other dragons aren’t so blessed. Luckily the imperative to breed is strong enough that most dragons have multiple mates so the dragonlings don’t want for adequate role models.”

“Right, and a parent dead set on fucking everything in sight is an adequate role model?” He’d seen the male dragons in the group earlier. With the exception of Hallie’s Kol, who he’d actually come to respect, he found it hard to stomach how easily the others seemed to be with fucking—well, anyone. He wasn’t sure if their tenderness during the act was enough to justify the promiscuity.

There was that laugh again, the sound catching his attention and holding it like his favorite song always did. It sank into his mind, calming him.

“Don’t let the ritual give you the wrong impression of how we behave. Yes, sex is one of our key methods of survival, but if you could only conceive perhaps three children in a decade wouldn’t you try to take advantage of every opportunity you could?” She cocked her head cutely, but the words still sank in.

“So you’re telling me that the whole purpose for this ritual was to knock up all our women?” Corey could hear his voice rising in pitch and was about to run out of the room and force condoms on all the other men if he had to.

“Knock up?” She shook her head and stared at him, uncomprehending.

“Yeah, you know…
Impregnate them
.”

“Oh, Sweet Mother, no! The ritual’s sole purpose is to awaken the brood. Impregnation is not possible until we leave the temple. And even then it’s not guaranteed for dragons, even if their mates are willing.”

“Oh.” Corey deflated and the rest of what she’d said finally caught up to him. He did the math. Five hundred years, the dragons had been here. In ten years of what she suggested might be sex every bit as enthusiastic as what he’d just witnessed, they might conceive only
three
children? “Geeze, I’m sorry. How many dragons are there, anyway?”

“Several hundred. Our numbers are strictly monitored. There are never more than a thousand of us in any generation.”

“Christ. I’m one of seven kids. I have about a dozen nieces and nephews, too.”

Racha’s eyes widened at his confession. “How many humans are there now? When we slept there were maybe a few hundred million.”

“Ooh, there’s a lot more of us now. A
lot
more. More than seven billion last count.”

Racha froze and stared at him, her mouth working, but no words came out.

Corey relaxed, the wide-eyed wonder at what was in store for Racha giving him the upper hand for the first time. He might still have an incredible hard-on for the beauty, but seeing her flustered over the idea of how outnumbered she and her brood were at least gave him slight comfort. It didn’t make him stop wanting her, though. On the contrary, it made Racha—the Queen of Dragons—even sweeter to him. Suddenly she wasn’t this unusual creature who could do magic beyond his imagining, who could very likely command his cock with a twitch of a finger. Now she was just a young woman, embarking on a new life and very much out of her element.

His protector instinct kicked in and he shifted closer to her, reaching for her hands and holding them gently between his. She twitched in surprise at the sudden contact and he realized it was the first time he’d touched her.

“Shh,” he said. “It’s really not so bad out there. You guys seem to like having more of us anyway, right?”

She recovered quickly, but didn’t remove her hands from his. Her grip tightened around his fingers and a jolt of pleasure shot between his thighs, reminding him of the perpetual hard-on he’d been sporting since the last room.

“Yes, but right now I have you. Will you show me the ways of this new world? I know human nature well enough, but conventions shift. Will you help me, Corey?”

Was it crazy of him to want to say yes? She was just a girl trying to find her way, and she needed his help. With four younger sisters he knew how thankless the task of older brother could be, but also how rewarding. Except he didn’t feel particularly fraternal toward this pretty young woman.

He sensed a strength in her that his sisters never had. Something iron-hard and probably razor-tipped that kept him from giving in and trusting her. He was attracted to that glimmer of strength, but wasn’t the least bit fooled by her plea.

“No, because I don’t trust you.” He gave her a pained expression and released her hands gently. He regretting having to disappoint her, but he had to tell her the truth. “I just can’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll help if I can, but you’ll just have to find someone else to do the deed.”

Chapter Four

R
acha stared down at the space between them where their hands had been joined. How was she supposed to make him understand? If what Corey said was true, the modern world she had awoken to was far different from the one she’d fallen asleep in, but that was the least of her concerns.

“I do need you, but not for the reasons you think.” Racha reached for Corey, but his hand shot up quickly and gripped her wrist before it reached his cheek.

“No. I’ve seen your power. I think the only thing you need from me is a good hard fuck and after that we’ll be done. Tell me, do you really want me? Or am I just some surrogate prick you can use to escape this prison?”

The strength of his grip startled her at first, but the ferocity of his gaze angered her. “Let go of me! You don’t understand!”

“You’re a dragon. You have power. Make me understand.” His brows drew together shadowing his already dark eyes. Eyes she’d begun to get lost in while they spoke, but which now frightened her.

Frustration beat at her will as she struggled against his strong grasp. How had this man not given in to the magic already like the rest of them? “I can’t force you! My magic doesn’t work that way.”

“I don’t care how you do it. If you want me to know how badly you need me, make me understand why.” His eyebrows raised in emphasis and he let go of her wrists, leaving them tingling from his touch. She wished she could go back just a few moments to better enjoy the first gentle grasp of his fingers around hers. He was a good man, but not a one to suffer secrets easily.

Racha’s chest constricted with a tight, painful feeling she’d never experienced before. She stood up abruptly and walked away a pace, struggling to contain the emotions welling up. Wet droplets trailed down her cheeks and she raised a hand to wipe at one.

She stared at the crystalline orb on her fingertip, not comprehending what it meant but knowing she’d been beaten. There was no recourse. No other alternatives. If he didn’t agree to their coupling there was only one thing left to do. The power was already swelling to a breaking point within her. It must be close to dawn.

She sighed shakily and nodded, still refusing to face him. “There is an alternative. The power is persistent. We are each other’s slaves right now, the power and I. You would have been the key to our release. If you won’t give yourself to me, the power will take its course anyway.”

“What do I need to do?”

“Leave. You’re safer out of this room.”

“No. Tell me what to do. Let me at least help.”

She turned on him, her chest tight with rage as much as sorrow. “You want to
help?
What I want more than
anything
is for you to
fuck me
. But it isn’t just to release the others. I… I want you.”

She wanted him like she couldn’t believe—for his strength of will as much as his strong body. A man who had withstood the magic of the temple throughout the entire ritual and held out only to give her a chance at convincing him to give in would have been a perfect mate.

She cursed herself for the lack of effect her words had on him. She’d been so strong as a young dragon. She excelled at her training, was described as persuasive and effective by her teachers and the Council both. Yet this
man
somehow made cracks appear in her foundation that she’d never known existed.

He didn’t answer her, just looked away again, his jaw clenching. If he wouldn’t have her, and wouldn’t leave either, there was only one other option.

“I want you to bind me before it’s too late. The power will force me to change and I may not be rational when it takes over. If you insist on staying, you must bind me or I can’t promise you’ll survive until dawn.”

She held her tongue on the last plea she could have given him that may have changed his mind, but to tell him now would only make her seem weak and helpless. She would not end this night by begging.

Chapter Five

C
orey’s chest burned, the conflicting emotions warring inside him. Yes, he wanted Racha but that wasn’t enough to compromise his principles. In another time, perhaps he might have gone through with it but not now. Not after everything he’d been through with Jill, then the failures with women after her. He was grateful Erika had seemed to see that damaged part of him and steer clear in spite of their attraction. Hallie had tried, but both of them had known it wasn’t meant to be.

Racha shot one last beseeching look at him, her bright green eyes brimming with tears, then nodded and turned toward the bed.

Somehow Corey knew the tears were real, and not some ploy to manipulate him into changing his mind. Why did that understanding make him suddenly feel like crying, too? He could do this thing she asked. Bind her to her bed and try to give her some comfort through her ordeal. Company was something he could offer her, at least.

He followed her, watching the sway of her hips and the ripple of her gauzy gown where it draped alluringly over her slight curves. Abstractly he thought a woman more perfect for him probably couldn’t exist, at least in terms of features he preferred. Petite and beautiful, with just the right amount of muscle mass relative to soft curves. He could easily picture gripping her round bottom while she rode him and those intense green eyes looking into his, her dark-lashed eyelids fluttering with pleasure while he…

Get her out of your head, man. You don’t even know her!

Maybe after he got her through this they could talk more. Maybe something
could
work out for them both. It was just way too soon for him to lose his mind over a woman because of sex. He wanted a clear head when he decided whether or not he could love her.

Her skin seemed to pulse with a luminescent internal glow as she crawled onto the bed and lay down in the center.

Corey had to climb on after her to reach her. He did his best not to look at her while he found the ropes that were already fastened to the green jade columns of the bedposts.

Racha silently raised her arms. When Corey stole a glance at her face, her eyes were closed, her cheeks still streaked with tears.

“How long will this take?” he asked in a gentle voice. The rope slid silkily through his fingers as he secured one of her wrists deftly in a sailor’s knot, then moved to tie the other.

“I don’t know. I think it happens instantly when the sun rises, but I can feel the power pushing to get free already.”

Corey glanced at his watch. Sunrise was only a short while off, by his calculations.

“Should I tie your feet, too?”

“Yes.”

“What does it feel like?” he asked while binding her ankles to the other two bedposts.

She let out a soft moan and shimmers of pale light traced up the skin of her feet and legs where Corey held them. The barest texture of greenish scales was visible as the light traveled up her lower legs.

“It feels pleasurable sometimes, but others…” Racha’s words halted with a strangled cry and her back arched violently, limbs straining at her bindings. Her free foot kicked away from his grip and Corey barely managed to dodge it before it smacked into his jaw. He gripped her ankle and quickly secured it with the rope.

Corey moved up beside her once the spasms subsided.

Racha lay panting, her chest heaving from the exertion. Her brow shimmered with green-tinged sweat.

“Shh,” Corey said. “I’m with you. I won’t leave you until it’s over, I promise.”

Racha gave him a weak smile that disappeared when another ripple of light passed across her skin. Her lips parted and her brow creased as though she were bracing herself for the next painful episode.

The spasm began and she let out a strangled cry. The sound rose in strength, becoming a deafening roar incongruous with the petite form it escaped from.

At a loss for what to do, Corey rested one large hand against her shoulder and squeezed in an effort at comfort. Her skin felt feverish to the touch.

The bed shook and her skin rippled not only with light but with undulating waves of motion.

The barely there slip of a gown she wore faded away like dissipating fog. Translucent green scales replaced it, covering her arms, legs, and torso. Only her creamy-white breasts remained bare and pristine with small, erect pink nipples.

Her body collapsed back against the bed, limp and panting.

Corey slid closer to her and carefully leaned on one elbow so her cheek rested against his chest. With his free hand he brushed sweat-drenched curls off her brow and caressed her temple.

“You’ll be alright.” Impulsively he bent and pressed his lips against her forehead.

“T-tell Kris that he and Issa have my blessing.” She slurred the words out in between harsh pants to regain her breath.

He kept ahold of her through the next series of seizures that wracked her body from head to toe.

“Tell them yourself when this is over” he said gruffly. He was so tense with worry for her he’d entirely forgotten the previously persistent discomfort from hours of aching arousal. In fact, he was pretty sure his cock had gone on vacation.

Her fever grew with each body-wrenching spasm. During the next one, large, coiling green horns emerged from her forehead and tangled up with her curly, sweat-drenched black locks. Her eyes glowed with green fire and a green, forked tongue darted out to lick her dry lips.

Tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks and Corey reached up to brush them away with a thumb.

She shook her head, nearly delirious. “Corey, thank you for staying. You would have been a fine mate. I am sorry.”

Her words had the weight of the words of a person in the throes of death. Corey struggled to suppress an irrational panic that solidified like an icy stone in his belly. She hadn’t said what would happen, had she?

“Do I need to get Kris? Can someone else help?” He feebly grasped at ideas. Something wasn’t right, but she hadn’t told him anything. He had been right not to trust her, but for the wrong reasons.

Her green gaze latched onto his, wide and terrified, but also resigned to her fate. Her entire body shook against her restraints.

“The energy will consume me alive like this. But it was…the only other way to give it to them. They must awaken. If I have no release by my mate’s touch, the power will still find a way out. It is my burden…and my honor.”

“No! There has to be some other way!” Had it really come to this, because of his own ridiculous sense of propriety? What a goddamned hypocrite he was, too.
Yeah, man, when the dragon queen asks you to fuck, you say, “How hard?”

Racha shook her head. “Too late…” she murmured in a weak voice just before another spasm gripped her body, forcing her head and feet to dig into the bed and her torso to torque violently.

He’d been such a fool not to read the signs. The resignation, her nearly exhausted look when he tied her, the tears. She wasn’t such a weak woman to give in to rejection by crying. Her tears had meant something completely different, and the understanding chilled him to the bone.

The light from beneath her skin became nearly blinding, pulsing from every velvet scale. Corey hurriedly stripped and waited for her body to sink back to the bed again.

“God help me,” he said. He hoped it wasn’t too late for her. She had said she would shift, and the transformation was clearly occurring, but had only gone partway so far if what he’d seen the other dragons do was any indication. Perhaps there was still time if he hurried.

When she relaxed again he wasted no time.

He pressed his mouth to hers, tenderly at first, then harder when a moan escaped her lips and she raised her head to kiss him back. The wet velveteen sensation of her alien tongue filled his mouth. Within only a few seconds he was rock hard again.

He pulled away, breathless, whispering, “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me it would kill you?”

Her nipples had become a verdant shade of green, but the color didn’t faze him now. Not the way their hard, pebbly texture felt on his tongue.

“Please don’t stop,” she gasped, her chest now arching up to meet the teasing suck of his mouth on her breasts. Fuck, she tasted amazing. Refreshing to his heated arousal, in spite of how much hotter her skin was under his tongue. He had no time to pause and savor her now, though.

Corey cursed himself for tying her. Had he just known… what would he have done? Bedded her in a more proper way while still resenting the fact of doing it? Taken his selfish time to gain his own pleasure from her body?

Now he had no choice—make her come or watch her die, likely in a brilliant show of fireworks that would rival Kris’s.

“Racha, baby. I’ve got you. I’m going to fuck you now. You’ll be okay soon.”

He pressed fingers between her spread thighs. The wet heat that he encountered sent his head spinning. She was slick and ready and so hot.

Her bindings made the position less than ideal, but she tilted her hips up into his touch as far as she could. He met her desperate gaze as he moved to lay atop her, holding his weight off her body with one arm while he used the free hand to guide his throbbing tip between her folds.

“Please hurry,” she said through green-tinged lips. The telltale surge of illumination began to glow beneath her skin again, beginning at the tips of her horns and running southward.

She is even lovelier like this
, he thought as he slid deep inside her with one quick thrust.

Racha’s head pressed back against the pillows and she cried out.

She’s a virgin, you asshole!

Corey hesitated for a split second until he saw the slight smile on her lips that widened just a bit when he pulled back out slowly. He thrust again, more gently the second time, then again, encouraged by her soft sigh and the press of her naked torso up against him.

His body rejoiced at the sensations of her skin against his, her tight sheathe gripping his cock while he buried it over and over inside her. Yet this wasn’t about his pleasure now. While he knew the tricks of many women’s bodies, he’d never been with this particular beautiful young woman. She felt more heavenly beneath him than anyone else in memory. Would her body have the same response to him as his did to her?

Sensing her urgency from the intent look on her face, he reached between them and pressed his fingers against the swollen nub between her thighs.

After just a few circular strokes, she cried out and her slick muscles tightened around his cock. The intense squeeze of her overwhelmed him and he struggled not to lose his pumping rhythm before she was ready. It was an effort to hold back, but he didn’t to restrain himself for long.

At that moment, she arched her chest into him and let out a harsh, gasping cry. The light within her coalesced into a hot, white ball of ecstasy between them. It grew in brightness and intensity until it encompassed them both.

An electric buzz seemed to pass through Corey. He lost strength in his arms and almost fell atop her. At the last second he reached up and gripped her hands above her bindings, entwining his fingers with hers while they rode the currents of power that rocketed through them, pushing ever outward.

The heat of it reached searing proportions. The resonance of a singing chime filled Corey’s head as intense as both their cries. Electric vibrations coursed through his body, from the point where they were joined to every extremity. Visual pulses of light shot out from them both and he could feel each one taking a piece of him with it. He was about to die here with her, from the pleasure of her contact and the explosive release of his soul in one complete and glorious moment. And he had no regrets. Not even this. Especially not this.

Just when he believed the power would tear them both apart, it exploded, the energy rolling out and away from them, surging through the walls of the chamber and making everything it its path glow and pulse with power in rhythm with their own orgasms.

With the departure of all that immense power went the remains of Corey’s own energy. Nothing was left behind but two sweating bodies, their panting breaths echoing starkly in the chamber.

Corey struggled for a moment to keep himself up. He had just long enough to look into Racha’s eyes to ensure her continued consciousness. He was incapable of speech himself, but hoped his own expression would convey the magnitude of what they had just shared.

When their gazes met, he registered an expression of unrestrained gratitude, before he finally gave in and collapsed, breathless, beside her.