Ascend (3 page)

Chapter Six

T
he exhaustion Racha felt in the aftermath was a welcome respite from the intense pressure of the power that had finally been released. She still wanted more of Corey, however, but knew it might not be possible. He had only done what he had to save her life. She was grateful, and would find some way to reward him, but it wouldn’t be in the manner she had always dreamed.

She clenched her eyes shut tightly, struggling to hold back more tears. She’d already cried enough in his presence and refused to now, even though the departure of his thick, hard length from inside her had left her feeling every bit as empty as the absence of the power.

But she was alive, at least. The elated murmur of hundreds of dragon voices reached out to her in diffident gratitude. That was reward enough. It would have to be.

Dimly she became aware of gentle tugging at her wrists, then her ankles. She opened her eyes when Corey was at her feet and watched in open admiration at the flex of his broad shoulders while he untied her, then tossed the bindings across the room in disgust.

He ran large, shaky fingers through thick, tousled brown hair. He looked as beaten down and exhausted as she felt, but seemed to gather himself together with a deep breath. She braced herself for what he would say when he turned to her.

He said nothing, at first. He just turned and knelt between her ankles, raised one foot to his thigh and rubbed the skin gently where the rope had dug into it. It was tender, but the skin wasn’t broken and his warm, calloused touch felt nice. It felt even nicer when his large palm slid higher, skimming up her smooth calf.

Racha tried to pull away from his grip and rise, but he held her ankle tight.

“Hey, pretty dragon lady,” he said with a smile. “You just stay put a little while, alright?”

“You don’t have to. You did what I needed you to do. You can go now.”

Corey frowned and picked up her other foot, beginning the slow, delicious massaging again.

“No, I can’t. You see, I’m the kind of guy who sticks around. I’m also the kind who pays attention and I’ve been watching the rest of this crew all night—well, most of them, anyway. One thing I noticed is that at the end of each little
phase
, all of my friends were given a sort of…well…gift.”

“I won’t mark you if you don’t want me to.” She knew what she offered was against Dragon Law, but there were always extenuating circumstances during awakenings. Concessions would be made.

Corey shook his head and narrowed his eyes at her. His hands continued their tender caresses, now along the skin above her left knee. His touch sent pleasant tingles straight between her legs. He shifted his hands so that both palms skimmed down her inner thighs.

“If you want me to trust you, Racha, you need to start spilling your secrets. I’m pretty sure those little tattoos the rest of my team got are damn important to you all, or the other dragons wouldn’t have wasted so little time doling them out. Tell me what they mean to you and why you didn’t give me one.”

Racha closed her eyes. Her mind churned over how to tell him. She didn’t want to bind a man to her who didn’t want her, but she feared he would accept her mark out of some sense of obligation. Just like he’d finally given in and helped her release the power.

She’d survived the awakening. Perhaps the Council would understand if she failed to mark him. They could let Corey find another female more to his liking and send Racha a mate who was willing.

She gasped when his fingertips reached her core and teased along her lips, still wet from their combined juices. He sank his fingers into her slowly, then drew them back out again and teased around her clit in tortuous, slow circles. Even though he’d untied her, she was too mesmerized by his touch to move away.

When he pulled his hand away after a second, her hips raised up on their own, seeking contact.

“Please,” she whispered. “I need more of you.”

In truth, she was depleted of all but the barest wisp of power now. If he would only bury himself in her again and give her more, perhaps she could think of the right answers.

“More of this?” He leaned down beside her and flicked his tongue over her nipple while his fingers moved back between her thighs, caressing just enough to make her crave more, but not giving it to her.

“Yes, more!”

“Answer my question first. Why didn’t you mark me?”

Just when her throbbing need had subsided and she thought she could regain her senses, he began again. He thrust his fingers deeper and teased her clit so expertly she thought she might just lose control. Except he stopped again.

She nearly cried out in frustration until she felt a hot, hard pressure pulse against her hip. Her eyes flew open and she looked at him.

He gazed down at her, a fevered expression on his face. He looked almost haggard with longing.

Experimentally, she shifted her hips slightly so that she rubbed against him.

Corey’s eyelids fluttered and fell shut. His hand came to rest on her mound again, fingers gently stroking as before.

“You still want me?” she whispered.

His voice came out in a rough growl. “Like nothing I’ve wanted in my life.” His eyes opened again and he met her gaze.

In those brown depths she saw the truth of his words, and it shattered her. The tears began again, only this time they weren’t from sorrow or regret.

She sat up abruptly and captured his mouth with hers.

Corey tried to push her back, a mumbled objection making it to her ears, but she pushed harder, forcing him back against her pillows. He went, pulling her with him.

She kept kissing him, peppering his face, his neck, his chest with more kisses, elated at finally understanding. Once she let him have his breath and had moved down his torso, he let out a low, frustrated grumble.

“You gonna answer my question?”

She only nodded and smiled up at him from between his legs. She would answer all his questions, but first she needed more of him.

His hard shaft was coated with the flavor of them both. She savored every inch when she slipped her mouth over his tip and down, licking and sucking as she went.

“Oh, fuck, baby. You’re driving me crazy. Do you…” He seemed intent on saying more, but the rest only came out as a strangled groan when his hips rose up off the bed in a violent jerk.

His orgasm flooded her tongue as sweetly as the power it carried into her with his abating pleasure. The sweet rush of his Nirvana invigorated her, cleared her mind and conscience, and left nothing behind but the exultation of being with him and knowing he was not unwilling as she had believed a few moments earlier.

She crawled back up his body and lay fully atop his panting chest.

He gazed up at her, a perplexed and slightly irritated smile on his face that disappeared as he let out a hearty laugh.

“That was nice. More than nice. But you’re not off the hook that easily,” he said.

“I am an open book,” she said with a grin.

Then sheexplained everything.

He held her tightly and buried his face against her neck when she stopped talking.

“Are you angry?” she asked.

“God, no. I just… Racha, you could have died before I ever got a chance to learn how good this feels. That thought terrifies me.”

He suddenly flipped her over and kissed her roughly. His resurging erection pressed hot and hard against her belly.

She laughed. “What are you doing?”

“Forgive me. I just need to make love to you again. Gotta make extra sure you won’t self-destruct.”

Racha pushed back against him and sat up when he leaned back on his heels.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There is just one thing I need to do first, if you’re willing. Are you?”

Chapter Seven

A
m I willing to be hers. Marked. Branded. Bonded?
Corey’s mind ran through all the things she’d told him the mark meant. She admitted she hadn’t told him everything, just what mattered.

He’d always imagined the day he would ask a woman to marry him. He’d get down on one knee, hand her a ring after saying something particularly eloquent that he could never have thought up himself. There might be music playing and champagne. And ideally they’d have been together long enough that he knew all her secrets well enough that there would be no surprises.

This isn’t the same thing, by a longshot
, he told himself. But somehow it was. Commitment wasn’t something he was shy about. Hell, he’d come on this expedition, hadn’t he?

Yet every moment of this expedition had been a surprise and Racha was just the cherry on top. Fate was telling him something and maybe, for once, he ought to listen.

Corey looked down at the petite beauty, finally letting himself hear what it was fate wanted for him. He answered her question with a kiss, tongue sliding deep. Every ounce of hesitation or reluctance disappeared with the stroke of her tongue against his.

He spent a second vaguely aware that when they kissed her tongue felt as solid and fleshy as a human tongue. As human as all the rest of her now that the power had ebbed and her skin had regained its normal pink sheen.

Except this is not normal for her. What I saw before is closer to what she is.
The idea didn’t bother him as much as it might have the day before. On the contrary, it made him want her more.

He held still while she traced her lips down over his jaw and throat, closing his eyes at the silken caress of her lips and tongue. She paused at his chest and pulled back. A gentle fingertip traced a large pattern on his pec just over his left nipple, leaving a tingling sensation behind.

Corey looked down just as she darted her forked tongue out to redraw the same pattern with swift, stinging strokes. The sting didn’t bother him any more than any of his other tattoos had. Nor did the understanding of what it meant. She had explained that the glowing magic that infused the mark protected him, and established their bond—one that would not be broken until one of them died.

The gravity of the small ritual hit him when she gazed up into his eyes. Her fingertips dug a little harder into his naked thighs. She seemed to be waiting for his reaction. He didn’t feel any different, however. The abiding need to be with her hadn’t changed, only now it was accompanied by a sense of permanence. Far from frightening, the feeling was a comfort.

“You’re what I’ve always wanted,” he said.

Racha raised up on her knees and wrapped her arms around him. He embraced her and carried her back down to the bed with him. Even the sounds she made were perfect little breathy moans as he explored her body with mouth and hands.

Her fingers tangled in his hair when he lowered his head between her thighs for the first time, tongue flicking out, eager to taste the sweet place his cock had been deeply buried in earlier. She spread her legs wider and tilted her hips up to meet the thrust of his tongue deep into the hot, velvet depths of her. His head buzzed from the tangy flavor and heady aroma of her sex. He had to taste the flood of her climax before he made love to her again.

She writhed and cried out when she came and Corey braced himself for a violent, spectacular surge of energy, but all that happened was exactly what he’d hoped—the drenched folds of her pussy spasmed against his lips, coating them with even more of her sweet flavor. He lapped it up, ignoring the giddy twitches and stuttering breath from her until he’d had his fill.

“Are you ready for more?” he asked, rising up onto his knees and gripping her hips. He tugged her toward him until his hard cock slid against her well-attended pussy. He smiled when her eyes rolled back and she nodded.

With a slow, deliberate thrust, he buried himself deep into her. He fucked her as slowly as he could endure, watching her face with each stroke to gauge where she found the most pleasure. She quickly reached the point of quivering
,
pent-up need for release again.

“Touch yourself,” he said gruffly, pushing her legs a little wider and hooking her thighs over his arms.

She gave him a fleeting smile in acknowledgment before her face drifted back to a mask of pure enjoyment. Her fingers slipped between her thighs and Corey groaned at the way she gripped him at first, squeezing the base of his cock while he pistoned into her.

Her gorgeous, small breasts thrust up when she arched her back in response to the first touch of her fingers on her clit. She rubbed in tight little circles, obviously adept at pleasuring herself, but seemed to lose rhythm the deeper and harder he fucked her.

He sucked first one pert nipple into his mouth until she moaned, then the other. The tight squeeze of her pussy became more than he could endure.

Her hips bucked hard into his. He yelled out her name and bent over her, fucking with an erratic, pumping rhythm while his climax gripped him. The shuddering pull of her muscles surrounded his cock and milked him dry.

The glow that accompanied her climax was subtle at first, then grew brighter, coursing through her in tiny ripples across her skin. He watched, enthralled until it subsided and her eyes opened. She gave him a sleepy smile.

“You’re glowing,” he said.

“So are you.” She gestured at the mark on his chest. He looked down to see that it was, indeed, glowing with a faint, green light.

“Does this happen every time?”

“Now that the ritual is finished, when we please each other like that, we share our energy. You give me your Nirvana and I give back some of my magic. It protects you. It also reminds other dragons that you belong to me.”

“Oh?” he asked with a cock of one eyebrow. “And who in their right mind would steal from the Queen? Not that I’d go with anyone else, of course.”

“No one would, but the mark will ensure you’re treated with the level of respect deserved of the Queen’s Consort.”

Consort
. Corey let the title roll around in his head, not sure how he should feel about it. It sounded a little fancy for a guy raised by a traditional, blue-collar family like he had been. He brushed it off as yet another old convention her kind had that they’d learn to outgrow once they acquainted themselves with the modern world. But if the mark gave him an advantage over other dragons, that was a good thing, right?

A thought occurred to him. “So what’s to remind other people… or dragons that you belong to
me
?”

She tilted her chin at his chest again. “That mark means I’m yours. Dragons can bond with many humans, but many of us choose only a few as true mates. Some only choose one—the fewer we choose, the stronger our bond is.”

She seemed to grow a little pensive and turned away from him, burying her head in her pillow.

“Well that’s good, right? We both got pretty lucky, I think.” He lay down beside her and brushed his palm down her back.

“It depends on what the world is like out there now and if you can endure a lifetime with me.”

“Hey, what’s this talk of enduring? I’m in this for the long haul. The world’s mostly pretty great. Confusing as fuck a lot of times, but you’re a bright girl, you’ll get the hang of it.”

She turned back to meet his gaze, her lips pursed. “I’m not concerned about adjusting to your world. It’s you adjusting to
our
world that worries me. ”

Something niggled at the back of his mind as he attempted to comfort her, though. The whole
lifetime
thing.

“Wait, you’ve been asleep in here for how long? Five hundred years?”

She nodded solemnly.

“So, when you say ‘lifetime’ how long are we talking?”

She eyed the mark on his chest again. “My magic…. As long as I share it with you, you will live as long as I do.”

Corey narrowed his eyes at her evasive answer. “Spit it out, Racha.”

“Another five hundred years, give or take.”

He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “‘Give or take,’ she says,” he muttered. “What about the others?” he asked, looking at her again.

“It works the same for them, though the more mates they collect, the shorter their lifespans. Some consider it worth the sacrifice, others don’t.”

Corey had never in a million years considered he’d walk away from this expedition with such a confounding gift. But it sounded like she was hedging on something.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“It means we are bound together for the duration. Some mates can’t endure it. After the first century they go a little mad. Some commit suicide rather than go on.”

“So, we can still die…”

“Yes. Did you think we were immortal?”

“Well, from my perspective it sure seemed that way. But wow… Imagine the things you can see in five hundred years.”

Racha grimaced. “My mother told me it was easier living in the monastery. The world was cruel when I was a child, and crueler still during the lifetime before Mother awoke. She always said it never changed much between generations.”

Corey tried to recall all he knew of ancient history. Half a millennium ago wasn’t precisely the dark ages, but it may as well have been from his perspective. She was going to be overwhelmed by the changes, and he was only too eager to show them all to her and see how she reacted.

“Everything moves a lot quicker now than it did when you were young.”

“But you weren’t even there, how do you know?”

“Erika and the others can tell you—it’s their specialty, not mine. All I know is that in
this
lifetime, two people can speak to each other instantly from opposite sides of the planet, and it takes about a day to travel that far. But humans haven’t changed all that much. We still eat and shit and fuck. We fall in love and we make babies and we try to raise them to be like us and fail miserably. My point is, the world is changing faster than even I can comprehend right now, but at the same time it’s all the same. Having centuries to absorb it all could be a lot of fun. Especially with the right person.”

Racha smiled at him. “I’m glad it was you who came into my chamber today.”

“So am I,” he said, laying a kiss upon the swell of her creamy breast.

She rose abruptly and with a breath was pristinely coifed and clad in a much more solid piece of clothing than she’d worn for him earlier. If it were possible, she looked even more stunning.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“It’s time to meet the brood. You should dress. I can hear their eagerness to leave—they are already assembling in the Grand Hall.”

Corey grabbed her hand before she could walk away.

“No matter what happens, I’m with you,” he said.

“Thank you.”