Dragon Heat 2 - Red Hot Dragon (7 page)

soured at the thought of him rejecting her. Could she find

the courage to bring up her changing feelings toward him?

* * *

Griff drummed his fingertips on the wooden tabletop of the

bunker kitchen and stared at his cell phone’s screen. It had

been nearly thirty hours since he’d last spoken to Mad.

Their phone conversation yesterday morning had been

short and left Griffin feeling anxious. Mad was hiding

something from him.

His stomach suddenly clenched. Frowning, he rubbed

his hand over his naked belly. Instantly, his concerned

gaze jumped to the closed bathroom door across the

bunker. He recognized that the pain he felt emanated from

Avani.

Their growing connection both concerned and settled

him. On one hand, he found her presence so calming. She

left him feeling centered and grounded. Waking up with

his nose buried in the silky, fragrant strands of her hair

brought him such a sense of peace. Right now, the short

distance that separated them filled him with an intense

longing.

But even though he welcomed the burgeoning bond

between them, he knew only too well that Avani had no

interest in remaining with him. She’d been painstakingly

clear about that on their first day together. Even though she

probably experienced the same pull toward him, she’d yet

to say anything about it. He couldn’t tell if it was fear or

stubbornness on her part.

Of course, he wasn’t totally blameless in this

complicated mess. He’d been cold with her that first day.

Hadn’t he said that he wasn’t looking for a mate? His jaw

tightened with the realization that what he wanted and

what he needed weren’t always the same thing.

His chest vibrated with warm frissons of excitement as

Avani drew near. She swept into the living area of her

underground lair in a flutter of vibrant purple silk. He

enjoyed the sight of her in only that robe, especially the

way the thin fabric parted to reveal her naked thighs. She

looked beautiful with her hair twisted up in that elegant

arrangement, but he liked her just as much when the long

black strands fell around her shoulders.

“Are you all right?” She rubbed her hand across his

bare back and down his arm. “You look worried.”

“It’s Mad. He hasn’t called me today.” He slid the

steaming mug of hot tea toward her. “Two scoops of sugar

and no milk, right?”

Her eyes brightened and she nodded. “Thank you.”

He tried not to feel such pride in making her happy.

Fixing a cup of tea was such a simple thing—except when

it wasn’t.

She took a slow sip. “Mmm. Very good.” Her hand

swept up and down his arm. “Do you think he’s busy?”

His thoughts turned back to Mad and away from the

wonderful sensation of her fingertips moving across his

skin. “No. He’s always been nearby when I’ve gone into

heat, just as I’ve always been there for him.” Griff

hesitated but then decided he could trust her. “He’s been

having dreams.”

She placed her mug back on the table. “Dreams? You

mean prophetic dreams or nightmares?”

“A little of both,” he said. “Mad’s never been very

open to the shared-dream experience. Even though the two

of us have occupied the same living space for hundreds of

years, we’ve shared a dream only on a handful of

occasions.”

“He must have incredible control on his psyche. I

understood that dragons in close quarters have always

hopped between one another’s dreams.”

“That’s definitely been my experience.” He glanced at

her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we start dreaming together

soon.”

She shook her head. “We probably won’t.”

Her reply surprised him. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“My parents weren’t very hands-on with me, but they

did teach me to meditate. I’ve had incredible control over

my thoughts and my sleeping mind since a very young age.

After the Knight’s seer tried to get into my head—”

“What?” Griff cut her off midsentence. Fear punched

him in the gut. “When was this?”

“I was a teenager and it scared me to death. Her mind

was strong, but I got the sense she was dying.” Avani

visibly shivered. “Her presence felt so cold and black in

my mind. I didn’t sleep for days after that experience.

That’ was when my parents decided it was time for me to

truly focus on meditation and fasting as a means of

controlling my mind.”

“And suppressing your dragon,” he said a bit testily.

“You may have gained control over your thoughts and your

dreams, but you sacrificed the greater knowledge of your

inner beast, Avani. Can’t you see how dangerous that is?

How vulnerable it’s made you?”

“Well I can’t exactly change it, can I?” She snapped

back at him in frustration. “For better or worse, I am who I

am, Griffin. I’m not like you. I don’t know what it’s like to

unleash my dragon and surrender to the primal side of my

brain. It…frightens me.”

“To be out of control,” he guessed.

“Yes.”

“You wouldn’t be,” he assured her. “You’re so

headstrong. I suspect, once unleashed, your Naga form

would be totally under your control.”

She narrowed her eyes at his description of her as

headstrong. Then, a little curiously, she asked, “Is it like

that for you?”

“Yes. When I let my inner beast free, my human thoughts

and logic are totally clear. It wasn’t always like that in my

very early days, but you learn to be more confident in

trusting when it’s time to rely on your beast’s instincts and

when it’s time to think as a human.”

He wondered about the time the Knight’s seer had

touched Avani’s mind. “What do you think she wanted?”

Avani shrugged. “I don’t know. Information, I think. She

steered my dream toward my childhood. It was all very

strange. She populated the dream with people I’d never

met but had seen in photographs. Estranged family,” she

clarified. “The dream got weird after that. I was in a dark

hole but I wasn’t me. I was a serpent. I slithered out along

a dark corridor. I came upon a man—and I struck him in

the neck.”

Griffin sensed the chill coursing through her. He

grasped her hand so she wouldn’t feel afraid. “It was just

a dream. It wasn’t real.”

“It felt real. It felt…vile.” She stretched her neck in that

snakelike way and licked her lips. He wondered if she

even realized how much of her Naga bled through when

she was upset. With a heavy sigh, she said, “It was a long

time ago. I haven’t had a dream so vivid since, and I don’t

plan to ever again.”

Avani tried to move away from him, but he caught her

around the waist and prevented her from escaping. He

craved her heat and closeness. Nuzzling her neck, he

inhaled her freshly showered scent. The lotion she’d put

on her face smelled different from what she’d used

yesterday, and he liked it. “What is that? Vetiver?

Sandalwood?”

She turned to better see his face. “You recognize those

scents?”

He shrugged. “You pick up a lot of skills in a thousand

years.”‘

Looking a bit wistful, she asked, “What’s that like?”

He tugged her down onto his lap and enjoyed the feel of

her in his arms. He sighed as he tried to find the right

words to describe it. Finally, he said, “It can be tedious.

There are stretches of years where life was unimaginably

difficult. Mad and I survived famine and plague all while

hiding from the Knights. It was different then. There were

more of them and more of us, and the fighting was brutal

and bloody. Barbaric,” he added as long-buried memories

resurfaced. “What you know of the war today is almost

child’s play compared to what we endured back then.”

She seemed to sense he didn’t want to talk about those

ugly times. Sliding her arms around his shoulders, she

leaned her head against him and kissed his neck. The

searing burn of her lips against his skin made his blood

boil with desire. Three nights with her and Griff’s arousal

had yet to cool. He wanted her even more now than when

he’d first laid eyes upon her.

Cupping her face, he captured her mouth. Slight

sweetness and the biting snap of mint tantalized his taste

buds. He kissed her more insistently and nuzzled their

noses together. “A thousand years seems like the blink of

an eye when I consider how long I’ve waited to feel this.”

Her dark eyes widened. He expected her to protest and

slam down that icy wall she used to protect herself, but he

was pleasantly surprised. Instead, she pressed her

forehead to his. With such vulnerability in her expression,

she whispered, “Griffin, I want you to stay.”

Happiness blossomed in his chest. The bright warmth of

it made him smile. “I want to stay, too.”

“Really?” She looked frightened to even think it true.

“Yes.” He caressed her back through the silky fabric. “I

know what I said when you came to me at the gym, but I’m

rethinking all of that. You make me want different things in

my life.”

She relaxed against him. “You make me want all kinds

of things I never imagined desiring, too.”

“Like?” He had to know.

“A family,” she confessed finally. “You make me want

to know what it’s like to belong to one person.”

Knowing her history, he could only imagine how

difficult it had been for her to admit that to him. Cradling

her close, Griffin kissed her with such loving tenderness.

“I think we already belong to one another. We may have

blundered into this relationship, but I don’t want it to end.

You’ve awakened such intense feelings within me.”

“I feel the same way.” She chewed her lip and glanced

up at him with such apprehension. “You’re not angry with

me for putting you in this position, are you?” He started to

protest but she put a finger to his lips. “Look, I basically

blackmailed you into this whole thing. I came to you

knowing you were in heat and knowing your honor would

never let you turn me away even though my request was

insane. You told me you didn’t want a mate and now look

at us.”

Griff nibbled her fingertip and brought a smile to her

worried face. “Yes, look at us. Look at how good things

are between us. That’s not an accident, Avani.”

She looked happier and calmer than he’d ever seen her.

“So what happens now?”

“Right now?” He gave the belt of her robe a tug and

watched the long swaths of fabric part to reveal her

gorgeous body. His hand slipped under the whisper-soft

panels to touch her hot skin. “Well right now I’m going to

make love to you. After that, I’m going to indulge your

need to plan everything down to the tiniest detail by letting

you
tell
me
how this relationship of ours is going to

work.”

Avani laughed but still playfully pinched him. “I’m not

that controlling.”

Now he was the one laughing. “Woman, you iron your

kitchen towels!”

“And they look very nice,” she replied hotly. Even

though she pretended to be annoyed, Avani failed to keep

the amusement from glinting in her dark eyes.

Brushing his mouth against hers, he agreed. “Yes, they

do.”

The rush of desire that accompanied their mating mouths

left Griffin dizzy. His cock throbbed to life and pushed

against the front of his loose-fitting pajama bottoms. With

his help, Avani shifted on his lap and straddled him. Her

soft hands slid between their bodies to grasp him through

the cotton of his pants. He growled against her mouth, the

rumbling and thunderous sound making her gasp.

Griff tangled his fingers in her hair and plundered her

mouth. The sleek chignon she wore stood no chance

against him. In seconds, pins were flying and long tendrils

of her coal-black hair were tumbling around her

shoulders. Lips swollen from his kisses, she gazed at him

with such adoration and need. He wanted to memorize that

moment and imprint the vision of her mussed hair and

heavy-lidded eyes forever in his mind.

She pushed down the waistband of his bottoms and

clasped his erection. Stroking him, she teased her tongue

against his lips. He groaned and pumped his hips, shoving

his aching dick against her hot palm. His own hands

moved to her luscious breasts. He pinched her dark

nipples and cupped her supple flesh while kissing her.

The spicy musk of her arousal filled the air. He

abandoned her breast and let his hand ride the gentle slope

of her belly to the vee between her thighs. He encountered

her slick wetness and carefully separated the petals of her

sex. He swirled his fingertip around the pink pearl hidden

there and coaxed a desperate moan from her throat.

Wanting to feel his cock sheathed in her slick-wet

depths, Griff grasped her bottom and lifted her into

position. She clutched at his shoulders as he lowered her

onto his rock-hard shaft. Inch by inch, she accepted him