Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (68 page)

O
lena stepped quietly
to the medical ward door. Her heart hammered wildly at the sound of male laughter. She had left Nadja’s about an hour before, only now getting the nerve to face Yusef. Pausing to listen, she didn’t understand what was said, as they spoke in their native tongue.

The doctor had found her out wandering the halls, and told her to retrieve her husband. Yusef was free to go home, but the doctor wanted him supervised for the walk, and thought his wife the best one for the job. He then rattled off a bunch of care instructions, all of which Olena was sure she would never remember.

Suddenly, a servant rushed past her into the medical ward and the laughter stopped. He came back, followed by Prince Zoran. She nodded at the prince and he distractedly returned the gesture.

Olena went to face her husband. It didn’t take but a moment for his eyes to find her. He looked almost completely recovered, except for the sling around his arm. It lay against his delectably naked chest. Olek and Ualan looked at each other and quickly stood to leave. Olena glanced at them both, returning Olek’s slight frown with one of her own.

When they were alone, she asked softly, “Are you ready? They said for me to come and get you.”

Yusef threw his legs over the side of the bed. His eyes devoured her every curve. “Olena,” he began.

Olena scowled. His tone was too tender for her. “Mention what happened and I’ll do more than earn chastisement.”

Yusef grinned and said no more.

“I assume you can walk?” she gestured for him to follow, but didn’t wait to see if he would. Olena hastened ahead of him into the passageway leading to his palace home.

Y
usef admired
his wife’s fighting spirit, and the view he was given of her very firm backside when she walked before him. He limped to keep up with her pace. The muscles in his back spasmed at the strain caused by the movement.

“Hey,” he called, needing to stop from the furiously growing pace. Olena turned to him at the grunt of his voice. He leaned against a wall, resting and breathing hard. To his husbandly pleasure, her face fell as she forgot everything else to rush to his side.

Olena studied his face and lightly moved her hands along his bare chest in concern. Over a dozen long, angry gashes slashed over his skin. They were healed shut, but they hurt terribly.

“What happened to you?” Her voice was weak.

Taken aback by her tormented voice, he lifted the arm that wasn’t in a sling so he could cup her cheek. He stroked the soft skin. “Didn’t they tell you?”

Olena nodded. “But you really didn’t see who did this to you?”

“No. But, we will find the truth.” Yusef’s thumb moved to trace her lip and he felt her tremble. He dropped his hand.

“What is it? Are you hurting?”

Yusef merely smiled and she wrinkled her nose at the obviousness of her question.

“I mean, do you want to turn back?” she clarified.

Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own. “Did you mean it when you said you meant to leave me?”

Olena drew herself up, straightening away from him. Her eyes clouded once more, the delicate bond between them severed by her will.

“I’m not princess material, knight.” She slipped an arm around his lower back to help him walk. He leaned on her as they took a slower pace. “How about we leave it at that for now?”

They moved in silence. Yusef was tormented by her words.

Once in Yusef’s palace home, Olena let him go. “I was told to see if you needed help bathing.”

No, he didn’t need help, but he wouldn’t admit to as much. A small plan formed in his mind, and Yusef decided that maybe there were ways to convince his stubborn wife she belonged with him. Anything was worth a try.

“You wouldn’t mind?” He affected a small groan of pain. It wasn’t too much of a stretch. His back did hurt.

“No,” she rushed, “of course not.”

Yusef’s brow lifted at her ready answer.

“Well,” she continued, “you did bathe me when I was sick. It’s the least I can do for you. And the doctors did leave you to my care. Though, I have to tell you, I am no nursemaid.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Yusef’s eyes lit as he thought of how she’d brought him out of his coma. A little more of that medicine and he would be ready to take on the entire Var army.

Yusef felt the rush of her desire hitting him and was relieved. It would seem their encounter in the medical ward hadn’t turned her off to him completely. He would just have to show her a softer, gentler approach to her body, one that would melt her to him. The greater, straining, rougher passions would come later. He wondered how hard it would be to convince her to let him soothe the ache he delved into her. She had softened to his will so easily in the past.

“Maybe you should shift.” She bit her lip thoughtfully, eyeing him up and down and up again, as if she would have him shift for her at that very moment.

A long silence passed. Finally, Yusef said, “I can’t. It would stress the wounds.”

“Oh,” she mumbled.

Yusef grinned. Was that disappointment he heard? Damned, but if his wife wasn’t an intoxicating vixen. If she was that eager to play with his dragon form, he would gladly let her. Not that he could feel her so well behind the hard armor of his shifted skin. Smiling, he knew there were other games they could play before he shifted back to man so that he could take her.
Captive and Captor
came instantly to mind, as did
Hunter and the Hunted
.

His eyes flashed with the golden hues of passion, which he quickly subdued before she could see the full force of his desire.

“I think you should probably use the hot spring so you can sit down,” she said, leading him toward the bathroom.

The hot spring was all right with Yusef. Thinking of her administering hands on his body, he groaned. When she glanced back at the sound, he turned his lustful gaze to an instant grimace of pain.

“Maybe they let you go too early,” she said, more to herself.

His back hurt from walking, but the pain was worth it if he got to spend the evening with her, and he did not protest his own discomfort.

“No, I made them let me out. I was promised a love slave if I left. I believe the exact words were, ‘I’ll do any sordid thing you want, in any position, in any place.’”

“I only said that to get you to wake up.”

“It worked.”

O
lena hid
her reddening face from him and motioned that he should get in the bath.

“So, you had no time to shift before the attack?” She knew the answer, but asked anyway to fill the silence. It was perhaps the worst image she could bring to mind. She was curious to see what he looked like—
completely shifted
. Would everything turn hard with armor, like if his...well…

“I will gladly shift for you later,” he said, as if reading her naughty thoughts.

“Oh, stop!” She glared at him, her hands on her hips as she turned to face him. “Let’s just get it all out now. So I was technically a virgin. It doesn’t make you some kind of conquering hero or anything. You just happened to be the first man opportunity arose with. I mean everyone else I had been with up until you, I was trying to steal from, and they got stuck with the firefly pin before anything could come of it. And there is my crew, but they are even more alien and stranger than you are. So, get your manly smiles over with and let’s drop it. Okay? Great.”

Yusef merely grinned, unfazed by her speech.

“Oh, you’re impossible.” She grimaced, rolling her eyes. “Come on. Into the bath.”

Yusef followed her direction. When he didn’t undress, she looked at him expectantly. “Would you mind? I can’t bend over yet.”

Olena automatically looked down to his groin. Shaking herself, she cleared her throat. “No, of course you can’t.”

She kept her eyes averted as she stripped off his pants, refusing to look at him. It’s not like she hadn’t seen naked men before him. But now, remembering how he had felt inside her, she became nervous. She bit her lips and tried to take his pants down by pinching the sides with the tips of her fingers. He chuckled at her efforts. It took her awhile to realize his pants were caught on his erection.

“Would you mind getting my sling?” Yusef’s voice dipped. Her eyes darted to him and her composure wavered. “Is something wrong?”

“Ah. No, no, nothing.”

The sling was tied at his shoulder and she had to press close to his side to untie it. Yusef let his naked thigh brush against her pants. She tensed, very aware of where his body met hers. She fumbled longer than she should have, but when she pulled back he was freed.

Yusef smiled at her, stepping into the hot bath. He slowly sank down onto the seat. “Why don’t you take your clothes off and come in?” His eyes lit with challenge, seeming to say,
you’re not embarrassed, are you?
“You’ll be better able to help me.”

Olena eyed him, but in the end thought he was too injured to engage in too much seduction. Feeling very aware of her body, she pulled off her shirt. When his eyes lit with approval, she had a sense of pleasure from his interest. She wasn’t so quick to take off her pants and reveal the moistening of her sex to him. That significant part lit with its own ideas. In fact, her body seemed treacherously eager to have him again. She felt a pull deep inside her, and drew hot at the mere look of him in the bubbling water. It took her longer to step into the bath than it should have.

Yusef was gentleman enough not to comment. His gaze dipped down over her throat and chest as she lowered herself into the warm water. Her breasts bobbed near the surface, the water lapping against her nipples to make them hard. His hands twitched as if they would disobey him and touch her.

Olena took soap and handed it over to him. Again, he said, “Would you mind terribly?”

Her mouth went dry from her rapid breathing, but she pushed forward. She parted her lips as her finger found the flesh of his hard chest. She lathered him in circles, running all over his upper body. She touched his back lightly, mindful of his wounds.

Olena pulled away. She looked at the water. “Can you lift your foot?”

Yusef flinched, but managed. As her breast brushed against him, he didn’t seem to care about his injuries. She cleaned one foot and hair-roughened calf, then the other.

“Maybe you should stand.” Olena licked her lips. The texture of his skin mesmerized her.

He hesitated only a moment before standing to reveal the full, proud length of his arousal. He cradled his arm to his chest and waited. Yusef shrugged. “I can’t help the reaction. Can you work around it?”

Olena nodded. She moved her hands from where the water hit his lower thighs, working up over his legs to his hips. She rose as she cleaned him. His member came temptingly close to her mouth. She’d never taken one between her lips, but she had heard some of the men speaking of such things and how it brought them endless pleasure. Would it bring Yusef pleasure?

Olena’s fingers skimmed over to his ass. She lathered him, standing so close she could feel the heat of his body radiating into hers.

His eyes darkened when her fingers stayed too long on his backside, her fingers turning from washing to caressing, to all out fondling as she gravitated naturally closer to him. Touching her face, he asked, “Do you still hurt?”

Olena’s gaze turned down at the bold question. When she didn’t answer, he slid his hand down her side.

“Turn around,” he urged.

Olena pulled her hands away.

“Trust me. I want to show you something.”

Olena couldn’t refuse the soft entreaty of his eyes or the firmly moving lines of his lips. Yusef held her around the flat of her stomach and drew her back against him. Their bodies angled so that his erection pressed into the softness of her backside, parting her slightly against his length. Not moving to penetrate, he began gliding his good hand over her flesh.

Yusef drew his fingers over her nipples, circling and pinching them with agonizing attention, before moving his hands down over her stomach to rest briefly above her pussy’s opening. Olena tensed, her head falling back on his shoulder. She shook in anticipation.

His lips were at her ear, nipping and soothing. “I’m going to give you the pleasure you should have felt the first time.”

She shivered, awakening enough from her haze at his words to try and pull away. His strong arm tensed. He pulled her once more against his hardness. He delved his fingers to part her body ever so slightly.

Olena couldn’t stop her hips from responding as he rubbed at her sensitive clit. Her back arched into him and a whimper of pleasure escaped her lips. His kisses pressed her neck as his hand pressed her sex. Her hips jerked, naturally seeking to ease their tension as they thrust up and down in light movements. Her body was fevered from washing him and now, to feel him touching her, she moaned.

Yusef bent lower, pushing his fingers along her slick heat. The beginnings of a tremor radiated from where his hand touched and he hadn’t even entered his fingers into her. She bucked her hips and she shook with a sudden force. Climax came hard and fast. Her hot moisture pooled on his fingers as she jerked against it in pleasure.

Yusef growled. Her cry echoed around them. She became limp, leaning into his arm for support. Her ragged breath fell heavy as she naturally turned her lips to nudge him.

“Yusef,” she said, awed by what she felt. He held her up. She turned and rested her head to his chest as she tried to calm her heartbeat.

“
Y
ou shouldn’t be left
in such a state.” Olena peered down at his cock, which was still tense and pulsing with need.

The clean smell of his flesh and the look of his rock hard body caused her desires to renew. Still weak in the wake of her pleasure, she forgot who she was and how she expected herself to react. This moment was perfection and being with him was all she wanted.

“Tell me how to ease you.” Her eyes didn’t meet his, as her hand fluttered forward to touch his arousal. She curled her fingers around the shaft. She’d never taken things this far and was in new territory. But, what better partner to teach her than her husband who already showed a generous desire for her?

Something in the back of her mind awakened to warn against such things, telling her it would be more difficult to leave if she let him continue. Another, stronger voice, told her it would be more difficult for her if she didn’t. She couldn’t keep resisting him and still manage to think straight at the same time. To deny him was to deny herself. If she just let him complete what they’d started, maybe he’d be out of her system and she could again get focused on returning to her old life.

When Yusef didn’t move, Olena glanced shyly up at him. His lids were lowered in pleasure at her willing touch. Why did her old life of adventure suddenly seem so dull and uninteresting? Why was this ugly, white house suddenly holding more appeal than the luxurious comforts of her captain’s quarters? Why was being bound to this dragon-man more tempting than precious freedom?

Her lips parted. The ache inside her became unbearable, making her want to run. The pain had nothing to do with the desires festering inside her stomach. Tears moistened her eyes. She would never allow them to fall.

“Yusef?” She thought of Doc Aleksander and what she had to do for him. It’s not like the man had given her a choice. And when the Medical Mafia wanted something from you, you didn’t naysay them. To do so would mean certain pain, death if you were lucky, and most assuredly, the destruction of everything and everyone you held dear.

“What is it?”

Olena’s hand left his arousal to skim up his chest.

I need to tell you something,
her mind whispered.
I’m going to run out on you and steal one of your sisters-by-marriage.

Olena hated herself for what she would do to Yusef and his family. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” he insisted.

“It’s nothing,” she said, breathless. “Will you kiss me?”

He gave her a quizzical smile, but lowered his head, assaulting her senses with a tender force of passion that left her mind numb and her limbs liquid. As he pulled back, her entire body shook and Olena was sure she was going to explode into nothingness.

She leaned into him, feeling his heart beneath her palm. Her eyes were still closed, her lips still pursed as if he were even now against them. Her lashes fluttered to catch a glimpse of a devilishly handsome smile. He dipped down once more.

Olena moaned softly. She was too far gone to think or calculate. Winding her hand around his broad neck, she ran her fingers through the soft silken texture of his dark hair.

When he pulled back to let her breathe, she whispered without thought, “I was so afraid that you were going to die.” It was not a sentiment of love, but it was the closest she’d ever come to admitting she cared for him. She lightly touched the scars on his back. “They will heal, won’t they?” Her eyes moved to capture his. “You’re going to be fine, right?”

Yusef nodded. Leaning over, he pressed his lips to hers as he passionately kissed her. Only by the power of her hands around his shoulders, and the strength of his good arm around her back, did she stay upright. Her knees gave out from under her and she swayed against him.

When he pulled back, his eyes were flecked with golden promise and Olena knew she had her answer.

“I’m not going anywhere, firebird,” he said tenderly, “except to take my wife to bed.”

Olena trembled. The bedroom seemed so intimate, so permanent. She couldn’t allow herself to fall deeper into his maddening spell. A smile spread over her parted lips, and she let an unmistakable mischief overtake her gaze.

“Why not here?” She smoothed her hands along his body and pressed kisses to his chest and stomach. Yusef tensed, unable to deny her mouth as she trailed it lower.

He moaned. He tangled his fingers into her hair, urging her to continue her wayward descent. Her breath fell rapid and hot against his flesh.

Olena kissed the tip of his arousal before tracing feathery caresses along the shaft to the base. His body lurched.

He quickly sat down. Olena blinked in surprise.

“Come here,” he said in a voice filled with promise. “I’ll show you how to ease us both.”

Olena straddled his lap. The heat from the steam made her hair stick to her flesh like streaks of fire. A long wave curled around the bend of her breast. He lifted his hand to follow the wet trail of her locks, moving to brush them back as he unveiled the nipple puckered beneath. Olena shivered. Yusef caressed the hard bud with the backs of his fingers.

Slowly, his eyes burning into her, he grasped her hip. Pulling her forward, he urged her closer to his cock.

“I’ve burned for you, Olena, since the first moment I saw you, standing defiant and beautiful at the mouth of that spacecraft. I knew I would have you then, as I want you now.”

He dipped his fingers into the water, reaching to feel her. Olena’s hands fell to his shoulders as he stroked a fire into her. As her hips responded in restless motion against him, he slid a finger inside of her to stroke more intimately.

Soon the hand wasn’t enough. She need more—much more. She needed him. She needed to feel him inside of her. Olena leaned over, kissing his wet neck, drinking from his glorious skin. Her lips nipped at his ear, delighting in the shivering response.

He took his fingers from her, moving so he could enter her. Olena stiffened slightly, remembering how full he’d felt the last time. Her thighs clenched, keeping him from easing her downward.

“Mmm.” He moaned at her resistance. “You control the depth. Don’t be afraid of me.”

Olena couldn’t resist the plea in his words as his hand once more pulled her to take him. Not looking up, she felt his hand against her leg as he guided himself to her opening. He rubbed the tip several times against her, letting her get used to his hardness. Then, ever so slowly, he pushed his arousal just into the slick entrance of her body.

Olena was rewarded with pleasure. Slowly, she loosened her legs and slid down to capture him. Yusef appeared as if he wanted nothing more than to grab her and slam her down. Biting his lips, he resisted.

Olena gradually fit him inside her, feeling the unyielding fullness as she accepted his length and accommodated his size. Olena pushed up and he went deeper still.

His voice caught as he spoke. “Move me in you.”

Olena pulled up a fraction and then lowered. The thrust was achingly shallow.

“Again,” he commanded. His hands gripped her tighter as if he fought the beast within him that wanted nothing more than to begin mindlessly pumping and ramming into her softness.

Olena pulled up only to repeat the same aching torment. Her body burned for more, but she was still getting used to the feel of him, still discovering the sensations.

“Again.” His voice ground out in a pain.

This time when she moved, he lifted her up higher. Olena protested and forced her hips down. The water caused her to slide from his grip, and she came down forcefully upon him. Olena cried out in pleasant surprise. She was rewarded with a gratifying wave of pleasure.

Yusef’s groan joined hers.

“Just like that, firebird.” Yusef again lifted her. “Do it again.”

Olena lifted up only to push down hard as her ass hit his legs. Yusef’s hand kneaded along the curve of her back, moving to her breasts to circle and pinch her nipples.

“Faster,” he urged. “Take me faster.”

Olena obliged and was richly rewarded. Her hips took over, mindlessly driving against him, building their ecstasy. It was like nothing she had ever felt.

When she tensed, Yusef pushed up from the seat and thrust up, going as deeply as her body would take him. Olena cried out, arching back. She quivered violently. His body answered her call, jerking roughly as they released all the tension that had been building since the night they first met.

Olena dropped against him, terrified she could feel so much, and unable to process the rush flowing between them—not only with their physical release, but their minds and bodies as he tried to connect to her. Shudders wracked her. It was too much for her to handle, as she knew she would leave him soon, would deceive him so horribly that the affectionate expression on his face would never hold. After she delivered his brother’s wife to Doc Aleksander, he wouldn’t even be able to look at her.

Something had to give and since her body had a mind of its own, still encasing him inside her, it was her emotions that shut off to him, blocking the connection before it could take root

Y
usef felt
the snap between them as sharp and real as a slap across the face. They’d been so close. Only a second more and he would have been able to read her completely, and she him. But she refused the intimacy of his mind and soul. The feeling left him cold and weary.

“Olena?” He wondered at her mental withdrawal.

“Hum?” Olena moaned into his neck. She must have detected pain in his voice and mistook it for physical. She took herself off him, her wide eyes checking him over for injury. “Oh, Yusef, I’m sorry, your back.”

He let her think what she wanted, having no desire to put unreturned feelings at her feet. He did have some measure of pride left, even if this vixen he called a wife had taken everything else from him—including his heart.

Her flushed features filled with concern, as she said, “Why didn’t you stop me? You didn’t break anything open, did you? Can you move? Are you paralyzed?”

Yusef chuckled despite himself as she tried to move around to see his back. If ever he was to be injured, let it be with her thrusting like a flaming tree-witch on top of him.

His member grew with alarming speed at the thought. His mouth twitched, as he wickedly replied, “Feel me and see if you think me paralyzed.”

Olena blushed, all the way to the roots of her hair. She looked down. Indeed, she could see the tip of him in the water. “Again?”

Yusef grinned and shrugged. “It seems I like your medicine better than that of the doctors.”

“Should we get out of the bath?”

“Where would you have us go?” He captured her lips. His back did indeed feel loosened from the hot water, and he found himself very ready to try something more vigorous.

“I, uh…” She glanced around. “Where do you want me?”

Standing, he pulled her with him. Her breast slid over his body, the nipple hardening against him. Boldly he kissed the breath from her, only to release her when her knees were bending and her hands were clutching at his shoulders. Growling against her mouth, he said dirtily, “I would have you deeply impaled on my shaft.”