Mated To The Alpha Dragon (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (16 page)

He wasn't only a good fighter; he was also incredibly smart and a brilliant strategist. His hundred years living as a shifter dragon had given him plenty of time to hone the military skills he'd learned at age  thirty-something as a Navy SEAL before The Event.

Late that afternoon, he and the other Keepers had finally killed or driven away all of the Oppressors. I saw him for just a quick half-minute before he showered and then went to a special council meeting with Julia's husband, Sam, Elizabeth's husband, Michael, and about a dozen other of his top men. Julia, Elizabeth, and I had dinner alone together in Victor's and my rooms.

Afterward, we took a bottle of wine to the hot springs and enjoyed a nice, long soak, discussing whether or not Victor would decide to launch an attack on Cold Creek. We knew it was coming. He'd planned on doing it ever since he'd killed Miles, the most recent leader of the Oppressors, about two months earlier.

He'd just been waiting on a few things. He wanted to make sure all of his men were in top fighting form and that all their magical abilities were as practiced as they could possibly be. He also wanted to kill as many Oppressors as possible during their attacks on Stonebrook in the meantime. Their numbers had dwindled to a hundred-and-sixty-something in the previous few months, a number he was able to guesstimate since two hundred Oppressors in total had been created. He wanted this number even lower, though, before any attack on Cold Creek. There were maybe fifty or so human female sex slaves there, as well as some children, and Victor was concerned about them all being hurt in a prolonged battle, as might happen with the number of Oppressors at a hundred-and-sixty-something.

But something just told me he wasn't going to wait any longer. The Oppressors seemed more desperate and reckless, knowing that an attack on them was imminent, and the frequency of their attacks on Stonebrook was increasing. Something else told me that me having a knife put to my throat was going to be the last straw for Victor. He wasn't going to wait any longer before dealing with the Oppressors, once and for all.

After our soak in the hot springs, Julia and Elizabeth left to return to their rooms, but I stayed behind, deciding to finish my glass of wine with my feet dangling in the warm, bubbling water. I'd have dashed back to Victor's and my rooms if thought he might be there, but I wasn't expecting him to be, not until way later. Council meetings could take hours and hours and hours. And I knew they had to pause for a dinner delivery in the middle of this one.

So I was surprised when Victor came strolling into the hot springs cavern just as I finished the last of my wine.

He grinned, his charcoal-gray eyes twinkling. "Two little birds told me I might find you here. Need some company?"

I set my glass on a ledge, hopped to my feet, and all but threw myself into his arms. "Yes. I missed you so much."He kissed the top of my head, picking me up. "I miss you every single second I'm not with you."

I never, ever got tired of Victor picking me up and holding me in his strong arms. Many average non-shifter men probably wouldn't have been able to, since I was a bigger, curvier girl, but since the average shifter dragon possessed the strength of a couple hundred men, Victor could pick me up with ease. And not only could he pick me up despite my curves; he loved my curves. He found them sensuous and beautiful, and he'd told me on more than one occasion that just looking at them often made him feel nearly mad with desire.

I'd had a couple of boyfriends back in my hometown of Haverbrook, before I'd become the yearly bride sacrifice and Victor had chosen me as his wife, but they all merely tolerated my full figure. None of them really seemed to find it sexy. None of them became granite-hard just from looking at me, fully clothed, from across a room. Like Victor often did.

Still holding me off the ground in the hot springs cavern, he gave me a slow, lingering kiss, and I realized it had been an entire twenty-four hours since we'd made love. Which was kind of a long time for us. When he broke the kiss, I hiked my legs up on his hips, smiling a little.

"Let's go back to our rooms. I want to make love."

His mouth twitched with a grin.

"Gladly. Let’s try something a little different tonight. And we can stay put right here."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

With him still holding me up and my legs still wrapped around his hips, I searched Victor's face. "You want to do something different? And you really want to stay here instead of going back to our rooms? Wha--what if someone comes in? Which, actually, is a pretty good possibility. You know a lot of people don't really stop coming to the hot springs until about midnight."

His mouth curved in a sly grin.

"So let 'em. This cavern has a door. With a lock."

The hot springs were a series of several caverns, each of them with natural shallow springs of various sizes. This one was the only one with a door for some reason

"But...what if people hear us while we're...."

The uncarpeted caverns could really resound with echoes, to say the least, and they shared thick stone walls and a ceiling, which was at least thirty feet high, and it didn't connect to any of the walls. Meaning, it was not hard at all to hear what was going on in other caverns, which was usually just laughter and conversation.

"What if people hear us while we're...being intimate?"

Victor and I both had a tendency to get a tad vocal at times.

"Again, let 'em. If it makes them uncomfortable, they can come back to the springs another night."

I had to admit, the idea of making love somewhere outside of our rooms was kind of a thrilling one. The idea of possibly even being heard was also kind of a thrilling one for some strange reason. Though I hadn't heard anyone in the other caverns for a little while. But that didn't mean more people wouldn't be coming in over the course of the evening. That  didn't even mean other people weren't even possibly in the other caverns right then, just soaking silently.

More than a little turned on, I fought a smile, feeling Victor's already-hard member between my legs. "Okay."

His deep gray eyes glimmering in the glow from a few electric lights hanging at intervals along the cavern walls, he set me down on my feet and then left the cavern, telling me he'd be right back.

He soon returned with a big basketful of folded, clean white towels, which normally sat at the end of the hallway that led to the hot springs. "I've never given you a full body massage before, and I want to right now. But I want you to be comfortable first."

The prospect of Victor's hands and long, strong, fingers all over my body sent a current of electricity racing through me from head to toe.

He began covering a low, wide stone bench jutting from one of the cavern walls with towels, and glanced at me over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling. "Have any lotion in your bag?"

I always brought a big bag containing hair ties, bottled water, and other odds-and-ends to the hot springs with me, and I sure did have a bottle of lotion. I couldn't have been happier about that. I began rifling through the bag and came up with the lotion just as Victor finished blanketing the wide stone bench with at least a dozen towels. He'd also placed several on the ground next to it, where I figured he'd sit or kneel to give me the massage

I hesitated going over to him and stood holding the bottle, suddenly a little shy. I'd never had a full-body massage in my entire life. Despite the fact that Victor was my husband and had been for several months, and despite the fact that we'd made love too many times to count, it still seemed like a pretty intimate thing to have someone massage your entire body, maybe just because it was something new. And maybe also just because I'd never been entirely comfortable with my body and my curves, and still maybe wasn't, at least not a hundred percent, despite knowing how much Victor loved my figure.

Seeming to read my thoughts, he came over to me and took me in his arms, his low voice rumbling near my ear. "I love every single inch of your body; I love it to absolute madness. I want to show you just how much. I want you to feel completely relaxed, and cared-for, and cherished."

His words were just what I needed to hear. I tipped my face up, and he began kissing me, moving his hands to cup my full bottom over my bathing suit. It wasn't long before he pulled my bathing suit off and looked me over from head to toe, his breathing accelerating, before kissing me again. I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders, pressing my softly rounded belly against his hardness.

Maybe fearing that we wouldn't get to my massage if our kissing went on much longer, he broke the kiss, led me over to the plush towel-cushioned bench, and guided me to lie down on my stomach. He hadn't even begun the massage yet, and I was already beginning to feel pretty relaxed from a combination of the wine I'd drunk, the time I'd spent in the warm springs, and his touch.

He knelt beside me, took the lotion from me, and pumped some into his hand. "Close your eyes if you want to, beautiful Kate."

He didn't need to ask me twice.

"And beautiful doesn't even fully describe you. Nor does gorgeous. There's never been a word invented that could fully describe your beauty."

I smiled, marveling at how a man so strong, tough, and stoic could be so tender and sweet. How a man normally a bit stern around the people of the town he led and protected could become so romantic and loving while in private. How a man could go from taking out Oppressors while in dragon form, fierce, to melting his wife's heart with a few simple words mere hours later.

I first felt his strong hands on my feet, his touch firm enough not to tickle in the least. He stroked my arches with his thumbs, the lotion making them glide smoothly over my skin. Presently, he moved the stroking to my soles, and I began entering a state of deep relaxation. He continued on to my calves and the backs of my knees, his touch firm yet gentle, pausing a few times to plant a few kisses on my bare skin, making me sigh.

When he got to the backs of my thighs and my bottom, I realized that I wasn't so relaxed as to not be aware that his touch was making an ache develop low in my belly. Which only intensified when he planted a few slow, lingering kisses on those areas of skin as well. He massaged my back, arms, and shoulders, his slick fingers kneading every last muscle, before moving on to the nape of my neck, first brushing aside few strands of long blonde hair that had escaped my messy bun. I began hoping he was going to ask me to flip onto my back so he could continue the massage on my front, and within a little while, he did.

After I'd turned over, he swept his gaze over my entire naked body, a faint low growl rumbling in his chest. I closed my eyes again, wanting to concentrate completely on his touch. With more lotion warmed between his hands, he started at my ankles and worked his way up to my thighs. And though my muscles felt like jelly, I was beginning to become a little less relaxed in other ways. Especially when Victor gripped my thighs firmly but gently and lightly kneaded them, his strong, slippery fingers causing a tingling in the area between them.

When he began massaging my feminine mound with two slow fingers, I couldn't hold back a moan. He soon worked his way from my belly to my breasts and kneaded them lightly before paying even more specific attention to my stiffened nipples, his breathing becoming a little fast and ragged. The ache low in my belly intensified, accompanied by an urgent throbbing in the most sensitive area between my legs.

I opened my eyes, took one of his hands, and guided it down to my femininity. "Touch me. Please."

Needing no further invitation, he slid a fingertip between my slick folds, located my sensitive, throbbing bud, and began stroking it, watching the movement with glassy eyes. My legs spread, I whimpered with pleasure, gently rocking my hips in rhythm with his strokes. His breathing became even a little faster and more ragged still. He continued stroking me, briefly lowering his head to suckle one of my hardened nipples before returning his gaze to my womanhood, and before long, I felt my body hurtling towards climax.

"Don't stop. Don't stop, please."

With a low grunt, Victor signaled that he wouldn't, and I threw my head back, the sensation of his strong fingers on my most sensitive spot the only thought in my mind. Within seconds, my entire body began shuddering, and I bucked my hips to meet his hand, clutching one of his muscled shoulders at the same time. The cry of pleasure I made echoed off the stony cavern walls.

When the last spasm of ecstasy had passed, Victor pulled my upper body into his arms and held me, cradling me, while my excitement ebbed. Panting, I rested my face against the chiseled contours of his chest. But soon I realized that my excitement wasn't ebbing completely. I wanted to give him pleasure, too, and I wanted to feel him inside of me.

Once I'd caught my breath, I lifted my face. "Please make love to me now."

All too eager to comply with my request, he sat me upright, then stood  and practically tore off his clothes. My excitement returned full-force at the sight of his long, thick manhood, more than fully erect. Once I'd feasted my eyes on that particular part of him, my gaze traveled the length of his hard body, all six-foot-three of it, his lightly tanned skin glowing in the dim electric light.

He took my hand, pulled me up, and led me over to a stone outcropping in the exact shape of a stair step. "Here, beautiful Kate. I want to take you from behind.” His voice was just about as low and husky as I'd ever heard it.

With a new, urgent ache building low in my belly, I stepped onto the smooth stone step, braced my hands on the stone wall behind it, and leaned over, presenting myself to him to enter. Exhaling with a hiss, he positioned the head of his shaft at my entrance and then slid in with a long, low groan. I moaned at the sensation of being so completely and intimately filled, not even caring if there was anyone within earshot in the other hot springs caverns.

After grabbing onto my soft, full hips, Victor began thrusting, pulling himself almost all the way out before sliding back into my slickness again with a grunt. He continued with these exquisitely long, slow strokes until the ache low in my belly became nearly unbearable. And just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, he accelerated his pace, his guttural grunts becoming a fast series of growls. I pressed my hands into the rough stone wall, arching my back, meeting his thrusts with my hips in order to take every inch of his hard length inside me.

Within a few minutes his smooth, rhythmic pace slowed and became just slightly jerky. He reached around and began stroking my sensitive feminine bud, which was once again aching and throbbing, needing release. I cried out, the sound wild and animalistic, while he continued stroking me while thrusting, making a few low animalistic sounds of his own. Soon we both cried out in unison, our bodies shuddering in climax.

His breathing nearly as fast as mine, Victor collapsed over me, resting his head on my back, and didn't speak for several moments. "God, you have no clue. Absolutely no clue what a gorgeous, sexy, luscious creature you are. If I make love to you every single day for the rest of my life, I could never tire of it. You'll never fully understand just how much you intoxicate me."

I was starting to get a clue. And I loved it.

Several minutes later, we sat embracing on the towel-covered stone bench, me on his lap with my head on his hard chest. I'd almost fallen asleep to the soothing feel of his hand running up and down my arm when he spoke.

"I think my soul left my body for a moment today when I saw that Oppressor with a knife to your throat. For a split-second, I imagined my life without you, without your love in it, and I felt like I was dying. That was, without a doubt, the final straw. I've informed the council that we'll be attacking Cold Creek a week from today. Of course, this isn't a lot of time, but I'm confident we'll be ready. We'll take out all the Oppressors and be rid of them once and for all. And then we'll rescue their slaves and bring them here."

I lifted my face from his chest and looked at him. "I want to go with you all to the fight. I want to help."

With his dark brows furrowed, Victor stared at me for a long moment, frowning. "Not a chance in hell. Have you lost your mind? You-"

"But you can put the protection spell around me."

"Still no. Absolutely, unequivocally no. As we found out today, that spell may protect you from magic, but not from normal, non-magical weapons that can harm you. Like knives. Like even an Oppressor's bare hands."

"Well, I'll bring a crossbow to defend myself with, then. Remember how I'm so good at using a crossbow and how I used one to help take out Alexander right after we got married? So I'll bring one to defend myself with if it'll make you feel better about everything.  I'm definitely coming along. Because I'm sure you and your men will have the fighting part more than taken care of, but you're forgetting something. Something pretty crucial. And you're going to need my help if you want this attack to be a complete success."