He bit the back of her neck, making her wince at the slight sting then moan when he licked the wound. “Evil wench,” he muttered against her sweating flesh.
“Presumptuous snake.”
Then they stopped talking all together.
* * *
Briec intertwined his fingers with Talaith’s and pushed her arms over her head. Her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled up at him. “You never let me sleep.”
“Why sleep when there are more interesting things to do?” He kissed her neck and nuzzled under her chin. “You’re a Nolwenn witch, you have centuries for sleeping.”
“In other words I should enjoy you while I have you?”
His grip on her hands tightened and he kissed her chest. “Exactly.” He didn’t want to give her false hope. In another hundred or two hundred years, he’d be done with her. Or three hundred. He hadn’t made up his mind yet. Maybe even four if her already brilliant oral skills continued to improve. Or five if she continued to scream his name at the best times. But no more than that. And to promise more would be wrong.
Briec groaned as Talaith’s leg slid up his thigh to wrap around his waist. The sheath holding her knife scraping against his skin.
“Good. I hate to think I’d be stuck with your arrogance for longer than was necessary.”
“You’re the only one who says I’m arrogant. Most say I’m honest.”
“They’re afraid to tell you the truth. Afraid to tell you you’re difficult and annoying.”
“And why aren’t you afraid, little witch?” he asked seconds before sucking one of her n**ples into his mouth. Her back arched and she moaned, her hands fighting to pull from his grasp.
Briec rocked against her, his c*ck teasing the soft skin of her thighs but he didn’t enter her. Not yet.
Her body picked up his rhythm, her h*ps pushing back.
“I don’t know. I should be afraid. You’re a fire-breathing dragon. Your kind hunts my kind for sport.”
“Aye, but it’s not much of a challenge unless you’re in a pack,” he mumbled against her breast, unwilling to release it.
She stifled a laugh and Briec grinned. He did enjoy making this woman smile.
“How do you live with yourself, Lord Arrogant?”
In between using the tip of his tongue to toy with her hard n**ples, he answered, “Very easily, Lady Difficult. I find myself quite charming.”
“All that gives me ease is to know you’ll be done with me soon. I’ll simply leave when the rains end—”
Briec brought his head up so quickly she gasped in surprise.
“You’ll leave when I’m done, little witch. Not before.”
Her brown eyes narrowed. “You insist on pushing me, dragon.”
“There is no pushing. Merely fact. I will tell you when your blood debt to me has been paid.”
“Gods damn you, Briec.” She tried to pull away from him, but he held tight to her hands. “Why do you have to be such an ass?”
“And why must you fight me all the time?” He rested his lips against her ear. “Why can’t you just come when I tell you and be done with it?”
Talaith shook her head. “Briec…” She let out on an exasperated sigh. “Be grateful for that blood debt, dragon, because I truly believe I would have killed you long ago.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
She opened her mouth, he assumed to say something but nothing came out. And was her eye twitching? After several seconds, when she still said nothing, he kissed her.
Talaith’s fingers gripped him tight while the rest of her body melted beneath his.
He liked that his mere kiss could do this to her. Make her this wet and ready.
He sunk his c*ck deep into her drenched sex and shuddered at the feel of her. Of the absolute rightness of his body inside hers. With each powerful stroke, he added more time on how long she’d stay with him. The first stroke led to another ten years. By the tenth stroke, another hundred.
When he finally cli**xed and came deep inside her soft body, losing himself to her completely, the word “forever” crossed his mind.
* * *
Briec blinked, then stepped back from the cave entrance. His brothers stared, too.
“What the hell just happened?”
Shrugging at Gwenvael’s question, Briec took a careful step outside. The two suns shined brightly, no clouds to mar the beauty of the day. Normally not a strange occurrence…except for the fact that less than a mere second before, the storm had still been going full blast and had been for days. Black clouds roiled, rain came down in thick sheets to drench the land. And now—nothing.
“Anyone talk to Morfyd?” Briec asked softly.
“No. She’s been off with Annwyl.”
“You’d best track her down then.”
“What about you?”
He scratched the back of his neck with the point of his tail. “I’m taking Talaith home.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw his brothers glance at each other. “What?” He whipped his head around, nailing both dragons with one look. “What’s going on?”
Gwenvael rested back on his haunches. “You’re not going to toss her away when you’re done, are you?”
“What?”
“You’ll keep her, won’t you?” Éibhear asked. Well, it was more like a demand.
“What are you two idiots going on about?”
“We like her.”
“A lot.”
“And?”
“And, she’s not like other women,” Éibhear nearly snarled, but Briec already knew that. “Don’t simply toss her aside because you allow yourself to become bored.”
Briec didn’t think he could become bored with Talaith. Not ever. Since the rains hadn’t stopped for days, neither had they. Spending most of the day in bed or the hot springs. Only peeking out to get nourishment…or argue, which always led back to bed or the hot springs.
It had been amazing. Perhaps the best days of his already long life.
“What I do or won’t do, will be my business, brothers. Not yours.”
Éibhear, the youngest and most passionate of them all, pointed one black talon at his older kin. “Hurt her, Briec, and it will quickly become my business.”
Briec looked at Gwenvael. “Any threats from you?”
Gwenvael shrugged, his smirk well in place. “Just this—get bored with her brother, and feel free to send her my way. I’ll gladly take her in. And give her everything she needs.”
If Éibhear hadn’t jumped between them, Briec would have snapped Gwenvael’s neck like a twig.
* * *
“Not on your life, dragon!”
Talaith hid behind Éibhear, which seemed to anger Briec even more.
“You’re not being rational.”
“If rational means any more flying—then you’re damn right.”
Gwenvael laughed, but it turned into a cough as Briec’s violet eyes swung his way.
“You almost got me killed the other night. Can’t we walk? Or get a carriage with horses?”
Snorting out another laugh, Gwenvael quickly turned away.
“Talaith…come here.”
Wrapping the fur-lined cape Éibhear gave her tighter around her shoulders, she shook her head. “No.”
“If we leave now, we’ll be there in two hours. If we walk, we’re looking at days. In this unpredictable weather.”
Well, that didn’t sound much better. But the thought of flying turned her stomach.
“Can’t we stay here?”
Gwenvael smiled. This cave was his. “Why, of course you…ow!”
His claw covering where Briec’s tail had slashed his snout, he yelled, “What was that for?”
“Accident.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Talaith stepped out from behind Éibhear, who looked ready to blast his brother out of the bloody cave. “Don’t fight.”
“Then we best leave.”
Talaith scratched her head and wished she hadn’t had all those sausages for breakfast. “Fine.”
“Talaith…” Éibhear moved toward her, but she immediately saw Briec wouldn’t stand for that.
“It’s all right, Éibhear. I’m sure I’ll be fine. If I don’t fall to my death.”
Sighing in exasperation, Briec barked, “Woman, you test my patience.”
“And you push mine,” she snapped back.
She smiled at Éibhear. “It was lovely meeting you, Éibhear.”
“Well, I hope we see each other again.”
He could hope, but she knew better. Instead of lying, she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck…or, at least trying. Dragons were so big. “And thank you for all the books.”
“I’ll send you more,” he promised.
She nodded and stepped away. “Now please take care of yourself. Especially in this weather.”
“I will.”
“And don’t let Gwenvael goad you into a fight.”
“I won’t.”
Briec let out a big sigh behind her, but she ignored him. “And be good, Éibhear the Blue.” She rubbed his snout with her hand.
“Are you going to tell me to be good as well,” Gwenvael asked.
Talaith rolled her eyes. “Oh, why bother?”
“It’s polite.”
She turned from Éibhear and walked up to Gwenvael. “Perhaps. But you are not. Polite, that is.”
“This is true.” He lowered his snout close to her. “Can I get a rub as well?”
Laughing, Talaith reached up and rubbed her hand against the scale-covered flesh between his nostrils, successfully avoiding the fresh wound. “You are a beast, Gwenvael the Handsome. And I can’t wait until some female comes along who will make your life absolutely intolerable.”
“That’s a lovely sentiment. Could you put that into verse for me?”
“I’m waiting,” Briec bellowed.
With a resigned sigh, Talaith walked over to Briec. “Perhaps we could—”
“Get on or I’ll take you there in my claw.”
“You are not a nice dragon at all.”
She grabbed hold of his hair and awkwardly hauled herself onto his back.
“Comfortable?”
“I’d be much more comfortable back in my…aaayieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
And she screamed like that all the way to Briec’s den.
* * *
“How bad is it?”
Brastias shrugged at Morfyd’s question. “It’s slowed us down. The mud will make it slow going. Why?”
“Only wondering when we’ll get back to Dark Plains.” He didn’t like the frown of worry marring that beautiful face. He adored everything about that face, but especially the female beneath it. He didn’t like to see her upset.
“Before the storms I would have told you not long. I mean, we separated from the other troops to get back quicker. But when Annwyl began circling this general area—”
“We’ve been going in circles?”