His prowess showed and then some.
In a moment, it was over. Nyfain stood over the bleeding form of his opponent, stopping short of killing him, and sent up a thunderous roar in victory. The ground quaked. My blood froze. Desire flooded me.
Shift, I thought, as though tapping her shoulder so she’d notice me. Shift!
I want to take that dragon right now.
He can’t fly, and watching two dragons trying to hump in a field will add insult to injury. Besides, I need to claim him. Shift! Hopefully breaking the curse will give him his wings back. Then…no, I don’t want to be a part of that. Never touch his dragon.
Sure, yeah. Let’s pretend I’m going to listen to you.
She relented, giving me free rein. Before I could push the shift, though, Nyfain expanded his chest and sent a huge jet of fire blistering into the sky. It could’ve been directed at Micah. I knew from the others that fire wouldn’t kill a dragon, but it could blind them, suffocate them if directed at them for too long. Or, if the blast were strong enough, it could punch through their wings.
That blast would’ve been plenty strong enough.
The dragon showed restraint in their battle, my dragon said, dripping with gooey love and devotion. He could’ve disfigured the other dragon with a blast like that. It was in his right to kill, but he withheld. Why?
I knew why. Because even though Nyfain thought Micah crossed a line when it came to his female, Micah had also come to Nyfain’s aid. He might’ve done it for me, or said he did, but he still did it. Nyfain clearly thought that was worth sparing the other dragon’s life, and I agreed.
I shifted, walking forward, my clothes in tatters on the ground behind me. I didn’t care. All I saw was the dragon and, in a moment, the man. My man.
He didn’t spare anyone else a glance. He didn’t look back at his fallen enemy. He only saw me, his emotions raging from victory to pain, love to loss. He reached me in a rush, and I grabbed his hair in two fists and dragged his mouth down to mine.
His taste swept me away, at once familiar and exotic, comforting and so fucking arousing.
“Fuck me, Nyfain,” I murmured against his lips.
“As you command, my princess,” he replied.
THIRTY-SIX
FINLEY
Nyfain swept me up into his arms and walked me past all the standing dragons and into the rear of the castle. I held on to him tightly, almost not believing I was in his arms again.
I’d finally made it back to my dragon.
“Nyfain, I lo—”
“No,” he said, not taking the stairs up to the tower but instead bringing us into the back where the salons were located. “Don’t say that yet. I can’t…”
Heavy emotion wove through his tone and the bond, a kaleidoscope of intense feeling that hammered into my heart and melted me against him. As we reached the outer door to the salon lobby, he put me down and leaned me against the doorframe, opening the door with one hand and keeping me put with the other.
“For a moment, I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, his voice ragged. “You shouldn’t be back here. You shouldn’t have come back. But…”
His mouth crashed onto mine and he picked me up again, carrying me through the doors, into the hallway, and into the last room in the corridor, the one we’d used before.
“This is a quick stop,” he said by way of explanation as he pushed past the curtain and walked me into the tranquil waters of the bath. “I just want to wash the blood and grime off us. I want us to have a semblance of cleanliness for our first time.”
“Our first time?”
His golden eyes pinned mine as he lowered us into the warm water.
“You’ve never experienced what it’s like with scales.”
He ran his lips along my jaw as he grabbed the soap and made quick work of washing my body, his hands gliding over my fevered flesh in a kiss of pleasure.
“And it’ll be the first time,” he whispered, “that you tell me how you feel. I’m desperate to hear it and dreading it at the same time.”
“Is the broody guy just around the corner?” I teased, and then sucked in a breath as he ran his thumb over a taut nipple.
“Maybe, but it won’t matter. You can handle my rage as easily as you handle my sentimentality.”
He slowed his ministrations as we sat together, his eyes drinking me in, roaming my face.
“Fuck, how I’ve missed you, Finley,” he murmured, running his fingers down my neck. “I shouldn’t allow you to stay. I shouldn’t relish in the fact that you’re back. But I can’t resist you…and I can’t bring myself to give you up.”