Claimed by Desire (6 page)

Chapter Five

M
isty tumbled through the air, head over feet, losing her stomach with every flip. She tilted and twirled, catching glimpses of water above her, below her, beside her. One moment she was headed for the jagged side of the mountain. The next she was careening toward a massive wall of water that’d drag her down to her death. Then she was plummeting faster than before, closing in on the flat blue of the lake.

The lake grew larger. Wider. Another few seconds and the fall would be over…

Rafe’s wings closed around her. A parachute. A lifeline.

Eyes pinched tight, Misty clutched the wide span of his chest, hugged him tight and waited for the impact of water. But it didn’t come. Relief washed over her as warm sea breezes coated her dangling feet.

Misty shouted into Rafe’s chest as he veered toward the base of the mountain. Crashed into a curtain of cascading water. Beyond the waterfall, Rafe and Misty hit the ground hard, rolling against one another, Rafe’s wings wrapped around her to absorb most of the impact.

And then they hit a wall.

Rafe groaned from the collision, a primal sound that dizzied Misty with worry. His wings lolled open. Misty rolled out of his embrace and clamored to his side. His tail was shredded, the glimmering green and gold streaks dulled with metallic-brown globs of blood. His breathing was heavy and uneven. His wings torn, frayed at the edges like a used napkin.

“Rafe!” She tossed the duffel off her back and shook him, heart in her throat. If he died while in dragon form…

No. Rafe couldn’t die.

She shook him again, more forcefully, her heart overflowing with fear. What scared her most wasn’t his tail, or the blood, or his wings, although those looked bad enough for a Draco E.R. visit…it was the fact that for a single moment, she couldn’t feel anything from him. No beat of his heart. No exhale of breath. No firing through his muscles.

His eyes fluttered open.

Numbness, like needles freckling her skin, spread over her body. Her heart shifted in her rib cage, trembling with worry and regret. It was
Rafe.

“Oh, thank God.” Misty stroked his nose, letting little anxious sighs escape her lungs. “I thought I lost you.” She brushed her lips against the silky sheen of his scales as her hands roamed over his large, powerful body.

He shifted then, right beneath her. His scales disappeared, leaving hard muscle covered by tan skin. His wings folded beneath him. Within seconds Misty wasn’t resting on the chest of a magnificent dragon, listening to his heartbeat match her own. She was lying down, nestled in the crook of Rafe’s arm, warm and safe.

“It’s all right, Misty.” He stroked her hair, though it did little to slow her racing heart. “Give me a few minutes to catch my breath and I’ll be fine.”

“Those werewolves,” she said, struggling to formulate a coherent thought. “Did they hurt you…I mean, are you in pain when you shift back?”

He took a jagged breath. “You know that tingly, numbing feeling you get when your foot falls asleep?”

She nodded, feeling that odd buzzing jolt through her body as he spoke. Thanks to the rainstorm and the waterfall, her sweater and jeans were drenched, clinging to her skin, freezing her to the bone. She shivered and nestled into his chest.

“It’s a little like that,” he said. “I know a part of me was injured—I can feel the pain subsiding, warming my arms and legs—but it doesn’t hurt. Not really.”

“When I was falling…” She needed to keep talking. Release the anxious words before they festered. “For a second, I didn’t think you’d get to me in time.”

“There’s no reason to be afraid.” He pulled her close and rubbed strong hands up her arms, around her shoulders. She’d never felt more protected…more
loved
. “No matter how shredded my wings are…no matter what happens to me…you have to know I’d do anything to protect you. If I saved you with my last, dying breath, it will have been the most precious one I ever took.”

“Don’t say that.” Tears burned fast in her throat. “I can’t even think about losing you.”

Rafe stilled. God, what Misty wouldn’t give to know what was hidden behind those shadowed windows into his soul.

“You’re not going to lose me,” he said, drawing her mouth close to his. “Not tonight.”

Tonight wouldn’t be enough.

Although the cave was dark, streams of water blocking the entrance shined luminescent. As if the water itself was enchanted. Shimmering white auras danced over the walls, across Rafe’s tanned skin. Misty could see him clearly. Every perfectly sculpted muscle on his body.

“Not only tonight…I don’t ever want to lose you again.” The teasing brush of words tingled Misty’s lips as they passed. Raw passion sizzled in the air between them, laced with something deeper. Stronger.

Love.

Misty sighed, giving in to what she knew all along. “I want all of you…every day and every night of the rest of my life.”

“You don’t even have to say the words. You have me.” One of Rafe’s hands found the curve of Misty’s backside. Pinpricks of anticipation scampered down her legs. “Not a day has passed that I haven’t dreamed of having you here with me again…just like this.”

With the intensity of his gaze fighting off her chill, Misty propped up on her elbow and kissed Rafe long and deep. He returned her fervor stroke for stroke, lighting her soul on fire. His tongue was tender and wet, exploring her mouth, stealing her breath.

Misty’s hands traveled lower, tracing the hard ridge of muscle on either side of his hips. She longed to lick him there. Let her tongue trace over that groove. Instead her hand traipsed lower and gripped the thick head of his shaft.

“What’d you dream, Rafe?” she asked, stroking the thin sheath over his marblelike muscle. Tension spiraled through the air. “Did you dream of something like this?”

His eyes rolled back and his lips fell into a tight line as she stroked him faster. He was so large, she could barely grip him. Dampness pooled between her legs. God, she was so anxious for him to fill her again. And clearly, he wanted her, too.

A deep growl reverberated from Rafe’s chest as his head lolled back against the floor. He gripped her rear tight. Kneaded her flesh with desperate hands. Urged her on. But it wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t going to stop. Not until she fed the hunger burning inside her.

Misty rose to her hands and knees and swiped her tongue over her lower lip. He was enormous, not only in stature, but every single bulging part of him. He was strained. On edge. Using one hand to hold his shaft, Misty licked a deviously slow line up the length of him.

Rafe moaned as she took him into her mouth and sucked hard. Using his breathless groans as a guide, Misty worked his shaft with slow massaging strokes of her hand. He tensed from each touch, gasped with each teasing flick of her tongue over his tip.

Misty could barely contain herself. Every fiber in her body burned to straddle his middle and soothe the hollow ache in her core. When she thought he was about to burst, he grabbed her around the waist and flipped her onto her back. It was a single flash of movement that ripped the breath from her lungs.

Oh, yes…

She’d give herself to Rafe with a look, a gleam in his eye, a single, breathless word…but oh, how she loved when he took what he wanted.

“I want you naked,” he said, his eyes heavy and dark with need. In another flash, he stripped her out of her sweater and jeans. As she lay there, exposed and vulnerable, he sighed and shook his head. “So. Damn. Sexy.”

Misty squirmed under the weight of his stare and tried to pull him down on top of her. But he resisted, pulling back.

*

Rafe could’ve dropped dead a happy man.

Misty was lying before him expectantly; more beautiful than the day he met her. Her skin seemed to glow like porcelain in the reflective light of the waterfall. Her hair looked aflame; a mass of curls that splayed over the ground in waves of crimson. She was almost too angelic to touch. Almost.

“Tell me what you want,” he said hoarsely, trying to hold back from ravaging her the way he truly wanted.

She writhed beneath him, not hiding the expectant pleasure in her eyes. “Touch me.”

Rafe felt his possessive urge soar. He leaned over and claimed her mouth with his. Covered every inch of her body with his hands. Smudged trails of openmouthed kisses down her neck. Along her jaw. His lips ghosted featherlight across her honey-smooth skin.

Bending to suckle one of her taut pink nipples into his mouth, Rafe swept two fingers to the sweet spot between her legs. He sucked in a breath when he found her wet. Creamy.

Desire washed over him in a wet, scorching wave. Drenching him. Tugging him under. He teased her, swirled his fingers around her most sensitive flesh. Licked her nipples. When her back arched and she gasped for more, Rafe slid his fingers inside.

She bit her lower lip and let out a little hiss, sending his lust into overdrive.

Heart hammering in his chest, Rafe slinked down her body and hiked both legs over his shoulders. Ravished her center with his mouth. Kissed her hard. Hot. Then stopped.

“
Oh, God
…” Misty’s breath hitched and her heavy-lidded eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“Tell me what you want….” He licked her again. Wickedly slow. Holding her gaze.

“I want your mouth on me,” she breathed.

He did as she asked, kissed her wild and openmouthed. Watched her head fall back and the full mounds of her breasts arch up. If it wasn’t for the straining of his groin and the pressure gathering at the base of his spine, Rafe realized, he could pleasure Misty forever. Watching her gasp with each flick of his tongue. Seeing her arch when he drove his tongue inside her. It was pure bliss.

As he slid one hand beneath her and palmed her backside, raising her hips to his mouth, Rafe worked his tongue until she shattered, crying out his name.

Each tiny, little spasm fed Rafe’s hunger. He wanted more. He wanted her falling over the top of him. Losing herself in the heated throes of ecstasy. Riding him, rolling over the top of him, like he knew she could.

With one final flick of his tongue, Rafe pulled back to his hands and knees.

“You are absolutely…undeniably…the hottest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Her eyes, hazy with pleasure, sized him up, settling on his straining erection. “Now what do
you
want?”

Choosing to show her rather than waste time with words, Rafe settled beside her and rolled on his back, then dragged Misty over his lap. She supported herself on her arms, letting her breasts fall in his face.

God, she was perfect…perfect for him.

As Misty began to roll her hips, Rafe clutched her waist, guiding his shaft back and forth through her damp heat. He burned to stay in this moment. Her scent, warm and sweet, enveloping him. Her pillow-soft breasts heaving with each hard breath. The enchanted glow from the falls coating her body in a shimmering mist.

He couldn’t hold back much longer…

He was aching, dying, to drown in her slick heat.

He lifted her up by the hips and poised his erection at her center, about to burst from the anticipation. And with a thrust coupled with a throaty sigh, Rafe plunged deeper inside Misty than he’d ever been. It was mind-spinning—too much to take in at once.

Misty rolled her hips back as Rafe hammered into her, full and deep. He lifted her hips. Pulled out. Pounded into her again. Each time their hips met, Misty clenched harder around him, tugging him closer to his own release.

“Ride me harder, Misty,” he breathed, muscles constricting, the world going dizzy around him. “I’m so deep…harder…”

She rocked her hips against him roughly, taking in his thick length, her core sucking the climax out of him. She was so tight. A perfect fit.

His
perfect fit.

“That’s it,” he said through clenched teeth. “Faster.”

Misty closed her eyes as if she, too, was savoring the sensations bubbling inside her. She rocked her hips faster and faster, arching her back as she found a rhythm that had them both moaning in time with each surge.

With a cry that shattered the quiet of the cave, Misty climaxed a second time, rolling her body with each hard pulse of her center. Rafe couldn’t hold back. He groaned, long and deep like thunder, as he emptied himself into her. Powerful, heavy spasms seemed to flow through him forever. Filling her core. Pluming through her skin. Claiming her as his own from the inside out.

Misty was his.

He didn’t need a formal claiming ceremony to tell him so.

When the surge finally subsided and Misty’s arms went loose and limber around Rafe’s shoulders, she unstraddled his middle, then slid in place beside him. Like a warm blanket, Rafe drew her into his chest.

Yes. Rafe could drop dead a happy man.

“It’s an exciting feeling, isn’t it?” Misty said, nuzzling into him. “I feel like we might get the chance we never had.”

“No matter what happens, you’ll be all right.” Rafe pulled her close, kissed the top of her head. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“You mean
we’ll
be all right…right?”

“Sure.” He dragged his duffel to his side, unzipped the bag and pulled out a blanket barely big enough for two. After he draped it over her, there was a sliver left for himself. “You have to understand that I can’t think about the future. Not yet. All that matters is here and now. And right now there’s nowhere I’d rather be and no one I’d rather be with.”

“I get it. Complete the mission first and move on from there.” With a yawn, Misty curled into Rafe’s side. “And there’s nowhere I’d rather be, either. It’s just too damn bad I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I’m gonna be soaked through.”

“A set of dry clothes is the least of our worries.”

“I guess I’ll live without it.”

Misty was right. She
would
live. She’d live a long and happy life far from the Isle of Feralon. Rafe racked his brain—thought about if he should tell Misty the truth about his future, or lack thereof. He came up blank. Do you tell the woman you love—your soul mate—that today could be your last day in her arms? And it’s all because you want a larger, brighter life for her? Or do you let her wander the world never knowing…