Amethyst Bound (14 page)

After all, not much in my life worked out like the Lifetime Channel. A fact I usually accepted without question. But this feeling of…family was something new and frightening, and very appealing. Even if some nights were hell on earth, filled with fire and fighting, as long as there were moments of calm like this, it might be worth it.

Wouldn’t it?

Yeah, this fragile joy
was
worth the fight. Worth risking everything, even my independence if it came to that.

Moments later, we landed on a narrow strip of beach only a few miles from my home. Amethyst had chatted with Ben for the whole trip and seemed to be looking forward to thanking him as much as I was. Which was saying something, since I wanted to shift forms and jump him the second we touched sand.

Ben must have felt my excitement. “Wait, don’t shift or we’ll lose all our supplies, and I bought something special for you.”

We couldn’t lose everything I wore, so I waited while he threw down all the bags and then started digging through one of them. The second I was free of baggage, I shifted forms. I was about to jump into his arms when he held out a long silken robe.

“I thought robes might be easier to manage when you have to shift often.”

His thoughtfulness touched me. And the robe he slid over my arms was complete decadence in the form of soft fabric. Decorated in reds and rich purples, the Asian design included dancing dragons. It was beautiful.

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Perfect. Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back.

He held me close and murmured in my hair, “Hey, Toni, what’s all this about?”

“I’m so glad you came back to me. I thought you were gone…figured you were too smart to come back—and then we were so helpless.” I burrowed into his embrace, pressing kisses to his neck between words. “I was scared, and scared is something I don’t do very well.”

“I have no intention of leaving you. Being with you is a chance of a lifetime even without all the perks.” I pulled back and wiped at my face, embarrassed by the tears. “What perks? Seems like being a
kae’tolen
is a pretty crappy job.”

He dragged me back against his body, where I felt his heat and arousal. His lips claimed mine in a gentle kiss that went on and on, leaving me quivering with want.

“You are the perk. Never in all my life have I met someone like you. Even if Amethyst hadn’t carried me off the mountain, I’d still have hunted you down, and I wouldn’t have done it because of your pretty scales or a disappearing artifact.”

I was stunned speechless. With tears still slipping from my eyes and a silly smile on my face, I grasped at his words. “But I have an evil dragon and a bunch of vampires after me…”

“So you need me. I like that feeling. I love you, Toni.” Damn. I was going to cry some more. “I—I do need you.” The old me would have run screaming at such an admission. But this was a whole new me, a dragon-shifting, vampire-fighting, falling-in-love me. “Ben…I love you too.” I said the words quietly into his shirt collar.

“You are my
kae’tolen
and I can’t live without you.” I raised my chin and met his gray eyes. “You complete L. Shannon

117

me.”

I tilted up and nibbled at his lips lightly and then deepened the connection until we were both burning with the ever-expanding need.

“Mmm,”
Amethyst commented as I kissed the lips off Ben.

Gasping, I pulled back. “Okay, that is still kind of weird.”

“What? Kissing?” He chuckled and let me go to start moving our things off the beach and under the shade of the palm trees.

“No, not the kissing.” I helped him move the bags and wish I’d thought of where we wanted them before unloading my scales. “I was talking about Amethyst breaking into my thoughts while I’m thinking of naughty ways to get sand into your shorts.”

“Oh…I don’t think I want sand in my shorts.” I let that slide, since I intended to get sand all kinds of places. “Well, now and then I wish there were a way to let Amethyst have a little more independence.”

“There may be a way.”

“She said—”

“I heard. What are you suggesting, Amethyst?” Ben piled the last of the bags and began digging through them.

“I was once a Kindred Spirit, which is sort of
ghostlike. I may be able to separate my spirit from your
form for short periods of time.”

“Is that safe?” As much as I’d like to have a little private time, it wouldn’t be worth it if the separation put Amethyst in any danger.

“That would be nice, but I agree with Toni. Safety first and all.” He pulled a folded blanket out of one bag.

I giggled. Obviously he was looking forward to being 118

Amethyst Bound

rewarded.

“I don’t believe there is a danger beyond it perhaps
not working. Do you wish me to attempt to pull us
apart?”

I didn’t like that description, but she had said there was little risk, and having a new skill might be useful—

besides letting me and Ben have sex without it being a threesome. “If you think it’s safe, I’d like to try.” As I said it, I wondered if she would be hurt by my thoughts.

“You do understand that I don’t mind you being bound—

”

“I understand, Antonia. I also know you both enjoy
dragon fire, and I do not feel left out.”
I could feel her smile.

And then I felt myself being torn in two. With an audible
pop
I was left alone in my mind. Amethyst stood beside me in an ethereal ghostlike form just like she had suggested could be done. It was amazing to see her from the outside. She was huge, and yet if I looked at her from the wrong angle, she became invisible.

“Wow,” Ben said from beside me. “So how does this work? Will you be able to merge again later?”

“That should not be a problem.”
I was surprised to feel bereft of her presence. “You will stay close by, won’t you?”

“I would like to lie in the sun. I will not go far, but you
will have privacy.”

“Thank you, Amethyst.” I reached out for her but when I thought I would touch her shoulder, my hand passed through as if there were nothing there at all.

“Enjoy yourselves and thank him properly for both of
us.”
Amethyst moved off to the side and wallowed in a sandy depression. Strangely, as she rolled, her huge body L. Shannon

119

and thrashing motion raised no sand.

Close as she was, I shouldn’t miss her. The end of her tail curled no more than fifteen feet away.

Ben sank onto the blanket and held a hand out to me in invitation. “Do you really think it’s safe to stay here?” I took his hand and knelt beside him. “Tonight we have to meet Weaver, but I think we’ll be safe here for the day. The guys at my house claimed to be vampires, and so far they’ve only attacked at night. My thought is that the vampire myth is true and they can’t come out in the sunlight.”

“Weaver.” Ben shook his head. “He’s a scary son of a bitch. Guess we’d better be ready when he gets here.”

“Guess so.”

“You never said what he wants. Obviously he can’t have the pendent.” His eyebrows slowly rose with a hint of fear. “He won’t try to take it anyhow, will he?”

“No, for now at least he doesn’t seem to want us dead.

He offered to teach us how to live and protect ourselves.

It might be a trap but I don’t see any other choice. If I don’t accept his help and continued employment, I think the bastard would just kill us all and be done with it.”

“Oh.” Ben’s hands fell away from me and his gaze darkened.

All those concerns I thought we’d gone past came back to the surface. He’d said he loved me, but what if…what if loving me got him killed? Could he deal with that? Could I? “Ben, I know you said you’d stay. It’s brave and stupid and wonderful. But this is the real world…sort of. And I don’t expect you—” He grabbed my arms. “Don’t start up with all that again. I’m staying, and you can’t drive me off. Even if I weren’t in love with you, there’s no way in hell I’d walk 120

Amethyst Bound

away from a world full of dragons and the chance to uncover the truth behind the mythology.”

“But…”

“So forget it. You’re stuck with me.” He kissed me deeply, plunging in as if he owned me, which of course I just couldn’t lie back and accept.

I pushed him back onto the blanket, taking control of the kiss. I parted the new robe and dragged his hands to my breasts, then set on stripping his clothes away.

His declarations nagged at me. Maybe he was staying for the scientific value. Maybe the lure of a dragon in the flesh was too much to resist, even considering all the danger. I pushed the doubts to the back of my mind and locked them away with all the other things I wasn’t ready to confront.

He’d declared his love. I’d admitted my own. We both had Amethyst. For now, it would have to be enough.

Ripping away from his mouth with a gasp for air, I unbuttoned what remained of his shirt and, with each patch of skin revealed, nibbled and bit my way down his chest.

After shifting forms I was mysteriously cleansed of soot and dirt, but Ben wasn’t so lucky. Today was about thanking Ben for being a good
kae’tolen
, for staying with me, for saving my ass. It should start with the washing he’d requested, shouldn’t it?

“This reward would be far better if I included a salt bath in it.” I stood and dropped the robe from my shoulders.

“My taste not to your liking, then?” The sparkle in his eyes belied his attempt at a glare.

“Oh, your taste is spectacular. The rest, not so much.” I held out my hand to help him up. “Now get on your feet, L. Shannon

121

kae’tolen
. Let your mistress take away those clothes and clean you up so she can lick every inch.” Putting deed to promise, I helped him strip and we raced into the nearby ocean. After a fast dip, Ben surfaced with a yelp. “Damn, that’s cold!” I hadn’t noticed. “Come here. I’ll heat you up again.” I petted my hands over him. Then I teased and tempted and rinsed away everything but the passion, until he was clean and I was crazy with my body’s demands. I returned to his mouth, kissing him while I backed him toward our waiting blanket.

But impatience won out. At the edge of the softly breaking waves, I wrapped my ankle around his knee, upsetting his balance and riding him into the wet surf. I shattered our kiss into a flurry of panting nips. Leaving his delectable mouth behind, I roamed to his ear and then nibbled my way south.

I kissed and licked the salt water from his chest, homing in on his flat nipples. A few nips tightened them and left him gasping. I trailed my tongue down across his abdomen, reveling as it reacted to my attention, forming a nice, not-too-overdone six-pack. Lower, I bit the sweet spot where his hip bone met flank, and then south again.

Without touching his rising cock I let my breath torment him first. Then I leaned in and licked him from hilt to tip until the already-hard length twitched upward with silent pleas.

“Toni!” Ben wasn’t so silent. “Dear Lord, woman.” I heard a soft chuffing laugh from Amethyst.

Only then did I relent, stroking and controlling the base with my hands and sucking the head and part of the length into my mouth.

“Oh mercy…” His tone was reverent.

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Up and down his shaft, I drew on his flesh until I found time with his pulse, using that rhythm to maintain the balance between pleasure and climax. And when I felt him slipping from my reins, I pulled away to give him an evil grin. “Not yet,
kae’tolen
. Not yet.” His answering smirk was just as wicked. “As you command, my mistress.”

Gliding up his slick body, I straddled his hips, pressing my overheated center against his cock. The contact was electric. My hips jumped against him, pushing over the head for a dip before I caught the motion.

Ben wasn’t nearly as submissive as he’d pretended.

Grabbing my hips, he angled upward and in a single thrust brought us together. Even when I tried to steal control back, he kept his anchor on my hips. I drove the pace, riding him in long hard strokes while he offered counterpoint to my writhing.

The climax hit me in a pulsing wave, rushing through my bones.

When my pace faltered, Ben rolled me into the sand and still drove into me. The sweet ache rose again until I wrapped my arms around his gritty back and clung to every motion, forcing his strokes deeper and deeper.

Amethyst breathed her fire into my mind, and we shared it with Ben through our connection. Flames poured over us, through us, became us. Together we all came in a rush, falling through the fire and into completion.

Minutes passed in quiet tribute to the magic. Not just Amethyst, but the special joining all three of us shared.

Looking into Ben’s eyes, I knew he’d felt the same perfection.

Then cool ocean waves splashed over us.

We both laughed.

L. Shannon

123

Ben stood, dragging me up with him and then chasing me into the deeper water. Our kisses and touches continued through our second rinse.

And as the passion rose again I pushed him back and ran toward the shore. “Oh, no you don’t! There will be plenty more reward, but this time on the blanket!” I ran. He chased. And back on the blanket, I kept my promise.

And would have kept it up all day, except that my exhaustion caught up to me. Loving turned to snuggling, and I fell asleep with Ben holding me tight.

He woke me as the sun set in a brilliant display. We sat together and watched it, and for the first time in ages I felt content. Not that I’d been missing out on life or anything. I’d been all over the world, seen amazing places, stolen amazing things. But sitting on the beach in Ben’s arms with Amethyst back inside my mind offered a different kind of life, one I hadn’t considered, one I intended to embrace. Prophecy or whatever, I was going to do more than embrace my life. I was going to take back control of it.

The End

Or maybe just the beginning…

About the Author

L. Shannon, the author, came into existence in June of 2004. Shannon’s always been a reader and lover of books, but never considered writing until one night when she ran out of books to read. She began writing that very night as the first line of defense in a battle against insomnia. Her writing has steadily grown into a full-out war on reality. Her friends kindly say reality never stood a chance.