Captivated (The Dragons) (6 page)

Didn't see the mayor, though.

I did catch a peek of breast when a panel slipped open in the wall, and Link made his way out of the space, however. A twinge went through me, but I didn't have the right to say anything, and I knew that. We weren't dating. We weren't even friends. I shouldn't be feeling anything.

I realized soon after that, when a guy who looked like adrenaline on wheels slid the panel open behind him, that there must have been some sort of meeting in there. Maybe that's where the president and mayor were, too.

“Get you something to drink? Another White Russian?”

“I didn't know whether to be creeped out that the server remembered or be flattered.

Meeting her sweet face and smiling eyes, I opted on the latter.

“A White Russian would be great.”

“I'll have that over to you shortly,” she said, her voice tinged with a slight accent and her own earrings swinging like metal feathers when she lifted her head.

“May I ask what kind of event this is?”

A sage smile crossed her face, but her answer was limited.

“It's many events in one. Have a good time. Mingle.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

She delivered the White Russian within a minute, literally, like it had been waiting on the side, already prepared. She also disappeared from my side with an eerie grace, before I could say thanks.

I turned my attention in front of me, lifting my drink, my eyes meeting those of an overly-muscular biker who was way too impressed with his own existence if his first impression was anything to go by.

“So you're the girl who saves the day.”

He didn't say it like it was a question.

“I'm sorry?”

“You're fixing the boo-boo your cousin made, right?”

He clarified, far too deep in my personal space than I liked.

“Trying.”

I took a sip of my drink before my mouth got me in trouble. I didn't appreciate being grilled by some low-rank biker with a need to belittle someone. Wasn't this supposed to be an event? So we could all make fun for the evening? Why in the hells was he in my face looking smug and self-righteous? He didn't even know me.

“How's that working out for you?”

I sighed, already impatient with his questions.

“Look-”

“Get down!”

I didn't know what the hell was happening, but I ducked down when I heard Link's voice, falling to my hands and knees beneath the table. You see it in the movies all of the time, but you never imagine what it feels like until you're in it. Everything moved in slow motion. When I stole a glance outside of the small booth, I heard gun fire. It sounded like it was close, maybe even aimed our way. I guessed it was when Link cocked his pistol, basically appearing out of nowhere. He gestured me back into the booth, letting off a few shots before he snatched me out and rushed me along the corridor to the wall panels.

I didn't spare a glance back for the obnoxious one, but I hoped he was alright. I'd never been in a shoot-out before. It was scary as shit.

“Quick, Darla. Move.”

I cried out when I heard another shot ring out and looked to the wall panel when Link slid it open and slipped me in.

“Don't leave this room. No matter what.”

I heeded the fire I saw in his eyes and nodded without a word. They were the eyes of a dragon. I understood the spirit in him in that moment. Clear as day.

I folded my arms around myself, realizing I was shaking. My cheeks were wet, I'd started crying at some point, apparently. I guess that sort of thing happens when you're in fear for your life.

I glanced the room around me. No one else had taken sanctuary in it. It looked like a spa room, complete with a little pool in the middle, or a maybe a hot tub. I wasn't sure which. I'd never been in or near one.

My breath caught in my throat when the door opened, and Link beckoned me to hurry.

“Is everything alright?”

“It's alright now.”

“Did you get them?”

He hesitated before answering, like the words he was about to give me were sour in his mouth.

“They got out. One with a few bullets in him.”

“Was anyone here hurt?”

“Earl, but he's fine. It's just a flesh wound. They shot first.”

“What the hell happened?”

His hand took mine, and he led me out of the VIP area and through the crowds quickly, gesturing me toward the stairs before I could connect eyes with anyone else. Some of the girls were frantic, and the guests were understandably, clearing out.

“Someone tried to break into the warehouse.”

“Who?”

Link's grip tightened around my hand, and he pulled me up the stairs to my room, opening the door for me.

“One of the 'Ghosts' by the looks of it.”

I stepped through the door, following his gaze, turning to face him with a heavy question in my eyes.

“The Pres wants you to test what you've got by tomorrow night,” he told me. He said it with an unmistakable finality that stole the question from my mind before it could descend to my lips. “Try to get some sleep.”

He closed the door to the room before I could respond. He didn't lock me in like before, but I knew he wouldn't let me leave that night, and I couldn't “get some sleep” after the craziness that had just broken out. It wasn't so easily done after an experience like that.

So I got to work, and that work, over the course of a night and a full day, bore fruit.

––––––––

––––––––

“I
t works!” I told him, more excited than I probably should have been, but dammit I
was
excited. I'd made a drug that helped me wake up in my dream, and I'd explored it for one glorious hour before the alarm went off.

I rapped the wall before I had a chance to think or even pull my hair up to appear “mannerly,” and when Link opened the door and stuck his head through it, his curls rumpled, I threw my arms around him.

I let go almost immediately. I think some part of me was assessing whether or not I'd done the wrong thing, what I was really thinking putting my arms around someone who'd been helping keep me hostage, and whether or not I truly cared.

I'd had the induced dream, sure, but it seemed like the other side effects were working their way into the equation, too. I felt feverish and a little anxious.

Link leaned toward me but held himself back after a step, like he'd been about to kiss me before his senses got the better of him.

“You had a dream?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a nod, a bright smile making its way across my face again. “The 4
^th
flask. It definitely works, and that means the 3
^rd
flask has some uses, as well.”

“The others?”

“I played eeni-meeni with them. I haven't tried those.”

“Yet?”

“I just didn't try them. Don't need to now. He wants me to test them all?”

“I don't know. Maybe. I can ask.”

A thud descended to my gut, and I felt the tug of preemptive disappointment. I didn't want him to leave, and there wasn't really any denying it at this point. He looked like he was getting ready to though, and I took a step closer to him before I could stop myself.

I could blame it on the tonic, but I knew it was more than that.

He took a step back, looking me over, and the thud returned to my gut. I'd both misread and overstepped, hadn't I?

I felt foolish under his gaze now, unsure of what he saw as his dark eyes swept over me. I saw the intensity there, but I was no longer sure it had anything to do with me. I could have sworn he'd expressed interest before. Maybe that boat had already sailed. Maybe I'd misread the signs.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” He asked, and I met his eyes with a steadier gaze than I knew I had in me.

I drew a breath, and my heart took into a race.

“Yes,” I answered, the words leaving me in a faint breath.

“You're not gonna feel... 'awkward' in the morning?”

A grin ticked my cheek, and I leaned closer, saying nothing. He locked into my gaze, his hand rising to stroke my cheek, and then he was leaning into me, too. His kiss was soft and patient, skilled. I could taste the weird smoke drink I watched him chug at the previous night's event (before it went bad) mingled with an exotic spice on his tongue.

A tingling warmth coursed through every nerve in my body pressed so close to him. He had a strength that I'd underestimated before now. I could feel it in the way he held me, like he was afraid to use too much force. Like he had to be delicate.

He kissed me like he'd been meaning to every night I'd been there. There was a rumble in the way he reached to tilt my chin and pressed his mouth firm against mine, our breaths fevered, already uniting and acting as one.

He lowered the straps of my night gown gently, his lips moving from my lips to my neck and then shoulders. He lifted his eyes to mine as he continued to down, lowering the top of the nightgown until slowing baring my breasts. The large aureoles rose to attention and hardened to a point under his gaze.

His lips met mine again, hungrily, feverishly before he lowered me onto the bed and  turned his attention to them, sucking and nipping them into his mouth until his kiss set out to explore more of me, the storm in his eyes stirring a similar dance of emotion and sensation at my core.

I sucked in a breath when he found the edges of my panties and pulled the lace down, his gaze flicking up to meet my gaze as he spread my thighs. His lips covered me, sliding over the small tuft of hair at the top of my mound and the bare skin beneath it. I shuddered with sensitivity as he kissed and sucked and entered me with his tongue, pulling himself back before I lost myself altogether.

I shuddered as he rose up to eye level again, and his lips were on mine, then. I kissed him feverishly, my tongue dancing with his as he pressed himself against me. I nipped his lips and undid the button of his pants then dragged the clasp of his zipper down until he was free.

I gasped when my fingers closed around him. He was huge. Thick and long, and the thought of him inside of me made me dizzy.

My eyes fluttered open to find him staring at me, and my thumb felt the glistening at the tip of his cock and the circle of material he slipped into my other hand. I kissed him with abandon and unrolled the circle, slipping it over him easily.

He lowered his kisses to my neck again, and I helped him kick off his jeans.

Our eyes met as he poised himself between my thighs, gently easing himself inside of me. I bit my lip and leaned my head toward him, rewarded again with his kiss as he took his time entering me. I was excited, but I'd never been with anyone his size before. It took some getting used to.

He proved a gentle lover though, rough only when my body responded to him with demands to thrust harder and deeper. I had to take care to keep my nails from marking up his back, when he got going, filling me completely with each thrust.

I relished his kiss and the feel of each stroke once I'd relaxed myself around him. I was so wet after awhile that I took him easily, and I shuddered, fevered moans escaping me with his quickened pace.

A wave of pleasure washed over me, and I didn't fight the tension building up in my core when his eyes looked into mine, his hips rolling against mine like a snake as he worked himself in and out of my sex.

His eyes told me to let go, like he understood how hard that usually was for me in
all
things. Like I needed to do that right now, right here, with him. And I did. Locking gaze with him, I moaned as the pleasure broke out and coursed through me, filling my limbs with the warmth and intensity of a pleasure that called his own eruption to surface.

We crashed into one another, his thrusts more insistent as my sex clamped around him, and we shook with release. Letting go of it all and gaining everything just the same.

––––––––

H
e left the door connecting our rooms ajar when he left, sometime after we both fell asleep, twined in one another's arms after what had equated to a midnight marathon of sweating and heaving chests, and... a deeper bonding than I ever thought I'd grant him. The next morning should have been my “walk of shame” to the breakfast lounge, but I sat in thought on that for a long time.