Dragon Actually (8 page)

He smiled. “We do.”

“Well . . . good. Now . . . go away.”

“If that is what you wish.”

“Yes. Yes. That is what I wish.” She waved a dismissive hand as she stepped away from him.

“Of course, a goodbye kiss would prompt me to leave just a little faster,” he called after her.

Annwyl stopped and, until the end of time, he would always swear he heard her growl.

Why did he insist on torturing her? What did he want? Why wouldn’t the man just leave? Annwyl swung around expecting him to be where she left him, against that tree. But he stood right behind her. The man moved faster than lightning. Startled, she stumbled back from him and almost fell, but he caught her around the waist. She felt searing heat on her flesh where he held her and her breath caught in her throat as he leaned in, keeping her bent over his arm.

 “Are you all right?” His low voice slid softly across her flesh. Teasing. Making her body ache with need for him.

“I’ll be better when you let me go.”

“And I’ll be better when you kiss me. Want to make a deal?” She let out another agitated growl and he grinned in response. “I do like that sound.”

“Let me go.”

“Kiss me.”

“How about I just run you through?”

“I believe you need a sword for that task.”

She realized she’d left her sword lying on the ground at her feet.
Stupid, Annwyl, stupid!

His smile softened as he looked down into her face. “Just kiss me.” It came out more a plea than a demand. And, as much as her rational mind railed against it, she wanted to kiss him.

She brought her head up slightly as he lowered his. They met somewhere in the middle, and when his lips touched hers, a bolt of heat swept through her. Heat and . . . recognition? Her hands reached up and gripped his shoulders as her mouth opened and his tongue slid in. He swept strong, dry fingers across her bare skin, slipping easily under her bindings to gently graze her breast. Her body jerked in response and Annwyl realized she hovered moments away from letting this man do anything he wanted to her.
Anything.

She pushed against his shoulders, while pulling her body out of his arms. She forced herself away and the two stood staring at each other, both gasping for breath. Her nipples were painfully hard now as, she guessed, was the erection desperately trying to push its way through the knight’s chainmail leggings.

“Now. As you promised. Go.”

“Are you sure?” He took a step toward her and she jumped back.

“You keep asking me that.” There was that desperation again.

The knight grinned. “I keep hoping you’ll give me a different answer.”

 “I won’t. Now go!”

He nodded and took a deep breath. “As I promised.”

He walked off. Once Annwyl knew that he truly was gone, she walked back to the stream and sat in the middle of it, letting the cold water rush past her. After a few minutes, she stuck her head in as well.

Fearghus dived into his lake. Still human, but so was the raging erection he had at the moment. The girl insisted on making him insane. Whether she admitted it or not, her body definitely called to him. Loudly. And what, exactly, did he think he was doing? Why the hell did he kiss her? A human, he reminded himself desperately. Just a human. Just a gorgeous, big-breasted human.

He gritted his teeth. He really didn’t know how much more he could stand. But he had to fight it. He had to resist her. Simply for his own state of mind.

When Fearghus pulled himself out of the water he’d returned to his dragon form once more. He shook the wetness from his body and wings and settled down for a few minutes to get control of his impulse. His impulse to go back outside and find Annwyl. To find her and to fuck her.

“Dragon!” Annwyl’s voice rang through his lair, causing his whole body to clench.

“Damn.” He covered his eyes with his claw. The woman would be the death of him.

“Dragon!”

Annwyl went deeper into the cavern than she ever had before. She couldn’t find Morfyd, and she wanted to see Fearghus. Now. “Dragon!”

“Here.” She heard his deep, rich voice and followed. She found him stretched out beside an underground lake, his tail swirling through the water. “What’s wrong?”

“Your friend needs to go.”

“Not again. What did he do now?”

She climbed up onto a boulder and looked the dragon in the eye. “He’s very . . . disconcerting.”

“Disconcerting? I didn’t know that was a flaw.”

“It can be.”

“I don’t understand why he makes you so nervous and I don’t. I can turn you into a fireball.”

So can he.

“Well, you’re very sweet. And charming.”

“They call me Fearghus the Destroyer.”

She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “And they call me Annwyl the Bloody. I’m not impressed.”

“You’re a very strange girl, Annwyl.”

“You get raised by my family and see how you turn out.” She clenched her fists in frustration. She’d never been so frustrated before in her life. All over some man.

“I think it would be a mistake to send him away. He’s preparing you to fight Lorcan. Eventually you will have to face your brother and kill him.” He sounded as if he’d grown weary of reminding her of that fact. But, once again, she blamed the knight. She should tell the dragon to toss a fireball at him.

“I know.”

“Unless there is another reason you want me to send him away?”

Annwyl thought carefully on her answer. Tell the dragon that every time she was around the man her body cried out for him? Tell him that every time their swords clashed she became wet with desire? That she continually wondered what he would look like naked and on top of her? Did she admit that to the dragon?

“No.” She shook her head. “No other reason.” She sighed. “Just . . .”

“Just what?”

Why can’t he be more like you? “Nothing.”

She looked down at the lake, the water a beautiful clear blue with an active spring constantly replenishing it. She motioned to it. “Do you mind?”

 “Uh . . . uh . . . no.” He adjusted his large body. “Would you like me to leave?”

“Why?” She slid down the boulder and went to the water’s edge. “You’ve seen me naked before.” She dropped her sheathed sword to the ground. “Unless human bodies repulse you?”

“What? No! Just do whatever you must.”

She shrugged, quickly undressed, and dived into the water.

He understood now. The gods were testing him. Clearly that must be the only reason this woman now floated naked and face up in his lake, completely oblivious to his presence. The gods had a cruel sense of humor.

“Dragon?” He realized she’d been speaking to him for quite awhile. But he couldn’t stop staring at her breasts. They were amazing.

“What?”

“I said, ‘How do you know him?’”

He tore his eyes away from her chest. “Who?”

She frowned. “Am I annoying you, Lord Dragon?”

Annoying wasn’t the word he’d use. “No. Why?”

With a shrug, “Just wondering. You seem a little tense.”

You have no idea. . . .

She caught the end of his tail with both hands. Her fingers were long and strong, and he could easily imagine those hands stroking him to climax.

No. I shouldn’t have gone down that road.

“The tip of your tail is sharp as a blade and the entire length of it muscle. Do you ever use it as a weapon?”

He cleared his throat. Anything to distract himself from her magical hands. “I have.”

“Fascinating.”

It really didn’t help that she insisted on touching him all the time. He never had a human come near him as dragon, much less constantly explore almost every inch of him. He grunted. She
was
trying to kill him.

Why the hell had he involved himself in the Sibling War anyway? He should have just kept sleeping.

“What is it exactly that bothers you about him?”

“Everything.” She glanced down at the water. “How deep is this?”

“I can get my entire body into it. And ‘everything’ seems like a lot.”

“He’s smug.” She gripped his tail between both her arms and held on tight. “Lift me.”

“Are you insane? And
I
am smug.”

“Yes. But he’s irritatingly smug.” She still clung to his tail. “Please,” she begged with a smile.

With a dramatic sigh, Fearghus lifted his tail, the girl going with it. She squealed and laughed, warming his heart.

“Now what?” he asked her as she hung there, frighteningly far up from the lake.

“Now? I let go.” And she did. He watched her crash back into the water, disappearing into the dark blue recesses of the lake. But, within a few seconds, she fought her way back to the surface.

“That,” her wet face flush with excitement, “was bloody brilliant!”

Fearghus lowered his head so they met eye to eye. “Have you always been so . . . different?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably.” She kissed him sweetly on the snout and swam away.

His claw touched the spot where she’d kissed him. She had such soft lips. He growled low as he watched her naked body swim across the lake and wondered what it would feel like to bury himself inside her, to feel her climax, to feel her soft mouth on his. . . .

“Sorry, Fearghus, am I interrupting anything?”

He gritted his teeth at the sound of his sister’s voice and wondered how long she’d been standing there. Knowing his sister, he bet it was quite a while.

Fearghus slammed his tail down and she jumped out of the way just in time. “No,” he innocently replied. “You’re not interrupting anything.”

His sister glared at him and he feared she might shift right then so she could ensure her blast held enough strength to knock him across the cave floor. He knew he heard “bastard” muttered under her breath.

“I have to go back to the village for a few hours. But tell Annwyl there’s food for her.” She turned to walk back the way she came.

“As you wish.” He lazily swished his tail and heard her curse as he swiped her feet, causing her to trip and stumble out of the cavern. “Sorry,” he called after her.

“Was that Morfyd?”

He found Annwyl stepping out of the water. Her brown hair reached down to her knees, covering her long, strong body and, thankfully, those breasts.

“There’s food.”

“Good. I’m starving.” She reached down and grabbed her clothes and sword.

“Annwyl . . .”

“I know. I know. He serves a purpose and I should just give him a chance. Right?”

“Actually, I was going to say you should put your clothes on, there’s a chill in here.”

“Oh.”

“But you should also give him a chance.”

She squinted up at him. “Fine, dragon.” She grinned. “Anything for you.”

And Fearghus’s heart missed several beats before it began moving again.

“But he best not piss me off again.”

Fearghus cringed. He could practically guarantee he couldn’t stop himself from doing that.

“Here.”

Annwyl found the knight holding a sword out to her. “What’s wrong with my blade?”

“Nothing. I want you to start using both.”

Annwyl took the sword from his hand. It bore beautiful workmanship. A noble’s blade. A little heavy for her, but a weight she would be able to get used to. And she bet it could cut through anything. She wondered

where he got it from. What noble died at his hand? She shrugged. She never liked nobles much, so she really

didn’t care.

“How does it feel?”

“Good.”

“Want some time to get used to it?”

She didn’t answer. Instead she swung at his head with her new blade. He ducked and she blocked his retaliatory blow with her other sword. He smiled at her sudden attack and she felt pride. It took much to impress this man.

As the morning progressed into afternoon, the contact of their blades and the grunts of exertion the only sound in the glen.

* * *

Morfyd pulled away from the flames and growled. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t see Lorcan. She couldn’t see into his world. She recently heard he had joined forces with a powerful wizard whose name no one ever seemed to remember.

Powerful indeed. There were very few humans who could block her. She’d have to warn Fearghus. Let him know that the girl may have more to worry about than that demon brother of hers.

Fearghus. What exactly was going on with him and that girl? Morfyd wasn’t blind. She watched him watch her. Clearly he’d become enamored of the female. But she sensed something else going on. As Annwyl became stronger, Morfyd began to spend most of her time in the local village. A recent bout of fever required her skills. But she sensed that neither Annwyl nor Fearghus spent their days in the lair. And if they weren’t in the lair, where the hell were they?

Morfyd knew her curiosity would soon get the better of her. But something was going on, and she planned to find out exactly what.

Annwyl watched the shadows move through the glen. She knew the hour grew late. And her body tensed in anticipation. She saw it now as a kind of ritual. They would meet and train for hours. Break to eat in silence. Train for several more hours. And at the end of it, something would happen. Something that usually caused increased wetness between her thighs.

Their blades clashed one more time.

“Hold,” he barked. She smiled. The stronger she grew, the more she seemed to be wearing him out. She had no doubt he could continue for a few more hours, but she liked that her skills had improved since they’d first started.

He sheathed his sword and turned from her. She crouched down and picked up her shirt, pulling the soft, plain cotton material over her head. She sheathed both her weapons and looked up to find boots standing in front of her. She fought to control her breathing as she slowly looked up at him.

He stared down at her, his face inscrutable and half covered by his black hair. He almost looked angry at her, his silence driving her to distraction. “Is there a problem?” she snapped.

A low growl erupted from the back of his throat as he reached down and took hold of her shirt, pulling her to her feet. Then his mouth latched onto hers. Annwyl didn’t fight him. She had no desire to. Instead she wrapped one arm around his neck, the other around his waist. He had her by the nape of her neck, his other hand slipping under her shirt. His rough fingers moved across the sweat-covered flesh of her back while his mouth claimed hers in a kiss that was so desperate, so passionate, she thought for sure he would take her right at that moment.