Always (Dragon Wars, #3) (8 page)

Tatyana was so lovely and small. Females were always tinier than their male counterparts in the werewolf world, but she was a good two to three inches smaller than any female he’d ever known. He was going to have to keep her safe in the dangerous, crazed world. He’d be damned if he let her board whatever device they had to take her to outer space.

He supposed he should be more bothered by the concept of space travel except considering his mate was a human, and they were supposed to be extinct, he could wrap his mind around the idea of machines taking people to the stars. Just not his human.

She needed to stay on his planet.

Robbie rubbed at his eyes. He knew he should focus on the task at hand only it wasn’t as if he could fix the machinery himself. Auggie was bent over a cannon, which hadn’t worked in years.

His twin raised his eyes and for a second made eye contact with Robbie in the corner before he looked away. Tatyana said something and August actually smiled before he continued poking at the thing.

The scene was almost normal. His twin brother talking with the woman destined for Robbie. It would be downright familial if they weren’t in a hidden human compound trying to figure out how to destroy dragons before what remained of humanity launched skyward.

Robbie clicked his tongue lightly and Auggie raised his eyes again. With a flick of the chin, Robbie let Auggie know to leave the room. His brother nodded, a slight jerk of his chin before he stood. Inching forward while Auggie exited, Robbie let himself enjoy the scent of roses as he got closer.

A click behind the door let him know his brother had locked the door on his way out. He owed the man a drink.

Tatyana didn’t look up when she spoke. “It’s not nice to stare at a woman across a room. You’re a werewolf. You treat your women as gems. Shouldn’t you know a lady likes a gentleman’s presence announced when he’s present?”

Robbie squatted in front of her. “So you did know I was here.”

“The whole time.” She finally met his gaze and when she did it was with wariness he didn’t enjoy discovering. “What you said before...”

He held out his hand to stop her. When he owed someone an apology, he made sure they got it. “I should not have been so coarse with you. My mother would shove me into the lake if she ever found out.”

“I’m not a woman who needs you to watch what you say.” She shook her head and then stood. “I didn’t run away because the words you said or because the visions they invoked upset me, which they didn’t. My fleeing involved something else entirely.”

“Then by all means explain so I can make it better.”

She put her hand on his arm. “You can’t fix it.”

“Try me.”

“Before you were talking about mating. You think I’m your mate.” She bit on her lower lip and he touched where she had done it.

“No. I don’t think you’re my mate. I know it. My understanding might be more complex for you because you’re not a wolf. So you’re going to have to take my word for it. I know my mate.”

Tatyana dropped her gaze and he tilted her chin. From others he liked subservient behavior, but not from her. He wanted the fire he’d had in the conference room. Whatever put the pain in her, he would find a way to rid her of it.

“You can’t bite me. It’ll never be a full mating for you.”

He rubbed his thumb down her neck to where he ached to sink his teeth. He hated the idea of causing her pain and his desire to never do so warred with his need to claim her. “What if I did? You’ll heal. Probably would hurt you more than it does a werewolf. I’ll be as gentle as I can be.”

“If you bite me.” She put her hand over his, holding it on her neck. He could feel her pulse beating strong and hard, which went against the exhausted dark circles under her eyes. Did she sleep? “There’s a seventy percent chance I will become a werewolf.”

“Well, changing you would solve everything, sweetheart. I’ll bite you right away. Then you’ll be a werewolf and not leave on the shuttle-thing. Then we’ll beat the dragons and move on with our life.”

She raised a blonde eyebrow. “One. Two. Three. Just like that, huh? Seventy percent chance you change me, thirty percent I die.”

Those odds were unacceptable. “How do you know?”

“There were studies done a couple hundred years ago when humans still interacted with the wolves. It was considered too risky to interact afterward.”

“Why were the wolves biting so many humans? It’s not as if we walk around with our fangs bared breaking the skin of everyone we see.”

She retreated a step, which he couldn’t allow, so he tugged her back. Fortunately she didn’t fight him. He wanted her to desire his touch as much as he needed to give it.

“I don’t know. There were lots of things done back then in the name of science we don’t do anymore. The whole existence of werewolves and dragons. We did things back then which bordered on reckless. I mean, I’m very glad we did, since you’re here and everything.”

He shrugged. “The only part of our conversation which is interesting to me revolves around you dying. I won’t risk it. I won’t bite you.”

“But that’s what you do when you mate.”

“You must be speaking about werewolves in general and not specifically me, since I’ve never mated. We don’t know what I do in mating, specifically.”

She groaned. “Enough with the word play.”

“I agree.” He’d certainly had more than he wanted.

Lowering his head, he kissed her, hard. Robbie didn’t hold back any of his intention from her. Kissing her was a claiming, with or without a bite. Fuck it, he would resist the urge. He wouldn’t, however, give up her or the chance to enjoy her writhing beneath him, naked.

She met his fierce possession, which he loved. He didn’t know how he would survive if she didn’t want him too. She clung to his shirt and he held her tighter.

Tatyana scooted back to look at him. “We could be seen.”

“My brother locked the door. And if you mean the cameras, I don’t give a shit. Is anyone likely to be searching for me on those machines other than you?”

“No.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Kiss me. Please. Don’t bite me.”

“I won’t.” And he was a man who kept his promises. Always.

The room didn’t have any obvious place to make love other than the floor. While he would prefer a softer, gentler place for her, he refused to risk interruption. A trip down the hall would provide too many chances for distraction.

“There.” He spotted a pool table in the midst of other randomness the general utility room seemed to hold. It had seen better days yet it would be softer for her sweet skin than the floor.

Robbie scooped her into his arms. She weighed so little he almost shoved her over his shoulder from the force alone. He’d have to remember not to use quite so much force when carrying her around. She was tiny.

Without a word, he kissed her neck needing to smell her skin against his nose. So close to her, he could bathe in her rose scent and find a way to survive off the sweetness alone. She cupped his cheek, and he leaned into the caress.

“I forgot you a year ago. My body didn’t.” He traced a line from her neck to the top of her shirt with is tongue and smiled when she shuddered. “All of a sudden I was a mated wolf who couldn’t figure out where my other half was or even who she was. I blame you for my frustration. And yet I would die for you, kill for you, destroy for you...I think you get the picture. You drive me crazy, little human.”

She breathed out, her eyes heated as she stared at him. “I’m sorry.”

He grinned. “I’m not. Whatever it took to make it here, I’d endure again.”

Robbie pulled her shirt over her head to expose her bare skin. His gaze immediately fell to her breasts. They were round, lush, and would more than fit in his hand. He was glad when the clasp of her bra undid as fast, otherwise he would have to tear the thing from her body. Patience wasn’t a virtue he had in spades and he certainly couldn’t find any of it right then.

He discarded the clothing and bent to take one of her breasts in his mouth. She tasted of cherries and he moaned, unable to hold back the pleasure filling him. She was everything good, everything beautiful, and everything missing from his life. He wanted a lifetime to know her.

She gasped, leaning backwards pushing her nipple closer into his mouth. His mouth watered and he sucked harder. With his other hand, he tweaked the nipple he wasn’t making love to with his mouth. Her body vibrated and he withdrew to study her beautiful, flushed face.

“Enjoy a little pain to go with your pleasure?” He tugged on her nipple again.

Her mouth fell open. “I guess I do. “

“You guess?” Exactly how untouched was his mate? If she were a werewolf he’d have a pretty good understanding of her sexual history. Most unmated females were well protected by their families until they found their forever. However, some playing did go on in the early adult years and everyone turned a blind eye. They were werewolves, they had needs, and they should be met. Of course, the war had changed everything.

“We’re very benign in our sex lives. Anything which goes past what I guess you would think of as simple intercourse has to be hidden or doesn’t happen. If you were caught, there’s kind of a shunning which takes place.”

He’d heard enough. “No one gets to judge what we do in the bedroom. I promised not to put my teeth on you and I won’t. However, I am going to see what you enjoy, Tatyana. Because it’s my privilege to do so.”

With those words, he bent over to lick from her throat and then past her breasts, which he hated to leave and would spend more time on later, to the garments she still wore from the waist down.

She tugged at his shirt. “Off.”

He’d barely gotten started on her and she was already communicating with only a single word at a time. Robbie loved it.

His shirt came off fast and he threw it in the same general direction where he’d discarded her clothing. Her hands touched his chest and he adored her with his gaze, marveling at her porcelain colored fingertips touching his darker skin.

She traced over a scar on his chest. “Where did you get this one? I’ve wondered both times I’ve had you here.”

“Truthfully? I don’t remember. I’m covered in them. The shifting heals most of the worst wounds, you fixed two which would have killed me, and the rest are marks from times I can’t recall. It’s been a long war.”

She pressed her lips to his chest and it was his turn to shudder. “I hate you had a violent life.”

“It is what it is.” He stripped them both of their clothes. Robbie wouldn’t let things become too heavy right then. Their time together should be a reprieve from the hell around them.

Totally naked, he pressed against her and a thought he hadn’t considered dawned on him. Mating often meant children. Was such a thing possible with his human? The thought fled as fast as it came. Right then, with the world ending around them, who knew what could and couldn’t be? All he knew was she belonged to him. For always.

****

R
obert pushed a finger inside of her core and she thought she might explode. Sex had always been fine, pleasant. With Robert it was explosive, a need inside of her dying to rise to the surface, and finally reach a peak she’d never experienced.

When he spoke, it was right against ear. Hot. Heavy. Hers.

His thumb stroked over her clit and a jolt of electricity travelled over her spine. “Ooh. My girl likes to be touched.”

Another rough stroke sent sparks through her system. “You have beautiful skin, Tatyana, and all I want to do is bite on it. I’m not going to. I promised. I want you to know how much I wish for it. I think you’d like the pressure on your skin, the small jolt of pain as my teeth marked you mine forever.”

The imagery he described played havoc with her already overwhelmed senses. Her insides pulsed from wanting him. She’d been fantasizing about Robert for years. When she touched herself alone at night, it was always his image deep in her mind helping her come.

Her fantasy had come to life and he knew all the right words to say. How could their moment be? Tatyana’s tired brain didn’t care. She craved him and, damn it, she would finally have what she needed.

His cock was long, thick, and heavily veined. He was certainly the largest endowed man she’d ever seen. Tatyana gulped as anxiety invaded her lust-filled haze. Was it going to fit?

“You’re really big.” She took him in her hand and stroked him, once. A long hard pull and he closed his eyes for a second, a small smile playing on his serious features.

“Thanks.” His voice sounded hoarse yet as confident as ever. Was he not at all worried? “What’s making you anxious?” He opened his lids and pressed his forehead to hers.

“How do you know I am? Oh wait, never mind, you smelled it. I sometimes forget how you are so much more sensitive to scent than I am.” Sometimes, she didn’t focus on the differences between them and let herself imagine they were the same.

“Answer the question.”

“I’m worried you’re too big for me.”

He didn’t laugh only he might as well have. His eyes glimmered, amusement dancing in their dark depths. “It’ll work out fine.”

“I’m glad one of us is so sure.”

“Lay back.” He pressed her further onto the pool table and hopped on top of it until he loomed over her. He scooted backwards until his legs were back on the floor and his face was...

She’d barely registered before he leaned forward and licked her pussy. “Oh.” Her words were barely a breath. Being kissed there was a first for her. She’d heard of such things yet hearing and experiencing were two totally different things.

He placed his tongue where his fingers had been and swirled. Every nerve in her body came alive.
Yes, more.
Her mind dropped from thinking and there was only feeling left. Robert groaned against her, and it was all the motivation she needed to let go. Her body exploded as her back arched. She saw stars before her eyes and it was possible the world shifted to another axis.

Tatyana had never come so hard in her life.

“You’re ready, little human. You’ll see. Your body wants to join, it was made for mine.”

He moved swiftly to position himself back over her until his cock nestled he entrance. She grabbed onto his shoulders, loving how warm he felt and how small she was against him. He was a man who could put himself between her and the world. His presence alone would block it all out.