Kiss of the Dragon (6 page)

But Michel had allowed me to.

We work well together, ma douce
, he whispered, sending more of those shivers all over my skin.

Hmm
, was all I gave him in reply, but his laughter just ramped up a notch until I was sure everyone around me was aware Michel was making me melt into a puddle of goo. Goddess I needed to get back to him.

Aliath turned to me at that moment and reached out both hands to hold mine. If he knew Michel was toying with me, making me all hot and bothered and quite literally curling my toes, he didn't show it. Wise man.

"It has been a pleasure, as always, Princess." I just cocked my head to the side, but didn't remind him he had kept me contained in a room the entire time I had been here and only brought me out to watch me spin on his command.

His lips though quirked, proving how aware of things he actually was. Stupid man.

"Then, until we meet again," he said, lowering his head to kiss the back of my hand. He'd never done that before, I don't think it was a particularly fairy thing to do. I forced myself not to frown at him. Aliath was a puzzle that could wait for another day, for now I just wanted to go home.

But where home would be, I wasn't sure. Michel was now the Champion and expected to remain at the
Palais
. But the
Palais
had never seemed much like a home to me. Sure, his apartment there was familiar, filled with everything that made Michel him, but it wasn't
our
home. That had been in New Zealand, but no more.

London hadn't been a home either, despite the fact that Michel had owned that house for centuries. It just wasn't to my liking, neither was the city itself. I did like Paris though and I could envisage myself living there, but the only place that felt remotely homely was the Nosferatin house looked after by my new friend Yves.

Yves had been there when Sofiq arrived in the Council Chamber of the
Palais
, and suddenly I had a wealth of questions inside my head. Was he safe? Was Amisi who had also been there, and Gregor? And Natalyia, Sergei's sister? Marcus and Matthias? Alain and Daniel? And most of all my Samson, who had been under Sofiq's attack and so very near the final death when I was pulled back to
Álfheimr
. All excitement about my homecoming vanished and painfully my heart skipped a beat.

I'd blocked it all out, in order to survive my captivity here. But now my fears for my loved ones came tumbling in.

I had to get back and make sure everyone was OK. And if they weren't? I didn't even have an enemy to seek revenge on, not that that's my usual style. But Sofiq was already dead and now it seemed I had renewed my friendship with Aliath, so the
Dökkálfa
were all pretty much on our side. I had no way to vent my frustrations if any of my family were dead.

But I had to know.

I forced myself to smile back at Aliath and repeated his words back, "Until we meet again."

He nodded and released me, in the process waving his hand as though clutching something in the air. It became obvious it was the filigree blanket which had coated me upon arrival in
Álfheimr
. Aliath pulled it away, releasing my Light. Should either of my
Tego Texi Tectum
not be near to nullify the blanket, at least now, I had full control on my own.

Sergei immediately took hold of my hand and I felt his newly acquired
Sanguis Vitam
through the contact of skin on skin. My gaze flicked up to his. He must have seen my questions, my uncertainty of what waited for me back in Earth's realm. He smiled down at me reassuringly.

"All will be fine, Mistress," he promised and squeezed my hand carefully, making sure not to crush any bones. I nodded, we both turned and bowed, hands fisted above our chests, to the King of
Dökkálfa
and then stepped backwards through a rip in space, a portal between our worlds.

A crack of sound, a flash of light and the acrid smell of ozone...

...and then I was back in my world, in a home I didn't recognise, but staring into the eyes of the only man I had ever loved.

"Michel," I whispered, and then found myself wrapped up in his beautiful, strong and safe arms.

I had no idea where Sergei had gone to, he wasn't in the room with us. Michel and I were completely alone. Perhaps he had just ended up elsewhere when we stepped through that fairy portal back into Earth's realm. It had happened before, when Michel and I both left
Álfheimr
last time, he had ended up in Paris and I had ended up Rio de Janeiro. But I didn't have time to spare a thought on Sergei, Michel was determined to see to that.

His face was nestled into the curve of my neck, he'd pulled the loose tendrils of my hair to the side to gain access to my skin, where he was preceding to kiss and lick and nuzzle his way across. His hands were freely roaming, one down to the dip in my back, his palm splayed flat against the rise of my rear, the other hand fisted into my swept up hair, entangled in the strands that he had started to pull down from where Sora had clipped them.

His breath was hot, his body flush against mine was equally as hot and everything he was doing to me with his tongue and lips and teeth was
way
hot. The minute he had engulfed me in his arms I was lost, all thoughts of the state of my family gone from my mind and my entire focus on touching and tasting him. One of my hands had slid inside his white shirt, popping a button to gain enough access inside. His hard stomach and ripped abdomen were heaven to my fingertips and I greedily traced a pattern along the ridges down to his hips and then back up again. My other hand was clasped around the back of his head, in amongst the thick, long midnight dark strands of his glorious hair. I'd pulled it free of the tie at the back of his neck too, I'd never been able to resist his hair for long.

"
Ma douce,
" he whispered against me, sounding as desperate as I felt, but his voice cleared a little of the fog he had created and made me acutely aware of where we were and more importantly who was not here with us.

"Where are we?" I breathed against him and then moaned as his fingers found my nipple beneath the fabric of my dress. "Where is everyone? Are they OK?" I managed to get out on another moan of delight.

"Our home. In their chambers. All fine," he replied between nips of his teeth on my breasts through the material.

"But..." was all I got out before he growled and said, "No more questions. I need to be inside you. Now!"

He spun me around and within a second the buttons on the Fey dress were all undone and the silky fabric was sliding down over my hips. The next second my corset was released and removed along with my underwear and then suddenly I was spun back to face him and lifted from the floor. His mouth found mine in a hungry kiss, tongue and teeth and lips and his entire body showing me just how desperate he was to have me back. He carried me, while he devoured me, towards an overstuffed couch and then lay me down, covering my body with his own. He was still fully dressed in his signature Armani suit.

A hot tongue licked its way over my chest and back towards my breast. While one hand wrapped around one breast, his mouth began working on the other. Sucking, licking, nipping, pulling. My back arched up towards him inviting him further, his arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me closer to his body, not breaking contact with his mouth on my breast for one second. The sensations he was creating were simply divine. I had forgotten how good Michel was at this. At making me forget everything else in the world except what he was doing to me right in that moment.

And what he was doing was making me crazy with lust for him. I tried to remove his jacket but he refused to pull away from my body to allow me any purchase. I switched my attention to his trousers, thinking I could undo the button and fly, and slip my hand inside and finally feel the silky skin of his erection that had been rubbing along my stomach for the past few minutes. But again he wouldn't pull back to let me in. He was determined to taste me. First both my breasts and then his intentions became crystal clear as his head dipped below my waist and his shoulders parted my thighs for him to move in.

The first lick of his tongue over my centre sent me crashing down a delicious wave of delight, the orgasm lasting longer than it should have because his fangs pierced the sensitive skin towards the end of my moans, pulling a second and then a third orgasm from me as he drank me down and made one orgasm crash into another until they all felt like one long exquisite release.

I had forgotten what making love to Michel whilst connected through a kindred joining felt like. It felt like nothing else in this world. I heard his thoughts, I felt his emotions. Every single one of them mirrored mine. His love, his desire, his need, his hunger - it was all so familiar, but from him not me. It brought tears to my eyes even as another orgasm slammed into me and he relentlessly sought my satisfaction whilst satisfying himself through my blood.

Finally he let me come down from the impossible but out-of-this-world high, and before I could think of what was happening he lifted my body up from the couch, wrapped his arms around my back, crushing me to him and pressed my face into his neck. For a moment I wasn't sure what he wanted, but then his neck stretched, displaying a long line down to his pulse and saliva pooled in my mouth.

I am his vampire mate, but for several months we had not been able to act as vampire mates. Without a Bond to protect me, his blood would have made me sick, but we were joined again, Bonded again, kindred again. I didn't hesitate any longer, but just sank my teeth into his flesh and groaned through a mouthful of his blood.

It was beautiful. Heavenly. Just right.

I drank him down, feeling his blood lift me up, making me float in his arms and a tingle start up in the centre of my belly and then rush out from there to every possible erotic zone I had ever had. I shuddered against him as another orgasm washed through me, barely aware he had removed his trousers and rested me back on the couch.

Then the press of his sex against my already over sensitive core and the beginnings of the delicious stretch as he slowly slid inside, sent me over the edge again as my lips finally released his neck and my head was thrown back against the couch. I shouted out in surprise when he thrust the last few inches inside, burying himself to the hilt.

"
Mon Dieu!"
he whispered in a semi groan against my lips. "But I have missed you, my love." And then he started to rock against me, each thrust and grind sending further shockwaves through my body.

I was stimulated, so sensitive but in a perfectly divine way, that every single movement he made caused a shiver through my body and pulled a moan from my lips. His pace increased, his lips laying kisses all over my cheek and neck, up to my jaw and then finally claiming my mouth just as forcefully as he claimed my body. There was no denying he was marking his territory, staking his claim again. Ten days had passed for me in
Álfheimr
, I didn't know how much time had passed for Michel, but it was clearly too much.

We'd been joined again after such a harrowing time apart, only to be separated immediately and unable to claim each other's bodies when we had needed and wanted to desperately at the time. Finally, now, we could. And I claimed him just as much as he claimed me.

My Light burst out before I had even realised I had called it, wrapping around our bodies, entwining with our limbs, twisting with our movements, creating a dance of brilliance against our sweat soaked skin. I knew I was marking him, giving him my
Sigillum
, and I knew he was letting me. He already wore my
Sigillum
on his chest in the form of a colourful iridescent tattoo-like design of a dancing dragon over his heart and up his neck.
His
dancing dragon. But now I was adding another. I wouldn't know what it looked like until it was done, I never consciously had any say, but it would be beautiful. As beautiful as the sensations he was making me feel, as the moment we were sharing together right now.

His movements became more frantic as my Light settled between us. Slick skin on slick skin,
my legs wrapped firmly around him, his thrusts met by the upward movement of my hips, his mouth devouring mine, our bodies moving in synchronisation, so in-tune with each other we anticipated the other's moves. I cried out his name a second before him. My name a reverent prayer on his tongue as he thrust one last time deep inside me finding his own release and we both came to a panting-breath stop. Still wrapped up in each other, but breathing in tandem now, our bodies sated and still.

"Lucinda." He said my name again with such emotion. "
Ma lumière belle, douce.
"

I smiled up at him, my hands running over his chest. Somewhere along the way he had lost his jacket, shirt and tie. I had absolutely no recollection of that. He smiled back at me, his magenta and amethyst eyes flashing an hypnotic swirl, drawing me in. I traced a finger gently down the side of his face, his eyelids closed briefly and he sighed. It sounded contented.

Goddess, it was so good being back in his arms.

"How long have I been gone?" I whispered, I couldn't help it, speaking loudly would have broken the moment for sure.

"Three weeks," he whispered back, maybe feeling the same way I did.

I blinked at the time difference.
Three weeks
, but he hadn't looked that tired when I first laid eyes on him. The joining separation should have taken a bigger toll.

"I used the
Iunctio's
power to ward off the effects of separation at the end, but with the portals closed I do not think it was as bad as we have experienced in the past."

A couple of things about that statement fluttered through my mind at once. One; like me he hadn't felt the separation as keenly as previous times apart, and two; he used the
Iunctio's
combined Nosferatu and Nosferatin power to ward off the effects at the end. It's not like I had forgotten he was the Champion, but every time I was reminded of it, I felt my stomach drop.

Michel shifted above me, moving his weight from directly on top, to just off to the side. Slipping down to lie along the length of my body, moulding himself to me and making sure I was snug against the back of the couch, bracketed by him. It was a move to make me feel secure, it was also a move to calm me from my reaction to the reminder of who he now was.

I took in a slightly shaky breath and held it for a second, then resolved to let it out along with any trepidation I felt about his new role. There was no point worrying about it. Michel was still Michel. And still mine.

He smiled at me, it lit up his entire handsome face. I blinked slowly to digest the vision before me, unsure why he seemed so picture perfect right at this second, how he was dazzling me when his
Sanguis Vitam
shouldn't have been able to breach my shields since we had re-joined.

"It is not my
Sanguis Vitam
," he said in answer to my thoughts. "You love me and have missed me. I feel it too. You are so very beautiful." He leaned his face down, I tilted mine to his and then he rested his forehead softly against mine. "Welcome home,
ma douce
."

Home. We'd been buffeted between supposed homes for a while. Where was home now?

"Here," he answered my thoughts again easily. It used to bug me that he read them, I can only read his when he chooses to project them, but he has almost unfettered access to mine. It doesn't bug me anymore, there's too much else in the world to be concerned with, besides it makes it easier for him to accept my quirks. "You do not have any quirks,
ma belle
." He was smiling again, this time a little mischievously.

I ignored that last statement and concentrated on the first. "Where are we? I don't recognise this place." I looked around what I could see of the room and confirmed I didn't recognise the building at all, but I started to notice a few things. Some soft furnishings that were familiar. A sculpture in the corner Michel had in his chamber in
Sensations
before we left NZ. A photo of my parents out the front of their farm in Cambridge. One of Amisi and Gregor next to it from the night we left New Zealand for London and had partied hard. A few of my favourite books in the corner, Michel's tablet computer on the coffee table. A mohair throw blanket I had adored from our home in St. Helier's Bay. Some artwork from Michel's holiday home in Taupo.

The room may have been foreign, but our lives were definitely spread throughout.

"Saint-Geoire-en-Valldaine, Le Château,
" Michel replied in his beautiful and seductive French accent. I did love it when he spoke in French. His lips twitched. "Hardly speaking,
ma douce
," he pointed out. "Just the name of the village we will now call home and the rather perfunctory name of this house."

I sat upright on the couch, causing him to flounder slightly for balance. He prevented himself from falling off the side of the sofa onto the plush cream carpet of the floor by reaching out and wrapping an arm around me, then swiftly manoeuvring us into a snuggling-type position side by side. He reached over and grasped the mohair throw, placing it around us and settling in to talk. There was a large fireplace along one side of the high ceilinged room. It wasn't lit, so winter hadn't reached wherever we were. But the throw was welcome, I had started to feel a little chilled, despite Michel's hot body along the length of mine.