Sapphire Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 2) (6 page)

It was hard, though. The strength of his restraining collar was weakened when a human was in danger, giving him access to more of his power. It was hard to contain all of that iciness.

By now, the man’s face was turning red as he tried to claw and kick and free himself from Luc’s grasp. Finally, he calmed the raging beast inside him long enough to toss the man away to a nearby dumpster. With enough force to make him think twice about his life of crime, but certainly not enough to end him.

He turned back Hallie, still watching in amazement, and felt warmth coursing through him again. She was safe; that was all that mattered.

This time, he hadn’t lost everything.

He walked to her and put his arms around her, sinking into her embrace for just a second. She hugged him back, giving comfort, but then he pulled back, realizing they needed to get out of there before anyone else came along.

“I’m sorry for all that. Let’s get you back home,” he said.

Her eyes were still wide with shock as he guided her toward her door. “I mean, but what just happened? The gun, and you…” She shook her head. “That was amazing, but I’m so confused.”

“Later,” he said as he helped her in, then came back around to his door.

But as he did, he saw the ringleader charging toward him one last time, a knife in his hand.

Dammit, why did humans make it impossible to show mercy?

Instantly, the dragon inside him kicked into action, and he felt power surge through him as he focused on the attacker and breathed.

The man immediately froze in place, knife in hand, his body still as a statue, cold as ice.

Luc walked close to the man, hearing his shallow breaths as he tried to move but was unable to.

“You’re lucky she’s here, or I would have frozen you until every cell in your body exploded.” He made sure the man could hear him, while Hallie could not.

Then Luc turned, got in the car, and drove off, leaving the frozen man with time to thaw and reconsider his life choices.

H
allie couldn’t believe
what she’d just seen.

Luc. Quiet, mild-mannered Luc, who sometimes seemed he was from a different planet, tossing three men all over the place.

It was like he was bowling with human bodies.

He’d crushed a gun as if it were made of Styrofoam. Suddenly, he wasn’t just odd because of his weird social habits and manner of speaking.

Now he seemed almost alien. Especially the way he’d made that last guy go completely still. It was otherworldly.

She and Luc definitely needed to have a talk.

Still, he’d defended her. That gave her a warm, contented feeling. Like no matter what was weird about him, she was safe. Like she wasn’t wrong to trust him.

The drive was quiet, because she could sense he needed to calm down. She did as well.

When they pulled up in front of her small house in her small, quiet neighborhood, she got out the same time he did and came around. He put his arm out again, and she took it, leading him up the front steps.

“Want to come in?” she asked.

He nodded silently. In the light of her porch, his blond hair was mussed, there were lines around his eyes, and he didn’t look at all ready to leave her.

She turned on the lights as she showed him into her home. They walked into her modestly furnished but clean living room, and she gestured for him to take the biggest couch. He did and then just stared at her, looking more than ever like a huge, confused alien in human form.

“We have to talk about what just happened,” she said. “There’s no way I can just believe you’re normal.”

He shrugged. “Think what you want.”

“Do you mean that?” she asked, irritated. She folded her arms. “Are you seriously going to pretend I didn’t see what I just saw?”

He looked up at her, heat in his blue eyes. “I protected you. That’s all that should matter. And I’ll do it again and again if I have to. I’ll see it as a privilege.”

“But…” She fought back a blush. “I mean, I’m grateful you protected us. But you… the gun… the guys…”

“What about them?” he asked stubbornly.

She came over to join him on the couch. “Humans don’t crush guns with their bare hands or knock people over like bowling pins.”

“Was that like bowling?” he asked flatly, leaning back in the chair. “If so, I kind of liked it.”

“I didn’t,” she said. “We were in danger.”

“I didn’t like that part,” he said. “What I liked was the way they flew away from you. The way I could protect you and keep them from touching you. Punish them for thinking bout you.”

“There you go again,” she said with a sigh, giving him a rueful smile. “Look, humans just don’t talk like that. Because we don’t read minds.”

“Maybe some do,” he said.

“Do they also freeze people in place?” she asked. “Seriously, Luc, I like you. I’m starting to
really
like you. But I need more of the truth from you if we’re going to get any closer.”

He was quiet a long moment, studying his hands as he slowly rubbed the palms together. Such long, deft, powerful fingers.

She’d always known he was probably too good to be true, but she had no idea what he was.

“If I’m not human, what do you think I am?” he asked.

“Well, if you hadn’t beat those men up, I’d say some kind of angel,” she said. “Just looking at you, I mean.”

“Angel?” he asked.

“You know, sent from heaven. Wings?”

He laughed hoarsely. “I may have wings. But I’m
no
angel.”

A shiver went through her. “Then what are you?”

He just stared at her more, not offering any answers. She couldn’t even believe she was having this conversation. She’d never thought about the existence of other beings in this world.

But as he stared at her, looking perfectly relaxed with those glowing blue eyes, she knew she was looking at one now.

But she had no idea what he was.

“You have wings, but you’re no angel,” she said. “Vampire?”

“No,” he said, a small smile quirking his lips. “I don’t suck blood.”

“A superhero?” she asked. “From another planet?”

“No,” he said.

“I give up,” she said.

“Is it enough to just know I’m different, but I would never hurt you?” he asked, leaning in to stroke one hand over her cheek.

Warmth filled her, taking away all her anxiety, and she sank into it

What did it matter what he was when she felt this good around him? She’d never seen him do anything but good things, except when evil people needed to be taught a lesson.

Then he was downright scary.

But this Luc was another Luc altogether. Kind. Warm. Soothing. Like the iciness that was usually around him pulled back just a little, letting her see the true him inside.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll stop the third degree for now. Whatever you are, thank you for saving me,” she said, leaning against his shoulder. He tightened up and then relaxed, bringing his hand around her. Even after the violence he’d wrought, being here touching him felt completely right.

“I mean, I’ll try not to think about it, but how did you do that?” she asked, mostly babbling to herself. “How did you make that man freeze like that, and how did you—”

She was cut off as his lips closed over hers, his hands burying themselves in her hair, his breath mingling with hers as they kissed deeply.

He drew back, keeping their foreheads together, his eyes averted downward.

“What would you say if I told you I was a monster?” he asked, sounding desperate beneath the calm tone of his voice. “What if I told you I wasn’t good?”

She looked into his eyes, unfathomable, swirling blue. “I would try to understand why you felt that so I could tell you you were wrong.”

He was quiet for a moment, his thumb stroking gently over her temple. “I wish I was an angel, for you.”

She smiled softly, enjoying his touch. “Whatever you are is enough for me.” She put her hand over his. “Let’s just enjoy what we have.”

The woman inside her didn’t want to waste another second. If he truly was something from another world, she didn’t know how much time she had with him. And even if she would have said this was crazy only a few days ago, right now, the only thing that felt crazy was not taking the chance she’d been given.

She reached a hand around his neck. “Can you read my mind?”

“I could, but I don’t want to.”

“Why?” she asked, already breathless just from his stare.

He drew a finger over her ear and down her neck. “Because I can usually tell what you’re thinking. And anything else, I would want you to tell me on your own. I don’t want to steal anything.”

She was touched by that, felt warmth pooling in her belly like hot chocolate. She moved in until their lips were super close again, letting the tension tingle between them.

He closed the distance, his hand snaking around her back and pulling her in tight against him, his kiss becoming urgent, possessive, as his lips left her mouth and travelled over her neck, to her collarbone, over the tops of her breasts where they met. Up to her shoulders. Kissing and caressing and making his mark all over her skin. Searing her to the core.

“Luc,” she gasped. “Don’t stop.”

“I couldn’t,” he said, picking her up in his arms. “Not with all the magic powers in the world.” He looked around. “Where is your room?”

She pointed to the stairs, and he stormed toward them. Apparently, he felt all the heat and urgency she did. That whatever was between them was something wonderful that needed to be explored right freaking now.

A taut sexual tension she’d been feeling since they first met. Judging by his possessive hands on her, the feelings were mutual.

When he reached her door, he kicked it open, making it bang against the wall on the other side.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, gasping as he tossed her on her bed and then crawled over her with a growl.

He was so big, so feral.

Maybe she’d been thinking wrong when she’d thought of him as a human shape of an angel or superhero. Maybe she needed to think more along the lines of
animal
.

“This is crazy,” she said as he entwined his hands over hers and pinned her back against the mattress.

He nodded, blue eyes cool as he awaited her permission. She struggled slightly against his hands and grinned. She wasn’t feeling any pain. Her meds must still be working.

It was time for her body to feel more than just pain or the absence of it. She wanted to feel everything. With Luc.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice.

“More than okay,” she said, looking up at him boldly. “Take me.”

A
dangerous cocktail
of emotions whirled inside Luc as he looked down on Hallie, this beautiful, angelic person that made him question everything he believed about humans and existence itself.

Yet when she smiled, everything melted away, the clouds departed, and he could feel warmth again. Happiness, even if just a small sliver warming his ice-cold blood.

Keeping her hands pinned above her, he came down for another kiss. This time it was hot, erotic. She struggled lightly against his iron grip, and then she relaxed more deeply into the kiss, melting beneath him like spring snow before the rising sun.

His tongue teased at the entrance to her mouth, and she opened, letting him lick and stroke inside her. Her muffled moans only made him dive deeper, exploring her until he knew every sensitive spot, every tiny flick that would make her body move underneath him.

When he finally left her mouth, she gave out a long, pleasured sigh, as if this were a new experience to her.

Instantly, the thought of another man touching her like this made him want to do it a thousand times more to completely eradicate her memory of anything but his kiss.

Possessively, he moved to her earlobe, still pinning her with his hands as he moved his body closer to hers, close enough that their bodies brushed, his skin warming even at the slightest touch even though they still had their clothes between them. Hallie squeaked softly with delight as he kissed, then licked, then bit down lightly on her soft skin, intensifying the pressure further and further to increase her arousal.

But the more her body reacted to him, the more he wanted her,
needed
her to feel more. More pleasure. More desire. More arousal.

He freed her hands long enough to help her out of her dress and bra, leaving her with just her underwear, and immediately he went to work on the pleasantly warm, indescribably soft breasts. While his right hand kneaded and rubbed her nipple with his thumb, his mouth licked and suckled on the other. And each touch, each lick was amply rewarded by her body’s response, letting him know just how much she felt.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded, writhing beneath him, struggling against his grip yet overwhelmed by the things he did, unable to escape the pleasure he wanted to give in never-ending quantities.

His tongue explored lower on her body, kissing everywhere on her belly and finding her belly button as his hand felt along the curve of her hips, then her waist, moving lower and lower toward the center of her pleasure. Luc found himself torn between wanting to let the buildup of tension in her body finally free or pushing her to the very limits of her control, drawing out the wait until she could take it no more.

But with each moan, each quiver of pleasure, Luc found it harder to keep control himself.

She’d thought he was an angel. That was preposterous.

But angel or demon, he would protect her. Would keep her safe and keep her his, no matter what stood against him.

He kissed a small trail along the line of her panties, making her gasp with anticipation. Then his finger found her center, caressing over the soft fabric of her underwear as she squirmed with pleasure.

That was absolutely delightful.

He continued to stroke up the center of her hips, making sure his fingers found the small nub that made her tremble more and more with heated arousal. And as he did, he held her down, witnessing every movement she made, every tiny gasp of air or elongated moan of want, as she came closer and closer to the brink.

Finally, Luc felt her come beneath him, her back arching as she cried out in ecstasy. He continued to hold Hallie, watching with captivation as she rode out the intense release that washed over her.

There really was nothing else like it in the universe, seeing his special woman experience overwhelming pleasure that
he
had given her.

Even as she slowly relaxed under his grip, the incredible sight of seeing her come only made him more insatiable, a kind of lust that could never be slaked.

He finally let go of her arms, and she let them relax above her on the pillow as he carefully removed her panties, leaving her entirely bare and amazingly beautiful. And as he spread her legs, he saw her go wide-eyed with captivation as he lowered himself over her, her floral scent as intoxicating as her touch.

He licked once against her clit, slow and languorous, savoring every moment of this experience with Hallie as she writhed with intense satisfaction. When her hands grasped the bed sheets, as if searching, begging for something to hold on to, he reached toward them and grasped them with his own, holding her down once again as he pleasured her thoroughly.

And the more he did, the more he could hear the feral dragon inside him rumbling
. Mate
, it demanded.

But Luc pushed it away as he focused on Hallie, focused on the way her hips bucked if he went too fast. Focused on the way she turned her head to the side and moaned when he made little circles with his tongue around her clit. Focused on every curve of her body, every blush or twitch or movement she made in response to his onslaught of pleasure.

He continued to explore, running his tongue lower and thrusting into her, her heat and wetness as erotic as it was bewitching. He could almost feel what it would be like to be inside her, be one with her. And he could tell she was thinking the same thing just by the satisfied moan she gave out.

Then, with one last, tiny flick of the tip of his tongue on her clit, she came again, even harder this time. But instead of holding her down, he released her hands, allowing her body to do whatever it wanted. Instinctively, she grasped onto him, her nails digging into his shoulders and her legs wrapping around his waist as she cried out his name in release.

As she did, his hands caressed up her thighs as he watched attentively, and she held on to him tightly as every last drop of pleasure was wrung from her, enjoying the feel of her skin as her body rocked with the throes of release.

And as she finally started to relax, Luc considered his next move. By now, her body responded to him more acutely with each touch.

Desire surged through him to take her, right here and right now. To make their bodies come together as one. To experience what he could only imagine would be pure ecstasy for both of them.

But even though Luc was fairly certain he could keep control of his dragon, he honestly had no clue how mating for dragons from his age worked. And the last thing Hallie deserved after all the unfairness in her life was a decision neither of them was ready to make.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, aware of his hesitation even through the haze of euphoria she was still coming down from.

“I don’t want to stop, but I think we should. I’m not sure what will happen if we go all the way,” Luc replied, the dragon inside him rebelling at the thought of stopping, but his mind resolute as to what should be done.

Thankfully, Hallie didn’t question it, but looked back at him with contentment and gratitude.

But to his surprise, as he sat up to get off the bed, he felt her hands working on the zipper of his pants with surprising deftness.

“Just because we don’t go all the way doesn’t mean I don’t want one last thing.” Her voice was husky as she loosened his belt and pulled his hard member free from the pants he wore.

For a moment, Luc didn’t know how to respond as she sat up and kneeled on the bed in front of him. And when she began to run her soft hands along his length, he found himself unaware of what to do now that he was no longer the one in control.

She was, and she knew it, sending him a knowing little grin as she stroked him.

The little minx.

To start, Hallie moved slowly, as if savoring the feel of him as he’d savored the taste of her only a moment ago.

“You feel amazing,” she said, grasping him tighter and making him nearly lose it at the sight of her pleasure. “Why can’t we go all the way?”

She sounded slightly disappointed, so he put his own hands to work, cupping her full breasts and massaging them as she stroked harder and harder along him.

“I just don’t know,” he said. “I want to be careful with you. Go slow.”

“Giving me that many orgasms is going slow?” she murmured.

“As slow as I can go,” he grated out.

As she intensified the pleasure, he did, too, pressing his fingers against her nipples as he dipped his head to kiss the base of her neck.

And despite his ample control, his entire body felt like fire, white heat building inside him as she moved quicker. He allowed himself to at least think about being inside her, the image of their two bodies coming together vivid as he felt himself get harder and harder beneath her touch.

Luc brought his finger down between Hallie’s legs as she eagerly touched him with fevered speed. Then with a single flick of her clit, she came one last time, her grip tightening and seizing the very last inch of his will past its ability to resist her embrace.

Together they came, arms wrapped around each other, his entire body alight with all-consuming fire that wrenched its release through him over and over.

For a very long—impossibly long—moment, they stayed together, Hallie’s face nestled on his chest while he kept his arms around her, holding her, not wanting to let go, both of them saying nothing, their heaving breaths the only sound in the room.

Nobody had ever made him feel like this. So wanted. So needed.

And he could barely comprehend his own need for Hallie. So great it was, as vital as air itself.

But even lying there after the greatest pleasure of his life, something was bothering him. The strong urge to be with her, to claim her, felt almost as desperate as his need for oxygen.

The necklace felt like it was strangling him. Just one claiming with her and he’d be free to heal her. Free to be himself again, whoever that was.

Free to own her forever.

But he didn’t even know what that entailed. Hadn’t thought to ask before because it hadn’t seemed possible he would find a human mate.

But after sharing this with Hallie, he knew for sure she was it. He just didn’t know where to go from here, and he didn’t want to fuck things up.

He ran his hand absentmindedly over her hair as he tried to calm the dragon pacing inside him.

Mate. Mate. Mate
. Like a heartbeat.

It should be enough to just be with her like he had been, and he didn’t want to leave her. But having her curvy body against him, so precious and warm, the feelings of need weren’t leaving him.

Perhaps he needed to cool off before he did something they’d both regret. As much as he wanted her, it would be unfair to mate her before she even knew what he was.

He sat up, removing his arm from her reluctantly as she faced him, her skin glowing, her soft, gray eyes loving.

“I need to go,” he said.

Her face fell just a fraction and then went back to her normal calm. She nodded, pulling the sheet around her as he got out of bed and began doing up his pants.

She stared at him, and he could sense the awkwardness between them. “Did I do something?” she said.

He looked at her. “No, of course not.”

“Then why are you leaving?”

He cocked his head. He didn’t have an acceptable answer for that, so he just shrugged. Hopefully, if he just made it look casual, it wouldn’t be a big deal between them and they could start over fresh tomorrow at work.

“A shrug? Really?” She looked exasperated.

She was getting angrier. It was time to go. “I’ll go out the window,” he said. “I have everything with me, and then you don’t have to get up and lock the door, okay?” She was still undressed, and he didn’t want to bother her.

She simply raised an eyebrow as he went to the window. When he made sure she was covered, he opened it and squeezed himself through, dropping to the pavement with a thud that barely bothered him.

With longing, he looked back up at the window, but she wasn’t there.

It had been an amazing date. He’d made more progress than he’d ever thought. But it was time to go see Zach.