The Dragon in the Stone (10 page)

“
Ow,
what did you do that for?” she asked, and Magda nodded.

“
Exactly.
They hurt, and the blast you got from little Geva was nothing in comparison to
the inferno you two created on that cliff. Yet I can’t see it having left a
mark on you. By rights, that ought to have killed you. Only a true dragon’s
mate can survive such a fire mating, and it’s virtually unheard of in a
human/dragon coupling.” She paused seemingly to let those words sink in, and
Rhonda gasped as the implications dawned on her. “As you’re very much alive,
and you broke the spell, keeping him out of the stone, and by implication all
of us out of a twenty-five year long sleep, that’s the only explanation.”

Again she paused and squeezed Rhonda’s shoulder in
silent comfort.

“
I
know it’s a lot to take in, and maybe I should have warned you, but that boy
deserves some happiness after all those years of purgatory.”

Rhonda couldn’t quite keep a straight face at
hearing Drorgan referred to as a boy.

As though she had read her mind, and who knew maybe
she could—there was nothing sane and rational about any of this, after
all—Magda chuckled.

“
I’ve
known him since the cradle. I was the one who helped his dear mama birth him,
after all, so he’s very much a boy to me, and in all that time I’ve known him,
he has never once lost
control.
” She put her hands on her hips and
nodded at the stream of servants appearing with steaming buckets of water, as
the doors opened.

Silence fell between them while her bath was being
filled, and when the last servant had piled out, leaving just Rhonda, Magda,
and Miriam in the room, she pulled Rhonda to her feet.

“
You
have a lot to think about. I’ll leave you in Miriam’s care.” She pulled out a
vial of paste out of one of the pockets of her ever present apron, and handed
it to the young girl. “Make sure you put this on her hands, once she’s had her
bath. It’ll help soothe them until Lord Drorgan can see to them.”

Miriam’s eyes grew wide, as she, too, seemed to
grasp the implications of that concept, and Rhonda gave up trying to think this
all over. Instead she simply allowed herself to be pampered.

By the time she had been bathed, moisturized all
over, had her hands seen to, and her long hair brushed dry in the front of the
roaring fire, she was exhausted. Wrapping another shawl around her night rail,
she dismissed a hovering Miriam with a small smile.

“
Go
on, it’s late. Thank you for your help, but I can manage from here. Get some
rest.”

Miriam curtsied.

“
If
yer
sure,
m’lady
. Just ring
the bell if you do need anything else. I’ve gone an’ put a brick in the bed for
you, so it’s nice and toasty.”

Rhonda gave her a tired smile and waved her away.
Bed was the last thing on her mind. Her brain hurt with all the information
overload she had been subjected to, and the very real physical need to seek out
Drorgan and reassure himself that all was well. However, Magda had been most
specific in her instructions to leave father and daughter alone. Geva needed to
heal, and Drorgan was the only one who could do that. Apparently that took
time.

Despite the odds, Rhonda must have fallen asleep,
because she woke up with a start, not sure what had awoken her. The candles had
burnt down, pitching the chamber into semi darkness, and her heart beat faster
when Drorgan’s unmistakable spicy, masculine scent invaded her nostrils,
seconds before his large frame appeared in front of the fire. He stoked the
glowing embers to new life, and the resulting flames illuminated his harsh
features. Rhonda’s heart clenched seeing the deep grooves around his eye and
mouth. Her very own dragon looked tired and battle weary. There really was no
other word for it, and without thinking she reached out to him. The contact
stung, and Drorgan swung round to take her hands in his.

Fire flared in his gaze when he saw the state of
her palms, and his dragon’s low growl filled the space between them.

“
She
hurt you.”

Rhonda tried to tug her hands away, but she should
have known that was useless. Drorgan had a gentle, yet firm hold on her wrists,
and she was going nowhere unless he let her.

“
It’s
okay. She didn’t mean to.”

Drorgan’s head snapped up, and the wealth of
emotion in his intense gaze held her spellbound.

“
It
is not okay. This is my fault. All of this fucking mess is my fault.” This time
when she pulled her hands out of his grasp, he let her with a resigned sigh,
and slumped on the floor in front of the fire.

Rhonda, too, slid to the floor and taking his head
in her sore hands dropped a kiss on his furrowed brow.

“
I’ve
told you already, you can’t change the past, so stop that now.” A shudder went
through her brave dragon at her words, and before she could blink he had her on
his lap. A gasp escaped her as he immediately hardened under her ass cheeks.
Drorgan nuzzled into her neck, and she could feel his lips curve up into a
reluctant smile at her reaction.

“
Ignore
that. It seems to have a mind of its own around you. The last thing you need
right now is sex.”

His hold on her tightened when she wriggled her
hips, and she loved his sharp intake of breath.

“
I
don’t know. I think I could be persuaded.”

Drorgan shook his head and laughed.

“
What
am I going to do with you?”

Rhonda’s heart clenched painfully at that loaded
question, not least because she realized with startling clarity that she had
indeed fallen head over heels in love with her dragon. It was also painfully
obvious that Drorgan wasn’t feeling the same way about her. If he had, surely,
he would have explained that whole dragon mating thing to her, not put it down
to simple lack of control on his part. To stop herself from going down that
path to madness she changed the subject.

“
How’s
Geva?” she asked.

A deep, heartfelt sigh was her only answer, and she
held her breath when he took her hands in his again and studied her injuries.

“
This
is okay, really. I know she didn’t mean to hurt me, not really, and besides,
Magda said you…” His head snapped up so abruptly that the words stuck in her
throat. For the first time ever in his presence a tingle of apprehension,
almost fear snaked up her spine at his reaction. He looked ready to tear
someone or something apart.

“
Magda
said what?” His voice, though barely above a whisper held the deep, furious
growl of his dragon, and his hold on her hands grew painful when she didn’t
answer straightaway.

“
What
did she say?”

“
Nothing.”
He didn’t believe her far too breathy denial, she could tell, because his eyes
narrowed and his breath held the heat of his dragon.

“
Do
you want me to put you over my knee? What did she say?”

One hand on her chin, he tipped her face up so that
she had no choice but to look at him, and she swallowed nervously when his gaze
intensified. His power reached out to her, snaring her under his will with an
ease and dark, underlying menace that was utterly terrifying.

“
Please,
don’t.” Rhonda managed to whisper the words out of lips that didn’t seem to
belong to her right now. Drorgan pulled back as though she had slapped him, and
the suffocating hold on her psyche lifted, enabling her to breathe easier.

“
Forgive
me. I don’t know why … fuck.”

Jaws clenched, Drorgan looked even more furious
than he had moments before, not at her or even Magda this time, but as though
he was disgusted with himself and his next words confirmed that.

“
Don’t
believe a word she says to you. Magda talks too much and—”

“
So,
we’re not mated then?”

Drorgan’s eyes widened and the color drained from
his face, making Rhonda feel all sorts of wretched inside, yet she pressed on,
needing to hear the truth from him.

“
Because
she said we were. That only a true dragon mate could survive the mating fire,
and that you could heal me.” She lifted her hands up, and Drorgan’s tense
stature relaxed slightly. “Which would be very handy, because my hands do hurt,
so in that respect at least, I hope she is telling the truth.”

Another blast of fire singed air hit her in the
face, and in the next instant, Drorgan’s mouth was on hers, devouring her with
a need that stoked her own desperate desire. Hands buried in her hair he kissed
her with a passion that left Rhonda breathless and clinging to him for support.
When he at last broke the kiss, and ordered her to shut her eyes, she didn’t
even think to question him.

Fire burned bright from behind her closed eyelids,
and she cried out at the intense pain in her hands, before it went away.

“
There
you are, my brave little dragon. Open your eyes.”

Smooth unblemished skin met her gaze when she
opened her eyes, and looked down at her hands.

“
How
did you?” Drorgan tensed again at her awestruck whisper, and he wouldn’t meet
her gaze when she sought it with hers. “So, does that mean we are mated then,
and what does that really mean? You have to explain—”

“
It
means nothing.”

Rhonda snatched her hands out of his loose grasp at
hearing those words, and Drorgan sighed.

“
That
didn’t come out right. What I mean is, it doesn’t mean you’re beholden to me or
anything, or … fuck, I’m too tired to discuss this now. Let’s go to bed and
we’ll talk about this in the morning.”

Rhonda was all set to press him for answers now,
but looking at him closely, she could see he spoke the truth. Whatever he had
to do to heal her hands seemed to have taken the last of his strength, and he
looked ten years older.

“
Promise?”
she asked, and Drorgan smiled. Before she could blink, he’d struggled to his
feet in jerky moves, which told their own story, and in a few long legged strides
she was on the bed and under the covers. Drorgan pulled his clothes off, joined
her on the bed and having spooned his body around her, fell asleep almost
immediately.

With his soft exhales ghosting across her skin, and the warmth of his
big body surrounding her, it didn’t take long before Rhonda, too, fell into
exhausted slumber.

Chapter Ten

Drorgan woke from the most restful sleep he’d had
ever since his little dragon had taken up residence in his castle, and smiled
as her scent hit his nostrils.
 
Stretching his mind he reached out to Geva,
only to find her still asleep. It worried him a little, this stillness he felt
in her mind, and he sent out a question to Magda.

I’m sitting with her, don’t you worry over her.
Your daughter will be just fine. She is sleeping and healing. Worry over your
mate. You need to make things right with her for all our sakes. Why on earth
didn’t you—

Drorgan grimaced and cut Magda off mid thought. He
didn’t need his old nursemaid lecturing him on mating etiquette. With his eyes
still closed he reached across the bed, only to find it empty. A soft curse and
the clang of the fire poker told him what he needed to know, and he grinned at
the extremely colorful language his little dragon employed, as she tried her
best to get the glowing embers to light again.

He ought to go and help her, really, but Drorgan
was enjoying the enticing view she presented far too much. With her long
chestnut and delightfully messy hair obscuring her face, he couldn’t see her
expression, but he could imagine it. He’d kept watch over her so intently over
the last few weeks, that he’d become an expert at reading her body language.

She’d have that cute crease between her brows,
screw up her nose and stick her tongue out as she concentrated on her task.
Thoughts of her tongue sweeping across her lips, and her teeth no doubt sinking
into the soft flesh, made his morning wood turn to stone. Without even thinking
about his actions he took his rock hard dick in hand and stroked lazily up and
down the shaft, while his hungry gaze roamed over the curve of her ass. The
fire flared to life, rendering her shift transparent, and he fisted his
erection faster, seeing the darkened cleft of her ass cheeks.

His dragon roared to life with the need to claim
his woman, and Rhonda gasped and whipped around to face him. While the action
hid her far too enticing ass from his view, it exposed her heavy breasts. The
nipples hardened under his intense stare, and he could clearly make out the
darker color of the surrounding areola through the fabric covering. It made his
mouth water with the need to taste, as did the restless way his girl shifted
from foot to foot. The increasing wetness he sensed between her legs wrenched a
growl from him, and the most delightful blush spread over Rhonda’s pale skin.

Her breathing sped up and her pupils dilated, and
she’d taken several involuntary steps toward him before she realized what she
was doing. Shaking her head she frowned as though surprised at her actions, and
Drorgan grinned. The fact that she responded like that to him without any
coercion on his part spoke volumes of their connection.

Magda’s instructions rang in his ears, and despite
his misgivings he couldn’t have put a stop to what was happening between them,
if his life depended on it. It might be utterly selfish of him, but he was
tired of fighting what he felt for the woman in front of him. He was so damn
tired of being alone, and Rhonda was a grown woman, not a child. She’d had
countless opportunities to flee, to reject him, and not once had she done so,
so maybe he just needed to accept this … whatever this would turn out to be and
go with it.

The future was his for the taking again, and God
help him, he wanted Rhonda in that future, as his mate, his wife, and God
willing one day the mother of his children.

“
You’re
awake.”

Her whispered words shook him out his
self-examining thoughts, and kicking the rest of the sheets off, he let go of
his dick, and put his hands behind his head in a silent invitation.

“
Very
awake in more ways than one, my little dragon, and in need of your attention.”

He smirked when she gasped and let her gaze roam
all over his naked body. The way she was eating him alive with her eyes, the
way her breathing grew laborious, and her heart rate kicked into overdrive … it
made his cock jerk. Her gaze snared on that body part, and she licked her lips.
Right now in this moment it was the most erotic sight ever, and Drorgan wished
with all his might that those lips were wrapped around his shaft.

“
Don’t
let me stop you. Keep on walking over here, little dragon, and take what you so
clearly want.”

He held out his hand to her, and Rhonda gave one of
those cock hardening little mewls, that told him how turned on she was.

“
I
thought we were going to talk about…” His dragon snarled his impatience, and
she blanched, even as her sweet musk intensified. She sank her teeth into her
bottom lip, wrapped her arms around herself, and her toes curled under as her
thighs flexed.

“
We
can talk if you want to, or I can take care of that ache in your cunt, while I
fuck your mouth with my cock.” A strangled sound escaped his girl, and sitting
up, Drorgan swung his legs off the side of the bed. He took a firm grasp of his
cock and started to fist himself. Drops of his pre-cum appeared on the hugely
swollen head of his dick, and he hissed his pleasure through his teeth as he
swiped his thumb through the sticky evidence of his arousal and used the
natural lubrication to slap his hand up and down his cock.

Pleasure built instantly from the base of his
spine, and he grunted his approval when Rhonda’s hand strayed to her cunt.

“
Yes,
fuck yourself on your fingers for me. Take that blasted shift off, and let me
see how wet you are. How much your cunt is aching for my cock, and if you’re a
very good girl you might even get to taste it soon.”

“
God,
yes.” Her strangled whisper reached his hearing over the roaring of his own
blood, and he increased the motion of his hand on his cock, as she fumbled with
the ribbon holding her shift together.

“
So
fucking beautiful.” He grunted the words, as her shift fell to the floor, and
leaned forward better to see the flushed skin on display for him. “Fondle your
breasts and spread your legs, so that I can see my cunt. That’s my girl.”

Flames licked across his skin as his dragon went
wild, seeing Rhonda comply with his wishes so beautifully. Breaths seesawing
out of her lungs she tugged on the tips of her pink nipples, until they
elongated and hardened further. Her pussy lips opened as she spread her legs,
revealing the darker tissues contained within. Drenched in her juices, her
inner lips quivered and her little hole clenched, pushing more of her arousal
down the inside of her thighs.

“
You’re
so fucking wet for me, girl. Tell me, do you still want to talk, or shall I show
you what it means to be my mate?”

An all over body shiver shook Rhonda, and before
she could fall, he leaped across the distance separating them, and yanking her
up to his frame, kissed her.

Rhonda whimpered into the kiss, opening to the
urgent strokes of his tongue, and Drorgan threw all caution to the wind as her
addictive taste, made ten times more potent by her desire for him, exploded on
his taste buds.
 
He let his dragon take
over, devouring his mate, secure in the knowledge that this woman was his. She
might be human and thus fragile, but this was his little dragon, the one person
meant for him and him alone, and she would be able to take whatever his dragon
threw at her.

As if to prove his point, Rhonda moaned and fought
him for dominance in the kiss. Hands buried in his hair, she jumped at him,
while bringing her legs around his waist. They both groaned as the action meant
his cock slid through her cunt lips. Grasping her ass cheeks with his hands,
and not once breaking the kiss, he lifted her up higher, so that he could tease
her clit with the tip of his penis. Rhonda jerked and mewled into his mouth,
and grinning, Drorgan did it again. Her pussy quivered around him, and the
little minx tried to rub herself closer.

Breaking the kiss, he growled at her, and Rhonda
gasped when he allowed his claws to run out, as he fisted her ass cheeks.

“
No,
we do this my way, or not at all. You’re my mate, to do with as I see fit, are
you not?”

Tears shimmered in Rhonda’s eyes at his words, and
his chest tightened with the force of his newfound feelings. Flexing her thighs
around his waist, she pushed her heavy breasts further into his chest, while
yanking his hair with enough force to cause a mild sting. She was a wild one,
his dragon mate, as confirmed by her next breathless words.

“
I
thought you didn’t want me to be. I thought, you … oh.”

She blanched and her mouth opened into a silent O
when he lifted her up, until the tip of his cock aligned with her channel, and
then he impaled himself with one forceful thrust, that sent darts of exquisite
pleasure though his veins. Her internal muscles quivered and clamped down on
his cock in a seeming effort to hold him inside her body, when he pulled out
all the way and then slammed back home. Spreading his legs wide to give him
better leverage, Drorgan bounced his woman up and down his cock with jerky,
ever faster moves. Her breasts bounced, her head fell back, and she gushed
around his dick, aiding his forceful claim of her body.

“
Does
this feel as though I don’t want you, girl?”

“
No,
I don’t … God, harder, please. I need to … oh yes, yes … God…”

He caught her scream of release in his mouth as her
pussy clamped around him in a viselike grip, the rhythmic pressure around his
shaft sending him, too, into the abyss of pure bliss. Drorgan staggered back to
his bed with Rhonda draped around his body like the climbing ivy that graced
the walls of his castle, as she convulsed around his cock. Dropping them both
on the bed, he allowed himself a few more strokes into the wet haven of her
delectable cunt, loving the wet sounds their lovemaking created between them,
before he pulled out of her.

Seeing her inner lips stretched around his cock,
that tool slick with their combined juices, which rushed out of her body to
coat the tight ring of muscle that he intended to claim next—fuck, that was
hot.

Arms thrown above her head, struggling for breath,
and with her eyes closed, Rhonda looked the very image of thoroughly fucked
woman, but he wasn’t done with her yet, not by a long shot.

Grasping her ankles he pulled her back off the bed
until her ass was half hanging off, and delved in to lick her clean.

****

Still riding the aftershocks of her fast and
furious orgasm, the first lick of his rough tongue across her clit renewed the
contractions, and Rhonda whimpered. She didn’t know whether she was pleading
for more, or pleading him to stop.
 
Not
that Drorgan took any notice of the incomprehensible sounds coming from her
mouth. Instead, he renewed his efforts to make her come time and time again, until
she could do nothing more than ride the waves of her seemingly never ending
release, as he lapped up her arousal. Time lost all meaning, nothing mattered
but the intense waves of pleasure he created with his tongue and fingers.

It was only when she started whimpering his name
and tried to scoot away from the relentless pressure against her over sensitive
clit, that he came up for air. Kissing a path of little bursts of fire, he made
his way slowly up her body. Over the quivering, sweat slicked skin of her
abdomen, up to her breasts, where he paid particular attention to her aching
nipples. Pushing her breasts together, he
laved
the
sensitive buds, sucked, nipped and teased, until Rhonda was once more on the
brink of release.

“
Please,
please … I can’t … no more.”

Drorgan released what felt like a hugely swollen
nipple from his mouth, allowing his teeth to graze along the tip, and Rhonda
let go off the bed covers she had been fisting, and grasped hold of his hair
instead. Their gazes locked, as she tried to pull him up, off, closer—she
wasn’t entirely sure which, and the heated emotion blasting back at her held
her spellbound.

He grinned, and letting go of her breast, grasped
her wrists and yanked her hands off of his head.

“
Naughty
little dragon. I said we do this my way, did I not?”

Her stomach hollowed out at the intonation he put
on those few words, as his voice dropped further, taking on the gravelly, smoky
quality which told her how much the dragon was in control right now. It was a
truly exhilarating thought that she aroused him this much. His cock was an iron
hard ridge against her thigh again, and her eyes widened when he scooted up her
body, until he straddled her chest. His spicy masculine musk enveloped her, as
the action brought the tip of his magnificent cock level with her mouth. The
urge to taste him, to return some of the pleasure he had already given her
dictated her actions, and sticking her tongue out she swiped across the head of
his cock.

His growl of pleasure shook the bed, while the pressure
on her wrists grew painful. Emboldened by his reaction she did it again,
lifting her head up, and stretching her lips wide over his shaft, she swirled
her tongue around his corona and back up and into his slit.

“
Fuck,
yes.”

His muttered groan while he lifted up slightly to
enable her to take more of his shaft into her mouth spurred her on. She tugged
against the hold he had on her wrists, but it was useless. It only resulted in
him pushing his cock so far down her mouth that she coughed and gagged. If that
were possible he grew even bigger inside her mouth, and the spicy drops of his
pre-cum burned her throat as she swallowed convulsively to stop herself from
gagging around his thick length.