Chapter Sixteen

She should be resting, but it was the last thing Esha wanted to do. Her body hummed with contentment the likes of which she had never experienced. She’d had good sex before, but nothing compared to what she’d just shared with Kendrick. Everything had felt…right.

The sound of rain hitting the tent filled the silence between them. It was nice just lying with him. She could hear his heartbeat beneath her ear, and his fingers lazily traced designs on her back.

“What do these mean?” he asked as his other hand lightly touched one of her face markings.

“The forehead marking is that of a sun. The dots along my brows were a design I chose that signifies family. The lines on my cheeks represent my warrior nature.”

“They’re beautiful.”

She smiled as she rose on an elbow to look down at him. “Really?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he grinned. “Aye, lass.”

By the sun, how she loved when he called her that. His deep voice was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. And the way he spoke with his accent was particularly pleasing. “Do your people mark yourselves in any way?”

“We call them tattoos.”

“Do you have any?” She had seen him from the front, but there was always a chance he had one elsewhere.

His lips widened in a grin. “Aye.”

Kendrick sat and turned his back to her. Esha’s lips parted in shock at the image of the dragon covering his back. She couldn’t tell if the ink was black or red, and she finally gave up trying to decide. The design itself was so intricate that she couldn’t imagine how much time it had taken or even how it had been done. The dragon stood, showing its left side. Its wings were spread wide and slightly upward, its tail curled as it lay behind it, and its front left foot was lifted as if it were about to take a step. But it was the dragon’s stare that caught her. It appeared as if it were looking right at her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she murmured and ran her fingers over the tattoo. “It’s beautiful.”

Kendrick turned his head to the side to look at her. “Every King has one. Each is different. We’ve always wondered if dragons have them, too, but until we shifted, we did no’ know about them.”

“Because your scales would cover it?”

“Aye.”

“It’s a shame that it’s covered all the time. This should be displayed.”

He returned to his back and grinned up at her. “Are you suggesting I walk around shirtless?”

“I’m saying I wouldn’t mind,” she answered with a smile.

He laughed and pulled her back down beside him. “Shall I try it tomorrow?”

“With the rain, it won’t matter what you wear because you’ll be soaked regardless.”

“Verra true.”

Esha debated whether to meditate. Elves didn’t need to sleep like humans, but they did require four hours of meditation each night. But the thought of wasting what little time she had with Kendrick felt wrong. She wrapped her fingers around his flaccid cock and began stroking him.

“Lass,” he murmured in a deep, throaty voice.

“Would you rather sleep?”

He groaned when she cupped his balls. “Absolutely no’.”

“I didn’t think so.”

He hardened in her hand. She ran her fingers around the head of his arousal, causing a groan to rumble from his chest. His eyes blazed with desire, and his breathing grew harsh. He had held her immobile as he brought her to the brink earlier. She wanted to do the same for him, but she already craved him inside her again. She wasn’t sure she could hold out for as long as he had.

Esha straddled his hips and hovered over him. His hands smoothed up her thighs, his thumbs grazing her still-sensitive clit before moving up her stomach. Her breathing had quickened, her blood rushing through her quickly. Just a look, a simple touch from him, had her quivering.

His large hands held her softly. She reached down and took his cock once more, holding it as she slowly lowered herself onto him. When he was nestled within her, she began leisurely rocking her hips back and forth.

His eyes burned with need. She couldn’t look away from him, even when he palmed both breasts and massaged them. Even when he thumbed her nipples and made her want to grind against him. He held her gaze as he kept one hand rolling a nipple between his fingers and his other lowered to rub her clit.

The pleasure that rushed through her was simply too much. She rocked her hips faster, eager to experience another orgasm—and to feel him spill inside her.

They were breathing hard, their moans filling the tent. With him thrusting deep, his finger teasing her clit and her nipple, she reached climax in record time. Esha gasped, her breath locked in her lungs as her body jerked from the ecstasy.

In an instant, Kendrick was behind her, and she was on her hands and knees. He thrust into her, powerfully and deep. She cried out as a second orgasm came, layering on top of the first. He held her hips as he drove into her, hard and fast. She lost track of time, of herself. All she knew was amazing bliss. It covered her, inside and out.

Slowly, she came back to herself, her body still shuddering, when she felt Kendrick climax, his seed once more filling her. For the first time, Esha wondered what it would be like to have her belly swell with a child. It was wishful thinking, however. No one on the planet could conceive.

They fell to their sides together, too exhausted to move. A short while later, Kendrick pulled out of her and covered them with a blanket as he snuggled against her. It would be so easy to sleep, her body seemed to want that, but Esha refused to allow it.

“We do that rather nicely,” he said as he kissed the back of her neck.

She smiled. “Hm. We certainly do.”

“Are you hungry? We worked up an appetite.”

She rolled over to look at him. “That we have.”

Kendrick got to his feet and held out his hand. “Come, then.”

Esha didn’t hesitate to take his offered palm. He pulled her up. She left the blanket on the bed. As she came around to the front of the tent, a rug and pillows that hadn’t been there before awaited them. They lowered themselves to the ground.

“What would you like?” he asked.

“More of your food.”

“Are you adventurous?”

Esha couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m a Ranger. Of course, I’m adventurous.”

“That doesna always mean the same things when it comes to food.”

“Surprise me,” she told him.

He thought about that for a moment. “Do you want sweet or salty?”

“Sweet.”

Kendrick flashed a smile as a plate appeared between them. “They doona look like much, but they’re delicious.”

She eyed the treats covered in white dust. “What are they?”

“They’re called beignets. It’s a dough that’s fried and then covered in powdered sugar.”

Esha watched as he lifted one of the pastries and bit into it. The sugar coated his lips and fell down his chest. She laughed at the delight that filled his face. He said nothing as he finished off the treat.

“Doona even try no’ to get the sugar on you. It gets everywhere, but that’s part of the appeal.”

She grabbed a beignet and sniffed it.

“Do you smell everything?” he asked with a chuckle.

She shot him a flat look. “Don’t you? If it doesn’t smell good, I’m not going to eat it.” But the treat smelled delicious. Esha took a small bite, surprised at the taste of the dough and sugar that filled her mouth.

“I knew you’d like them,” Kendrick said with a smug smile.

She grinned and took another bite. One simply wasn’t enough. It didn’t take long for them to finish the plate of treats. When they finished, she looked down to find herself coated in the powdered sugar.

It took some time to get it off, especially when they helped each other by using their lips and tongues. He made her moan and then laugh before she did the same to him. Once they were reasonably clean, they reclined on the pillows. The night had been nothing like Esha had expected, but she wasn’t sorry for it. Even when she knew what would come with the dawn.

“What’s it like to have a family?” she asked.

He gently tugged on a piece of her hair and shrugged. “Some people have such horrible families they wish they didna have any.”

“What about you?”

“Mine was fine. Nothing bad, nothing great. I didna have siblings. My parents spent a lot of time away. My father was in the army, and my mother was a high-ranking clan member. Her duties took her away frequently, too. I spent considerable time alone.”

“But you know where you come from.”

His green gaze slid to her. “Aye.”

“That’s what I’ve never had. None of us brought to Zora against our will have that. It’s indescribable, that feeling of not knowing who your family is or where you come from. It’s like a missing piece inside me.”

Kendrick linked his fingers with hers. “You may no’ know who your parents are or where you came from, but you know who you are. You found your calling as a Ranger. That’s what matters. Some have a good, solid family and never find themselves.”

“I’d still like to have answers. What if my parents didn’t want me?”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “They wanted you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I do, lass. Because I know you.”