46. Caliel

46

Caliel

I kissed Bree like I wanted to meld with her, to be inside her.

Which I did, but not as a phantom entity within her brain. My craving might be soul deep, but it was rooted in a pure physical need.

Desire. Something I had often felt while trapped within her, but now I could act on it for real. Touch her soft skin, kiss her warm lips, and indulge in the pleasures of her flesh.

I shuddered with the power of it. If it was the last thing I did—and it might be—I wanted to claim her.

Gryphons did not kiss. The closest we ever came was rubbing our heads together. I did that now, pushing my face along hers, inhaling the scent that Slade's body interpreted much more intensely than I would have in my native form.

But we were not Gryphons. We were human, and she sank her fingers into my hair as she pulled my face to her own. Her lips opened, and her tongue danced with mine as power flooded me. Clean and bright, it pulsed, and I gasped against her lips. Then I seized hold of it, and, to coin a human phrase, made it my bitch . I forced it to flow to the full extent of every nerve ending…

For the first time, my body truly came alive. The warmth of the air, the sound of waves and wind, the scents of the flowering vines were powerful, all of them, but they paled in comparison to the smoothness of the skin beneath my human fingers, the tiny gasp Bree uttered as I nibbled along her neck.

The teeth that dropped from my gums startled me. The first urge to open my mouth and bite down trembled through?—

It shocked me enough that I almost pulled away. But then Bree pushed me back on the moss and followed me down, running her hands over my chest, undoing the laces of my pants to stroke my abdominal muscles… it was like she was made of fire, not ice. Nothing any Gryphona had ever done made me feel like this.

Where was the Ice Drake? I could sense her, deep inside. An eager participant without taking over. I caught an impression of intense focus—on me. Of a driven purpose, almost primal…

And she was not alone.

Bree's Dragon was there too. Rumbling a mental purr, and very much a part of what was going on.

A bit confused, but also relieved, I set my own cravings free. I sought the warmth of Bree's skin as my hands slid beneath the hem of her academy shirt. And her scent—for once, my confused nose and my heart agreed. She smelled like every flower I'd ever sniffed, only with the faintest hint of Dragon.

Delicious. Irresistible.

Mine. If only for this brief time…

She broke away to whip her shirt off. Her leggings followed, and my gaze revered every glorious curve.

It left her clad only in a bra, and I traced the swell of her breasts above it, my fingers trembling ever so slightly.

"You are exquisite," I whispered.

She ripped her bra off too. While I was mesmerized as much by the bounce of her full breasts as by their perfection, she wrapped her fingers into my hair. "You belong to me, Caliel. And you are going to live, damn it."

At the moment, I very much wished to. I folded my arms around her and rolled her over so she lay beneath me.

And then I sent my talent dancing through her body, lighting up every nerve. I had mental fingers stroking her face, down her throat, over her breasts, caressing her nipples, tickling her ribs, and stroking down her abdomen to the place between her thighs…

She moaned and writhed beneath me, her half-closed eyes flashing silver as little wisps of ice fog emerged from her skin. Meanwhile, her hands trailed over my body—they flared alternatively hot and cold, sending lightning straight through to my nether regions.

I was so alive with need that I ached. And when her hands pulled the laces free to stroke what thrusted between us, I began to rumble.

It was not a growl—it was more like a purr, coming from somewhere deep within this body. She pushed me back on my knees and rose to her own, before lowering her head.

Her hands explored a territory that was as uncharted to her as it was to me, and my head fell back on my neck, the rumble increasing until the very air vibrated with it. Then she folded her lips around me, licked, and sucked .

Hellfire. I had never experienced anything like that, and I almost exploded on the spot. The surge carried through to her, and she gasped around me. As I used my talent to make her body sing, her moans were muffled by what she held in her mouth. But her hands tightened, just a little.

I gasped as it sent another surge, and I gently pulled her off, then raised her and kissed her. Driven by instincts—mine or Slade's, I had no idea—I spun her around until her back was to me. I held her tight, and roamed my hands over her breasts while my mental fingers reached deep—finding and stroking and rubbing until she gasped and arched her hips backward in invitation.

It was not something I could resist, even if I had wanted to. I was so hard that I had to use a hand to guide myself to her, and I gasped as she pushed backward onto me.

All my dreams of this moment did not compare to the reality of her silky heat enfolding me, one glorious inch at a time. I met her halfway, and then she kept going until I was fully seated.

I shuddered. It was like everything in my life—from my youth as a Gryphon, my emergence as a healer, my capture and imprisonment, the insertion into Bree, my borrowed body—culminated in this one, very passionate act.

And then she began to move, and coherent thought dissolved in sensation. As if of its own accord, my head fell forward. I licked the back of her neck as we thrust, and she added a twist at the end that made it impossible to do anything but gasp.

I was swelling within her, the friction becoming nearly unbearable as she tightened around me. My licking became nibbling, and as she spasmed, teetering on the edge?—

I bit down.

She shattered with a scream, and took me with her, my own cries muffled against her skin. And as we did so—the power of the sword swamped me. The energy blasted through, and something deep within gave way before it, allowing it to cascade through every cell of this body I had borrowed.

It pushed the connection between my life essence and the physical reality of Slade through to each single nerve ending. I trembled with the strength of it as the waves subsided. I eased my teeth free and used both my tongue, and my talent, to close the wounds.

She would now have a third set of scars. Something to remember me by.

I sensed a surge coming from Bree—no, not from her. From the Ice Drake within. A contented purr…

My attention was pulled away when Bree rolled to face me with a determined expression on her face.

You are mine, Caliel, the familiar female voice echoed through me. And you are here to stay.

Bree—

No, Caliel. Some things in life are worth fighting for. And you are one of them.

Can't argue with that, Riggs stated.

My heart twisted. I cannot stay. You both know that.

You are different now. Bree grabbed my face with her hands. You are a healer, dammit. Take a look. Tell me I'm wrong.

I sighed and dropped to lie beside her, pulling her into me. Then, because she had asked, I sent my talent coursing into my own body with a growing sense of amazement. Because everywhere I looked—there was no longer any way to distinguish where Slade began, and I ended.

Somehow, someway, the two had finally become one.

Am I right? she demanded.

I could not answer her. It was too much. I had accepted that I was dying, that I would never have what I so desperately desired. And now, it had all been granted to me.

It was not until her hands wiped at my cheeks, that I realized I was crying.

Not very manly, but I totally get it, Riggs stated. Welcome to the family, my friend. Now if you two will excuse me, I have Dragons to fetch.