Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The next week turned out to move as slowly as Lachlan had predicted it would.

Ben's body was found, with no one any the wiser as to his having been murdered by being thrown out of a helicopter.

Lachlan "rescued" Belle and informed the grieving McGregors that she would be staying at Drake House with them until she had attended Ben's funeral. He made no mention of what would happen to her after that, and they didn't ask, too consumed with grief for the death of their son.

Hunter had successfully recovered the hard drive from Ben's laptop, only to find that some of the contents had been irretrievably corrupted. This was making it more difficult to find the information that would give them the identity of the treasure hunters.

It had been that endeavor that caused Belle to put forward the idea they should turn the tables on the treasure hunters who had killed Ben.

She suggested that, instead of eliminating all evidence of their own existence as they would normally have done in these circumstances, the Drake brothers should instead consider becoming the hunters rather than the hunted.

No decision on that idea had or would be made, unless or until Hunter managed to salvage the information they would need to go forward.

In the meantime, Lachlan and Belle spent every waking moment together, getting to know each other.

Every sleeping one too, because Belle refused to sleep anywhere else but in Lachlan's bed beside him.

This meant Lachlan and his dragon's self-control had been stretched to its limits. Because he was determined Belle would know him and the life she could expect to lead as his mate before their mating took place.

Which didn't mean that they hadn't explored every other sexual pleasure together except a full mating.

Lachlan now knew every silken inch of Belle's body, inside as well as out. Just as she had explored and now owned every part of him.

Belle felt slightly guilty for the feelings of excitement bubbling inside her as she attended Ben's funeral with Lachlan sitting beside her in the church and holding one of her hands in his much larger one. His brothers sat on her other side.

Guarding the woman destined to become their dragon queen to Lachlan's dragon king.

The thought of their mating was the reason Belle felt only slightly guilty for her thoughts being of Lachlan today rather than Ben. Lachlan made no secret of his devotion to her, whereas Ben had betrayed her, not once but several times, and then been killed by the people who were paying him to do it.

So she couldn't claim to be mourning Ben's death, except in a manner she would feel for the loss of any young person's life.

She did feel sympathy for the McGregors. The whole family was obviously devastated, making it far easier for Belle to continue with the lie of how Ben had died. Far better that the McGregors should believe Ben had died a hero rather than as someone who had been willing to steal from her, and let her die, for money.

She accepted the deceit of Ben having been a selfless hero was best for all concerned.

Belle was outwardly sad, but the excitement bubbling inside her was because today was also the day Lachlan had said they could become mates. If she was still agreeable to the idea.

If!

Belle didn't have a single doubt in her head or heart about becoming Lachlan's mate. On the contrary, she had been willing the hours away until the two of them could disappear together for the few days of privacy Lachlan had explained they would need to complete that mating.

And the reason Belle had no doubts was because she knew she had fallen in love with Lachlan this past week of them getting to know each other.

Fallen deeply.

Irrevocably.

The glimpses he had allowed her of his dragon told her that she had fallen in love with that magnificent beast too.

Both Lachlan and his dragon were fiercely protective and possessive of her. Emotions that had been sadly missing from Belle's life before now.

She felt seen and cherished for the first time in her life.

Honored too, at fate having chosen her to be not just Lachlan's one true mate, but also his queen.

The air stirred about her as Lachlan tilted his head until his lips were only centimeters away from her ear as he murmured, "Are ye wet for me right now?"

Belle glanced around them self-consciously, knowing by the smirk on Hunter's lips and the wry expression on Ranulf's face that the two men's acute dragon hearing meant they had heard that remark too.

She moved up on tiptoe until her lips were almost touching Lachlan's ear. "As much as you are hard for me." She bared her teeth before biting into the softness of his earlobe.

Hunter gave a snort of repressed laughter at the sound of Lachlan's pained, indrawn hiss of breath. Humor Hunter instantly covered by placing one of his hands over the bottom half of his face after several heads had turned in his direction.

Lachlan's expression told her he would retaliate the moment they were alone together.

Which couldn't come soon enough, as far as Belle was concerned.

She was grateful for this past week of the two of them getting to know each other. Of lying in bed in the darkness of Lachlan's bedroom—now her suite of rooms too, he had declared—their arms wrapped about each other as they shared their secrets and hopes for the future. Their bodies were sexually attuned to each other in a way Belle had thought only happened in books, a single touch or kiss from either of them resulting in more of that explosive lovemaking.

Much as she appreciated that week of spending time with Lachlan as lovers, she now dearly wanted to become his mate.

"We'll see the two of you in three, maybe four days," Lachlan told his brothers after they had said their condolences to the McGregor family, refused their invitation to attend the wake, and instead they had all returned to Drake House. "Make that a week," he added after glancing at Belle.

Hunter chuckled. "Don't be surprised if I've got the information I need and gone hunting by the time you resurface."

"Take care, brother," Lachlan warned. "Whoever they are, they have already murdered one human."

"Then it's as well a dragon is far harder to kill," Hunter dismissed.

"I still want you to take care," Lachlan repeated.

"I'll ensure that he does," Ranulf assured.

To Belle's surprise, Lachlan walked in the direction of the back of the house rather than up the stairs to their suite of rooms. "Where are we going?" She frowned as Lachlan threw open the back door and pulled her out into the still-falling snow. "Don't I need to pack a bag if we're going away?"

Lachlan's eyes burned like liquid silver as he looked down at her with brooding intensity. "You aren't going to need clothes for the next week," he assured her as they entered the mountain through the private entrance at the back of Drake House. "Neither of us are."

"Won't we be cold— Ah, dragons who can control the elements of earth, water, air, and fire." She nodded her understanding as the temperature in the tunnel instantly became warmer.

"Exactly." Lachlan bared his teeth in a satisfied smile. "There's only one place I could possibly think of taking you as my mate."

Her brow cleared. "With your hoard?"

"On top of my hoard," he stated with satisfaction. "I need to make you completely mine, surrounded by the treasure that has been replaced by the love I feel for you, my darling Belle. Because you are, and will always be, my greatest treasure."

She blinked. "You love me?"

"With everything that I am or ever will be," he vowed.

She smiled shakily. "I love you too."

"You do?"

Belle hated to see that look of uncertainty in the eyes of this fierce rock of a man. "I love you with everything that I am or ever will be," she repeated the vow.

Lachlan's closed his eyes briefly before opening them again to hold her gaze and taking one of her hands in his as he sank to one knee in front of her. "In that case… Will you marry me, Belle?"

"Yes, of course I will," she choked, moved beyond expressing how much she appreciated Lachlan wanting to marry her in the human world as well as mate her in the dragon one.

Lachlan kissed the back of her hand before rising to his feet. "I don't have a ring on me. I thought you could choose one for yourself from my hoard if you said yes."

Belle choked on what was a combination of a gasp and a laugh. "Never doubt I want to belong to you in every way possible and for you to belong to me in the same way. Do you have male rings in your hoard?"

"I do," he confirmed with a smile.

She nodded. "Then we'll choose our rings together."

Lachlan took her in his arms. "I love you, Belle, and I swear that you will never regret agreeing to become my wife and my mate."

"I believe you," she murmured before the two of them kissed for long and pleasurable minutes. "Now, more doing and less talking," she demanded the moment those kisses drew to a reluctant end.

Lachlan chuckled, knowing his love for this woman surpassed anyone and everything he had ever loved or cared about before or now.

"My God…" Belle gasped beside him a few minutes later as they entered the main cave to look down and then up at the treasures stored there.

Lachlan's chest puffed with pride. "A third of all this now belongs to you too, my mate."

She shook her head. "Beautiful and wondrous as all this is, I only want you, Lachlan." She placed her hands on his chest. "Nothing else, just you."

Lachlan knew, by the sincerity in her deep blue eyes, that she meant every word.

Ours.

Ours, Lachlan inwardly echoed his dragon's possessive claim.

A claim that became a physical reality just minutes later, after they had chosen and exchanged rings and Lachlan had made a space in amongst the treasure for the two of them. He threw several large tapestries on top of the gold and jewels for their comfort before lifting and then laying Belle down in the center of all the glittering treasure that paled into insignificance in comparison to her beauty and the love shining in her eyes as she looked up at him.

Being at the heart of his treasure enhanced Lachlan's abilities, which he now used to quickly make their clothes disappear.

Gazing down at the beauty of Belle's naked body wasn't new to him, but it was a vision he knew he would never grow tired of or take for granted.

"Mine," he growled.

"Yours," she confirmed.

"As I am yours," he told her huskily before lowering his head to claim her lips with his own.

Their lovemaking was almost balletic after their shared intimacies this past week, both of them now knowing what gave the other the most pleasure.

Lachlan used that knowledge to bury his face between Belle's thighs and bring her to climax after climax. Until she was dripping wet for him, as he needed her to be for their mating.

"Please," Belle groaned. "Lachlan, I need you inside me now."

He moved up to kneel between her parted thighs, his beard and chin visibly wet with her juices. "I'm going to need you to turn over and get onto your knees and elbows. I have to mount you, Belle," he explained at her puzzled frown. "I'm human right now, but a part of me is always dragon, and we take a mate by mounting her. When you come, and I start to come inside you, infusing you with my essence, I will also bite the back of your neck, and my dragon's blood will mix with your blood. The two combined will complete our mating. After that, you will start to feel the changes inside you that will make it possible for your longevity to match my own and for you to shift into a dragon."

If anything, Belle's excitement grew at knowing this, and she quickly turned onto her stomach and then rose up on her elbows and knees. After the intimacies they had already shared this past week, she didn't feel an ounce of shyness at presenting her bottom and dripping-wet pussy for her lover to make his own.

She drew in a sharp breath when she felt the stretch of the tip of Lachlan's long, thick cock breaching her opening.

"Breathe, my love." Lachlan's hand rested at the base of her spine to hold her in place as he pushed his cock in farther still.

Belle gasped as she felt Lachlan's cock pushed in even deeper.

Only stinging a little, that magnificent cock now entered her one inch at a time until it was fully inside her.

Until Lachlan was fully inside her.

The other half of her.

Making her feel complete for the first time in her life.

She swayed forward and then back as Lachlan began to thrust inside her, meeting each of those thrusts, her pleasure growing and then rising higher still as Lachlan thrust harder and faster.

"Now, Belle," he eventually groaned. "You are going to come." His fingers stroked her clit. "I'm going to bite you and then come inside you. All at the same time. Are you ready, Belle?"

"Yes. Do it now, Lachlan. Please," she gasped as her channel began to contract with her release.

Lachlan groaned as the warmth of his hot release began to spurt inside her.

Belle's back arched when she felt the sharp sting of Lachlan's incisors piercing her nape before she felt the strange sensation of an equally hot essence entering her veins.

Mine. Lachlan spoke the word inside her head.

Yours, Belle returned through their new mental connection.

Always, they said together.

The second book in the Snow Dragons Hunting series will be HUNTER. Preorder available soon.

http://www.carolemortimer.co.uk/books/hunter.html