Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Lachlan stilled at the realization Belle thought that he and all their interactions to date were nothing more than the tormented imagining of her brain as she prepared to die alone, frozen to death, in a cave up on the mountain.

There were two ways he could think of that would ensure she realized this was all very real.

One, he could kiss her.

Two, he could throw her across his thighs and spank her arse for being so scornfully disbelieving.

Appealing though the latter was when only those thin cotton panties would be between his hand and her bare arse and when his mate was looking at him with such scorn, he didn't think it was the right thing to do when he was hoping to convince her that she wanted to be his one true mate.

But he reserved the right to change his mind if the kissing wasn't successful!

Lachlan reached out to lightly encircle one of her wrists with his fingers.

"What are you doing?" she demanded after Lachlan had tugged on that wrist so that she lost her balance and ended up sitting sideways across his thighs. "Now look here." She glared at him. "This is my fantasy and— Umph!"

Lachlan was tired of being reasonable, of taking Hunter's advice to take things slowly.

This was his reality: Belle was his true mate, and he couldn't wait a moment longer to taste her sweet lips.

He kept one arm about her waist to hold her in place as he gripped her stubborn chin firmly between the thumb and index finger of his other hand before lowering his head and claiming those lips with his own.

Belle was initially so surprised that her hallucination now included having Lachlan Drake kiss her, when she'd never fantasized about any man kissing her before now, that her lips parted instinctively, and her arms moved up about his shoulders. She gave a low moan as she entangled her fingers in the silky softness of his unusual silver hair.

Still lost in the pleasure of those kisses, she moved so that she straddled his thick and muscular thighs, her pussy pressed against the throbbing hardness of his engorged cock.

Belle began to press and rub her aroused pussy lips and swollen clit against that hard length as their kisses grew hungrier still, teeth biting, tongues licking. Lachlan thrust his tongue deep into the heat of her mouth as he claimed her there.

Her arms tightened around his neck, and she continued to return his kisses as he rose easily to his feet, the firm grasp of his hands on either side of her bottom keeping her pressed against him from his hard chest to her parted thighs.

He placed her carefully down on the bed, and Belle watched him as he slid down her body until his face was level with her parted thighs.

She gasped as his head lowered, and he grasped hold of her panties between his teeth before ripping them from her body. Cold air brushed briefly over her exposed pussy.

"Ye're sae wet for me," he admired as his large fingers parted her folds before scooping up some of her release to stroke it all over her pussy and clit. "Delicious," he groaned as his tongue lapped up all those juices for long and pleasurable minutes.

Belle groaned as he sucked her throbbing clit into his mouth, the flat of his tongue pressing and then licking that sensitive bundle of nerves until the pleasure grew to be too much, and her climax exploded and crashed over her.

She felt the muscles in her empty channel contract and release, wanting, wanting— "God, yes," she encouraged breathily as one thick finger thrust into her wetness, then another, filling her, stretching her as a third finger joined the first two and thrust deep and hard inside her.

One of those fingers bent, pressing and stroking against a bundle of nerves inside her in the same rhythm as he sucked her clit.

Her second climax was even stronger and harder than the first, her contracting channel tight about those three thrusting fingers.

"Again, my beautiful Belle," he encouraged thickly, his breath a warm caress against her aching flesh before he lowered his head and sucked fiercely on her oversensitive clit, tongue pressing hard against that exposed nubbin.

Her third climax hit with the force of a tornado, lifting her higher and higher until she felt as if she were floating.

"Do ye believe I'm real now, Belle?"

Belle crashed back to earth at the sound of the arousal in Lachlan's voice. Which was when she realized she was lying back on the bed, her limbs as limp as noodles while the rest of her body was aching and satiated.

Lachlan was directly above her, supporting himself on his elbows as his hands cradled either side of her face.

Belle had no idea what she believed and could only stare up at Lachlan as she continued to revel in the pleasure from his hands, lips, and tongue.

Tears burned her eyes as she once again accepted this had to all be a figment of her deluded imagination.

Lachlan didn't exist except in her dying mind.

She could never remember fantasizing about a man who looked as gorgeous as Lachlan, but she must have done for her to have imagined him being here with her now so vividly. Not just with her, but being kissed and made love to by him.

None of it was real.

But oh, how grateful she was for the fantasy of him being with her now. His presence, his kisses, and the intimate way he had touched her and given her pleasure. They all made her feel cherished and cared for. Something Belle now realized she had ached to feel since she had been left alone at such a young age.

Which was probably why she was having this fantasy when she was about to die?—

"I can see I'll have to go with the other alternative after all," Lachlan grumbled as he rolled to the side before sitting up on the side of the bed.

He once again pulled Belle across his thighs, but this time, he positioned her so that she was lying facedown.

"I didna want to have to do this, my mate," he grumbled. "But refusing to believe in me or our mating means ye've left me with no other choice."

This, Belle learned only seconds later, was to feel the hard smack of Lachlan's palm on her bare backside. Then another. Followed by another. And another.

The pain of each one reverberated throughout her whole body. A pain that left Belle with absolutely no doubt this wasn't a hallucination after all.

Which meant that both her rescue and Lachlan were all too real.

Did that mean twelve-hundred-and-ten-year-old dragon shifters were real too?

That she, as Lachlan had claimed, was his one true mate?

Lachlan was aware of the moment Belle stilled across his thighs.

Quickly followed by him almost being able to hear her thoughts processing and accepting the information—and the pain of being spanked—of knowing that she really wasn't still alone and dying in a cave on the mountain. That she was very much here, in Lachlan's home, having her arse smacked.

When they were fully mated, Lachlan would be able to clearly hear the thoughts Belle wanted to share with him, as she would be able to hear his. Because they were true mates. Lachlan had no doubts about that after kissing and touching Belle and glorying in the beauty of watching her as she climaxed again and again.

Something he wished to see again at the earliest opportunity.

The taste of her was almost enough to make him come in his jeans as he reveled in the taste of that nectar on his tongue.

But here and now, he needed to deal with what Belle had realized was indeed reality.

Her new reality.

She slowly placed her feet on the carpeted floor before carefully standing, gasping her dismay when she realized that she was now completely bare from the waist down. Her ripped panties lay on the carpet, feet away from the bed, where Lachlan had thrown them before devouring her.

She kept her gaze averted as she quickly grabbed her jeans from over the back of the chair in front of the dressing table before hopping from one foot to the other as she pulled them on and the zip up before fastening the single button at the waist.

Lachlan watched her every move like the predator he truly was. At the same time as he was fighting the urge he felt to throw Belle over his shoulder and carry her off to his cave, where he would then lay her down among his other treasures. Belle was far and beyond the most precious jewel he had ever imagined, and he would guard her with his life.

Belle's cheeks were once again as white as the snow outside, but she held her chin at a challenging angle. "You're real."

Lachlan surged to his feet, pleased when Belle stood her ground. "I am," he confirmed, although it was more a statement than a question.

She moistened her lips. "And a dragon shifter."

"Aye."

"A twelve-hundred-and-ten-year-old dragon shifter."

"One who looks pretty good for my age, apparently."

She swallowed. "And you think I'm your true ma?—"

"I don't think anything, Belle. I know ye're my true mate," he growled.

Her knees buckled, and she put her hand out to grasp one of the four wooden posts to steady herself before scrabbling to sit on the bottom of the bed, looking up at him. "You really knew Sister Agnes."

"She was called Ailsa when we met her and took her to the convent, but aye, we knew your Sister Agnes." He grimaced. "Probably not a good idea for her to have written that meeting down for someone else to read centuries later, but I'm sure she had her reasons."

"She was probably as awestruck by the event as I am and just needed to write it down so that she could read it occasionally and know that it really happened. Besides, I wouldn't have come to Scotland if she hadn't written her journal and I found it and read it. Then we would never have met."

Lachlan felt his chest tighten just thinking about never having seen or spoken to Belle. Never making love to her, which had been the single most erotic experience of his long life. Of how the years he had left to live would have continued in that monochrome of black and white and varying shades of gray instead of all the multitude of vibrant colors he could now see.

He gave a fierce shake of his head. "I couldna have born that."

Her head tilted. "Your Scottish accent deepens when you're upset or—" She broke off, her cheeks blushing a fiery red.

"Or aroused," Lachlan finished huskily. "Aye, it seems that it does."

"Didn't you already know that?"

"When I'm upset, or during anger, yes, but when I've been aroused, no. I believe that is unique to you, my mate."

Belle moistened her lips before speaking. "Does the true-mate thing mean that you would be faithful to me, and only me, for the rest of your life?"

"Yes, it does, and I will be honored to be so. And it's our lives, Belle," he added gently. "Because once we mate, you would be completely faithful to only me, and your lifespan will be matched with my own."

"Which is how long?"

"Both my parents were over three thousand years old when they died, so I'm a mere babe compared to them." He chuckled as he guessed Belle's sudden frown was due to the calculations she was currently making inside her head. He sobered. "However long we live, neither I nor my dragon will ever want to be with anyone else but you. Once the two of us are mated, we will dedicate our lives to only you and your happiness."

Lachlan could see the tears glistening in Belle's beautiful blue eyes. It wasn't difficult to guess the reason for those tears. Belle had been on her own all her life, and the thought of having someone totally devoted to her happiness must appear to her as elusive as that unicorn Hunter had mentioned, waiting for her at the end of a rainbow.

She eyed him cautiously. "Does…what we did earlier"—her cheeks flushed a deep red—"does that mean we're mated now?"

"No. I would never mate with you without your permission. Besides, you'd know if we'd mated."

Her eyes widened. "Why, what does the mating involve?"

"Well—" Lachlan broke off, a frown marring his brow as a loud knock sounded on his bedroom door.

He knew before answering it that it was Ranulf standing on the other side of that door.

He could also sense his brother was far from happy.

Whatever Ranulf's reason was for disturbing them, and Lachlan was sure it must be an important one, now that he had kissed and tasted Belle, intimately touched and caressed her, he didn't want another man or dragon shifter anywhere near her until their mating was complete.

Probably not even then.

"Wait there," he told Belle abruptly before moving to open the door.