Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Annika

“ I want you,” she said simply. “I want you so bad.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything as much as I want you, but there are things you need to know. Things you have to understand.” He led her to the overstuffed sofa facing the fireplace. “What I’m about to say is going to be difficult for you to hear, but you need to know.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“No need to be afraid. I just think part of why we fell apart as kids was that we didn’t say all of the things that should have been said. I think we know better than that now, and I am making you a promise that I won’t not say things because they’re difficult. My niece told me one time that she is grateful for difficult conversations because that means you care a lot about someone—that you care enough to risk exposing yourself to them.”

“Your niece is a wise girl.”

Trace rolled his eyes. “You have no idea. But as much as I love her, she doesn’t know what I’m about to tell you.”

Annika took his hands in hers, looking directly into his eyes and seeing past the man who was willing to be vulnerable with her to the boy who hadn’t known how. “I’m right here, and I’m listening.”

“Any chance you’re one of those women who like to read paranormal shifter stories?” he chuckled.

“Who gave you access to my Kindle library?” she teased. For some reason, her quip seemed to make him relax.

“Then this might be a little easier than I thought.” He rubbed his thumbs along the top of her hands. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Have you ever wondered what it might be like if what was written in those stories was true?”

“Well, sure,” she answered, looking at him quizzically. “I think it’s why those books are so popular. The idea of being able to shift from one being to another is intriguing, to say the least.”

“Can I trust you, Annika? I mean really trust you? As in my life depends on it?”

She gripped his hands. “What is it, Trace? You’re starting to scare me. Are you dying?”

“No, but once upon a time I was.” He stood up, took her hand, and led her outside to the front porch. “When I was in the Middle East, we had an op go sideways on us, and we were trapped. As we were making our way back to base, we got jumped by an enemy patrol. I took the first hits…”

“Oh my god, Trace…”

“Let me finish, Annika. I knew there was no way I was coming back alive, so I charged them. My body shows scars from the wounds. I should have died, but I didn’t.”

He pulled his sweater over his head as he backed off the porch into the open area outside his home. There were a number of scars from what were most likely bullet wounds. But up on the top of his collarbone was a particularly vicious-looking wound that looked suspiciously like a bite mark.

“I was dying—sinking to my knees and everything was going black. My commander… he grabbed me and sank his teeth into me,” he continued.

She could feel the blood draining from her face. What he was saying couldn’t be true, could it? If it was, it could explain so much. Annika followed him off the porch and raised one hand, tracing the wound with her finger. He didn’t pull away; he just let her explore it. “Are you trying to tell me your commander bit you to save your life? Did he ask you first? In all the books, getting consent to turn someone is a big thing.”

“He didn’t have time.” He shook his head. “I thought the bullets hurt. The pain from his bite made those feel like mosquito stings. But almost immediately I could feel something zinging through my bloodstream. It felt like I imagined some kind of liquid lightning would. I passed out. When I came to the next day, the commander and I were the only ones left. We hid until nightfall and then made it back.”

Releasing his hands, she staggered back a step but then came forward to touch the wound again. Trace wasn’t joking. Even if it wasn’t true, Trace believed it and he trusted her enough to share it with her. “Was it…he… a wolf?”

He grinned. “Not all shifters are wolves. Some are, but not all, especially here in Alaska.” He looked down at the ground and then back up at her. “Thanks for at least not thinking I’m crazy.”

“I haven’t ruled out crazy yet. But if not a wolf…?”

Trace backed away. Closing his eyes, an enormous whirl of snow and fog began to spin around him. There was a sound of thunder as colorful shards swirled through the maelstrom and electricity crackled. The localized turbulence grew in intensity and speed as it enveloped him. When it fell away, where Trace had once been, a massive dragon now stood.

This time when Annika staggered back, she tripped over her feet and fell on her butt.

“Are you okay, Annika?” the dragon asked.

Getting to her feet, she nodded. “Trace? Is it really you? In most of the books, the shifters can’t talk when they’re not in their human form.”

“Which is actually one of the things they got right. However, dragons are far more ancient than most other shifters and so retained the ability to speak.”

“Ca… can you fly?”

“Yes. Would you like to go for a ride?”

“Seriously? Yes, of course. Is it safe? I mean I know you wouldn’t take me if I wasn’t safe, but I mean, doesn’t it worry you that other people might see?”

“Dragons, for the most part, favor remote and often inhospitable locations so we can fly. Come on. I think you’ll love it.”

Annika’s breath hitched as she stared up at Trace, his dragon form towering above her. The moonlight cascaded over his dark, iridescent scales, highlighting the powerful muscles that rippled beneath them. His eyes, still the same piercing blue as when he was in human form, locked onto hers with an intensity that made her knees weak.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

Trace chuckled, the sound of his laughter deeper and more resonant than when he did so as a man, but still unmistakably his. His laughter held a promise, a challenge, and something more that sent a thrill of anticipation coursing through her.

Annika swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest as she nodded. She had always been the cautious one, the one who thought things through before leaping into the unknown. The only time that hadn’t been the case was when Trace left for the military. Within a week of his leaving, Annika had received word from Shoreline Community College in King County, Washington that she had been accepted into their Criminal Justice Program. She’d packed her things and left, starting on the path that had led her to where she was: estranged from Trace, at odds with her mother, and with a career as a dedicated homicide detective in Seattle. But now, here with Trace, everything was different. There was a part of her that craved the wild, untamed freedom he offered, a part that longed to surrender to the fiery passion that had been simmering between them since the moment they’d met all those years ago.

“You’ll have to hold on tight, Annika,” he murmured, his tone laced with both warning and desire. Without another word, he lowered his massive body, his scales shimmering like molten metal in the moonlight.

Taking a deep breath, Annika stepped forward, her hand trembling slightly as she reached out to touch him. The scales were surprisingly warm beneath her fingers, smooth and hard yet pulsing with life. She could feel the power radiating from him, the raw energy that made her pulse race with excitement and a touch of fear.

With a small grunt of effort, she swung her leg over his broad back, settling herself between the ridges of his neck and his wings. The heat of his body seeped into her, warming her to her very core as she leaned forward, pressing herself against him. Her hands instinctively wrapped around spikes along his spine, her fingers gripping them tightly.

Trace shifted beneath her, his muscles flexing as he prepared to take flight. Annika’s heart soared in her chest, a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation surging through her veins. She had never imagined this moment, never dreamed that she would be riding on the back of a dragon with nothing but the night sky above her and the man she couldn’t resist beneath her.

With a powerful thrust, Trace’s wings snapped open, each movement a symphony of strength and grace. Annika gasped as he trotted forward and they left the ground, the sudden rush of air whipping her hair back as they soared into the sky. The world fell away beneath them, the landscape shrinking to a blur of shadows and silvery outlines as they ascended higher and higher.

The sensation of flight was indescribable—exhilarating, liberating, and terrifying all at once. The wind roared in her ears, and her pulse pounded in time with the rhythmic beat of Trace’s wings. She could feel every movement of his body, every powerful stroke that propelled them through the night sky. The connection between them felt more tangible than ever, as if the barrier between human and dragon, between Annika and Trace, had dissolved completely.

Annika closed her eyes, allowing herself to revel in the experience, to savor the feeling of Trace beneath her, his strength and power enveloping her like a warm, protective cocoon. Her fingers tightened around his neck as she leaned closer, pressing her cheek against his warm scales. There was a wildness in this moment, a raw, unfiltered connection that set her soul on fire.

She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Trace would never let her fall. He would protect her, cherish her, and never let her go.

As they flew through the night, the stars twinkling above them like a thousand tiny promises, Annika felt something shift inside her. The fear and the hesitation that had always held her back melted away in the warmth of Trace’s embrace. In its place was a fierce, burning desire to be with him, to share everything with him—her heart, her soul, her life.

They soared through the sky for what seemed far too brief a time before he spiraled lazily, gliding back down to the ground. When he landed, she slid from his back and then stepped away so he would have the room he needed to shift. She wondered as the cloudy vortex swirled around him if she’d ever get tired of watching him and realized she didn’t want to leave him. Not again.

This time when the mist fell away, Trace was naked—gloriously, beautifully naked. She realized as she looked at him that time and his experiences had added mass and muscle to his physique. The boy who she’d been over the moon about, and who she’d always compared other lovers to, had only grown sexier with time.

The scars that covered his torso did nothing to take away from the idea that she was looking at some dark god. She wanted to take the time to trace each mark that covered his body, kiss it, to perhaps heal it completely. His fully-erect cock was long, broad, and heavy.

Trace crossed to her, sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her into his house. He didn’t break stride as he kicked the door closed and took her into the bedroom, kneeling down to strip her jeans and panties down before removing her sweater and bra and settling her on his big bed. He crawled up on the bed, settling himself between her feet and drawing her to him by the ankles.

“I remembered how beautiful you were. That hasn’t changed, but I didn’t remember how incredible you smelled. Let’s see if you taste even better.”

Annika’s vision softened as he leaned down, covering her pussy with his mouth. When he flicked his tongue over her clit before sucking her labia into his mouth, a flash of arousal and heat surged through her. Trace speared her with his tongue, stroking deep, mimicking with it what she knew he could and would do with his cock.

She tried to squirm, but Trace locked his arms around her thighs, holding her tight. Annika moaned and whimpered as she tried to get away just long enough to try and reclaim some equilibrium, but he only growled and held her fast. What did it say about her that his relentless pursuit of her pleasure and the primal sounds he made only turned her on that much more?

When he licked and then nipped her clit, she flew off the edge of reality and into some kind of fantasy where need, longing, and memory all collided as she shook and floated back down to earth. He moved her up on the bed and then covered her with his body, his hard cock nudging at the entrance to her wet heat.

He paused for only a moment. “I love you, Annika.”

She pulled his head down to hers and whispered against his lips. “I love you, too, Trace.”

Trace thrust up inside her, joining them not only in body but in heart and soul, as well. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, her legs coming up around his hips as he dragged himself back before driving back up inside her again. They fell into the same perfect rhythm she had always remembered.

Crying out his name, the orgasm washed over her, carrying her along as she rode the wave. It washed away all of the time and space that had separated them, destroying forever the walls each of them had built up. She clung to him, moaning his name and moving with him in a way she’d never found with anyone else. She couldn’t hold anything back from him—there was no withholding from Trace.

Again and again, he stroked in and out, seeming to revel in her response and recognizing that this was something more than a casual fuck, something more than just reconnecting. This was a claiming, a possession, and as he drove home a last time and stiffened, filling her with his cum, she realized this was what the books meant by having a fated mate. She was his, and he was hers.

“I will never let you go again,” he whispered. “I don’t know what that will look like, but tomorrow morning we’re going over to your cottage to get your things.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he said solemnly as he rolled to his side, dragging her with him and easing her head onto his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I missed you, Trace. I missed you so much,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, baby. We’re together again, and no one will ever change that.”

“Before it occurs to you to be concerned, you should probably know I’m on birth control, and at my last physical, I was clean.”

“Same with the clean, but since I’m a dragon, our DNA is incompatible to make babies.”

“Do you want babies?” she asked, raising up on one elbow to look down at him.

“I think the idea of babies with you has some appeal. Do you want to be a dragon because I can’t be changed back.”

“I think being a dragon could be fun—soaring above the clouds… could I breathe fire?”

He laughed. “Yeah, baby, you could breathe fire, but you do give up a part of your humanity. You should take some time and think about it… oh, who the hell am I kidding? It was all I could do not to claim you when we were making love.”

“How does that work?”

“I’m not going to kid you; it’s painful, but it’s simple. I just inflict a claiming bite, and the change starts almost immediately. I slept through mine, as I was so close to death, but you’d probably feel kind of like you have the flu for a day or two.”

“So, let’s catch our killer first, and then we can have kinky sex, and you can bite me.”

Trace smiled at her, tracing her jawline with his finger. “I mean it, Annika. I love you and I want you with me.”

“I love you, too, and I’m not going anywhere… not without you.”

She was his, and he was hers, bound together by something deeper and stronger than anything she had ever known. Together, they were unstoppable. Together they would catch the serial killer and find their own happily ever after.