Chapter 12

Chapter12

Sol

Ihad intended to offer Briar the pendant and end the night there. She doesn’t trust me, and I can hardly blame her for that. I’m not even certain what happened. One moment she was looking at me as if she wished she could read my mind, and the next I had her on the table and was ripping her dress off.

And now?

I hiss in pure pleasure as she grabs my wrists and rolls her hips, riding my tongue. She tastes like a dream. It’s even better because she’s mine. Not some otherwise-contracted human looking for a fun fuck and then going away at the end of the encounter.

No, Briar is my bride.

Mine.

Her thighs shake against my palms. “Sol. Oh god, oh god, I—” Her pussy pulses around my tongue, her orgasm tasting so good, I almost cum in my pants.

It takes far more effort than I’ll ever admit to in order to unclench my jaw and withdraw from her. Her pussy is drenched, swollen and pink and dripping. I can’t help myself. I drag my tongue over her again.

She moans and then tenses. Coming back to herself. I could keep this going. She’s given me the keys to herself, even if she doesn’t realize it. It was there in the shocked expression on her face when I went to my knees before her. This woman has never been properly cared for, and she’s never had her pleasure prioritized.

But pushing her now means potentially sacrificing the endgame later. As tempting as it is, I’m mortal and not even I can keep her at a fever pitch for seven years. We have to eat at some point. My territory might require very little in the way of ruling—at least outside of dealing with trade agreements with the other territories and their leaders—but there is still all the damned paperwork to consider.

I can be the patient predator. I will be.

No matter how delicate her taste on my tongue or how sweet her cries of release.

There’s no saving her dress, but she seems the type to be bothered by public nudity, even in the keep. I scoop her into my arms, careful to tuck the torn dress around her. I like how neatly she fits. I more than like how she melts against me and presses her cheek to my chest.

“Warm,” Briar murmurs.

It’s difficult to walk with my cocks hard enough to make me dizzy, but I manage. I can sense several of the staff waiting at the perimeter of the garden, but they wait until I’ve left the table to approach. It’s just as well. I don’t stand on ceremony, but right now I’m feeling…strange.

Is this the mating frenzy?

I’ve never experienced it before. I never got the chance to with Anika, for all that we were having plenty of sex during the official courtship. They were never mine in a way Briar is as my wife. I was never theirs in the way their husband is now. We were simply enjoying each other and testing out the idea of forever.

I didn’t think that distinction would make a difference. I thought our precautions were a bit over the top when Aldis first insisted on them, but now I’m grateful for her stubbornness. I don’t know what I’d do if I saw another dragon while feeling like this.

I tighten my hold on Briar and lean down to inhale the scent of her. Mine. I pick up my pace. I will carry her back to her rooms—our rooms, really—and leave her there. The memory of her cumming around my tongue and the knowledge that she’s sleeping in my bed, even if I’m not there to share it, will have to be enough to keep my control tightly leashed.

I will not spook her.

I refuse to.

But when I set Briar gently on her feet in front of the door and move to take a step back, she hooks her fingers into the waistband of my pants. “Wait. Don’t go.”

Pure lust surges, and it’s everything I can do to keep it locked down. “You’ve had enough.”

She looks up at me, her expression settling into something I don’t recognize. It’s hard and almost furious. She tugs on my waistband. “You don’t get to decide that. I do.”

My cocks go harder yet, and I clench my jaw. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“Don’t I?” She takes an almost tentative step closer and presses her free hand to the front of my pants. She traces a line down one cock and then cups the other. “Please, Sol. I don’t know if I’ll have the courage to do this again if we don’t finish it tonight.”

Another indication that I’m taking advantage. If I were half as honorable as everyone claims dragons are, I’d brush off her hold and walk away. It doesn’t happen. Instead, my body moves almost of its own accord, and I reach past her to open the door.

Briar’s brilliant smile is a reward in and of itself.

She steps back through the door, tugging me behind her. I follow, an obedient little pup fighting not to turn into a full predator and ravish her. I kick the door shut behind me. The room is too quiet, filled only with our mingled harsh breathing.

“I can’t take both,” she rushes to say. “But what we did before…That felt really good.” Her hand trembles against my length. “Maybe this could feel good, too.”

I try to slow down. To parse out her words. To come up with a suitable response that won’t scare her silly.

It doesn’t work. My brain has taken a back seat to desire. The only thing I can do is follow her lead, allowing her to pull me toward the bed. “I think I would like to meet this person who made you think sex shouldn’t feel good.” I can’t help flexing my fists at my sides, my claws sliding out.

Briar glances down and raises her brows. “I don’t think you’d like him much, but it’s a moot point. He’s dead.”

Azazel’s work, no doubt. I’ll have to press the demon for details when I encounter him next. Details like how he spilled the bastard’s guts all over the floor. He better have made Briar’s ex suffer. It’s the least he could do.

“All the same,” I manage.

“I don’t want to talk about him.” She gives me one last tug, and I have the presence of mind to hook her around the waist as she tips back, rotating so I land on my back with Briar straddling my stomach. She blinks down at me. “You’re so fast when you want to be.”

“I’m trying not to frighten you,” I grit out.

Briar tentatively runs her hands over my chest. “You…don’t.” She says it slowly, almost seeming to marvel over the revelation. “That’s strange, isn’t it? Even when I don’t like what you’re saying or what your goals are, I’m not really scared of you.” She shakes her head, her red hair shining in the low light of the lamp by the desk. “I think I might really be a fool. I have no reason to trust you.”

She’s right, but it stings all the same. I start to sit up. “We’re moving too fast.”

“Stop that.” She pushes against my chest, and it’s almost absurd how weak she is. I could hold this position indefinitely, but I allow her to urge me down onto my back. Her claw-less fingers knead at my scales. “Unless you don’t want this? It’s okay if you don’t.”

“Briar.” Her name comes out almost as a curse. “I am doing everything in my power not to lose control right now. Have mercy.”

Her slow smile has my cocks practically bursting out of my pants. “Mercy,” she echoes. “Sol, you truly are a surprise on every level, aren’t you? I would like to take off your pants now.”

“Do it.”

She fumbles my belt open and then gets tangled trying to pull the fabric past my thighs and tail. I give a frustrated curse and wrap one arm around her to shift her higher so I can use the other to shred through my pants.

I liked those pants, but I like settling Briar back onto my lower stomach without anything between us even more. She shrugs out of her ruined dress, leaving the fabric to flutter to the ground beside the bed. She glances over her shoulder, and her pale skin goes a rather fetching pink. “Two,” she says faintly. “And so big.”

The faint tremor in her voice has me digging my claws into the bedding to avoid reaching for her. “You lead.”

She finally looks back at my face. “Lead?”

“Yes.” A hiss works into my voice, but I can’t help it. Her pussy is slippery against my scales; she says I’m the warm one, but she’s scorching me.

The moment spins out between us. A small line appears between her brows, but she finally comes to some conclusion and nods. “Okay. I can do this.” She inches off me and awkwardly maneuvers around to perch on my thighs. “I want to do this.”

Her body frames my cocks, and even having been with humans before, I can’t stop the surge of sheer lust at the thought of sinking into her body. Will she be able to take all of me? I don’t know. The not knowing torments me. I need to find out. I need to press into her tight, wet sheath and feel her clamp around me.

I need…

Briar wraps both her hands around the head of my lower cock, and my thoughts short out. She touches me slowly, exploring me in a way that makes me want to roar. Touch me. Harder. I clamp my jaws shut to keep the orders inside. She’s not like the others I’ve been with. I am her first of my kind, and no doubt the first of my size. I have to go slow. To prepare her. To check—

She dips down and drags the flat of her tongue over my slit. I nearly cum right then and there. The sensation only gets stronger when she sits back and licks her lips. “I…I can’t take you in my mouth. Not properly.”

Goddess, but this woman is going to kill me.

I tighten my grip on the bedding, the faint shredding sound making her look at me in askance. “Don’t stop,” I bite out. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” She coasts her fingertips down the top of one cock and up the underside of the other. “You look like you’re in pain.” A tiny smile tugs at the edges of her lips, but her dark eyes are troubled. “Will you lose control?”

“No.” The word is so garbled, it doesn’t sound like me.

“Are you sure?”

I can’t tell if she’s teasing me or it’s a genuine question. Goddess, give me strength. I. Will. Not. Frighten. Her. “I give you my word. I won’t lose control. This time.”