11. Addie

11

ADDIE

" O h my goodness—what was that all about?" Addie gasped, as they collapsed at Drago's feet. The big Drake Kindred had clearly been waiting for her. He had his arms crossed over his broad chest and a frown on his face as he stared down at her.

"Nothing! It's over now." Sparki was half laughing/half crying with what appeared to be relief. "It's over and we never have to go back in the Room of Sighs again unless one of us is crowned the Queen of Night!" she exclaimed.

"But how do we know—" Addie began, trying to stand up. But the world started spinning around her and she sank to the ground again.

"The girl who is chosen will know—she'll have the signs. And the Council of Aged Ones will confirm it," Sparki babbled. "Come on—let's get out of here!"

She dragged at Addie's arm again, trying to get her up. But suddenly Drago leaned down and brushed the lady-in-waiting aside. He scooped Addie into his arms and lifted her easily, as though she weighed no more than a feather pillow.

"Oh!" she gasped, feeling dizzy all over again as she was swiftly lifted into the air. "Drago? What are you doing?"

"Carrying you back to your room" he growled. "I'd take you home but I don't think you're in any fucking shape to fly or to fold space right now."

"I can't fold space," Addie protested, thinking he meant that she personally was supposed to construct the pathway between two different parts of the universe to get them home. "Only the Kindred Mother Ship can do that!"

"Goddess give me strength!" Drago muttered, giving her a fierce look. "How drunk are you anyway?"

"I don't think I'm drunk anymore—I think I'm high ," Addie confessed. Indeed, she wasn't slurring her words anymore but the floaty feeling persisted and so did the way anything in motion left rainbow trails in the air behind it.

The rainbow effect made everything beautiful—even the harsh planes of her Protector's face.

"You have really long eyelashes for a man, do you know that?" she asked dreamily, reaching up to put one hand on Drago's cheek. She liked the way his coarse whiskers rubbed against her palm—it was like she could feel every separate little hair caressing her skin like a tiny, rough kiss. "And your eyes are so beautiful—golden, like a cat's."

"Yeah, right," he growled as he strode down the corridor.

"No, I'm serious!" Addie protested. "You're gorgeous in a scary kind of way. I mean, you're so big and strong. You always look so angry but that just makes you hotter for some reason."

"You don't know what you're saying." Drago glanced down at her disapprovingly. "You better be quiet—you're going to regret it later."

As he spoke, they finally reached the door of her bedchamber. Drago shifted her in his arms so he could reach the door latch and then nudged it open with his hip and carried her inside, being careful not to bump her head.

"Why would I regret telling the truth?" Addie asked, honestly mystified. "I've always wanted to kiss you, you know," she added. "Or I guess to be accurate, I've always wanted you to kiss me. I mean, I've wanted you ever since you knelt down on one knee and swore to protect me with your life."

Wow, she was really spilling all her secrets here, but somehow it felt right.

Drago's expression softened as he pushed the black netting that draped down from above like mosquito netting aside with an elbow and laid her down in the bed.

"I want you too, baby," he growled softly. "But I can't have you."

"Why not, though?" Addie protested. "Why can't we have each other?" A sudden thought came to her and she blurted it out without even thinking. "Is it because you don't like my nipples?"

"What?" Drago looked honestly confused.

"You don't want me because I have puffy nipples," Addie repeated and she was sure it was true. She tugged at the top of the dress and pulled the stretchy material down, baring her breasts. "See? You don't like them, do you? Because they look weird."

Drago sat on the bed beside her, his golden eyes roving over her bare breasts.

"They don't look weird to me," he said, his voice coming out in a hoarse rumble. "Your breasts and nipples are beautiful, baby."

"You don't think they're too puffy?" Addie asked anxiously. "Jason Grey back in college said they looked weird—that I was deformed ."

Drago's face darkened.

"What? Why would he say such a thing?"

Addie shook her head sadly.

"I don't know. He was the first guy I ever slept with and he made me feel so bad about myself."

His golden eyes narrowed.

"Where does this Jason Grey live? I think I might pay him a visit as soon as we get back to Earth."

"I don't know where he is now," Addie said. "But if he felt that way about my breasts, it makes me think every other guy does too—you included."

"That's not true!" Drago protested. "I told you—you're beautiful , baby."

"Really?" Addie reached for his hand and placed it over one of her bare breasts. " Feel them," she urged. "It's just a genetic thing—having puffy nipples. I swear it's supposed to be normal. I know because I looked it up on the internet."

For a moment his big hand stroked gently over her bare breasts. Addie gasped in surprised pleasure as his callused fingertips caressed her tight tips, sending sparks of pleasure through her entire body. Everything felt more sensitive somehow. It was like every nerve ending was on high alert. Her pussy began to feel hot and wet and swollen and she arched her back, moaning softly.

"Oh, Drago, that feels so good!"

Abruptly, he pulled his hand away.

"I shouldn't do this. You're not in your right mind."

"Yes, I am! I'm more in my right mind now than I've ever been!" Addie protested. She felt that this was true somehow, though she couldn't have said why. "I'm just trying to find out why you don't like me. If it's not my puffy nipples, then what is it?"

"I do like you, baby," he said softly. "So fucking much . But I can never have you—never. So we should stop this right now."

He started to get up but Addie wasn't ready to let him go.

"Hey—come back here!" She looped an arm around his neck and pulled his face down to hers. Before he could protest, she kissed him, tasting his lips for the first time as she'd always wanted to.

Her Protector stiffened for a moment—then he kissed her back. Running his big, warm hands up her arms he pushed them above her head. Capturing both her wrists in one hand, he held her in place. Then he took her mouth with an urgency she'd never felt before—it was as though he was hungry for her and he couldn't get enough.

"Mmm!" Addie moaned as he deepened the kiss. She loved the feeling of being pinned down by the big Kindred. It wasn't lost on her that she was spread out on the bed with her arms above her head and her bare breasts still on display. She felt incredibly helpless…and incredibly hot at the same time. She arched against him, wishing he would stroke her breasts again while he kissed her. If only he would, she was almost sure she could come just from the pleasure of his big, warm hands on her sensitive peaks…

But then Drago pulled back, panting, his eyes glowing in the dim room.

"Is that what you want, baby?" he growled. "You want me to show you how much I want you?"

"Yes!" Addie moaned without hesitation. "But not just by kissing me—you have to prove it to me."

"Prove it? Prove what?" His brow furrowed in confusion.

"Prove you really do like my breasts—my nipples," she demanded. "Kiss me there if you really like them."

"Gods, I shouldn't…" He shook his head and abruptly released her wrists, which he'd been holding over her head. "Don't want to fucking take advantage of you."

Addie wilted, crestfallen.

"So you don't like them," she said sadly. "You don't like my nipples after all."

"Yes, I fucking do! I fucking love them!" Drago protested. "I love how sensitive you are there—how responsive you are when I touch you. And the fact that your nipples are so tender and—what did you call it? Oh, ‘puffy'—that makes them look fucking hot ."

"Then prove it." Addie arched her back, offering her bare breasts, taunting him with her body. "Kiss me there—put your money where your mouth is."

For a moment he looked confused.

"Put my money where?"

"It's an Earth saying," Addie said impatiently. "It just means you have to back up what you've been saying with actions."

"I see." His golden eyes were half-lidded in the dim room. "So you just want me to kiss them?"

"Yes!" Addie's breath was coming fast and her heart was pounding. "Just kiss them."

"All right, then. I guess a kiss can't do any harm," he rumbled.

He leaned over her again and captured one of her nipples in his mouth. Then, looking up to hold her eyes with his own, he gave the tender peak a long, hot, open-mouthed kiss.

Addie moaned as the kiss sent sparks of pleasure through her entire body. Finally, she had her Protector where she'd always wanted him! She ran her hands through his thick, dark hair and arched her back to get more of her breast in his hot mouth.

"Yes," she heard herself purring. "Now do the other one—kiss me again but deeper this time!"

Drago seemed to like her bossy tone because he looked up for a minute, his eyes flashing.

"You want more, baby?" he growled hoarsely.

" Much more," Addie ordered. "Suck me—suck my nipples!"

A low, hungry grown rose in his throat and he moved to her other nipple and sucked it into his mouth. This time Addie felt his tongue swirling around and around her sensitive peak and areola. And then he sucked hard , taking as much of her breast as he could as he cupped her other breast in one big hand and teased its tender tip.

"Oh… oh!" Addie gasped.

Earlier she'd been halfway wondering if she might be able to come like this—just from having her breasts stimulated. She'd always had extremely sensitive nipples but she was shy about them and had never dared to ask a man to give her this kind of attention. But now the stuff she'd drunk during the Ceremony of Choosing made her bold enough to moan instructions to the big Kindred.

"Deeper—harder! Suck harder, Drago!" she demanded.

He growled deep in his throat and complied, sucking hard on first one peak and then the other, as though he was determined to give her pleasure.

Addie couldn't help thinking that she'd never been with a man so eager to please her. That was because most of the guys she'd been with had been mostly interested in getting to the "main event"—i.e. fucking. But Drago seemed content to keep sucking and teasing her nipples as long as she wanted him to. She had never had a man lavish this much attention on her breasts before and it was really making her hot.

"Don't stop!" she begged, running her fingers through his hair and arching up to meet him. "Just like that—keep going. Oh my God, you're going to make me come!"

To his credit, the big Kindred didn't take this as a signal to switch things up and try something new, like so many men did. Instead, he kept doing what he was doing—sucking one nipple and tugging gently at the other with his fingers.

Addie squeezed her thighs together and arched her back, panting…and suddenly pleasure was washing over her. God, she really was coming— just from having her breasts played with. How was that possible?

Then the wave of pleasure washing over her pushed everything else out of her mind and she gave in to the sheer, mindless bliss of coming while the man she'd wanted for years gave her exactly what she needed.

"Drago!" she moaned, writhing under his hot mouth. "Oh God, Drago, yes—that feels so good!"