Chapter Twenty

NASH

I’d spent all my adult years consumed by work — first in the military, then at the agency. Both were big on rules, and mostly, those rules were fine with me.

Kind of ironic, then, to find myself breaking so many of them these days. Tonight especially.

I followed Erin up to the loft and sank down on the deep mattress.

Mmm, my dragon sighed dreamily as she pressed over me.

One kiss melted into another as our bodies heated.

Control your emotions . That was one rule the Marines and the agency stressed. But that was impossible with Erin, who’d stirred all kinds of emotions from day one. A different one for every hour, sometimes, with everything from frustration to fascination and awe.

And now that we were in bed…

Bliss. Anticipation. Trust.

That last one was the best — my trust in her, her trust in me.

Erin shifted her weight, straddling me. Still kissing, she dragged her body up an inch, then down. Flesh rubbed against flesh, soft in some places, hard in others.

I groaned. Bliss. Desire. Peace. It had been a long, long time since I’d felt any of those.

A nice change, my dragon crooned.

When Erin reared up, her hair tickled my skin, then swayed around her shoulders. Leaving her hands on my chest, she teased me with long, lazy drags of her body. Soon, her breaths came faster, as did mine. Then she sank down, taking me in, inch by burning inch.

“Oh,” she murmured, tipping her head back.

If my teeth hadn’t been gritted against fiery pleasure, I would have echoed that.

My vision went a little hazy as she started to dance over me. Pert breasts peeked out from the curtain of her hair, and her lips moved in silent moans. I gripped her hips, gently at first, then harder, driving up when she came down.

Don’t get involved with a subject of interest .

Another rule I was breaking, and not just through sex. Getting involved was washing the dishes after dinner with her family. Playing horses with her niece. Itching for Erin to get her chance to pilot, because she deserved it.

“Oh…” she moaned, rocking harder and harder.

Outside, the wind picked up again, humming over the roof.

The mattress lay on a sturdy platform — and a good thing too. Another good thing was the distance to the main house because… Well, privacy.

Which brought me to the third rule I was breaking — confidentiality . There were some things you just didn’t share. Like your soul, your heart, or what made you tick. Plus, no one was supposed to know the agency existed. I still had to tell Erin what type of shifter I was, but otherwise, she knew more about me than men I’d worked with for years. If I didn’t watch myself, I’d be spilling my childhood secrets to her next.

But tonight, there were no rules. No limits.

We rocked harder, faster, deeper. Thrilling in that angle, then trying out a different one. Erin leaned right…left…back. So far back, her hair cascaded away, opening a view to the underside of her chin.

My dragon roared. If we rolled now and took the top…

My eyes fixed on the smooth skin of her neck, and images danced through my head. My teeth extending. Scraping that creamy surface, then sinking deep in a bite. A bite that would connect us forever.

So, so tempting.

But so wrong too. That was too close to what Angelina had done to me — not just the biting part, but the binding you to me forever aspect. With both parties consenting and understanding exactly what they were getting into, that could be a gift. But without…it was more like a crime.

My dragon growled, and I bared my teeth, slipping back toward anger.

“Nash—” Erin broke off.

My eyes popped open, and I smoothed my thumbs over her hips.

Dammit. I couldn’t have forever with Erin, because that would make her a target to the vampire I abhorred. But we could have tonight, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin it.

“Sorry.” I tugged her hips gently, desperate for her to continue.

Her eyes searched mine for a moment, and I nearly begged.

Please, please don’t stop. Don’t let me — or that bitch, Angelina — ruin this.

Thank goodness Erin was Erin and never, ever left things half finished. After five long seconds of reset time — and a look that asked, okay? — she plunged into a deep, hungry kiss. A few heartbeats later, we were panting…grinding…unraveling. Erin leaned farther and farther back, trusting her balance to my grip.

In the distance, thousands of cottonwood leaves rustled in the wind.

Then, bam. I exploded, and Erin cried out in her own racking orgasm.

We hung on and on, riding a wave of pleasure into a world of hot, achy bliss. When we finally eased apart, panting, Erin crumpled over me. I looped my arms around her and closed my eyes, basking in the remnants of our high.

All those rules broken, yet I’d never felt so honest. All those limits crossed, but I’d never felt so free.

Well, maybe not one hundred percent, but ninety, at least.

I frowned. Free of what?

Angelina, my dragon grumbled.

That’s when it finally hit me. Ever since she’d tasted my blood, her presence had followed me like a shadow. Now, the shadow was more like a cloud — still there, but farther away. Thinner, too, with streaks of sunlight breaking through it.

Hesitantly, I peeked at my wrist. The puncture marks were still there, but they seemed fainter. Or was that wishful thinking?

Erin sighed and melted in my arms, curling in as perfectly as yang to yin.

I rubbed my chin along her shoulder, then touched the scars on my wrist. No sting. No warning burn. Nothing but a faint, ominous throb.

Huh. Once bitten, forever chained was one of those hard-set vampire rules.

I stared a little longer. Was that another rule that could be broken?

“Mm…” Erin snuggled up like a koala.

I smoothed her hair back and kissed her, pushing every other thought away.

* * *

We stayed intertwined for a long, long time and eventually dropped off to sleep. A damn good thing, too, with that early alarm setting. But nature’s call woke me first, and I had no choice but to feel my way down the ladder sometime later.

I headed back to the ladder when I was done, but something made me detour to the porch for the second time that night. Opening the door quietly, I sucked in a lungful of air. Cold as it was, the stars were amazing, and the wind was back to a whisper.

I spent a minute there, peeking back every few seconds in hopes that Erin might wake and join me. But her breaths remained soft and slow with slumber.

Stepping to the edge of the porch, I looked around. To the left, cliffs zigzagged away from the house in a long line that reached for the stars. The creek was straight ahead, marked by a line of trees. The main house was way over to the right, along with the paddock and barn.

I sniffed, suddenly tempted to shift and fly, if only for a short time. It had been a while, and the crisp winter air promised a beautiful flight. Plus, I was already naked, so there’d be no clothes to bother with.

I glanced back toward the loft. Maybe just a short flight…

I hesitated a minute longer, then made up my mind. I took off right from the porch in the kind of showboating shift I hadn’t been inspired to try for a long time. That meant leaping up and away in human form, arms wide. Needles of winter air freeze-burned my skin, but a heartbeat later, I was protected by thick dragon hide, and my arms had morphed into huge, powerful wings. My ears and nose stretched into streamlined dragon form, and flesh and bone groaned. It hurt, but it was exhilarating too. A little like sex, I supposed.

My dragon grinned. Both feel really, really good.

The porch was only a couple of feet off the ground, so my belly nearly scraped the brush for the first few body lengths of flight. But bending to the back edge of my wings provided lift, and soon, I was soaring above the roof…above the cottonwoods…above the mesa at the west edge of the ranch.

Racing along, I circled to the far side of the mesa. Then I turned sideways, skimming the cliff in another of those hot-dog moves I’d loved as a kid — one wing pointed straight down, the other up.

Ha. Haven’t lost my touch, my dragon preened.

I grinned. God, was it nice to feel good.

Circling back to the ranch, I peered at Erin’s cabin. I had her to thank for this playful energy. I had her to thank for so much.

My heart squeezed, and I looked down, yearning for her company. Not just down there, but up here, flying with me.

Maybe someday she can, my dragon whispered. She could, if she was our mate.

The majority of the guys — and they were mostly guys — in the Marines and at the agency were single, but every once in a while, the love bug would hit, turning a perfectly rational soldier into a goofy, love-sick mess. Everyone would tease, roll their eyes, and swear that would never be them — until their turn came.

To a man, we’d all sworn it would never happen to us. We couldn’t let it happen, because who wanted such an entangled, complicated life?

But suddenly, I found myself yearning for entangled and complicated .

As long as it’s with Erin, my dragon added quickly.

The sentiment came with a rush of joy, and I nearly roared in glee. I flew on, picturing all kinds of blissful scenarios while ticking off local landmarks. Bear Mountain was just around the corner from Painted Rock Ranch. So was Deer Mountain — though it was more mesa than mountain. Then came the deep indents of Boynton and Fay Canyons, followed by the high plateau of Soldier’s Pass. At Mescal Mountain, I curled my tail left, ruddering my body in the opposite direction. Peering down, I searched for the next landmark.

There! my dragon announced, rocketing toward a tear in the landscape.

I pictured Erin flying beside me, then yelling, Whoa! Wait!

Most of the time, I was more responsible than reckless. But at that moment, I was a teenager desperate to impress on a first date.

I flattened my ears, yelling, Watch this! in my imagination.

Devil’s Bridge was right down there, and if I timed it just right…

Zoom! I zipped under the natural rock arch, then twisted into an impossibly tight turn to emerge before slamming into the next rock face.

I cleared it — barely — and raced on, looking back. Holy shit, that had been close.

Still, I broke into a massive grin. Close, but fun.

I glanced around, half expecting to find Erin. But there was no one, just the harsh desert and lonely, wrinkled mountains. Turning my head east, I glimpsed the lights of town — a reminder of the real world and all the troubles in it. Troubles that all started — and ended — with Angelina.

My mood plummeted. That vengeful, malicious vampire could track me anywhere, anytime. Getting involved with Erin meant endangering her and the ranch. Her sisters and her niece too.

I roared, releasing a huge plume of fire.

Let Angelina try, my dragon hissed. I will end her. Then, when this is all over…

I glided on grimly. The only way to end this was killing Angelina, and that would end me too.

My dragon huffed, but it didn’t disagree.

Well, at least we’d die free, I reasoned.

Not much consolation. Not now that I’d tasted how good life could be.

Sapped of all that giddy energy, I flew back to the ranch, cursing the slight headwind. I came in for a landing along the dirt road and touched down smoothly, then stalked to Erin’s cabin, shifting to human form as I went.

On the porch, I paused for a deep breath. Tonight was my forever, so I couldn’t afford to spoil it with negative energy.

The thought made me chuckle a little. Were the New Age types in Sedona rubbing off on me?

A minute later, I crawled back into bed. Erin groped around in her sleep, found my arm, and pulled me close.

That, at least, drew a genuine smile out of me. I kissed the top of her head and stared off into the darkness, wondering where destiny might take us next.