Kelvin
It’s mostly humans attacking us, with a few Zodiacs thrown into the mix. What I want to know is why they’re attacking us, who sent them, and how they found us. Nothing I’m getting off of them tells me anything important, and it’s beyond frustrating. I’ll need to capture a couple alive and question them thoroughly, I just don’t know if I’ll be able to rein in the dragon enough to stop him from slaughtering everyone.
As it is, he’s already shifted and is tearing through the ranks of at least three dozen humans and five or six Zodiacs, all of their auras red, marking them as Fallen. He’s ripping through them so fast I’m not sure the rest of us will have a chance to step in and fight, though I’m aching for it. I want to cut into them just as horribly as they cut into my bonded’s ceremony.
“Don’t kill them all,” I shout to Sigurd, hoping he’ll listen to reason.
He doesn’t acknowledge my command, not that I expected him to, so I’m surprised when a human is tossed at my feet with a sick thump. I huff at the beast, because now I’ve got blood spatter all over my white dress shirt, and I hate stains, especially bloodstains. It’s just so unclean and so uncouth.
Before I can lecture the bastard, another human is tossed at my feet, right on top of the unconscious male already lying in the grass. Neither grunt nor stir, so at least there’s that. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I did ask for a couple alive, and I suppose it is my fault for not specifying. I doubt a human will know anything important, so I really need a couple Zodiacs, who have much better odds of actually giving me information.
Just as I open my mouth to ask the raging dragon to toss me a couple of the gifted, two are unceremoniously tossed my way. Lara giggles, and I fight a grumble as I return to watching the shadow beast eat humans and what remains of the Zodiacs like he’s having a snack. Him eating them does remove the issue of cleaning up their bodies, though Lara can easily open a massive hole in the earth to swallow them up. Not to mention I’m sure she’s got a potion or two that can set things ablaze. Then I’ve got my affinity with water and could easily drag them to the bottom of the lake, never to be found again.
If the dragon wants a stomachache, then fine, not my problem. And if it makes Lara laugh, even better.
“He’s not leaving any for us,” Max says with a pout.
I’m not the only one who turned to murder when we lost our bonded to prison. Max was the first to kill, in fact, and it was entirely too messy. It’s a wonder we didn’t get caught for it, especially when the person he killed was our bonded’s old partner, Sammy. I don’t think Lara noticed her partner there the night she was arrested in our own home, or if she did, she never mentioned it to us. But we knew Sammy was there. She’d bragged about it claimed she knew something was wrong with our bonded all along.
The bitch claimed to have always suspected Lara of something shady, and said that she was glad to have been proven right.
So on her way home from a club one night, Max followed her into an alley and sliced her neck.
From then on, his aura was red, and he was housebound during the day, using his grief over our bonded’s absence as his reason for becoming a shut-in. All the while, I did what I could to uncover who set my Lara up to take the fall. Max hunted those I found until one day, not even two months after Lara was sent to S.O.P., we got a phone call from someone named Smith.
It was only when we agreed to meet in person that I realized who he was, as well as what he was to our bonded. Rio’s thoughts were so damn easy to read, and thus we began our plot to free her and prove her innocence.
Sigurd roars so loudly the trees shake around us before he plops onto his belly with a huff.
“I guess this means you're done, then?” I drawl sarcastically, knowing full well he is from his thoughts alone. “Max, help me with the bodies. Rio, grab the ceremonial items. Lara, do you want to take your plants?”
“Yes!” she cries before rushing over to the pots and working her magic until they’re nothing more than seeds that she gently cups in her palms. With a flick of my wrist, I summon water from the lake and shove the pots into the tide, where they immediately sink below the surface.
“Sigurd, we’ll need the key to the dungeon.”
It’s going to be a long night, and not the kind I had planned for.
* * *
How useless. All our prisoners are useless. None of them knew a damned thing other than that they’d received a missive from the leader of their mercenary group commanding our deaths. This means we’re no closer to the answer to this puzzle than we were five hours ago when this… questioning began.
At some point, Lara meandered her way down to the dungeon and had her turn at the mercenaries, and despite making them sing, none of the blabber that exploded from their mouths was worth the effort. Even our bonded left disappointed, and that makes me angry.
How did they know we were there, in that specific clearing at that specific time? Are we being tracked? But we removed Lara’s implant—I made sure of it. Unless a witch is using a tracking spell to find us, but that would be incredibly expensive, and it’s too coincidental for me to believe that a witch just happened to scry for us at the very moment we were in the clearing. And then for the mercenaries to arrive that quickly?
It doesn’t make sense.
I step out of the shower with a heavy sigh, knowing that no matter how much my brain spins and searches for answers, I’m not getting them tonight. For now, I’ll rest and resume my research in the morning.
It seems Lara has other ideas, though, because she’s waiting for me the moment I leave the bathroom with a pair of pajama pants slung low over my hips. I don’t know where her other bonded are, or her dragon mate, but I’m not complaining. I’m glad to have her to myself, even if it’s just for a short while. I’ve missed her, and truthfully, I feel like I’ve failed her by allowing her to be taken into custody and sent to prison. I haven’t spoken any of this to her, and I don’t plan to anytime soon, but I will someday when the wound isn’t so raw.
The second I slip into bed beside her, she cuddles into my side with a contented sigh, and the feel of her bare body pressed against mine is pure heaven. I brush my hand through her hair and hear her unspoken words.
I want to both cuddle and fuck, and I’m not sure in which order yet.
“I suppose we could do both,” I mutter.
She sits upright and demands, “How?”
“I could fuck you nice and slow while pinning you to my chest so you’re still cuddling with me while satisfying your desires.”
Lara kisses me on the lips with a wide smile. “You’re a genius, Kelvin!”
“On my lap, then.”
My bonded doesn’t waste time pulling my pants down and riding me. In one swift move, she drops down on my dick, and we both groan. She’s so hot and wet as she slides down until her ass hits my thighs. That’s when I wrap my arms around her waist and tug her into my chest, holding tight. Lara rubs her cheek in the crook of my neck like a cat, and I use that small distraction to start moving.
She moans softly with each slow and sure thrust, working us both up for an almost torturously long time, though it doesn’t make me move any faster. We’re both enjoying just being together too much to rush it, and she knows I’ll never leave her wanting. Lara will get her pleasure, and her climax, before we’re through.
In fact, it’s nearly here. I can feel it in the way she’s starting to clench and tense around me. It’s in the way her breathing is faster now and her fingers are digging into my arms. I’m not far behind, and one languid thrust later, she’s crying out into my neck as her pussy flutters around me and milks me to my own completion.
“I love you,” she mumbles tiredly.
I press a kiss to her forehead, letting it linger for several seconds before replying, “I love you too.”
And I’m so sorry for failing you time and time again.
Despite those damning thoughts spinning around in my head, it takes me hardly any time at all to follow my bonded into slumber.