Lucas’s presence gave her the strength to push past it. Combined with the strength of her Dragon, she and he pulled Nikolai from the Perditor. She repeated her mantra.Feel me. Breathe me. Touch me. Shift for me, Nikolai.She pushed the words from her mind, and she sensed him grab on to them like the lifeline they were.
His eyes widened as his features began to alter.
Aria refused to move as the Unicorn writhed its way to the body of a large human. But this was not the man she remembered. His ribs showed beneath muscles clinging tight to his big frame, and his cheeks were hollow.
But his eyes, although sunken, gave her hope. The silver now battled with the blackness as he stared up at her, his expression one of wonder.
Aria.Only a whisper through her mind, but the emotion behind it stole her breath. His hands twitched, as though unsure what to do.
She slid her own down his shoulders to his chest. His body burned as hot as her own skin. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips, holding the fingers against her.
He closed his eyes against the tumult of emotions churning through their link.Aria.The word whispered to her.
Nikolai, I’m here.She reached, sliding fingers into his hair, and pulling his face down to within inches of hers. She sensed his struggle to control what crashed through him, and his fear of what would happen if he couldn’t.
You need to run. Away. From me.He barely gasped the words into her mind, but on the heels of them was the overwhelming desire to keep her close.
I am not afraid of you, she told him.
You should be, he whispered, opening his eyes. They were a beautiful, clear silver.
She grabbed his face in both her hands and pressed her lips to his.
You are mine, Nikolai.She pushed her tongue between his lips and plundered his mouth as only a Dragon could manage.
His entire body stiffened, and his hands tightened on her hips, the tips curling into her flesh. Heat flashed from them in a wave. The remaining snow beneath and around them vanished, pooling as water. And then, the puddles began to steam.
The chaos within him wasn’t gone.You have to run, Aria. Away. From me.
Never.With every second that passed, Aria twisted herself deeper into who and what he was. She sensed the maelstrom, but also glimpsed the potential to redirect it. To shape it, using the power of what lay between them.
Time to make that potential a reality. She hooked one leg expertly behind his, pushed her torso into him, and brought him down.
He could likely have stopped his fall, but instead he let it happen, catching himself with one strong arm as Aria came down with him, ending up on top with her knees straddling his hips. She grew tiny talons from her fingertips, and danced them across his chest before digging them in.
Nikolai arched beneath her with a gasp, his hand sliding up to her waist, and then to her breasts. His fingers spread out over their sumptuous wealth, tracing the peaks with excruciating delicacy.
His gaze drank her in.So beautiful. Aria, you are so beautiful. But I’ve never—
He broke off, but Aria traced his thoughts. The myths were full of stories of Unicorns being attracted to virgins.
She never expected her Unicorn to be one.
The revelation shocked her, but excited her too. She’d never been anyone’s first time. The heat that flushed through her had little to do with Nikolai’s power. It was pure Dragona. She raised her lips from his and bared her teeth.
“You aremine, Nikolai.”
His eyes widened, and the fingers paused in their sensuous exploration of her breasts.
“Aria—”
She silenced him with another blistering kiss, and this time, he gave as good as he got. His tongue tangled with hers, and he sank one hand into her hair, holding her as he explored not only her lips, but nibbled along her jaw and throat.
Quick learner, her Unicorn.
Aria slid her hips down his body, stopping when her buttocks encountered the throbbing heat rising behind her. He gasped and then groaned as she pushed against him, and her heart accelerated. Her Dragon shrieked through her mind as her fingers danced over his chest, encouraging her to dig in. To claim what was hers.
The power of his rage fed into his lust, and he shuddered with the force of it. His hands refastened on her hips, and they trembled. The link pulsed with his desperation to merge them, to push her onto him.
