This was bleedin’ uncomfortable. I went with my usual way out of dodgy spots—humor. “Strewth, mate. Couldn’t you have found yourself a nice ledge somewhere?”
Then my eyes dropped to his hand.
Blood dripped from it.
“You okay?”
The Dragon pulled the hand behind him as his wings sprouted from his shoulders. “Whether I am fine, or not, is none of your concern,” he rumbled.
Cold as ice, the tone, and his eyes evaded mine. Fair enough, I’d just caught him flogging to the forest. And what was up with his mangled hand?
The wings expanded so fast that I gaped at them before he launched himself into the air. His beast wasn’t even half-transformed, but the wings carried him swiftly away.
I watched him go, then paced over to the boulder. Blood marked it in several spots. As if he’d slammed his hand into it, over and over again.
But why would anyone do that? My nose twitched as it verified that blood hadn’t been the only bodily fluid donation.
It seemed the plateau had appeal for horny shapeshifters.
The thought of him standing there, his hand stroking himself to climax, fired my own blood. And my memory obligingly supplied Anna’s alluring, citrusy scent.
Paws would not get me there. I sat back on my haunches and embraced my human.
The discomfort only fed into my arousal, until I stood in almost the exact place Talakai had, quivering with need. I briefly considered moving away, finding a new spot, but—I didn’t. Standing in his footsteps satisfied something deep inside me that I could not define.
Was this some kind of primal beast thing? A desire to stamp out another male’s scent with my own? There was no doubt that my beast pushed me to do this, even if I didn’t understand the reasons.
So I didn’t try to. I didn’t give a bloody damn if the Dragon was still cruising around up there, either. He could watch me obliterate his scent with an offering of my own.
In fact, I kinda hoped he would. And I didn’t want to look too closely into the reasons.
Instead, I leaned a hand between the blood marks left by Talakai, and envisioned Anna. Her beautiful bicolored eyes. Her body, possessing feminine curves that set me on fire. It all interwove with her scent...
And Talakai’s, too. His strong, distinctive musk wove through and around me as I envisioned the feel of Anna’s body pressed up against mine. My mind seized upon my latest dream. How she’d moaned and squirmed when my fingers sank into her liquid folds, and began to work, back and forth.
How she’d cried out when she came, hard, with my touch.
My long fingers slipped and stroked and squeezed as I swelled to full, glorious, breathless rigidity beneath the moonlight. I imagined her hands on me, her lips lowering, her mouth opening—
The orgasm was so strong I collapsed to my knees, and I uttered a long, guttural growl of pure ecstasy as I jetted out over the edge of the ravine.
Strewth. Even flogging while thinking of her was an out-of-body experience. I had never felt this kind of power, not ever, not with any woman.
Certainly not due to any dream woman. And that was all she was until she acknowledged what we were to each other.
And what if I was wrong? Could I be wrong?
Then flogging was all I would ever have.
I sighed, turned away, and embraced my beast.
26
Anna
Trix sat down beside Mari as I plunked my tray of delectables on the table. I followed it with my rump into the seat, before I rubbed my face vigorously.
“You were restless last night,” Mari said as she petted Trix.
