The Wyvern King's Mate Read online

  “Not here,” he argued, scooping her up into his arms and striding from the pool. “The first time I make you mine will not be against the mountain like an animal, but in a proper bed, like the queen you are. My queen.”

  Body still tingling from the release he’d brought her to and tight with anticipation of what was to come, she didn’t argue. She didn’t remind him of the dragon within her who might never wake up, dooming their love from the start. Instead, she nodded and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, buying into the fantasy that they were just what he’d said… a couple with their whole lives ahead of them about to make love for the first time.

  No words were exchanged as he carried her, both naked, up the small path toward his lair, or even when he walked through the large outer caves to the smaller one he used as his bed chamber. And no words were spoken as he stopped in front of the big bed covered in furs she’d slept in since she arrived. Instead, awareness and need stretched between them, the look in his eyes as he slowly slid her down the front of his hard body, one heated enough to rival elemental fire.

  She shivered, her toes curling as he slid big hands through the long scarlet fall of her hair, pulling it up to hold it at the back of her head, out of the way as his dark gaze swept her naked body.

  “Beautiful…” he murmured, the sound so deep it made her ache, her pussy clenching as liquid heat escaped her. It wasn’t fair… that even just his voice turned her on so much… made her wet.

  She opened her mouth to tell him so, but before she could, he breathed in sharply, a wicked little smile spreading over his face. He knew.

  “The scent of your need is like the finest perfume,” he growled, crowding her back against the bed and following her down onto its soft surface when she fell back. Darkness in his eyes, he crawled over her. “It calls to me, lures me in, turns me on until I can think of nothing else but getting inside you. Claiming you. Making you mine.”

  “Oh god, yes…” she moaned, tangling a hand in his hair and lifting up to claim his lips. She’d never get enough of kissing him. She loved the sexy little growls he made in the back of his throat and the powerful, dominant way he moved… grabbing her wrists when she tried to touch him to hold them above her head.

  He pinned her beneath him, one hand holding her wrists in place, and nudged her thighs apart with a hard knee. His gaze shot to hers for a moment, but it wasn’t about permission, not anymore… she’d already given that back in the pool… but as if to drink in the sight of her there, spread out under him as he moved between her thighs.

  She caught her breath as the thick, hard head of his cock pressed against the entrance of her body and he paused for a second. Holding her gaze, he pressed forward insistently, pushing his way inside her. Her body stretched wide around his thick shaft and she gasped, sudden panic that she wouldn’t be able to take all of him filling her. But she wanted to… no, more than wanted to… she needed to. Needed to take all of him, needed to feel him filling her, stretching her… claiming her.

  He grunted as he pulled back a little and then surged forward again. Harder. Faster. Further. The soft whimper in the back of her throat wasn’t one of pain, but sheer and utter need as pleasure rocked her world. A snarl on his lips, he pulled back. This time when he shoved forward, he filled her to the hilt.

  “Oh… gods,” she cried out, her back arching as he slammed home. Her pussy throbbed, stretched wide around his thick girth and she fought for breath. He held her as she did, low, gravelly whispers against the soft skin by her ear as her body adjusted to him.

  He didn’t give her long, but she didn’t need it. Almost as soon as he paused, the burning, throbbing sensation changed to one of need. Rocking her hips, she pulled away a fraction. His cock slid in the tight sheath of her body and they both moaned.

  The combined sound opened the floodgates. He pulled back and surged into her again without a pause, just a growl in the back of his throat. Setting up a hard and fast rhythm, he thrust into her time after time.

  Skin slapped against skin as the sounds of their lovemaking filled the room, creating a sensual melody with her soft gasps and his deep growls. Sensation filled her body, each thrust stroking nerve endings that sent sparks through her veins.

  He moved over her and within her as she was supine beneath him. Pinned for his… their… pleasure. He thrust again, a soft rumble in the back of his throat as he flicked his hair over one shoulder, letting go of her wrists to brace himself on that arm as he leaned down to claim her lips.

  Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she slid her hand into his hair as he took her twice, his cock driving into her as his tongue thrust past her lips. Her hips rocked against his, matching him, meeting him for each thrust. The bed slammed into the rock wall in dull thuds, the sound echoing around the room and punctuating their motions.

  Their movements sped up. Each pant and moan was shared between them, interspersing hot, open mouthed kisses as they went from long sensation-filled slides into something far rawer and more primal. Zahra whimpered as her body tightened, pussy clenching hard around his cock. The pleasure was so intense she all but melted beneath him, her vision greying around the edges.

  He growled at the sudden tightness of their joining, his hips slamming into hers in hard, purpose-filled thrusts. Harder, faster, tighter… until it was all too much. A cry escaped her lips as the tension in her body broke, claiming her in a hot, wet surge of pure pleasure that cascaded through her body, through her blood and through every cell as she clung to him.

  Grunts mingled with his growls as he sped up, each slam of his cock into her climax-tightened pussy sending her higher, but he didn’t last long. Within three strokes he suddenly stiffened, thrusting into her one last time before he stilled, head thrown back as he bellowed his climax to echo against the rock walls and beyond.

  Chapter 8

  Roc was… amazing.

  Zahra sat on the slopes outside the lair, watching her lover perform lazy swoops and spirals above her. She’d woken before him this morning, surprising given that he’d woken her several times in the night to take her again.

  Each time had been different, from hard and fast up against the rock wall of the bedroom to slow and sensual as he spooned her from behind. Gentle and loving as she sat in his lap, his big hands stroking her skin softly, to hard and primal as he took her on her hands and knees, large hands holding her hips. She shivered at the memory, still feeling the imprint of his hands on her skin, her body heating already at the thought.

  Roc was an amazing lover, and sex with him… it was better than she’d ever thought sex could be. Almost as good as having her dragon back, almost as good as flying… even if she never got her inner animal back, even if she slept for the rest of Zahra life…

  Before she could complete the thought, a raucous cry made her look up as a wyvern flew up into sight. He hung in the air for a moment, wings spread to catch an air thermal, obviously communicating with Roc, and then abruptly wheeled and dropped back out of sight over the ridge.

  She was already standing when Roc dropped out of the sky above, snapping his wings open to stop abruptly just above her.

  Come, he spoke directly into her mind. A boy has been found on the slopes. We must retrieve him.

  “A boy?” she asked, a foot on his side and a hand hooked around his wing almost before his clawed feet had touched the ground. Easily, she boosted herself up, sliding between his spine ridges as easily as if she’d been doing it all her life. “What do you mean found?”

  She wasn’t sure her voice carried to him as he leaped upward, beating his massive wings in a breath-stealing standing take off. A smaller wyvern wouldn’t have been able to, and she’d never heard of a dragon doing it… pride swelled in her chest at what her man was capable of.

  They leave them on the slopes below, he replied, taking them above the ridge to sail between two peaks before gliding over the meeting plateau. As they flew, other wyverns dropped from their eyries above to join t
hem. Within seconds, they were surrounded by a horde of wyverns, flying silently until the mountainside was all but blanketed with leathery wings. En masse they sped down the mountains until rock gave way to scrub bushes and then grass.

  “Leave them? Why?” There was no way he should have been able to hear her voice above the rushing wind, but somehow, he did.

  Because they are born like us…wyverns.

  Before she could ask what he meant, he banked sharply and wheeled on a wingtip to land softly in the grass. Within a heartbeat, he’d shifted, an arm around her waist as he lowered her to the ground. She looked at him curiously, but his eyes weren’t on her. Instead, his gaze was fixed on a figure in front of them.

  It was a boy with the loose-limbed gangly build that said he was on the verge of manhood.

  “What do you mean… he’s born like you?” she asked softly, her feet now on the ground. For a moment their gazes connected and she saw right down to his soul.

  “There are no wyvern females,” he said in a rough voice. “So we take females from other clans or disguise ourselves to go into the villages for a night or two. The children we sire… some are female, some are normal.” He paused and ran a hand through his hair, his expression tight. “But some only seem normal. When they reach puberty, the first signs of their emerging beast starts to show… and they are left here for us.”

  “Their mothers abandon them?” she asked in shock, a frown creasing her brow as she looked quickly around. There was no one else on the slope as far as the eye could see. No one for the boy to be with. Surely they hadn’t left him here on his own? Surely no mother would be that cruel?

  Her heart twisted as she realized that yes, he was alone. There was no one with him… they had left him. Her gaze collided with Roc’s again and it hit her. He, too, had been left on a slope like this. Torn away from his home and family and dumped because he was different than them. Because people feared what he was.

  “Oh my god…” she whispered, her heart breaking for both of them. For the boy going through it… and the man who had… to all boys left like this. She couldn’t do anything for them, but she could do something for this boy. Taking a step forward, she willed him to look up.

  Usually this is the point they all freak out and run, Roc said mentally. Their villages scare the shit out of them with stories of us, so when they’re dumped here… told they ARE one of us, it terrifies them. Especially because they can’t shift at first.

  The boy sat, huddled up with his arms around his knees. As though he heard her mental urging he looked up. His face was tear stained and went pale as soon as he saw the grim-faced men and wyverns around him. The terrified squeak he gave spurred her into action and she took three quick steps forward, dropping to her knees to put herself on the same level he was.

  “Hey…” she said softly as she sat down. “I’m Zahra… what’s your name?”

  He peeked up through a dirty fall of hair, bright blue eyes wary. For a moment she was reminded of Roc but pushed the thought away to focus on the boy in front of her.

  “Haki.” His voice was so low that Zahra had to lean forward to hear the whisper of sound.

  She smiled welcomingly. “Hey, Haki. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  He didn’t reply, just watched her, but as he did, his shoulders dropped a little. Good. As long as he was focusing on her, he wasn’t worried about the large, grim-faced men who surrounded them.

  You’re doing great, Roc rumbled in approval, silent behind her. She didn’t give any indication she’d heard him, keeping her gaze on Haki. What should she say? She knew nothing about wyverns at all, other than what she’d learned over the last few days. But he didn’t look like a wyvern. If anything, he looked exactly like all the dragon boys she’d ever seen…

  Smiling again, she tilted her head. “I’m hungry. How about you?”

  As expected, he grinned quickly, the expression a little sheepish. “Starving. Always am. You got food?”

  Roc? He didn’t need the mental prompt. Roc was already squatting down beside her, his body language nonthreatening.

  “We’ve got plenty of food up in the mountains, son.” His voice was a low rumble as he held out his hand. “If you want to come with us…”

  Haki’s eyes flicked from Roc to Zahra and back again. “You’re a…a… one of them, aren’t you?” When Roc nodded, his eyes widened again and he drew back, but almost as quickly, the panic in his eyes subsided. “The village elders said you roasted people on sight and ate them…” His gaze flicked to Zahra. “But she’s not a…a…”

  “Wyvern, lad,” Roc filled in, smiling a little. “No, she’s not. She’s a—”

  “I’m a wyvern-mate,” Zahra butted in quickly, not wanting to complicate matters by revealing she was a dragon. If Haki couldn’t tell what she was, then perhaps it was best to leave it at that. “I ride on Roc’s back when we fly. Do you want to try it?”

  “He’s settling in nicely.”

  Roc grunted as Arnor spoke up next to him, the other wyvern’s approach almost soundless. Had he not been Roc’s closest friend and his loyalty without question, Roc would have had to watch his back. But there was no way Arn would ever betray him. He followed the other male’s gaze over to where Zahra sat with Haki, the boy’s face alight as the two spoke.

  “She’s good with him. Really helped him settle in. He managed to call shift energy last night,” Arnor carried on. “Almost broke scale as well. He’s doing a lot better than some of the others.”

  He didn’t need to elaborate. Life on the peaks was tough, and some youngsters just weren’t cut out for it. The scattered bones at the bottom of some of the valleys were a silent testament to that. Those who didn’t throw themselves off a cliff before their beasts had fully emerged had to contend with learning to fly and then dominance challenges. Some never made it to adulthood.

  “She’s amazing.”

  Arms folded over his chest, Roc had to admit he hadn’t been paying attention to the young boy Zahra had taken under her “wing.” All he could see was his beautiful mate and hear her words from yesterday ringing in his ears.

  I’m a wyvern-mate.

  She’d named herself his mate, not a dragon. Pride and something else, something deeper and warmer, filled his chest. While he didn’t like that the words indicated she’d given up on her dragon heritage, the fact that she’d named herself as a wyvern-mate…

  He loved her.

  He blinked as the knowledge filled him, prompted by his inner beast. They loved her and had from the moment they’d seen her in the council palace. That had been why he’d kissed her and carried her off to his lair, not just because he was a wyvern and that was what they did. He loved her and had known it instantly in his heart of hearts, even if his brain hadn’t allowed him to process the feeling for what it was.

  He had to tell her. Now.

  Straightening up, he made to take a step forward when the sky blackened.

  “What the fuck?” he murmured, looking up. There was no way a storm could have come in that fast. He’d have smelled it on the breeze, have felt the cold and damp coming in on the winds. But it wasn’t a storm above them. Instead, hundreds of leathery wings blocked out the sky.

  Dragons.

  Roc’s lip curled back as shouts of alarm filled the plateau, the wyverns there all looking up.

  “EVERYONE FREEZE!” he bellowed, a clear ring of authority in his voice as he strode across to stand in the middle of the rocky expanse, looking up. Shifted wyverns clung to the rocks they’d been about to launch themselves from while those in human form ringed Roc, all looking up as a single dragon broke from the masses above to glide down and land in front of Roc. Great golden eyes glared at him for a moment before the shift took him, and it was undeniably a him, from beast to man.

  “Roc, I assume?” the arrival asked, his voice almost as deep as Roc’s himself. The aura of power and command that clung to him told Roc who he was even before Zahra threw herself into the guy’
s arms.

  “Talon!” She hugged him quickly and then pulled away to look around. “What are you doing here? With everyone?” She frowned as she looked up. “HEY! You stop that right now, Jerat!”

  Roc looked up, spotting a smaller dragon with his chest puffed out, ready to breathe fire at one of the wyverns frozen in place on the top of a peak by his order to stay put. The dragon rolled an eye at Zahra and wheeled away, hiding in the mass of dragons flying overhead.

  Jealousy raged through him and he wanted to storm over and drag her out of her brother’s arms to hold her in his own. The need to claim her, to prove to all that she was his filled him, hot in his veins as he met the gaze of the dragon leader.

  “I am Roc,” he confirmed with a nod. “To what do we owe this pleasure, dragon?”

  Tension spiraled as the two stared each other down. Talon lifted an eyebrow.

  “I would have thought that would be obvious. I’ve come to take my sister home after you stole her away.”

  Roc snarled, his lips curling back from his teeth in warning. “Over my dead body.”

  Talon’s snarl was no less menacing.

  “That can be arranged, wyvern,” he spat, the last word dripping with disgust. “You think I would allow my sister to mate with a lowly fucking worm like you? Not a fucking chance. We’re leaving, and Zahra is coming with us. Now.”

  Roc felt more than saw the tension in his clan around him, the slight move forward, even from Nesren and his ilk over in the corner. Every set of wyvern eyes was focused on Vikter and the dragon horde above. They were with him, and together, they could take on the dragons…

  His gaze fell on Zahra, her lovely eyes wide as she spoke urgently to her brother, her voice too low for him to hear. Her expression was filled with fear, her gaze flitting from him to the small figure of Haki, standing next to Arnor with a grim look on his little face.