Page 93 of Firebird
I felt it—a hard, strong pulse of power light me from within. It was the same sensation I had when Julian’s dragon responded to my tether, when he gave me some of his own strength. I knew then and there that I could tether a powerful, dangerous man like Caesar. So I didn’t hesitate. I knew what I must do to end this awful night.
“You put Ciprian into a coma.” He walked closer slowly.
“Good,” I whispered from the shadows. “Then you won’t be able to fight him tomorrow.”
“How did you do it?” He stopped only inches from me, his voice gruff as he began to remove his toga. “Sleep isn’t an emotion.”
I stared as he unwound the fine red material, his eyes lit from within. “Isn’t it? Anyone can feel sleepy.”
“It’s more than that.” He dropped his toga to the floor and then lifted his fine white tunic beneath over his head, revealing his entire nude body, his muscles locked tight. His wound was reddened but completely sealed and mending. “Sleep is a physicality,” he stated calmly, while I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.
His body was so beautiful, so strong and powerful. His cock hung half-hard as he reached down and stroked it. I was no virgin, having explored sex a few times with Hanzi the year before our village wasattacked. But Hanzi had been more of a boy, not a man, and certainly not a dragon of Julian’s proportions.
“E-every emotion is a physicality,” I whispered breathlessly.
“Indeed they are, Malina.” His voice was velvet dark as he stepped even closer. “And my emotions have run riot through my blood all night.”
He reached his hands beneath my hair to the knot where I’d tied the strip of red cloth and slowly unwrapped the bandeau from around my breasts until I was bare. I remained perfectly still.
“The emotions you stir in me have become all-invasive. A painful physicality I can no longer endure.”
“Julian, I—” I’d lifted my hands to his chest, but he quickly wrapped my wrists in one hand and pressed them over my head, against the column at my back.
He lowered his head until we were eye to eye. Heavens, his gaze was feral.
“I may burn in Tartarus for all the evils I’ve done.” His large hand mounded one of my breasts, squeezing till I whimpered with pleasure. “But by the gods, I’ll fuck my mate before I’m sent there.”
His mouth was on mine, a deep growl vibrating up his throat as he stroked his tongue inside. I could do nothing but accept him as he pressed his hard body against mine, pinning me to the column, his thick cock against my bare stomach as I lifted onto my toes to reach him better. Heat pooled between my thighs, soaking the fabric I’d tied beneath the skirt to hide my sex while I danced.
He broke the kiss on a grunt and fell to his knees. He went for the fabric of my skirt, his claws out as he slashed through the material and ripped it off, making sure not to cut my skin.
“Julian.” I sank my fingers into his hair right before he roughly pushed my thigh over one of his shoulders and opened his hot mouth on my sex.
“Juno save me,” I murmured, my head falling to the pillar behind me.
Julian ate me with ravenous intensity, and I could do nothing but whimper and rock my sex against his mouth.
“More, Julian.Gods.”
He’d retracted his claws and slid one hand between my thighs, then pumped two fingers inside me. His glittering gaze was on me as he licked out with his forked tongue over my clitoris.
I gasped, then I was coming too soon. He pumped his fingers faster and sucked my throbbing nub into his mouth as I climaxed on a deep moan, thighs trembling, fists clenching.
Before I’d even come down, he lifted me in his arms and carried me deeper into his bedchamber, into his private lair, sliding me between the canopy curtains and onto the center of his bed. I bent my legs and opened my thighs as he settled between them, but he sat back onto his heels. Then he grabbed my hips and propped my bottom on his lower thighs. Gripping his cock, he wet the head along my folds.
“I need you, Malina,” he growled, a desperate yearning creasing his face.
I moaned as he sank slowly inside me, then gasped when he grabbed my hips and thrust to the hilt. A full body shiver went through him, then he ground his hips in a sensuous circle, allowing my body to stretch and accommodate him. Exquisite pleasure filled me at the tight sensation.
His eyes slid closed, his brow furrowing like he was in pain as he murmured, “Gods help me. So good, sweetheart.”
He made that low purring sound deep inside his chest when he began to thrust, nice long glides that made me whimper as I fisted my hands in the sheets. His golden gaze made a slow trek from where he impaled me all the way up my torso to my breasts and then to my face.
“Sweeter than I could’ve imagined,” he said in that cool, unaffectedway. But I caught the roughness in his tone, the passionate longing in his eyes.
My desire met his, an innate need tofeelhim everywhere. I raised my arms, unable to reach him.
“I need to touch you.”
