Page 19 of Dragon Mine (Dragon Kings 2)
Chapter Eight
Everything was wrong.
Everything had gone wrong.
Eurwen paced her cottage, resentment and hurt mixing into a potent, intoxicating fusion. The conversations with her parents, Brandr, and Vaughn kept running through her head on a loop until they blended.
She paused and put her hands to her head. “Stop,” she demanded.
Everything cleared away but Vaughn.
She dropped her arms to her sides and swallowed past the lump of emotion in her throat. How had everything gone to shite so spectacularly today? Every conversation she had seemed to be on a collision course with a wrecking ball—even Brandr, who she had needed to lean on, to have his support. Eurwen had never been in this position. Her twin had always been there to listen and talk to her.
He’d never given her an ultimatum before.
But she realized that what she felt had nothing to do with her brother or her parents. Or Vaughn. This was about her. She loved Zora, deeply. But for a long time, she had felt as if something were missing in her life. Could Vaughn be the answer? Or was she so caught up in the fantasy and memory of their shared night that she couldn’t see past it to the actual answers?
There was only one way to find out.
Eurwen stalked to the door and yanked it open—only to find Vaughn standing there.
Her heart leapt into her throat. “What are you doing here?”
“Coming to see you,” he answered in his deep, velvet timbre. He quirked a thick brow. “Where are you going?”
“To find you.”
She couldn’t look away from his gaze. Her skin tingled all over as her blood ran fast and hot through her veins. The memory of the dream made her sex throb with need.
“I doona like the way we left things,” he said.
Eurwen nodded in agreement. “I didn’t either.”
When his gaze lowered to her mouth, she found it impossible to breathe. She fought not to throw herself at him and kiss him.
“Lass, you’ve got to stop that,” he said in a strained voice.
A slow smile curved her lips. Eurwen didn’t pretend to misunderstand what he was talking about. “Oh?”
“We’ll get to the loving. But first, I’d like to talk.”
She let her gaze slowly run down his hard body from his broad shoulders in his form-fitting shirt to his trim hips and long legs encased in denim. He was unimaginably gorgeous in human form. But in dragon form, he was magnificent.
“Eurwen.”
Her stomach fluttered at the raw longing in his voice. She briefly closed her eyes and pulled herself together. If he wanted to wait, then she would wait. It might be the most painful thing she’d ever done, but she would do it.
“As you wish,” she replied as she met his gaze again. “Please. Come in.”
She turned to walk away and let him close the door. She didn’t get two strides before he spun her and clasped her against him. His blue eyes flared with desire so deep, so palpable, that she forgot to breathe. Then she felt his arousal pressed against her stomach, thick and hard.
“In case you doona think I want you,” he said in a low, husky voice.
Her fingers gripped his upper arms tightly. Eurwen was overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions she couldn’t even begin to name. But the one thing she did know was that having Vaughn near, letting him hold her, was something she hadn’t even realized she needed.
“What?” he pressed as he searched her face.
Eurwen swallowed, trying to put what she was feeling into words. “I–I didn’t fathom how the sound of your voice would…” She shook her head, unable to find the word.
“Would what, lass?” he pressed, his voice gentle and soft as if he knew how difficult this was for her.
“That it would ease something inside me I hadn’t even known was there.”
“I know the feeling.” He wrapped his arms around her again, bringing her closer.
Eurwen closed her eyes as they held each other. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and accepted the embrace. Nothing about it was sexual. It went much deeper than that. And it was profound.
This wasn’t her first hug. She’d had many over her lifetime from her brother and even Erith, but this felt entirely different. This wasn’t brotherly or motherly. This was…stronger, richer. Deeper. It was the same connection she’d felt the first time she’d seen Vaughn across the fire in the Celtic village. A familiarity she couldn’t explain. An ease that didn’t make sense.
A closeness she innately knew—and sought.
