Page 115 of Claim the Light
The desire in his eyes nearly kills me as he groans. “Fuck, Sophia.”
His voice triggers my climax and the release is so complete that I’m trembling and swaying on him while wave after wave of pleasure rocks me, only increasing as he crashes beneath me.
I don’t think I could possibly go again, but he begins stroking my hips, nudging my dress up over my breasts, and rearing up beneath me to kiss them.
Heat builds between my legs again, a renewed need that makes me feel heavy and light at the same time.
I can’t remove the dress fast enough.
Then we start again, slowly this time, exploring each other’s bodies until I can’t stand it any longer and take him inside me, draw his hand to my core, and seek all the pleasure he can give me.
He groans my name and I scream his, and then we collapse onto the grass again, our bodies glistening with sweat, our limbs entwined.
I can sense all the life around me and I haven’t harmed any of it. Here, in this place, I feel like I fit and I’m determined that I will find that feeling no matter where I go or what challenges I face.
Minutes later, rustling in the forest around the clearing heralds the arrival of the deer. They appear around the edge of the space, their green bodies and mahogany antlers blending with their surroundings, but not so much that I can’t see them.
I’m not alarmed.
I sense the peace within them. Particularly in the stag, who steps forward and lowers his antlers in my direction, one front leg extended. The others follow, their antlers nearly touching the ground.
When they lowered their antlers to me the first time I encountered them, I didn’t realize what they were doing, but I do now.
Uncaring of my nakedness, I rise to my knees and incline my head, acknowledging the way they’re bowing to me.
The stag raises his head, tosses his antlers gently, and then the deer disappear into the trees again. Within seconds, they’re gone.
I turn back to Micah, who has remained relaxed beside me. He gives me a crooked smile as if nothing surprises him now.
I know we have a journey ahead of us. First, we will need patience and care as I bring my power under control within the safety of this forest. Then we will be able to leave and seek out his distant family and the beings of old magic hidden in the west.
After that… Well, I have a purpose and Micah has a mission. Both of us need to connect with the past and the future. But no matter what happens, we’ll do it together. And always, we will have a family to come back to. Dragons who care about us. Powerful dragons who will guard the future with as much care as we will.
Resting back on the soft grass, I can’t resist the impulse to draw patterns on my body, my finger trailing across my skin as I color in the space above my breasts and all the way down to my thighs.
Micah can’t seem to take his eyes off me, heat growing in his eyes again.
His voice is a deep growl as he says, “Sophia, you’re—”
I rear up and kiss him, needing more, needing an entire future with him, because no matter where I am, if I’m with him…
“I’m home.”
EPILOGUE - LANA STEELE
37 WEEKS LATER
Iprowl along the dark back street, my black scales rippling across my body and enabling me to blend into the shadows. My footsteps are silent, my breathing is steady, and my wings are tucked into my sides.
My belly, on the other hand, is huge.
It’s taken me some time to figure out how to function with my expanding size and the insistent kicking that seems only to increase when danger is nearby. My child behaves as if she—orhe, we don’t know which—wants to join me on the hunt.
A child after my own heart.
My target is fifteen paces ahead of me, a furtive female silhouette darting between buildings, her bony fingers clinging to a small, black pouch. I’m not sure exactly what’s in the pouch, but I watched her acquire it from a black-market store that exists within an underground network of supernaturals that I’m slowly tearing apart, piece by piece.
The buildings in this area of the city are decorated with graffiti that itself is peeling as the paint chips off the cracked bricks. Watermarks stain the buildings from top to bottom and piles of trash litter the footpaths.
