Page 61 of Dragon Heir

“That’s a little…grisly,” she says, her breaths coming heavy already. She’s in shape for a human, but even my human form gets winded eventually. The human body is so much less efficient than our animal form.

“Not at all.”

“The fact that I’m wearing a suit made of skin?” she asks, sounding revolted by the very idea.

“The skin of our kind,” I say, then give her a small smile. “Don’t worry. No dragons were harmed in its making.”

“Explains why there’s so little material,” she says, looking down at her top. The armor barely covers her breasts, sculpting around the nipples and leaving the rest exposed with small strips of leather.

“The mold of your top has everything to do with who procured the armor for you and nothing to do with the availability of dragon skin.”

“The bastard,” she swears, but she’s smiling fondly at the thought of Sinetar doing her this disservice.

I nod without responding, my eyes on the forest. If I look at her, I won’t be able to stop myself from wanting to touch her. It’s getting harder to be around her, not easier. The thought of the queen forcing Vynessa to marry a prince from the Sun Court makes me want to commit treason. Once she’s in their kingdom, the Sun King will surely snatch her from his son, make her his pet. He will use her for his own personal brood mare, ensuring he fertilizes all nine of her royal eggs, so that over the next few centuries, the other clans’ royal lineage dies out, leaving only Sun Dragons carrying enough royal blood to rule.

I glance sideways at her. She has no idea the implications, the importance of every moment, the danger she is truly in—and the enormity of the weight on her shoulders. I must be strong for her. I can’t leave her without a Captain of the Guard.

A movement in the trees catches my attention, and I throw an arm up, sweeping Vynessa into an embrace.

“Whoa—what are you doing?” she yelps, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Shh.” I hush her as I pull her to my chest and cover her completely in my armor. Without a word, I scoop her up and race for the edge of the trees, towards the movement instead of away. Whoever—whatever—is watching us won’t be looking for us to run towards them.

I crouch low, pulling Vynessa with me.

“What are we hiding from?” she asks.

“I don’t know yet,” I say. “We must be quiet.”

She wraps herself around me as I kneel on the forest floor, the frozen ground stiff and unyielding under my armor. Our every breath echoes too loudly in the clearing. The trees creak and sway. Now that we’re still, the air plunges in temperature, and Vynessa’s teeth start to chatter. I pull her closer, cradling the future queen to my chest like a baby.

She turns and scans the forest. “Won’t they find us if we just sit here?”

“We’re invisible,” I say. “Just keep still.”

The princess gapes at me, but after a second, she curls closer, her head on my chest, her hands wrapped around my shoulders and neck. I swallow hard, pushing down the longing that threatens to overtake me when our eyes meet. It’s only hormones, my dragon reacting to the pheromones she puts off when in heat, that say she’s ready for mating.

She nestles deeper into my arms as I keep my powers up, shielding us from view. Her hair smells faintly of burnt sugar and vanilla. Her skin is like silk under my fingers. I rub my thumb in a circle over her side, and she looks up at me.

Slowly, she leans up, hesitating long enough for me to pull away. But I don’t. She lifts her face, pushing up a bit and shifting her position until her mouth is close to mine. Her lips brush over mine, and I draw a breath, inhaling her scent. For this one moment, I give in. No one can see us, even if they’re watching. It’s just me and her, and so, I steal the moment she gives me.

My arms tighten around her, pulling her body tighter to mine. This is the one moment I’ll allow, while we’re protected by invisibility. The one time I’ll allow myself even a taste of what I can never have, a taste of her.

I slide my hand behind her neck, feeling the rapid flutter of her pulse in the side of her throat as our lips push and pull. I’ve protected her for a thousand years, guarding her egg, thinking the dragon inside could never live up to the potential that I spent a millennia guarding. It had been a relief letting her go, living at court, taking Pax’s reports as he grew up at her side while I watched her from a distance.

I was at the cusp of finishing my thousand-year mission. I just needed to guard her through the years of her studies, and then I could retire while she reigned as the new queen.

Damn burnt hotcakes. Damn smiles and teasing words. Damn those shirts that showed her breasts loose beneath. Damn soft touches, silky hair, velvet skin. Damn her for always breaking through the walls I put between us. And damn, damn, damn the sweet scent of her sex gushing with arousal as it swells, ready for a dragon mate to relieve her of her need.

Too soon, she draws back, slowly separating her mouth from mine. I’m so hard my head is spinning, my groin aching, my dragon roaring inside me, clamoring to get out, to lay her on the ground, spread her thighs, and gorge ourselves on the sweet nectar of her heat before burying our cock inside her while she screams with relief. To fill her with our seed until she swells round, her belly glowing like a moon from all the seed inside.

“I thought…” she whispers, her eyes pooling with uncertainty. “I thought you didn’t want me.”

I snap back to reality in a flash. I can’t want her. What am I even doing? We’re out in the open. One taste of her and I lose all sense of reality. I harden myself to this moment that had to come, and now it has come too soon.

“I don’t want you,” I say gently. “I cannot, Your Highness.”

I feel her stiffen in my arms, but I force myself to keep going,