Can't Get Enough (Dragon Kin) - G.A. Aiken Page 0,35
pushed her until she passed out, and then I ran like some startled kitten.”
“You wouldn’t be the first who ran,” Shalin said. “Although you may be the only one who didn’t come back out of fear. I do think you may finally be free, though. I’d heard a bit before the North dragons arrived that the queen has chosen a mate for Adienna. And Adienna is none too happy about it.”
“I feel sorry for the poor dragon sharing his life with her for the next six hundred years. I’d rather swallow glass.”
Before Shalin could respond to that, Ailean gripped her shoulders and pulled her up until they were face to face. “I’m sorry, Shalin.”
“Stop it. There’s nothing to—”
“I should have done what I’d planned to do that night, but I was stupid.” His hands went from her shoulders until they cupped her face. “It was you I was going to see that night. You I was walking toward. Then someone stopped me, I don’t remember who, and asked me some questions. When I turned back around, you were gone.”
Shalin stared at Ailean as that night came back to her with stunning clarity. Finally, she gave a soft laugh and shook her head. “That bitch.” She stroked his chest with the tips of her fingers. “She came to me that night, telling me to track down one of her personal guards. I searched everywhere. Every cavern, every chamber. After more than an hour I returned and found her guard already there. But the two of you were long gone. That explains why her friends were snickering at me the rest of the night, but I didn’t pay it much mind. They did that a lot, anyway.”
Ailean pulled her head down a bit and kissed her forehead. “I should never have listened to her. She told me you ran from me. That me, my reputation, scared you. And, like a fool, I believed her.”
“She’s very good at making a body believe whatever she tells them. Trust me when I say I won’t hold it against you. However,” she kissed his jaw, his throat, “that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make it up to me.”
Ailean roughly grabbed her rear and pushed her up his body until her breast hung over his face. His tongue flicked against the nipple, making Shalin gasp until he took it into his mouth and she groaned.
He sucked and teased until Shalin gripped his head and held him tightly to her. That’s when he flipped her onto her back, him on top.
“I promise, Shalin,” he said, his mouth already moving to the other breast. “I’ll make it up to you all night long.”
Ailean looked down at Shalin again. Asleep, she had her head resting against his chest, one arm around his waist, the other fisted against his shoulder. Her legs were intertwined with his and she slept peacefully, positive she was safe in his arms. She trusted him when she trusted no one else but her own blood kin.
How did he let this happen? How did he let her dig her way into his heart and became mistress of it all? But she had, hadn’t she? His little dragoness.
Yet, what now? Once this all got straightened out—and he was sure the queen would do what was right—Shalin had her life to return to. Her school. Her future as an Elder. Although it didn’t seem like she truly wanted any of that. Did she really want to sit through painful, dead boring council meetings over fights for territory between dragons? Did she want to live her life in Devenallt Mountain? As an Elder, she’d be required to live there at least part of the year.
Yet after spending all this time with her, it looked to Ailean as though Shalin wanted nothing more than to be left alone to read.
If she promised her nights to him, he could give her that time alone and so much more. Gods, there was so much he wanted to give her if only she’d let him.
The little dragoness brought him so much joy. And not merely in his bed. While he knew he made her feel physically safe, she had yet to realize that she made him feel safe too. Safe talking to her, being with her. She made him laugh one minute and lust for her the next. And sometimes she broke his heart because she felt so alone. He could see it on her face, the way she watched his family. Her expression torn