Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,140

not tell her? It was a violation of her privacy! What friend would betray someone like that? She was spinning out of control with the possibilities.

“Leia.”

Annaleia went still as warmth and security rushed over her, this time so strong it was unmistakably magic. She stopped snowballing, her sense of dread faded, her shock declined, and her embarrassment dwindled.

This was not something to get upset over. She had nothing to hide from Ares. He was her best friend.

It was okay to let him in.

She gazed up at him, mesmerized, as the dragon’s slow, wicked smile returned. “That’s better,” he said, his voice wrapping around her like another set of strong arms. He broke eye contact to look up at the ceiling overhead, and when he returned his gaze to hers, the look on his face was one of pure, uncompromising iniquity.

“This is the dragon realm, little one.”

And in her mind, followed up like a deep, dark echo filled with innuendo and promises, he said, This is my world, Raindrop. Let me show it to you.

Chapter Forty-seven – The Dragon Realm

Annaleia Faith had always had the strongest power of resolve he had ever encountered in a human. It hadn’t faded with time, either. Ares was forced to be vigilant, careful, ever adjusting how much of her will he suppressed and replaced with his own.

He wanted her submission. He wanted it so badly, he throbbed at the thought. And they would not be leaving his realm until she had given it to him. But… he wanted her to submit as herself, not an empty-headed doll with no spirit. So while he wasn’t shy about overriding any thoughts or hesitance of hers that would prevent progress, he was also careful.

As careful as a black dragon can be, that is.

He had never been able to read her thoughts before tonight. But she was in his true home for the first time and the spell he had upon her was a powerful one. He’d also been watching her like a hawk, his attention focused entirely on her.

So when little by little, he’d begun to pick up on snippets of her internal voice as if through a swimming pool or a closed door, he wasn’t surprised. This entire night was new territory for them both. It was anyone’s guess what might be accomplished before the spell ended.

Such as the ability to speak to her using telepathy.

This is my world, Raindrop. Let me show it to you.

He gave her no further warning before he beat his massive wings a single, strong time against the air in the cavern, and with great power they were propelled upward at a dizzying speed. She tensed in his arms despite the heavy influence he’d draped over her, but it was an expected reaction for anyone half-way sane since they were headed directly for a stalactite-covered stone ceiling and were sure to be pierced and then crushed to death at any moment.

A sharp intake of breath and a tucking of her head to his jacket was what she substituted for a scream as they broke through the illusory barrier and into the cosmic world above.

Antares climbed. He allowed his magic and his wings to carry them ever higher, his body finishing its dragon transformation as he rose into the realm’s night. Until at an incredible apex, he hovered above the world as the black dragon he’d never before shown her.

She was holding fast to him of course, her grip not unlike a baby monkey’s on its mother’s fur, white-knuckled and desperate. He couldn’t help but chuckle. But when he did, it came out as the low, rumbling draconic sound only a dragon’s lungs can make, and Annaleia stopped breathing. He waited, smiling to himself because he couldn’t help it. The dark and twisted part of him enjoyed the play of emotions across her beautiful face as he overturned her world.

Very slowly, very cautiously she lifted her head from his chest. He could hear her thoughts as they floated across her mind like whispers one after another. She was only now noticing that the leather beneath her cheek was no longer a jacket. She saw the shimmering black scales first… then heard the beat of his wings and their coursing electric energy. And then she realized that the arms holding her so tight were the thick, corded, scale-covered arms of a beast, not a man.

She tensed, her muscles going taut with fear when she saw his claws wrapped around her and felt the gentle