best she could under the circumstances—and that Serek was alive and well, which was thanks in no small part to Arysteon.
Leyloni looked up to find the dragon watching her, his stare heated and intent, almost…predatory. Hungry. A tiny voice in the back of her mind said she should’ve been terrified to have him looking at her like that, but she didn’t feel threatened at all. His gaze sparked not terror, but a strange, tantalizing warmth deep in her core.
That inner heat intensified and spread when her eyes met his, making her sex clench and her body pulse with need. Her breasts ached, and her nipples tightened into small, painful points.
She tore her gaze away from him. It took all her willpower to resist the urge to massage her breasts and squeeze her thighs together, to soothe away her discomfort.
No one had ever made her feel this way. Why Arysteon, why now? Was it not wrong for her body to react like this to a dragon?
And yet how could she not react that way to him? The only thing that set them apart was their physical shapes. Arysteon was intelligent, caring, empathetic. He expressed so much emotion, conducted himself with so much thoughtfulness. He was everything she could have wanted in a male—everything she could have dreamed for in a mate.
But he…is a dragon.
Once Leyloni felt full near to bursting, and Serek had stopped eating in favor of playing with his food, she cleaned herself and the baby. He squirmed in her lap as she wiped his face, vocalizing his irritation, only to quiet immediately when she set him free. He crawled a mere body’s length away before rolling onto his bottom to play with two long sticks, which he tapped against the ground as he babbled.
Still feeling Arysteon’s heavy gaze upon her, Leyloni peeked up at him. Again, her core clenched at the intensity in his eyes.
Leyloni picked up the tiny scraps Serek had left behind, tossed them into the fire, and stood up. “I am going to wash. I will return shortly.”
Arysteon nodded. “I will mind Serek.”
She crouched over her bag, withdrew a couple soapberries, and walked around Arysteon toward the entrance. Her changing angle as she passed him made ripples of darker color flow across his teal scales, and she once again found herself wondering what they would feel like under her palm.
He turned his head toward her. His eyes were still heated, and when his forked tongue flicked toward her, he released a low growl.
Leyloni’s eyes flared, and she forced herself to walk a little faster, as though she could outrun her thoughts—as though she could outrun the way he looked at her.
The rain was still falling outside, and the streams of runoff from above continued unbroken, feeding the large puddles beyond the cavern entrance. A few more days of rain like this, and the forest would become a swamp. Leyloni’s journey would only be made more difficult by all the mud and muck, the fallen branches, the flooded streams and rivers.
But more rain would mean a few more days with Arysteon.
Perhaps the storm was not so bad, after all…
Leyloni paused just before the cavern’s mouth, removed her clothes, set them on a dry spot on the floor, and stepped out into the rain. A shiver coursed through her body as the cold water fell upon her. It was a balm to her flushed skin. She moved to the side, out of Arysteon’s view.
She crushed one of the soapberries, rubbing it between her hands until it formed enough of a lather to scrub her hair. The rain alone wasn’t enough to remove the smoky smell that had clung to her unruly locks for days. She used the other berry for her face and body, washing away the sweat and grime of the last several days. Though she was almost shivering from the cold, it felt wonderful to be clean again.
When she dipped her hand between her thighs to wash her sex, her breath hitched; her sex was hot and slick. She shifted her fingers and pressed her lips together as she grazed her pleasure nub.
Leyloni had pleasured herself on a few occasions, but the urge to do so was rare. She’d usually felt that desire on long, lonely nights, when she had lain in bed unable to sleep, listening to the sounds of lovers in nearby huts. Some of her tribe sisters who had not been chosen by the males had taken each other as lovers, and