To Love a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,45
the flames had been built up and Leyloni had seen to both Serek’s needs and her own, the trio sat before the fire with their backs leaning against a large tree to rest and eat.
Arysteon was only vaguely aware of the passage of time. He knew the sky was darkening, knew the shadows were thickening as evening crept toward night, but he acknowledged those facts only because the growing darkness made the fire—and Leyloni—seem all the brighter. Though he still sensed that pain of loss deep within her and knew it would never fully fade, she was happy as they talked and laughed. That happiness gleamed in her eyes and sparkled in her smile.
Serek crawled to Leyloni, climbed onto her lap, and sat with her, content to watch the fire and occasionally shove his hand into his mouth. But not long after night fell fully, there was something else to entertain the baby—tiny orbs of yellow light drifted between the trees just beyond the fire’s glow, each one lasting but a few seconds before flickering out.
The raw wonder on Serek’s face warmed Arysteon’s heart. To be so young, so innocent, to view the world as though every aspect of it was new and astounding…it had been so long since Arysteon had been able to do so. But watching Serek experience all this was in some ways like seeing it all for the first time himself.
Arysteon wrapped his arm around his mate’s shoulders, pulling her close, and curled his tail around her from behind. The tip of his tail settled over Leyloni’s thigh. Serek reached out to take a loose hold of it.
“I have loved watching fireflies since I was young,” Leyloni said.
“Is that what you call them? Fireflies?” Arysteon asked, glancing at her.
“Do you have another name for them?”
He smiled as he looked back at the tiny orbs. “Lightning bugs. I suppose there is some bias in my clan calling them that.”
She chuckled and laid her head against him.
After a time, the youngling leaned back against Leyloni, his eyelids fluttering as he watched the lights. Leyloni smoothed her palm over his head.
“My people believed fireflies are a sign of good fortune to come,” she said, breaking the companionable silence. “Our oldest stories say that our ancestor, a great warrior-huntress, was led by a trail of fireflies to her dragon. She claimed him with her touch, and his blood became the strength of our tribe.”
Arysteon turned his head toward her hair, closing his eyes for a moment as he took in her scent. He couldn’t get enough of it, and it was sweeter each time he smelled it. Her scent filled him with a sense of peace, of belonging, of…love. Like he was finally at home after a lifetime of wandering.
“My good fortune has already come,” he rumbled close to her ear.
A shiver ran through Leyloni’s body. She turned her face toward his, tipped it closer, and grazed his lips with her own. “Mine, too.”
That teasing brush of her lips roused Arysteon’s spark and made his body pulse with desire, but Leyloni pulled away before he could claim her mouth and satisfy his yearning. Arysteon ran the tips of his tongue across his lips to sample her lingering flavor. He growled; that infinitesimal taste wasn’t enough. He craved more.
He needed more of her.
His stem pressed insistently against his slit, parting it. Arysteon tensed against the pervasive ache in his loins, gritting his teeth and squeezing his fist atop his thigh. The fiery need thrumming in his blood was almost more than he could bear. He had only mated with his female once, and rather than appease his appetite, it had made him impossibly more ravenous for her.
Leyloni’s gaze dipped down his body to settle on his lap. Her pupils dilated, and her lashes lowered slightly as her cheeks pinkened. His stem, painfully hard and throbbing, extruded fully in response, coated in secretions that glistened in the firelight.
His mate’s lips parted, and he groaned as he watched her tongue emerge to wet her lips. The longer Leyloni stared at him with that hungry light in her eyes, the harder it became for Arysteon to resist the urge to take his shaft in hand and grant himself release.
The harder it became to resist the urge to shove her to the ground and mount her.
But she was bleeding and had been in clear discomfort throughout the day. Arysteon refused to cause her more pain, especially not for the sake of relieving his own.
Leyloni finally