To Love a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,70
out to the baby while Arysteon arranged the sticks inside the stone ring. Once Serek accepted the berry, Leyloni moved to assist her mate in his task. They had a small but respectable fire burning in short order.
Leyloni’s eyes settled on Arysteon. His long hair hung about his shoulders, weighed down by the water. Droplets sparkled upon his scales, and she watched as water ran in rivulets down his body, following the contours of his muscles and the grooves of his scales. His lack of clothing allowed her full view of his taut backside and, thanks to the Heat, his fully erect cock.
When they finally reached the Snow Tree village, she’d have to ensure he covered up—he was for her eyes only, not for all the other females that would be around. But for now…
Leyloni squeezed her thighs together. It didn’t matter how many times they’d mated, she wanted him. She always wanted him. And simply looking upon him and his exotic beauty, his otherworldliness, fanned a flame within her that could never be extinguished.
Arysteon stood, breaking Leyloni out of her reverie. He offered a smile to Serek and a heated, lingering gaze to Leyloni that had her sex clenching and her nipples tightening, his violet eyes telling her that he knew exactly where her thoughts had wandered. “I will return presently.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“We will need more fuel for the fire. I will not have my mate and youngling shivering with cold. And if there is easily obtained food nearby, we could do with something fresh.”
“Is there not enough wood here?”
He frowned. “There is not. I must search outside this glade to find what we need if we mean to keep the fire burning through the night.”
As thoroughly as this rain had soaked Leyloni, Serek, and Arysteon, she knew it had done the same to most everything on the forest floor. He’d have to find places where the foliage was especially thick and hope for adequate kindling in its shelter. Of course, that necessitated leaving the glade.
But Leyloni didn’t like the thought of Arysteon leaving her sight. It was an irrational fear; he was a dragon, he was powerful and fierce, stronger than any human male. And it wasn’t as though he were about to depart on a days-long hunting trek.
She knew her trepidation had to do with the attack by the river, with the persistent sense that she was only prey, that these woods had become unfathomably more dangerous than they’d been a week ago. And she still hadn’t quite shaken the horrible feeling that had struck her when she’d thought Serek and Arysteon had been lost to her thanks to the Bone Wraiths.
Arysteon sank into a crouch and extended an arm, gently cupping her cheek in his palm. The heat in his eyes softened to something warm and soothing rather than blistering and consuming. “I will not be far, and I will make all possible haste. You need not fear, Leyloni.”
Serek reached up and placed his purple-stained hand on Leyloni’s other cheek, mimicking Arysteon.
Leyloni laughed and caught the baby’s hand, guiding it away. She was sure he’d left a handprint on her cheek. Her gaze met Arysteon’s. “It is still so strange that you know what I am feeling.”
“If I did not feel it here”—he touched his free hand to his chest—“I would see it here.” His thumb slid up, caressing just beneath her eye.
Heart quickening, she turned her face to press a kiss to his fingers. Her lips stretched into a grin. “Come back to us. Do not let the bunnies sneak up on you.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You had best remain vigilant as well, little human. Keep your spear close at hand lest one of those bunnies mistakes you for easy prey.”
Serek scrunched his face and growled.
Leyloni laughed. “I think Serek will protect me just fine.”
Arysteon chuckled and withdrew his hand from Leyloni’s face. He ruffled Serek’s hair before standing up again. “Guard her well, tiny dragon.”
Leyloni watched as Arysteon—with one last glance at her—finally turned and walked away. His tail swayed slowly behind him, and his muscles rippled beneath his scales, which had more hints of purple and blue than normal in the gloom. Within a few heartbeats, he had disappeared into the undergrowth, any sounds of his passage silenced by the rainfall.
It was still a strange thing to have a male provide for her. Her father had contributed, yes, but otherwise it was the women in the tribe