had spread down the sides of his face, his neck, and all the way to his groin. It was an indication of arousal and as such, was absolutely normal and even expected for intimate moments. I had sprouted scales as well—golden scales outlining my body from temples to belly. It only happened when I made love to Arach—his dragon called mine forth—but with my refusal, more of Arach's dragon burst forth in the form of claws and sharpened features.
Arach yanked out of me but only to flip me onto my hands and knees. He shoved my thighs apart, settled himself between them, and angled back inside me. With a violent shove, he seated himself deep and started a ferocious pounding. I braced myself with one hand against the headboard as my husband emptied his lust and frustration into me. My dragon snarled inside me—not in anger but arousal. She liked it rough—claws, teeth, and fire excited her. I started to buck back against Arach, my skin heating, and the bed began to shake.
“More,” Arach muttered. “More.”
I frowned through my draconian lust haze and looked back at him over my shoulder. Arach's expression had gone feral and focused, his stare locked on where our bodies merged. The muscles in his arms and chest clenched and released with wild beauty and his lips pulled back to bare his lengthened canines. The slap of his flesh against mine sounded like the cracks of a whip.
“Arach,” I called to him. “Arach!”
His stare lifted to mine.
“I love you,” I said gently, softening my gaze as well.
Arach blinked and jerked as if I'd slapped him. Then his body tightened and he roared out his release. His talons receded as his grip on my hips tightened. Arach emptied into me and I felt it—a hot rush coating my core. It was as if his body had been boiling and had to transfer some of its heat to save itself. Which was ridiculous. We're dragons; we breathe flames into each other as part of our foreplay and when we get really randy, we literally set the bed on fire. But we hadn't this time. I had felt the call of Arach's dragon but something had stopped me from tumbling into a blaze with him.
Reason. Cold hard reason curling in the back of my mind. The cooling truth that froze into ice and sent a shiver down my spine: something was very wrong in Faerie.
Chapter Five
I put my human clothing back on since we were headed to the Human Realm and Arach donned some of the clothes I'd bought for him to wear when he visited. In addition to his jeans, fisherman's sweater, and boots, he also needed to do a small glamour to cover his scales and eyes. His hair could be explained by dye and I suppose his eyes could have been contacts but even had they been contacts, they would have drawn attention. Normal people don't go around wearing reptilian contacts every day. So, Arach covered his bright, yellow gaze with chocolate brown, softened his fey features, and hid his glossy dragon scales beneath a glamour of pale skin. He looked as human as he could.
As Isleen, a duchess but also our chatelaine, readied the carriage for us, we said goodbye to our twin sons. They were out back, behind the castle, in the playground with several other children, including Hunter, the Hidden Ones kids, and the Phooka pups. The only adult present was Granuaile, my boys' old nanny who now how the job of surreptitiously looking after them. Except she wasn't being so surreptitious about it now since she'd had to take on babysitting a whole mess of kids in addition to her two charges.
“Why are you all alone with them?” I asked Granuaile as Arach and I stepped up.
“I don't know, my Queen,” Granuaile said with some distress. “The children came out on their own and I thought someone should look after them.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “We don't have time for this.”
“Thank you for watching the children,” Arach said to her. “Please, do so a little longer while we speak with their parents.”
“Of course, my King.” Granuaile inclined her head.
“You go find Neala, Righ, Roarke, and Anna and I'll look for Taog and Fionnaghal,” I suggested.
Arach agreed and we headed back inside the castle. He went one way and I went another. My path took me downward, through warm corridors that got warmer the deeper I went. The fey lights along the walls grew further