to have her.
This was folly. This was madness. What would it do to him, to his dragon, to do this and then watch her leave tomorrow? They were from two different worlds. He might as well sentence his heart to hell.
Yet, if he didn’t, he’d always regret it. To feel like this, even for a moment, was worth an eternity of pain. This was bliss. It was heaven. Who would refuse their only chance inside the pearly gates even if they couldn’t stay?
“Please.” She squirmed beneath him, positioning her hips. “Xavier, please.”
Her expression was his undoing. She was begging, almost in tears for want of him. He lowered his hips and slid into her.
He thought he might come apart for the feel of her, warm and soft beneath him. The sigh of pleasure she released made his dragon rise to the surface. The instinct to claim her as his own was overwhelming, and he would. Even without a mating bond, he’d make her remember this.
“My God, Xavier. This is beyond anything… ever…” She touched her forehead to his chin, braced herself on his shoulders, and thrust her hips into his.
He growled. He’d meant to go slow, to make love to her tenderly, but Avery had other ideas.
“Harder.” She moaned, digging her nails into his back beneath his wings.
He gave her what she wanted, unleashing his inner beast hard and fast until he feared he might hurt her. Thrust for thrust, she matched his pace, and then in a feat of strength he wasn’t expecting, she rolled him over. His wing slapped the bench, sending it skidding across the wood floor.
She rose above him, one hand braced on his chest the other grabbing and tugging the talon of his left wing. Her hips ground against his. Arching, she tipped her head back and cried out. The sight of her rising and falling above him drove him into a frenzy, and her rough play ignited his passion to a level between making love and a physical attack.
He sat up, driving deeper into her. A crack of thunder rattled the walls, and lightning lit up the windows. The storm outside was nothing like the one raging between them. She bit him lightly on the jaw and scratched along his ribs, scoring his skin. The pain was pure ecstasy.
Fisting her hair, he bent her head back and nipped her throat, soothing the bite with tender kisses. She only ground harder against him. Her breasts mounded against his chest, between their bodies.
“You’re mine, Avery.” His dragon hissed, wild and feral, from his soul. “You’ll always be mine.”
He thrust harder inside her, and her pleasure seized her in a violent quake that tipped his own over the edge. With a long, low growl, he emptied himself into her. Surely he’d died and gone back to the Mountain. Everything was fire and heat and his love for this woman.
He flopped onto his back, and she stretched like a lazy cat over his chest. “I donna know whit’s changed in the outside world, but I’d no idea people did it like that.”
“Like what?” She laughed.
“Rough. Almost violent. I hope I didn’t hurt ye.”
She blushed fire red. “Oh… They don’t. I… I just couldn’t help myself. You didn’t hurt me. Did I hurt you?”
They both laughed. “Nay,” he said softly, then added, “Not yet.”
She slid off him and tucked into his side. He could have sworn he saw a tear roll from her eye. He wiped it away with his thumb.
“Are ye all right, lass?”
Her kiss landed on his jaw. “Just a bit of ash in my eye from the fire.”
He grunted and pulled her closer, drawing the blankets up over her shoulders. He swiped a thumb under his own eye. It seemed the ash had gotten to him as well.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Avery woke in slow increments, recalling exactly where she was. Tucked into Xavier’s side, she experienced a swell of affection for the Highland dragon. But she was also very, very sore. She suppressed a groan as she stretched and inspected herself. Her inner thighs were bruised, and more sensitive spots on her anatomy were equally tender.
She’d done this to herself, to be sure. She’d made love to Xavier last night as if she could permanently join the two of them if she just fucked him hard enough. The act was raw and primal. She hadn’t noticed then how violently she’d participated, but she felt it now. Felt as if she could barely move.
None of her bruises held a