Origin (Scales N' Spells #1) - A.J. Sherwood Page 0,124

really. It’s like everything is tingling. Every nerve ending.” He stopped and sighed softly. “I can feel you everywhere.”

“Good,” Alric whispered. He nuzzled his face into Cameron’s neck and closed his eyes. For a moment, he could actually sympathize with Kaiser Jaeggi. Was this what it had been like when he’d fallen for the dragon who didn’t belong to him? He couldn’t ever imagine letting Cameron go, watching him walk into the arms of another. He’d sooner tear open his own chest and rip out his heart than release Cameron.

“Hey,” Cameron said, and Alric lifted his head to meet his gaze. He was looking a little less blissed out and a little too focused. “How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful,” Alric said, which was true but not the entire truth. He forced a small smile on his lips that he didn’t quite feel, and Cameron’s eyes turned sad.

Reaching up, Cameron placed his hand to Alric’s cheek, his thumb stroking along the new growth of whiskers lining his jaw. “I guess I should be grateful you are such a horrible liar.”

“Cameron,” he started, but the mage’s thumb left his jaw to press to his lips.

“I’m fine, Alric. Safe. You and the rest of the clan will keep me safe. Nothing is going to happen to me. The Jaeggi are not going to touch me.” There was a fierceness to Cameron’s words. He believed what he was saying. He trusted Alric completely.

Closing his eyes, Alric rubbed his cheek against Cameron’s hand and kissed his thumb. “I will always worry about your safety.”

“Silly dragon.” Alric’s eyes flicked open to see the lightness and laughter return to Cameron’s. “You know you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

He didn’t want to ever be rid of Cameron Park, but he didn’t want to say more and put pressure on Cameron. He didn’t want him thinking about mates or anything that might tear Cameron from his arms. It was just better to keep things light between them.

“Does that mean you’ll stay with me tonight?”

Cameron hummed, his eyes moving up and around to look at anything but Alric. “I don’t know. I mean the last time I did sleep like the dead because you managed to keep me so toasty warm. And you didn’t once complain about my cold feet.”

“Because I kept your feet between mine all night so they’d stay warm.” Alric rubbed his face against Cameron’s, kissing and nipping along his jaw until Cameron tilted his head up to give him better access to his neck. He loved that about Cameron. The man just soaked in the affection Alric offered as if he simply couldn’t get enough. “Stay with me,” he whispered over and over again, punctuating each one with a kiss to Cameron’s body.

“Mmm…I love it when you beg.”

“Whatever you wish so long as I get to keep you right here in my arms.”

Cameron huffed a laugh and turned so that he was facing Alric. “As if there’s any other place I want to be. I’ll stay.”

They lounged for a little while longer, slowly kissing and simply enjoying holding each other. When Alric started to worry that he’d drift off to sleep, he roused himself enough to climb from bed and shuffle to the bathroom. He turned on the water in the shower, allowing it to warm while he went back to drag Cameron to his feet. They showered together, though the washing turned to kissing and eventually jerking each other off.

When they finally made it back to bed, they were both exhausted to the bone and smiling like idiots. Tucked under the heavy blankets together with Cameron curled against him, Alric sighed heavily. The world waited for them outside his bedroom doors with all its decisions and painful consequences. Alric was content to let it wait for just a few more hours. For now, he was content to have his world be the sound of Cameron’s soft breathing and the steady beat of his heart.

“Good. Again.”

Cameron focused, more than he’d ever focused in his life with the possible exception of finals. He tapped into the spell elements arrayed next to him, drawing on their power, speaking the warding spell once more. He was warding himself, in fact, and Lisette would come by and smack it with a wooden cudgel. She wielded that thing like a samurai. It was not in any way, shape, or form a light tap. She was honestly trying to break through it, and Cameron had to be firm on