to curl one leg around him just to hold on.
As quickly as it started, he ended it, pulling back, shoulders rigid as he stared at her. Slowly, he shook his head. “I needed that,” he whispered, low enough that the shifters outside wouldn’t catch the actual words. “You taste like…” He licked his lips. “Ambrosia.” Then he gave a slow, sexy smile of utter satisfaction, even as his hands kneaded into her skin.
The remaining air in her lungs deserted her. Maybe because honesty would have had her agreeing if she’d had anything in her lungs left for words, and she wasn’t ready for whatever this was.
But you want it, her dragon was pushing from the other side. You want him.
Not that this could go anywhere.
Levi had apparently taken her shocked silence as a positive sign, because he grinned suddenly, eyes twinkling at her with something close to tenderness.
A spurt of answering fear drilled into her spine.
“You’re leaving.” The words left her mouth on the sound of accusation.
But instead of frowning or backing off, his eyes glowed hotter. “Not yet, I’m not.”
Before she could react, he pulled her off the lockers and smacked her ass to get her moving. “Let’s go. You can yell at me later after you’ve thought about it.”
Chapter Five
Good thing he’d decided to drive separately. One taste wasn’t nearly enough.
It took the entire thirty minutes driving the long way to Lyndi’s home, rather than flying directly there, to ease his hard-on into something not excruciating or tent-pole obvious. Concentrating on the twisting roads that led from the highway to the house helped a small amount. Lyndi’s massive home came into view around the last bend. Nothing ostentatious. In fact, it always appeared to be slightly run-down, but large, nonetheless. It had to be. She currently housed almost twenty boys, ranging in ages from young to fully grown, like Attor beside him.
Each one the sad result of the dangerous life dragon shifters led—often thanks to their own natures and infighting, but also due to fighting other paranormal creatures.
“The roof needs repairing,” he said.
“The whole place needs repairing,” Attor stated simply.
Levi frowned, casting his gaze over the structure with a more critical eye. Had they allowed Lyndi’s place to crumble while they’d sunk the money they received from the Alliance, distributed by the clans, into their mountain stronghold? Of course, that’s what the money was designated for. He doubted the Alliance would take kindly to it being used for other things. Especially not orphans.
He turned off the truck but sat still, taking a beat.
“Levi?” Attor said beside him, hand on the door handle.
“This is an important place, isn’t it?” He turned to find Attor watching him closely and raised his eyebrows, making sure the younger man knew he was seriously asking the question.
“I can’t speak for the others,” Attor said slowly. “But this place saved my life.”
Levi nodded, the unalterable sincerity in the younger dragon’s voice impossible to misinterpret. Attor wasn’t given to exaggeration, either. But he didn’t need the boy to share his life story. He already knew it. He’d helped Lyndi bring many of these boys here.
Fear directed decisions more than just about any other emotion, Levi had found over the years. So, sadly, young dragons who were left to fend for themselves had only one option. Turn rogue and try to go it alone. Usually that ended in death.
Lyndi gave these kids hope and risked her life without pausing to consider the consequences to herself, only to the boys.
His gaze followed her as she got out of her car. A shorter, more petite, and much prettier version of Drake, with her sandy complexion, smooth and tawny with a rose gold undertone, reflecting the Chandali ancestry—an ancient Asian lineage going back millennia. Her ass was encased in her preferred jeans and paired with a top that had a low V-neck in the back, which made him want to touch. She let herself into the house, Mike and Coahoma on her heels.
His complicated lover with a heart as generous as any he’d encountered, bigger than an ocean, and just as turbulent. Just as treacherous for any man who dared to love her. Damned if he wasn’t going to learn to negotiate her currents. The ebbs and flows. Even the tidal waves.
Even if he had to do it from the clans. Dragons lived a long time. Maybe they could make the distance work until he could return?
“We would never let anything happen to her.”
He turned to regard Attor again,