on me. “The same happens to me, Zaeyr.” She breathes my name, and it is wonderful. “Is it the bond?”
“I do not know. And even so, I do not like you out of my sight.”
“…Why?”
“I have never laid eyes on something so beguiling as you.” It is the truth. “I have seen much—all the treasures of the ocean and more, all the creatures that roam the shores and waters—and none have broken my thoughts like you have, none have upended the wants I always wanted.”
In the distance, the sun begins to set. The music of the jungle changes, grows ever more quiet. Pulling Aida closer to me, she nuzzles me some more.
“I thought you were beautiful too,” she says.
“Thank you,” I preen. “Sleep now, little human. Tomorrow we head back to your tribe, where it is safe. Until then, you are protected with me.”
She hums, and shortly after, she settles.
I watch the stars flicker against the darkening sky, finding that for the very first time, I’m soothed and complete. And when the moon reaches its zenith above, I close one eye and rest.
Knowing I have finally caught myself a mate. The best of them all.
16
The Journey Home
Crunch.
Waking the next morning, I find a pile of fruit beside me and Zaeyr staring at me from a short distance away, awash in the red light of the comet. His face is a mask of hunger, nearly inhuman.
The sharp lines of his jaw glint with sapphire. His thick brows arch. My eyes dip, finding his tail wrapped around his prick, pumping swiftly.
I shiver, remembering our mating. Seeding, I correct.
He takes a bite of his own fruit, and I realize that’s the sound I hear. Behind him is the ocean, calm and beautiful.
Pulling my gaze away, sitting up—watching him watch me—I adjust my chest coverings and begin to feast on the meal he brought. I’m tickled he sought to provide for me, and as I go through several fruits, I’m happy he did so.
“Thank you,” I say when I finish, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
The glow in his eyes darkens. He crawls to me, pushes me down, tugs my skirt up, and forces my legs apart. He presses his thick girth to my opening and rams in.
I’m already ready for him.
Though I still burn from the abrupt stretch.
“Say it again,” he orders.
“Thank you!”
He slams home, deep and devastating.
Gasping, spreading my legs, hooking them over his hips. It drives my butt into the ground. Each time the thick middle of his prick slips in and out, I moan.
Grunting, he bows his spine and pulls my chest covering down, taking one tit, then the other in his mouth to suckle. I throw my head back, grabbing his horns, and finding the right leverage there—I come.
I cry out, and Zaeyr’s rutting grows frenzied.
My core clenches wildy. His grunts turn to ragged bellows—then roars. He roars when his seed bursts and floods me. Clamping hard, I take it all, arching my hips and clinging to him for more.
My dragon gives me everything.
Hard, possessive, savage—everything.
Some time later, his thrusting stops, and I’m back to being an exhausted, weak mess beneath him. Rising, he stares down at me, licking his lips. My belly jumps and I tighten my legs around him. Somehow I’m still wanting more.
“Delicious,” he rasps.
He carries me to the ocean until the water is up to our chest. Still planted inside me, he uses one hand to wash the dirt and dried cum on my skin. I touch him everywhere I can in return. There isn’t a place he doesn’t allow my hands to go.
And when the first gulls squawk above us, he releases me, and we walk back to the shore.
“You want to go back?” I ask, curious. I like this time alone with him. Perhaps a little too much.
“It is your home, is it not? Where your family lives?” He runs his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. The action makes me melt. His gaze trails over my body. “Is it where you are most safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then we go back.”
Though I will miss this time with him without the others, I nod. Going back is the right thing to do.
My tribe needs me. And with Zaeyr by my side, I have everything I want. Everything they tried to take from me.
I keep reminding myself of this as we make it to the mouth of the jungle river, as I climb onto Zaeyr’s back and he swims us across at great speed.