WickedBeast Read online

  Time to find out what it took.

  “Please roll over?” she asked softly.

  His body lifted off her quickly, his brow furrowed in a worried frown. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

  Kelly followed his body, straddling him, but his firm hands held her off his cock as he studied her face.

  “I’m fine, really, but I need to try something. Would you mind letting go?” she asked.

  “What, what do you need to try?”

  “Trust me,” Kelly whispered.

  Cord still frowned but his hands opened. Kelly smiled and moved her legs so she was kneeling between his thighs. Ignoring the frown on his face, she concentrated on the beautiful body her hands were trailing down. Such a lovely beast he was. At her touch his, muscles jumped and tightened. At last her hands framed the hard evidence of his animal nature.

  Cord watched the Wind Witch kneeling between his legs. He wondered if it was possible for a dragon’s brain to implode. He knew what she was about to do, but the expression on her lovely face was almost more than a beast should have to take. Especially after the difficult day he’d had.

  Her mouth opened in a light pant as her body bent. Her warm hands circled the base of his cock, holding him up for her attention. She had to grip him with both hands, and Cord had his answer. Yes, it was possible to lose one’s mind at the hands of the witch.

  Her pink tongue circled the head of his cock with slow enjoyment. She licked up from the underside of the mushroom head to press her tongue into his slit. Her mouth lifted as she savored his taste on her tongue.

  A mysterious smile crossed her lips and her mouth opened to sink over him. Licking around as he sank into her. Then her lips closed around the thick post she was sucking and her fists tightened at his base, stroking with each strong pull of her mouth.

  Perhaps there was some heaven beyond this Earth, but at this moment, Cord strongly doubted it. If this wasn’t as good as things got, he wasn’t at all sure he was strong enough to survive something more. His eyes slowly closed as his mouth opened to pant through his Wind Witch’s attempt to give him a heart attack.

  Blood pounded through his body. His hips thrust toward her mouth, and he had very little control of the movement. He tried to keep from forcing himself farther into her. She was small even if she thought she was tall.

  Then she changed things. Her head twisted as she pulled off him to swirl that wicked tongue of hers around the cap of his cock. Her fists began pumping in earnest, and Cord stopped thinking. There was no possibility of thought as she tried to suck all reason out of him through his cock.

  Reaching down, he grasped her under her arms and lifted her body over his hips. Her legs straddled him and he didn’t hesitate to set her down on the instrument she had been preparing for this. His cock plowed through her soft folds and he was briefly grateful the she was wet. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to stop if she hadn’t been. He needed to be in her. Deep in her body.

  Rolling them over, his hands gathered her arms above her head, one hand shackling her wrists as his hips thrust steel into her body. Reaching down with the other hand, he yanked her leg high on his back. His hips never stopped moving as they pounded into the wet welcome her body gave him.

  Above her face, his lips drew back from his teeth as he grimaced through the crashing sensations entering her gave him. Her licking had only served to make his nerve endings more sensitive to the sweet tightness of her channel.

  Holding her arms above her head, her body impaled on his thrusting cock, Cord found he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t slow down. She robbed him of control and she’d known what she was doing.

  Looking down at her, he felt his eyes change. The face over her was indeed the beast. He was taking her hard and deep, fucking her brains out and not able to slow down enough to give her an orgasm first. All that knifed through his brain as branding fire licked up his spine and backdrafted down to his balls. It was too late.

  His mate, it burned through him, melting the past into a meaningless mass. This was true. There were no rules, no limitations. In her was the only place he was complete. He needed this, her, more than life, more than death.

  His head hitched back and at least he held in the roar that wanted to rip into the night as his seed jetted into her. This time he knew the temple of life below him was fertile for him. Even though she was already pregnant, the knowledge added a hard edge of possession to the pleasure, this overwhelming, shattering pleasure of pumping her full of his mark.

  With each explosion of seed, his cock swelled further, locking him in her body with his animal responses. Still his hips slammed the vee of her thighs in grinding jabs. Fire licked through his veins instead of blood.

  His body gradually relaxed, opening eyes slowly, he looked down at her cautiously. He was still locked within her tight channel, but at least the mist of a reality was wandering around the edges of his brain again.

  She met his gaze. Cord clamped his mouth shut. He had been too rough. Taken no time to ensure her readiness and then used her hard. The loss of control was humbling.

  Even more humbling because it was clear she had intended it to be so. This time he had no doubt the witch knew she had picked up the leash to the beast. She spoke of love but her actions showed him control. He should have been ready for this. No one had ever said these women were stupid. It was a nice, hard lesson in remembering his place, his duty and his obligation.

  She had an even tighter rein on him than he could’ve ever dreamed up. Being shackled to her through his DNA wasn’t enough. His mate was so much more than an instinctive response, and now the life in her womb ruled him as nothing else could have. He would be exactly what she wanted, when she wanted it.

  That realization convinced his body to let her go and he could finally pull out and roll over. Cord swung an arm over his eyes, unwilling to even face the ceiling. He lay there, his body soaked in sweat and still throbbing. He heard her move. Her hand landed on his chest as she curled into his side.

  His jaw clenched, his brain rebelled against his instant response to her touch.

  “What is it? I can feel the anger. I don’t understand,” Kelly said as she looked down at his grim face. She couldn’t see his eyes. His arm was still obscuring the upper part of his head.

  “Give me a second and I’ll take care of you,” he said tightly.

  “You make that sound like a chore,” Kelly observed softly.

  His arm came off his eyes as he looked at her. “A service,” he corrected.

  “A what?” Kelly sat up abruptly. “You’re going to service me?”

  “Yes ma’am,” his low voice confirmed as he raised a brow though no other expression moved his features.” I’m very clear on my place beneath the witch.” He sat up. “Now if you would lie down and spread your legs I’ll clean the animal off you with my tongue.”

  Kelly’s body jerked as if he had slapped her. Her eyes grew wide then she swiftly turned her back on him as she scrambled off the bed. “Relax. Go to sleep,” she stated sharply as she moved swiftly to the bathroom.

  “Is that an order?” he snarled as she closed the door.

  “Yes.”

  It was ten minutes before she returned to the room. A robe tightly belted around her waist, she ignored him and disappeared out the door. Cord watched her silently. The emotions swirling in the wake of her rigid back were toxic darts aimed directly at him.

  She was mad. He opened his mouth to breathe the air over his tongue then snapped it shut. Not only was she mad, she was hurt. The taste of that hurt was tinged with bitter copper, almost the taste of blood. Cord jackknifed out of bed and took two steps toward the door and stopped. Turning on his heel, he retraced the two steps and stopped again to swing around and face the door.

  He needed to think. She was feeling exactly the pain he had felt at her using him. Why was she upset? She was the one who had taught him a lesson. He was just being honest about it.

  From the other bedro
om he heard the unmistakable sound of muffled tears. Cord’s hands clenched into fists as he listened to her cry. All right, he already knew something was seriously fucked up. Kelly’s crying required a response from him. His nature could not tolerate it and he damn well had no clue what to do about it.

  Cord started pacing and went over exactly what happened in the last hour. It began so well. They had indulged in soft teasing as he stumbled through asking her to marry him. Her answers made him think she wanted what he wanted. Then her actions had told him how thoroughly she could control him. That was the sucker-punch he’d reacted to.

  In his experience, a creature’s actions were the true indicator of intentions. His instincts demanded he put more importance on physical display. Listening to pretty words and ignoring all else often resulted in fatal surprises.

  Maybe he’d read something wrong. He was swamped with emotions and very few useful tools to handle them. Women could be tricky, he’d always known that. She’d hurt him when he realized that she intended to control him. He’d lashed back when she decided to talk about it after. His only defense had been hollow words. He was under the impression they were clearing up the power issue. They both knew she could do whatever she damn well pleased and he’d take it. Was that what had brought the tears?

  Could be he’d hurt her when he’d fucked like an animal. Maybe she was crying because of that.

  Cord stopped in the middle of the room and swore viciously in every language he knew. Each soft sob sliced into him and cut a strip of flesh off his body, over and over again. It had to stop. He was her dragon and it was his responsibility to do whatever it took to make her happy. His designers had ensured he couldn’t live any other way. Getting his head around that issue was his responsibility. His fucking pride was a stupid lie anyway. He’d never truly possessed the freedom to indulge in pride, not for a moment. Being ignorant of that fact didn’t make it untrue.

  Yet pride could not be his main problem. The pain of listening to her cry was more than the bloody death of his pride. It went way beyond that.

  Swift strides took him out of the room and down the hall. Her door was unlocked and he didn’t bother knocking as he stepped into the dark room. She was in the bed, facedown under the covers with the pillow over her head. It didn’t matter. Every breath she took was a stiletto hitting the soft tissue target of his new emotions.

  Cord sank to his knees beside the bed, his hands barely resting on the mattress. “Anything. I’ll be anything you want. Do anything you need. Please stop crying.”

  “Go away,” was the mumbled directive from under the pillow.

  “Anything but that.”

  The crying diminished to hiccups. The lump under the blankets was trembling though. She said nothing.

  “Please tell me what to do,” he begged softly.

  Her head came out from under the pillow. She looked at him in disbelief through red-rimmed eyes. “We tried that once. It didn’t work so well.”

  Kelly closed her eyes a minute and took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry if I offended you by lusting after your body, your attention, and most of all, lusting after your heart. I’ve learned my lesson. It won’t happen again. We’re stuck together by more than just saving the world. I’ll do my best to keep in line.”

  Cord hadn’t thought he could sink any lower than he already had. Her words tore through his ego, showing him what he’d been hiding behind. He was terrified. Terrified of her and the power she could wield over him, so he had decided she was doing exactly that. He was the one who had forgotten the difference in their species. She was not a dragon. She did not react like a dragon would. Like he would, like he had.

  He sat back on his heels putting distance between them. Her head sank to the pillow, eyes closed, shutting him out, and he knew he could not live with that, even for second.

  “I love you,” he stated nakedly. It was all he had to offer. She made him capable of this, able to be something he wasn’t and he had tried to crawl back into the shell of the creature he understood. Being an animal was simple. Being her lover was more important and the most frightening thing he’d ever faced. The end of the world didn’t come close to the devastation losing her would bring about.

  Kelly moaned as if she was in pain, but her eyes did not open. “Don’t. Don’t hurt me anymore. I can’t take it.”

  “I’m not hurting you. I’m trying not to hurt you. I love you, Kelly. How can I prove it to you? Love is not a thing. I’m trying to give it to you but I don’t know how.”

  Her eyes did open this time and she studied his face. A frown rippled across her brow and then was gone. “Then explain it to me. If you love me, what was all that after we made love?”

  “That was the jackass DNA at work. I thought you had deliberately stripped me of control to prove you could make me do anything you wanted. I was hurt. I hurt you back because I had no other defenses. No idea how to handle being in love with a woman who can destroy me like that. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

  Kelly rolled over and sat up, her eyes never leaving his face as she moved. “The only thing I need,” she said in a trembling whisper, “is to believe you love me.”

  Cord was still kneeling beside the bed. Her words were the most effective weapons he’d ever encountered. She had done exactly what he asked, told him what she needed. The problem was, a dragon had no idea how to provide proof of love. At least he knew better than to ask her for a quest to prove it. That dumb-ass move had been used throughout the centuries by idiot men to no avail. He would have tried it if he hadn’t seen it fail so many times.

  Desperation and pain floated around the room as they faced each other in silence. Looking into her face, her sad, tear-streaked face, forced him to understand how truly limited a creature he was. There was a barrier between them that neither could remove. It was a glass wall. He could see her, see what he needed but he would never be capable providing what she needed.

  Her eyes suddenly changed as she looked at him. Surprise and amazement skittered across her expressive features only to disappear into calm composure. Perhaps she was finally seeing him for what he was. A beast limited by his animal heart. He couldn’t stand it anymore.

  One arm was braced against the bed as he knelt a slight distance from it. He turned his head to drop it on his biceps for a moment and gather the strength to release her. It didn’t matter if he looked weak to her. She already knew what he was. Giving her what she needed to be happy was his only option. Finding a way to live with what it required of him would be his battle every moment he remained sentient. So be it. He could do this. He had to do this. God, he didn’t know if he could live through it.

  How was he supposed to let go of the child?

  Remembering what he was, a soulless abomination should do the trick. All that nonsense he’d thought when his dick was engaged was exactly that, nonsense. Fantasies of a bastard animal taking what he needed. His child would not be that.

  Born of a woman, his baby would have everything he couldn’t provide for it. He would only cripple an innocent with his small, narrow understanding of what it meant to live. She deserved a man who could give her what she needed. The baby deserved love and support from parents who knew how to provide it. Not the harsh handling of a killer pretending to be something he wasn’t.

  He would always be there. He’d come at her call anytime she wanted, but he would stay out of her bed. He had no choice but to serve her as her dragon, but that service had to include letting her build a life after this crisis was resolved. He had no doubt that the three witches of today were just as powerful as the ladies from the past. They would find a way. When the child was grown, he’d fade away. The other two dragons were more than enough protection for a world without the threat they had brought with them from the past.

  She had to be happy. That was the beginning and end of it. They all, the three of them, deserved someone who knew how to provide happiness. He must give them the freedom to find what they needed. Co
rd stood and turned to the door.

  “Wait,” Kelly asked hesitantly.

  He stopped with his back to her. He couldn’t look at the tears on her face. Not right now. Later he’d be stronger.

  He heard Kelly slide out of the bed. Her light footfalls thundered in his mind as she neared him. Please, he begged silently. Please don’t touch me. I’m not that strong.

  Kelly came to stand in front of him. She was naked. Cord stared over her left shoulder at the door. “What?”

  She reached up with a single finger and traced a damp path down his cheek. Taking her finger away, she stared at liquid evidence.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “You asked me to leave. I can at least honor your requests.” She didn’t move. He couldn’t look down at her.

  “You said you love me,” Kelly countered.

  “I do not lie to you. I will never lie.”

  “Then hold me or something,” she suggested with a hesitant smile.

  His eyes cut to hers. “If I touch you, I will not let you go.” Cord’s hands clenched to keep from reaching for her. Changing her mind now was confusing and he was dangerously low on resistance. Working up the strength to leave her was a onetime deal. He had no illusions about being capable of doing it again. “Choose now. I’ll never be a human, Kelly.”

  “Thank God, and I mean that sincerely.” Her hands lifted to his shoulders as she stepped into his body. “I was afraid for a minute that you were going to be a jerk and run away. That’s what a human would do.”

  Cord’s arms wrapped around her as he buried his face in her hair, pulling her tight against his body. “Why would a human run away?”

  Kelly groaned, her legs left the floor to wrap around his hips. “Because it’s hard to be in love, the real thing. It means we can hurt each other and sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it. Love is risky business, only for really brave guys like dragons and such.”

  He carried her to the bed as she explained. “What happened to proving I love you,” he wanted to know in a guttural growl.