She flushed, looking away from him for a moment. Was she… embarrassed?

  “I mean, this counts as getting to know each other better, right?”

  On instinct, he gently touched her chin and tilted her gaze back toward him so she could know there was nothing to be afraid of.

  “I intend to know everything about you, Mara. Starting with every spot that drives you mad—”

  He grabbed the side of her hip with his other hand, squeezing her softness there, pressing his hand in and making her squirm beneath him in a way that made him so furiously hard he feared the human pants he wore wouldn’t contain him.

  To its credit, the fabric held.

  “But you’re just protecting me… and we still only just met… and—”

  “If you tell me to stop, I will do as you ask.” He leaned in closer, his mouth hovering above hers. In response, Mara’s lips parted as if silently asking for him to fill her. “But I mean it when I say I have never felt about another as I do for you, little one.”

  “Mara,” she said quietly, her eyes still locked on his.

  “Mara,” he responded, coming even closer. Her whole body seemed to hum with arousal and need. Need that he responded to in some soul-deep way he didn’t think possible before.

  Mine, his dragon roared inside.

  Which was odd since usually the monster only cared for things like revenge.

  He leaned down and kissed her cheek then the tip of her cute little nose before he brought his hand up to cup the back of her neck. Beneath her, Mara’s red hair was already escaping the bun she’d put it in this morning, fanning out on the bed like a halo of fire.

  She was… irresistible.

  Her curves called to both the man and the monster within him, to pleasure her senseless until all words were lost and only desperate panting for mercy remained.

  His hand holding her tightened slightly, curving her mouth toward him, and he could tell in the way her heartbeat raced that she liked his dominance. Liked how he took control. “This is your last chance to beg for mercy, Mara. I am not a gentle lover, and I have hungered for you too long already.”

  His words came out harsh, almost in a rasp, as he poised to claim her completely.

  Konar knew what her answer would be just in the thrum of her desire. In the way her legs clenched tighter as he came so close he could almost taste her scent on his lips now.

  “Then show me everything,” she replied.

  At that, his lips crashed over hers in a searing kiss hotter than molten lava. Instantly, she melted against him, moaning muffled sounds as his tongue thrust into her mouth to plunder her more deeply than ever before.

  The kisses they’d had up until now? Mere tastes of what he could do to this little woman beneath him.

  Now he would fill her until she could take no more.

  She writhed beneath him, getting nowhere as her arms twisted into the sheets while he held her captive to his kiss.

  Then his hands were on her wrists, pinning her gently but firmly to the bed as he pressed their bodies together. Her breasts and hips tantalized his bare skin on his chest, and his cock throbbed as her softness teased him.

  This woman would be his undoing, that was certain.

  Maybe she already had.

  His tongue clashed with hers, then stroked along the roof of her mouth, drawing out the moments until she couldn’t last a second longer.

  Then he pulled away, leaving her gasping for breath as he hungrily moved toward her ear, then down her neck, placing heavy kisses as he worshipped her skin with his tongue and lips.

  “Oh… oh, Konar—” Mara managed to say between long breaths.

  Then he bit down lightly on her delicate skin at the base of her neck, and she moaned, the sound drawing his dragon even closer to the surface. Dangerously close.

  He gathered both her wrists in one of his hands, keeping her held down as he reached for the bottom of her dress and pulled it upward.

  His first instinct had been to rip the dress in two and toss it aside. But she rather seemed to like the garment, and he liked seeing her in it.

  Skin softer than silk and more beautiful than the rising sun greeted him as he pulled the dress up past her hips, revealing white underwear she had on beneath.

  He’d definitely be ripping that off…

  His core twisted with hot desire as he kissed up her soft thighs, following the sexy curve of her body upward toward her belly, then to the swell of her breasts.

  As he did, Mara’s eyes shut with pleasure, her back arching as he continued to kiss along her soft stomach while he worked her into a frenzy.

  Then he reached his free hand behind her back to undo the clasp of her bra, and he pulled it and her dress up and over her head, leaving the fabric bunched around her wrists.

  And her body almost completely bare to his whims.

  “Your beauty is unmatched in every way,” he said, unable to keep himself from releasing the strange feeling swirling inside him, even as his mouth closed over one of her nipples.

  Mara twitched, then shuddered from the contact as he sucked harder on her soft breast, until the center of her nipple had formed a hard peak that begged to be nibbled on.

  And when he dragged his teeth lightly over the firm tip, she bucked against him in powerful arousal.

  “I can tell you like it when I hold you down like this,” Konar said, his voice practically a growl now, the beast in him hungry to claim its woman. “I can feel where you like it best, where your body hungers for me most,” he said before licking a trail from the breast he’d just been pleasuring over to the other.

  “Oh… how does it feel so good?” Her green eyes looked down at him as he began roughly squeezing her soft skin with his free hand, kneading and pressing. Just the feel of her body melding into his touch was so erotic it could make him come right there.

  “No need to wonder how…” Konar licked her nipple, then breathed hot air over her skin, making Mara gasp again even as she continued to watch him. “Just know that no other man can ever make you feel like this, Mara.”

  She didn’t disagree, just closed her eyes again as he licked and laved his tongue across her breasts.

  But he had to see her come. Needed to see her come even more than he wanted to see his banner raised as he conquered this world.

  He shoved his hand between Mara’s legs, her soft thighs enveloping his hand as he stroked up her wet slit, over her already-soaked underwear. She went so tense it was a surprise she didn’t come just yet.

  But all the better to Konar. He wanted to wring every last bit of pleasure out of her.

  “Don’t stop… Don’t stop,” she mewled as his two fingers coursed up against her clit at just the right speed and pressure.

  “As if I would,” he growled, going a little faster and making her body jolt with arousal beneath him. He still had his hand pinning her arms above her head, and her skin was flushed nearly from head to toe.

  Then, suppressing a roar in the back of his throat, he tore her panties away, leaving her completely bare to his affections as he spread her folds, giving him even better access to tease her precious little nub.

  She screamed as he slowly stroked up her sex. And with one more flick, she came.

  The sight was more beautiful than words could possibly describe, as her whole body froze, then exploded with energy.

  Not wanting her to feel too trapped (at least for the moment), he tossed aside the clothing around her wrists and released his grip on her. Immediately, Mara’s hands shot up to hold Konar, surprising him with the way she held on to his thighs like a lifeline.

  And her emerald eyes, lost in pleasure as the last of her release twisted its way out of her body, were burned into the back of his brain as if put there by a hot branding iron.

  He was… he was…

  Hungrier than he’d ever been in his entire life.

  Mara’s gaze shuttered, then looked up at him. “Holy… That’s even stronger than I thou—” Her words were cut off in a yelp as he moved off his place atop her and spread her delicious legs in one motion, making her go wide-eyed as he took in her glistening wetness at the apex of her thighs.

  He needed to devour her. He needed more.

  Mara didn’t protest as he brought his face between her legs, ravenous to taste her pleasure on his lips.

  “So beautiful,” he murmured, more to himself than anything, as his tongue licked across her clit, exploring every inch of her velvety skin as she bucked again in renewed arousal.

  She was so wet already.

  She was about to be soaked.

  “Mine,” he growled, the sound of his own voice drowned out by Mara’s cries of pleasure as her hips jolted and her back arched. He wrapped his arms around her legs and put them over his shoulders, giving him even better access (and her less leverage) so there was nowhere to go for her but deeper into the hot fire of their lovemaking.

  When he’d awoken in this strange world only days ago, his stone heart had craved only conquest.

  Now the only thing he craved in this moment lay beneath him, on his bed, in his chambers.

  Mate, a deep voice growled, but he ignored it. There was no time for things like that right now.

  Like a beast starved for months in the wilderness, Konar took his fill of Mara’s desire, pushing her body to the edge and back as he tried every angle, every part of his mouth and tongue against her clit. And whenever her breaths would get too high, too fast, he’d withdraw and place little kisses along the insides of her thighs while his hands roved across the curve of her hips and belly and breasts.

  “Good, lean into it,” he said roughly as his mouth closed over the center of Mara’s desire, eager to see her come apart again.

  Again and again. Forever if it were possible.

  “I… I… I’m com—” Then Mara cursed in some human word he didn’t recognize as she slipped past the edge of her resistance to the rhythm of his tongue.

  Konar didn’t move from his perfect position between her legs. Just watched as all the muscles in her body twitched, all the nerves in her skin reacted to his presence and the things he did to her.

  By the time she came down, he was already pressing his tongue across her sex again. And this time, when he brought a hand between her legs to caress her slick mound and tease her wet entrance, she just nodded down at him in approval.

  Right before she groaned in sheer want as he slid one finger into her tight sheath as his lips closed over her clit again.

  His mouth would never be satisfied until he saw her come a hundred times. A thousand even.

  No, there was no amount of times he could see Mara lost in pleasure like this and he wouldn’t still burn for even more of her.

  He stroked inside with his finger, then two, his cock twitching at the prospect of being inside her. Of feeling her surround him as they came together, lost in pleasure.

  But first things were first.

  Mara nearly orgasmed when he hooked his fingers upward, gently caressing her G-spot. By now, he already knew exactly how fast and which directions she liked having his tongue, and he continued to stroke and suck and lick while he slowly thrust in and out with his fingers, stretching her insides while pleasuring her senseless.

  And when she came, he reveled in the feel of her whole body tightening then releasing with such power she screamed his name.

  The sound was like magic to his ears.

  No woman had ever bewitched him like this. Held him captive to her every desire and wish as Mara did in this moment.

  The need to claim her rose like a growing lava flow in his core.

  Mara shivered slightly as he pulled his fingers out of her. And though his first instinct was to lick every last bit of her desire off his fingers, he instead grabbed a heavy blanket piled off to one side of the bed and pulled it over them both as he came over her again, warming Mara with his body heat.

  He was hot all over, like a fire he didn’t know how to extinguish.

  “Thank you. You really know how to overwhelm a girl, Konar,” she said.

  Konar took a moment to lick the wetness on his face and whatever was left on his fingers off, invigorated by the warmth of her body and the sight of her precious softness relaxed—and yet still terribly aroused—beneath him.

  She gaped up at him while he did so, like it was somehow strange, but he ignored it.

  “Are you finished, then?” Konar asked, and the look in Mara’s eyes told him everything he needed to know.

  “I… didn’t say that,” she said, looking down at the huge length pressed against his jeans, ready to tear out at any second. “But what about protection?”

  Konar grinned, producing a foil packet from his back pocket that he’d found at the bottom of the suitcase the double dragons had given him with the clothing. Attached to the box of condoms had been only a note saying, “Use these if you get busy,” which had been signed by Jack.

  “Would this suffice?” he asked, opening and instantly figuring out the device’s purpose.

  Mara nodded shyly, and he took the opportunity to lean down and claim her lips again, this time in a slow, desperate kiss that contained all the force of his soul.

  When he pulled away, Mara just watched him as he stood off the bed, rid himself of the uncomfortable blue pants in the most efficient way possible (tearing them off), then put the condom on over himself.

  The material was stretchy but still a tight fit.

  He caught Mara licking her lips as he did so, and in a blur of motion, he was atop her again, this time positioning himself between her hips.

  “Do you want the blanket?” he asked, almost forgetting she had been chilly a moment ago. His whole body was poised toward her in a way he knew would be explosive for the both of them.

  She shook her head eagerly, then took in a deep breath as Konar slowly drove his hips in to meet her.

  Everything was tight, white-hot for a moment as he gradually filled her with his huge girth. She gasped when he was halfway, and he paused, giving her time to accommodate him.

  Dragons were always notorious for their size. And as a barbarian dragon king, he was keenly aware of just how formidable he was.

  “So tight. So much. Konar, don’t stop.” Mara’s eyes opened and closed, her head flailing left and right as he slowly, torturously filled her inch by inch. Until, finally, he was seated all the way in her, and Mara emitted a low, satisfied groan that sent zaps of something pleasurable all the way to the tips of his toes.

  His stamina for battle was endless.

  But this tiny, helpless, beautiful little woman could nearly undo him with just a single sound.

  He leaned down, propping himself up with one hand as his other cupped Mara’s cheek, and he kissed her again, building the fire between them so that when it all exploded, it would be truly magical.

  Then he began to move, and the fire roared into a blaze he could feel across his entire body.

  He started slow, with small thrusts that made Mara’s body clench around him. Then, in minutes, he was pumping inside her, using his entire length to pleasure her from the inside out as both of their bodies glowed from exertion and pent-up want.

  He’d wanted her from the minute he’d laid eyes on her.

  And now… he knew he’d never want another like he would always want Mara.

  “Yes, hold on, little one,” Konar growled as he could feel Mara’s release building. She didn’t even take the time to correct him, just moaned loudly as they met again hip to hip, each thrust taking them closer to the edge than ever before.

  But even as each meeting made heat like nothing he’d ever felt before pulse within him, he still hungered. And as he moved for the both of them, he used his free hand to tweak her nipple, to squeeze her hip, to touch her and feel her even as he came to the very edge of his limits.

  Then, with one final thrust, those limits exploded like a glass window as he felt Mara come over the edge, her gaze lost and unfocused as pleasure shifted into explosive orgasm.

  Her hands and legs wrapped around him, pulling him even closer, even deeper, and he could feel her nails digging into his skin just as his own release claimed him.

  Then he was holding her tight, one hand cupping the back of her head while his other arm clutched her close even as his hips jolted and his cock jerked deep inside Mara. She screamed into his shoulder, unintelligible words that could have been his name or not. He didn’t care either way so long as she came and it was him making her come.

  Then everything went silent as the room seemed to draw in closer around Konar. So close until all he could possibly perceive in the world was Mara beneath him, her breaths slowly steadying, her heartbeat gradually calming. Her floral scent surrounded him. Her soft skin, sticky from all the erotic things they’d done, meshed to his in unforgettably good ways.

  He brushed a stray lock of her fire-red hair off her forehead and kissed her once more, though words seemed all but trite in this moment.

  And beyond the hammering of his heart, Konar felt something odd inside his chest, growing and getting warmer as the minutes drew on in his quiet chambers.

  A feeling opposite to his stone heart, which desired only conquest and battle and glory.

  A feeling that burned in him brighter than the noonday sun. A desire to protect and love Mara forever, though that should be impossible with what he was, who he was.

  For now, he would ignore the sensation and just focus on the mission at hand.

  Keeping Mara safe.

  And, hopefully, pleasuring her senseless as much as possible while waiting for the monster who had marked her hand.

  15

  After he’d pleasured her senseless, Mara seemed almost dazed by the experience and had requested to go back to her room to shower and get ready to eat with him.

  Konar had wished they could simply laze in bed and then go for another round.

  He was still surprised by the odd feelings in his heart that had arisen just being with her.

  He wanted… something more than battle.