Ember (The Dragao 1)

It took all my power to still the moan that threatened to bubble up and out of my throat. What was going on with me? Why was I feeling like this, acting like this? Never once in my life had I felt any kind of desire, yet at the first sight of this dragon man, I was having the most wicked feelings.

I watched in silence as he made a fire, my hands pressed against the wall behind me, my palms digging painfully into the craggy, sharp rock. I was drawn to the way his muscles flexed and contracted underneath his skin, at how he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. He was also hairless, which somehow worked really well for him.

I continued checking him out, because that was exactly what I was doing… shamelessly.

His hands were so big and strong, yet they matched his overall size to perfection. His feet were the same way, so masculine and large enough to be able to carry that big body. I swore I saw every single tendon and sinew clench and relax with the smallest of movements.

Azar. I let his name repeat in my mind over and over, and I couldn’t lie and deny that I didn’t like how it sounded.

He shifted slightly again, and the way his back muscles pulled in the most arousing way had me realizing I was breathing harder.

But it was the sight of a dragon in flight covering his back in dark ink that drew me like nothing else could. Some of the members of the Pit got inked designs stippled into their flesh, the dark oils that came from the trees around the settlement permanent once it was under the skin.

I never understood the desire to get something that was said to be painful when they received it. And although the designs were eye-catching, they were nothing like what covered Azar’s back.

The beast had his wings outstretched, that great span encompassing his shoulders, the tips snaking down the back of his biceps. But what held my gaze was the fact that the dragon was looking right at me, his eyes the same inky pools as they’d been in real life… the same that Azar had.

I blinked several times to clear my head and focused on Azar again. I wanted to demand I be taken back home, but I’d never considered the Pit as such. And with the stuff that had happened with Bryce, and then the shit with Leland, that was the last place I wanted to be. But I thought of Tilly. She’d be so worried about me. I doubted Bryce or the others who’d coming running after us told the rest of the village what had happened. No, the elders and high-ranking officials were no doubt in conference right now, deciding what to do.

And that sure as hell wasn’t coming after me. I had no doubt that I was a casualty in all this, a sacrifice. They’d never go against a dragon to save one of their own.

He wasn’t facing me, and I was thankful for that, but then as if he’d heard my thoughts, he slowly looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes hooded, his nostrils flaring slightly. I clenched my thighs together, but it was like he was silently telling me that he knew I was trying to hide my desire.

Damn him.

I licked my lips, focusing on the fact that I was really thirsty. The dragon looked down at my lips when I ran my tongue over the bottom one, and I swore I could feel this pulse of heat rush out of him. This strange sense that it was his need for me rushed through every inch of my body.

And that damn intoxicating scent was just growing stronger, that spicy, wild musk surrounding me, seeping into every single pore in my body until I felt absolutely liquid.

He stood then, facing me, and although I was making it a point not to look down the magnificent length of his body, I could clearly see his erection was still going strong.

He stepped aside, and the crackling of the newly made fire drew my attention and thankfully had me focusing on something other than what piece of his anatomy was pointing in my direction.

“Come and warm yourself by the fire.” His voice was a low rumble, one I felt throughout my entire body.

And I wasn’t comfortable with that, because of how it made me… ache, how it made me feel foreign in my own body.

“Let me feed you. Let me provide for you.” The way he said those words was as if he desperately wanted to, as if nothing else in this world would please him so much.

When I didn’t move right away, the dark slashes of his eyebrows pulled low. Another almost frustrated sound left him. He moved away from me, going over to a small alcove across from the fire, and picked up a basket that was woven together with strips of red scale-covered hide.