Tilting my head so Braxton could see my face, I smiled. “Despite the fact we seem to be stuck in the ass end of Faerie land, I’m really glad you’re here.”
He was staring down at me, the weird undying light of the sky highlighting every dark facet of his beauty. “You have no idea how relieved I am to be here,” he said. “If you’d disappeared on me, well, right now there’d be a fire dragon ripping apart the sanctuary.”
Snorts of laughter shook me. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have destroyed the mystics, marked, and their little world.”
I expected him to laugh with me, but there was not a trace of mirth in his expression. “You have no idea what I would do to keep you safe, Jessa. No idea.”
I was sure the awed shock registered on my face, just for a moment, before I managed to control my features. That was without a doubt the hottest thing I’d ever heard. The surge of attraction which blasted through me every time Braxton was close was getting worse, clawing through my body, leaving jagged rips in my heart and soul.
I blurted, “I’m tearing up the friend contract.”
Fuck. Me.
I really should learn to think before I speak.
A flash of surprise crossed Braxton’s face this time, soon to be replaced with the heat of a thousand suns. “Be very sure about what you want, Jessa.” His husky voice was a low growl which turned my insides to liquid. “You’ve been a long time without sex, so right now it’s like being hungry and going to a buffet.”
He was calling himself a buffet … oh my.
Squeezing my thighs together to hold back my urges, I suddenly felt like the neediest supernatural in the world. As in, I needed to be butt naked and claiming myself a dragon shifter.
“… there is no going back,” he said.
I realized that in my roar of desire I’d missed some of what Braxton had said.
I didn’t want to ask him to repeat it, so I had to guess. No going back … did he mean that once the sexual relationship ran its course we wouldn’t be friends any longer? Surely not – there was no way that would happen.
A half grin lit his features. “Get that look off your face, sweetheart. There is not a single scenario that would result in us not being best friends.”
Relief.
Except … there was a scenario. What if one of us found a mate while we were together and the other wouldn’t let go?
Thinking it through, I was sure that even if I found a true mate, I’d still choose Braxton. I didn’t care what a true mate bond felt like, I was stronger than that. Plus my relationship with Braxton and the other Compasses was pretty close to mated relationships anyway. We ate, slept, and played together. We made joint decisions and consulted each other for the important things. We were a pack and a family. The only thing that I didn’t share with them was sex, but in every other way I was hogging those four morsels of deliciousness to myself. We all knew other members of our community thought I was banging all of them, but I‘d never given a single fuck what others thought.
It just didn’t feel like it was enough anymore, not with Braxton. I wanted more.
The dragon shifter seemed to be following along with my thought processes. Probably the emotions were showing themselves clearly on my face. “Sleep on it, Jess,” he said. “I know what I want, now it’s time for you to decide.”
He knew what he wanted? Shit, while I had been slowly coming to the conclusion that he was attracted to me, the serious nature of his tone … spoke of much more than a quick dalliance.
“You want me?” I braved the words and asked the big question.
I waited breathlessly for his reply.
A slow grin, followed by dimples, assaulted me. “Fuck … more than anything.” His words crashed into my heart, giving it what felt like wings. Then he leaned forward and the air between us shifted to full throttle again. I could practically see the sparks.
His full lips descended, pressing softly to the corner of my mouth. Gentle was not in his nature, but somehow it was the most tender touch I’d ever experienced. That tantalizing taste of Braxton was enough to have me clawing my hands into the ground to stop myself from yanking him into me.
As he pulled back, I swallowed down my scream of protest. I wanted more. More, more, more.
“Your dragon is rising, Jessa.” Braxton’s voice went even lower, but I barely registered it in my need. “Calm yourself, babe.”
The fire started in my center; my gut burned. Rising in plumes were the flames of my desire, my need. My dragon wanted Braxton and I had no idea why. My eyes locked on his with an animalistic intensity. His irises were no longer my favorite blue color. They had threads of yellow, threads of his dragon, as if our beasts were trying to get to each other.