He had reached the bottom of the pool, swerving to miss the rocky floor dug deep into the mountain and using his wings to pull himself to a stop. He rested there for a moment—not breathing, trying to bring down his racing pulse, letting the coolness seep in through the hard shell of his scales. There was stillness and peace here. Nothing like the torment of what he was doing with her… to her… but that thought just kicked his heart rate up again. He could too easily see bringing her here, stripping her clothes, dripping fresh water across her taut nipples, and taking her, finally sating the burning inferno of lust inside him.
Leonidas was right—it had been too long.
Dragon libido was by nature intense. The drive to reproduce was stronger in his species than any other. The desire to possess, to claim, to seal a woman’s flesh with dragon fire so she could carry his young… it was a powerful drive. Enough to make a dragon willing to try and try and try again, till he managed to spawn a dragonling to take his place.
It was a cruel trick of nature. One that Lucian did everything to suppress, stowing it deep inside so he wouldn’t have to bear it, but now with Arabella in his lair… the urges were resurrecting their ugly heads again.
His frustration roared up from the depths of his being and spewed magical fire into the pool, boiling the water with his anger. Then he pushed off the bottom of the rock floor. Feeling sorry for himself—feeling all the agony and the ache again—this was the price of doing his duty. Better to get it over with as quickly as possible.
He burst out of the surface of the pool, slopping even more water onto the tiled decks, only to find his brother waiting for him.
Leonidas lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms, his unbuttoned white dress shirt revealing the runes across his chest as well as the dragon tattoo that marked him as belonging to the House of Smoke. “So you brought someone home from the club after all. Well done! I didn’t think you had it in you.” The smirking approval on Leonidas’s face torqued him.
Lucian shifted back to human and dropped to the deck. “No.”
Both eyebrows went up. “No? I can smell her, Lucian. And the eggs she’s cooking.”
Leonidas whipped his attention from the towel he had conjured to dry off to glare at his brother. “Stay away from her, Leonidas.”
The growl in his voice was enough to tip his brother’s head down in a sign of deference, if only momentarily—it was the universal and reflexive sign of one male ceding territory to another. But when Leonidas looked up again, there was even more of a smile on his face. “Wouldn’t think of touching your treasure, brother. But she must be something special to get you hot enough that you need a cool bath.”
“She’s strong.” He returned his attention to wiping the water from his body. “She’ll make a suitable mate.”
“Mate?” Leonidas looked genuinely shocked. As well he should. “Really? You’ve already decided to claim her? Well, if she can withstand the shock of you whisking her away to your lair and your bed, then she must be mate material.”
Lucian snarled at him, tossed away the towel, and conjured some clothes—the dark hooded shirt, loose pants, and boots he had worn before, when he was with Arabella. They were the clothes of his history, his past, and the ones he wore in the lair simply because they reminded him who he really was. He was lying to Arabella about so much—somehow, revealing this small truth seemed important.
“I haven’t taken her to my bed,” he said, turning away from Leonidas to stride toward the door of the pool room.
His brother’s laughter trailed after him. “Have you forgotten entirely how to seduce a woman, my brother?”
Lucian’s back stiffened, and he stopped. Without facing his brother, he said, “You know, there was a time when a dragon’s lair was his own. When unwelcome dragons could be sure to feel the fire of my displeasure if they broached its walls unbidden.” He twisted back to glare at Leonidas. “Next time, knock.”
His brother just snorted. “A rousing fight would do you good. And I’d be happy to help you out with that. But you’ll have to rely on this girl to satisfy your other passions. If you still remember how.”
Lucian snarled. He knew his brother was just baiting him, but he’d be damned if it didn’t work. “Remembering is something I do well.”
The sneer on Leonidas’s face dropped away. “Take her to bed, Lucian. Get it over with.”
Tension rippled through his body. “She’s not the kind of woman that works for.”
Leonidas frowned and stepped toward him. “Every woman is the kind that dragon pheromones work for.” He narrowed his eyes. “Your heart isn’t ready for this.”