Scorch(44)

“I want to hear you,” he whispered. “When we’re back home in Wisconsin, no more holding back. I want to hear you shout.”

Oh, God, Oh, God. I reached for my cock, slick and leaking and already so hard that it almost hurt. The musky scent of sex flooded my senses and I jerked on it in desperation as he slammed into me from behind. He was going to make me come again, and it was going to wreck me. It was too big, too hot, too—

“Now, Dev,” he ordered. I could feel him straining to hold himself back until I did. “Come for me.”

I had to, my release crashing through me in an unstoppable wave. I exploded in warm, wet spurts over my hand, and as soon as I let myself go he drove in deep, locking his hips against my ass as he gave a muffled shout and filled me with his seed.

My thighs were shaking, and I started to collapse on the bed, but Maks was there. He slid a hand around my waist to cup the new roundness of my stomach and smoothly rolled us onto our sides as we hit the mattress. He spooned himself around me, nuzzling my neck as he enveloped me in his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered, and I could feel his lips curve into a smile against my damp skin.

But he’d worn me out, and before I could answer, I was already asleep.





21





~ Maksim ~





I’d brought Devin to an island I owned off the coast of Nova Scotia at the beginning of the summer. It was a small, rocky bit of land that I’d claimed when Dane and I had first crossed the Atlantic two hundred years ago. In time, I’d legally purchased it, and I loved the salt air and crashing waves.

When we’d first arrived, Devin had still been suffering from morning sickness, and he’d taken to spending time out on the balcony off our second-story bedroom, claiming that the smell of the sea helped settle his stomach.

“I can never get enough of this view,” he said, standing out there now and watching the sun rise over the sea.

I agreed. I’d always been drawn to the power here of the sea and stone and waves. It reminded me of where I’d grown up. I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud until Devin turned to me.

“Where was that?” he asked.

“France. A long time ago.”

“Why did you leave, Maks?”

I winced, thinking of what I’d left behind. “I had a disagreement with my sire,” I told him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Is your ‘sire’ your dragon father, or your human one? And is he still back there? In France?”

“His territory is farther east, in what was Russia,” I answered, frowning as memories came back to me. “And my sire is a dragon. I never knew my human father. He… died… when I was born.”

Devin blanched, his hands covering the roundness that had changed his slim form so much over the last few months as he swallowed nervously. “Is that… um, does that happen often? That the human father dies?”

“No! That’s not something you have to worry about, baby. Not with my fire in you.” I pulled him to me, angry at myself for scaring him. I knew his emotions were already close to the surface thanks to the pregnancy. I should have thought before opening my mouth. “The dragons back in Europe do things very differently. Your life is tied to mine, you know that, love. You’ll be fine.”

“Wes told me what to expect,” he said, relaxing a bit in my arms. “But… I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same for me as it was for him. I feel more tired than he says he was, even though I can feel your heat in me, strengthening me. And I’m huge… look at me, Maks. I really think I’m much bigger than I should be. Especially if I still have more than a month to go. Sarah wasn’t—”

“You can’t compare yours to a human pregnancy, love,” I reminded him, laughing as I cut him off.

Sarah had just given birth to a baby boy, and Devin had Skyped with her daily throughout her pregnancy. Even though the pregnancy progressed slightly differently in his male body, many of the symptoms were the same, and I knew it had been fun for him to compare symptoms and cravings with one of his oldest friends.

I hated to see him worried, now, and the truth was that we didn’t really know what “normal” was for him. Wes had told us everything he could about his pregnancy the year before, but even that wasn’t the greatest comparison since Dane hadn’t understood what his dragon intended at the time and had withheld his fire for longer than he should have. Anik’s mate, Mikkel, had also shared his experience, but Mikkel’s pregnancy had been hundreds of years ago—and in the end, two stories just weren’t enough of a baseline for comparison.