Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
She makes a squeaking sound, jumping slightly as I approach, and takes a step backward.
“Ruh-chul,” I murmur, holding out my hand.
My mate looks at the empty water container in her hand and then holds it out to me, a question in her eyes.
I take it from her and mime drinking out of it.
She nods eagerly, patting her throat. “Yswtr!” She echoes my movements, pretending to drink, and then taps the empty container. “Wtrwhr?”
I rumble at her and her nonsense sounds, reaching out and stroking her cheek. I attempt to connect my mind to hers, but there is still nothing. When she blushes at my touch, a flare of her arousal scent perfumes the air, and my cock jumps in response. I ignore my body’s reaction and gesture in the distance. Water that way.
Ruh-chul points, making the same noises and tapping the container again.
I put my hand on her bare chest, stopping her before she moves away. “Jurik Ruh-chul.” I show her the container, and it takes a few tries before she realizes I mean to take her to the water.
An uneasy expression crosses her face. She swallows and looks uncertain.
Such a lack of trust. Does she not know I will protect her? No other male will dare come and snatch her from my grasp. I will fight to the death before I will let another male even entertain such a thought. She is mine. I can still taste her sweetness upon my lips, and I intend to keep that taste there even if it means pleasuring her multiple times a day.
I would love to pleasure her multiple times a day, to spend a lazy afternoon between her thighs, savoring her taste until she lets me flip her over and give her my fires. Nothing would bring me greater joy.
Or so I think. But then Ruh-chel brushes aside her concerns and puts her small hand into mine and nods. “Rachel Jurik.” She squeezes my fingers, and she is telling me she trusts me, and she will let me carry her to the water.
Her trust fills me with a new kind of joy.
22
RACHEL
I can’t believe I’m going to let a dragon fly off with me.
I know that’s what he means. I know a fair amount of this area, and there’s no water around here. No fresh water, anyhow. It’s not only that, but it’s the look he’s casting in my direction, the intense golden gaze that more or less asks for me to trust him without saying a single word. It can’t be anything else.
What other choice do I have, though?
At some point, I’m going to have to trust the dragon. I can’t just not have water. And now that I’m naked, I feel twice as vulnerable. My clothes were filthy, sure, but they were clothes. Without them, I feel helpless in a way I haven’t felt before, and I can’t stop blushing around Jurik.
He hasn’t made it weird, though. Well, okay, he’s made it a little weird, because he’s kind of clingy, reaching out to touch me and brush his big body up against mine at all times. I don’t get the impression that he’s doing that to force himself on me; rather, he’s just being affectionate after our, ahem, morning together.
The torn clothing is totally my fault. I should have stopped him the moment he popped a few buttons. Emphasized how important my clothing is and how I have to keep it safe, because I don’t have a change of clothing. But…watching him rip the clothing off my body as if I’m the most gorgeous, most desirable thing he’s ever seen? It was so incredibly sexy that I didn’t want to stop him. I knew I’d regret it later, but in the moment? God, it fired me up.
Even thinking about it now makes me squeeze my thighs together.
So yeah, it’s my own damn fault that I’m now bare-ass naked. There’s no one around, though, and I suspect Lord Azar won’t be sending anyone to this part of the south quadrant because he wants to encourage the bond between myself and Jurik, not interfere with it. We’re safe from onlookers.
For now.
I’ll deal with the problem of being naked later when I have to go back.
I chew on my dry lip thoughtfully at the realization I have to go back to the fort in a few days to check in. If I don’t after three days, they’re going to come looking for me. But Jurik is absolutely not a fan of me going back to the fort…so between now and then, I either have to establish the bond between us, or somehow get him to change his mind.
Azar made this sound so easy. Show up. Seduce dragon. Make the mental bond. End of story. Except nothing in life is quite that simple, and there are layers and layers of cause and effect that he didn’t bother to take into stock.