Tempt the Dragon--An Afrofuturist Paranormal Romance Read online

  She walked around the table, coming toward him and leaning over as if she planned to whisper something in his ear. Her hand dropped to his thigh first, then eased over until she wrapped her fingers around his thick length.

  “Do you want me to straddle you right here in this restaurant, or would you rather I fall to my knees and have you for dessert?”

  He’d rather they weren’t in a fuckin’ restaurant, but in the hotel room instead, but cursing his horny stupidity wasn’t going to change matters at this point. “Dessert sounds good, but I want some too. So, let’s finish up here and get back to the hotel.”

  “Oh no, handsome. You don’t get to wake my beast and then walk away. Take care of the bill and meet me out front.”

  She left before he could reply, but he wasted no time stuffing his dick back into his pants and dropping some money on the table before following her directions. He just about ran out of the restaurant, so much for the calm and cool Aiken everybody thought he was. And she wasn’t there. He looked up the street, down the street, no Mel. Ready to curse her wicked sense of humor he was just about to walk in the direction of the hotel when he saw a flash of purple material hanging from the branch of a tree at the side of the restaurant.

  Rubbing a hand over his face to hide the excited grin, he walked with quick steps toward the tree, snatching that piece of material and putting it to his nose where he inhaled deeply. He’d barely exhaled when he was grabbed and pulled behind the building.

  “Put your mouth right here, right now.” She gave the order as one hand moved to the back of his head, pushing him down toward her breasts while the other hand still held his arm tightly. “Now,” she repeated because obviously he hadn’t acted quickly enough.

  Hell if he was gonna make her say it a third time. He stuffed her top into his back pocket, latched his mouth onto a dark brown nipple and sucked as if she were his life force. In those seconds he realized that she was, and not just in a sexual sense. In the years he’d been without her, he’d been without life. Working for Theo, sex with all those other women, retching his guts out later, it was all some sort of alternate reality. A void without her.

  She made a hissing sound and pushed his head closer. “I need you right now, Aiken. Stop toying with me, I need you.”

  Her words came through gritted teeth, stroking every edge of his ego until his body vibrated with his need coupled with her admission of hers. Replacing his mouth with one hand, he eased his other hand down to the hem of her skirt, pushing it up between her legs until he felt the damp slip of lace covering her pussy.

  Better late than never, he glanced toward the direction from which he’d come, making sure they couldn’t be seen. The tree her top had been hanging from was one of a bunch that effectively blocked this narrow walkway. In the other direction, the dirt path continued down about thirty feet more until it dropped down a hill that he presumed led to the river. It was dark. A passerby on the street couldn’t see them just by glancing in this direction.

  With that thought, he pushed that slip of material to the side and eased his fingers through the slick folds of her pussy, pressing deep until her muscles and warm essence clenched around them.

  “Yes,” she moaned and let her head fall back against the wall.

  Working his fingers inside her he continued to palm her breasts, moving his mouth to the exposed line of her throat.

  “So freakin’ hot,” he murmured. “You’re always so damn hot.”

  “For you,” she whispered, her hands gripping his shoulders now. “Only for you.”

  Believing that was true coaxed him on, and Aiken fucked her faster and harder with his fingers while his other hand squeezed her breast and his tongue traced a damp line up to her chin. She turned when he was close enough and their lips met, immediately opening so their tongues could intertwine. Could a kiss get any hotter, sexier? She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, holding him closer and deepening the kiss.

  She’d spread her legs when he first reached down between them, but now she was clenching her thighs tight, locking his hand inside of her and he wanted to roar with pleasure.

  “I need to feel you.” The words came out in a rush. “Surrounding my dick, holding me deep inside you like you’re holding my fingers. I need that so bad, baby.”

  The way she quickly dropped her hands from his head and pushed them between their bodies to yank open the button of his pants said she needed that too. Reluctantly pulling his fingers from her and releasing her breast, he pushed her skirt up to her waist and tore the now-drenched thong she wore straight from her hips. It fell to the ground and he didn’t bother trying to retrieve it. Instead he used his knees to spread her legs wider as she’d already released his dick and was now guiding it toward her entrance.

  Locking his hands under her thighs now, he lifted her off the ground. She eased into his hold, wrapping her legs around his waist and lowered herself down over his waiting length.

  Chapter Sixteen

  This wasn’t how Mel had thought the night would turn out. When she’d suggested dinner she’d been thinking maybe some candlelight, a walk along the path by the river and then back to the room to do some more planning before climbing into bed, making love and then falling asleep in each other’s arms. That’s the way she wanted to remember this time with Aiken.

  The insatiable beast inside her obviously had other thoughts.

  He filled her so completely, the feel of his dick buried so deep inside her, easing in and out of her until she was dizzy with pleasure, was more than she could ask for, and something she knew she’d never forget. She wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders. “Damn, this feels so good.” It was the absolute truth and she whispered it again and again. “So, so good.”

  Aiken continued those deep, slow thrusts, slamming her against the wall of the restaurant with such force that she should be sore from the concrete rubbing against her back, but she wasn’t. Instead she was so aroused, her legs trembled, her breath hitched each time she tried to talk, and the beast begged her not to walk away. Not again.

  She held on tighter.

  “Not going anywhere, baby. Never gonna get tired of being inside you. Fuck!” His yell was buried in the side of her neck, her ass cheeks in the palms of his hands.

  She’d never get tired of having him inside her, or of her breasts rubbing against his strong chest or her fingers digging into his back. But none of that mattered.

  He lifted his head to kiss her again and as their tongues slid sinuously over one another, she thought with a start—this was all that mattered. At least for now.

  Rotating her hips, she met his thrusts, gasping with the rush of passion sifting through her veins, the feel of their two beasts joining once again pummeling her with the fierceness of their kind. “Aiken, baby, please don’t stop.”

  Don’t stop loving me. Wanting me. Needing me. Please.

  None of those words could be spoken. They were all useless. He thought everything was going to be fine, that they’d win this battle and possibly live happily ever after. He had no clue that the destiny he’d always hoped for just wasn’t meant to be. No matter how hard she wished it weren’t so right now. She couldn’t ask him to wait another second longer than the eighty years he’d already waited for her and she didn’t know when or if she’d ever be able to return to Burgess to be with him.

  She yelled out the minute his sharp teeth scraped along her shoulder. The pleasure/pain prick of his breaking her skin pushed her over the edge and she bucked against him as her release tore through her body. He held her so tight she thought he might crush her bones, but instead he let his release join hers until they were both heaving and clinging to each other in that narrow walkway outside of the restaurant.

  After a few moments she thought she heard him whisper something in her ear but then there was a loud noise on the street, perhaps a bus driving by, a horn b
lared. The reminder that they were outside yanked them out of the sexual abyss and they broke apart to get dressed in silence.

  Hours later when they lay in the bed at the hotel, his arm wrapped around her, her face pressed against his chest, Mel listened to him breathe. She felt the up and down motion as each breath was taken and imagined his beast inside doing the same. She’d seen that beast, rode on its back and had flown alongside it. Her hands had touched its scales, and her dragon had stared into his dragon’s eyes. They were one. At this moment her heartbeat matched his, her skin responded to the touch of his, her beast called to his knowing it would be answered. There were no questions in these seconds, no recriminations, no regrets.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you. Please forgive me.”

  Because by tomorrow night at this time, she would leave him again. She had no other choice.

  * * *

  Rain pelted Aiken’s face as he walked away from the line of twenty-three tourists. They’d been following the tour guide for the last thirty minutes, seeing too many types of flora for him to count. He hadn’t been paying attention to a word the guide said and instead had been focused on the navigation system of his communicator. Mel walked a few steps ahead of him. She seemed to be mildly interested in the tour and only looked down at her communicator periodically, but she’d known when it was time to drift back and turn off the trail with the others.

  Now they both walked faster, trying to reach the point where there would be a boat to take them across the river to where the Schenek village was.

  “We’re a step ahead of them.” She spoke loud enough that he heard her over the rain as he stepped over the exposed roots of an Okoume tree. He knew the name of that one because it was in the brochure he’d pretended to be reading while they were on the bus this morning, instead of talking to Mel.

  They’d had a great time last night, both on the pathway by the restaurant and once they arrived back at the hotel. But this morning he had to keep his mind focused on this mission. It was the only way to keep her safe. That thought jolted him and he returned to her comment.

  “Ziva didn’t report any of the Royal Blood had left Burgess last night and all I heard from Bleu this morning was that everything was a go.” He’d heard from Theo, as well, asking if they were both alright. What the emperor really meant was had Aiken calmed down after his freak-out over Mel volunteering to come here. The answer to that question was no, but after his conversation with Shola and Ravyn, he’d at least had the good sense to not say anything about that to her again.

  “Does the owner of this boat know who we are?” She would continue to ask questions to mask her nervousness and because she never liked the idea of him knowing more than her when they worked together.

  “He knows we work for a security company and that we’re looking for a client that was sent here for work. He doesn’t know we’re Drakon or that we plan to sneak onto the burial ground.”

  “Maybe he’s a witch too? Or are they called wizards? Did we consider that? What if he’s working with them and we’re walking into a trap?” she asked.

  He touched her shoulder and she spun around to face him. “What? What’s wrong?” she asked, her tone full of concern.

  Her eyes were wide with excitement, her reflexes quick and ready. Still, she seemed a little off. “Nothing’s wrong,” he told her. “Are you having second thoughts? Is that what’s going on? If so, just tell me and we can leave.”

  They both wore ponchos they’d purchased from the hotel gift shop when they realized it was raining. That word didn’t seem to accurately describe the heavy sheets of water pelting them. Normally the canopy of the rain forest kept rain to a slower trickle, but not today. It seemed the floodgates had opened especially for them. Mel’s was red and his was an unappealing royal blue. Her hood was big and covered a good portion of her face, so she tilted her head back to peer up at him.

  “I’m fine. Just thinking out loud. Considering all possibilities.” He wiped away a drop of rain that had just splashed over the tip of her nose.

  “Cool. Let’s keep going. If we’re late this guy’ll probably leave us. I’m sure he knows the Schenek are the only inhabitants of the area where we’ll be dropped off.”

  “Then he knows to be afraid of them?”

  “Yeah.”

  Neither of them spoke on whether or not they were afraid of the coven of witches. Time would tell soon enough.

  They were on the boat in the next hour and dropped off at the edge of the village two hours after that. Now they were walking again, booted feet sloshing through mud and matted grass. The bottle of potion was in Mel’s backpack. The plan was to get as close to the Scheneks’ village as possible. The daily delivery truck would come along at one o’clock. It always stopped while one of the Schenek lowered the barrier to allow it in. Mel was going to cloak herself on the truck somewhere and ride right onto the burial ground. All she had to do was pour the potion over one of the headstones. Ravyn said it would spread to form an underground perimeter of all the buried bodies and lock them down permanently. None of them were sure exactly how that would happen. Then again, none of them were witches.

  Before any of that could happen, they needed the communicator to tell them when they were close to the village because the Schenek had also draped their huts in an invisibility spell so they wouldn’t be seen from above. Shola had programmed the exact coordinates into the communicator. This mission gave a new meaning to flying blind and for the billionth time today Aiken wondered why he’d agreed to let Mel come.

  “It should be right up here,” she yelled back to him.

  He’d been so deep in thought going over the plan in his head once again, he hadn’t been staring at his communicator like she now was.

  “Yeah, straight a few more feet and then to the left. Here’s the road the truck will travel along. We can hide in the brush over there.”

  She nodded and they picked up their pace since it was now twelve forty-seven. When they made it to the brush, they both knelt so they wouldn’t be seen. For what felt like endless moments there was nothing but the sound of the rain splashing onto the ground. Eventually, they heard an engine growing closer. He reached for her hand then, holding it tight in his. She gripped his hand just as tightly even though neither of them spoke. It was as if they were silently wishing each other luck. But more, he was telling her to stay safe and to hurry back to him, all silently, hopefully.

  The truck came to a stop just a few feet in front of them and Aiken turned to her. She tilted her head back to see him and he pushed the hood back far enough so he could see her whole face clearly. “In and out, Mel.”

  She nodded. “In and out.”

  “If you need to get out of there in a hurry, shift. Don’t hesitate, just do it.” His heart was beating so hard and fast he wondered if she could hear it. “I’ll be right here.”

  “I know.” She nodded again, blinking rapidly. “I know.”

  When the driver got out to stand near a rock on the other side of the road, Mel let go of his hand and ran to the truck. She turned to him, pushing her hood off and for endless moments they only stared at each other. The love he felt for her was overwhelming, and words would not come. Eventually, when it seemed like too much time had ticked by, he was the one to nod this time. She did the same and then climbed into the back of the truck, where she quickly disappeared.

  His gaze remained glued to that truck until three minutes later when it began to move again. The driver drove much slower now, seeming to ease over the road. The altered pace gave the impression that the vehicle was being pulled along, instead of the driver actually putting his foot on the gas pedal. Aiken didn’t move from his spot. He remained in that squatting position, staring toward the invisible village until the truck was about fifty yards away. Then he glanced down at his communicator. The others were here but he didn’t know where or when they
would show up near the village. It didn’t matter. His beast was on full alert and the moment he thought she was in trouble he was shifting and going in to get her. The witches’ magick couldn’t compare to that of a Drakon in full dragon form. If it did, he didn’t give a damn, he was still getting in there to get her. Setting his stopwatch he gave her the agreed-upon five minutes to find the headstone, pour the potion and get back on that truck to get out of there.

  In the meantime, the beast inside struggled to push the man’s fearful thoughts out of its mind. Fists clenched as he acknowledged that the trepidation he’d been building since that evening they’d flown together had morphed into a gigantic hole in the center of his gut. It wasn’t good, he knew that, and yet he hadn’t said anything to anyone. He couldn’t. This mission was important, it would save the lives of so many, all he had to do was get through it with her.

  Never before had he thought about losing her in this way, not during any of their hunts. She was an excellent fighter, a quick thinker and a chameleon. Together, those traits made her a lethal weapon, one he’d seen in action more times than he could remember. He trusted those traits and he wanted to believe that the dragon she’d finally opened herself to would bring her through this safely. But Aiken’s gut never lied.

  He looked down at the stop clock, she had three more minutes. “You can do this, baby. We can do this together.” The words were mumbled against the loud patter of rain and a warm breeze that blew even more water in his direction.

  That didn’t stop the beast from rising up within him, pressing so urgently against his body that his claws poked through. He knew what that meant, and he pushed the poncho up on one side so he could reach for his gun, but it was too late for that, the first hit came to the back of his head. The second came to his side as he immediately turned using his power to toss the one who’d hit him first into the trees behind them. He heard the hissing sound of a vamp baring its teeth before he saw it, but was already in attack mode, fighting off every one of the vamps that came barreling at him, all the while thinking about Mel’s words about this possibly being a setup, and the fact that she was inside the village, alone.