Page 16 of His Relentless Mate

“Yes. Would you like to go for a ride?”

“Seriously? Yes, of course. Is it safe? I mean I know you wouldn’t take me if I wasn’t safe, but I mean, doesn’t it worry you that other people might see?”

“Dragons, for the most part, favor remote and often inhospitable locations so we can fly. Come on. I think you’ll love it.”

Annika’s breath hitched as she stared up at Trace, his dragon form towering above her. The moonlight cascaded over his dark, iridescent scales, highlighting the powerful muscles that rippled beneath them. His eyes, still the same piercing blue as when he was in human form, locked onto hers with an intensity that made her knees weak.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

Trace chuckled, the sound of his laughter deeper and more resonant than when he did so as a man, but still unmistakably his. His laughter held a promise, a challenge, and something more that sent a thrill of anticipation coursing through her.

Annika swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest as she nodded. She had always been the cautious one, the one who thought things through before leaping into the unknown. The only time that hadn’t been the case was when Trace left for the military. Within a week of his leaving, Annika had received word from Shoreline Community College in King County, Washington that she had been accepted into their Criminal Justice Program. She’d packed her things and left, starting on the path that had led her to where she was: estranged from Trace, at odds with her mother, and with a career as a dedicated homicide detective in Seattle. But now, here with Trace, everything was different. There was a part of her that craved the wild, untamed freedom he offered, a part that longed to surrender to the fiery passion that had been simmering between them since the moment they’d met all those years ago.

“You’ll have to hold on tight, Annika,” he murmured, his tone laced with both warning and desire. Without another word, he lowered his massive body, his scales shimmering like molten metal in the moonlight.

Taking a deep breath, Annika stepped forward, her hand trembling slightly as she reached out to touch him. The scales were surprisingly warm beneath her fingers, smooth and hard yet pulsing with life. She could feel the power radiating from him, the raw energy that made her pulse race with excitement and a touch of fear.

With a small grunt of effort, she swung her leg over his broad back, settling herself between the ridges of his neck and his wings. The heat of his body seeped into her, warming her to her very core as she leaned forward, pressing herself against him. Her hands instinctively wrapped around spikes along his spine, her fingers gripping them tightly.

Trace shifted beneath her, his muscles flexing as he prepared to take flight. Annika’s heart soared in her chest, a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation surging through her veins. She had never imagined this moment, never dreamed that she would be riding on the back of a dragon with nothing but the night sky above her and the man she couldn’t resist beneath her.

With a powerful thrust, Trace’s wings snapped open, each movement a symphony of strength and grace. Annika gasped as he trotted forward and they left the ground, the sudden rush of air whipping her hair back as they soared into the sky. The world fell away beneath them, the landscape shrinking to a blur of shadows and silvery outlines as they ascended higher and higher.

The sensation of flight was indescribable—exhilarating, liberating, and terrifying all at once. The wind roared in her ears, and her pulse pounded in time with the rhythmic beat of Trace’s wings. She could feel every movement of his body, every powerful stroke that propelled them through the night sky. The connection between them felt more tangible than ever, as if the barrier between human and dragon, between Annika and Trace, had dissolved completely.

Annika closed her eyes, allowing herself to revel in the experience, to savor the feeling of Trace beneath her, his strength and power enveloping her like a warm, protective cocoon. Her fingers tightened around his neck as she leaned closer, pressing her cheek against his warm scales. There was a wildness in this moment, a raw, unfiltered connection that set her soul on fire.

She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Trace would never let her fall. He would protect her, cherish her, and never let her go.

As they flew through the night, the stars twinkling above them like a thousand tiny promises, Annika felt something shift inside her. The fear and the hesitation that had always held her back melted away in the warmth of Trace’s embrace. In its place was a fierce, burning desire to be with him, to share everything with him—her heart, her soul, her life.

They soared through the sky for what seemed far too brief a time before he spiraled lazily, gliding back down to the ground. When he landed, she slid from his back and then stepped away so he would have the room he needed to shift. She wondered as the cloudy vortex swirled around him if she’d ever get tired of watching him and realized she didn’t want to leave him. Not again.

This time when the mist fell away, Trace was naked—gloriously, beautifully naked. She realized as she looked at him that time and his experiences had added mass and muscle to his physique. The boy who she’d been over the moon about, and who she’d always compared other lovers to, had only grown sexier with time.

The scars that covered his torso did nothing to take away from the idea that she was looking at some dark god. She wanted to take the time to trace each mark that covered his body, kiss it, to perhaps heal it completely. His fully-erect cock was long, broad, and heavy.

Trace crossed to her, sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her into his house. He didn’t break stride as he kicked the door closed and took her into the bedroom, kneeling down to strip her jeans and panties down before removing her sweater and bra and settling her on his big bed. He crawled up on the bed, settling himself between her feet and drawing her to him by the ankles.

“I remembered how beautiful you were. That hasn’t changed, but I didn’t remember how incredible you smelled. Let’s see if you taste even better.”

Annika’s vision softened as he leaned down, covering her pussy with his mouth. When he flicked his tongue over her clit before sucking her labia into his mouth, a flash of arousal and heat surged through her. Trace speared her with his tongue, stroking deep, mimicking with it what she knew he could and would do with his cock.

She tried to squirm, but Trace locked his arms around her thighs, holding her tight. Annika moaned and whimpered as she tried to get away just long enough to try and reclaim some equilibrium, but he only growled and held her fast. What did it say about her that his relentless pursuit of her pleasure and the primal sounds he made only turned her on that much more?

When he licked and then nipped her clit, she flew off the edge of reality and into some kind of fantasy where need, longing, and memory all collided as she shook and floated back down to earth. He moved her up on the bed and then covered her with his body, his hard cock nudging at the entrance to her wet heat.

He paused for only a moment. “I love you, Annika.”

She pulled his head down to hers and whispered against his lips. “I love you, too, Trace.”

Trace thrust up inside her, joining them not only in body but in heart and soul, as well. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, her legs coming up around his hips as he dragged himself back before driving back up inside her again. They fell into the same perfect rhythm she had always remembered.

Crying out his name, the orgasm washed over her, carrying her along as she rode the wave. It washed away all of the time and space that had separated them, destroying forever the walls each of them had built up. She clung to him, moaning his name and moving with him in a way she’d never found with anyone else. She couldn’t hold anything back from him—there was no withholding from Trace.

Again and again, he stroked in and out, seeming to revel in her response and recognizing that this was something more than a casual fuck, something more than just reconnecting. This was a claiming, a possession, and as he drove home a last time and stiffened, filling her with his cum, she realized this was what the books meant by having a fated mate. She was his, and he was hers.

“I will never let you go again,” he whispered. “I don’t know what that will look like, but tomorrow morning we’re going over to your cottage to get your things.”

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