Free Dragon Maid by Ann Gimpel Page A

eyes on Tarika when you sought help from Kheladin, I haven’t been able to think of anything but the two of you. Protecting you from the Morrigan was automatic. I’d have done something, anything, to give you an opportunity to flee to safety. In that moment, I understood I’d lay down my life to preserve yours.” He winked lazily. “Of course, I didn’t realize you were immortal at the time, but even if I had, I’d still have done the same thing.”
    Britta swallowed around the lump in her throat. She blinked furiously. His words touched her core, but she did not want to cry. “Thank you.”
    His gaze speared her, amber eyes alight with desire, and more too. A feral protectiveness colored their depths. He took a breath and went on. “I’m so attracted to you, my cock’s been hard the whole time we’ve been together. Even when we were separated, all I had to do was think of you, and I got so hard I ached with wanting you. That hasn’t happened to me since I was a teenager.”
    Britta glanced to where the front of his pants belled out. She wanted to wrap her fingers around his bulge, wanted the cock beneath for her own. Her mouth went dry. Her nipples pebbled into points. Her crotch flooded with moisture. Britta slid Maggie’s jacket off her shoulders and tossed her hair out of the way to bare her breasts. Deep in her mind, Tarika cheered her on.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
    Jonathan’s gaze roved from her perfect face, glorious hair, and flawless breasts downward to the tangle of red-gold curls in the vee between her legs. The air around Britta took on a luminous quality; Tarika’s outline formed. “Ye must want me too,” the dragon said. Shadowy wings fluttered.
    “I do,” Jonathan replied. “You’re as amazing as your bond mate.”
    The dragon didn’t hesitate. Britta’s form blurred; jaws closed around the juncture between his neck and shoulder and bit deep. It hurt, but Tarika’s bite opened him to the wonder of her mind. Arcane memories crowded behind his eyes. Images merged kaleidoscopically, even more compelling than his peek into her mind when they’d fought the Morrigan.
    “’Tis enough.” Britta stood before him again, nimble fingers busy with the buttons on his shirt. “Tarika was supposed to wait until we mated.”
    “Not necessarily.” The dragon sounded smug. “If there are rules, show them to me, and I will bite him again if needs be.”
    “I can hear her without summoning the magic I usually need for telepathic speech.”
    “Aye, ’tis because she accepted you.” Britta snorted. “Ye may wish for the peace and quiet of your own mind afore too long.”
    “Why would he?” Tarika inquired archly.
    Britta pushed at his shirt. He laid his hands over hers. “Wait a minute. I have to unzip the jacket first.”
    “Unzip?”
    He pointed. “Button replacements.”
    She bent and peered at the metal teeth. “Cunning how they mesh together. When was this invented?”
    He slipped his jacket and shirt off his shoulders and dropped them on the cave’s sandy floor. His body was electric with arousal. Even the dragon’s bite thrummed with unfilled need. “Does it really matter?” His voice rasped with passion, and he held out his arms.
    Footsteps pounded toward them. Kheladin surged forward with Lachlan by his side, right through Britta’s privacy shielding. “Excellent.” The dragon beamed, double rows of teeth gleaming in the glow from Britta’s mage light.
    “Yes,” Lachlan chimed, sounding excited. “We felt Tarika’s mating bite from the far side of the cave.”
    “And came to congratulate you,” Kheladin finished.
    “Damn it!” Maggie chugged up behind them. “I told you to at least knock first, or call out, or something.”
    “Why?” Lachlan stared at her. “Stop tugging on my arm, lass.”
    “Even if Tarika bit him, don’t you think Jonathan and Britta would like more alone time to enjoy one another?” She elbowed Lachlan. “As I recall, we didn’t stop