Dragon with the Girl Tattoo by Julia Mills
Chapter Eighteen
Thankfully, Thomas saw the comical side of meeting his daughter’s Mate at the end of a sword andforgave Lennox. Hell, he was actually proud to know that Tessa would have a strong, protective Dragon by her side. It took several hours to get the bodies burnt, and the ashes cleaned up, and Lennox was upset he hadn’t gotten to blow something up but having his Mate in his arms was better than all the explosions he’d ever set all rolled into one.
He also got time to speak to his soon-to-be father-in-law. Of course, the first thing he asked was, “Are you in any trouble for beheading the Master of your Kiss, your own brother?”
“Not even a little bit,” Thomas answered. “If the Vampire Council asks any questions, I have photographic evidence, the proof you and your Brethren found, and all of you to corroborate my testimony.”
“Absolutely,” Lennox nodded. “We all have your back.”
“As do I, Thomas,” Max concurred, appearing at Lennox’s side. “You have only to ask, and I will be there.”
Arriving back at the Lair less than an hour before sunrise, he made sure Thomas could stay with Kayne for his day sleep before taking Tessa home. Helping her shower against her wishes, Lenn simply stated as he washed her back, “I’m never leaving you alone again. My heart can’t take it.”
Getting her his softest T-shirt, Lenn helped his Mate into bed then laid down right beside her. Pulling Tessa into his arms, he held her as she slept. Visions of what he’d witnessed haunted his dreams.
Waking every hour with the guise of checking on Tessa, he knew he would never forget what it was like to see her hanging from Ulnac’s gloved hand. The panic and fear at the thought of losing her would be indelibly etched in his memory for the rest of his very long life.
Opening his eyes to find the windows dark and his Mate smiling at him, Lennox couldn’t speak. He couldn’t think. He could only feel. Pulling her into his arms, he crushed his lips to hers. His hands roamed her soft, womanly curves and held them tight to the hard planes of his body.
Sliding his hands under the soft cotton of her T-shirt, the electricity of their connection skittered up his arms. The Dragon marking on his back, the one that depicted Vulcan in flight, flared to life.
Rolling over, Lennox pressed his body into Tessa’s as he deepened their kiss. His heart nearly jumped from his chest when she gasped into his embrace, her fingernails dug into his back, and her hips rolled against the hard length of his erection.
Fire shot through his veins as their tongues slid along one another and Tessa’s legs wound around his waist. Vulcan growled low in Lenn’s soul, the need of both man and Dragon to be one with their True Fated Mate overriding all thought and reason.
Pushing the shirt up her back, he groaned in ecstasy as the softness of her stomach touched the hardness of his. The need to feel every inch of her silken skin pushed him to tear his lips from hers, rip the shirt from her body, then put his lips back to hers with the speed given to him as one of the Universe’s Winged Warriors.
Tessa’s hands slipped around his ribs and onto his back, her nails leaving fiery trails of passion as she mewled low in her throat and rolled her hips against his throbbing cock. Tearing his mouth from hers, Lenn kissed across her jaw. Taking her earlobe between his teeth as he whispered, “I love you, Tessa. I have to feel your warm, welcoming body wrapped around mine.”
Her answering moan and the strength of her grip on his shoulders had his cock pushing against the zipper of his jeans so hard that Lenn had no doubt it would be permanently marked for the rest of his life. With his mind swimming and Vulcan roaring, the Guardsman could barely breathe as his need became unbearable.
Fingers tangling in his hair, Tessa moaned, “Oh my Goddess, yes… yes… yes… Lennox, please, I want you… I need you…”
Visions of them making love in the water floated through his mind - images he knew had come from Tessa. Maintaining their kiss, Lennox slid his hands under her ass and stood with her in his arms.
Striding to the bathroom, with the most heavenly woman he could ever imagine wrapped tightly around his body, he begrudgingly and very slowly let her shapely legs slide down his body. Breaking their kiss, he used his preternatural speed to start the water in the sunken tub Pearce repeatedly told him they would never use.
Score one for the mad bomber…
Knowing he would always want Tessa as much as he wanted her in that moment, Lenn picked up his glorious Mate and stepped into the tub while kissing her as if she was the very air he breathed. Reveling in the shivers racking her body as the hot water touched her ass, he panted as the soft curls covering her mound teased his hard cock.
Sitting down in the tub, Lenn grasped Tessa’s waist, reluctantly pulled his lips from hers, and while looking deep into her sparkling brown eyes, positioned the head of his cock against the quivering lips of her pussy. With Vulcan riding him hard, his voice came out as more of a growl than he’d intended when he demanded, “You are mine, Tessa Mooreland- O’Lachtnáin, now and forever.”
With lust-soaked eyes and kiss-swollen lips, she slowly pushed her body down until just the tip of him slid inside her body as she gave a sexy sass, “You talk too damn much, Dragon Man.”
Her words, just like the woman herself, thrilled Lenn more than he’d ever thought possible. Thrusting his hips forward to meet Tessa’s downward motion, he drove his cock into her pussy until his balls slapped against the glorious softness of her beautiful ass. Her body stretched around his intrusion as she threw back her head and rolled her hips, repeating his name over and over like a prayer to the Heavens.
“Look at me, Tessa. Look at the man who loves you more than life itself,” Lennox commanded with a growl.
As her head snapped forward and her eyes speared him a look of pure desire and need, he lifted his Mate until he almost fell from her body right before thrusting back into her warm, wet pussy with the same force she drove down onto him. Their pace became frantic. Over and over their bodies met, the slaps of their flesh splashed water over the side of the tub as the fire within them blazed toward its explosive climax.
Tessa’s hands were everywhere. She teased and taunted his body, making Vulcan roar and the marking on his back wriggle and writhe on his skin. Nipping at his jaw, she taunted the spot behind his ear that drove him wild, and whispered, “More… faster… I need… I need… Oh, sweet Heavens… I need…”
“What is it, Tessa, Mo ghrá? What do you need?” Struggling to speak as his canines lengthened and the scales of his Dragon appeared on the backs of his hand, Lennox’s need to mark her as his own pushed his every action.
“I need… you… I need…”
Sliding his hands under her ass, Lennox lifted Tessa a bit higher as he tilted his hips. The change in position made the head of his cock rub the sensitive bundle of nerves at the top of her channel on each thrust as his hips bumped her aroused clit. Her movements became desperate. Her nails bit into the skin of his shoulders. She nibbled on his neck, and the feel of the tips of her fangs drove him crazy with desire.
Moving like a jackhammer in and out of his Mate’s heavenly body, Lenn could no longer resist the Mating Call. Kissing down the elegant column of her neck, mirroring Tessa’s actions by nipping then licking away the sting, he reached the pounding of her pulse at the same time that she licked his.
Need exploded in every cell of his body. There would never be another who affected him so. The time to mark his Mate was at hand and Lenn had no intention of letting it get away from him. This would be the final time. The one that counted. The one she would wear for the rest of eternity.
Licking her pulse one last time, he slid his canines into her skin at the exact second Tessa sunk her fangs into his jugular. The climax they had been careening toward tore through the couple like a wildfire. She screamed against his neck as her pussy milked him in sync with their combined heartbeats, and he bathed her insides with the heat of his release.
As drops of her life’s essence flowed down his throat, Lennox felt the inexplicable Mating Bond seal his heart and soul to that of his Mate’s. Releasing his bite, he licked the spot that would remain visible for all to see - the proof of their mating, a mark of possession, the testimony of their irrevocable bond for all time.
Lifting his head, Lenn looked into the lazy eyes of the woman who’d claimed not only his heart but also his soul. He felt her mark upon his skin. Loved that she had broken the skin and taken of his blood and looked forward to the time she would bite him with the canines of her Panther, for he wanted the world to know he loved every single thing about his Tessa.
Then there would come their official Mating before the Elders of his Clan and his Force. The Mating Mark they received from the Universe would replace their bite marks and bind them as the final tie, ensuring their souls would spend eternity together in the Heavens.
Smiling as Tessa collapsed against his chest, Lennox sighed with contentment as her mini orgasms continued to tease them both. Feeling his cock once again hardening within her, he barked with laughter when she raised her head with a look of complete shock and squeaked, “Again?”
Rolling his hips, Lenn didn’t even attempt to stop the sly smile he felt sliding across his lips when Tessa gasped. With her eyes once again becoming half-lidded, his heart beat anew as she grabbed his shoulders and help him close.
Laying his lips to hers, he groaned, “Always for you,” as her pussy closed even tighter around his cock, her hips dancing a lazy figure eight on his lap.
Their lovemaking continued until both were boneless and Lennox was lifting a nearly unconscious Tessa from the tub. Drying his Mate, he threw the towels over the water all over the floor to be sure he didn’t fall. Making his way into the bedroom, he gently put his Mate in the middle of his bed, before laying down to face her.
Slowly opening her eyes, Tessa looked blissfully content as she breathed, “I love you, Lennox O’Lachtnáin, more than I ever thought I could love anyone. You make me feel things I’d only ever dreamed possible.”
Brushing the soft tresses of her hair back from her gorgeous face, he slowly kissed both of Tessa’s cheeks, the tip of her nose and both sides of her delectable lips then lifted his head ever so slightly and murmured, “I love you, Tessa Mooreland-O’Lachtnáin. You have made me the happiest Dragon this world has ever known. And when I find the strength to leave your side, I have a very special gift for you.”
Wrapping her arm around his neck, Tessa held him close and smiled a lazy smile. “You’re all the gift I need.”
“Oh yeah?” He teased.
“Oh yeah,” Tessa purred, then quickly pulled back and raised an eyebrow, “But I have to ask, why did you have my face tattooed on your arm?”
Barking with laughter, Lennox pulled Tessa to his chest and admitted, “Cause I knew I could never be without you.”