He groaned as she kissed and nibbled her way down his clavicle. Tilting his head back to give her better access, he moved her those last few steps to the wall. A soft growl rumbled up from his chest as he bent back to her and reclaimed her lips. He kissed her passionately as he pressed his body over hers, pinning her to the wall. She groaned again as he shifted back and pushed the rest of his clothing over his hips. They slid to the floor with a soft thump.
Her fingers ghosted over his back, heading for the newly exposed skin.
Alex caught her hands before they could reach below his waist. Lacing their fingers together, he lifted their hands up over Terra’s head. He pressed his hip into her, unable to resist the pull of his desire. She was warm and solid under him. His crumbling willpower was starting to collapse, but his dragon forced him to hold on to the scattered shreds.
She moaned again and squirmed with desire.
Gasping for breath, he pulled away from her lips. If he didn’t stop this right now, he would be lost to the passion that had risen between them. Staring down into her eyes, he tried to get a grip on himself. The sight that met him drove him to the very edge.
She was gorgeous. A light sheen of sweat made her skin glisten as she panted in need. The blue of her eyes had darkened in passion, and the widening of the pupils made them impossibly deep. Alex would have given nearly anything to stare into those desire-filled eyes for all eternity.
Now is not the time, his dragon growled at him. There will be a time, and soon.
Alex had to shake himself to break the effect she had on him. He kissed her softly, pulling away before she could devour his lips again. “It’s time to be quiet,” he warned as he shifted away from her slightly. He needed as much of his mind as he could gather to plan their escape.
Terra growled her displeasure and leaned into him, placing kisses on the skin she could reach. Shivers of desire raced through Alex, but he pushed them away. When they were safe again, he would take the time to explore the passion that had built between them. Right now, he had things to do. He caught her mouth for one last, hard kiss before getting to work.
Separating her hands, he bent them down behind her and pulled her against his body again. A shiver racked her frame as he held her tightly to him. Turning his attention away from the wanton woman in his arms, he glanced out the glass door that led to the patio. The blinds were turned so no one could see in, but he could make out the shape of a man standing on his back porch.
Alex inched them closer to the door as he weighed his options. One man he could handle. He could rush the guy and take him down with ease. But, that would mean that he would have to turn Terra loose. And with the way she was nibbling on his collarbone, that wasn’t something he was willing to do. Besides, there was no telling how many other people were lurking around his home.
“They’re gone!” a voice yelled from inside the house. “Get in here and help us find them!”
Alex’s heart soared as the man on the back porch went in through the other glass door. Perfect. With the man inside, he had a chance to make an escape, but he was going to have to do it fast. If the intruders were searching the house, it would only make sense that they would start with the rooms closest to where they entered. The master bedroom would be the first door on the right.
Just as Alex feared, the handle on his door jiggled. Grabbing up Terra, he bolted to the glass door and slammed the thing open.
Terra gasped in pain as he bent her arms too far in his haste.
“Hold on, love,” Alex hissed as he loosened his grasp so her arms weren’t twisted at such an odd angle. Racing down the steps, he took two strides across the stone patio before releasing his hold on his dragon. Scales burst out as he shifted into his grand form. Terra screamed in fear, but he ignored her protests as he grasped her tightly in his claws and beat his wings down.
The sound of two shots rang out. The bullets stung as they ricocheted off his scaled hide. He had shifted just in time to prevent major injury, but it still hurt like hell. Letting out a roar, Alex flapped harder, trying to gain altitude. His grand dragon form was large, but he wasn’t used to carrying the weight of another person… even if she was small.
Alex clutched Terra to him as he aimed for the woods lining the back edge of his property. If he just skimmed the tops of the trees, he could cover a fair distance without his attackers being able to track him.
The tip of Terra’s nails dug into his scales as he flew, but he didn’t stop. The feel of the shivers racing down her body almost made him change his mind. She had to be terrified. Clinging to the underside of a dragon that was skimming along the upper branches of a forest couldn’t be very pleasant. Alex added a few more feet of height so she wouldn’t hit the topmost branches. The feel of Terra’s fingers gripping his scales eased a little, but her shivering didn’t subside. The need to find a place to land ate at him. He had to find out what was wrong with her. Could one of the stray bullets have hit her?
A jolt of fear raced through Alex, and he scanned the area for a safe place to land, but there was nothing close. He followed his instincts as they pushed him to the right. He may be missing some of his memories, but he still trusted his dragon to keep him safe.
The sight of an opening in the forest relieved some of the anxiety filling Alex. Terra’s shivers had stopped, but so had the feel of her nails digging into his scales. He had to set down here no matter what. During his flight, there had been several breaks in the canopy, but none of the clearings had been safe for him to land in. They were either too small or had signs of people. With Terra being drugged and possibly hurt, he didn’t want to risk an encounter with an unknown person.
Alex landed in the open field and looked around. Perfect. He even knew where they were. A large, grassy lawn led up to a small cabin set at the very edge of the woods—one of the many rest spots Eternity kept for their traveling agents! Of course his dragon would lead him to a place where they would be safe.
Laying Terra on the soft grass, Alex backed up to look her over. She was unnervingly still. Nuzzling her softly, he drew in a deep breath. The air was free of the tang of blood, but it was filled with a heady concoction of pheromones.
Terra moaned softly as Alex’s snout bumped into her stomach.
Pulling his head back, Alex shook it, trying to clear his mind. He sat down on the grass to think. Terra was alive, but she was also out cold. It had to have been a mixture of the hormones in her system and the adrenaline from their flight. Well, at least now he wasn’t going to have to fight against her reaction to the drugs.
Looking down at her still form, he studied her. Mine! His dragon’s declaration rattled through him so hard it made his teeth clench. That could be an issue. He cocked his head to get a better look at Terra. Warmth and contentment swirled up through him. He let out a deep sigh and shifted back to his human form. There was no fighting it now. Sometime during their harrowing escape, his dragon had laid claim to the woman. A true bonding wouldn’t be complete until he shared a scale with her, but no matter what he did, he belonged to her now.
Bending down, Alex scooped Terra up and headed towards the little cabin. He laughed softly as he stepped onto the covered porch. This was his cabin. Well, it wasn’t exactly his cabin, but it was the one he took care of. Eternity kept a series of small houses across the country, places where their agents could stop and rest as they went about their business. They were free to be used at any time by any agent. The agent was just expected to leave the place the way they found it. There was a special monitoring system that would alert the main office when one of the houses was in use, and they, in turn, would alert the keeper of the house that the building was in use and when the occupant left so it could be checked. It was a very convenient system. And a lot cheaper than constantly paying for hotel rooms.