Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 140580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Yet the second they reached the castle, Cameron was waylaid by his sister and grandmother checking on his well-being. The moment Cameron had finished reassuring them, Alric was pulling him off to the royal wing and his private suite. He needed Cameron alone at last, away from prying eyes and relieved comments that Cameron was home safe again.
“Alric, you know I love this castle, right?” Cameron started, sounding a little breathless.
“Of course.”
“Good, because right now, I could do with it being a hell of a lot smaller.” Cameron leaned in closer, the hand holding Alric’s squeezing tight. “I need you now. Naked and inside me.”
“Yesss,” Alric hissed. He narrowed his eyes at a smiling guard who stood at the entrance to the royal wing. “Anyone who comes near my chambers, I want them thrown in the dungeon.” The guard paled, and Alric didn’t stick around to make sure the guard understood there were no exceptions to that rule.
Cameron reached the double doors to his chambers first and threw them open. He started to hurry across the sitting room toward the bedroom, but Alric snagged his elbow after slamming the door shut again.
“What?” Cameron gasped, nearly falling into Alric at the sudden stop.
“This way,” Alric directed. He pulled his mate toward his hoard, and Cameron’s smile grew even wider.
“Really now? Among the books?” There was laughter in his tone and Alric smiled. Cameron was his light and joy.
“It’s the place where I feel most comfortable in my own skin. It’s the safest place I know.” Alric closed the door and leaned back against it. He couldn’t take his eyes off Cameron as he stopped in the center of the room, overflowing bookshelves rising up two stories all around him. It was the most beautiful sight in all the world. “It’s like I can truly breathe for the first time since your kidnapping.”
Cameron extended his hand to him, beckoning him closer like a siren. Pushing off the door, Alric closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms tight around Cameron’s slender waist while pressing his face into his neck. He could feel the steady beat of his pulse against his lips, the expansion of his lungs with each breath, the strength of his arms as they embraced him. Cameron was home, and he was safe again.
“My mate,” Cameron whispered in his ear, and Alric smiled.
Lifting his head, he stared into Cameron’s dark brown eyes, getting lost in their depths and wonder. “I’ve never wanted anything so badly in my life. You smiled at me, and I automatically wanted to keep you, but I was afraid I was being selfish, afraid I couldn’t make you happy as well as another dragon could.”
“Silly dragon,” Cameron murmured against his lips. God, he loved when Cameron called him that. There was such love and warmth in his voice. “You were meant to be my dragon.”
“And you were meant to be my mage,” Alric agreed.
Cameron kissed him slowly, his tongue sweeping across Alric’s lips, entreating entrance. Alric’s opened and welcomed Cameron inside; he wanted Cameron inside all of him. The kiss started with tenderness, whispering of devotion and unspoken promises of long centuries together.
But the heat was building. Hunger was growing. New urgency was bleeding into the kiss, teeth clacking together as they tried to get closer. There were too many damn clothes separating them. He needed to be inside of Cameron, to hear him moan and beg and cry out Alric’s name.
But removing clothing pushed them on to other events, and there were important matters that needed to be concluded first.
With a great deal of reluctance, Alric broke off the kiss, earning a soft whimper from Cameron that nearly had him diving back in again.
“Soon, Liebling,” Alric whispered.
“Oh, no. Not soon. Now,” Cameron grumbled. He grabbed at Alric’s shirt, pulling it from his slacks to get at the warm skin that lay beneath. “We’re finally alone. You’ve threatened the clan with being thrown in the dungeon if we’re disturbed. I’m getting me some hot dragon nookie.”
“And I am happy to give you some hot dragon nookie,” Alric replied around a laugh. “But there’s something I must ask of you first.”
“Position?”
“No, be serious please, Liebling. You’ve spoken the words I longed to hear. I must ask, do you intend to be my co-ruler as well?”
Cameron immediately stopped moving, his head raising to stare directly into Alric’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. And I’m not sure if I’d be good at it, honestly.”
“I think you’ll be amazing at it. After the fight was over, you took charge of the scene without issue. I didn’t have to give more than one order, and that was to retreat home. You handled everything else and did it well.”
“I…guess I did? People just seemed to need a little prodding, and I didn’t want you doing it, you were already in too much pain. Wait, is it really that easy?”