The Time Tournament (Order of the Dragon #1)

CHAPTER 42

Elena

March 1431

“I

f you don’t push me away, you’ll become mine,” he murmured against my lips. “You have three seconds to say no. Three.”

Gulp.

“Two.”

What if he was still a pain in the ass?

“One.”

What if this was a mistake? “I––”

He crushed his mouth against mine, then whispered into my lips, “Too late.” A corner of his mouth curled up. “You’re mine.” In one swift motion, he swung me over his shoulder and carried me out of the orchard.

“Why do you need to throw me over your shoulder?” I asked, startled by the sudden change.

“I’ve developed a taste for peaches. And there’s one in particular I’m about to devour,” he said, smacking my butt.

“Ow,” I protested. “I’m an injured person here, you know?”

“Your wounds have healed. I made sure of that. And there’s more where that came from.” He smacked me again.

“You know I can walk, right?”

Without even paying attention, he sprinted toward the cottage like a hungry beast. He placed me on the bed and looked at me intently. “Today, I’ll be gentle, like parting a peach blossom. But next time, don’t expect mercy.” His eyes, filled with ever-growing flames, never left mine for a second. “You should know something about me, kitten. I don’t just fuck. I possess.” He ringed my wrists with his hands. “I dominate.” He jerked me toward him, bringing me mere inches from his mouth. “I devour,” he whispered.

My jaw dropped. If it weren’t for my face muscles, it would’ve fallen into my lap.

“Wait. I need to tell you something,” I said, avoiding eye contact. “I know medieval times are strict about these things, but you’re not my first.” I bit my lip.

He turned my chin to face him and ordered, “Look at me.”

I did as told .

“I might not be your first, but I’ll make damn sure I’m your last. Now open.”

“Open what?” I asked, confused.

He pulled my chin down, and before I could react, he slammed his mouth into my parted lips, taking my breath away. He began searching for my tongue until he found it. And just like the first time, he manipulated it in ways I never thought possible. He sucked on it, twirled around it, and bit it while I struggled to catch my breath. Again.

“Stop.” I pushed him away.

“Never.” He threw himself at my mouth once more. This time, I landed on my back. I didn’t have a second to think. He moved so quickly, I could only let him do what he wanted—not even a sliver of control left to me.

“The fact that you have time to think makes me assume I’m not doing my job well. This is not the time to think, kitten. It’s time to feel.” He squeezed my breast. “The moment you became mine, you relinquished your control. Surrender, or I’ll make you.”

“Make me?”

He lay next to me, using one hand to support his head, while the other caressed my cheek. Heat radiated from his body. “You always make things harder than they should be. That’s what I love about you.” He smirked.

I opened my mouth to contest, but he shoved two fingers into it.

“Suck,” he commanded, his voice instantly demanding.

I accepted his fingers deeper into my mouth, feeling a need I never knew spreading within me .

“Mmm, that’s a good little rider. Finally, you’re listening to my orders. It took some time to get you here, but no worries, we have plenty more to practice. Isn’t that right?”

I gargled my answer.

He chuckled and released my mouth. As he leaned in for a sloppy kiss, he immediately thrust the wet fingers into me. I screamed into his mouth, and he gladly took it. The sneaky bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing and how I was supposed to react.

“Is this what you call gentle?” I barely managed to speak, and that ended quickly when he increased the depth and pace of his thrusts.

“This is a reminder and preparation for what’s about to come.”

I couldn’t speak, and he continued to slam into me at an even faster pace. “You need to remember to whom your orgasms belong.” As he said that, something unleashed within me, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I began thrashing and grabbing onto him, pleading for him to stop and, at the same time, to continue.

“Be prepared for me,” he said, removing his fingers. He sucked on them with such delight it made my cheeks flush.

“You taste divine,” he said with a cocky smile. After lingering for what seemed like too long, he asked, “Are you ready for me?”

I thought his question was just his ego talking. Fates knew he had enough of that. But when he lowered his pants, I realized he meant something entirely different. I had already seen him naked, but I’d made a mental block to never ogle below the belt. Now, I regretted it. The man was hung like a horse.

Noticing my concerned expression, he said, “Don’t worry, practice makes the perfect fit. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll need or want no other.” In other instances, his cockiness would’ve irritated me, but now, after seeing him in all his elephantine glory, I had greater things—or rather, a greater thing—to worry about.

“I don’t want to contradict you, since you’re the sex god here and all, but I doubt it’ll fit.”

He ignored my words, raising my pelvis and placing it on his thighs. He leaned in and began sucking on my nipple as if I hadn’t said anything. His hips moved at my overly sensitive opening, sending shivers up my spine. Then he started rubbing my clit, adding another level of intensity. Was he planning on making me cum again without even entering me?

He intensified his touch on all fronts, as if sensing the thought that flickered in my mind—and refusing to let it take hold. He succeeded. He brought me close to another peak, but not before pushing into me. The agonizing stretch, paired with the rising tide of pleasure, tore a primal roar from my throat—one I barely recognized as my own.

Then I saw Killian’s satisfied grin. “You did great, kitten. Now, what’s left is for us to move.”

I expected him to push deeper, but when I glanced down, he was already fully inside me. How had he managed it? I didn’t have time to figure it out because Killian’s hips began to shift. The movements within me felt like tectonic plates shifting.

And that definitely hurt. Though I didn’t say anything, I grimaced with every movement. “A bit longer,” he reassured me, skimming his fingers from my face, down my neck, and reaching my lower body. It was as if he relished in appraising what had become his. He then began a new wave of nipple and clit manipulation. It felt like he was juggling every part of my body, and he was perfect at it because my body eased and welcomed him deeper and deeper. From the pain, little blooms of pleasure began to emerge—an unusual, hard-to-explain pleasure coming from deep within me.

I glanced at Killian, and he knew immediately what my gaze meant. With a cocky smirk, he lowered his body until his mouth reached mine. He suckled on my bottom lip, his tongue slithering into my mouth, biting my cheek like the beast he was, before diving back to claim my lips. Each time, he would whisper at the seam of my lips, “Mine.”

And I couldn’t protest. I had to be his since the amount of pleasure he built within me couldn’t be argued any other way. I was his. Deeply, desperately, and irrevocably his. I belonged with him. I belonged to him.

He then switched his magic to his hips, rolling them with each thrust, and that pretty much did it. My eyes rolled back, and I began trembling uncontrollably until he pinned me with his muscular body .

“We’ll come together, kitten. Are you listening?”

But I was far from whatever he hoped I would be. My body shivered under him, tears leaked from my eyes, and I gasped for air that I could never truly inhale. Finally, a scream tore from my lungs, so powerful it echoed through the room, snapping me out of my delirium.

By the time I realized what had happened, Killian released himself, grunting in the process. Then he collapsed next to me. Covered in sweat and panting for breath, I still struggled to believe what had just happened.

One moment we were in the peach orchard, the next my life turned upside down, pinned under a muscular body—Killian’s muscular body.

He wasn’t joking when he said he could “murder” me between the sheets. I felt pillaged, ravished, and outright massacred. And I wanted him to do it all over again.

As I lay there, absentmindedly, he gathered me close to his chest. “I should’ve done this a long time ago,” he said.

Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. A long time ago? “What do you mean?”

“I wanted you since I saw your bare back at the lake. I’ve never pined for a rider before. Granted, I never trained a woman before. But crossing that boundary felt like treason. And now, after making you mine, I regret not doing it sooner.”

“Now imagine how it was for me, seeing you turn into human form always naked.”

“Did you lust for your commander’s body, Rider?” The corner of his lips curled .

“No. It’s just that you have a nice body, that’s all,” I deflected.

“Well, then it’s all yours. And you can take my heart as a bonus.”

“Your heart means less to you than your body?”

“It hurts more than my body.”

“You can say that again. You’ve hurt my heart more times than—uh, I mean…”

“So I did carve a spot in that heart of yours?” He chuckled and began drawing a heart over my real one.

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, no.”

He laughed, and then his eyes turned hungry. “I want you so badly, I could take you right now.” He tightened his grip on my waist. “You’re like the sugar I never seemed to have enough of as a child.”

My breath hitched, and my heart started pounding.

“But not today. There’d be too much pain, and I usually like to balance it out.”

What?

“Better if we get dressed and eat something before I start craving you even more.”

“I’d rather sleep,” I said.

“Then let’s do that.” He wrapped his arm around my body, and I immediately drifted into a slumber.

When I woke up, I found Killian staring at me. “What are you doing here?” And then I remembered everything—the kiss, the bareness of our bodies, the soreness between my legs. Panic set in. Everything made sense yesterday, but today it felt too real. He was my commander, my trainer, technically my boss. We had just fought in the most grueling and tragic battles ever. I couldn’t let this thing between us complicate things.

“I think I’m going to leave,” I said, retracting myself from his intense stare.

He instantly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his bare embrace. I felt so safe between his arms, but this couldn’t continue. What would Tarra say, or Lord Valkorian? I couldn’t look them in the eyes after this. The thought of it made me want to die from embarrassment. And Laszlo… I couldn’t soil his memory by indulging in pleasure, no matter how good it felt.

“Whatever your mind is telling you right now, ignore it,” Killian whispered into my ear, his words resonating deep within my core.

“The moment you accepted being mine, there was no going back. Forget about everyone else. They would never understand the simple truth: with me is where you belong. You know that. I know that. And everyone else will learn to accept it too.”

“But Laszlo…”

“Laszlo once called me a bastard to my face when I pushed you too hard on the training field, just to prove you couldn’t do it. He never swore, especially not to my face. Then, I didn’t understand what he meant by it. He and I both knew victory depended on the harshness of training. Only later did I realize I was a bastard for not seeing your inner strength and your will to succeed. The woman in front of me might be human, but she has the determination of a dragon. And I failed to see that for so long. You deserve to be cherished. You harness weaknesses into a movement of inner power. Your strength lies not in your muscles, though those are strong as well.” He squeezed my arm. “Your strength hides within you, where no one can see it, and it’s easily underestimated. I was fooled too. But not Laszlo. He knew, and he tried to make me see it. Now I understand. Though he was a soldier and rider who fought with valor for the greater good, he also became family—the way you always wanted us to be. And he will stay family within our hearts. I believe he would be happy to see us cross this new milestone. Stay. Stay for us. I never knew how much I wanted you, though I always felt it. But by the Fates, I never want to let you go.”

I melted in his arms like a stray cat who had finally found her forever home. He felt like home, and I, more than anything, wanted to be home.