ENTANGLED (#2 The Valkyries)

Chapter 12 - A Twist Of Fate

With a few sweeps of those majestic wings, Pazuzu rose into the air, the shimmering black smoke expanding to entirely surround him, then his immense dragon form blotted out the sky. Obsidian scales covered his long serpentine body, lethal spikes rising along his back and tail. Fangs larger than my forearm filled his crocodile-shaped maw. The hair at the back of my neck stood. It unnerved me to be so close to his dragon form, his head more than twice the size of my entire body.

Not that that stopped him. He regularly shifted forms around me and often slept like that, curled around the bed like a young child with a teddy bear. At least it was the bed he gripped, while I had the luxury of the cushioned mattress, pillows, and bedding.

Fortunately, he carried me in humanoid form when we flew. As tough as I liked to think I was, I might panic if he grabbed me with those razor-sharp talons to fly. He scared me silent, giving me the shakes whenever he insisted on partially shifting and stroking my skin with them. One wrong move and I would be a pincushion, impaled, skewered on the foot-long lengths.

Although, that tongue. Even with adrenaline-fueled fear burning my veins, the things he could do with his tongue were... well, between the prehensile second cock, his tail, and that tongue, there was no part of me he hadn't explored and thoroughly claimed. My hand rose to my neck at the fresh hicky. I still wouldn't let him bite me. Gooseflesh rose on my skin, pebbling my nipples against the clinging fabric as I recalled his lengthy erotic play this morning.

Almost as if he'd heard my thought, a dragon smirk appeared on his elongated face. His dark eyes gleamed. Despite hovering in the air above me, he flicked that insanely long tongue down into my tunic to curl around one breast and gave it a quick squeeze. Another sweep of his enormous wings had his tongue sliding over my nipple as he withdrew and rose further in the air.

"Behave, my kitten," he rumbled in so deep a base, it vibrated my lungs. A few more flaps of his wings and he soared out over the city.

My breath released. I hadn't even realized I was holding it. Norns, he was just so damn sensuously overwhelming and dangerously unpredictable. I still wasn't entirely confident he wouldn't eat me if I accidentally pissed him off. He'd certainly eaten the occasional demon who'd angered him in his throne room over the last two weeks. Every time, the sight scared me spitless.

Pulse still pounding heavily in my veins, I left the courtyard through a set of gates and turned into an alley leading to the nearby market. I tapped my wrist, activating the brand, to check the time and my messages. Bloudwedd, Ethan, and Marcus were meeting me at a tavern for drinks in an hour. As much as I disliked the idea of a tracker on my arm, the damn thing was useful and couldn't be lost the way our Valkyrie ear cuff communicators could. It also seemed to have a vaster range, as Pazuzu's palace was several hundred kilometres away, although only minutes by dragon wing.

Distracted scrolling through messages, I didn't see the woman until I bowled her over.

"Shit! Sorry. Totally my fault," I said as I helped her gather the scattered tied silken packages, picking up the colourful bundles on the grey slate cobblestones of the street.

She shoved a hip-length fall of ebony hair back behind her shoulder as she knelt on hands and knees to pile her items in a woven blue grass basket. "No, it was definitely my fault, standing and gawking in the middle of the alley. I just can't help myself when he's around."

I met her thickly lashed golden brown eyes. Finely boned, she had delicate features and smooth umber skin. She was gorgeous, with an open, almost unconscious sensuality to her movements. I couldn't stop myself from staring. When she worried a plump lower lip with gleaming snowy teeth and glanced towards the burnt-orange sky, the urge to taste that lip had me leaning towards her before I caught myself. Pazuzu had made it very clear that while he'd likely have multiple acolytes at some point, he didn't share. I didn't dare indulge. Even if he'd left the blood humming in my veins and my arousal heightened by adrenaline. Damn dragon.