Sanguine (Kreuzberg Dragonshifters Book 2)

Sanguine Part 9

Paul inhaled the sweet, heavy scent of roses, as he waited for Richard to return from the closest ice cream stand with his requested sweet, cold treat. He closed his eyes and smiled, before he lifted his face up to the late afternoon sun, just beginning to dip down ever further towards the horizon. He wondered what it would be like to shift now, to let the air fan over his currently human-flesh-caged wings, to soar and to fly and to truly live in his dragon form. He knew, however, that he couldn't risk that, couldn't risk being seen and captured and potentially experimented upon. His mind, both waking and dreaming, had run over numerous possibilities, all of which left him scared and cold and almost depressed, on the verge of tears and a near breakdown. He couldn't leave Richard alone, either, through taking such a risk, so his wings stayed furled inside his human form, cramped and impatient, yet safe.

He smelt Richard even before he heard the other's footfalls coming closer and felt the warm copper of Richard's affection, overlaid by the sweet, cold scent of the ice cream he held. Paul caught the aroma of chocolate and strawberry; he'd picked double-chocolate chip, with sticky lashings of extra chocolate sauce, whilst Richard had plumped seemingly for the strawberry ice cream. Paul inhaled again and chuckled when he realised, by scent alone, just how much strawberry sauce Richard had asked for; the ratio of sauce to ice cream was almost equal.

"You know, that much strawberry sauce will likely rot your teeth," Paul murmured, before Richard had even stopped at his side.

"Says the dragonet with closed eyes and two litres of chocolate sauce," Richard huffed as he waved Paul's requested ice cream beneath his nose. "Just eat it and worry about your teeth later. Besides, I don't think a dragon's teeth fall out easily. We can also grow new ones."

"We can do that?" Paul asked, in surprise, as he finally opened his eyes.

"Yeah," Richard said, with a confirming nod. "I had one knocked out once and it grew back in an hour."

"What did you do to knock out a tooth, Reesh?" Paul asked, with an interested laugh, as he took his first lick of ice cream with an appreciative purr.

Richard suddenly looked embarrassed and seemed almost as though he wasn't going to answer.

"Richard," Paul said, with an amused huff, as he prodded his mate gently through their link with a wash of feigned grey irritation.

"I flew into the side of a barn by accident," Richard muttered, voice barely audible. "I scared the cows inside."

"I bet you bloody did. They probably thought they were dinner," Paul laughed, as he grinned from behind his ice cream.

"One was," Richard grinned. "So the meal made up for my accident."

"I bet," Paul smiled, before he licked his ice cream again. "You know this is really good. You should try this."

He held out the ice cream in Richard's direction, and watched as the other man licked at it, translucent eyes trained wickedly upon Paul's face. Richard licked again, tongue sliding over the surface of the ice cream more slowly that time, a deep, almost orgasmic groan leaking past his parted lips as he did so. Paul swallowed, feeling a ball of lust lodge somewhere in the region of his throat; his dick stirred into partially interested life and Richard laughed; undoubtedly, he could smell Paul's arousal as clearly as he could see the purple hues of it behind his eyes.

"You are a cock tease, Richard Kruspe," Paul murmured, with a gentle smile.

"I've been called worse things," Richard murmured back. "And besides, I don't tease. Whatever I've got, babe, is yours."

"I know," Paul said, smugly, which made Richard laugh.

Paul licked at Richard's ice cream when it was offered to him, tongue describing patterns into the thick and syrupy sauce; he could smell Richard's own arousal heavy in the air, further tinged by a wash of interested colours through their link and he eased away with a smug grin, one point in his favour in the war of teasing that had suddenly sprung up between them. They meandered through the park then, enjoying the late afternoon sun and watching the people stroll by or sunbathing, whilst they continued to eat ther ice cream. After a while, Paul became aware of being followed. He didn't say anything at first, merely observed, and watchful, but apparantly Richard had noticed the same thing, alerted to it by the turquoise of Paul's sudden anxiety. Whatever caught Paul's notice, always invariably caught Richard's; not much could get past the all encompassing attention of a dragon-shifter, after all, even without the soul-bond they shared.