Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
The trap.
The cage.
The place where he could have me cornered and defenseless, stripped down to nothing but trembling skin and a racing pulse.
Heat pooled low in my belly, twisting tight. My thighs pressed together as though they had a mind of their own.
Well. . .damn. . .
Of course I was turned on by the thought.
The candlelight thinned around me, curling like a signal toward the ceiling.
I looked to my right.
For a heartbeat I swore I saw his shadow in the haze, towering, muscular, and waiting, but when I blinked. It was gone.
My thighs clenched.
My heart thundered.
Fuck it. Let’s see if I’m right or wrong.
I headed into the shower.
One foot in.
Then, the second foo—
Fast, massive arms wrapped around me from behind, before my other foot could even hit the tile.
A scream tore up my throat but died in the clutch of his palm, as he sealed his hand around my mouth.
Holy fuck!
The shock was so sudden, so brutal, my knees buckled. He hadn’t been in the shower at all. He’d been waiting and close enough to taste me the moment I dared to think I was safe.
Oh shit. Oh shit.
Chapter thirty-eight
Trapped by the Dragon
Nyomi
In Kenji’s iron-tight hold, my heartbeat hammered in my chest.
Frantic.
Useless.
Like a bird slamming itself against the bars of a cage.
His huge, tattooed arms weren’t just around me. They were walls of flesh and heat, merciless in their hold, locking me so close I could feel the river of his needy pulse surging against mine.
His palm sealed over my mouth.
Firm.
Possessive.
Why hasn’t he said anything yet?
His stillness was worse than violence.
His restraint was savage.
His silence was punishment.
Yet in that silence, I understood that I wasn’t just in his arms. I was inside his hunger. Swallowed whole. Pulse by pulse. A heartbeat pounding inside a beast who ground against me, fed my ache, but refused to let me come.
A beast who would fuck me, wreck me, worship me. . .on his time.
Never mine.
He dragged his cock along the curve of my ass, long, thick, brutal in its threat. Hot enough to sear through the damp slip of my robe, heavy enough to remind me with every breath that he could tear my pussy open and brand himself inside me at will.
A subtle shift came.
His cock’s broad head pressed harder, dragging slow along the seam of my ass.
My pussy throbbed in steady, needy beats that matched the pounding of my heart. Wet heat gathered between my thighs, begging him for more.
Steam curled around us, weaving into the salt of his body and the iron edge of his breath.
When I inhaled, I drowned in him.
Smoke.
Fire.
Hunger.
The furnace of his chest seared into my spine, branding me. My body softened against the prison of his arms, even as every nerve screamed alive—thighs trembling, clit aching, lungs stealing only the air he allowed.
His silence pressed harder than his cock.
And it was enough to break me.
Across from me, the glossy black stone of the shower wall had caught just enough of the light for me to see our reflection shimmering there.
Although the image was fractured a little by the water spray, I could see some of Kenji’s face. I could definitely make out his eyes.
I tensed.
He was staring straight at me, looking at our reflection too.
I widened my eyes.
His mouth curved into a sneer that was cruel and delicious all at the same time.
But it wasn’t his face that froze me.
It was the shadow behind him.
Black.
Thick.
Rising up like smoke made flesh.
Growing along the back wall.
Stretching tall.
Curling around him.
His dragon is here too.
I shivered and didn’t know if that was good or bad.
The few times I had seen that shadow, it had terrified me. I knew I was crazy or living in some fantasy world, but this was never some trick of the light or some one-time odd occurrence with the warping of shadows.
This dragon-shadow felt alive, menacing, and watchful.
Even more, when I saw it, Kenji was stepping into his power.
Why did this. . .dragon-shadow surface now?
I had no idea what the answer could be, just that it was behind us.
Towering.
Breathing.
Claiming the steam, the stone, and the air itself.
Kenji lowered his head to the hollow where my neck met my shoulder and slowly. . .possessively. . .he breathed in my scent. When he finally spoke, his voice was wrecked velvet—low, deranged, fevered, and aching, “Tora. . .you are the criminal. I am the judge. This is your trial.”
I blinked.
“Your first offense, walking into my war room looking so fucking sexy and giving all of my men erections.”
I did my best to not grin.
“Every one of them looked at you, Tora. I saw it—the way their eyes followed your ass, your breasts, your fucking heels. They wanted you.” His cock ground harder against me, brutal, possessive. “But they don’t get you. No one does. Only me. If another man so much as touches this pussy, I’ll slit his throat and make you lick the blood from my fingers while I fuck you screaming.”