6. Envious

(Vera)

Mateo’s finger was scorching as he trailed it down my throat, looking absolutely sure of what he was doing. I couldn’t quite figure him out, and it was making me confused. Perplexed. I have always been good at figuring people and things out. But five years ago, I failed once, with the prince, and he is still haunting me now.

There was a smug smile playing against his lips that rubbed me in all the wrong places. I had half a mind to kick him in the family jewels and run.

"Do not kick him there. What if it never worked again?” Nova wondered aloud. “You will never get to taste and-”

“Nobody is going to taste anything, Nova, you hussy!” I snapped as I stared at the prince.

“It is a promise,” he whispered.

“Game on, prince. It is a f*cking game on,” I hissed at him and he shook his head, looking quite amused at my anger.

“Do not provoke me, thief. I will stop you. I will. And you will have to walk away, your tail tucked between your thighs,” he licked his lips as if he just remembered what was between my thighs. I remembered what was between my thighs, too, and the thing was not being very subtle with the amount of juice it was secreting right now. Ugh! This was shameful. Absolutely shameful.

"Maybe, if you ask him very nicely, he will help you with the problem happening under here,” my dragon cheekily said, and I shuddered. I just hoped he wouldn’t smell my arousal right now.

“How are you going to stop me, prince?” I glared at him, more angry than what he was doing to my p*ssy without even touching me than about him supposedly stopping the burglary. My mind was out of focus when it came to other things. Only the prince was in my focus.

“Maybe I will lock you in my room and handcuff you to my bed,” he said without pausing, and my eyes flashed. My body moaned in neediness. I gritted my teeth as I watched the smug son of the queen. “And maybe I will rip your panties off and-”

“And maybe I will rip your face off.” I said in a cool tone, and his answering smile was fast and potent and it almost made me lose my footing and fall. He was gorgeous, but he was only a blip in my plans. I knew what I wanted. Yes. I wanted his body, but I didn’t want anything else from him. Especially not what he was offering.

Once the mate bond was severed, this would stop, too. These overwhelming, maddening feelings. It was a weakness and I didn’t like weakness.

I would never give a person that much power over me. I knew how disgustingly powerful and dreadfully restricting a mate bond could be. I have seen it destroy many people, and I would never be one of those people. I had too much self-respect to ever lower myself to that level.

“Oh, Vera, Vera...” he smirked as he caressed my face, his fingers soft and tempting. And wait, what the hell was I thinking about just before he touched me?

Ah, lower myself... my self-respect.

Right now, though, I wanted to lower myself to the ground and then take him between my lips. The image was instant, of him standing there, legs apart, c*ck erect, hands tangled in my hair, pushing me towards his greedy c*ck. I gasped. My lips parted in that quick flash of image in my head, and the heat in my body was beyond anything I could take.

It was fun when I was the one at the advantage, but now that he was looking at me, trying to one-up me, not so much. I shook my head, trying to push that image of him between my lips out of my head, but Nova was insistent on recollecting it over and over.

“You played me... and you enjoyed every second of it. What happened now? Did you think that I wouldn’t find you? Is that why kissing me was so easy?”

“I am trying to make this easy on you,” I sighed, shaking my head.

A lock of hair fell to my eyes, and I stilled when he tugged the hair and played with it as if it was totally normal. I didn’t push his hand away. It just felt innocent.

“Really? So kind of you. And how are you trying to make it easy for me?” he asked with a teasing smile and I scrunched my nose at him.

“You see, I am a thief and you are a prince. Nobody will accept me as the queen,” I said. My heart twisted a little bit, but that was nothing.

“It is not a problem. I will just hide you in my room if I have to,” he said without missing a beat. “And I will make sure your boyfriend won’t find out how much you want me.” He licked his lips as his eyes flicked to my breasts.

“My eyes are up here,” I breathed out.

“Oh, but your n.pples are calling out to me. So loudly,” he whispered in a voice that made my blood tingle, and I gasped. I looked down and sure enough, I could see the outline of my nip.ples through my loose t-shirt, hard and erect. Begging to be tasted by him. And knowing that he knew it too... it irritated me to no end. “You want any help with that, Vera?” His voice was temptation.

I almost screamed Yes, please!

“What a supercilious jerk. It is a miracle your neck is not breaking from all this weight of your head!” I muttered with a hiss as I pushed his hand away from my cheek even though I wanted it right there.

He chuckled darkly as his jade green eyes scanned me and my raising and falling breasts. His eyes smoldered as he took a step closer to me.

“My neck is fine, thief. Don’t worry about my neck! Worry about yours. I might take a bite of it.” He said as he placed a hand around my neck.

He pushed me to the tree and the cold, scrappy texture of the stem was so in contrast to the softness of his hand.

He came closer to me and I knew there was no way in hell I could resist anymore. He smelled dangerously addictive. He smelled like rain-soaked ground. He smelled like a field full of moonflowers drenched in the overnight mist. I inhaled deeply, greedily, trying to take all of him in.

Right at that moment, I knew he was feeling the exact same thing I was feeling and the knowledge of it was like a pure, quick thrill of adrenaline, even through the shadows of doubt and fear.

“What is this game? I told you I didn’t want to do this.”

The prince looked at me, his eyes dark and hooded, full of storm, and I was so damn afraid of my own feelings at that moment. It was big and scary and all-consuming. I didn’t want to feel like that. I had never wanted to feel like that.

My heart wildly banged inside my chest, as if it wanted to jump at him. My whole body begged to close the remaining distance between us and feel all of him. Again. And again. Until I didn’t feel this obsessive need anymore.

“But I do. I do want to play this, Vera. And I will!” he said, his voice a soft breath against my heated cheek. I gasped, and it was a wild, wanton sound. “And don’t talk back to me, Vera. You will get punished.”

“What will you do?” I whispered and quickly bit my tongue, when a moan left my lips.

His eyes flashed, lightening and thunder. I felt a small turn in my heart, but I knew this moment was fleeting. I knew this look in his eyes was a temporary malfunction. But even knowing that didn’t put a damper on my overheated, lusty body.

He was like the devil, offering me a succulent apple, but taking that apple might get me banished from heaven. But oh, I was tempted. So damn tempted. I couldn’t help the reaction in my body. It was sending so many mixed signals right now. I couldn’t decipher any of them.

“Curiosity, they say, is treacherous territory. It might kill you.” His eyes glinted as his fingers traced my pulse. I closed my eyes. I was so f*cking weak to stand against this.

His touch was so powerful and I felt like I would die if I didn’t let him touch me. Heat pooled between my thighs. His eyes sparked.

“I can smell you, Vera. The hint of your arousal, and I want to... I want to touch you, Vera. Touch you and eat you.” He licked his lips as he stared straight into my eyes. “I want to lick you clean, I want to thrust my tongue inside you and hear you scream for more.”

I leaned my head against the tree, moaning.

My f*cking body was a traitor. It was as if my brain was programmed in one language, and my body totally didn’t understand that language.

I cursed my body for acting like a puppet in his hands... it moved when he moved, it arched, when he teased, It tensed when he tried to reach me.

“Get the hell away from her or I will cut your hands off.”

I jerked away, bumping my head against the tree. Mateo’s eyes turned dark, and this time, it wasn’t from lust.

Ezra glared at the prince as he walked towards me, looking concerned, and I died of guilt and shame right then and there. I stared at him, and he was looking at me, a concerned look on his face, as if he was worried the prince had hurt me. His eyes flashed as he looked at Mateo.

“You alright, baby?” Ezra touched my face with a soft look on his face. Oh, how could I ever tell him that I was more than alright with the prince touching me?!

The prince growled. I looked at him, and I could see his eyes flashing. Shifting colors, and going back. His dragon.. Uh-oh!

“What the hell do you think you are doing? I will kill you for this.” Ezra was angry.

“Ez, don’t worry, it is fine,” I tried to stop Ezra. Ezra, though, was like a warrior, defending my honor. Unfortunately for him and me, I had no damn honor. Or principle.

“Turn and leave this place. You are not welcome here,” Ezra said.

“Well, since this land belongs to me, I think I am welcome here.”

“What the hell are you-”

“I haven’t introduced myself, am I?” Mateo’s voice was cool and calm, but his eyes were so not. “I am prince Mateo, and I absolutely don’t like it when people threaten me.”

I could see his hands were turning into bright green scales. I quickly went and stood between both them. I didn’t want anything bad to happen.

“Stop,” I said to Mateo. He glared at me, his eyes accusing. “Please, stop.”

He took a step away from me, and another, and before I could do or say anything else, he shifted into a big, majestic dragon. His emerald scales with copper ones glowed as he flew away, and then he disappeared into the darkness.

"Oh, his dragon is the most beautiful dragon I have ever seen.”

“In your dreams, Nova.”

"In your dreams, too, because I know your dreams, Vera!”

-----