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  The manacles hung high on the rock, but were made for the smaller statures of most of the women of her tribe. She refused to think about how many times during the centuries of the tribe's existence a human sacrifice had been given. She had never known of any, but the manacles, though rusted with age, still worked perfectly. Not waiting for anyone to make her helpless, she fastened them around her own wrists. This wasn't something she wanted the others near for. She would face this alone like a warrior. It was the only part of herself she wasn't willing to sacrifice to the dragon. Her pride.

  Thus, without realizing exactly what she'd done, Brynn willingly gave herself to the dragon, Tegyr. No one would force her, no one would give her to him. She gave herself. Far above even the clouds, a triumphant roar that shook the very heavens sounded. Brynn might quake with fear, but she had done the one thing that sealed her fate. And that of Tegyr.

  Dragon Sacrifice

  Chapter Four

  She waited. She had offered herself and she waited. Tegyr needed to go to her, but he had to get himself under some semblance of control before he did. He had no doubt his woman would be made to take the rough handling he would undoubtedly dish out, but he didn't want to come to her their first time completely out of control with mindless lust. It was a battle he was losing.

  The form of the dragon soothed him little. If anything, it made things worse. The need to claim his mate was stronger than ever. This close to breaking a centuries’ long celibacy, his cock ruled his body. He needed to sink himself deep within her wet pussy. He needed to sate himself completely within her lush body.

  She stood still, head held high, arms above her head chained to the rock. A proud sacrifice to be sure. A dragon's sacrifice. His sacrifice.

  With another mighty roar, Tegyr dove beneath the clouds, his wings folded to allow for the greatest speed. At the last possible second, he spread them, stirring the air as he flapped them and hovered just beyond the cliff face over the ocean. The thin fabric of her maiden's gown whipped around her slender legs. Some of the flowers in her hair pulled loose and blew down the hill toward the villagers. Screams and shrieks of horror echoed from the foot of the cliff where they turned and abandoned their “tribute;” not even her sister and the women's mates attempted to stay and protect Brynn from the fury of their dragon lord. Cowards. He wanted to sympathize, but to think that the whole tribe would abandon anyone the way they had Brynn infuriated him. He had a mad urge to set the whole area aflame and to hell with all of them.

  His Brynn stood tall, head high, clearly accepting her fate, whatever it might be. In that moment, he had more pride in her than he'd ever had in anyone or anything in his long existence. This was most definitely the mate of a dragon.

  Tegyr hovered over the cliff and shifted into his human form. He knew he was an imposing sight. Heavily muscled, he was a big man. Tall. His long raven hair whipped about him in the wind as the sea battered the cliff with not only salty spray, but wind from a storm pounding the water miles out. It was almost as if Mother Nature were protesting the artificial creation of a mate. He wished he were noble enough to care. Deliberately, he stayed nude. She needed to see him as he was. Mother Nature be damned. He would use everything he was to keep his mate. All that mattered to him at the moment was the woman meeting his gaze so bravely.

  “You are Brynn of Tye.” He hoped his voice didn't shake like he suspected it might. He heard the slight tremor, but hoped she wouldn't. She was a warrior maiden and wouldn't take kindly to her mate being a simpering fool.

  “I am.” She took a deep breath, never letting her gaze drop from his. “I present myself as tribute to our Lord Dragon, Tegyr, so that my sister might produce children and strengthen the tribe.”

  “You do so freely?” The question cost him dearly. He knew she hadn't done it of her own accord. If she'd had the choice, she'd be blissfully off fighting with one of the pitiful warriors of her tribe. The mere thought maddened him almost beyond endurance.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again. What was she thinking? Did she believe that if she said she was forced she could escape him? Tegyr knew his own strength, knew himself better than most men, or dragons. If she claimed she was forced to present herself, he wasn't strong enough to leave her. Not now that he had her so close.

  “I do.” Her voice was strangled as if forced from an overly dry throat. She was frightened, but meeting her fate as bravely as any warrior. This, he could deal with. If she needed her fears eased, if she needed to know her fate wasn't so horrible after all, he could certainly convince her she'd made the right choice.

  He walked toward her, careful to approach slowly. For several steps, she kept her gaze fastened securely on his face. But as he drew closer, her eyes fluttered over his body, light as butterfly wings before colliding with his gaze once again. Did he see appreciation in her eyes? Was his form as pleasing to her as hers was to him?

  “You have no idea how long I've waited for you, little warrior. Don't fear me. You are the one person in the whole of your tribe who is safe from me. I would protect you with my life, and the lives of everyone around us. You...are my mate.”

  Her sharply indrawn breath made him smile. “I guess the matrons knew what they were about after all,” she muttered. “I'm a warrior, Lord Tegyr, not a mate. I'm not made—”

  “You were made for me. Everything you are was done with my pleasure in mind. You...are exactly what I want.” With a wave of his hand, Tegyr removed her gown, leaving her as naked as he was. She gasped and pulled against her bonds, as if to cover herself. Tegyr would never allow that. “You are mine, Brynn of Tye. The dragon's mate.”

  With that, he bent his head to kiss her. He expected she would pull away, try to deny him, but she didn't. She met his hunger with one of her own. He sensed her surprise at her own behavior, but she seemed to embrace her need. She opened her mouth willingly to him, eagerly, his hunger seeming to drive her own need.

  Tegyr wrapped his arms around her, his hands shaping her curves, finding every hollow carved into the sleek muscle of her form. Thick flame-red tresses whipped around them, tangling with his own raven mass, the wind binding them together as surely as the long-ago magic had. The thick, heavy erection that was evidence of his need of her pressed insistently between them, and Teygr ground himself against the hard rippled flesh of her abdomen. She was truly a dragon's mate in every sense of the word.

  “I can't wait to take you home,” he growled. “I must have a taste of you now or I'll go mad with the need.”

  He didn't wait for her consent, but dropped his head to the peak of one breast, taking the nipple into his mouth. Her cries were music to his ears. The wind whipped the silvery notes around them and back to the village. Everyone there would know she belonged to him. It was just as well. None there deserved her. She who braved the fires of the dragon for her people. Her family.

  A fresh wave of lust swamped Teygr, the jolt bringing him to his knees. Sweet Seven! Her cunt was directly in front of him, its honeyed fragrance beckoning him with the promise of bliss. He absolutely was not strong enough to resist.

  Dragon Sacrifice

  Chapter Five

  The second he dipped his tongue through her velvet folds, Teygr was lost. Honeyed sweetness exploded in his mouth as he drank her. Brynn tasted as close to the fabled lands of Heven as he was likely to get. His whole world centered around the woman chained to the rock in tribute to the dragon. Her sex wept for him, rewarded his efforts with creamy nectar that fueled his lust beyond reason.

  Brynn thrashed underneath his questing tongue. Her cries and pleas grew louder and stronger with every dip and lick of his tongue. Legs spread wide, she invited him in, and Teygr took her offering without hesitation.

  Spearing his tongue deep inside her, he coaxed more and more from her, milking both her intimate moisture and her cries of pleasure as much as he could. There was no way the entire tribe didn't hear her now, one more tie binding her to him. She truly was a warrior wit
hout measure, taking what she wanted and damn how everyone thought she should behave. This was his woman. His mate. And she was taking what was hers with both hands.

  With a desperate little cry, Brynn raised first one leg, then the other to wrap around Teygr's neck. Teygr stood to give himself a more sturdy base to hold her. He braced her with his hands on her ass and sucked her wet flesh into his mouth. With frenzied movements, Brynn rode his face. She wrapped her hands around the chains binding her and took exactly what she wanted from him. Teygr knew she was as needy and desperate as he was. The muscles in her legs and buttocks bunched, her abdomen rippled and the muscles in her arms stood out in stark relief against the fair skin that encased them. She was a woman used to getting what she wanted, and right now, she wanted his mouth on her cunt.

  Teygr could have wept for joy. Truly, she had been made for him. She had a sexual appetite to rival his own, even if it was as yet untapped. Passion flowed in her veins just like that of the dragon. She would always hunger for him as long as he stayed in her good graces. He intended to always be in her good graces.

  She was truly magnificent. Here, on the pinnacle of her orgasm, her skin flushed, her hair whipping about her like silken ribbons, she looked much like he imagined a goddess of lust might look. It was as if she truly had forgotten herself and simply lived in the moment. Nothing in this world, not the circle of forty-nine, not the seven, nothing and no one would have made him stop his ministrations to her cunt. Her breaths came in little gasps, pants of need. With every thrust of her hips, with every slide of her clit over his lips, she moaned and whimpered louder and louder.

  Finally, her legs clamped around his head with punishing intensity. Teygr was afraid she might smother him, but what a fucking way to go! Honeyed cream flooded his mouth, ran down his chin. Teygr couldn't have been happier had he been served a seven-course meal on the finest china. Brynn exploded around him, came apart in his arms. She screamed, his name carried from her lips to drift on the wind back to the village.

  She went limp, her hands letting go of the chains binding her. Teygr settled her in his arms, waving his hand so the manacles fell from her wrists to clank loudly against the rock wall. He looked at her a moment, memorizing every beloved line of her face until she opened her eyes, drowsy in the aftermath of her orgasm.

  Large, luminous green eyes met his own with such need he nearly dropped to the ground and took her right there. Gone was the defiant, frightened look from when he first saw her, and in its place was a woman who had just been thoroughly pleased.

  “I will never harm you, little warrior.” Teygr was compelled to remind her she was the only person in her tribe who was truly safe with him. “I want to take you home where I can truly enjoy you. You will be mine for an eternity. Mine to pleasure. Mine to hold. My Dragon's Mate.” He inclined his head slightly. “Will you consent to my claim?” It was all very formal, but Teygr wanted there to be no mistake Brynn came to him of her own free will. She had to choose him, not be secreted off to some lair where he could use her if she wanted no part of it.

  She looked at him a moment, those green eyes sparkling like gems in the morning sunlight. Then she smiled. Bringing her hand to his shadowed jaw, she nodded her head. “I do, Lord Dragon Teygr. I accept your claim and will willingly be the Dragon's Mate.”

  Dragon Sacrifice

  Chapter Six

  Brynn was lightheaded; her body still zinged from the orgasm that had shaken her to her core. The bliss that overtook her didn’t even allow her to be alarmed when Teygr shifted right in front of her. Before he’d stood taller than any man she’d ever known, thick, inky black hair falling straight down his incredibly broad shoulders. Completely nude, the dragon in male form made her want to swallow her tongue. Oddly. now that he had shifted into dragon form, she found him every bit as sexy.

  The dragon was a mixture of iridescent deep blues and greens, glowing in the direct sunlight. He was huge, bigger than any building she had ever seen. Like some kind of trained pet, he lowered his head and massive neck, the intent clear. She was to climb on. On shaky legs, Brynne did just that, sliding on the neck of the massive creature. Her arms didn’t fit all the way around his neck, so there was no choice but to hold on to the large scales that covered his colossal muscles.

  The scales felt surprisingly warm under her hands. She winced as she hung on, but really there was nothing else to hang on to.

  “You aren’t hurting me. Hold on tight. I would not lose you.”

  Hearing the male voice emitting from the mouth of a dragon should’ve been disconcerting. Unfortunately her body was still humming with erotic electricity. Her pussy throbbed, satisfied, but still in need of more. Something was missing. Her channel ached to be filled. Tegyr had been so passionate and aroused when he'd pleasured her. Standing completely nude, she had seen evidence of his need. The gloriously long, full shaft had bobbed, pearls of pre-cum dotting the tip. She'd thought he would take her on the cliffside, but apparently he had other ideas. She didn't mind, really. She wanted him, but it seemed wrong somehow to consummate their union there near her village, the very people who had basically sold her out.

  But gods! She ached! She needed to be filled with him. Every part of her cried out to him, needing to be his in every way a woman could be a man's—or in this case dragon’s. Visions of just how beautiful his shaft had looked made her rub her bare mons against his heated scales. Her breasts ached, her cunt wept. He had better take her soon. He glanced back at her once more before spreading those great, leathery wings and jumping off the cliff over the deep blue green of the sea.

  At first, Brynn clutched at his neck, screaming and closing her eyes and burying her face there. Her stomach lurched at the sudden dive, but then he pulled up and the wind pulled at her hair. The fresh salt scent of the sea filled her with a sense of renewal. It was as if the very waters welcomed her into their loving arms. Flying with Tegyr was the most exhilarating sensation she'd ever experienced, other than his lovemaking. This was more than a mating to her. This was a homecoming. For the first time in her life, she knew she belonged. It wasn't just a longing, a needing. She truly belonged exactly where she was.

  Adjusting to the sensations around her, the wind whipping her hair back from her face, Brynn gingerly sat up. She looked over Teygr's head at the breathtaking scene in front of her that was the golden sunrise. Teygr flew straight at the sun so that Brynn was certain he might fly straight into the warm flames given enough time. Loosening her hold on Teygr's neck, she spread her arms out and cried out in pure joy. Free, she was finally free.

  Until this moment Brynne never realized how long she’d been waiting for something, anything to happen to make her life mean something. Not that she wasn’t appreciated within her tribe. She had just always had a sense that somewhere out there there was something more. This was the something more. Teygr. He consumed her, but she had the feeling she consumed him just as much. They were two halves of the same whole, and she wasn't about to leave something so precious. She knew in her very soul that this was right.

  She was so absorbed in her musings, she missed the subtle shift of flight. Instead of flying into the sun, they now rose above it, into the clouds. The sun seemed to follow them, welcoming them as the sea and air had. Way in the distance, seeming to sit in the clouds themselves, seven elegant spires rose from a golden structure. The sun seemed to swallow them as they leveled out, but there was no mistaking they headed toward those spires.

  As they neared the building, Brynn saw it was a golden castle with a courtyard of deep greens and golds sprawled out in front. A massive gate of sparkling gems barred entrance to any save those who could fly, but even the sky was protected by some kind of magical energy field. It shimmered and sparkled over the castle, creating the illusion of undulating waves.

  Brynn watched in fascination as they flew through the barrier to land in the courtyard below. Everything was encrusted in jewels or gold. The castle seemed to sparkle with it, as did the trees
and bushes and benches. Brynn was reminded of the Yule festival the tribe celebrated every winter, only much more extravagant. Was this where she would live now? Would he keep her for a season, or forever? Dragons didn’t live forever, but they did love for centuries, far longer than any human known. Would she be returned to her tribe as she aged?

  Questions whirled around in her mind so much so she didn’t notice Tegyr shifted from dragon form to that of a human man once more.

  “Does your new home meet your approval?” The deep timbre of his voice caressed her like tender hands against her flesh. Suddenly the raging lust she had felt being chained as some kind of sacrifice to a carnal god came rushing back. Her knees got weak as she drank in the sight of him. He really was marvelously made.

  “It is beautiful.” Much more than she had ever hoped to possess as a simple warrior.

  “It is yours. As my mate you will want for nothing. I will take you back to your tribe when you have need of human contact. I will protect you until my dying breath.” To her utter disbelief, the imposing figure dropped to his knee in front of her. Even bending like that, his head almost came to the top of her chest. Gods, he was too beautiful. “If you will share my heart, you will not age, not grow old, wither and die for centuries to come. We will make strong children, leaders of their people. Just say you will be mine and all I have is yours.”

  Dragon Sacrifice

  Chapter Seven

  Tegyr had known fear once in his long existence before this moment, and that too had involved this woman. If she said no, he would be lost. Fighting a horde alone was less daunting than the wait for her reply. It only took seconds, but each one stretched into long, lonely seasons.