Lovestruck, a Dragon Story by Bonnie Vanak Page B

darkness. “Our territory is the night sky. We make our homes wherever we please, and that is what truly upsets your father, and your king, Anna. They fear us taking over your compound and stealing your treasure.”
    “There is treasure enough for all. I don’t know why dragons hoard. I would gladly share my clan’s gold with you and your clan.”
    “You are a rare treasure, Anna,” he said quietly, his hand skimming over her bare arm, coaxing a shiver from her. “If you were my daughter, I would fear losing you as well. But he can’t keep us apart.”
    His voice deepened. “Anna. You’re so damn lovely.”
    The moon hung like a lemon wedge in the increasingly dark sky. There was no one around but them, no one to see.
    “Stand up,” she ordered.
    When he did, she rose as well. Filled with daring, Anna waved the wand again and suddenly he was naked. Breath fled her as the moonlight gleamed on his tanned skin, the hardened planes of muscle and sinew. Her gaze flicked down to the nest of dark hair at his groin and his thick erection.
    Michael’s gaze was steady as he regarded her. “So this is it, Anna? This is what you truly desire?”
    “Yes.”
    The promise of sensual pleasure shone in his eyes. Reading his expression, Anna moistened her lips. Instinct told her Michael wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She wanted to be more than friends. Though she would not experience her first shift into dragon until age twenty-one, Anna knew what she wanted, what he wanted. Anna kicked off her white sandals and leaned closer.
    When he bent his head toward her mouth, she leaned close. Warmth poured through her. Every cell tingled with awareness and anticipation. He was going to kiss her, finally. She closed her eyes, waiting with breathless eagerness.
    The first touch of his mouth upon hers was a whisper of a kiss, a brush of his lips against hers. Soft as a butterfly’s wing. Anna leaned closer and then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him up against her. His hard, naked body flush against hers.
    The magick wand in her hand tumbled to the sands.
    With a low groan, he kissed her harder and she opened beneath him like a flower as his tongue sought and probed. Not a mere kiss, this, but a maddened coupling of two desperate souls seeking something deeper outside themselves. A clashing of kindred spirits, a stripping of all they both carefully concealed to bare their equal needs before each other. It was the hottest dragonfire and longing, two molten liquid rivers melding together in forged passion.
    She strained against him, rubbing seductively. He gently slipped his hands around her and cupped her buttocks to cradle her against his hard arousal. She felt an aching demand to mate, their bodies tangling in passion as fierce as those of dragons in the heat of mating. Anna moaned, her hands caressing the hard muscles of his back. Fire raged in her loins. She imagined being splayed beneath him, her body trembling with need as he slowly joined them together.
    And then Michael stopped kissing her. In the gathering dark, she saw his erection straining eagerly toward her, though physically the rest of him had pulled away. She saw the shock in his dark gaze.
    Her heart raced as the truth dawned upon her, and judging from the look on his face, he knew it as well.
    “I knew it,” she breathed.
    Stunned, he stared. “It’s you. You’re my true mate.”

    Michael had never dreamed he’d find his true mate, especially a dragon from Clan Tyrith.
    After his parents had died beneath the claws of dragons from that clan during a flare-up of violence, he’d forced himself to remember that not all dragons from Clan Tyrith were bad.
    There was Anna. Anna was different. And though he could never forgive those from her clan who killed his beloved parents, he would never forsake their deep friendship. As he grew older, friendship turned into something deeper, a hot desire that ignited his veins each time she drew near.
    Anna was