She was feeling pretty celebratory herself. Niall smiled up at her as the sparks leapt with dazzling intensity. Just that contact kindled more heat, coaxing the firestorm to a bonfire that Rox didn't want to abandon. She twined her hands around his neck, letting her fingers slide through his hair, and touched her lips to his.
The firestorm flared bright, filling the room with orange light. Niall seduced Rox with another one of those slow, potent kisses that dissolved her bones. Rox locked her arms around his neck, closed her eyes, and surrendered to the moment. She kicked her feet when he deepened his kiss, loving the way his fingers spread across her back, exploring her even as he held her close.
Rox was burning, simmering, sizzling, from her lips to her toes.
When Niall pulled back and looked down at her, she wanted to complain. But he was intent, his gaze fixed upon her, his body tense. "I love you, Rox," he said, no doubt in his tone. Her heart skipped. "I don't want just a night. I want a lifetime."
The words put a quiver in Rox's belly. She'd ducked permanence for a long time, or at least she'd thought she had. But Niall was right. She committed long term to causes and real estate, to her art, and to her career.
She could commit to him.
"Me, too," she admitted, and even saying the words made her smile. "I think I loved you even before I knew you."
"Now you sound flaky," Niall teased as he grinned back at her.
Rox touched her lips to his, feeling a new urgency in their kisses. They unleashed a power with their mutual surrender and the flames burned higher in response.
They tasted and nibbled and explored each other, the flames raging hotter with every caress. Rox framed Niall's face in her hands, her kiss more demanding than it had ever been. She wanted all of him. She wanted every bit of his lore and his body and his thoughts; she wanted it today and she wanted it through forever.
She felt the skip of his heart, felt the thunder of his pulse. She felt the heat building beneath his skin and the trickle of perspiration on her own back. She wound herself around his strength, wanting only more contact and more firestorm, more skin pressed together.
Niall broke their kiss with an obvious effort. "Hold on." He squeezed her buttocks, then dropped her on the bed. His eyes glittered like sapphires and his body was pumped. Rox admired the view as he opened the bedroom door and glared into her living room.
Then she recalled that she had an apartment full of Pyr.
With keen hearing.
She blushed, realizing there could be no secrets or privacy in such company.
"Don't you all have somewhere to be?" Niall demanded. There was a flutter of activity, a rumble of old-speak, and the murmur of arrangements being made. Niall shut the door against their discussions and pivoted to face Rox as he leaned his back against the door.
He smiled.
She smiled.
"Now, where were we?" he murmured in a low voice.
Rox pointed at the mattress beside her. "You were right here, and I was just about to rip your jeans off."
"Let's keep things simple." Niall unfastened his jeans and kicked them aside, strolling nude across the floor to Rox's side. He was magnificent.
Instead of sitting on the bed, he bent and caught her nape in his hand, kissing her so thoroughly that she nearly forgot her own name.
Rox couldn't imagine that it was nearly as important as this.
In a way, Niall wanted to savor the firestorm and make its magic last. In another way, it fired his blood and made him burn with such desire that he couldn't resist it.
Or Rox.
Even better, he knew that what was developing between the two of them was going to long outlast the firestorm's sparks.
Niall tried to take it slow for the sake of Rox's injuries, but Rox showed no such inclination. Her passionate response--as always--kindled an answering desire within him. He couldn't resist her. He couldn't resist the firestorm. And he knew he would always feel this way about Rox.
The firestorm had been exactly right about his mate.
He joined her on the bed, their kiss never breaking. Her hands ran over his shoulders and down his arms, over his chest and down his ribs. He liked her curiosity about his body; he found her bold touch exciting and enticing. A line of sparks followed her hands, lit by her touch and leaving Niall simmering. The room was cast in the golden glow of firelight, the night pressed back into the sky beyond the windows.
Niall slid his hands over her, in turn, awed by the softness of her skin. He cupped her breast in his hand, easing his thumb over the taut peak. Rox gasped and he broke their kiss, bending to take her nipple in his mouth. He flicked his tongue against her, enjoying the way she writhed and gasped beneath his caress.
He let the weight of his hand slide lower, into the indent of her waist, down over her hip. She rolled her hips and purred, her fingers knotting in his hair to pull him back for another kiss.
Niall kissed her deeply, then eased his fingers between her thighs. Rox gasped when he touched her, then spread her thighs in silent invitation. Niall moved his fingers, slowly at first, then more quickly as Rox became more aroused. She moaned and her eyes sparkled as she lifted her hips against his hand. "You're teasing me," she complained.
Niall grinned. "Just wait," he said, then moved quickly down her length. He caught Rox's hips in his hands, holding her captive, then flicked his tongue against her heat.
Rox arched her back and gasped with pleasure. Niall teased her and touched her, using the firestorm's sparks to drive her wild. He held her fast, liking that she trusted him, that she wasn't afraid to show her response.
It was honest.
It was real.
He intended to make it last forever.
He felt the tension rise within her body and heard the thunder of her pulse. He aroused her with deliberate strokes, coaxing her pleasure to build until she was just shy of her release. Then he changed his gesture and rebuilt her desire all over again.
Rox moaned in complaint, but she clutched at his shoulders, demanding more and more. Niall was only too happy to comply. He felt as if they worked together for mutual satisfaction, as if each felt the other's passion as keenly as his and her own. He felt as if his body were on fire, his veins filled with molten lava, his heart pounding and fit to burst.
When Rox gasped, Niall felt as if the pleasure were his own. When Rox caught her breath, Niall felt short of air. She was slick and hot, writhing beneath his caress, sparks shooting from her fingertips. She locked her legs around his shoulders and Niall exhaled on her wet heat. Rox trembled and shook, and he flicked his tongue across her quivering softness. She gasped and he kissed her fully, lifting her from the bed as she moaned in her release. He held her tightly, giving her more pleasure when she would have moved away, coaxing her release to go on and on and on.
They fell onto the bed together; then Rox rolled over abruptly. Niall saw only the mischievous twinkle of her eyes before she pushed him to his back, her hand flat on his chest. She straddled him and took his erection into her mouth, the flick of her tongue and the answering volley of sparks making Niall clench the sheets in his fists.
She was every bit as relentless as he had been. She tormented him with her touch, first slow, then fast, first firm, then gentle. She compelled him to become harder and stronger than he had ever been, for his thoughts to be consumed with Rox, for his only imperative to be her possession. He felt his own heartbeat match time to hers; then his breath came in the same quick spurts. He could feel the heat rising between the two of them, making the boundaries of skin less relevant than they had been, blurring the division between the two of them.
When he couldn't stand it any longer, Niall seized her by the waist and turned her to face him. She stared at him in wonder as he eased himself into her tight heat, as the firestorm settled to a brilliant white light. That radiance surrounded them, blurring out all of the world except Rox and her magnificent eyes.
She smiled and Niall felt as if the wor
ld were his.
Rox pulled him deeper into her sweetness with every stroke. She locked her hands with his and rode him, slowly at first and then with greater speed. Her hips rocked against his, her gaze bored into his own, her cheeks flushed. They breathed as one. Their hearts pulsed as one. They became one. The firestorm burned brighter and hotter, becoming a conflagration that would change their worlds forever.
This was Niall's destiny.
Rox was Niall's destiny.
And he would willingly walk a thousand nightmares to keep her by his side.
He eased his fingers between them, coaxing her pleasure again. Rox moaned, rubbing herself against him as each stroke took them both closer to satisfaction. He looked into the sparkling blue of her eyes and knew that he was precisely where he needed to be. She whispered his name, and her eyes widened as the firestorm grew to greater heat, blinding in its brilliant intensity. The firestorm fused them together, its dancing flames making it unclear where one ended and the other began.
One.
Forever.
When Rox cried out and melted against him, the heat surged through Niall. It seared his skin, scorched his veins, and purified everything within him. It burned the past to ashes and tempered him into something new, someone stronger and better than he had ever been.
Niall was ready. He captured Rox's lips with his for a triumphant kiss as the firestorm rocketed through his body and claimed him completely.
Rox dozed beside Niall, unable to keep from running her hands over his body. There were no sparks lighting where she touched him, which had surprised her for a moment.
Then the reality of the satisfied firestorm made Rox smile. She felt warm and knew things were far from over between her and this Pyr.
She was okay with that.
The firestorm had changed her perspective. Its blaze had tempted her to reexamine her assumptions, to abandon those that weren't serving her well, to sear her wounds and move into a brighter future.
Or had it been Niall who had changed all of that? Rox didn't much care. She was happy. She was serene and sated, and it was a wonderful sensation.
She was, in fact, in love.
Rox's exploring fingertips found the bandage on Niall's shoulder and she touched it carefully. She had just recalled the scale coming off in her hands and the way Phelan had targeted the spot, when she realized Niall was watching her.
"You lost a scale," she whispered, and he nodded, proof that he had been aware of its coming away. "Does that happen a lot?"
"No." Niall got out of bed and tugged on his jeans again.
Rox had the sense that he was avoiding her gaze. Was the missing scale important? Or did it just worry him to be vulnerable? Rox would guess it was the second option. "Well, that's a good thing. Otherwise you'd have lots of holes in your armor."
Niall's expression was inscrutable, and Rox spoke quickly as she made her offer. "I was thinking about Chynna's conviction that tattoos are protective talismans." Getting out of bed herself, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before she dared to look at him again. "I was wondering whether you'd like me to give you a tattoo over that spot. It's not as good as having a real dragon at your back, but I could color it to match your scales so the loss was less evident."
Niall's eyes lit with pleasure and Rox knew she'd said something right. "That's a great idea."
"Even though you don't much like tattoos."
"I'm thinking I had a lack of information." His smile broadened, the glint in his eyes becoming appreciative. "And maybe a failure to appreciate the finer details."
Rox smiled back at him, basking in the glow of his attention. Niall sobered. "Tell me about your nightmare," he said softly.
"I can't." Rox tried to turn away, but Niall caught at her hand.
"Then tell me about your sisters," he urged, touching her tattoo.
Rox exhaled, then nodded. "Okay, that's easier." She pushed up the sleeve of her shirt and touched the tattoo. "That's Chynna, my sister of choice. And that's Suzie, my sister of blood."
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know." Rox saw his concern. "It's not a memorial tattoo--at least I hope it isn't. She ran away from home when she was sixteen and I was fifteen."
"Is that why you cried in the dark?"
Rox grimaced, knowing he deserved the whole story. "No." She took a deep breath and to her surprise, it was easier to share the details once she'd started. He'd seen her nightmare, after all, and the first step to building their future was honesty about her past.
Rox sat on the edge of the bed and Niall sat beside her. "Our father died when I was six and our mom raised us alone. Then she remarried, although we never liked our stepfather. She was sure we were just being stubborn or that we'd come around in time."
Niall took her hand in his. "But?"
"But there was something slimy about him. She couldn't see it, I guess, because he always laid on the charm in her presence. We saw it." Rox sighed and frowned. "It only took him a couple of months after he moved in to go after Suzie. She said he touched her in the night. Mom called her a liar and they had a huge fight." She smiled at a very intent Niall. "You might not believe this, but Suzie was the outspoken one."
"Imagine that." Niall pulled Rox close. She put her head on his shoulder, tracing patterns on the back of his hand as she talked. It was cozy to be with him like this, listening to the rain on the window. It felt safe.
"Suzie was also the pretty one."
"She looks pretty in your tattoo."
"It's a good likeness."
His arm tightened around her shoulders. "But don't be so quick to sell yourself short."
Rox smiled against his skin, liking how he pressed a kiss into her hair. "I worked on the drawing for a long time to get it just right. Neo does great portraits, but, of course, he'd never met Suzie, and I didn't have a photograph."
Niall waited, giving Rox the time she needed. She knew he understood this wasn't an easy story to share. "Anyway, Suzie told Mom and said our stepfather thought he was getting two for one. She was a bit bold about it."
"Imagine," Niall mused.
"Mom slapped Suzie and grounded her. It was the first time either one of us had ever been struck, for anything, and we couldn't believe it. I can still hear the crack of her hand hitting Suzie's cheek." Rox shivered. "Then the silence afterward. I'm not sure my mother even believed she had done it." A lump rose in Rox's throat.
"Unhappy household," Niall mused when Rox said nothing.
"Not until he came. Not until he tried to take too much."
"I understand," Niall said softly.
"Suzie said if he did it again, she'd be gone." Rox fell silent.
"He did," Niall guessed.
"It only took two days." Rox's throat was tight. She turned the silver ring on her left hand without intending to do so.
"What is that, anyway?" Niall asked, taking her hand in his. He smiled at Rox. "Everything is filled with meaning for you. What about this ring?"
"It's a promise ring, from Suzie." There was no evading Niall's inquisitive gaze. "We bought the same ones. We promised to look after each other forever." Rox felt her tears rise.
But Suzie had left.
She couldn't even say it out loud.
Niall caught her close. "The nightmare is over, Rox. You've left the past where it belongs."
She looked into his eyes and was warmed by his conviction. She saw that he had guessed what had happened next, why she had cried in his dream, but she had to tell him.
"Turns out our stepfather thought he was getting three for one," Rox said hoarsely. "My mom called me a liar. I left, too. I thought I could find Suzie, but I guess she didn't want to be found."
"She thought the only ones coming after her would be your mother and stepfather," Niall said, "so she made sure they wouldn't find her. She must have believed you would be safe."
"She was the pretty one," Rox said with a smile.
"I told you--don't se
ll yourself short," Niall murmured, running a fingertip down her cheek. "And don't be fooled by what's on the surface."
Rox leaned her forehead on his chest, liking his patience and his strength. "I never found her again. I never saw her again. But I was on the street. I was young and I was naive. I had almost no money and I was scared."
"You were only fifteen," Niall said. "Kids shouldn't live on the street then--or ever."
"Kids shouldn't be called liars by their own mothers," Rox retorted, knowing that old pain put the edge on her words.
"Did you ever go back home?"
"The only home I have is the one I've made for myself. I made myself a new life, one without those people." She tipped her head back and held his gaze, knowing he would understand her anger. "Ink is stronger than blood."
Niall nodded. "I'm sorry, Rox. I'm sorry that no one believed you or defended you."
"I had Chynna. She found me. I think at first she just felt sorry for me, but once she saw me draw, she took me as her apprentice. She talks tough, but she's a good person."
"She takes care of her own."
Rox nodded. "She gave me a chance, the only one I needed."
"She became your family of choice," Niall said, proving that he understood completely. He looked down at Rox, his smile warming his eyes. "I'm thinking it's time you met my family of choice." He winced. "Seeing as they've probably already emptied your fridge. Isn't that just like family?"
Rox appreciated that he tried to make her smile.
"Just like," she agreed.
Niall kissed her, then took her hand as he headed for the door. He reached for the bedroom doorknob, turning back to say something to Rox, and she saw his eyes widen.
A second later the window broke. The glass shattered and fell on the floor, a rock rolling across Rox's hardwood floors. The broken glass glinted dangerously as the rain and a chilly wind poured into the room. The wind smelled of death and mold, and the shadow dragon hovering outside the window had eyes that were vacant and dark. He hissed, his shadowed form blocking all view of the night.