The Dragon Legion Collection

Chapter One



Alexander winced when he smelled the darkfire crystal heating.

As the Dragon’s Tooth Warrior with the keenest sense of smell, he always knew the stone was warming, even before the strange light within it began to flicker. Sure enough, his leader Drake lifted the crystal and held it aloft.

That blue-green light flashed within the stone, like lightning trapped in a bottle.

“Yet again,” Drake said beneath his breath. If Alexander hadn’t been Pyr, he would not have heard the softly uttered words. “It’s relentless.”

Alexander could only agree. He was exhausted, like all of the others, terrified to wander away or risk sleep so long as they kept guard over the unpredictable stone.

Drake gave Alexander, his second in command, a sharp look. “Find the others.” His eyes filled with a panic that Alexander shared. “Now!”

There was no telling how long it would take the stone to work its strange sorcery. Sometimes it shone for hours before anything changed. Sometimes it lit to brilliance in seconds.

But when it flared its most brilliant light, the one that nearly blinded them all, the Dragon’s Tooth Warriors were hurled through space and time.

They would feel the rushing of the wind and feel the sensation of being transported.

And when they opened their eyes, their location would be changed.

It was a strange and unsettling sorcery.

And these warriors had seen their share of sorcery. They’d been beguiled by an ancient viper, enchanted to take the form of dragon’s teeth, trapped for millennia until they’d been set free in a future that defied expectation. Their leader, Drake, had changed his name, perhaps to indicate that he was no longer the Pyr he once had been. It was so apt that Alexander didn’t even think of Drake as Stephanos any more.

In contrast, Alexander felt he continued to survive an ordeal, one that only made him yearn more strongly for the wife and son he’d left behind, one that made him more of what he had always been.

The first time the darkfire had worked its magic had been immediately after Drake closed his hand over the stone, at Lorenzo’s home. Since then, it had occurred three more times. Alexander was not even certain where they had been.

The group of Pyr had almost immediately realized that only those within some measure of proximity to the crystal were carried along with the company, and this was the cause of their concern. Who knew what had become of the others? Alexander doubted he was the only one haunted by the uncertainty.

With a single shout from Alexander, the other warriors raced closer. Alexander saw his own distrust of the crystal echoed in the wary expressions of his companions.

“Wonder where we’re going this time,” Peter muttered in his usual grim tone. Peter was the oldest of all of them, a ferocious warrior independent of his age. He tended to expect the worst, a perspective the darkfire crystal was unlikely to change.

His view, however, did little to bolster the confidence of the team and Alexander wished he would be more optimistic.


“It’s not as if we have time to look around,” Iggy complained.

“Just make sure everyone is here,” Alexander commanded tersely.

Drake was regarding the stone with undisguised horror. Alexander knew it was because they’d lost five men already, thanks to the darkfire’s unpredictability. It was shocking that there were only twelve of them left, when their original company had numbered in the hundreds. Each curse upon them had taken its toll, but with fewer men, each new loss sickened Alexander. He and Drake had concluded that those men who hadn’t been in the immediate vicinity of the crystal when the light flared had been left behind.

Wherever they had been.

Could they ever be retrieved? Would the stone continue to flash until they were all dispersed? The last transition they’d managed to remain together, but Alexander couldn’t help wondering how long that would last. They were tired and becoming irritable. It was only a matter of time until one fell asleep, or wandered away to relieve himself at the wrong moment.

Alexander swallowed as the light within the crystal pulsed with greater speed, growing brighter with every beat. He felt his pulse accelerate and sensed the heightened awareness of his fellows. He could hear hearts racing, feel perspiration gathering, feel breathing quicken. They all stared fixedly at the stone.

“Here we go again,” Damien muttered. The most handsome of all the soldiers spoke lightly, in his usual manner, but Alexander noted how he licked his lips with trepidation. It was unlike Damien to show any emotion, so Alexander knew he was terrified.

“You just want to find more hearts to break,” Iggy said in a teasing tone. Tall, young and lanky, Iggy was often underestimated in battle, but he was of a lean build with fierce power. Alexander always thought of Iggy as a finely honed steel blade. His manner was playful and he would even banter in battle, which also encouraged opponents to miscalculate his abilities.

“Not a lot of time to break hearts with this stone around,” Ashe said grimly, folding his arms across his chest. Ashe was stocky and practical, the son of a blacksmith.

“That’s why it has to be Damien to do it,” Tyrone retorted. “The rest of us don’t have a chance.” Tyrone was youngest of them all, an orphan who had virtually raised himself. He wasn’t one for emotion or undue optimism—and virtually any optimism was undeserved in his thinking.

Teasing Damien about his succession of romantic conquests was a familiar ploy used by them all to defuse a tight situation. Alexander was certain that the joking of more than one of the men—particularly the younger ones—was tinged with both jealousy and respect. Damien was nearly legendary for his successes with women.

“We should challenge him to make a conquest wherever the stone takes us, without being left behind,” Iggy said.

Damien snorted. “No woman could be worth that risk.”

They were all trying to make light of their situation, but Alexander could smell their fear and uncertainty.

All twelve of them were present and accounted for. Alexander refused to think of them as survivors. The important thing was that the light was flickering more quickly. He doubted he was the only one afraid to breathe.

“We need a new name,” Alexander said, hoping to distract his companions from their situation and the fear it created in them.

“The Survivors,” Ty suggested.

“The Last Pyr Standing,” Iggy replied.

“Careful what ideas you put into the world,” Peter advised grimly. “There might only be one of us left at the end.”

They collectively stifled a shudder. “The Dragon Legion,” Alexander suggested and felt them consider it.

“A Roman legion had more than three thousand warriors,” Damien noted.

“We are older than the Roman legions,” Drake said tightly. “And we are the best of the best. The last of an elite corps, tested by the challenge of men and of magic.”

The men nodded, and Alexander liked how Drake’s assertion made them stand straighter.

“The Dragon Legion it shall be,” Drake said with authority.

The light flared brighter and pulsed more quickly, silencing them all.

Thaddeus swore softly under his breath, then began to pray. Thad was both the most likely to find a practical solution to a problem and the most likely to invoke divine assistance. Alexander wondered, not for the first time, whether the combination was responsible for his consistent success.

“Any chance we can control it?” Orion asked. Orion preferred to take action, and was inclined to be impulsive and outspoken. “Maybe direct ourselves back to the others?”

Drake shook his head. “Any key lies in understanding what the darkfire is doing.”

“And maybe why,” Alexander added.

“It’s a primal force,” Peter complained. “It has no logic or reason.”

“Then maybe we should toss it away,” Orion suggested. “We could set ourselves free of its power.”

“And be trapped wherever it left us,” Ashe retorted. “Where are we even now?”

No one knew the answer to that.

“It is our responsibility to bear the darkfire crystal!” Drake said, his tone imperious. “That we do not know the detail of our mission is no reason to abandon it.”

“How do we know it is a mission?” Peter asked, and Alexander wished the other man would leave it be. Sowing dissent never aided a cause or a company of warriors.

The light flashed with sudden brilliance, and Alexander gritted his teeth as he was momentarily blinded. He felt the shift in the air around him and guessed it was happening again. Thad swore once more, then prayed with greater fervor.

Abruptly Alexander was swept up by a warm wind, one that swirled around him with savage force. As had happened three other times, he was filled with terror at his powerlessness. He reached out and snatched at Thad, who had been beside him, but his hand closed on empty air. He didn’t dare to breathe, for he didn’t know what surrounded him. It seemed that he was swept in a whirlwind and buffeted by changing winds for an eternity. He couldn’t hear or sense the others and the sense of solitude was even more frightening than having no control.

Just when Alexander was certain he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he was flung downward. He felt discarded by some superior force, though he shared Peter’s doubt that there was intelligence behind the mystery of the darkfire. He landed with a thud on his hands and knees, then greedily took a gulp of hot, dry air. He knew he’d have bruises on his knees, but the dirt beneath his hands was sandy and arid, with no vegetation. He opened his eyes warily, then quickly counted his companions.

Still twelve. They’d mastered that detail, at least.

Then Alexander glanced around to see where they were. He couldn’t believe that he recognized the hills.

“Merciful Zeus,” he whispered, easing to his feet to stare.

“Zeus is anything but merciful,” Drake muttered, but Alexander ignored him.

It couldn’t be.

He knew this village, knew it as surely as he knew the lines on his own palm. He knew the hills of Boeotia, the curve of the road, the fact that that the sea was just beyond the lip of that hill. He knew the village spread at his feet, the names of the occupants of each house, that a potter’s wheel stood in the courtyard of the one house that drew his eye.

Home!

Maybe there was intelligence guiding the sorcery of the darkfire crystal. Alexander had yearned to return to this place almost since his departure, all those years before, and here it was before his very eyes.


He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but the sight before him didn’t change.

“We’re home,” Alexander said with awe, gesturing to the village. His voice rose higher in jubilation and his heart clenched with unexpected joy. Katina would be here! “We’re home!”

The rest of the men turned to look and Alexander saw wonder dawn in their expressions.

“It can’t be,” Iggy whispered.

“We should find out,” Orion declared.

Peter, predictably, was the first to doubt his eyes. “It must be a trick...”

Alexander didn’t care. He wasn’t waiting for any of them. This was his village. If he was home, there was only one detail of importance.

Katina.

His heart thundered at the prospect of the reunion   they would share. Their marriage had always been passionate, even after the spark of the firestorm had been satisfied.

Alexander started down the hill with purpose.

“Halt!” Drake shouted from behind him.

“I must know!” Alexander spun to declare with heat. “I must see her, regardless of the price. She’s my destined mate. We had a firestorm!”

“We mustn’t break rank!” Drake insisted. “It could be a trick, or a lure. I don’t want to lose another man, especially not my second in command.”

“Are you even sure she’s there?” Peter demanded. “Who knows how long we’ve been gone. She could have left.”

Alexander took a deep breath, focusing his attention on the house he knew so well. He inhaled slowly, dissecting and identifying the scents that were common to any village. When he identified his wife’s particular scent, the intoxicating mix of perfume and fired clay and her own body’s scent, his heart leapt. “She’s here!”

“No. I forbid you to break rank,” Drake commanded, his tone making Alexander pause. “All of you! Pledge!”

Drake put out his right hand, his fingers clenched in a fist and his palm down.

“The Dragon Legion stays together,” Damien said, placing his hand on top of Drake’s. The others followed suit, except for Alexander. He stood a dozen paces away and he felt a muscle tick in his jaw.

Everything he had ever desired was in that village.

He had left once to serve with his own kind.

Wasn’t his duty fulfilled?

“Together,” Drake repeated with force and Alexander felt his leader’s gaze upon him.

“I have served my obligation as a Pyr,” Alexander said with resolve. He held Drake’s gaze. “I left my wife and my destined mate to heed your summons, as I had pledged to do.” Alexander swallowed. “Don’t ask me to do as much again, I beg of you.”

Drake’s lips tightened even as his gaze filled with understanding.

“Maybe this is why we’re here,” Alexander suggested. “Maybe the crystal is letting us repair the wounds of the past. Maybe that’s the point.”

The others caught their breath and looked at Drake.

“No. You can’t know that,” Drake argued. “You can’t know what you’ll find in that village...”

“That’s why I have to go.”

The two men stared at each other.

Drake was the first to blink. “Go,” he commanded quietly. “But hurry back to tell us what you’ve found.”

Alexander laughed. He saluted Drake, then marched down the hill to the village.

“We will wait,” Drake called after him, his tone level.

This was a gift Alexander hadn’t anticipated. He surveyed the village, taking satisfaction in how similar it was to his memories. He found himself striding closer, anxious to be reunited with Katina again.

He hadn’t taken a dozen steps when Alexander smelled the stone heating again. He paused to glance back. He saw the dread in Drake’s expression as he opened his hand to display the stone. His commander’s features were illuminated by the flashing light of the darkfire crystal.

“Not again!” Peter said.

“Alexander!” Orion cried. “Come here!”

A new fear seized Alexander, a fear that this chance would be stolen from him forever. Maybe that was the trick of the stone. Maybe it would tantalize him with a possibility, then steal it away.

He wouldn’t be cheated. He had to see Katina, no matter what the price.

Alexander pivoted and ran down the hill, racing toward the village as quickly as he could. He had to be far enough away from the crystal to escape its pull.

He had to be left behind.

He heard his companions cry out, shouts of protest that had no hold over him. He felt rather than saw the bright light of the stone, as brilliant as an explosion behind him.

Alexander halted at the edge of the village and looked back, his chest heaving. He saw only a fading blue-green flash of light and no soldiers. His companions had disappeared, as surely as if they had never been.

Drake and the others were gone.

Alexander was shaken by his sense of solitude.

He was alone, for the first time in years. Only when it was too late did he realize how much he had come to rely upon the counsel and company of the other Dragon’s Tooth Warriors. They had shared the same strange experiences and understood each other. That camaraderie would no longer be part of his life.

Even though he’d achieved his purpose, Alexander was momentarily terrified. What if he was wrong? What if he’d sacrificed everything for nothing? What if he truly was lost from everyone and everything he’d ever known?

No. He checked his wild thoughts. Terror achieved nothing. Alexander exhaled and calmed himself. He’d made his choice, and now he’d make the most of his fate, whatever it was.

Katina held his fate in her hands.



* * *



Your future lies in fire and earth;

The world’s in the son you birth.



The words of the Pythian oracle had echoed in Katina’s thoughts for almost nine years and still the prophecy made no sense to her. She couldn’t help feeling that she must have missed the point, because she certainly wasn’t happy.

Just as her parents had anticipated.

When she’d been refused as an offering at the Korykian Cave of the Nymphs, the Pythia at Delphi had provided the enigmatic verse as explanation. Katina had believed the greater purpose served when she met Alexander in the temple of Apollo where the Pythia sat. Their passion had been immediate and their marriage quick. Her parents had been relieved. After she bore Alexander’s son, he had been the one to suggest she should learn the trade of a potter, to fulfill the rest of the prophecy. She remembered how her life had seemed to be filled with promise.

But Alexander had left soon afterward, never to return, and now her son was gone, too.

And it was an inescapable fact that she was a failure as a potter. After eight years of relentless practice, her pots were still the ugliest to be found. The prophecy had to be a test of her persistence.

Katina both dreaded and yearned for days like this one, when she remembered every detail of her time with Alexander with perfect clarity. She was tormented by her memories of him—her first glimpse of him at Delphi and the magical sparks that had lit the air between them. She’d have noticed him even without the extra illumination, for he was so tall and dark and strong. So handsome. The strange fumes in the oracle’s grotto had made their first meeting powerful and memorable, but Katina believed they would have found each other somewhere and sometime. No matter where or when, that first glimpse would have been unforgettable.

Those wonderful memories stood in stark contrast to her present reality.


No wonder he haunted her.

Katina turned the simple gold ring on her finger, the one set with a single cabochon carnelian. She’d never taken it off, not since Alexander had placed it on her finger. She knew Cetos wasn’t happy about that—she also wore the much wider golden ring he’d given her, but didn’t remove the carnelian. The russet stone gleamed in the gold setting, making her think of the fire and clay of her pottery.

Katina shaped the pot and reminded herself of her good fortune. She had a home. She had food to eat and wood for the fire, blankets for the night and a few ornaments for her hair. Her son was strong and healthy, even if he was gone. There were others less fortunate than herself.

The clay rose between her fingers, coaxed by her touch to take the shape of a bowl as she turned the wheel with her foot. She tried to find the joy in her craft, but it eluded her. The pot looked heavy and graceless, just like all the others she’d made.

Would Alexander have blamed her for letting their son be taken away? She doubted it. He’d been from Sparta, and they were a tough breed of warriors. Alexander had never been afraid to face difficult choices or to fulfill his duties. In fact, he’d probably endured the same separation and training as a boy that Lysander now faced. He probably would have thought it right for Lysander to go.

He certainly would have kept the pledge to his kind. As much as she had admired his sense of honor, there had been times when she felt Alexander dispassionate. He could be so still and impassive that she’d wondered more than once if he was made of stone.

Was that why he hadn’t come back? Had their marriage been a duty for him? Had he thought his obligation fulfilled when their son had been born?

Katina wanted to believe otherwise. She wanted to believe that she’d given herself to him with a love that had been returned.

But as the years passed with no word, she had begun to doubt.

She closed her eyes as she formed the rim of the bowl, letting her fingers find the way, and began to daydream. She savored the sense that Alexander was close to her, maybe hovering on the threshold, watching her with that little smile on his lips.

When she opened her eyes and turned, he’d be there, she told herself. He’d be in the doorway, watching her in silence, that familiar heat in his eyes. The sign of his desire had always made her heart leap. In bed, she’d never had any doubt of his passion for her, even if it had been carefully hidden away otherwise.

What she wanted was to be with him again.

That wasn’t going to happen. Katina’s daydream shattered and she forced her eyes open. She surveyed the bowl before her without satisfaction. It was, at best, functional. Maybe it needed a pair of handles. Maybe she should roll the clay back into a ball while it was soft.

“A customer, my lady,” the young slave girl, Zeta, said. “A gentleman.”

Zeta’s tone showed her surprise, and Katina was surprised as well. She didn’t do a bustling trade, not by any means. A sale, even one of compassion, might lift her spirits. She draped the bowl with a damp cloth, before wiping her hands with care.

“How can I be of assistance, sir?” she asked, trying to work a last bit of clay from beneath her fingernail.

He said nothing, although she felt his presence. The skin prickled on the back of her neck, her memory of Alexander coming uncomfortably to the fore. Katina frowned with impatience at her own whimsy. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

She pivoted to face the client, a polite smile curving her lips.

It faded at once.

For Alexander did stand on her threshold.

Katina stared. Alexander had changed and not changed. She would have known him anywhere, that was for certain. His hair was still ebony and wavy, so unruly that she longed to push her fingers through its thickness. It was a bit shorter than it had been, but looked tidy and crisp. It suited him. He was tanned to a deeper shade of brown and his clothing was odd, presumably because he had traveled far. She ached at the weariness in his expression and the lines of exhaustion around his mouth. He was still tall and broad and seemingly immovable, a man who might have been a statue—save for his eyes. Her heart clenched with painful force, then began to pound when she saw the heat in his dark eyes.

The passion burned there, the passion she’d never been able to resist. When he looked at her like this, Katina had been certain they were destined to love each other for all time.

“Alexander!” she whispered.

He smiled a little. “You remember.”

“Of course!” she said, then voiced her fear. “I thought you had forgotten me.”

Alexander shook his head, looking so sad that she wanted to hold him forever. “We were so lost, Katina, but now I am found.” His voice was husky with a rare display of emotion, one that brought tears to her own eyes. “My Katina.” Alexander lifted his hand toward her and it was all the invitation she needed. Katina threw herself into Alexander’s arms and lifted her mouth for his kiss, just as she had done a hundred times before. His arms closed around her, unmistakably real and heartbreakingly familiar.

His mouth locked over hers, his kiss as potent as she recalled. He kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough of her, as if he would make up for every lost moment on this very day. Katina tasted her own salt tears in their kiss but didn’t care. She wound her fingers into his hair, running her hands over him, arching her back so that she was pressed against his muscled body. She wanted to feel the lean strength of him against her, and she wanted to feel the heat of his skin pressed against hers. As always, Alexander’s kiss kindled a passion that Katina couldn’t deny and didn’t want to. His touch could make her forget everything except the desire between them, and in his embrace, Katina felt warm for the first time in years.

It was a long, slow kiss and one that left her blood simmering.

Alexander finally lifted his head, his regret obvious, but didn’t release Katina. He studied her and smiled. Katina knew she wasn’t the alluring virgin she’d been when first they met, but Alexander clearly liked what he saw. He wiped her tears from her cheeks with his thumb and arched one brow. His dark eyes twinkled, as if they were filled with stars, and Katina smiled back at him.

“In the courtyard,” he teased and she blushed, knowing they’d been so impetuous more than once in the past.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” she replied and his smile broadened.

“How you tempt me, my bold Katina.”

His tone was so affectionate that she impulsively kissed him again. “Still?”

“Still,” he said with conviction, his gaze slipping over her face as he surveyed her closely. She knew he did not miss a single change, and also that he loved her all the same. “Always,” he murmured and her heart leapt.

“I would tempt you more,” she whispered wickedly. “But the slave girl...”

“Will be glad to have gossip to share,” Alexander said with that lazy confidence Katina had so missed. There was something so steady about him, a rocklike conviction that made Katina’s world seem secure.

How she’d yearned for his return.

He glanced down at her hand, smiling with real pleasure when he saw his ring still on her finger, and Katina’s heart skipped with joy. Alexander brushed his lips across hers, then let his mouth hover over hers as he held her gaze. As always, he gave her the choice, which only made him more irresistible. “Or maybe you didn’t miss me in this way?” he murmured, clearly knowing she had. When he teased her, his eyes sparkling and his manner playful, Katina wanted him all the more.


“Of course!” She laughed at him, then caught his head in her hands, pulling him down for another kiss. This time, she was purposeful and passionate, intending to leave no doubt in his mind of his welcome. Alexander caught his breath when her tongue slid between his teeth, then hauled her even closer, kissing her with crushing intensity. His erection strained against his clothing, so large and hard that Katina had no doubt of his desire.

It was intoxicating to know that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She met him touch for touch, loving the sense of communion   she felt in these encounters. Alexander groaned, then swept her into his arms. He strode across the courtyard, never breaking his kiss. Katina wound her arms around his neck, wanting all he had to give.

It had been so long.

His touch felt so right.

In fact, nothing had felt right without him. Katina was on her back on her bed, her belt untied and Alexander’s hands beneath her tunic before she opened her eyes. He kissed her again, the intoxicating leisure of his kiss making her forget everything but the magic of his touch. She could think of nothing but this man she loved with all her heart, this man she had feared to never see again.

Alexander’s hand closed over her breast, and Katina moaned as he rolled the taut peak between his finger and thumb. He lifted her tunic and bent to take her nipple in his mouth, suckling her so that Katina thought she would be overwhelmed by pleasure. His hands felt large on her body, strong and warm and firm, yet he was so gentle that she couldn’t have denied him anything. He was so determined to find pleasure together that Katina knew he had dreamed of this moment, too.

Alexander’s fingers slid beneath the hem of her chiton, and she knew what he would do. Her heart skipped a beat, because she had loved this kind of play. She caught her breath at the heat of his hand on her leg, his touch sliding ever upward, and fell back in surrender. She was his for the taking, and she heard from his chuckle that he knew it. His fingers slipped between her thighs, his caress on her wet heat making her gasp with delight.

“Katina,” Alexander whispered with awe, then caught her mouth beneath his own once more. He kissed her again, his fingers tormenting her until she writhed on the bed. Her body was filled with a pleasure that surged to greater intensity, like a flame coaxed to burn brighter and brighter. Her hands were on Alexander’s shoulders, her fingers gripping his solid strength, his body providing an anchor for her in the storm he roused with his touch.

She was desperate to feel his skin against hers and see him nude again, but his clothing was so strange that she didn’t know how to begin to disrobe him. She ran her hands over him repeatedly, then shoved her fingers into his hair.

Alexander lifted his head, his eyes twinkling.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered and he grinned.

“Not yet.” Alexander slid down the length of her, parted her thighs with his hands, and lowered his head to flick his tongue across her arousal. Katina moaned from the depths of her soul. Only Alexander could give her such pleasure. Only Alexander could make her act like a wanton.

And Katina didn’t care.

She wanted him, over and over and over again. No matter what price she had to pay, she would have this moment, with no regrets. She felt the heat of Alexander’s breath as he paused in his torment of her, then he kissed her in that intimate place and all coherent thought left her mind.

There was only Alexander, only the pleasure he gave and the surety of her love for him.

And in this moment, that was enough.



* * *



Alexander’s welcome couldn’t be mistaken. Katina’s body told the truth of her thoughts, as it always did. It had always been easier for them to communicate by touch than with words, and as far as Alexander was concerned, they could talk later. First, they would restore the power of their union  . First, they would recover the magic.

Then they could resolve the details.

There was nothing in his universe in this moment except Katina, and his joy to be with her again. For the moment, there was the love shining in her eyes, the dark majesty of her hair, the supple strength of her body and the wet welcome between her thighs. She was as much of a feast as Alexander recalled, so sweet and hot and responsive that he knew there could never be another woman for him. There was no pretense in her and he loved the honesty of her passion. He had never doubted what Katina had wanted of him, and he was profoundly glad to learn that had not changed.

He was more than ready to give her all she desired and wished he could make her dreams come true.

He felt a strange flutter on his skin when his heart swelled with love, but couldn’t make sense of the sensation that he’d lost something. He’d found something precious here, against all odds, and he was going to make the most of it.

Alexander urged the tide to rise within Katina, proud beyond all that he could still please his wife so well. He teased her and drove her higher, then withdrew in the right moment, knowing her well enough to extend her torment and her pleasure. She moaned and protested incoherently, but Alexander wanted this union   to be perfect.

He wanted to prove that it was worth the wait.

The third time her passion rose, he waited until that ideal moment to graze his teeth across her turgid *oris. Katina gasped, then gained her release in a shaking torrent. Her legs locked around his head involuntarily and she moaned as if her world was ending. Alexander savored her pleasure. She was flushed when her breathing returned to something like its regular pace, and her eyes were sparkling.

She was so beautiful that his heart ached at the time they’d lost. He did not want to know, not yet, just how months he had been gone. Even if it had been a year, he would make it up to her.

For now, Katina and this reunion   was enough.

Alexander rose to his feet, knowing that Katina watched him with a hunger for more. Her thoughts were so easily read when they made love, and he was glad that she’d never had any inclination to play games with desire. She was impetuous and passionate, but utterly true.

Alexander unbuckled his belt and cast it aside, liking how she smiled as he shed his clothes. She sat up on the bed, reaching to touch each exposed increment of skin, as if she were as anxious to caress him as he was to caress her. Alexander shed his clothing and boots with record speed, his boots falling to one side, his shirt and trousers to the other.

“Your clothing is so strange,” she said, and a question filled her gaze. “I wouldn’t have known where to start.”

Alexander didn’t want to talk about where he had been. Not yet. The tale would take too long and he wanted this reunion   first.

“Is that why you watch me so closely?” he teased. “To have me naked whenever you so choose?”

“Maybe I’ll keep you naked for a while. Until you please me enough.” Katina laughed, then stopped, confusion lighting her gaze. She stood up and reached a fingertip to touch the tattoo on his upper arm, the one souvenir he still bore from the future. Alexander winced when she touched it, not because it hurt but because he didn’t want to explain all of that as yet. “A magical beast upon your skin,” she said with wonder, and met his gaze. She clearly was curious.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alexander said, his voice rougher than he intended. He knew that once her questions began, she would not fall silent until she knew everything of where he had been. Her inquisitiveness was a trait he admired, but he needed her touch first. He put a fingertip on her lips, savoring their softness. “This first,” he urged, knowing he would beg if he had to. “I’ve been without you too long to keep to the thread of any story otherwise.”


“So honest.” She smiled. “You never could lie.”

Alexander shook his head. “Not to you.”

Katina was clearly pleased by this. She drew him into her embrace, then granted him a thoughtful glance. “How many other women?” she whispered when he would have kissed her again. Her gaze was searching. “Just tell me that.”

“None,” Alexander said with finality. “For there can be no other woman for me.”

“Only you could have managed that feat,” she said with pride, which confused him.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your word is your bond, Alexander. I knew that long ago. It is something I admire about you.” She ran her hands over his head again and her eyes glowed. “Only you could have denied your pleasure so long to keep a pledge to me.”

Alexander took that as an invitation. He kissed her and his embrace soon turned hungry, his passion for her contained far too long. Now that he was with Katina, he wasn’t certain how long he could last. He’d denied himself for so long, and his passion was a tide that couldn’t be stopped. He moved them with purpose to the narrow bed, not wanting to rush her, but compelled by his body’s need. Katina smiled and leaned back, opening her thighs to him in invitation.

She’d always understood him so well. Alexander couldn’t have refused her to save his life. He slid into her wet heat with a sigh, unable to remember when any sensation had felt so good.

Or so right.

Katina ran her hands over him, delight in her eyes. Alexander rolled on the bed so that he was on his back and she was sitting astride him. She smiled as she pulled her tunic and chiton over her head, then tossed them to the floor. She was even more beautiful than he had recalled. Her nipples were tight and dark, her breasts high and just large enough to fill his palms. Her waist was narrow and her belly not quite flat. He ran his hands over her, remembering how he had loved the look of her when she’d carried his son and wondering if they would have more.

The idea made his chest tighten. It seemed impossibly wonderful that he could have a future again, that he could plan his days and nights with his beloved, that the darkfire had given him such a gift as this.

Then Katina unfastened her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders like a dark veil. It was as glossy and thick as he remembered, as wavy as the curl of the ocean’s tide and darker than a river at midnight. It flowed over her shoulders and down her back, cascading all the way to her hips. He’d always loved her hair. At the sight of its loosened splendor, Alexander was lost all over again.

Katina moved atop him, caressing her own breasts as she rode him, her smile making Alexander dizzy. He ran his hands over her slender strength and let the scent of her skin inundate him. How he adored her. How he had missed her. How could she have imagined there could be any other woman who might compare or even suffice? He gripped Katina’s hips and urged her to move faster as his need built.

Alexander murmured her name even as his heart pounded with greater intensity. She tormented him as he had teased her, building his passion to a peak then slowing her pace, before building his desire again. Alexander heard himself moan and the bed creak, even as all rational thought left his mind.

There was only Katina with her slick heat, her shining eyes and her sweet smile. He lost track of how many times she teased him, but suddenly knew he could bear it no longer. He whispered her name with greater urgency and she leaned over him, surrounding him in the dark spill of her hair. Alexander closed his eyes and held fast to her, wanting to lose himself in the embrace of the woman he loved. His heart pounded as her breasts fell against his chest, his breath caught when she kissed him. The tide rose within him with sudden vigor and this time, he couldn’t hold back.

Alexander caught Katina’s nape in one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, driving deeper and faster. Her sweet perfume enveloped him, her soft curves were crushed against him, her hair tickled against his skin. Her fervid kisses eliminated his awareness of anything but his lovely lady wife. Alexander came with explosive force, an orgasm that seemed endless and left him shaking with exhaustion.

And then he kissed Katina’s temple, feeling more fortunate than he had ever expected to be in this lifetime.

Alexander was finally home.