She blushed profusely. “Um… it doesn’t matter to me. I’m used to Hadyn as a dragon.”
“Deenie’s the one who tends to me whenever I’m sick or… stuck. Did you ever get trapped in one form or the other and not be able to change? It really sucks.”
Max grinned as he remembered those days, and he welcomed his son’s friendliness. Unlike his sister, Hadyn had no reservation in his form, tone, or manner. “It’s been a while, but yeah. It sucks.”
Hadyn came forward more slowly. “We know you need to rest some more. We just wanted to make sure you were all right. You haven’t moved in three whole days. All of us have been scared about that.”
Max choked at his revelation. “Three days? Are you serious?”
Edena nodded. “The demons are so unhappy. Zakar, Thorn, and Fang have put up seals and mirrors all over Peltier House and Sanctuary so that they can’t get in again. So far, it’s working.”
“What about the Amazons?”
“They tried,” Hadyn answered. “Mom and Samia, along with the Peltier females and a Dark-Huntress named Chi kicked their butts so hard that I doubt they’ll be back for a while.”
“Good.”
Edena leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “We’ll be back later to bother you. Get some more rest.” She got up to leave.
Hadyn moved forward. “I’m really glad Mom didn’t kill you.” And with that, the twins were gone.
Max wasn’t sure what to make of his kids. They were a bit odd, but he loved them. And speaking of things that made him uncomfortable…
He gently pushed the blanket back and shifted.
Sera immediately gasped. “What are you doing?”
“It’s been three days. I need to go to the bathroom.”
Sera’s face exploded with color. “Oh. Sorry.” She let go of his arm so that he could stand up. “You need me to help?”
Her offer charmed him. But… “There are some things I prefer to do alone. This is one of them.”
“Okay.”
Seraphina leaned back on her arms while Max went to attend his needs. It’d been a strange few days while they’d acclimated to their new lives. This world was so different than the one they’d known.
Luckily, Hadyn and Edena seemed to be adjusting easier than she was. Of course it helped that the Peltiers had children close to their age who’d taken them under their bear claws and were teaching them idioms and culture.
Max’s brothers were still quite suspicious of her. As were Fang and the others.
There was nothing she could do about that. So she did her best to ignore it and not let it bother her.
When Max returned a short time later, he had a black towel wrapped around his lean hips and his long blond hair and feathers were wet.
“You showered?”
Nodding, he headed back to his pallet on the floor.
He’d also shaved. The fresh, clean scent of soap and dragonswain set her head reeling. But the sight of his stitches across his abdomen, where Carson had tended him, reminded her that he was in no condition for what her hormones wanted.
Too bad, that.
As he lay down, she was overwhelmed by the sheer size of him in his human body. While he wasn’t as large like this as he was as a dragon, he was still a good-sized creature. Still ferocious and delicious.
“You keep looking at me like that and you’re going to have to fulfill that silent promise in your eyes.”
She scowled. “What promise?”
“To climb on top of me and ride me like a giddy kid on the mechanical horse outside of Piggly Wiggly with a sack full of quarters.”
Her jaw dropped. “I’m not completely sure what that analogy means, but —”
He interrupted her words with a scorching kiss that left her breathless and dizzy. “I think you know exactly what I mean.” And to prove his point, he pressed her hand against the bulge under his towel.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Laughing, he nipped at her lips and then her chin. “You’re worth the pain.”
“Maxis!”
“It’s true.” He slid his hand under her shirt to cup her breast and tease her hardened nipple with his thumb. “Make love to me, Sera. I’ve lived too long away from you.”
“And I, you.” She reached down between them to remove his towel. Her breath caught as she stared at his unadorned beauty. He was unbelievably handsome and fierce.
Best of all, he was hers.
And he watched her with a hunger that was its own form of foreplay. One that made her want to please and tease him until he was as giddy as the child he’d described with the sack full of quarters.
Rising to her feet, she slowly stripped for him like she used to, delighting in the murmurs of pleasure that escaped his lips as he watched her peeling her clothes off. When she was finally naked, he reached for her and pulled her close enough that he could lave her breast while his hands gently stroked and caressed her body.