The Bride Hunt: Lightning Dragon Part 12

His muscles rippled and bulged as he made his way down. His thigh muscles were thick. His a.s.s clenched and released. "I don't understand it," he said, breathing heavily. "He pretended to kill me." He was close enough now for her to make out his facial features. One of his eyes was puffy and his nose was b.l.o.o.d.y. Thunder grinned. "I think he did it to make you submissive. If you thought I was dead then you wouldn't fight him." His breath continued to come in loud pants, as he continued to descend. When he was about twenty feet from the ground, he let go, landing in a crouch at her feet. "He f.u.c.ked up."

"Yes, he did."

"He p.i.s.sed you off." Thunder rose to his full height. "Remind me never to p.i.s.s you off."

Tammy threw herself into his arms. "You're alive."

He pulled a face and fell back, landing on his a.s.s with a grunt.

"I'm sorry," she laughed when she caught him smiling. "I can't believe you're here."

"And you're ... a sight for sore eyes. I can't believe you got away." He cupped her cheeks, examining her. "I saw him fall. I was sure ..." he frowned, his mouth pulling together. His eyes filled with concern.

"I cut him, he's dying," she spoke quickly, looking into those amazing eyes of his. Her heart felt like it was swelling in her chest. "I'm so happy you're alive," she breathed the words rather than said them, her voice hitching at the end. Tammy gripped him tighter around the neck. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She pushed her whole body against his. Against that magnificent chest. Tammy gave a small sob as she thrust her tongue into his mouth. Next, she threaded her fingers through his hair, loving the way it felt between her fingers.

She'd almost lost him. There was so much to say, so much to do. One thing was for sure, she was done with being afraid. Okay, maybe not totally done but close enough.

Chapter 15.

Her core was pressed against his belly. Her mouth was on his. He deepened the kiss, groaning into her mouth. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were mashed against him. He loved the feeling of her hands on him, kneading his scalp, pulling softly on his hair. He swallowed up her whimpers and moans. She tasted like he might never get enough of her.

With great effort, he pulled away, putting his forehead against hers. "Hold that thought," his chest rumbled with a low growl. He'd never been more turned on in all his life.

"What ...? Why ...?" Her eyes were unfocussed, her lips slightly swollen from their kiss. She pushed herself more firmly against him. Rubbed herself against him.

"You need to show me where you left him."

That sobered her up. "He's finished. There is no way he could have survived."

"He was bleeding?" Thunder kept his arms around her. "When you cut him, it was across the belly?"

"How do you know?" She frowned.

"You're covered in blood. If I'm not mistaken," he pointed at the smears of gunk caked to her t-shirt, "that's ..."

"Don't say it," Tammy wrinkled her nose. "Please, I'll vomit." She touched her cheeks, her eyes wide. "Do I have any on my face?"

Thunder had to work not to smile. "A tiny smear."

She seemed to relax. "Just a smear." She touched her cheek the one that was covered in dried gore. Her hair on that side was plastered to her scalp. She'd never looked more beautiful.

"You're so d.a.m.ned gutsy and courageous." He closed his mouth over hers for a second. Thankfully, it was one of the only places that wasn't covered in grime. He would've kissed her anyway.

"I did what I had to," she said as he pulled back. She frowned for a moment. "You didn't fight back earlier."

Thunder nodded. "You noticed."

"I did."

"I would've been dead if I had. I couldn't win in my state. I hoped he wouldn't be able to do it. We've always had a strong a friendship. I hoped it would keep him from killing me in cold blood, despite his mental illness, and I was right."

"He was going to hurt me."

"I know." Thunder held her closer, he put his cheek to hers for a moment. The dirty one. He didn't care, he could have lost her.

Tammy was the one to pull back. "I hate to say it." She looked pained for a moment. "It will be better if he is dead."

Thunder felt a deep sadness at the thought of the male being dead. At the same time, he felt relief. They had grown up together. At one time he had been a good male, one of the best. He couldn't deny it though, Cloud was no longer that male. "I need you to show me where you left him. I need to be sure that he's dead." Thunder struggled to get up, he held Tammy close to his chest as he did. Then he put her down and she almost collapsed.

Blast! His own energy levels were running on low as well. Thunder gripped her tighter. He shouldn't have showed off on the climb down. "I will carry you."

"No way!" She touched his cheek for a moment. "You look really tired." Her eyes darted about his face. "I can walk. It's not too far."

"You sure?"

She gave a nod.

"I can carry ..."

"I'll walk. I'm fine."

Thunder nodded back, he took ahold of her hand. "Lead the way." He needed to try to preserve his energy. It was difficult to kill a dragon. He doubted Cloud was dead.

"That way," she pointed to a break in the trees a couple of miles down a sloping hill.

"What happened to your blanket?" Her eyes stayed focused on the path ahead.

Thunder gave a grunt. He used one hand to cover his d.i.c.k. It was still standing at full attention. "The blanket?" Thunder raised his brows. "I guess I didn't even think about it. I hightailed it after you."

She made a snorting noise. "I should've been miles away by now. Too far for you to run. Definitely too far to find me."

He let go of his junk. She'd seen him already. The flush of her cheeks gave her away. As did the hitch in her breathing. The scent of her arousal. Her hard nipples. "I meant what I said earlier. I told Cloud that I would come for you and I would have. I told him I would end him and I would have." He gave her small hand a light squeeze. "Turns out I didn't have to because you're a bada.s.s." Thunder shook his head and gave a chuckle.

She gave another little snort. "If you say so."

"I do. It's good to see that you're not afraid anymore."

She looked away, her cheeks burning up. "I'm getting there." She glanced back in his direction, only she didn't look at his face. She looked significantly lower and from under her lashes. His d.i.c.k hardened up even more. The little human was totally checking him out.

"You can admit that I was right earlier ..."

Her eyes snapped back to the horizon and she tripped on a loose rock. Thunder gripped her hand a little tighter to steady her. "Are you okay?"

She gave a nod. "Yeah ... it was easier going up than it is negotiating the way down. I didn't realize this hill had such a rise."

"You didn't notice on your way up because you were so set on getting up that cliff and giving me lip-to-lip to save my life that you-"

She smiled. "It's mouth-to-mouth and I was not. Okay, maybe I wanted to save your life but ..."

"Hah!" Warmth flooded him. "I knew it. You like me. Maybe you should start by admitting it along with ..."

"Fine," she half growled. It was cute on a human. "I've always had a thing for men with big d.i.c.ks."

It was his turn to trip, only he didn't do it as gracefully. His feet skidded and he landed on his a.s.s. d.a.m.n his weakened state.

Tammy giggled and put her hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?" she finally managed to get out.

Thunder tried to give her a dirty look and failed. Then again, at least half the looks he gave her were dirty ... positively filthy. He got back up. They walked in silence for a few minutes. "I call bulls.h.i.t. My big d.i.c.k is a serious plus but it isn't the reason you ... have a thing for me."

"I don't have a thing for you." She glanced up at him before looking ahead. Then she sighed. "Okay, maybe I do have a thing for you. A small thing. Not a big thing."

"And it has nothing to do with my d.i.c.k?" She had more than just a thing for him.

She laughed. "Hopefully, at some point, it will have a lot to do with that particular piece of your anatomy, but ... your d.i.c.k has nothing to do with it outright. No." Yes! Whoo hooo! He felt like punching a fist into the air.

"Good." He could scent dragon. That and blood. It told him that they were nearing the site. He pushed Tammy behind him. "We're going to talk about this some more later ... f.u.c.k!"

"Oh no. I swear he was here," Tammy frowned, her eyes darting around the clearing. "That looks like blood but maybe it was further over there," she pointed to the right. "Or maybe there." Tammy rubbed her forehead. "I could've sworn."

"You're right. Look at the indentation," Thunder indicated the ground. The blades of gra.s.s were bent. The weeds trampled. He walked to the site, bending over to examine the area. His chest throbbed. Thunder was sure that Cloud snapped one of his ribs earlier. Although he was healing much quicker than before, he still wasn't at optimum. There were still traces of silver in his blood. "He bled quite profusely. Those are drag marks," he pointed to gouges in the dirt. "Let's follow the trail." He grabbed Tammy's hand and together they followed the blood and the ripped earth. "He is staying in his dragon form."

"What does that mean?" she whispered.

"It means he's stronger than I had hoped. If he was gravely injured or dying he wouldn't be able to maintain his dragon form. It means he'll heal quicker as well. Let's hope we can find him. Are you okay to walk? I don't want to leave you."

She nodded. "What will you do if we catch up to him?"

Thunder clenched his teeth for a moment. "I should kill him."

"Should?" Her voice was soft. It didn't hold any anger or judgment.

"I should kill him. I must kill him. He won't stop."

"No, I don't think he will. You won't be able to kill him unless it's in self-defense though."

"I have to," he growled, picking up the pace. It irked him that Tammy was right. He would have to force himself to act. To take care of the situation and to kill the injured male whether he retaliated or not. Dragon shifters did not do well under incarceration. Besides, Cloud's actions were more than enough to warrant the death penalty. He only wished it could be different.

They continued for another twenty minutes. He noticed that the trail became less and less obvious. The male was already healing, hardly bleeding anymore and walking with more care. He snarled when they reached the banks of the river. The trial ended there.

"What's wrong?"

Thunder stared into the churning current. "He's taken to the water. I would have to track each side to find a point of exit. We wouldn't be able to do it quickly enough and I'm not leaving you. That leaves us with one option."

"I'm all ears." Her eyes were wide. Her face pale. For a second he was tempted to take the easier way. Easy would mean looking over his shoulder. Not leaving Tammy's side for a second. Mmmmm... that he could go for. It wasn't what he wanted for her though. She was a fiercely independent female who wouldn't take kindly to having him, or a few of his warriors, be her shadow. He also liked the idea of spending more time with her. Thunder wasn't ready to face reality.

"We're going to make him come to us."

"How will we do that?"

"We'll camp out right here," he opened his arms and let his gaze track the clearing. It was beautiful. By the look in her eyes as she looked around them, he could see that she thought so too. He'd build a shelter, get a fire started and hunt for meat. There was plenty of fresh water.

"He will come ... of that I have no doubt." Until he did, Thunder would grow eyes in the back of his head. He wouldn't let Tammy know that he was continually looking, watching and waiting, but that's exactly what he would do. When Cloud came, he would be ready for the male.

Chapter 16.

"You're right," Tammy nodded her head. "He will come. He'll wait until he's strong again and then he'll blindside us."

Thunder flashed those gorgeous eyes her way. "I'm stronger than he is." He bounced his pecs. Not in a flashy elaborate way, but still ... they bounced. Boom! Boom! If she was completely honest, it made her a little short of breath. He flexed his biceps next. Just a tad. Enough for her to notice but not so much that it was over the top. It made her look. It made her really look. Guns that could make a girl drool. Next he flexed his abs. Boom! There they were. So ribbed. So s.e.xy.

Since her eyes were already looking down, she let them drift even lower. His c.o.c.k wasn't fully erect anymore, it was back at half-mast. It had gone from being freakin' huge to merely really big.

"You need to stop looking at my d.i.c.k," he growled. It gave a twitch. "At least for the time being. I need to think."

"Oh, so it's true that a man's brain is connected to his p.e.n.i.s. Blood flow can either go to one head or the other, not to both?"

"What? I don't know ... then again ... maybe," he sighed. "You're making me lose my train of thought. As much as I would love to have this conversation with you right now, we can't." He kept on cutting her off. She was ready to take the next step. Ready to say to h.e.l.l with it and jump in head first, but Thunder obviously didn't feel the same. Granted, he was right, this wasn't the right time. "Where were we ..." his voice brought her back. "I will protect you from Cloud. I'm almost at optimum strength."

"You're forgetting," she paused, "he took that bag of tricks with him. He has all of those silver weapons. His bag wasn't in that clearing. Neither was the sword. It will have fallen close to the crash site."

"He's going to need his weapons," Thunder's voice was filled with such venom she felt a shiver race down her spine. "Every single one of them and more. He won't blindside me again."

Thunder put a finger to his lips. The universal signal to be still. They were perched up in a tree. The branch was wider than many tree trunks she'd seen in her life. They'd been up here a long time, at least an hour by her estimation. Her a.s.s was numb and she was cold her jeans were drying somewhere back at the river. Thunder had a.s.sured her that he knew how to get back there.

She'd washed up earlier. The basics, stuff like cleaning her hair and washing her face and hands. Then she'd scrubbed her jeans. They looked like something from the set of a horror movie. That meant that she was left in her t-shirt and panties. Thankfully the shirt was pretty big. Unfortunately, her legs were unshaven but that didn't stop Thunder from looking at them and groaning. Like they were the best naked legs he'd ever seen. His 'you know what' had hardened up, so he really did find her attractive despite the hairy legs.

A noise from below drew her attention. Thunder put his finger back to his lips and pointed to the right of them. A herd of deer were making their way, one by one, down a trail. Thunder had explained earlier that the trail had been made by animals to get through the forest. They used it regularly to get down to the river to drink, as well as to move around from one grazing area to the next. The deer were bigger than she expected. They were so beautiful. She'd never seen a wild animal up close like this. She held her breath as they walked closer and closer. Her heart beat faster and faster. Her hands felt sweaty. She was no longer cold as adrenaline pumped through her veins. She was tempted to shout out. To warn the poor innocent creatures. Instead, she pursed her lips together.

She glanced up at Thunder who gave her a half smile. It was tender and held apology. He looked back down at the animals which were right below them now.

The next few seconds went by quickly.

Like a whirlwind. Thunder dropped down from the branch. There one second and gone the next. He landed on one of the deer. The rest scattered in a clatter of hooves. There was leaping, clumps of ground were thrown up, animals snorted loudly. The sound of hooves became softer and then disappeared altogether.