He made his way into the cave, worried it was as small as it seemed from the outside. But, thankfully, it was more of an underground cave and moving down a bit, he found some roomy caverns that would be perfect to sleep the day in. He was about to set off to explore a little more when he realized that Izzy was behind him, holding a lit torch.

"I thought I told you to wait."

Izzy gave a light, carefree laugh. "I simply adore how you think I'd take your orders at any time or for any reason in this known universe. That just amuses me so much. Such a sense of humor you've gotten."

"You couldn't have simply said, 'I don't take orders from you.'"

"I could have."

Sighing, eibhear headed off in one direction and Izzy the other with her sword out. After about fifteen minutes, they met up back in the cavern.

"All clear," she said, dropping her travel pack and stretching out her shoulders. "Not even a rat."

"If dragons use these to rest in, vermin of any kind would be foolish to stay here. For some of us, rats are like little warm treats."

"For some, but not for you?"

He couldn't help but pull back his lips over his fangs. "No. There are some things I simply will not eat."

Izzy got out her bedroll, spread it out on the ground, and sat down. She dug into her travel bag and took out some dried beef and her canteen of water.

eibhear shifted to human and followed her example by pulling out his bedroll and spreading it out. By the time he sat down on it, he got a view of Izzy sharing her food with that damn dog.

"You're giving him your dried beef?"

"I made sure to bring enough for him. Don't worry. He's my dog, I'll take care of him."

"We should have left him behind."

"Oh, yes, I should leave my precious dog alone with strange dragons who still eat dog. Brilliant plan." She looked up, frowned. "Why am I staring at your penis?"

"Because it mesmerizes you?"

"Can't you put on leggings?"

"I could." Then he smiled, which just seemed to piss her off more.

Her lip curled a bit, but she went back to feeding that damn dog rather than yelling at him.

eibhear took out some of his own food and ate while he watched Izzy. She pretended to ignore him, but he didn't buy it. Not anymore.

"How long have you had him?" he finally asked her about that damn dog.

"Three years now."

"Do you ever bathe him?"

"Whenever I bathe in a lake or river, he bathes. He loves the water."

"And yet he never seems very clean."

"He loves the water, but he also loves mud, blood, shit, cow urine-"

"Wait. Specifically cow urine?"

"Don't ask me why. It's just a thing he has."

"And you really don't think he's been spit up from the underworld?"

"No, I do not."

"Because I've never seen this breed of dog before."

"That's meaningless. The world is filled with things neither of us have seen. Besides"-she lifted the dog's head-"how can you look in these eyes and think anything about my Macsen is evil?"

"Because his one good eye is red?"

"What?" She lifted his head more so she could look at the dog without moving. "Oh. That. That's just the reflection of the light from the torch."

"If you need to believe that to get through the night."

"I can't believe you're afraid of a little dog."

"He's not little and I'm not afraid. I just find him vile. Like rats. I find them vile too."

"But rats aren't loyal and they carry disease."

"You have no way of knowing if that dog carries disease or not."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Leave my dog alone."

"All right. But when he steals your soul in the middle of the night and tosses it into the lowest pits of one of the hells, don't come crying to me."

Izzy, disgusted that anyone could not love the beast slobbering on her leg, pulled a Desert Land map from her travel bag and looked it over.

"So where are you going to sleep?" she heard eibhear ask her.

"Sleep?" She looked up from the map. "Right here."

"Is there room?"

Frowning, Izzy looked down at her bedroll and immediately sighed. Macsen was on his back, four legs relaxed and spread open, his snores filling the cave chamber. It wasn't pretty, but it proved one thing. The dog had come to trust eibhear because he never exposed his belly to anyone he didn't trust.

"He'll make room for me," she muttered, returning to her map.

"I'm sure there's truth to that. I know I'd make room for you."

Izzy lifted her gaze to lock on the dragon sitting across from her. He sat cross-legged, elbows resting on his big thighs, shiny blue hair falling into his face, bright silver eyes watching her close.

"You can't be serious," she said.

"About?"

"We've been arguing for the last two days."

"So?"

"And you still want me in your bed?"

"I want you anyway I can get you."

Izzy didn't even have to look to know that he was hard and ready. Perhaps, she reasoned to herself, any pussy sitting across from him would do, but she didn't know.

"You do understand we can't keep this up, don't you?"

"I can keep it up for hours so-"

"No, no." Gods, this dragon! "I mean whatever is going on between us-we can't keep this up."

"You don't know what's going on between us? Should I draw a diagram?"

"I don't need a diagram, eibhear. I'm just saying that . . . it's just that . . ." Izzy let out a frustrated breath. "What I mean is . . ."

"What's the matter, Izzy? Is my fine human form distracting you?"

Yes! "No!"

"No need to get snappy. It was just a question."

"I'm simply trying to explain that-"

"Why don't we forget about explaining anything right now."

"You may have a point," she sighed out, rubbing her face with her hands.

"Instead you can get naked and come sit on my cock and we can save explanations for another day."

Izzy's hands covered her face and she moved a couple of fingers so that she could stare at the dragon with one eye.

"I think I miss the days," she mumbled around her hands, "when I used to get you flustered just by grabbing your tail."

"You still get me flustered by grabbing my tail, but that, too, can be a discussion for another day."

Izzy dropped her hands to her lap and gawked at him. "Do you really want me that badly, eibhear the Blue?"

"I want you more than my next breath. And yes, it does matter who's sitting across from me. Since I'm guessing that's what you were wondering."

Bastard. He did know her well, didn't he? After all these years. After all they'd been through. Maybe he knew her better than most.

"Izzy," he said low before making his eyebrows dance.

Izzy covered her mouth, but the laughter slipped through her fingers.

"Well," she finally said while getting to her knees. "You were nice enough to carry my dog. Guess I could make the sacrifice."

"The sacrifice? Yes, it's always very nice to know that being with me is something you're lowering yourself to do."

With her chain-mail shirt now resting on the snout of the snoring dog-and no, getting hit in the face with a shirt made of metal didn't manage to wake up the idiot-and her bindings removed and tossed aside, Izzy now stretched across the small divide between them. Her hands were braced on either side of his hips and her mouth wonderfully close to his.

eibhear brought his hands up, framed her face. Izzy had grown so beautiful. The battle scars across her nose, cheek, and jaw only enhancing that beauty somehow.

"You going to kiss me?" she asked. "Or just keep staring?"

"I don't really know yet." He stroked his hands down her face, her neck. "I like being able to look at you without worrying that I'll be battered into a blood-covered mess by three bastards who, after all these years, still violently abuse me."

Izzy smirked. "Funny, it looked like Daddy and the others got the worst of it."

"They started it. I was merely defending myself."

"You're such a lying piece of-"

"Now, now. Let's not get vicious." He tugged her a bit closer, brushed his lips against hers. "At least not yet."

Izzy slipped into his lap, her legs on either side of him, her arms resting on his shoulders. eibhear kissed her while his hands slid down her throat and across her chest. He cupped her breasts; his thumbs brushed her nipples. Izzy groaned, her eyes closing.

This wasn't fair. The dragon had barely touched her and again she was melting in his hands, falling apart under his fingers. She should be toying with him, using him, making his life a living hell just for her cold amusement. Yet she seemed unable to do any of these things. Instead she dug her fingers into his hair, pulled him closer.

Those big hands slid lower until they wrapped around Izzy's waist. Then eibhear leaned forward, pushing Izzy back, his mouth kissing her mouth, jaw, and throat. When she was bent back as far as she could go, one of eibhear's hands released her waist and, seconds later, Izzy felt a finger pushed inside her, followed by another. She groaned louder, her body shuddering.

eibhear wrapped his lips around her nipple, tugging and teasing it with his tongue.

Izzy's body went hot, then broke out in a sweat. Her hands gripped eibhear's shoulders.

Gods, she felt delirious. Crazed. She couldn't think straight and felt like she had no control over her body.

He moved to her other nipple, his teeth grazing the tip before he sucked it hard into his mouth and played with it using his tongue. And the whole time the two fingers he had inside her kept stroking in and out, his thumb occasionally brushing her clit. Not enough to make her come, but just enough to drive her insane.

Izzy tried to close her legs, hoping to keep eibhear's hand right where it was, thinking maybe she could ride it until she came, but he stayed between her thighs, keeping them apart with his body.

Unable to take any more, she shook her head, tried to pull away. Just to get a few seconds to breathe, to calm down so that she could manage all this. But the hand on her waist moved up her back until his hand cupped her shoulder and held her in place, keeping her captive.

Izzy whimpered, desperate. She didn't know what to do. She was confused, overwhelmed. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be this intense, this out of control. No matter what she may have daydreamed when she was sixteen and had no idea what sex was really about, as a rational adult, Izzy knew sex with anyone shouldn't be like this. Nothing should. It was too much, too good, too everything.

She pushed at eibhear's shoulders and he finally loosened his grip. Relief and disappointment warred inside her as she started to drag herself away. But eibhear took hold of her thighs, lifted them to his shoulders. Before Izzy could say a word, his head was between her legs and his tongue inside her pussy.

Izzy grabbed the back of eibhear's head with every intention of pushing him away.

Yes. That was her intention. Definitely. Absolutely.