Arach let me go and gave me a little push forward. “Go ahead, A Thaisce. I'll be here if you need me.”
I inhaled the smoke, setting my dragon to rumbling, and then stretched my hands out to the fire. The energy tingled just beyond my fingertips. I called to it and waited for it to fill me. And waited. I closed my eyes and concentrated. It was right there. All around me. Glorious burning fuel. Wondrous heat and power. I could suck this fire up like a vacuum and save this forest. I could do it because...
“Oh, fuck me!” I growled.
“What just happened?” Arach stepped up beside me, his dragon stare scanning the forest warily.
“I forgot,” I huffed. “The Trinity Star is what gives me the ability to consume fire and use it as fuel.”
Arach's face fell into an annoyed expression. “Yes, I seem to have forgotten that as well.”
“Without the star, I can't connect to the energy in the fire.” I made a frustrated sound. “It's right there! Taunting me! And I can't take it.”
“You can still heal yourself,” he said gently. “That's a gift your Fey blood gave you, not the star.”
“I thought only my dragon fire could heal me?”
“Dragon fire is the strongest remedy, but any fire will help.” Arach held a hand out to me. “Shall we take a walk, A Thaisce?”
“Through a flaming forest?” I asked with a grin. “Why yes, I'd love to, Dragon King.”
Arach and I strode forward over smoking soil and walked straight into the fire. Embers burst up around us like startled fireflies, making it feel even more magical. Our clothing burned away and in its place rose scales; gold for me and crimson for Arach. We sighed through the partial shift and grinned at each other as our hair sank beneath our dragon skin. Wings rose from our shoulders and flapped the scorched air languidly as tails whipped around our legs. I took Arach's clawed hand in mine and kept walking. Bare, taloned feet striding over blackened earth, clawed hands trailing through rising flames, the scent of smoke thickening, and the beautiful melody of popping resin and roaring air rising around us.
I let go of Arach's hand to lean against a burning tree. The fire sank through my leathery wings like hot water in a bath. My eyes on a rumbling sigh as I lifted my arms along the trunk, trying to get as much of my body engulfed in the flames as possible. Everywhere they touched came alive, aching exhaustion literally melting away.
Then a growling groan caught my attention and my eyes popped open.
Arach's dragon stare glowed through the haze of smoke. Burning branches fell to the earth behind him with echoing crashes. Embers danced on the breeze his wings created, swirling around his magnificent body. Flames painted his scales in sunset colors, gleaming over their glassy surface. A pair of majestic horns curved back from his temples like a primitive crown. Arach stepped forward, tail lashing behind him and gaze roaming down my body, then set his claws against the tree to either side of me.
“You are so beautiful, A Thaisce,” he whispered in my ear as he pressed his body to mine. “Fire licking your golden scales. I think I'm jealous of it.”
“There's no need for jealousy,” I purred and pulled him closer. “Lick anything you like.”
Arach's mouth covered mine, his slick lips moving over me as our hot tongues tangled together. His body pressed closer, his hands roaming down my sides to clutch at my hips, talons scraping scales. You'd think that scales would dampen sensation, but every touch transferred through the impenetrable barrier to set my nerves to tingling. My tail swung forward to twine with his as Arach lifted me and spread my legs around his waist. I reached between us for the thick shaft already protruding from its protective sheath. Arach groaned as I stroked it then angled him into the slit of my scaled covering. He slipped inside as embers rained down upon us, sprinkling us with little zings of delight.
I cried out and clutched him closer, angling myself onto his shaft. Arach shifted too, so that he was pushing up into me as he held my thighs out to the sides. He started a wicked thrusting and every slam shook more of those glorious embers down around us. My body writhed in primal passion while simultaneously languishing in the healing touch of fire. All of it felt so good; the heat seeping in to refresh me, Arach's wild kiss making my head spin, his slick body gliding against mine, his shaft filling me to bursting, and the hard nub of his rolled back sheath rubbing at my most sensitive spot.
The tree creaked and splintered. Arach caught me and held me to himself as it crashed into a shower of ash, embers, and coal behind me. I kept grinding against him, unable to stop. My movements pulled a growl up Arach's throat, and he went back to kissing me as he lowered me onto a burning patch of ground. The flames rose around us, and my husband leaned out of our kiss to rise with them, onto his claws. His hips pounded forward mercilessly, and I met every thrust with one of my own. But then Arach growled, even louder than before, and rolled us so that I was astride him.
“Bring that beautiful flower here, my fire queen,” Arach demanded. “I was promised some licking.”
I bit my lip and shivered as I moved forward to straddle his face. Arach nosed my sex open and
