I threw the towel on the ground and crawled onto the end of the bed, starting with Anyan’s toes. Each little piglet got a kiss, then my hands swept up his calves, carrying me with them. I scissored his legs apart so I could kneel between his thighs, my mouth returning to that heavy, hard cock.

‘Gods, Jane,’ Anyan moaned, his hands knotting in my already snarled hair. Within seconds of my lips on him, he was chanting my name, and other deliciously filthy expletives, until he came. I swallowed him down, keeping my mouth on him until he pulled me up by the hair so he could kiss me. He never lost his erection, though, and after a short, hard kiss, he sat up just enough to manhandle me into position.

Then he pulled my hips down hard, and I saw stars as he shoved into me. I moaned, hugging him to me, his face buried in my breasts as I pushed myself down on him, forcing myself down, down, stretching around his thick length.

He groaned the whole time, and then I pushed him back, hard, onto the pillows, and rode him like a cowgirl.

I wish I could say we held each other and whispered sweet nothings while making gentle, decorous love. But it wasn’t like that at all. It was hard and rough, and it was exactly what I needed. I needed to know that he was there inside me, under me, all around me, and that he wasn’t going anywhere. He was mine, goddamnit, and no ancient force of evil could change that.

So I fucked him, surprising both of us with my vehemence. Not that Anyan was complaining – not at the bite marks I left on his neck, or the scratches down his arms and chest, or the filthy things I whispered into his ear. He was mine, and I told him so, and I think he liked it.

At least he seemed to like it as he writhed beneath me, trying to touch me, to bring me off, but allowing me to pin his wrists to the bed despite the fact he could have taken control at any time he wished.

It was only when I knew he was nearly at the brink that I let him touch me. His fingers found my nipples, pinching with delicious cruelty that made me gasp. Then he pulled me down so he could suckle the sting away as his thumb found my clit to swirl gently, shatteringly, around the center of my pleasure.

I gasped, thinking how much better this was than a dream, even if the dreams had been pretty good. Nothing could be like this, with my real Anyan underneath me, with his powerful body at my command.

And his power. I’d forgotten about his power.

But I remembered then, when I felt a cool brush like two heavy hands roaming down my back. As one of Anyan’s real hands held my hip so he could ram up into me, his other real hand was busy frigging me into oblivion. But those hands of power that he could conjure up, those were busy stroking my back, pulling my hair just the way I liked, kneading my backside.

I knew I was a goner when those hands parted my cheeks, stroking that most intimate place. When I felt an invisible finger of power push inside me, then another, stroking in and out in a dizzying rhythm that matched the thrusts of Anyan’s cock, I was done.

I came, screaming his name, and maybe offering to have ten million of Anyan’s babies and/or gift him with a kidney, should he ever need one.

Anyan’s own orgasm broke seconds after mine, and the part of me that could still think over the buzzing of my brain thought yes, yes, yes, yes, yes … a universal affirmation of the fact I loved this man, more than I’d ever loved anything, and that he was here with me now, and he was safe and whole, and we were fucking.

If that wasn’t a moment of triumph after the shit show that had been my life for the past few weeks, I don’t know what was.

We didn’t move for quite a while after we’d finished. I just lay there on top of him, his heavy arms wrapped around me, my hands twined in his hair.

It was only when Anyan started snoring that I realized he was dead asleep. I clambered ungracefully off him.

I covered him up and went to the bathroom to clean myself up a bit. And when I returned, I sat in the darkness, holding Anyan’s hand and watching his chest rise and fall, till exhaustion swept me away, too.

That night I dreamed of Anyan, but it was only a dream. And the real man was there, still with me in bed, upon waking.

Chapter Seventeen

It took me a while to drag myself from Anyan’s side. I’d awoken about an hour earlier, and crept over to use the bathroom and freshen up. But despite every intention of heading downstairs for some much-needed coffee and breakfast, I ended up back in bed, staring at the barghest with what were probably enormous seal eyes.

Who needed breakfast when the man in front of you was good enough to eat?

Part of me just couldn’t get over the fact that my lover was here, and safe, and no longer trapped inside a homicidal dragon. I also couldn’t believe I’d rid the world of said dragon. There had once been a scourge on humans and supernaturals alike, free to roam the world, and I – Jane True! – had killed it.

Granted, I would probably have nightmares about the killing part for the next few decades, but I knew it was all for a worthy cause. All that life lost over the centuries, and I was the one to take away that threat.

In other words, for the first time in, well, ever, I felt like what I was supposed to be – a champion.

And here’s my prize, I thought smugly, leaning over to kiss Anyan gently on the cheek. He didn’t even twitch, his heavy breathing continuing unchanged. The barghest was exhausted.

Eventually, my grumbling tummy wrestled control from my puppy love, and I got up from the bed again. I put on clothes – yoga pants and one of Anyan’s T-shirts – then headed downstairs.

My steps were light as air as I descended, and for a second I imagined myself tripping lightly downward like Cinderella, my steps buoyed by the help of singing birds. I giggled at the thought.

But all giggling ceased when I saw what awaited me.

I’d thought Anyan and I were alone in his cabin, as there wasn’t a peep from downstairs. I was wrong, however. Ryu sat with his chin in his hands on Anyan’s big, overstuffed chair and a half. Iris was cuddled against Caleb on the sofa, both looking utterly dejected. I noticed the gwyllion had returned, although Daoud didn’t appear to have come with him. Even Hiral, whose skin was blue already, looked decidedly bluer. Tracy and Grizzie were sitting at the kitchen table, Tracy with her hands on her stomach as if holding on for dear life, Grizzie watching her worriedly.

No one had made any coffee.

‘Um, what’s up, guys? Y’all look like someone died.’

I immediately regretted my choice of words when Ryu informed me that, yes, someone had died. A lot of someones.

I sat down on the bottom stair, where I’d stopped upon seeing everyone looking so depressed. Luckily I hadn’t gotten any farther into the room, as my legs weren’t up for carrying me anywhere.

‘All of them?’ I said, my voice strangely calm.

‘All of them.’ Ryu’s reply was patient, if distant.

It still took me a second for my brain to catch up. ‘Gog, Magog, and Daniel? All dead?’

‘Yes. Their helicopters were destroyed.’

‘But I thought the Red—’

‘Not by the Red. By the Chinese.’

‘What?’

Ryu got up and strode into Anyan’s kitchen, where he started making coffee. I think he just needed something to keep his hands busy so he wouldn’t choke anyone.

‘We already told you how the Chinese feel about supernaturals. They took the opportunity to rid the world of what they consider a scourge – a few supes and the humans who supported them.’

I watched Ryu dump in water and coffee grounds, trying to figure out which question to ask first.

‘But I thought they had that glamour…’

‘It blocked magical probes and regular eyesight. Not heat-seeking missiles working on human technologies.’ Ryu’s answer was blunt. So was the way he slammed down the mugs he pulled from the dishwasher.

‘So why did we work with the Chinese at all? If they were going to—’

‘Because they weren’t “going to”,’ Ryu said, his voice gone sharp with anger. ‘They had reached out to Daniel’s government in the beginning, telling them that they knew the dangers of the dragons and would help in any way they could. They promised to lend their support, to fight a greater evil. Asking them for help seemed obvious. Faraway location, lots of military support if we needed it, no explanations necessary as to why we needed the airspace. Daniel and his people thought it was the perfect answer. So did I.’

Ryu gazed out the kitchen window as the coffeemaker burbled and dripped, its brew scenting the air with far too homey and peaceable a smell for the conversation we were currently having.

I finally felt my legs could hold me enough to make it into the kitchen. I flopped down into one of the available kitchen chairs, and both Grizzie and Tracy reached out a hand. I took theirs, squeezing them lightly, before getting back to Ryu.

‘But how could they blow Daniel up, too? He worked for the British government. And did they blow up all the helicopters?’

‘Yes. There were only three. And we know Daniel worked for the British, but there’ll be no trace of him anywhere. He’s probably on the books as some sort of tax collector or claims adjuster or something. Maybe a meter maid. The unit he worked for didn’t technically exist, so how could he exist within it?’