High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  Propping himself up on his fists, Victor started thrusting with more intensity. Cheryl alternated between losing herself in the feeling of his cock sliding deep inside her, and the immaculate vision of his perfectly-toned body held above her, every muscle visible as it flexed and moved.

  At one point, her hand slid over her stomach and found her clit. She was ready to climax again, and Victor simply grinned, biting his lower lip a moment later as she started to touch herself.

  Cheryl hadn’t known it was possible, but he grew harder inside her, as if the sight of Cheryl bringing herself to orgasm had given him new powers. She felt him grow, and that extra pressure was more than she could take. Between that and her fingers against her clit, she lost control.

  “Oh, my God, fuck me hard,” she begged through it, wanting to feel him slam into her.

  Victor’s deep growl was the only response she got, but he showed he’d heard her. His hips crashed down into her hard, shaking her entire body. Cheryl cried out, and then again as he repeated it.

  “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he all but snarled, leaning back so he could hold himself upright without his hands in the bed.

  She started to reply, but he grabbed her legs and hoisted her hips into the air. The sudden change in angle hit something in her she’d never known was there before, and the next thing Cheryl knew, she was cumming all over his cock a second time, her mind slowly turning to mush as he fucked her harder and harder.

  “I can’t hold it,” he groaned an indeterminate amount of time later. It could have been thirty seconds or ten minutes. Cheryl didn’t know, she didn’t care.

  “On me,” she gasped, barely able to get the words out. “I want you…”

  He nodded, thrusting several more times before dropping her hips and withdrawing. Cheryl gasped as a thick line of his cum erupted from the tip, splashing down across her neck and one of her breasts. A second hit the other side, and then a torrent seemed to cover her stomach as Victor groaned over and over again.

  The hot liquid nearly had Cheryl touching herself again, but she was so drained, the energy to move her arm simply didn’t exist anymore.

  A moment later, Victor rolled off to the side and collapsed onto the bed next to her. He too, was spent.

  They spent the next while in silence, neither talking as they tried to recover their breath.

  Well that was fun, she thought to herself, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. Very fun.

  Cheryl had never expected to end up in bed with Victor, but she was rather glad she had. It was certainly fun, and he was good. Very good.

  But where did that leave her in regard to work? And the job they were supposed to work on together? How was she going to explain this to her team? That she was sleeping with the guy that had been the enemy? Was the enemy? She didn’t know what his stance on everything now was.

  All at once, Cheryl’s certainty faded, replaced by doubt as one question echoed in her mind.

  Where do we go from here?

  Chapter 25

  Closing the door behind him quietly, Victor stole out into the hallway, leaving Cheryl to continue sleeping peacefully.

  There was no point in disturbing her. He couldn’t sleep, and he couldn’t talk to her about it either, because in a way, it was her fault.

  Stealing through the hallways with the careful, silenced tread of any shifter, he made his way toward one of the cafeteria-style kitchens that serviced Drakon Keep. When at full capacity, with the dragons awake, they would often be staffed by wards of the Draconis family.

  For now, they were empty, and he relished that peace while brewing up a pot of coffee, letting his mind wander to the events of the past few days.

  Few days? Just the past twenty-four hours had seen his world get flipped upside down. The amount of change that had gone on was remarkable, but it was also somewhat overwhelming. That was how Victor was feeling just then; overwhelmed.

  “Everything okay?”

  He looked up as Aaric entered the cafeteria. At first, Victor didn’t reply, watching as Aaric grabbed himself a dragon-shifter-sized bowl of cereal, drizzling milk over the top.

  “How can you eat that stuff?”

  The fire dragon chuckled. “It’s good. Olivia got me hooked on it.”

  “Right,” Victor muttered.

  Aaric wasn’t who he wanted to talk to about everything, or anything, but the other options were either the ever-sarcastic Francis, steward of Drakon keep and notoriously uncaring about the problems of others or having a conversation with himself.

  “What’s on your mind, Victor?” Aaric pressed between spoonfuls.

  The coffee maker began to spit out its contents into the pot, buying Victor precious seconds as he pretended to stare at it. Unfortunately, try as he might, there was no way to not answer until the entire pot was done. Not without being rude.

  “I don’t know what to do.” He closed his eyes as he said it, hating the uncertainty he was showing. The weakness. It wasn’t the dragon shifter way.

  “About what?”

  He sagged, leaning farther over the counter, coffee all but forgotten. “Everything.”

  Aaric was about to say something more, but Victor held up a hand.

  “Yesterday morning, I knew what I was going to do. The plans would get signed, the money would begin to flow. In a week, a month at most, I would have enough to leave Plymouth Falls and Drakon Keep and go somewhere else. Somewhere near the water, as clichéd as that sounds.”

  The fire dragon nodded as he ate, remaining respectfully silent, though all his attention was clearly focused on the younger man.

  “I hated Cheryl. I hated you. I hated this place. I knew that. In the very core of my being. I was done, through with being thought of as a joke, laughed at behind my back.”

  “Victor, nobody was laughing at you behind your back. Not now, not then,” Aaric said, speaking up. “We all felt bad for you.”

  “Maybe,” he conceded. “But it certainly didn’t seem that way. There was a lot of laughter at first.”

  Aaric mulled that over. “Maybe. But we were all there ready to help you get back on your feet. But you didn’t want our help. Any time we reached out to you, you lashed out.”

  “My heart was broken, and I was beyond embarrassed,” he said. “I don’t remember anyone offering, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I…I wasn’t in a good place. She took more than just my money.”

  Nodding, Aaric remained silent, much to Victor’s appreciation. There was no need to talk about that more. The past wasn’t where he’d intended the conversation to focus anyway, but perhaps that was just more denial on his part.

  “I’m sorry for fucking around with your plans for the Outreach Center,” he said, looking up, meeting the amber eyes of the fire dragon. “I had no right. It was wrong.”

  “It was,” Aaric conceded. “But thank you for apologizing. Even more though, I’m proud of you for realizing it. For not trying to blame anyone else for something you did. This can’t be easy for you, but from an outside perspective, this is a huge sign, Victor. This is a big deal.”

  “Thanks…I think,” he said wryly, but then sobered almost immediately.

  “How do I fix this? Where do I go from here with…with…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “Well,” Aaric said, pausing to lift the empty bowl to his mouth and drink up the extra milk.

  “Ew.”

  “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Aaric said, wiping his mouth. “Ahh, delicious.”

  Victor rolled his eyes. “Look, if you don’t want to talk, it’s fine. I don’t deserve your advice anyway.”

  “Shut up,” Aaric rumbled. “You do too. This is a crossroads for you, Victor. Your choices here will have lasting effects on your life. You know it. I know it. I’m not about to deny you a listening ear and some advice just because you were a dick and tried to scam me out of tens of millions of dollars.”

  Victor flinched, cheeks heating i
n embarrassment as his crimes were laid out before him in plain speech. “Yeah. Um.”

  The other shifter waved him off. “The Outreach Center is the easy part. You just pull up the original plans and go with that. Done. Everyone wins. Cheryl though…that’s a different story. How are things there? How did you end up handling that? By the time I got home yesterday, you were already locked away in your quarters.”

  Frowning, Victor searched Aaric’s face for any sign of deceit or trickery. Was he making light of all this? Did he not know?

  “You’re serious,” he said slowly. “You don’t know?”

  Aaric shook his head. “Know what?”

  “Um. I sort of told her the truth. About us.”

  There was silence. Aaric regarded him tightly. “I see,” he said at last. “And how did she handle that?”

  “Surprisingly well,” Victor said brightly. “Though when I started to mention mages and magic, she got a bit overwhelmed. I had to carry her inside. Uh. To my quarters. Um. Where she, you know. Spent the night.”

  Aaric’s eyebrows flew up and he straightened in shock. “Well that’s a turnaround I didn’t expect you to make.”

  Now it was Victor’s turn to be confused. “What? You aren’t surprised that it happened?”

  “I’m surprised you let it happen. That you were able to overcome all the animosity between you two.”

  Victor flinched. “I don’t know if we have,” he said slowly, then flung his hands in the air. “I don’t know anything anymore, Aaric. She looks just like Elizabeth, but…but she isn’t. She’s different. And I thought I hated her, but the more I talk to her about anything, the more I…”

  Smiling, Aaric came around the giant island counter and grabbed two mugs from next to the coffee maker, pouring them both cups. Neither spoke as they added sugar and cream to their own tastes.

  “The more you realize there isn’t much you dislike about her,” Aaric said at last.

  “How did you know?”

  The fire dragon laughed into his coffee. “A very similar thing happened with Olivia and me, actually. Very similar.”

  Victor listened as Aaric told him about the early times in his relationship with Olivia, before they knew they were mates.

  “Wow. You guys did not like one another.”

  Shrugging, Aaric took a sip of his coffee before replying. “Not in the same way you and Cheryl didn’t. Don’t. Whatever. But yes, there were a lot of issues to work through there.”

  “How did you do it? How did you work through it?” Victor asked, eager for any advice.

  “We talked about it.”

  He waited, but that was all the response Aaric was giving. “That’s it?”

  Aaric laughed. “Yes, that’s it. We talked. Shared our thoughts, our feelings.” He frowned. “Though I almost took too long. I should have told her earlier. The second I even suspected. But I didn’t.”

  “Yeah,” Victor said quietly, looking down into the muted hazel liquid, blowing on it to cool it slightly. “What if you don’t know how you’re feeling?”

  “Then talk with yourself. Figure it out, Victor. But whatever you do, don’t lead her on. Be straight with her. If she is the one, then she deserves to know.” Aaric clapped him on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze of reassurance. “You can do this.”

  “Do you still think she’s my mate?” he asked, finally getting the question that had been weighing him down off his chest.

  “There it is,” Aaric observed as well. “I was wondering if you were going to ask me about that again.”

  “How did you know, Aaric? How did you know Olivia was your mate?” he asked, desperate for guidance, for an answer to a question he couldn’t figure out.

  “I just…did,” Aaric said. “Sorry, I know that’s not really a help. But one moment she wasn’t, and the next, I knew. My heart, my brain, and my dragon, all were suddenly united with one thought. I’m not sure I could explain it any better. But when you know, you know.”

  Victor nodded. “I see.”

  He hadn’t experienced that about Cheryl. No lightning bolt moment of realization. And yet…

  And yet, there was something there, he couldn’t deny that. There was something between them, but the question was, what was it?

  And does she feel it too, or is this just one-sided again?

  Another thought struck him then. What if she wasn’t his mate? There was more at stake here than just his own happiness.

  “What is it?” Aaric asked. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

  “What about the others?” he asked quietly, looking up. “If she isn’t…you know, with me. Then how do we wake the others? It’s not fair to them that we’re the only two awake.”

  Aaric stared at him. “Fair isn’t exactly how I would word it, but it’s a valid concern, yes. For some reason, they aren’t waking up when the world needs us.”

  “The need must not be great enough yet,” Victor muttered without much belief.

  The fire dragon tilted his head. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he admitted. “But you could be right. Perhaps, then, there is still time for us to stop it.”

  “I’m still not sure I buy into that theory of yours.”

  Aaric fixed him with a hard stare. “They will be back, Victor. I don’t know why you doubt this. There have been signs already. Whispers. Where do you think I’ve been these past few weeks? Trying to track them down. They’re here, in the vicinity.” He shivered. “I don’t think they intend to leave either.”

  “So tell them to pull up a seat, build a house and live peacefully with us,” he rumbled. “You defeated one easily enough. It’ll be easy now with two of us.”

  “Now, you’re back to being the old Victor. Stupid and naïve. The vampires were the strongest, toughest enemy we ever fought. I’ve read the histories, Victor. There were thousands of us when we went after Rome. Think about that. There are what, four hundred, maybe five hundred of our kin sleeping below? Do the math. The vampires have had fifteen hundred years to regain their strength.”

  “You don’t know that they’ve been doing all that. For all we know, it’s just been one who finally got bored.”

  Aaric shivered. “That would be an old vampire indeed. I wouldn’t want to go up against him. I fought a youngling, a recent convert, and he was strong already. Add who knows how many more centuries to that…Trust me, Victor. You don’t want that. So just be careful until we can figure out more of what they’re up to.”

  “Yeah, got it.” Victor still wasn’t sure he bought into Aaric’s worries, but then again, what harm was there in staying alert?

  “Anything else you want to talk about?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think that’s enough emotional vulnerability for me this morning. My brain can only withstand so much, and this epiphany has just kept expanding and expanding.”

  Aaric smiled. “Well, I like the way you’re handling it so far.”

  “Yeah.” Victor smiled, thinking of the woman back in his bed. Whether she was his mate or not, he didn’t know, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy it while it lasted. “I’m going to take her some coffee now. She’ll probably be stirring soon.”

  He poured a second cup, frowned, then grabbed a plate and some small bowls and put some sugar and cream into them, so that Cheryl could make hers however she liked. Then he piled everything onto the plate and headed for the exit.

  “Oh,” he said, pausing. “And Aaric?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks,” he said, and left to go find his mate.

  Things were looking up. But there was still a lot to do.

  As he walked down the hallway, an idea formed in his head. An idea of how to start fixing things. Victor not only cracked a smile, but he began to whistle as well.

  Now all he had to do was get to work…

  Chapter 26

  Two days.

  Two days had passed since she’d gotten in the car with Victor. Two days since she’
d seen an entirely different side of him. Two days since her world had been changed forever.

  And two days since you had the best sex of your life.

  All of the above was true, she didn’t deny any of it. Things had taken a wild and unpredictable turn ever since she’d made the decision to re-enter Leblanc against Aaric’s commands. Mostly in shocking ways, but none of them were any that she could outright term bad.

  One of them, at least, had been mind-blowingly good.

  Unfortunately, it had also been two days since she’d last seen Victor. Only a few cryptic and unintelligible text messages had been exchanged since. She frowned even now, trying to understand what he meant by Gonna be huge. The big time. Can’t wait. You’re gonna see.

  Quite obviously, he was up to something.

  Just as obviously, Cheryl was terrified of what that might be. The last time Victor had started scheming, he’d been trying to scam his friend and fellow dragon shifter out of tens of millions of dollars, while also screwing over her and the town of Plymouth Falls.

  I’m pretty sure I’m justified to be nervous about what he’s cooking up next. Aren’t I?

  A change had come over Victor, but it was still so fresh, so new, that she doubted she could understand if she tried. Heck, it was entirely feasible Victor still didn’t understand it all.

  “Boss, you okay?”

  She turned to see Liz eying her carefully.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Just…”

  Cheryl fell silent. How was she supposed to explain what was on her mind? Revealing Victor’s secret was out of the question, and she had to be wary of what she said, so that she didn’t give anything away.

  “I’ve just had a lot on my mind the past few days,” she finished, declining to elaborate.

  “Yeah, that’s fair. Having another meeting with this asshole isn’t helping I bet, is it?” Tanya chimed in from her chair off to the left. Tapping a pen on the table, she looked back at Cheryl and the others with barely concealed anger.

  “I…” Once again Cheryl stopped herself. What was she going to do, defend Victor? Say that maybe he wasn’t as bad as they thought? No, she couldn’t do that. After all, the fact was, he had downsized the Outreach Center, and he hadn’t said anything about it since she’d left his place for work the morning after they’d hooked up.