The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete)

by Charlene Hartnady

  “It’s Flood, isn’t—?”

  “No!” she half-yelled. “No.” Calmer this time. “That’s not it.” She pushed out a breath. “Okay, maybe it is it but not in the way you think. It’s everything that happened. I’m not feeling relationshipy at the moment.”

  “Relationshipy?” Beck laughed. “Is that even a word?”

  She smiled despite herself. “Probably not.”

  “Well, how about you use me to get over Grumpy?” Beck put his hand up on the door jamb above her. He towered over her.

  Paige shook her head and was about to say ‘no’ when someone growled. It sounded like a lion had escaped, and that said lion was coming down the hallway towards them.

  Beck turned around. “Flood. This isn’t what it looks like.” He put up both his hands. “Please don’t hit me. I won’t fight back. I want a chance at the humans.”

  “I see that,” Flood growled the words rather than said them. His muscles bulged. His eyes were freaky dark. Were those scales on his chest?

  “Nothing happened!” Beck began backpedaling down the hall, walking away from her and not taking his eyes off of Flood. “She’s not interested.”

  “Fuck off!” Flood snarled.

  Beck turned and ran. If it weren’t for the situation it would have been comical. Especially since Beck ran fast.

  “Don’t come back!” Flood yelled at his retreating back.

  There was a part of her that was ridiculously happy Flood was there. That he had left Sydney. That he had scared off Beck. Why had he left Sydney? It didn’t matter! She was still mad at him.

  “You can go as well.” She opened her door and walked in, intent on closing it in his face.

  Flood put a hand out and held the door open. “Not so fast.” His voice was still a rough rasp. “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t!”

  “Something is wrong and you are telling me what it is.” Flood’s eyes narrowed into hers.

  “Nothing is wrong. There is nothing to talk about.”

  “Bullshit! Talk to me, Paige.” His demeanor softened. His shoulders slumped a little.

  “Now you want to talk. Where have you been since we got back? Not one word. Nothing!" She narrowed her own eyes at him. "All of a sudden you want to have a chit-chat. I'm tired now, I'm going to bed."

  “I wanted to come and see you but I was not permitted to do so.”

  “Not permitted?” She shook her head. “That’s nonsense. You are a grown up. You get to make your own decisions.”

  “In most things, yes, I get to make my own decisions. In this, I had no choice. I was told that you were safe. You had your things and were being taken care of.” He pushed out a breath. “I was in quite bad shape by the time we made it back. He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I was…I am still healing.”

  “You look fine to me.” It came out sounding husky. Not accusatory as she’d intended.

  “I’m much better, but…I don’t want to discuss my health. Can I come in…please?” he added, a pleading look in his eyes. “I want to tell you about the debriefing. Explain a few things.”

  “You told your superiors. Even Beck knew about it.” Shame flooded her.

  “That little fucker!” Flood snarled. “I’m going to—”

  She touched his arm and she watched as the rage drained out of him. His eyes softened. “Let me explain. Please.”

  “Fine!” She pushed out the word. “You have two minutes to explain and then you’re out of here.” She moved to the side so that he could come in. “I’m not offering you anything to drink because this isn’t a social call.”

  “They already knew,” Flood said as he turned to face her.

  “Knew what?”

  “That we had rutted.”

  “What? How?” Oh shit! Their superior senses. It had to be.

  Flood nodded. “They could scent it on us.” This was even worse. She put a hand over her face. “Is it so bad?” Flood blurted. He seemed to catch himself. “I’m sorry but everyone knows. No-one is judging you…us. No-one has said anything about it. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  Maybe not to him. Sex was a big deal to her. Hearing him say that hurt. “Okay.” She folded her arms. “You said your bit, now you can go. I’m sure Sydney is waiting for you.”

  “Stop using Sydney as a reason not to talk to me.”

  “I’m using Sydney?” She touched a hand to her chest. “I don’t think so.”

  “You are! Let’s be clear, I don’t want to talk to Sydney.”

  She snorted. “Could’ve fooled me. I hope you guys will be very happy together.”

  Flood frowned. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re confusing me.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it! You’re ashamed we had sex. Upset that others know about it, and yet you seem jealous of Sydney.”

  “I’m not jealous of her!” It came out sounding completely jealous because she was jealous. “Look, it’s fine. I understand things better now. You can go and do whatever with whomever.”

  “You don’t sound fine. You sound upset. I don’t know why. I don’t understand.” He shook his head. “I get why you’re ashamed of me. I understand why you were angry. I want us to be friends again and I don’t know how to fix this.”

  “Why did you ignore me in there tonight?” She gave an exasperated sigh. “I have no right to even ask you that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so mad at you. In truth, I’m not sure why I am. I guess after everything we went through, I thought you would…” She let the sentence hang. “I don’t know what I thought exactly, but that wasn’t it.”

  “I wasn’t ignoring you tonight.”

  “Looked like it to me.”

  “I was given some bad advice. I should never have listened to it in the first place.” He shook his head.

  Paige frowned. “What kind of advice?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You said you want to put…it behind you. You said you wanted to move on and that’s fine. I didn’t want to lose you…as a friend. I wanted you to understand. That’s all. I’ll leave you now.” He began to turn.

  “Wait!”

  Flood’s frown deepened.

  “Tell me what the advice was,” she blurted before she could change her mind.

  “You don’t want to know, it would be better—”

  “Tell me,” she urged. “Please.”

  Flood swallowed thickly. She watched as his throat worked. “I wanted to go straight over to you as soon as you walked in. I wanted to see how you were. Wanted to talk to you. I wanted very much to tell you…to…” He exhaled sharply. “It doesn’t matter. You said you wanted to put things behind you. It’s over now.”

  “I only said that because I was upset. I’m embarrassed about what happened. It was a horrible situation. I didn’t want people to think—”

  “Screw what people think.” Flood took a step towards her.

  “You’re right.” She nodded. “I’m not ashamed of you. Of us. It’s not like that.” Her cheeks heated at the real reason. She couldn’t tell him.

  “You’re not?” He shook his head.

  "No, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it like it sounded. I was angry, upset too because I thought we were friends and you couldn't even come over and say a simple ‘hi'. You went to Sydney and got all touchy-feely."

  “You’re sounding jealous again.” His jaw tightened.

  Paige didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like she was about to admit to being jealous of Sydney.

  "I didn't get touchy-feely with Sydney. It was the other way around."

  “And you hated every second,” she mumbled, sounding more jealous by the second.

  “Actually,” his mouth quirked up, hinting at those dimples, “I did hate every minute. I couldn’t get rid of her. I had to eventually excuse myself. Had to be firm about it too. I’ve never met a bossier female.”

  Paige choked out a laugh. She put a hand in front of her mouth. “I assumed you liked her.”

  �
��You assumed wrong. I like you, Paige. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I wanted to rush over and tell you immediately. I wanted to ask you if we could start over. Maybe ask you out on a date. Stupid, I guess. Tide was probably right when he told me to play it cool. When he told me not to bombard you. He was wrong, though, when he said I shouldn’t go straight over to you. I wanted to. I should have and I’m sorry. Now, I know you don’t feel that way about me but I hope we can still be friends.”

  She shook her head.

  “No? Why not?”

  “When I said I was ashamed before, I was ashamed of myself and not you.”

  “Why would you be ashamed of yourself? That doesn’t make sense.” He frowned.

  “Because…” Her cheeks must be red because they felt hot. She’d always been one to blush in awkward situations. This time was no different. “I liked having sex with you,” she mumbled. Paige pulled in a deep breath and forced herself to look him in the eyes. “I liked it a lot. I felt bad because of why we were doing it and where we were. I should not have enjoyed it so much. That’s what made me feel ashamed.”

  “You liked having sex with me?” He sounded shocked. “I didn’t think you were attracted to me.”

  “I thought you were attractive right from the start. Scary ‒ I won’t lie ‒ but attractive. The more I got to know you, the more attractive you became. After that first time,” she shook her head, “I felt bad about enjoying the sex so much given the circumstances. I started to notice how sexy you were.”

  “So, do you want to start over then?” Flood smiled.

  “No, I don’t.”

  She had to stop herself from laughing at him when she saw how disappointed he looked. “I don’t want to start over.” She took his hand. “I definitely want a date but forget starting over.”

  “Why?” His eyes brightened. “I’m glad you’re agreeing to the date.”

  “Starting over would imply pretending we were only meeting for the first time, and it’s too late for that.”

  “I had heard that human females like to take it slow. We were forced into—” He sniffed the air. “You’re aroused.” He sniffed again, sounding like he enjoyed the smell.

  Flood needed to stop scenting the air. He could almost taste her on his tongue. He was going to react very soon because it was clear that Paige was getting wet. Her nipples would most likely be hard as well. Her body was preparing to rut. That didn’t mean she wished to rut though, so he forced himself to keep looking her in the eyes.

  “Yes.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “I am aroused. Very much so.”

  His cock turned stiff in less than three seconds flat. It couldn’t be helped.

  “I don’t think we should start over,” she said. “I think we should have sex. This time because we really want to—”

  “I wanted to before.” He looked sheepish. “Very much. It made me feel guilty.”

  “Me too, but I want to have sex for all the right reasons now. We wouldn’t have to hold back either.”

  He looked down. By claw, but her nipples were tight and pushing up against the fabric of her dress. “You want to try to make things work? I need to be clear on this. It wouldn’t just be fucking?”

  “I want to make a go of it, so no, it wouldn’t just be fucking. Although, I’m very keen on doing that again. Right now, if possible.” She smiled, her cheeks turning pink.

  “It’s more than possible. In fact, I can’t wait to be inside you.” He gripped her hips, pulling her closer. “I want to do so much and all at once.” He looked back up at her face.

  Paige was smiling, her beautiful blue eyes were dancing. “Like what?”

  “I want to kiss you and lick your pussy but I can’t do both.” His chest was heaving.

  Paige laughed softly, the sound going straight to his balls, which pulled tight. “That would be impossible.”

  “I want to ask you questions as well. Find out everything I can about you. I want you to cry out while I’m fucking you.”

  The scent of her arousal grew stronger. Her chest moved more quickly. She licked her lips. “I want all of that, but I might be useless at answering questions during sex since you take away my ability to make coherent thoughts.”

  Flood pressed his lips to hers. Their tongues dueled for a few seconds and their teeth clashed as he pulled her closer. He pulled back. “I’m sorry. I will have to learn how to do that.”

  “What, kiss?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “I like it very much. I didn’t think I would.”

  “That was your first kiss?”

  Flood shook his head, noting her disappointment. “No, back in the cell when you were pushing air in my lungs. That was the first touching of the lips I had ever experienced.”

  She laughed. “That was hardly a kiss.”

  “It was to me.” He brushed his lips against her again and then picked her up. Paige laughed against his mouth and gripped his shoulders.

  In three quick strides, he had her on the bed. “I’m going to undress you.”

  “Okay.” She leaned up on her elbows so that she could watch him. He wanted to kiss her some more, but he also wanted to take that dress off. “What is your favorite color?”

  “Blue,” she said, without hesitation.

  “Like the ocean.”

  "I love the ocean," she said.

  He peeled her dress up. “I can’t wait to see all of you. I’ve felt you but I’ve never actually seen you.” His chest was heaving again. The scent of her arousal made his dick throb with need.

  She wore a pair of black lace panties. He pushed the fabric aside. Her slit was the prettiest pink he had ever seen.

  “What are you looking at?” She squirmed, wanting to close her legs.

  “I’m looking at how beautiful your pussy is.” Glistening. A tiny strip of fur. Her nub was already swollen.

  Paige laughed. “That part of the anatomy can’t be beautiful.”

  “Well, it is, just like the rest of you. Fucking stunning.” He leaned in and ran his tongue down her slit.

  Paige moaned.

  “Your favorite flower?” he asked, licking her again.

  “Can we talk later?” She was panting. He’d barely touched her and she was panting.

  Instead of answering, he suckled on her clit and she moaned. “No,” he said, lifting his head. “Tell me now.”

  She groaned in frustration. “I don’t really have a favorite. I don’t like cut flowers.” She spoke quickly. “I mean I like them, but I prefer them in their natural state.” She rocked her pelvis. “Please don’t ask me anything else.”

  He chuckled, lowering his head and lapping at her clit.

  Paige’s back bowed and she groaned. “God, that feels good.”

  “I’m feeling impatient,” he said against her flesh.

  “What does that mean?” More panting.

  Flood pushed two fingers into her wet channel, he used his other hand to rip the lace, baring her to him fully. Flood began to pump his fingers in and out of her. He zoned in on her g-spot. He knew exactly where it was. Then he put his mouth on her clit and suckled her some more, not letting up.

  Paige cried out. She tried to close her legs but he was there, between them, holding them open, holding her down. He pumped a little harder, licking her nub softly.

  “Oh…oh…shit!” she groaned. “I’m going to come…oh god…I’m…” Then she was coming apart with a long, deep wail he felt in the pit of his stomach.

  Flood forced himself to calm down as he licked her pussy, tasting her come. “I could eat you all day,” he growled.

  Paige’s head was thrown back. Her mouth was open. She was breathing heavily. Flood gripped her dress and ripped it open. He needed to see her. She wore breast coverings in the same lace as her panties.

  “I didn’t like that dress anyway,” she mumbled.

  He pulled at the straps of the coverings, growling as her breasts fell free.

  “Or that bra.” She smiled.

/>   “You are so beautiful. I need to fuck you.” He growled some more, his words thick and deep. He hoped he didn’t scare her.

  She swallowed thickly. “That can be arranged.” Paige smiled. Her gaze was heated. “I want to see you too.”

  Not afraid. Good! Flood yanked his pants down, watching as her eyes widened. She had seen him naked but he didn’t think she’d seen him fully erect before. Not properly. He kicked his pants off and kneeled before her.

  “You’re very sexy.” She licked her lips.

  No-one had called him that before. He liked it. It made him want her more. “I liked it when you were on top. I’ve never had a female that way before.”

  “Oh?” She arched a brow. “Careful, I might get jealous again if you talk about sex with other women.”

  “You have absolutely nothing to be jealous about. I’ve never wanted anyone more.”

  “In that case, do you want me to ride you?” She suddenly looked shy and unsure.

  “No, I want you on your knees. My dragon side needs it right now.” He worked hard at keeping his dragon under control. His nail beds tingled and there was a distinct chance that he might be sporting a few scales. “I need to dominate you and not the other way around. I don’t mean it in a bad way, just—”

  She smiled. “It’s fine! I understand. I quite like how out of control you look.”

  Paige touched his chest, running her fingers along his scales. Shit! She gave him a heated look that ignited the blood in his veins and then flipped over onto her knees, pulling off what was left of her dress. Her tattered underwear was still on even though everything was bared to him. So damned sexy, he felt his breath catch. Her ass was…it was… “Beautiful.” He squeezed and touched. He longed to suck on her nipples but that could wait. Flood needed to fuck. He needed it now. “I might be rough,” he said as he put a knee between her legs and shifted them open wider.

  “Good!” She sounded excited.

  “You need to tell me if I hurt you,” he added, lining up his cock with her opening and gripping her hips.

  “You won’t.” She pushed back against him.

  Flood pushed into her. It was a tight fit but he bottomed out on that first thrust anyway. He snarled as pleasure rushed through him. His balls pulling tight.