A good man would not have bitten Moira.
Behind him, he heard Frankie muttering words of concern. Her own change had not taken this long. Because Devin and Atticus had not been changed, they didn’t know how long this would take. Still, Atticus assured his wife that this was normal.
Moira had to adjust to the new heat burning inside her. A dragon was much larger than a wolf.
“Look at Moira’s arm,” Atticus whispered.
Devin saw smooth flesh where there had been puncture wounds. Three silvery scars marred her skin, disrupting the freckles he’d never noticed before. How could he have missed her freckles?
“She’s healing,” Frankie said, the tone of her voice like a sigh of relief.
Everyone seemed to let go of their held breaths all at once. Perhaps Moira would make it through this. Devin didn’t know hope all that well. It wasn’t an emotion he’d gotten close to before. He knew bitterness and greed, but hope was something fragile that he’d hesitated to handle.
Now he held onto it like he held onto the ties that bound him and Moira.
But no one came forward and assured him that she would be okay. Atticus touched his shoulder. Frankie placed a kiss on Moira’s forehead. Neither said the words Devin needed.
***
Moira gasped. She lurched forward and pain sliced through her stomach. The pain dulled and turned into a fierce groan. She put her hand to her stomach and realized the pain was only hunger. The dragon hadn’t bitten her there.
Slowly, she looked down at her arm. The blood was gone, cleaned away by someone with a caring hand. Where there had been holes in her flesh, she now had three scars. She found that she didn’t mind them. Moira never cared much for perfect skin, not when it could be a map of her life.
When she saw the scars, she recalled the spark in Devin’s eyes. His beast had chosen her. The creature hadn’t been trying to kill her. If it wanted her dead, she would have been long gone. No, Moira understood now that the dragon had wanted to change her.
Her stomach growled again.
Someone moved beside her. Dark hair stood up at different angles, revealing his dark, half-lidded eyes. Slowly, Devin’s eyes widened in surprise. He bolted upright.
“You’re awake!”
Before she could say anything, her stomach interrupted with another growl. “When is the last time I ate anything?”
He cringed. “I’m not sure. I’ve been down here with you.”
Devin reached for her, his hand hovering in the air between them as if he were too afraid to ask for permission. She leaned into him to close the distance and pressed her cheek to his open palm. Another voice rose up inside her. It purred with pleasure.
Moira had a beast now. If she closed her eyes and looked inside herself, she could see the bright, slit eyes of her beast. The creature would have black scales, tinged with ember red. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but it came to her like a fact she’d known her whole life.
“You’ve been unconscious for three days!” Frankie hollered from above.
Three days.
Devin slept beside her for three days, not bothering to check the time or go upstairs to care for himself. Her heart seized, her breath catching as she pushed back tears. Perhaps it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than she’d thought.
“Go away!” Devin snapped at Frankie.
Frankie flipped Devin the bird before disappearing through the door again. When Devin turned back to Moira, the dour expression lining his face filled her with dread. She opened her mouth to explain what she’d been doing, but he shook his head. Everything she wanted to say crashed all at once in her throat like an accident on a busy highway.
“What I did…I didn’t mean…I know you can’t forgive me…” Devin fumbled over his words.
“Are you trying to apologize?” Moira guffawed.
Her joy-filled surprise stopped Devin in his tracks. He gave her a strange look, but she took his face in her hands and pulled him in for a long kiss. The heat that’d been filling her for three days spilled out of her. Devin ate it up, greedily exploring her mouth with his tongue.
“You don’t have to say you’re sorry for changing me,” she whispered when they pulled apart. “You gave me a whole new life. One that I want to…”
Could she even ask this? Sure, he’d kissed her, but Moira didn’t want to push her luck. She leaned back and bit her lip. Her teeth broke skin and blood burst across her tongue. She hadn’t even realized just how hard she’d bitten down. It’d been a habit, albeit a bad one. Now, as a dragon shifter, she needed to think twice about what she did.
“Easy now,” Devin said. He lifted a towel to her lips to catch the blood.
When he pulled it away, she ran her tongue over the skin to find it healed. Her stomach gave another low and demanding growl. Pain prodded her and reminded her that she wouldn’t be able to do that again without more food.
“I’m not bringing your dinner downstairs,” Frankie called down to them. “both of you need to see the sun again. It’s unhealthy to sit in the dark like a couple of goblins.”
Moira pressed her forehead to Devin’s shoulder and laughed. Joy lit through her, sharper and brighter than anything she’d felt before. As they climbed out of bed and made their way upstairs, she noticed that everything else was clearer. She could make out the crisp lines of the dark stone stairs and smell buffalo sauce in the air.
The aroma of food pulled her into the kitchen above. Devin trailed on her heels, his fingertips touching hers. She wouldn’t vanish, if that was what he was afraid of. Moira wanted to tell him that she wasn’t mad or afraid, but she wanted to do it when they were alone. This house always seemed to have too many people.
If his family weren’t in and out at all times, someone was breaking through the windows. Moira craved the feel of his hands along her skin and silence while she worked through everything she felt. For now, she would have to be happy with a take-out container of boneless wings. It seemed the VanTassel family had a favorite restaurant.
They sat around the marble counter in near silence. Moira caught the way Frankie watched her and Devin. Frankie leaned in, like she wanted to hear what they might say, but kept her face turned away to give the idea that she wasn’t listening to them.
Moira didn’t know how to tell Frankie to leave. The dragon inside Moira recognized Frankie as above her, even though their beasts were drastically different. Frankie smelled like wolf, like fur and forest, but Atticus gave her the power of authority. When Moira tried to speak, the dragon closed her mouth for her.
While the food soothed Moira’s empty body, frustration built inside her. With every passing moment, the pressure of everything that’d happened built until she thought she might burst from it all.
Finally, she pushed aside her plate and backed up. “I need a shower. I can smell myself, and it’s not a fun experience.”
“I’ll show you where you can find towels and how to turn the shower on,” Devin said quickly, rushing around the corner of the counter to lead the way.
Frankie laughed softly behind them. Moira’s beast growled inside her, a warning for the wolf shifter to stay where she was. Frankie paid no attention to Moira’s new beastly instincts and continued picking away at the nearby bag of potato chips.
Devin led Moira upstairs, back to the bathroom where she’d once promised to stay with him. She couldn’t rewind time to bring them back to that moment, but now that they were alone, she could try to make it again.
Before she could say anything, Devin spun to face her. He dropped to his knees in front of her, hitting the floor like the weight of the world slammed into him, and hung his head. Moira’s heart clenched. She stepped forward, ready to tell him to get up, but he spoke before she could.
“I never meant to hurt you,” he said.
Moira couldn’t stand to hear the pain in his voice, pain she knew would be etched into his downcast face, too. She knelt before him and touched his cheek.
�
�I’m so sorry for what I did to you. You deserve better, so much better than me. I would understand if…” Devin seemed to choke on his next words. He cleared his throat, but what he said next was still stilted with pain. “I would understand if you didn’t want to be around me.”
To that, Moira grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him. She held onto him like she might lose him, kissed him like she was trying to tell him something. Which she was. She wanted to tell him there was nothing to be forgiven.
Devin didn’t kiss her back. Not at first. He seemed stunned, his hands hovering in mid-air until finally he held her tight. Moira sank into him and discovered what home felt like. Her beast uncoiled and brushed against her skin. This time, the sensation felt more like a cat grazing her ankles.
When he pulled back, his chest heaved as he caught his breath. “How can you forgive me?”
Moira curled her fingers at the base of his neck. Looking up at Devin, her heart swelled. Her path was no longer blocked by goals she placed for herself, obstacles that felt insurmountable. Now, she knew her life was complete and that everything else she did was just icing on the cake.
“You made me feel again,” she told him.
“You could have died,” he croaked. His fingers sank into her hips, but she knew she wouldn’t evaporate into mist in his arms.
She wasn’t a ghost come to haunt him for what he’d done. Moira was stronger, more his equal than ever.
“Think about it this way,” Moira said. “If you let me stay, we don’t have to argue over the house temperature anymore.”
Devin bit out a laugh before pressing his face into the crook of her neck. His warm breath spilled over her shoulder. It wasn’t until she felt a warm wetness on her skin that she realized he was crying. Moira held him tighter, threading her hand through his hair.
“Don’t let anyone see me crying,” Devin said softly, a teasing note in his voice. His warm hands moved up her back. His broad palms filled her with a sense of safety and eased the last bits of anxiety hiding inside her. “I have a reputation to upkeep, but you keep destroying it.”
“So, you read my article?”
Devin leaned back and tried to subtly wipe at his eyes. Anyone else would have seen weakness, but she could see that he was comfortable with her. Devin felt safe around her, too. Safe enough to reveal a softer side.
“I spent years crafting the perfect image of a terrifying monster and in one day, you brought it crumbling down.” Devin winked and offered his hand.
He helped her up from the floor. Moira toyed with the hem of his shirt. They both smelled like they’d spent three days in a cavern, which wasn’t a lie.
“Should I write an exposé? We can title it Young Reporter Ravaged by Local Monster.”
“Ravaged, you say?”
Moira lifted his shirt over his head and heard a hungry growl begin in his throat. While his vision was obscured by the shirt, she jumped forward and gently nipped the exposed skin of his throat. Devin let out a groan.
The shirt fell to the floor, and Devin hesitated.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” He looked as though he’d already prepared himself for dejection, like that was the only outcome of the situation.
Moira pulled her own shirt over her head. “Yeah, I reek, and these new heightened senses aren’t doing me any favors right now.”
He touched her, trying to slow her down. “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. Moira, are you sure you want to be with me? I’m not asking you to promise me forever, but I need to know that you’re not just trying to fulfill some needs right now.”
Moira wanted to jump his cock more than anything. The beast inside her practically begged for it, but she closed her eyes and forced herself to keep her hands behind her back as she spoke.
“I’ve been really handsy since I woke up, haven’t I? I thought that spoke for itself, but that’s just me being lazy.” Her chest turned warm, like a new fire had ignited. This fire didn’t sear like the flames she’d felt for three days. This fire was gentle, the patient warmth of love. “Devin VanTassel, we were made for each other. I am half myself without you. I think I’ve known that since we slept together eight years ago. Will you be my other half?”
Devin didn’t respond right away. He first swept her off her feet and carried her into the glass-enclosed shower stall. Moira wrapped her legs around him, but pants still separated them. She squirmed in his arms, too eager to be free of the rest of their clothing.
“I was a daft man to let you go that first night,” Devin growled.
She knew they hadn’t been ready for each other back then. She thought of that night as the fuel that would later spark this inferno. Had she not known his touch, she might have been just as afraid of him as everyone else in her office. Moira knew, when she took this assignment, of the many ways Devin could touch a woman. All of them were with love, something everyone else thought him incapable of.
He cranked the water until steam filled the air around them.
“Pants! Off!” she cried out.
He chuckled and the sound vibrated into her core. She didn’t think she could be any more ready, but a new rush of warm wetness pooled between her legs. Her beast preened. Made by Devin for Devin, the creature eagerly anticipated what would happen next.
He set her on her feet so she could quickly wriggle out of her now damp pants. Devin kicked his own off and threw them over the top of the glass door. Her bra and panties went next, and Moira thought she heard them slap the mirror on the other side.
Barely a second later, Devin lifted her and pinned her to the wall. The tile chilled her skin, but the heat of their need warmed her through again. She forgot about the wall as Devin left a trail of kisses across her collar bone, as his teeth found her shoulder and sank into the skin.
Moira cried out, loud enough that Frankie surely heard them. Moira was beyond caring. All she wanted was Devin and the promise their bodies would make.
Devin slid his cock between them, into the folds of her womanhood without entering her. “I don’t want to rush you if you aren’t ready.”
Moira wanted to tell him she was ready, but he stroked back and forth over her most sensitive places and all thought escaped her. He teased her until she could barely stand it any longer. The bite mark on her shoulder throbbed in time with the pulse of her core.
“I haven’t taken my birth control in three days,” she managed to get out.
Devin hesitated, but she could see it took nearly all of his control. He trembled before her, caught between need and respect.
“I hope you don’t mind pulling out,” she said.
Devin relaxed. “We can do that, my love.”
The last two words resonated through her whole being. Her skin sang with sensation as the dragon inside her twisted and purred. She thrusted toward him because she needed him inside her. Devin obliged. The head of his cock found her opening, but just as he entered, he pulled back. He did this twice more until she practically begged him to fill her.
“I need you like I’ve never needed anything before,” Moira said.
His growl echoed off the glass walls. He thrusted, and pleasure exploded inside her. Moira realized that the rest of her life would be just like this. Maybe there would be times when she was too tired or they were too far apart, but he would always feel like this inside her. Devin completed her, his cock reaching all the right places no matter the angle.
He cupped her ass and pulled away from the wall so she could ride him. Every swing of her hips brought her closer and closer to climax. Right when the pleasure was at its height, Devin pulled out. He set her on her feet and turned her around. She braced herself against the wall and he re-entered her from behind.
The new beast inside her told her how to bend just right so he could continue to stroke the orgasm building inside her. Moira didn’t know if the beast knew because it’d been made by Devin or because it’d been made for Devin. In the moment, she didn’t care. Sh
e wanted to climax more than anything.
The water turned cold, but steam rose from their bodies and filled the small space around them. Moira felt everything with her new body, from the way Devin’s fingers slid over her slick skin to the ridge of his cock inside her.
She didn’t hold back her scream when the pressure suddenly burst. Pleasure blossomed through her core, her legs, her fingers. She shuddered. Behind her, Devin pulled out and spilled his seed across her lower back.
The hot semen dripped down her skin, evidence of their lovemaking. Moira collapsed, pressing her cheek to the wall. The water hit her back and washed away what they’d done.
“Maybe we should clean up,” Devin said, his voice shaky and filled with laughter.
“Oh yeah, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. I got distracted by this really hot guy.” Moira turned around and feigned surprise. “Oh, look. He’s still here.”
He cupped her cheek and brought her in for a kiss. It lasted until they both needed to come up for air, until the water turned to ice against their cooling skin. Which was fine for Moira. She needed to cool off anyway.
Being around Devin would always make her hot. She didn’t know how she would be able to live with him. She would need a cold shower every time she saw him. From the way he watched her bathe, she thought he might need one, too.
Chapter Fifteen
Frankie had covered for Moira, telling the office that Moira had come down with an awful stomach bug. Everyone in the office stayed far away from her, like she was contagious, but her dragon appreciated the distance. She would need it until she adjusted to all the new smells in the air, like the stale coffee from the break room and the fish George ate at his desk.
Her head spun until it ached, but every day back at her desk was a little easier. If anyone thought she’d changed, they chalked it up to her new romance. Her editor gave her two thumbs up every time he passed by her desk. Judy from the front desk noted that Moira was practically glowing.
Dragon Desire (Tooth & Claw Book 1) Page 13
