by Abigail Owen
That indefinable thing became palpable between them as Finn struggled with whatever was holding him back. He felt this, too. He had to. No way could he look at her like that. No way was she misinterpreting the need reflecting back at her.
Say it, she silently urged. Too proud to beg out loud. Do something.
“What do you want, Finn?” she repeated.
Please.
He tipped his head down, though his gaze remained on her, but the light in those blue depths shifted, turning from banked need, held ruthlessly in check, to a possessiveness that threw her body into aching awareness.
He pulled lightly on her wrist, drawing her across what had been an impassable chasm of space, until she was flush against his hard body. His other hand came under the fall of her hair to rest against her neck.
She didn’t look away, not even as he lowered his head, his movement agonizingly slow. His mouth only a whisper from hers, he stopped.
“You,” he said. “I want you.”
Finally. She had no idea if she closed the distance between their lips or if he did. She only knew that she was getting exactly what she wanted.
Who cared that she’d known him such a short time? Only a couple of days of waiting for him—because that’s what she’d been doing—and that time had dragged like weeks had gone by.
Sensation forced her eyes closed as the heat of him seeped into her skin, her body flushing with it, swamping her senses. Their tongues tangled, his mouth hard and urgent against hers, like he couldn’t get enough, like he needed to possess her. The speed of her body’s reaction was so fast, so immediate, that she went dizzy with the need, like looking over the edge of a terrifying drop.
She was too out of her element, too out of control, but she didn’t want to stop. She wanted more.
He released her wrist, wrapping his arm around her waist, her softness yielding to his hard body as he held her closer. At the same time, he loosened his grip on her neck, brushing over the sensitive skin at her nape with his fingers.
Shards of electricity zapped from that simple touch directly to her core, which throbbed in response. At the same time, warmth from that touch spread through her on a wave of feeling akin to total acceptance. As if this was where she was supposed to be. A low moan dragged from her mouth as he lifted her, just enough that it put him in complete control. He slipped a thigh between her legs, then pressed her down.
Holy hell.
The electric shocks still coming from those fingers at her nape combined with the pressure and heat of him at her core had her panting and gasping into his mouth. Hell, she might even be able to climax, right here, just from kissing and a little eager rubbing.
Rather than fight it, Delaney leaned into him, her body softening into his, attuned to what his wicked hands and lips were doing to her even as her heart beat fast as hummingbird’s wings just to be in his arms. She arched into him, moving against him with a moan.
His hand slid under her shirt and he brushed against the sensitive flesh at her waist, his skin warm against hers. Which only made her want more skin.
With eager hands, she tugged at his black t-shirt, breaking their kisses only long enough to pull it over his head. Then she allowed her hands to roam, to feel the rigid strength in his body, loving the heat of him, the bourbon and Coke smell of him.
A shudder shook his body. “I want you.” He paused, then said something else under his breath. Something like, “More than I should let myself.” But then his lips were back on hers, addling her senses and taking over her mind.
He groaned and cupped her ass, lifting her higher, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, the hard length of his shaft pressing exactly where she needed. They were on the verge of stripping and fucking, right here out in the open, and she was too far gone to care, only interested in finally letting this thing between them have full rein.
A bellow rent the air and jerked Delaney out of the oblivion of pleasure where she floated. She snapped her head up, breaking the kiss to listen. Another sound that she could only classify as a roar broke the stillness.
“What was that?” she asked. Fear, rather than need, had her heart tripping over itself inside her chest. “It sounds like a…wounded animal.”
Finn gave a low rumble that sounded more like a warning growl than anything a human would make, and her heart slammed into high gear. Slowly, dread pulling at her, she turned her head to look directly at him.
To encounter eyes ablaze. Not figuratively. Literally ablaze. Blue flames consumed his irises.
What the hell? Panic spiked inside her, and her breath came out in short, sharp bursts, speeding up as she absorbed what she was seeing.
Adrenaline joined the fear and she shoved his chest. Hard.
She must’ve surprised him, because Finn released her, stumbling back a few paces. She dropped to the ground and managed to keep her feet under her, then scrambled back, trying not to trip over any rocks in her path.
He held up his hands. “Delaney, don’t—”
She did the only thing she could. She ran.
Chapter Thirteen
It took Finn a second to give chase. He’d never had a woman run from him in terror before.
He should’ve closed his eyes before she saw. His dragon had been close to the surface and he’d known that. The second the shifter nearby in the woods had blasted that challenge, instinct took over. Finn had to fight with every scrap of his being to keep from shifting and addressing the threat.
And Delaney had seen.
“Fuck. Delaney, wait.”
He sprinted after her, around the corner. She was already at the side entrance, but the garage door was closed, so she was trying to go through the standard door, but panic was making her uncoordinated and she was struggling to turn the handle.
“Stay away from me!”
He put up his hands and stopped, trying to show her he wasn’t a threat. “It’s not what you think.”
Delaney wasn’t listening, too focused on getting away. The door handle turned. She gasped and hopped back as Levi yanked it inward, Kanta, Drake, and Aidan hard on his heels.
“What’s going on?” Levi demanded as they came outside.
Delaney responded by scrambling backwards, away from them. “You, too. Stay away from me.”
All four of his men took in the scene—Delaney’s now shaking form and Finn’s non-aggressive, almost pleading, stance.
“Shit,” Levi muttered.
Which meant he’d figured out that she’d seen something she shouldn’t. Most humans didn’t respond well to the discovery that they weren’t the top of the predatorial food chain as they believed. Far from it, in fact.
Delaney’s eyes almost looked like doll eyes, they were so wide, and he didn’t need a stethoscope to hear how frantically her heart was beating.
“Delaney,” Finn tried. “Listen to me—”
“Listen?” her voice cracked. The woman was on the razor’s edge of hysteria. “Why? So you can explain what you are?” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I should have known. My life is weird enough,” she whispered, though more to herself than to them. “I can’t handle more.”
Finn ladled a heavy helping of guilt on top of the deep-seated need to calm her down and win back her trust. If he hadn’t lost control…
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But you’re going to need to try.”
She snapped her eyes open at that, but at least she was glaring at him now, and not shaking as if an earthquake rocked her world. “Apologies aren’t going to cut it this time. How about you stay where you are, and I leave?”
With cautious sidesteps, she skirted them, obviously headed toward the vehicles. “Do not follow me.”
“I can’t let you do that. Not with the other dragon out there.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Dragon?” She twitched as if she wanted to look to the skies but didn’t dare take her gaze off the threat immediately in front of her.
Finn took a ste
p closer, but she hastily backed up, so he stopped. “That sound you heard was a dragon shifter’s challenge.”
All four men snapped their heads up, sniffing the air, scenting for the intruder.
“Dragon shifter. Challenge.” She was nodding now. “Yeah. Okay. Good luck with that. I’ll just—”
Finn stepped to the side, blocking her intended path. “Your stalker is a dragon shifter, and he’s after you.”
Terror-fueled fury flashed through her eyes. He was sure if she’d had a weapon she would’ve fired.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she gritted through clenched teeth.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
She jerked her head, a minute spasm of a motion, but a definite rejection.
Fuck. How did he get through to her? “Let me show you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, boss,” Levi muttered out the side of his mouth.
Finn ignored him. Showing her was a definite risk. It could backfire and scare her so badly she’d never get close to him again. But, right now, she didn’t know what to believe. Seeing him shift, and what he became, would at least ground her in his reality.
“Show me what?”
“I’m a dragon shifter.” He motioned between him and the men. “We’re all dragon shifters.”
She put her hands to her temples. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“I know. So, let me show you. Then you can decide what you want to do.”
She stared at him. Her chest rose and fell with each sharp inhalation. If she wasn’t careful, she’d hyperventilate herself into passing out. But he stayed still and held her gaze, his own steady as he waited for her to decide. He had to show her he wasn’t the threat.
“Okay. Show me.” She tossed the words at him, a clear challenge.
“All right. I have to move over there, first.” He pointed but didn’t move.
She didn’t even look, her focus remaining on him. “Why?”
“Because if I shift here, I’ll damage the building. A dragon is…big.” Understatement, but he was trying not to scare her.
“How big?”
“Forty feet tall, roughly.”
She swallowed, then gave a single nod.
“Watch for the fucker in the woods,” he told the men in a low aside. “He couldn’t have been more than five miles off.”
Slowly, carefully, he edged around where she stood, moving past her into the coming night. He made sure to pick a spot where he wasn’t putting her between himself and his men, where she could see him and them easily. Again, this moment was about her feeling as safe as she could, given the circumstances.
When he got far enough out, he stopped. “Don’t scream. I won’t hurt you once I’m in my dragon form.”
“This is crazy,” she whispered, but he still caught it.
Crazy? That was for damn sure.
“Here we go.” Again, keeping his gaze on hers, Finn shifted, the dragon already eager to take over.
Finn struggled to keep the shift slow and easy, doing his best not to spook the hell out of Delaney, who was already staring at him like he was a freak. Keeping his gaze glued on the woman he’d just been kissing as if he was trying to memorize her taste, he focused on the stretching sensation as his body reformed into a sleek, massive thing. Muscles tensed under a ripple of scales as he held his body as still as possible. No sudden moves.
No sounds accompanied the transformation. Even the small bugs and animals in the surrounding forest went silent, as if both fascinated and terrified of the creature he became. Just like the woman watching him with a wariness that clawed at him. Despite his men being there as well, Finn’s entire focus was on Delaney alone.
As soon as he released his inner beast, instinct slammed through him to curl around her in a protective circle that nothing and no one could penetrate. She looked so tiny and fragile from this perspective. With monumental effort he held back, his tail snaking back and forth behind him the only sign of his own agitation. He couldn’t hide his talons or the spikes, but he kept his mouth closed around teeth designed to rend flesh from bone.
The entire time, Delaney stared at him, not looking away, not even checking the other men. She didn’t move. She didn’t speak. If he couldn’t see her chest moving, he would’ve sworn she’d stopped breathing.
Finn waited. She needed to make the first move, not him.
Without taking his gaze from her, he sent Drake a thought. “Get Lyndi.”
A female shifter might make her relax more, seem less threatening. Drake, unable to communicate back in human form without speaking out loud, nodded and left. Delaney didn’t even notice.
“Okay,” she whispered to herself. “You’re dreaming, and you’ll wake up now.” She pinched herself. “Shit. Not dreaming.”
Finn couldn’t help the small snort of a laugh that had smoke trailing from his nostrils.
Delaney’s wide-eyed stare changed to a glare. “Are you laughing at me? This isn’t funny.”
“I know. Sorry.” He tried speaking softly, not wanting to scare her.
She jumped just the same. “How’d you do that?”
“Dragon shifters, in this form, have a telepathic ability to project our thoughts—” Actually all shifters could, but she didn’t need to know that other monsters really did exist. One thing at a time.
“But you can’t read my mind or anything?” She took a step backward.
“No.”
“Good.” She narrowed her eyes, and he guessed that she was thinking something meant to get a reaction from him, but he’d been honest. He couldn’t hear her.
Her shoulders dropped a hair.
“Can I—” She cut herself off, scrunching up her face, then pulled her shoulders back and pushed on. “Can I touch you?”
Levi and Aidan exchanged a surprised glance.
“Still not sure I’m real?” Finn asked her.
They didn’t have much experience introducing humans to dragons, given that they only revealed themselves to dragon mates showing dragon sign, and the Alliance or the Mating Council usually did that. However, all reports of that process usually involved screaming and running and chasing. The last bit by the dragon. Other than her initial fear, Delaney was taking this remarkably well.
“Something like that.” She still trembled, but she tipped up her chin the same way she’d done the day they met, putting on a brave front.
Because of what he was. Flame and bile roiled in his gut that he’d scared her that bad. “Okay.”
To make her more comfortable, he lowered his body so that he lay, sphinxlike, with legs tucked under him, head up, wings folded back.
Slowly, she approached from the side, well away from his jaws, one hand out, almost as if she didn’t want to spook him. Finn held still as she laid her hand on his side, not even covering one full scale.
Her touch feathered over him and he choked a bit. She paused.
“I’m ticklish there,” he said.
She yanked her hand back. “You can feel that? But it’s like armor.”
“A living armor.”
“I see,” she murmured. He got the feeling she actually did.
She stepped back to look him in the eye. “Okay. You can…switch back now, or whatever you call it.”
“We call it—”
Another blast from the dragon who’d issued that challenge sounded in the distance. Closer this time. Too fucking close.
Finn jerked his head up, sniffing the air, listening.
“Finn?” That tremble of fear was back in Delaney’s voice, but he couldn’t do anything about that right now. First, he had to deal with this asshole.
“Levi. Get her inside. Now.” He allowed Delaney to hear the order to his Beta.
“What?” She backed up a few steps. “No. Don’t leave me—”
Finn paused, registering that she seemed to trust him, shifter and all, but he couldn’t wait. Instead he rose to his feet and ran several steps before
unfurling his wings, giving a great push, and lifting his deceptively hollow bones into the air. Another few beats and he gained altitude.
Graff—it had to be him—would stick true to form and hide. So far that had been his MO: strike in secret, then disappear. Staying low over the trees, Finn kept his senses tuned to the land all around him, trying to ferret the guy out.
Almost two miles from the house, Finn caught the scent—the same one from Pyramid Falls and from the winery. He tipped his wings, angling toward the mountains rolling along gently to his left. Before he righted from the turn, a massive form erupted from the darkness, hidden where even Finn’s sight couldn’t catch him.
Experience in too many fights with dragons kicked in, and Finn tapped the brakes, flaring his wings and rearing back in a maneuver that meant the other dragon screamed past beneath him. Pivoting like he was on a hinge, Graff—black and smaller than Finn, he could see now—angled back. Finn flipped and came up on his opponent from underneath.
But he didn’t move fast enough, and the black dragon wasn’t there anymore. The slippery sucker did a twisting flip that brought him face to face with Finn.
They both opened their wings wide, hovering in the air, chest to chest.
“Graff?” Finn tried to get through.
The black dragon pulled back his lips, exposing his teeth in direct threat. “Delaney is mine.”
Finn couldn’t help the growl that escaped him. No one claimed Delaney. Not around him. He choked off the sound, trying to regain control. “She is human,” he said. There. Cold, hard logic.
“Idiot,” Graff scoffed. “How are you in charge?”
“We checked her neck. There is no mark.”
Only that definitive bit of proof didn’t faze the dragon across from him.
Finn tried again. “She’ll die if you try to mate her. Wait for the Mating Council to find your mate—”
“Mating Council? Those assholes don’t recognize me as worthy. I’m a mutt as far as they’re concerned. The only way is to get a mate for myself.”
A mutt? Why?
“And my…source…is never wrong. Delaney is a dragon mate. One I’d never leave with someone who can’t control his own team.”
