by Marcy Jacks
Miles tried to sink down onto those fingers, but just as he did, Seth pulled his fingers away.
“No, no. You don’t get to do that,” he said, almost in a sing-song voice.
And Miles growled at his mate, unable to stop the noise from leaving his throat. “Don’t be cruel.”
Seth laughed, and his mouth quickly kissed Miles on the cheek. “I love it when you growl at me.”
“Uh-huh,” Miles said, staring at the far wall, trying to force patience into himself as Seth pushed his fingers even deeper within him.
At a snail’s pace.
Seth’s breath ghosted warmly across the side of Miles’s neck, his cheek, and then his lips as he turned Miles’s head. “Do you want to know why?”
It took Miles a moment before he remembered what Seth had said before that. Liking it when Miles growled.
“No, but I now understand why you are so frustrating in bed.” Miles clenched his eyes shut as Seth thrust his fingers deeper still then hooked them, finding his sweet spot within before wiggling his fingers.
The damned teasing bastard.
Miles growled again. “You tease me to make me growl at you.”
“That’s right,” Seth said, his lips touching down so softly against Miles’s skin that he barely felt their presence against the heat already throbbing inside him.
His inner furnace was going to break if he didn’t get control of this soon.
“I like making you growl because the sound makes me excited. It calls to my dragon, and I want to growl back at you and take you, fuck you, make you mine.”
“You already did that.”
Seth laughed behind him, such an abrupt noise against the soft glowing atmosphere they’d created that Miles blinked his eyes wide in response.
“Yeah, well, that might be true, but I’m trying to be sexy and romantic here. Don’t ruin it.”
“Sorry,” Miles said, but he wasn’t apologizing like he normally did. He smiled as the words left his mouth because he knew there were no consequences for him and that his mate would always love and care for him no matter what happened between them or what Miles said that might be offensive to his mate’s alpha sensibilities.
Seth seemed to get back into the groove of things fairly quickly anyway. His voice was a harsh rumble that Miles could feel vibrating through his powerful chest as he pressed it up against Miles’s back.
“God, I love the way your body gets ready for me. Still intimate, having to stretch you out, but this makes it so much easier.”
“I’m glad,” Miles said. “If it means you will hurry up.”
Again, Seth laughed at him, as if he didn’t mind the torture he was putting Miles through.
When his fingers left Miles’s body, the ache and emptiness was immediate, but then there was the relief that came with knowing they were almost there. It was almost time, and Miles shivered, moaning as he felt the helmet of Seth’s cock pressing against his stretched hole.
And Miles was able to feel a touch of appreciation for his mate, for this alpha warrior dragon who had the patience to give Miles his orgasm first and yet put up with the pain of lust against his own cock before finally allowing himself some pleasure.
“I love you,” Miles gasped.
Seth pushed forward, the stretch, the burn, and then the aching pleasure making his dick rock solid against his chest and eager to give way to all the pleasure he still had to give.
Seth kissed and sucked on the side of Miles’s neck before pressing his teeth there. He didn’t break the skin. He never did, but Miles still liked it when his mate bit him and left love marks.
“Love you, too,” Seth rasped out. “Now hold on. God, I’m not going to be able to hold back.”
Seth wrapped his arms around Miles’s chest, and Miles grabbed on tightly, doing as he was told and holding on for dear life as his mate began thrusting his hips hard and fast, as though he and Miles had been separated, not just separated but separated for years and only just now finally seeing each other.
And Miles loved it. He didn’t have the words for just how much he loved it. He moaned out loud, the master bedroom they shared filling with the sounds of pleasure he made as his mate filled him up again and again, his cock not just touching his inner walls but stretching them out to their max.
The burn was still there, but that was entirely the fun.
Miles clenched his asshole around the organ inside him, listening with pleasure and satisfaction as his mate growled and rumbled in approval.
Miles smiled, hardly able to get his words out with the way he bounced on Seth’s lap.
“L-love it when you growl, too.”
Seth almost seemed to stop, as though he heard what Miles had said and was shocked by it.
But it lasted less than a second before Seth growled again, putting Miles onto his hands and knees and gripping his hips hard enough to bruise as he pushed his hips forward, his pelvis smacking into the fleshy part of Miles’s ass.
And it was that smacking noise, coupled with the vibrations and the strength of each thrust that drove Miles wild. His tail moved sporadically. He couldn’t stop it, and eventually Seth growled again, grabbing it by the bushy end and holding it down against Miles’s leg as he continued to pound into him.
The pleasure…it was hot and mind numbing. He could hardly think about how there could have ever been a time when he’d gone without this. How could he have not known that this sort of sensation could exist with his lover, that he could be loved like this and fucked like this and still know he was important to the other man?
Miles felt the shudder of Seth’s body before he experienced the warmth spilling inside him.
That was the tipping point. Miles’s small claws scratched holes into the new bedspread as the sudden jerking motion of Seth’s hips brought him to his end not long after Seth finished.
Miles, already a trembling mess as the rush of pleasure surged through him with a powerful force that lasted for only a few seconds then throbbed gently as he came down off that high, collapsed beneath the weight of his mate.
He didn’t even care that he was lying in a wet spot. None of that mattered, especially as Seth started doing that affectionate thing that he did as he kissed the back of Miles’s neck.
Miles smiled into the clean part of the sheets, enjoying the affection as it was given to him.
He was still getting used to the open affection being offered to him whenever they finished making love, but this time, Seth seemed a little more affectionate than the last times.
Some of the servants in the house had spoken of people being too affectionate, how it could get tiresome and irritating, but Miles didn’t think he would ever get used to this.
“Miles?”
“Yes?” Miles tried to turn his head, so he could at least partly see his mate’s face.
Difficult, considering the position.
A heavy crash rocked the house just before Seth could say what was on his mind, and Miles’s heart launched into his throat as Seth threw himself on top of Miles until the shaking was done.
Then the shouting started.
Chapter Seven
Sorin would have jumped to his feet at the sound of that explosive noise had there been any room for him to stand.
“What the fuck?” Lucian shouted, his eyes wide and body tense, though Sorin noted the way the dragon quickly pushed himself into warrior mode, his sandy-brown scales forming over his body.
He pulled himself out of his clothes right there in front of Sorin. Sorin had to look away.
The man was handsome enough, but Sorin still had his dignity, and he would not look at the man who had treated him and his cousins so poorly.
“You jackasses don’t move,” Lucian said.
Sorin glared at the man’s back on the way out. He had to have been saying that ironically.
Elsbeth spoke up only seconds after he was out of the room. “Now’s our chance. We can get out of here.”
“And g
o where?” Sorin asked. “It’s the middle of the day outside. Even if the sun doesn’t set us on fire, we won’t get far if the skin on our faces and hands peel off and we bleed out.”
The reaction of sunlight was different with all vampires. Sorin knew what his own reaction would be.
He was heavily allergic to the sun.
“Don’t be a little fool!” Elsbeth hissed. “You shame your father! He obviously sent our rescue, and now, if we can get out of our cages, we increase our chances for escape.”
Sorin wet his lips. He hoped it was his father coming for him, but at the same time, dread filled his stomach, as he knew what would happen to Miles and the other servants if the house was taken back.
They would be put to death. Worse, they would be tortured and they would beg for death before the sweet kiss of relief would touch them.
But if he stayed, Lucian had made it clear he didn’t care whether or not Sorin lived, died, or suffered while in between.
He didn’t get the chance to argue, as the sounds of gunfire and warrior battle cries sounded from high above him.
He looked toward the ceiling, the pounding of footsteps above him shaking the foundation of the house.
More shouts, frightened screams of former blood slaves and the heavier battle cries of the dragons.
Elsbeth scoffed at him. “You cowardly…”
She trailed off, apparently biting her tongue before she could let herself say something that would be truly unforgivable.
They didn’t have the chance to attempt to escape their cages at that point anyway, as the humans sent to retrieve Sorin apparently already knew where to search for the prisoners.
Sorin heard the swift noises of boots on the stairs leading down to the vast basement before doors cracked as they were kicked in.
“We’re in here!” Elsbeth cried, and her two comrades joined in with her, calling out for help while Sorin stayed silent, unsure of anything he should do.
Lucian had forgotten to shut the door behind him when he fled the basement to join the battle, so the men flooding into the room had no barrier to kick in.
They were dressed as what Sorin would have expected members of a SWAT team to be wearing, but that was only based on what he’d seen on television and movies.
Their faces and eyes were covered. Professional gear. And guns. Sorin didn’t know what specific brand of weapons those were, just that they were incredibly big guns.
Bullets from a weapon like that would likely be enough to breach the rock-hard scales on Lucian’s body.
The humans briefly glanced around, noted Sorin, and rushed to his cage first.
“Sir, we’re here to take you home. Please look away.”
Sorin blinked. Everything moved so quickly. They moved with military precision as a saw blade of some sort was brought in and the silver-plated steel bars were cut.
The sparks that flew made Sorin understand why they wanted him to look away.
Only two bars needed to be cut away for Sorin to fit through. He was pulled out of his cage, and it felt wonderful to be able to stand again.
“Come, we must hurry.”
“Hey! What about us!” Elsbeth cried. She was going to scar her hands if she continued to touch the silver bars. She was more allergic to the silver than Sorin was.
The humans ignored her and pushed Sorin to the door.
He dug his heels in. “No, get them out. Right now.”
“Our mission is for you.”
Sorin hadn’t known his father cared that much. “I don’t care. Get them out, or I’ll just slow you down.”
He couldn’t see the eyes of the human behind the mask—or was he something other than human—but it didn’t matter. Sorin could tell when he was being glared at.
It didn’t matter because, in that next instant, the men turned their attention to the next cage, and instead of cutting away at the bars, they pointed their weapons and fired on the people inside.
“No!”
Sorin jumped forward. He reached his hands out, trying to pull the men back, even though it was already too late. He was stopped before he could interfere with the execution.
Even a bullet at close range to the skull and body could end a vampire’s life. No silver required.
The men in black turned their attention back to Sorin, and his spine tensed. He swallowed hard.
“Our mission is for you,” said the man again. His voice was still muffled from the mask over his face, but now it had a deadlier tone to it.
Sorin nodded, and he allowed the humans to lead him toward the stairs.
“What about the sun?”
“You won’t catch fire if exposed for a minute.”
Sorin swallowed. That meant they were going to take him outside. As he was, right now.
Holy shit. Maybe he shouldn’t be so grateful for his father’s rescue.
* * * *
Miles couldn’t take it. He couldn’t handle hiding away in the panic room where Seth had left him, waiting to find out whether or not he was going to live or die.
Waiting to find out whether his mate was going to live or die.
A dragon warrior was a powerful creature, but he was not immune to the strength of bullets, and Miles could hear gunshots downstairs. A lot of them.
As much as there were gunshots, there was also a lot more screams and shouts of pain, of anger, and it was getting to the point where Miles could no longer tell what noises were coming from where.
Were those the enemies that were getting killed? Or were those his friends? His mate?
Miles pushed himself to his feet. Huddling in the corner would do him no good, and though he didn’t like the gun or the knife that Seth had left him with, he picked both of them up.
He was going to need them if he was going to help with the battle.
He knew this house very well. That means he knew the good hiding places, and maybe, if he could pick off at least one of the intruders in the house right now, that could help to save Seth’s life or the lives of the other dragons and his friends.
Miles went to the control panel, and he punched the red button that opened the door to the panic room, stepping out.
* * * *
Seth managed to loop his arms around the neck of one of the humans in black armor just as he was sneaking up behind Stefan and pointing his weapons.
He squeezed hard, cutting off both oxygen and blood flow.
He needed only seconds before the man would pass out, but the human was quick, and trained. The first thing he did was go for the knife strapped to his hip, spin it in his hand, and thrust it back.
Seth saw it, and even with his scales out, he just barely managed to angle his legs out of the way before something important got caught in the crosshairs.
The knife didn’t penetrate the scales enough to do more than slice him once when the human finally, and suddenly, went limp in Seth’s arms, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.
He dropped the human, taking the man’s weapons and tossing them to the side before he used his claws to finish the man off.
A knockout of that nature would only put him down and out for a minute, possibly less, and there was no time to tie him up somewhere. Seth had to get back into the battle and join his friends.
They were outnumbered. Heavily. The windows were shattered, and the hole in the side of the kitchen they’d blown open with their explosives seemed to be both their point of entry and their escape route. Van was down here, and he couldn’t hold back the intruders anymore.
There was only one thing they were here for, Varrick’s son, and Seth would not allow them to take him.
He got to his feet, only to roar, his claws and teeth popping out to their full size, wings spreading as the knife in his side dug deep, breaking through his scales and sinking to the bone in his hip.
“Filthy demon,” sneered the voice behind him.
Another gunshot sounded. Seth didn’t think anything of it since there was so much gunfire alre
ady around him, but the weight behind him fell away, the knife pulling out of his side, and when he was no longer frozen with pain and was able to stand properly again, gasping for breath, Seth spun around, only to catch sight of the human with a bloody knife in his hand dead on the ground.
Seth looked away from the body pooling with blood. He glanced around for the source of the shot but could not find it anywhere. He got back to work.
* * * *
Miles breathed a heavy sigh and then had to lower his weapon and flick the safety on.
He didn’t like that. That man he killed was never going to breathe, open his eyes, or see his family again because of what Miles had just done.
Seth didn’t see him, even when he looked about for the source of the gunshot, and unwilling to call out and distract him, and unable to call out to begin with, Miles kept silent. He did not want to put his mate in even more danger when he was already injured.
Miles was happy when Seth went back to hunting. He would be all right. He was a dragon, and he was strong.
Miles looked at the gun in his hands, unhappy that it made him a killer.
Seth had only time to show him how to aim it and keep the safety on before leaving. For his first shot, Miles was lucky to not have accidentally killed his mate.
He never wanted to hold another one of these weapons ever again, and he hoped another shot would not be necessary, just in case he had a bout of beginner’s luck.
At least the servants’ cubby he was in, high up enough to allow servants to access and clean the skylights and the top ends of the ceiling-high windows, had apparently come in handy.
Perhaps he would stay here. No one else had spotted him, so he would stay hidden and not make a nuisance out of himself. He would just watch the battle and hope he didn’t have to use his weapon again.
Chapter Eight
They brought Sorin all the way upstairs, where Sorin got to see first-hand the chaos that was being inflicted on his childhood home.
