Betrayed (Elesian Dragon Mates Book 2)

by Sammie Joyce

  Rose rolled her eyes. You could always judge a situation’s seriousness based on Jagger. If they were safe enough for him to make jokes about the situation, then they were usually okay. Despite his usually lighthearted demeanor, Jagger could turn ruthless in an instant to protect her, just like his brothers.

  Rose returned the flirty wink. “I guess you’ll all just have to fight over the right.”

  “Hey! Some of us just died, over here. You’d think dying gives a guy the right to a little rest and relaxation with his girl.” Gavin scowled at Jagger, but he couldn’t hold back his smile for long. Soon enough, they were all laughing.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I don’t know. Are you sure it fits right?” Rose tugged at the top of her dress, trying to get it to sit higher up on her chest.

  Annabelle rolled her eyes, but replied patiently to the same objection Rose had been bringing up all day. “Trust me, just watch their eyes as you enter the room. It fits perfectly.”

  Rose had no doubt that the dress would be to her dragons’ liking. It was everyone else she was worried about. She typically wore baggy clothing. She’d never had anything so form-fitting, or anything that displayed so much of her cleavage.

  After everyone was healed and rested after the battle with Hellith, she and Annabelle had searched long and hard for the perfect dress. Rose had been on the verge of giving up on online shopping and hiring a tailor when they finally found it.

  The dress was mostly a burnt orange, but going black at the edges of the sleeves and toward the bottom. The darker swirls on the fabric looked like autumn leaves. It was the perfect dress for the Autumn Festival. The dress had a bit of all of her dragons in it. The plunging neckline was daring, like Asher. The edges were dark like Gavin. The ruffles along the sleeves and hem added a sweetness to it, like Mace. The short, loose skirt that would be perfect for dancing in was fun like Jagger.

  “I guess they will like it. I just feel self-conscious in front of everyone else.”

  “Trust me, no one will be looking at you.”

  “You do realize that half of the guests are guys?”

  “That half is also Asher’s clan. Can you imagine what he’d do to them if he caught any one of them ogling your breasts?”

  Rose giggled at the thought. That would definitely not go down well with Asher. She supposed she didn’t have anything to worry about.

  She helped Annabelle put the finishing touches to her hair. Rose was wearing hers loose, and she had put in contacts for the occasion. Her face felt funny without her usual glasses, but it was only for an evening.

  Annabelle adjusted the bangles she was wearing with her dress. “Shall we go?”

  Rose nodded, leaping up at once. She was beyond excited. Now that Hellith was in hell, she wouldn’t have to worry about the party being crashed by an attempt on her life. Of course, Hellith may not remain trapped forever, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, she just wanted to enjoy herself.

  Asher, Mace, Jagger, and Gavin were waiting for her in the entrance hall. She’d left the basement to get ready with Annabelle, and was pleased when she saw their gob-smacked expressions as they got their first full view of her dress.

  To her surprise, though they were dressed in tuxes, they hadn’t stuck with the usual boring black and white. They were dressed according to the colors of their dragon forms—Asher in gold, Mace in green, Jagger in red, and Gavin in purple.

  “My lady.” Asher leaned down to kiss her hand. Not satisfied with that, Rose leaned up to kiss him on the lips. Who cared about her lipstick anyway?

  Asher kissed her back for a moment before regretfully pulling away. Gavin put his hands on her waist, pulling her flush up against him. “I like the dress.” Rose kissed him too, and he didn’t complain about the lipstick either.

  “I think I’d like it even more on the floor.” Jagger was eyeing her in a way that made Rose ache for the festival to be over and have her dress stripped off her.

  The feeling only lasted for a moment, though. There would be plenty of time for that later. “Only if you’re lucky,” she teased Jagger. She took Mace’s arm and let him lead her into the ballroom, swaying her ass as she walked.

  Jagger knew that there was no chance she’d pass up the chance to have him strip the dress off her, but he played along, swatting her ass lightly as she passed. Gavin took her other arm, smiling serenely. Any jealousy he felt over her relationship with his brothers seemed to be a thing of the past. She could feel in his thoughts that he truly was at peace, happier now than he’d ever been.

  When they entered the ballroom, Rose saw that it wasn’t only her dragons who had departed from the traditional black and white.

  “It’s a clan tradition to dress in our dragon colors for formal wear,” Gavin explained.

  “It’s perfect. I’m glad the clan is merging traditions with the coven.” Rose hadn’t been sure how well the dragons would take to the witch celebration of the Autumn Festival, but she needn’t have worried. Some witches and dragons were already dancing, while others were chatting over drinks.

  Rose would eat later. For now, she wanted to dance with her dragons. Gavin twirled her onto the dance floor, but relinquished her to Mace after one dance. She swapped partners with each dance, and had soon danced with all of her dragons multiple times.

  One of the other dragons approached her, possibly to ask for a dance, but at a glare from Asher, he decided that he wanted a drink and hurried away. Rose didn’t bother to hide her smile.

  Just when she was thinking she couldn’t dance anymore, Gavin spun her away from the dance floor, toward one of the huge pumpkins that lined the room. He led her around the back to reveal a door. Inside there was a large armchair, big enough for one person.

  Gavin sat down and pulled Rose into his lap. She giggled and kissed him. “What is all this doing here?”

  “Jagger and I set it up. All the pumpkins have something similar. We didn’t tell anyone except Maria and Asher, though. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else discovers the modifications.”

  Rose was less interested in wondering what other people would think than in wriggling herself further down onto Gavin’s lap. He made an approving noise in the back of his throat, thrusting his hips up toward her.

  An evil idea came to mind, one that Rose suspected was from Jagger’s influence. Rose wriggled her ass some more and kissed Gavin. He responded quickly, his cock rising underneath her. She undid his trousers and slipped a hand inside.

  Gavin moaned into the kiss, grabbing her hand and moving it urgently along his shaft.

  Rose waited until she could feel precome slicking her fingers, then pulled back, stepping off his lap.

  “Rose?” Gavin looked dazed.

  “I’m going to dance,” she said airily.

  “What?”

  “You know, dance. My nipples are feeling kind of tender. Maybe I’ll go rub them on Jagger’s chest while we do a nice, slow dance.”

  “You’re not going to get away from me now.” Gavin had that sexy, dangerous glint in his eye. Rose danced backward, quickly exiting the pumpkin and closing the door behind her. Just as it shut, she got a view of Gavin standing upright, his cock erect and tenting his trousers. It was dramatically obvious.

  Rose backed away, laughing. Gavin peered out at her from a small sliver of open doorway, but didn’t dare follow her until his erection had gone down.

  Just wait until Jagger heard this. He’d be laughing about it for days. Rose would make it up to Gavin later. He’d insist on it, and she would be only too happy to comply.

  Rose went to get a drink, fighting her own arousal. The idea of going back into that pumpkin and sitting down on Gavin’s cock was an appealing one. The only thing that stopped her was that she knew for sure that every single dragon in the ballroom would know exactly what they were doing.

  She was just taking a sip of champagne when a wave of dizziness hit. Mace appeared out of nowhere, steadying her. “How do you
do that?” Rose muttered.

  “Do what?”

  “One of you always appears out of thin air the moment I need you, even if I only need saving from myself. It’s uncanny.”

  “You’re our mate.” As if that explained everything. She guessed that to her dragons, it did.

  Asher came up on her other side, probably having noted her dizziness. “You should sit down. How many drinks have you had?”

  “Only two!” Rose said defensively. Asher ushered her to a chair anyway.

  He and Mace left, vanishing quickly among all the other colors in the room. Rose wasn’t entirely surprised when Maria appeared a few minutes later.

  “Asher said you weren’t feeling well?”

  “Asher is neurotic,” Rose muttered sourly. “I just got dizzy for a moment. I don’t have the plague, I swear.”

  “Easy enough to check.” Maria put a hand to Rose’s forehead, frowning. Though Rose couldn’t feel anything, she knew Maria was running a diagnostic on her. It was entirely unnecessary, but letting it happen was easier than arguing.

  “Can we talk alone?”

  That hadn’t been what she was expecting. “Is there something wrong?”

  “No, nothing is wrong,” Maria assured her. “I just want to talk to you privately. Do you think you can convince your dragons to let you out of their sight for a few minutes?”

  “Probably, now that Hellith isn’t a threat anymore, but why would I? They’re my mates. I don’t keep anything from them.”

  “I’m not suggesting you do. I just think you may want to tell them this in your own time.”

  Rose was a little suspicious, but she supposed there wasn’t any harm in allowing Maria her private meeting. The two of them left the party together, and Rose cautiously walled off her current thoughts from her dragons.

  Such small acts of privacy had previously been accepted, though after the disaster of Hellith walling off a part of Gavin’s mind, Rose wasn’t sure if Asher would allow it for much longer.

  No. It wasn’t just Asher’s choice. Rose had a say too, and she would vote for not letting their bad experiences control their lives. Yes, it had ended badly when she didn’t insist that Gavin reveal all of himself to her, but they couldn’t live in fear of something like that happening again. They all deserved their privacy, even if it was only for a short time to reveal something at the right moment.

  Maria led her through several hallways, far enough that even dragon hearing wouldn’t be able to make out what they were saying.

  She sat Rose down on a couch. Rose was becoming more concerned by the moment. Whatever Maria said about everything being fine, this behavior was alarming. “What is it? Am I sick? Tell me.”

  “You’re not sick, Rose. You’re pregnant.”

  Rose ran the words through several times in her head. “Pregnant? Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. It’s still early—too early for human tests to tell, but the diagnostic reveals everything. This is an easy matter for magic to determine, and unlike human tests, my test is one hundred percent reliable. Your dragons will probably be able to smell your changed scent before long.”

  Rose gaped at her. Of all the things she’d expected, this wasn’t one of them. Of course, it shouldn’t exactly have been a surprise. She and her dragons hadn’t used protection. They had vaguely discussed the possibility of children in the future, and it was something they all wanted, so there had been no need for protection. Rose just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

  She realized she was beaming.

  “Is it a boy or a girl? How far along am I, exactly?”

  “Too soon to tell the gender, but you’re probably only about two weeks along.”

  Rose didn’t know which of her dragons was the sire, and she didn’t care. They would all be the father, regardless of whose genes their baby had. She imagined a child with Asher’s amber eyes, or Mace’s sweet nature. Gavin’s killer hair, or Jagger’s propensity for practical jokes.

  Rose laughed aloud at the thought. If the child was anything like Jagger, he or she would be a handful. She threw her arms around Maria. “Thank you!”

  Maria chuckled as she returned the hug. “I’m just the messenger. Thank your dragons. I’m glad you’re happy. Not all women are.”

  “Of course I’m happy. This is the best news I’ve ever heard! I’m having a baby!” Rose got up, her excitement not allowing her to remain seated. How would she tell her dragons? She wanted the announcement to be special. They’d be delighted no matter how she told them, but she still wanted it to be something that reflected her own joy.

  She suddenly froze, turning back to face Maria. “Maria—I’ve been drinking. I had two glasses of champagne. It—alcohol hurts developing babies… will…?”

  “The baby will be fine. A lot of expectant mothers have a few glasses of wine before realizing they’re pregnant. You should avoid alcohol from now, of course, but I don’t see two glasses of champagne as a problem. Remember, if you were relying on human tests, you’d only know about this in two weeks or so. You have a head start on most women when it comes to stopping drinking.”

  Rose was just glad she didn’t drink much. Two glasses of champagne was all she’d had to drink over the past two weeks. She hugged Maria again, her smile once more firmly on her face.

  “I’d best get back before my guys start getting suspicious. You’re right, I do want to tell them in my own time.” Rose turned her thoughts inward, making sure that this small part of her brain was walled off, for now. She didn’t bother to hide away her resultant joy. Let them wonder about that. It would make the announcement all that much sweeter when she did choose to make it.

  Rose walked back into the ballroom with her head held high. Gavin grabbed her waist almost the moment she stepped inside.

  “You’re going to regret that,” he growled in her ear, his warm breath sending shivers all the way down her spine.

  Rose turned, and they were so close together that their lips were inches apart. “Make me,” she whispered.

  Instead of kissing her as she expected, Gavin started bombarding her mind with images. He undressed her slowly, licking all of her sensitive spots one at a time. He pushed his fingers inside her, slowly pumping in and out. He fingered her clit, first slowly, then with increasing speed as Rose’s urgent moans filled the air.

  Rose stumbled, and it was only Gavin’s arm around her waist keeping her up. She tilted her head up to kiss him, but he pulled away.

  “Oh no you don’t. You are going to be thoroughly punished for your little trick earlier.”

  She could feel his cock against her thigh responding to his thoughts, but Gavin kept her pressed close up against him so that no one else could see.

  Rose glanced at the large clock at the end of the room, only to see that it was at least two hours until the festival ended.

  It was going to be a long night.

  She couldn’t wait.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Are you sure?” Mace’s face was the picture of concern. “It’ll hurt, you know.”

  “I’m tougher than I look. I’ll be fine.”

  “Mace is right. Even Asher struggled with his first one.” Gavin glanced at Asher, who was stony-faced.

  “Stop being big babies, all of you! I’m perfectly capable of getting a tattoo.”

  Asher glanced worriedly at his tattoos, probably worrying about how much they hurt to get. He wouldn’t have cared in the past, but nothing got to her dragons like the thought of Rose being in pain. “Maybe we should try that pain-blocking spell Maria has…”

  “Not a chance. You heard what she said about it. When one of the other witches used it while getting a tattoo, the magic interacted with the ink in a strange way and ruined it. I’ll be fine.”

  “Sure you will.” Jagger rolled his eyes. “It’s the tattoo artist you should be worried about. How fine do you think he’ll be when Asher rips his head off for hurting you?”

  Rose hadn’t though
t of that. She glanced at Asher, noting that he wasn’t immediately denying it. “It’ll be alright. I know it’s going to hurt, but it’s worth it. I want to do this.” She’d just have to make sure she didn’t allow too much of the pain to leak onto her face or into her thoughts. Judging by her dragons’ scowls, it was time to change the subject.

  “So we’re still set on the rose petals, then?”

  She hadn’t been a fan of the idea at first. Getting a tattoo of her namesake seemed a bit arrogant, but in the end, the dragons had convinced her.

  “Definitely. We’ll have to space them carefully so that we can put our hands together properly to make a whole rose out of them.” Asher knew more about tattoos than she did, so Rose was happy to let him decide the specifics.

  A thought occurred to her. She hadn’t figured out the perfect time to tell them her news yet. There never seemed to be a perfect time to tell them. Why not now?

  “I think we should change the design slightly. We should have the rose split into six pieces.”

  Asher frowned. “It’ll look a bit odd when we try to put it together and there’s a piece missing. What is the sixth one for?”

  Rose hesitated. She had no idea if their child would ever want to get a tattoo to complete the sixth portion of the rose. She wouldn’t want to pressure them, and she certainly wouldn’t want them to do it before they were an adult. A tattoo wasn’t something to regret.

  Still, even if they never got the completing piece, it seemed that they were shown somehow. Though it had only been two weeks since she found out, Rose already loved her baby. She wouldn’t feel complete without them, and the tattoo would feel wrong if it didn’t acknowledge that.

  She should ask Maria again if she could determine the gender yet. Rose couldn’t wait to find out whether it was a girl or a boy. She’d be happy with either, but the not knowing was driving her crazy.