Ella inhaled sharply and they stood there, almost cheek to cheek. Her breath caressed his chin and everything within him tightened. He wanted to step back in, slam the door with his foot, and scoop Ella up in his arms.
There were so many things he wanted to do, but she was fragile. Doing any of it could ruin what he was building. In fact, as they stood there, Gregor's heart pounded in his chest because he wasn't sure if his impulsive action had already done it. They'd never touched for more than a second before.
This small brush of his lips was expanding into something more.
He longed for her and even though his emotions were conflicted over the mating bond, he didn't blame it on Ella. If she was his mate, she would come around. She had to. If she wasn't, he still couldn't deny the attraction between them.
Gregor had not had a woman since his wife. If he wasn't a dragon warrior, he should damn well be a monk.
They stood there, Gregor’s lips perilously close to Ella’s. She turned, just a hair, and Gregor claimed her lips with his own. He reached up and brushed errant strands of hair from her face. Ella reached up and held his face between her hands.
The gesture was both tender and maddening. Gregor deepened the kiss, feeling the force of the bond deep in his bones. She eagerly opened to him and his tongue brushed hers. Once. Twice. Ella’s hands moved to grip his shoulders. His hands moved to her waist, and he picked her up. Gregor took two steps into her apartment and slammed the door with his boot. Her legs went around his waist and he backed Ella into the wall. The heat of her drove him mad. His lips trailed down to her neck and the top of her collarbone, and Ella’s breath came deep and heavy.
When a soft moan escaped her, Gregor lost control. His hand moved underneath her shirt. His fingers roamed over the deep dip of her waist where it met her hips and up until they hit the bottom of her bra.
Lace.
Gods.
In seconds, the contraption was swept away and tossed onto the floor behind him. Her breasts sprang free from underneath the shirt and Gregor couldn’t help himself. A soft exhalation of breath escaped from him. Ella squirmed against him, brushing her core against his sex.
"Gregor," she whispered.
He quickly unbuttoned several buttons of her shirt. Gregor’s mouth swept in to claim the rosebud nipple peeking up at him.
Ella’s gasp of pleasure made him weak in the knees. He kept her pinned against the wall as he suckled and nipped at her breasts. Her hands moved down to his waist and she had just touched his belt when she froze.
Gregor stopped. Barely. His eyes were glazed with lust, but when he looked at her, he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. He carefully extricated himself from her and set her gently down on the floor.
He never meant it to go quite that far. Somehow he had to salvage this.
Ella was the first to step away. She looked down and quickly pulled her unbuttoned shirt together. Two spots of color hit the top of her cheekbones. She swallowed hard, offered him a smile tinged with awkwardness and nodded. "Okay," she said.
Gregor blinked. "Okay?" he asked, confused.
"Okay, I'll call you when I'm setting this up."
Pleasure stretched his face in a grin. "Thank you, Ella," he said somberly. "I want to be your friend. And friends help each other, don't they?" He did not want to be her friend. Or ... just her friend. He wanted to be so much more. He wanted Ella in every single way he could have her. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. If it had to do with Ella, he wanted it.
He also wanted to finish what they’d just started.
"They do," she agreed, but he didn't miss the flash of disappointment in her eyes at the word friend. Maybe she was thinking the same thing he was. Friends didn’t almost spontaneously have sex in the front hall of their homes.
Gregor raised a hand in farewell. He did not want to go. "Then I will see you soon." He glanced down at the blue lace bra lying innocently on the floor. It was the only evidence of what they’d just been doing.
"Goodbye, Gregor. Thank you again."
He sketched a shallow bow and was about to turn when Ella gasped. "Wait! I need to drive you home."
Gregor turned back around just in time to see Ella smack her forehead. He grinned at her. "No need. I have wings, remember?"
"It isn't dark yet," she said. "You can’t risk it." Neither one of them mentioned the excursion in the parking lot. No one had been close to them at the time, but it was hard to miss an enormous blue dragon in broad daylight.
"I can cloak myself." Gregor shrugged. "I just forgot about it earlier in the heat of the moment."
"If you're sure," she said.
"As much as I love spending time with you, I don't want to spend one second more in that death trap you call a vehicle."
Her face opened into a wide grin. "You're such a baby," she said.
Mock outrage filled his face. "How dare you, woman!" he growled.
Ella laughed, her eyes sparkling merrily. "Goodbye for now," she said.
"Farewell, my lady." He raised the cloak to keep him concealed and spread his wings wide. With a single leap, Gregor was in the air and flying back to Daegal and Sara's home.
He thought about Ella the entire way back and didn't stop thinking about her until his head hit the pillow and he fell into an exhausted sleep.
He would update Daegal and the other dragons on the Ludovic sighting tomorrow morning when they woke up. For now, it would hold. Ludovic didn't seem to be doing anything other than scouting.
What this meant, he didn't know, but he would find out.
They needed to find him. Quickly.
None of them could risk the same thing happening to them again. This time, they had more to lose.
5
Ella
Gregor was being over the top protective. So much so, that Ella dreaded answering the phone every time it rang. She wanted to punch Sara in the kidney for showing him how to operate her cell phone. He had zero chill when it came to checking up on her.
It was 4 p.m. and it was the third time he'd called today. Ella glared at the cellphone as if her mental annoyance would be enough to get it to stop ringing.
When it didn't, she snatched the phone up. "What?" she barked.
There was a surprised pause on the line. Ella had been way nicer the last dozen or so times he'd called over these last few days. "Ella?" Gregor questioned.
As if anyone else would be answering her phone in an aggravated tone. "Yes, Gregor?" She pinched the space between her brows and counted to ten. It wasn't his fault. Gregor was merely concerned for her safety.
Overly concerned, if she were being honest. Nothing even remotely weird had happened. There was no sign of Ludovic or any other dragons. Ella kept busy unpacking and setting up her new home. She hadn't yet touched the bookshelves. All those pieces and all the time it would take to put them together made her shudder when she thought about it. She'd handle those last and maybe try to keep that fact from Gregor.
A smile tugged at her mouth as she imagined the enormous man surrounded by hundreds of tiny screws and wood pieces.
"I am just calling you to ensure your safety."
His words were formal, and they made the smile on her face widen. Gregor was so adorably weird. "I'm fine. Nothing untoward has occurred."
"That's very good," the dragon said. He grew quiet for a moment, and Ella could sense tension over the line.
"Gregor?"
"Sara has something she wishes to discuss with you."
Ella heard the shuffle of the phone being passed over. Her friend's warm voice came on the line a few seconds later.
"Ella?"
"Hey, Sara!" She switched the phone to her other ear as she started to unpack a box of cleaning supplies she'd picked up before she moved out. Ella always tried to be prepared for any situation. She used the community cleaning supplies at Sara's, but once she was on her own, she didn't want to take anything that didn't belong to her.
"So..." Sara began,
her voice a drawl. Ella knew that tone, and she knew whatever her friend was about to say, she wasn't going to like it.
"Spit it out," Ella said as she placed several bottles of natural cleaner underneath her kitchen sink. She stacked sponges next to them and added a box of detergent pods and dishwasher tabs.
"I'm going to put you on speaker," Sara said.
Before Ella could protest, she heard the button and the sounds of movement in Sara's house.
"Greetings, Ella," Daegal said.
Ella snorted. "Hey, Daegal. What's going on? This feels like an ambush."
"That is good terminology," Daegal said. "I think it's fitting for this situation."
Ella heard the sound of someone being smacked. "So ... I am being ambushed?"
"Yes!" Daegal said. She could hear the smile in his voice as if he were pleased with how smart Ella was.
A sigh escaped her. "I don't know what this is about, but I'm busy unpacking. Can we pick this up later?" She finished unloading the box and scooted another one over to her. Taking a pair of scissors from her back pocket, she slit the tape and opened it up. More cleaning supplies and dishcloths. She started unloading things to the other side.
"No," Sara said. "We need to talk about it now."
Ella frowned. "Really? Is everything okay?"
"Everything is great!" chirped Jillian.
"We know the apartment was getting cramped, and we appreciate you letting us have our space, but Gregor told us about the incident with Ludovic."
Dread was starting to seep through her veins. She didn't know where this was going, but it couldn't be anywhere good. "Yes..."
Quiet fell over the line.
"I'm going to hang up if someone doesn’t start explaining," she said. "Whatever it is, just say it."
Gregor spoke next. "I have fears for your safety."
"Gosh, is that why you're calling me every five minutes?" Ella said. She shook her head and pushed the empty box away.
"It is not every five minutes," Gregor said, affront oozing from his voice. "I call you every three hours. It's a good time spread to feel like you have personal space, but short enough for me to catch you if something happens."
"Personal space?" Ella questioned.
"Yes," he said, his voice proud. "Sara has been teaching me about it. That and personal boundaries. Which are two different things."
A laugh burbled from Ella. "Those are important things to know," she said. Ella didn't want to hurt Gregor's feelings. And, it was true. Personal space and boundaries were important for anyone to know, but especially for four enormous men who sprang out of the ocean in order to save humanity. They had no concept of a lot of human behaviors when they'd arrived. All of them were still weird in some ways and probably always would be. They were endearing, though, for the most part, and that could take someone a long way.
"We think Gregor should stay with you," Sara blurted out.
Ella inhaled a gasp of air, feeling like she'd been punched in the solar plexus. "Excuse me?" she breathed.
"You heard us," Sara said quietly.
"I'm afraid I misheard you. It sounded like you wanted Gregor to live with me."
"Yes!" Daegal said again. "Wouldn't that be wonderful? You'd have Gregor all to yourself, and you'd have around the clock protection."
Ella pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief for a second. "Wonderful?" she yelped. "Wonderful? I moved to get some space. The last thing I want is an almost seven-foot dragon moving in with me!"
"I am not seven-foot," Gregor murmured.
"That's what you took from that?" Ella screeched.
"I know you're angry," Sara interjected. "But I urge you to do this. Ludovic is dangerous, Ella. You remember what he did to me. He took my son right from under my nose." Her voice broke. "Please. I care about you. It would only be for a little while."
"That's dirty pool, Sara. Tears should be out of bounds." Ella’s tone was cold.
"I'm sorry, but it’s for the best," Sara said.
"Sara," she said, keeping her voice low. "You do not know what you're asking me to do."
"I do know, and I'm sorry to ask. I can't let anything happen to you."
"And why does it have to be Gregor?" Ella asked curtly. "What can’t it be one of the other dragons?"
Sara's breath comes out in a rush. "None of them will go. Not because of—" Something abruptly cut her off.
"Sara?"
"Gregor will be at your house this evening," said Daegal. "It is our last resort. We hope to find Ludovic soon. Gregor will leave once we do." Daegal's pause was heavy. "If you want him to."
"What does that even mean?" Ella said, frustration seeping through every pore in her body. "Sara, what do you mean? Because of what?"
"I'm so sorry," said Gregor.
"Yeah? You better be sorry! I swear to God, Gregor, you better make sure you put the seat down or so help me I will—"
The line clicked off.
Ella screeched and stared at her phone in disbelief. "Of all the high-handed ridiculous things to happen, he's moving in with me?" The expletives began to flow from her mouth. "What the fuck is happening to my life?"
She stood, brushed off her jeans and slammed her cell phone down on the counter. There was a guest bedroom, but the only thing set up was the bed. Nothing else. She'd unpacked the kitchen, so there were at least pots, but she didn't have that much food.
Ella knew exactly how much a hungry dragon could eat. Her thoughts whirled around. There was a lot to think about with a roommate. Especially with one who wasn't human.
But there was a much larger issue. She didn't want Gregor here because she was afraid she would lose control.
Ella Masters did not lose control. She was as cool as a cucumber. Ice cold. Ice queen. Except ... around him. She felt like she was on fire. All the time. And he was the only one who could quench her blaze.
"This is a terrible idea," she said to herself.
Ella turned to walk back out to the living room. Something caught the edge of her peripheral vision. She turned, only to see a huge man standing outside of her apartment looking into her window.
Ella sucked in a gasp of shocked air. At first, she wanted to laugh at herself. Maybe he was just lost. But as she took a couple of steps closer, she realized that wasn't the case.
Ludovic stood outside of her window. No. He loomed outside.
He wasn't doing anything. He'd made no move to invade her space or do anything to her. He merely watched.
That was somehow more terrifying than the alternative. Ella spun around and dashed back to the kitchen to grab her phone. When she had it in her hand, she pressed Sara's number and turned back to the window.
Ludovic was gone.
Gregor answered on the first ring. "Ella? Is something wrong?"
"Ludovic!" she said, her voice borderline hysterical. "He's outside my window!"
"Get into a locked room. Right now. Do not come out until you hear my voice. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she whispered, her hand so tight on the phone it was going numb.
"Good, I'm going to pass you to Sara. Go!"
Ella went. She ran to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She turned the lock, spun, and rushed over to her closet. It was mostly empty, but if she arranged the clothes just right, they might hide her from his eyes. Especially if he were in a hurry.
She crouched in the corner, hidden by a surfboard and some of her dresses. Her breathing came in harsh, labored gasps. Mentally, she told herself to calm down. "Breathe," she whispered. Her nostrils flared as she filled her lungs with air.
Moments later, her breath was somewhat under control and she was straining to listen for any sound of him.
But there was nothing.
Ella's hands shook so she clenched them together in a prayer position. She wasn't a religious woman, but this sort of fear required a divine effort.
Seconds later, the sound of a splintering door shook her ap
artment. Ella whimpered in fear and shut her eyes tightly. She didn't want to see whatever was coming at her.
"ELLA!" a voice roared through the silence.
Ella stilled, her eyes widening and her heart pounding with hope. That voice.
It sounded like Gregor.
But still, she didn't move.
"ELLA!"
It was Gregor. She quietly moved the surfboard away and stood in the closet.
"IT'S GREGOR!"
Ella rushed out of the closet, tripping over loose clothing, and flung her bedroom door open. When she saw the way he looked, her heart tripped and scattered.
His gray eyes were wide and haunted. Fear had stripped any sense of humanity from him. His cheekbones were stark against the planes of his face, and he still wore his wings. If anyone saw him like this, there would be a lot of hard questions to answer.
She didn't question it. Ella flung herself at him.
Gregor captured her in his arms and whispered words she couldn't decipher in a tongue so ancient it made her shiver.
He held her until she stopped shaking, stroking a large hand down her hair and holding her so tight she was having trouble breathing. It took a while before she had the strength to step away from him. When she did, his face took her breath away.
Gregor was beautiful. When he first came into Sara's apartment so long ago, she found herself in awe of him. His powerful build, his way with words. Those things were attractive to her. But it was his eyes that made her weak in the knees. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Ella knew his soul when she looked into his eyes. And she did not find it wanting. In fact, it scared her to the core. She did not know what Gregor had been through in his life, but she knew whatever it was, it was painful. And yet, he still showed an extreme capacity for love and empathy.
Being in close quarters with him was dangerous for her heart. She knew it. And yet, when she thought Ludovic was there, the only person she wanted with her was Gregor.
His gray eyes were almost silver with fury. Not at her. At Ludovic and the situation. "Did he hurt you?" he asked. His gaze flicked everywhere at once, it seemed. Over her hair, her face, her shoulders, her legs, all of it a calculated stare to make sure she was okay.
The Alpha Dragon's Mate (Dragon Shifters of Kahului Book 2) Page 6
