by Krista Bella
This problem was further compounded by the fact that the human women had to have compatible blood type to sleep with the dragon shifter or the sex could be fatal to her.
In this day in age of technology, where people had the power to kill dragons with high-powered assault rifles, the last thing Ethan wanted or needed was for his dragon to take over. Because if that happened, the likelihood of him being discovered and hunted by a dragon hunter became very high.
But it was unlikely to happen to him if he kept his dragon in check...they key word being if.
Besides Ethan's imminent problem, most dragons had nothing to fear from humans, because most of them were unaware of the existence of dragons.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked a high-pitched, but soft voice.
Ethan spun around to see one of his brethren, a female dragon shifter named Ashvi, staring at him, her arms crossed across her chest.
Dressed in a brown leather skirt and a bustier that showed off her flat midsection, Ashvi was a thing of beauty. She was five-hundred years old and did not look a day over twenty, with her high, delicate cheek bones and long elven-like ears.
Her glossy silver hair gleamed in the moonlight and her blue eyes that were specked with gold sparkled with amusement as she appraised him.
Ethan quelled the irritation that rose from the depths of his stomach. Dragons had excellent hearing, could hear a pin drop a mile away, but somehow, he hadn't heard Ashvi sneak up on him.
He supposed that's why she was smiling now.
"I did not hear you come up," Ethan said, trying not to let the irritation he felt creep into his voice, knowing that it would delight the mischievous shifter.
Ashvi quirked her lips. "I'm just that good, aren't I?"
Ethan barely deigned to look at her. "Not really."
Still smirking with amusement, Ashvi shifted, tilting her head to the side. "You didn't find one did you?"
Gritting his teeth, Ethan brushed past Ashvi and began walking towards the secret settlement that lay within the valley of the mountain. Hearthstone, the name of settlement, had endured for the past thousand years and was one of the last few ancient strongholds of dragons who had not yet integrated with humans.
It was made up of large stone and wooden homes with a large keep at the center of the town, home of the emperor dragon, Kalak.
"I don't see how that's any of your business."
Ashvi picked up her pace to keep up with him. "It is my business, seeing as how if you don't find a mate, your dragon is going to go on a rampage and no female within a thousand miles of here will be safe." Ashvi sniffed. "We know what happened the last time a shifter lost control of his dragon."
Ethan tried not to think about the most recent rampage that had taken place. It had not been pretty. It had taken many shifters to subdue and kill the uncontrollable dragon, and when it was all said and done, seven dragons had lost their lives.
"It won't happen, so stop worrying about it."
"But I can't help but worry. You have been looking for days now with no success."
Ethan stopped in his tracks and turned to address the lithe shifter that was grating his last nerve. "Don't you have a mate to attend to?"
Ashvi paused and shifted her eyes to the side. "He's out hunting with the pack."
Ethan felt a surge of shame at her words. As one of the alpha dragon warriors of the Red Claw clan, he was one of several who were responsible for the food gathering.
To evade being seen by humans, the pack only hunted in dragon form under the cover of darkness. Thankfully for them, residing in the remote mountains, they rarely had to worry about being seen by one.
It galled him that he was not out there hunting with the pack, because he truly enjoyed the sport. Unfortunately, finding a suitable mate had taken precedence and all of his time.
Just as Ethan was about to respond to Ashvi, they heard a loud roar and several large shadows flew overhead, blotting out the moon. Both shifters watched as those giant shadows settled near town and disappeared from few.
The pack had returned with food.
Ethan suddenly felt the need to be elsewhere. Having missed the hunt, he did not want his fellow brothers to see him. He did not wish to hear their criticizing, especially since he had not yet found a mate.
"What's the matter?" Ashvi asked, sensing Ethan's discomfort. When Ethan did not immediately respond, she placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. "You'll find her," she said softly.
Contempt flowed through Ethan's chest. He did not need to be consoled like a child, and most certainly not by a woman. He was a dragon warrior. Strong and powerful. Taking sympathy from anyone would be seen as a sign of weakness.
Whatever Ashvi believed of him, she did not have to worry...because he would find a mate if it was the last thing he did.
Coldly, he brushed Ashvi's hand from his shoulder. Then he turned away and began walking in the opposite direction of the ancient city.
"Where are you going?" Ashvi called after him.
Not bothering to look behind him, Ethan took in a deep breath, preparing to shift form. "Back hunting," he threw over his shoulder.
With that said, he crouched, shifted, and flew off into the night.
*
"What was wrong with him?" Joran, Ashvi's mate, asked, nodding up at Ethan's passing shadow.
After Ethan had shifted and flown into the air, Ashvi had quickly made her way to the gates of hearthstone to find Joran and their brethren divvying up the bounty from their hunt which happened to be several whole cows and deer.
Joran, along with the rest of the dragon warriors, was dressed simply-- in loincloth and nothing else, their proud muscular bodies, that flaunted a deep bronze tan, on display.
If not for slight physical differences, no one would be able to tell the men apart, except for Joran. What made Joran stand out from the rest of the men was that he was several foot taller and had platinum blonde hair that was accentuated by his ice-cold blue eyes.
Having mated centuries ago, Ashvi and Joran had weathered many storms.
Ashvi stared at her lovers chiseled jaw line as the Red Clan dragon warriors pilled cow meat in the background.
"He was angry," she replied. "He still hasn't found a mate yet."
Joran made a clucking sound with his tongue. "I pity him, the weak fool. If I were him, I'd take as many women as I could by force until I found a mate that was compatible with my cold blood."
It is you who are weak, thought Ashvi. Ethan is twice as strong as you.
While Joran was her mate, even Ashvi had to admit that Ethan was a stronger, better warrior...and far more handsome. She suspected Joran's unsympathetic words had mostly to do with jealousy.
Ashvi crossed her arms over her chest. "You know as well as I do that it is not that simple. If Ethan were to do that, he could possibly leave a body trail from here to the Grand Canyon."
"True." Joran placed his hands on his waist and surveyed the work being done by his brother warriors for a moment. Then he turned back to Ashvi, his expression grim. "But if he doesn't find one soon, then us warriors might have to take matters into our own hands and deal with his inner dragon."
Joran's words washed over Ashvi like an ominous cloak and her dragon blood ran cold. Though she pestered Ethan every chance she got, she had no desire to see him put down.
"Perhaps I could help him find a mate," Ashvi dared suggest. "It would not be troublesome for me at all finding a harem of women for Ethan to test." She smiled seductively. "Human females seem to like me."
Scowling at her like she had lost her mind, Joran shook his head. "A dragon must fight his own battles. You know that better than I." Joran turned to one of the warriors and barked an order.
The warrior, a brunette with bulging biceps, nodded and he sucked in deep mouthful of breaths until it looked like his chest was about to explode.
Then he exhaled and searing flames shot out of his mouth, instantly cooking the dead game.
Smiling as the flames licked high into the sky, Joran turned back to his mate, whose mind was elsewhere.
Joran placed a finger under Ashvi's chin and lifted her gaze onto his frost blue eyes. "Don't look so glum, love. I'm sure that Ethan will find a mate. He always has in the past." Joran nodded over at the burning meat, which was filling the valley with its sweet aroma. It would not be long before other dragons came to partake in the feast. "For now, let's indulge in the needs of our dragon."
Though her mind was filled with worry about Ethan, Ashvi could not deny the call of the burnt flesh that set her stomach to rumbling.
It was time to feast.
Chapter 3
"You must find a mate, Cody," demanded Victoria to her handsome son. "As soon as all possible."
Lounging in a suede leather chair with his feet casually propped up on the meeting table, Cody adjusted his dress shirt collar and stared into his mother's emerald-green eyes that were narrowed into slits.
"Must you always be so pushy, mother?" Cody asked in irritation. "I know damn well what season it is."
The mother and son were in the meeting room that sat at the top of a hi-rise building of Greyson Corp. Long past working hours, everyone who worked in the building had all gone home, and Cody would have been gone to if not for his mother ordering him to stick around to lecture him on his sexual needs.
Victoria, who was dressed in a designer, form-fitting black dress that showed off her ample cleavage, glared murder at her insolent son.
"Pushy?" she snarled with disbelief, smacking her palm on the table and bending forward menacingly. "I want to stop a catastrophe from happening and you call me pushy?" Victoria drummed her claw-like fingernails, that were painted blood red, against the table angrily. Click. Click. Clack.
Cody shrugged. "Just saying it like I see it."
Victoria snorted. "Well, you obviously don't see what is really important. Like reality. Your inner dragon is going to go insane if it does not get what it desires most...human flesh."
Cody shifted in his seat and stared into his mother's angry visage. What did his mother want from him? Because of her, he already was working a boring job that he hated, being on the board of executives of his father's company.
Now she was demanding him do something he was not entirely ready to do.
Having just got out of a bad relationship with a human woman who had no idea of his serpentine heritage, Cody had no desire to go looking for another woman. Kara, his last girlfriend, had come close to becoming his mate for the rest of her human life. He was just about to reveal his secret to her, when boom; she came out to him with a secret of her own.
She was a lesbian.
It had hurt Cody. A lot. And now he was still trying to get over it, and the last thing he needed was his mother pushing him into a hasty relationship just for his dragon's sake.
Still, he could not deny the seriousness of the matter. Lately, he had been filled with incredible sexual urges that no bottle of lube and his hand could sate.
Being very young, not yet fifty, practically a baby in dragon years, Cody had never been confronted by his inner dragon's demand. Until now.
It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not, thought Cody as he continued to appraise his angry mother. If I don't find a mate soon, my dragon is going to go nuts.
His mother's scowl softened into sympathy at the look of anxiety on Cody's face. "Don't worry, my son. Your father was only two-hundred years old, practically a whelpling, when we mated. You will be fine once you find her."
"But you were already a dragon though," Cody pointed out. "So he's had it easy all these years because you are immortal and he doesn't have to constantly look for a new mate."
In a way, Cody envied his father because he had been born at a time when female dragons were plentiful and fertile.
"That was then and this is now," Victoria replied. "Young male dragons must adapt or...be wiped out."
A silence settled over the room like a blanket of doom and Cody stared at the ominous look on his other's face with a sense of trepidation. The door to the meeting room swung open a second later and Victoria spun around.
Her mate and consort, Lance Greyson, walked in. Head of Greyson Co., Lance was a powerful man and an even more powerful dragon.
Standing about six-four, broad of chest and muscular, Lance was dressed in a blue sued suit that costed a couple of cool thousand, his blonde hair slicked back away from his chiseled face. Over five-hundred years of age, he still looked like a man in his prime and had no wrinkles.
In fact, Lance and Cody often got mistaken for brothers. It was a problem that was going to get worse as people that worked for Lance noticed that the CEO did not age.
His blue eyes took in the room, noting his wife and son looking slightly uncomfortable at each other.
"What's going on in here?"
Victoria pushed away from the table and straightened, smoothing her designer dress in one fluid motion. "I was telling Cody here about how he must find a mate and soon." She flicked a glance at her son, who was now setting up straight in his chair, his shoulders set. "But it appears Cody is having second thoughts on the matter."
Cody set his jaw. He did not appreciate when his mother tried to put him down in front of his father. It was an assault on his pride..and he would not tolerate it.
"I never said I did not have seconds thoughts, mom," Cody growled.
Victoria snorted. "You did not, but the look on your face, and the coolness of your blood, said it all."
His father glared at him as he made his way over to his slim wife. "I don't know what your problem is, boy, but you're going to mate...and soon. Hell, there are plenty of women that even work at this company that you can choose from."
Cody glared back at his father, refusing to be cowed. Lance might have been older than Cody by centuries, but Cody would not hesitate to fight his father if he got a little too pushy.
"I don't have a problem dad," Cody grated through his gleaming-white teeth, trying to keep his inner dragon calm. "I just wish to take my time in this matter. It's not an easy matter for me."
His father looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Take your time? Are you mad? This is not something your dragon will let wait!"
"But I think I can control it long enough," Cody resisted. "I'm strong."
Cody hated the fact that he was being pushed back into a relationship by his parents and his inner dragon.
Lance shook his head. "Not nearly strong enough. There have been others in the past who have tried to resist their inner dragon's desires to disastrous results." He looked pointedly at his soon, his penetrating gaze prickling Cody's skin. "I'm sure you have heard the stories."
Of course Cody had heard the stories. And they had been quite grizzly ones too.
Still, he wanted to resist, if not just to spite his parents and his dragon.
"They couldn't have been as bad as all that," said Cody. "Most of what I heard, I'm sure, is greatly exaggerated."
Lance raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you really think so?"
Cody nodded. "Yup."
"Well you're wrong, fool boy. I have witnessed several dragon rampages...and they were not pretty. Whole villages and entire families were destroyed by dragon lust."
"That was then, this is now," Cody echoed his mother's words from earlier. "Things are different."
Without warning, and moving with a supernatural quickness, his father appeared at Cody's side and grabbed him by the collar of his expensive dress shirt. "There is no argument about this boy," his father growled, his hot breath scorching Cody's chiseled cheeks. "You will find a mate before the next moon."
Cody stared into his father's blazing eyes, unafraid, challengingly. "Or else what?"
"Or be destroyed." With that said his father released his shirt and moved away.
Rolling his shoulders, Cody straightened the ruffled collar of his shirt and smoothed his wounded pride. It had been hard not to strike at his fathe
r. It was only for respect for his mother that he hadn't.
"Come Victoria," bade Lance.
Shaking her head at her son, Victoria followed Lance to the door and walked out before he did. Lance stepped out and shut the door half-way before turning back to say to Cody, "Remember, your dragon will not wait for you to be ready." Then he left, shutting the door behind him.
Cody stared at the door, his mind racing through all the possible scenarios that would happen if he resisted his dragon. None of them were pretty. Finally, he decided there was nothing he could do.
As if to remind him of his dire situation, Cody felt his pants tighten below as blood flowed through his cock until he was left with a raging hardon.
This was the fifth time today this had happened. And each time it had happened, Cody was always in a compromising situation with other people around. And each time the hardon would persist despite his best efforts to make it go away, and the only way he could get rid of it was to go satisfy it.
"I'm not going to let you beat me," Cody snarled to his dragon.
As if taking up his challenge, Cody felt a gigantic surge of lust flow through his big dick. He suddenly had the premonition that if a girl had been in front of him, he would have taken her by force right then in there.
The thought terrified and excited him all at once.
He spent the next five minutes practicing breathing techniques and thinking non-sexual thoughts, trying to will his raging hardon to go away.
But after a particularly violent surge that shot up from his ball sack to the top of his mushroom head, he jumped to his feet.
"Screw it," he growled as he went to search for some lube and a private place where he could pacify his hardon.
His inner dragon had won.
Chapter 4
Ethan pushed back his hair out of his eyes as he prowled the streets of Chalmett. It was near nightfall and he still had found no female whose blood type matched his own or someone who he thought suitable to be his mate.
He'd even gone to several clubs where many young, attractive females frequented, but he still had no luck. None of the women he had seen blood ran cold. After many years of finding mates, Ethan had developed a sixth sense about whether or not a female's blood type could potentially match his.
