by Lolita Lopez
But when he pressed her onto her back and slid between her thighs, his cock hard and throbbing again, she forgot all about those worries. Instead, she groaned as he probed her slick heat with the crown of his shaft and admitted, “I don’t think I can survive a repeat experiment.”
He leaned down and flicked his tongue against her nipple before licking a slow line along the side of her neck. She shivered with need and lust as he said, “There’s only one way to find out…”
Chapter Four
Nico couldn’t ever remember a time when waking on cold, damp stone felt so damn good. Sometime during the night, the conjured bed had disintegrated. Only his mate’s small shirt and jacket were between his body and the stone now. Eris had crawled on top of him, or maybe he had dragged her up onto him to shield her from the cold floor. Either way, she had nestled her face against his neck, and her thighs draped his waist. His usual morning erection had gotten trapped between their bodies.
One shift of his hips and a nice thrust and he could sink into her welcoming heat again. The mere thought of being sheathed inside her sent a wild flare of excitement and possessiveness through him. Tightening his embrace, he dipped his head and inhaled her delicious scent. He might have been imagining it, but he thought he detected the slightest hint of female dragon pheromones. Perhaps their wicked night together had already awakened some of the dormant dragon blood in her.
Although the urge to mate with her again was strong, it was easier to suppress now that it was morning. Content to nuzzle her cheek and caress her back, he enjoyed the stillness of their first morning together without a single thought for the uncomfortable floor beneath his back. When she finally began to rouse, he kissed the top of her head. She lifted her chin from his chest and blinked slowly. The sight of her tangled hair and relaxed face did crazy things to his heart.
Not for the first time, he wondered how long his unrequited and desperate need for her would torment him. For full-blooded dragons, the mate bond was sure and swift and unquestionable. He had seen it with Griff and Avani. Stig and Cora, on the other hand, were a different story. Their love for each other had grown slowly over time, born out of friendship and need. What he felt for Eris couldn’t be denied, but she would need time to come to terms with being his mate. He had waited this long to find her. There was no reason to rush her now.
“Morning,” she said with a little yawn. As if suddenly realizing her position, she flashed him an amused smile. “I don’t think anyone has ever used me as a blanket.”
He snorted softly and threaded his fingers through her thick, dark hair. She shied away when he tried to claim her mouth, but he was too insistent and got what he wanted. She kept her lips firmly pressed together, refusing to allow his tongue entrance to her mouth. He found her defiance frustrating until he realized she was worried about something as silly as morning breath. It was a sweet thing, really, so he stopped tormenting her and let his lips glide along her cheek instead.
“We should get upstairs and have a shower. I’ll find you some clothes and make breakfast for you.”
“A dragon who cooks? I’m a lucky girl.” She pushed up into a sitting position so she could smile down at him. The movement was innocent enough, but her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. The rigid length of his cock glided between her slick, tender folds. She bit her lower lip and then wiggled her hips in the most seductive way. “A very lucky girl,” she added playfully.
“Eris…” He wanted her, but it had to be on her terms. Grasping her hips, he trailed his fingers along her bottom and waited to see what she would do. A sensual grin brightened her sleepy face as she lifted her backside and slowly, carefully, impaled herself on his cock. His head tipped back and his eyes closed at the wonderful sensation of her wet heat gliding over him.
Not a word was spoken as they made love. Eris rocked back and forth at first, taking her time and enjoying her dominant role. Happy to let her take charge, he ran his hands over her lush body, gliding along the curve of her waist and sides to cup her full breasts. Her dark nipples enthralled him. She liked the way he pinched them and brushed his thumbs across the stiff peaks, her shuddery breaths and a wicked smile assuring him of that.
Cupping the back of her neck, he dragged her down for a kiss. She let him have what he wanted before placing her hands on his shoulders and angling her body in a way that made her moan. Her faster breaths matched her snapping hips. Watching her chase her orgasm turned him on like nothing else ever had. She was wild and uninhibited.
And all mine.
He gripped her hips and surged up into her tight heat. He let loose a gruff, low sound at the first fluttering squeeze that clenched at his shaft. She cried out with joy and rode him like a cowgirl. Head thrown back, he unleashed the hold on his own climax and let her milk him dry.
Slumping onto his chest, Eris sought his mouth. He wrapped his arms around her hot body and relished her soft, plump lips. Cradling her close, he shifted onto his side and combed his fingers through her dark hair while they traded slow, easy kisses. She had a sleepy, contented smile on her beautiful face. It was a smile he hoped to see every morning.
“Eris, is there anyone who will worry about you?”
Her mouth slanted with amusement. “Are you worried someone is going to send out a search party?”
“You came after Ivy,” he reminded her.
“There’s no one who will be looking for me,” she assured him. “Ivy is the only one who cares about me.”
“Your family…?”
She shook her head. “My mother was never in the picture, and my dad was killed when I was a little girl.”
“I’m so sorry.” It would have been difficult for her to lose both parents so young. He hated to pry, but he had to ask, especially knowing what he did about Ivy’s biological parents. “Was your father killed in an accident?”
“No,” she answered quietly. “He was murdered during a robbery. Some punks broke into his bookstore. He fought back when they tried to steal some of his older texts, and they killed him before setting the shop on fire.”
“A bookstore?” A memory on the edge of Nico’s mind surfaced. He took a long, hard look at her. “Was your father Thaddeus Jones?”
She stiffened in his arms. “How did you—?”
“My friend buys and collects rare and antique books. He used to buy from a specialist named Thaddeus Jones. I never met him, but I remember Reynard mentioning that he had been killed in a fire and his inventory had been destroyed.” He didn’t tell her that Reynard had suspected the bookseller had been targeted by the Knights. She’d had enough of a shock in the last few hours. The last thing she needed was him tearing into the memories of her father and making her question everything about her childhood.
“That’s kind of a weird coincidence, right?”
He grunted. “There are no coincidences when it comes to mates.”
She made a face. “I don’t think I like that term. It makes us sound like animals.”
“Technically,” he cut in carefully, “I am.”
“You are not an animal! You’re…well…I mean…you’re a human with special genes.”
“Special animal genes.”
She made another face. “Look, I’m willing to accept that you’re a dragon-man-shifter person. I’m even willing to accept that we have some mystical bond and that I ate a mythical apple last night, by I really am not okay with thinking of you as an animal.”
Sensing this was a hard line for her, he decided not to push. “Well, I can’t call you my girlfriend. A mate is so much more than that. Claiming a woman as your mate is the same as claiming her as your wife.”
Her eyes widened. “We are so not having this conversation right now.”
“We’ll have to have it eventually.” He understood this was a lot for her to accept but she couldn’t run away from it.
“But not this morning,” she pleaded. “It’s too much.”
He didn’t like causing her emotional p
ain. “Not this morning,” he agreed. “We’ll wait for you to make the decision as to when we discuss this again.”
“Thank you.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I know that this experience is strange and scary for you. I am sorry for that. If I could go back in time and find you the right way, court you and earn your love and trust like normal people do, I would do it in a heartbeat.” He sighed. “But this is the hand that fate dealt us. We have to make the best of it.”
She traced one of the many tattoos on his chest. “I want to give this—us—a chance. I don’t understand it, but I believe deeply in what I feel for you. It feels right. It feels like…like…home,” she admitted finally. “It’s as if I’ve been searching for you, for this place, my entire life. After Dad was killed and they put me in foster care, I never felt safe or happy. I always felt out of place and alone until Ivy.”
He swallowed hard as a ball of emotion blocked his throat upon hearing Eris describe him as feeling like home. He made her feel safe and secure and he would do anything to make sure that never changed. “Ivy is my blood. The part of you that recognizes me as your mate—your lover—must have recognized her as trusted family.”
Eris smiled. “Ivy and I have called each other sisters for years now. It feels kind of nice to think that we might actually be part of the same family someday.”
She was just musing aloud and couldn’t possibly understand the effect her words had on him. She had given him a glimpse of a future he never thought possible. A mate, a family, the continuation of the ancient Drakon line…
Eris’s stomach growled loudly. “Sorry,” she apologized, abashed. “I didn’t have much to eat last night.”
“Except for my apple,” he reminded her. “We need to get you into my laboratory. I want to know if that apple has had any effect on you.”
“After breakfast,” she insisted. “I’m starving.”
“After breakfast,” he agreed. Sitting up, they disentangled their bodies. He reached for the shirt he had been wearing last night before his change and handed it to her. “You can wear this for now. After we eat and shower, I’ll let you dig through the clothes I purchased for Ivy. You’re both close to the same size.”
“We shared clothes all the time. I’m sure I can find something that fits.” She slipped into the oversized T-shirt and gathered up her ruined clothing. Glancing around, she frowned. “I think I must have left my backpack outside.”
“I’ll find it later.”
“I really need it,” she said, her voice anxious. “It has all my important things in it.”
He tilted his head and studied her. “What do you mean?”
“My photos, my important papers, my USBs and all that,” she explained. “I don’t go anywhere without my things.”
“Because of the foster homes?” he guessed.
She nodded and dropped her gaze, as if embarrassed. “I learned really quickly not to let the important things out of my sight.”
Tipping her chin, he held her gaze. “We’ll have your things moved here so you never have to worry about them again.”
“What?” she said, surprised. “I can’t move in here!”
“You have to,” he answered matter-of-factly. “You and I have started the mating process. There’s no going back.”
She took a step away from him. “What do you mean?”
“Every time we’re together, every time we make love, our bond grows stronger and stronger. Last night, I tried to pull away from you, tried to deny you my seed, but you insisted. That was the point of no return.”
“You should have told me that before we were together,” Eris insisted, jabbing a finger at his chest. “I wouldn’t have asked you to…you know!”
“Come inside you?” He wasn’t afraid to say the words that she seemed unable to form. Stepping toward her, he asked, “Why did you ask me to come inside you, Eris?”
She gulped before admitting, “I don’t know. I’ve never done that before. Never.”
He took another step toward her. “But you wanted it with me?”
She didn’t want to admit it, but she nodded eventually. “I did.”
Sliding his palm against her face, he said, “You’re right, Eris. It was wrong of me not to explain everything to you last night. I should have told you the rules. I should have made it clear that letting me claim you—mark you, really—would change us forever.”
“Change? How?”
“If you have dragon blood inside you—and I definitely believe that you do—you will start to change. It will be a slow shift, but you’ll notice it.”
“I’ll become like you?”
“Possibly,” he said.
“Is that what’s happened to Ivy?”
“Ivy is a very special case. It’s complicated.”
“I want to know.”
“I’ll tell you everything,” he promised.
Her irritated expression faded. She leaned into his caressing hand but captured his gaze. “No more secrets?”
“No more secrets,” he swore. “If you want, we can spend the rest of my mating heat separated. It might halt the bonding process. I can’t promise that it will, but we can try. I should have given you a choice last night.”
“Will it hurt you?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
“But you would do it for me?”
“You are my mate.” He knew that she hated the word, but there was no other one that seemed right. “I would do anything for you. If I can’t have you now, I’ll wait. I don’t care if it hurts me. It would hurt me more to know that you felt pressured or forced.”
Eris exhaled a long, slow breath before stepping into his embrace and pressing her cheek to his bare chest. “I’m still here because I want to be here.”
He couldn’t help himself. He hugged her tightly and dipped his head, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her unique scent. “Let me take care of you, Eris.”
She leaned back and glanced up at him. “I don’t need a man to take care of me.”
He had wounded her fierce pride. “Let me be your partner, Eris.”
“Partner?” She let him gather her close again. “I could get used to that.”
He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that she did.
*
Wearing some of the clothing that had been purchased for Ivy but left behind after her best friend’s quick escape, Eris left Nico’s bedroom in search of her new…mate? She still wasn’t fond of that word, but she wasn’t sure what to call him instead.
In the span of a single night, her feelings toward the mysterious Greek had wildly vacillated. First, she had been terrified of him. He had been her captor and jailer until that wicked kiss they had shared in the rain. Now he was something much sweeter.
Boyfriend seemed like an awfully childish word. Lover sounded better, but it had a casual feeling that didn’t fit their relationship. She snorted indelicately as she walked down the long gallery hall, pausing here and there to gaze at the incredible art decorating the walls. Relationship? One night and breakfast wasn’t a relationship.
Except that what she felt for him was incredibly strong and more real than anything she had ever felt for any man. Everything she had experienced as a child taught her to be wary of anyone who was as nice and good as Nico. People like that usually wanted something, and it was probably something she didn’t want to give.
Of course, she had given him what he wanted, but she had wanted it, too. She still wanted it, if she was being truly honest with herself. Their sudsy play in his unbelievably sumptuous bathroom had left her breathless and needy. She touched her lips and swore she could still feel the heat of his skilled mouth there.
This is crazy. She shook her head. You’ve got to get out of here. This isn’t normal—the apples, the dragon thing, the wild sex, the lust.
While she wanted to settle into her default defensive position and push him away—fast and hard—she couldn’t do
it. Last night, he had managed to break through that wall she had built around herself. He was like Ivy in that respect. She never worried about telling her friend the truth about anything. Ivy had never once judged her or made her feel bad about her terrible childhood or the stupid things she had done as a teenager.
Even now, Eris couldn’t quite explain why she had been so willing to tell him the truth. Some primal part of her recognized him as trustworthy. She had always been the type of girl who followed her instincts, so she listened to them now. She just hoped she wouldn’t regret that decision.
Eris reached the staircase, but the sight of the open lab door piqued her interest. Last night, she had closed it behind her, and this morning it had been firmly shut when Nico showed her to the master suite. Had he been distracted from his plan to go outside to hunt down her backpack and check his wards? Maybe he was tinkering with an antidote for that terrible drug he had been given.
Wanting to help and excited by the idea of working alongside him, she entered the lab. The wall of windows facing the east let in sunlight, but the gray rainclouds muted the effect this morning. Lightning skittered across the distant sky. Wind slammed into the windows even more ferociously. Apparently the storm wasn’t ready to die just yet.
Rising on tiptoes, she searched the room for Nico but didn’t see him. The low hum of machines and computers filled the air. She noticed a stack of journals on a table. They hadn’t been there last night. She picked one up, skimmed the notes, and realized they were written in Greek.
Though unable to read the words, she had no trouble discerning the data sets pasted onto each page. They were blood test and DNA results from pregnant women. As she compared the notebooks, Eris realized each one contained monthly entries for a single pregnancy. Because she had done her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and genetics, she had some familiarity with blood panels. These results were all wildly beyond the normal values one might expect. It took her only a second to deduce these were the results from pregnant dragons.
