Coven: (A Steamy Dragon Shifter/Vampire Romance) (Dragon Bound Book 1)

by Serena Akeroyd

  She shrugged. “I guess. You have clothes over there for me, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” he retorted, sounding astonished by the notion she thought he might not. “It’s my duty, and my honor, to dress you.”

  Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. “Calm down, big boy,” she panted as they began to walk out of her bedroom.

  The sounds of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ were immediately audible once she passed her coterie of daywalker guards and left her private quarters, which were heavily soundproofed against the club’s heavy beats, to head toward her office.

  She frowned. “Where the hell’s that coming from?” she demanded, as, after walking into her study, the noise only increased.

  ‘Deck the Halls’ came on next, and she blinked as she realized the sound was coming from her ante-office.

  Peering up at Remy in bewilderment, she saw he was looking down at her smugly. “What did you do?” she asked him, squinting up at him suspiciously.

  “Just a little going away party,” he teased.

  “What? When I’m walking around like a toddler?” she wailed.

  He snorted. “You’ll enjoy it. I promise.”

  He walked her over to the door to Elenor’s office and refused to let her stay put when she tried to hold fast and not budge. “I can always carry you in there,” he warned, then, without further ado, opened the door and stunned the ever loving bejeezus out of her.

  It was like a grotto in there.

  A huge Christmas tree took up one corner of the room. It was loaded down with decorations that twinkled and sparkled. The entire area glowed with string lights, and underneath the low branches were stacks of beautifully presented gifts. A table in front of the bank of windows held a spread of food; a huge turkey, which had already been carved, stood in pride of place alongside other accoutrements that had never been available to her thanks to her unique digestive system.

  It was everything she’d never realized she’d wanted before leaving for the other realm. She wasn’t sure when they’d be back this time. Remy had hinted there were tasks the Queen might ask of the House now he was mated, and he’d need to be there with her at his side.

  She wasn’t sure when she’d see her coven again. Two weeks, four. Maybe longer. And it was then, as she watched them chatting and laughing together, she fully accepted that they were more than just her coven. They were her family.

  Words escaped her as the thought hit home, then, only one question needed answering. “When the hell did you get this done?”

  “Earlier,” he admitted softly, his gaze never leaving hers. Tracing over the pleasure she wasn’t ashamed to show. “Before I went to the other realm. I made the arrangements with Elenor then.”

  Touched, she felt tears gather in her throat. “But you were mad at me,” she whispered, as her butt inadvertently started to wriggle as a more modern and totally un-holiday-like BEP’s ‘I gotta feeling’ blasted over the speakers, replacing the more traditional Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas.’

  “I know,” he said simply then ducked his head and kissed her temple. “But you were frightened, and I hated seeing that. I thought this might cheer you up.”

  Urgency overcame her, and she grabbed a tight hold of his forearm, then whispered, “You cheered me up.”

  His smile was gentle. Loving. “I know. But I also know how much you didn’t want to miss Christmas.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “You’re welcome, sweetling.”

  “Do we have time for this?” She glanced around the party again. “I thought we had to get back to the other realm to meet with the Queen?”

  He shrugged. “We do. But she can wait another night. Your happiness means more to me than hers does.”

  “That sounds like treason,” she teased.

  His eyes twinkled. “She would undoubtedly agree. I sent Eirik for your ceremonial garb. It should be ready by now.” He shrugged an elegant shoulder. “If there’s a problem, I shall use that as an excuse for the delay.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Thank you.” Peering down at her outfit, then his, she murmured, “I can see why you’re dressed so fancy now. I’d have worn something Christmassy if I’d known.”

  “You look beautiful. And I wanted you to enjoy the surprise.”

  “Well, this was definitely a surprise.”

  He sighed with pleasure at her admission. “There’s a small buffet for the daywalkers,” he told her as she prepared herself for the walk. “You should be able to eat a few things now. Just a few. Don’t go for anything heavy.”

  She gawked at him. “Seriously? I can eat?”

  He grinned at her. “Yeah, you can eat. Now the mating mark’s through, your system won’t reject anything other than blood.”

  She thought about Brady’s chocolate, the stuff she’d thrown at his shirt rather than consume herself, and realized the craving had been real. Real. She could eat!

  It truly was a Christmas miracle.

  “You do realize that’s the best Christmas present anyone ever gave me?”

  Laughter roared from him. She peeked up at him, grinning at his amusement. He lowered his head, a wide smile on his lips as he pressed his mouth against hers. She moaned and he ate it up, swiping his tongue against her bottom lip, demanding entry.

  An uncharacteristic whimper exploded from her, as he began to overload her senses with him. Her knees, already shaky, began to buckle as he thrust his tongue against hers again, mimicking what they’d been doing mere hours ago. He pressed her into the doorway, and the movement had her experiencing the thickness of his cock pushing into the softness of her belly.

  He groaned as she rocked her hips, tilting her pelvis to caress him. Fire shot through her veins, singed the very air from her lungs as he claimed her mouth as he’d claimed her in ways unique to his people.

  “You please me, leman,” he growled against her lips, their heavy breath mingling as he stayed close, pressing his forehead to hers.

  “And you please me, mate,” she whispered, closing her eyes as she lifted a hand and carefully traced her tender mouth.

  A low grunt escaped him. “Don’t do that. Makes me want to pin you to the wall and take you here.”

  His confession thrilled her. “But there’s my party,” she pouted, teasing him by looking up at him through her lashes.

  “Trust me, that’s the only reason I haven’t bent you over your desk.”

  “Promises, promises,” she whispered, loving how heavy lidded his eyes had become. Adoring the physical signs of his arousal. An arousal that was solely for her now.

  “Come,” he stated gruffly. “To the party. Then I can take you home and claim you on my territory.” His eyes flashed, that silky membrane whipping like lightning across his eyes. “Everyone will know House Dreconis is complete.”

  She cocked a brow. “They will, will they?”

  His grin was wicked, evil incarnate. “An Elven spell, dearling.”

  “That does what?”

  “Transmits our scents along the borders of our land.”

  Aghast, she made a gagging noise. “You do realize how disgusting that is?”

  He looked supremely unconcerned. “It is our way.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s not mine.”

  He just shot her a grin. “You won’t smell it. I won’t smell it, not in human form. But as a Dragon?” His grin deepened, turned even more wicked than it had been a mere moment before.

  “I still think it’s gross.”

  “It may be to you, but it’s delicious to me. Speaking of delicious,” he murmured, “what’s the first thing you’re going to try on the buffet?”

  “Chocolate,” she decided, her tone firm. “Then ice cream if there is any.”

  “Somehow,” he said, beaming at her. “I think that can be arranged.”

  Hauling a food-drunk mate back to the other realm wasn’t exactly how he’d anticipated spending the rest of the night, but that didn’t stop him f
rom taking her home.

  That his woman had loved the party made him preen, but what satisfied him the most was how, in the haze of carbs—she’d ignored his warning and had feasted—she clung to him, outright clung to him as though she never wanted them to part. As though she couldn’t do without him, and considering he felt the exact same way, he could only say that he was relieved to know their feelings were mutual.

  They’d had an unorthodox courtship, only natural considering his leman’s age and the century in which she’d lived, but still, the mate bond was holding true and firm even if everything else about the mating ceremony was entirely different than what his father had explained to him all those years afore.

  Having spoken with more Vampire tonight than in his entire life, it was with relief that he found himself back in his skin and soaring toward his cavern.

  The beast had never been at peace like this before, and unlike usual, Remy didn’t struggle to corral him. The Dragon went where he wanted, Remy’s schedule be damned, but at that moment, there was nowhere else man or creature wished to be other than in his home cavern with his leman.

  With his scale fully restored, the flight wasn’t a difficult one, and in her stupor, Mia wasn’t even wriggling in his claws as was usually the way. Caged in there, he could hear her snores even above the wind, and he purred his satisfaction knowing that the fear she’d shown whenever he took her flying had disappeared now she was asleep. He’d give her her gift tomorrow night, one that would make flight more pleasurable in more than just the physical sense too.

  When he landed and shifted, his Dragon didn’t argue again. Normally, the creature was never satisfied, and Remy had taken to spending most of his nights in that form before Mia. Now, only in human form, could they truly enjoy Mia and it wasn’t difficult for either of them to relinquish control to this side of his nature, not with such a boon as reward.

  His cavern was, as expected, well lit. Alexa had been here before him, and he smiled with appreciation at the stag that lay slung over his treasure pile, ready for the Dragon’s consumption later on. Her offering didn’t prick his pride, if anything, he was grateful for it meant he didn’t have to leave his mate’s side between now and tomorrow evening when they’d be attending his Queen’s court.

  As he carried her to the bedroom, he paused on his way. She’d made such a fuss about sleeping in there only once they were mated, and while that was definitely the case now, with their bond fully realized, he knew she’d want to be awake and aware for those moments when they slipped between the sheets as leman and mate.

  Twisting around, he returned to the main chamber and carefully pressed her to a chaise longue—not the one she’d grown accustomed to during her incapacitation, but another—and once she was settled, retreated to his treasure pile. Shifting, he made short work of the stag, then headed over to the hot springs with a full belly.

  His blood-covered hide was cleansed by the water and he rolled around a few times, finding pleasure in this form that his human half could barely understand. He heard her, of course, heard her move from where he’d left her and head over to the hot springs.

  It still perplexed him why both of her legs had been paralyzed when only the one mark covered her calf, but he allowed her her pride and didn’t cease his antics to go and help her to the pool. She was a gutsy wee thing, his leman, and considering her stature in her coven that was only to be expected, he figured.

  When she waded into the water, at long last, he shifted, and saw her pout over at him.

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  His lips twitched. “Consider me surprised.”

  She squinted at him, and he saw she was still a little carb drunk from before—at least, that was what Brady had called it when she’d started singing ‘It’s Raining Men,’ at full belt with a tub of ice cream in her hand back at the party. “You’re not shocked at all. You probably heard me stagger over here.” Her nose crinkled. “No fair.”

  “What? That you can’t sneak up on me?”

  Mia beamed at him, then wagged her finger. “Exactly. How am I supposed to do nice things for you if you know where I am all the time?”

  That was the kind of backward logic he expected from her so instead of replying, he just waded through the water, enjoying the fizz as it tingled along his naked form, and moved closer to her. Spying through the liquid that she was as bare as he, his mouth went dry.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes, dearling,” he rasped.

  She bobbed into a curtsey then chuckled when she staggered and flopped back into the water with a laugh that was worthy of any tavern wench—he made sure to remember that comparison. He felt certain she’d appreciate it when she was back to being her elegant self.

  Like their thoughts were running along the same track, she mumbled, “Elegance is my middle name.”

  “I can see that for myself,” he said drily, hauling her against him so their chests were touching. Even the water was too much to separate them. He wanted her against his skin, their bodies united, their hearts beating as one.

  He’d never been an overly emotional male. If anything, he’d been considered cold by one too many of his previous lovers, and yet, with her, he was the opposite. This one small chit had stolen his heart, and he doubted she was even aware of it.

  Oh, to her, they were mated. There was no fear on that score. But love? That was a different matter entirely. He knew that because, in essence, seeing was believing. Only now that he felt it for himself did he knew its importance.

  Yes, she belonged to him. But did her heart?

  Drowsily, she burrowed her face into his throat. Her lips pressed little kisses to the sinews there, and when she nipped him, he grunted, knowing full well what was about to happen.

  His cock instantly hardened as her fangs slipped into his flesh. Unlike the first time, it was no longer painful. If anything, he knew that, for the rest of his life, he’d associate the sensation with sex for he fully intended for her to feed whenever they fucked. There was no way that wasn’t going to happen considering his cock’s reaction every time she supped from him.

  When her hips rocked, her belly pushing into his, he knew she felt it too. Knew that she shared an arousal that was so ferocious in its heat that it could have torn down cities with its power. He didn’t ask permission for her body spoke loud and clear, told him exactly what it was she wanted without him even having to ask. He grabbed a firm hold of his cock, and just as she sucked harder on his artery, pulling more blood into her mouth, he rubbed the tip of his shaft against her clit, loving the vibrations as she moaned against his skin, before he thrust into her. Deep, and slow, he filled her with him, with all he had to give.

  He fed her, nourished her, even as he gave her pleasure, even as he satiated her soul as well as her hunger, he sacrificed every ounce of himself and offered it up to her for, without her, there was no way out of a lifetime filled with sleep.

  For the first time in centuries, he was awake once more, ready to live, ready to love, and more than ready for everything this leman of his brought his way. Whether it was calamity or more pleasure, he was ready for a different reality. One where he was no longer alone, one where there was hope for the future, and one where he was granted the gift of not just a ghost-shaped female who would be his leman but this woman. Mia. His. Just as he was hers.

  In time to his gentle thrusts, she fed from him, slurping down sustenance as he fed her in another way. When she finally supped the last drop, her tongue slid along the cuts she’d made, making him shudder as the sensitive flesh responded to the caress. Her pussy clenched down around him then, and a long, low moan escaped her as she flung her head back, exposing her own throat in a way he knew was meant to appease him. Did she but know it, she had just done as her coven did to her on a daily basis—gift him her life if he so wished it.

  He did, but he wanted every night she had left in her body to be spent with him. No time apart, no distance between them. He’d never be able to st
and it. Not after the centuries of solitude. He needed her in a way that she’d never understand, but one that would have him worship her for time immemorial for the many joys she’d bring to his world.

  Leaning forward, he pressed his mouth to the expanse of flesh she offered up to him. Her tits were a joy he intended on exploring at another time, for now, he wanted her gift. He nipped at the join where neck connected with shoulder, soothed it with his tongue before gripping down on the skin with a firmness that had her shuddering in his grip.

  It came as no surprise when she bucked, her hips rocking back and forth with a speed that fucked him rather than the other way around. Content with the situation, he let her take what she needed, and when she came, her pussy clinging to him, clutching at him until she milked him of every ounce of seed he had within his balls, only then did he relinquish his hold on her throat.

  Panting, skin slick with a sweat that would glue them both together, he dipped them down into the water, letting it cover them and soothe their forms. When her arms slipped down to his waist, he felt her pussy tighten around his softening cock, and she whispered, “Want to sleep this way.”

  “That can be arranged,” he whispered back, his voice deepening at the thought.

  She sighed as he walked them toward the shallows, then twisted around so that he could rest upon the sands, and she could sleep atop him.

  “Won’t you get cold?” she mumbled into his throat.

  His lips twitched. “The water will warm me.” As would the Dragon. Of course, that part went unsaid. He rather liked his mate punch drunk. She was far less acerbic than usual.

  “Remy?”

  He hummed as he closed his eyes, willing the lights in the cavern to sink into nothingness to allow them to rest. They’d have a trying night tomorrow, for he knew the Queen would be most displeased with the pair of them, so sleep was a definite requirement. “Yes, leman?”

  “Love you,” she breathed, snuggling into him. “Won’t say it much. It’s not in my nature. But I do. Thank you for making me feel this way.”