The Chosen One Universe Volume Three: An MM Paranormal Fantasy Shifters Series

by Macy Blake

  Asher nodded, and Draco let Sawyer tug him from the room. “I don’t need—“

  “Draco, if the next words out of your mouth are food and sleep, I’m going to be angry. You do need them.”

  “Sawyer—“

  “No, you don’t get to argue with me this time. I get it. I wasn’t here, our mates were hurt, and you had to be strong for them. You were. You are. But now you need rest, and I’m going to take care of you for once.”

  Draco wanted to argue, but he saw the steely expression on Sawyer’s face.

  “We take care of each other,” Sawyer said gently. “It is our greatest desire. Someone smart said that to me once.”

  “It’s evil to turn my own words back on me,” Draco grumbled.

  “Yeah, well, I’m evil then. Sue me.”

  Sawyer

  Sawyer closed the door to the guest cottage behind them and gave Draco a moment to prowl around the space. Draco had so much tension coursing through him it was a wonder he hadn’t snapped. Sawyer really didn’t know where Draco found the well of strength he drew from, but he’d never been so grateful for that strength. Their mates hadn’t been alone in the time he’d been gone. They’d had Draco.

  It always circled back to him. He’d been the center of Sawyer’s universe for so long, it was hard to remember a day when Draco wasn’t right there by his side. Grumpy and strong, supportive and unwieldy, steady and true. For years before this started.

  “I love you so much,” Sawyer blurted.

  Draco turned and smiled, that knee wobbling show of teeth that lit up Draco’s eyes and made hearts across the world flutter. And this time it was all his.

  “I love you back. Why don’t we go—“

  “Nope,” Sawyer said. “Our mates will be fine for a couple of hours so we can get some rest. Heck, how about we go really crazy and try for three or four?”

  Draco scowled. “But—“

  “Nope. You need to rest. There are a dozen people in the clinic watching over our mates. If anything happens, they will come get us. Please don’t argue with me. Just get on the bed.”

  Draco glanced toward the bed but still hesitated. Stubborn, stubborn dragon.

  “Fine. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’ve brought it on yourself.” Sawyer tugged his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “I wouldn’t?” Sawyer asked as he selected Draco’s mother’s name. He held up his phone and smiled. “I totally would.”

  “You would sic my mother on me?” Draco huffed and Sawyer knew he’d won. “You know me too well.”

  “I do indeed.”

  Draco grinned and walked over to the bed. “I am tired.”

  “I know. And I promise you, we are behind wards and have so much fire power out there looking over our mates that we will have plenty of time to get to them. I need you at your best, Draco, not exhausted.”

  Draco grumbled as he crawled onto the bed. “You like to hit me where it hurts.”

  “Nope.” Sawyer got onto the bed and straddled Draco’s waist.

  Draco grabbed Sawyer’s hips and settled him over his crotch where a very distinctive bulge pushed against his ass. “You’re really sexy when you’re all bossy and in-charge.”

  Sawyer grunted but wiggled his hips enough to feel that hard length sliding against him. “You think I’m sexy all the time.”

  “True. You know what would help me sleep?”

  The suggestive eyebrow wiggle had Sawyer snickering in response.

  “I have a feeling it involves your cock and my ass.”

  “Goddess, you really do know me well.”

  Sawyer grinned and leaned forward, resting his hands on the mattress on either side of Draco’s head. “I do indeed.”

  Draco slid one hand up Sawyer’s side, over his chest, ending at his neck. “We’re going to get through this, aren’t we?”

  Sawyer’s heart lurched in his chest. He’d never seen the shadow of fear and doubt in Draco’s eyes before. He couldn’t do anything but shine a light to chase that darkness away. “We are.”

  Draco let out a breath. Sawyer leaned closer still to capture it with his lips. Their kiss began lazily, a comforting tease of lip to lip. Their breath intermingled until nothing separated them. Draco began exploring Sawyer with his hands, pushing his shirt up.

  “I need you,” Draco rumbled, pulling at Sawyer’s shirt.

  “You have me.”

  Sawyer took his shirt off before rolling to the side and stripping out of his pants. He didn’t even pretend he had the patience to wait for a slow, seductive removal of clothing. No. He wanted his skin on Draco’s. And he wanted it now.

  Draco picked up on his urgency and grinned. Such a sexy, wicked smile that promised so much pleasure. Sawyer climbed back onto the bed and helped Draco pull his pants off. When they were both naked, Sawyer resumed his spot, this time pressing his ass down on Draco’s cock and feeling its heat directly against his skin.

  “Probably should get some lube,” Draco grunted. He pushed his hips up, sliding his cock along the crease of Sawyer’s ass. He grabbed Sawyer’s cock in his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “Fuck, you feel good.”

  Sawyer lurched to the side and fumbled for the side table drawer. Henry had told him once about how they kept the guest cabins stocked. Sex happened in times of stress, and they knew it. Henry had also informed him that his Nana was in charge of stocking the cabins and how traumatized he’d been when he’d learned she knew what lube was.

  Sawyer grinned at the memory, thankful for it now as he knew exactly where to look for the supplies they needed. They didn’t have a tub of Eduard’s fancy oil handy, but the little tube from the drugstore would work just as well.

  Draco groaned and tugged Sawyer up his chest before opening his mouth and swallowing Sawyer’s cock. Sawyer grabbed the headboard, holding on for dear life as his entire body lit up under Draco’s touch.

  Goddess, they should build an altar to the man’s mouth and worship it daily and twice on Sunday. Candles should be lit. And maybe those goats of Meshaq’s should be sacrificed after all. Anything to honor the gift that was Draco’s mouth and tongue and lips and….

  “You stopped,” Sawyer pouted as Draco pulled off of him. His lips glimmered and Draco licked them. Sawyer whimpered.

  “Get yourself ready,” Draco demanded.

  Right. He’d dropped the lube, but it had landed right there beside him. He grabbed it and tore into the packaging, desperate to get the damn plastic protective wrap off the bottle. He ended up using his teeth, and even that wasn’t fast enough. Damn stuff wouldn’t come out. Draco chuckled evilly and sucked his cock in once more.

  Sawyer held onto the headboard and groaned. “How can I…concentrate…when that feels… so fucking perfect.”

  Draco pulled off again.

  “Don’t stop.”

  “Give me the bottle.”

  “What? No. You have one job.”

  Draco smacked his ass. “Gimme.”

  Sawyer scowled but handed it over. Draco managed to get the bottle open— there was another protective seal on the inside of the bottle under the cap. Why did they do that? Double protection was not needed when one desperately wanted to be fucked by their mate.

  Then slick fingers breached his hole as a hot mouth found his cock again, and yep, those poor goats were doomed. He was sacrificing them to the glory of Draco. Okay, maybe not because gross, but an altar was totally happening. He had connections. He was making it happen.

  Draco teased him open, a slow glide of fingers that mimicked what was soon to come. He wanted that now, Draco’s cock deep inside him. Needed to feel whole once more. He slid back, taking his cock from Draco’s mouth and staring down at him. “I need you in me. Make me yours again.”

  “Always,” Draco vowed. He moved Sawyer backward, guiding his hips into position before reaching between them to slick his cock and position it at Sawyer’s entrance
. Sawyer lowered himself slowly, enjoying the stretch as his hole accommodated Draco’s size. It always felt so new each time with Draco. As if his body wanted to remember this feeling forever. The pinch of pain followed by the sense of fulfillment. Nothing could replicate it.

  “Draco,” Sawyer sighed as his body accepted the final inch Draco eased inside him.

  “I’ve got you.”

  Sawyer opened his eyes and met his mate’s gaze. “I know you do. Always,” Sawyer promised, returning Draco’s vow.

  Draco trembled beneath him. He needed to remember to promise him more, because the spoken words meant so much to his mate. And Sawyer would always love Draco. No matter what they faced, no matter what their future held. He would always cherish his dragon and their mates.

  They began to move, a slow roll of hips, skin sliding against skin. Sawyer’s cock ached, wanting to be touched, but he ignored it. If he gave in, this would end too fast. And he needed it to last forever.

  Everything fell away in the moment. Nothing else existed but the two of them. His body came to life, each cell alive with sensation. Draco gave him another of his knowing smirks and picked up the pace, driving up into Sawyer harder, but not quite fast enough. No, his mate intended to draw this out and make it last, too.

  Draco wasn’t the only one who knew how to take control, though. Sawyer wanted to drive his mate crazy. He squeezed his hole and drove his hips down. Draco moaned and his hold on Sawyer’s hips tightened. “Not fair.”

  “No?” Sawyer leaned forward, taking control once more. He slid up and back down, finding the angle and rhythm he knew Draco loved.

  “Fuck.”

  Draco couldn’t resist driving up into him. Sawyer met each thrust gleefully, seeing stars when Draco hit that spot inside him that sent sparks of pure pleasure throughout his body. He chased that touch again, tried to recreate it with each plunge Draco made inside him. It didn’t happen every time, and he had a sneaking suspicion that was because Draco wasn’t letting it.

  “Draco, come on,” Sawyer pleaded.

  With a deep, guttural growl, Draco spun them around. Sawyer’s back hit the bed with a thump. Draco knelt between his spread legs, his eyes gleaming. “You in a hurry? Going somewhere?”

  Oh, and there was that fire in his dragon’s eyes. Sawyer bent his knees, placing his feet against Draco’s chest. He arched up, offering himself. Draco growled and grabbed his thighs, spreading them wider. He balanced precariously, but Draco wouldn’t let him fall.

  “So perfect for me,” Draco grumbled. His large hands traced up Sawyer’s thighs, over his balls, and then framed his cock.

  He desperately wanted his mate to touch him, to make him forget everything but the pleasure Draco gave him. But Draco had other plans. He leaned down, forcing Sawyer to bend even further and pressed a kiss to Sawyer’s thigh. Then he pulled one foot over his shoulder. Then the other. Sawyer trembled. Draco nipped at his balls, teasing one before laving the other with his tongue.

  “You can’t leave me again,” Draco demanded. He squeezed Sawyer’s thighs in a firm grip, holding him helpless and exposed.

  “Draco, please.”

  “I can’t do this without you. You make it right.”

  “Draco.”

  Draco growled and moved them again, folding Sawyer in half as he lowered his chest to Sawyer’s. He guided himself back to Sawyer’s entrance, nudging at his hole until he slid into Sawyer once more.

  “You’re mine. Prophecy be damned. Mine, you hear me?”

  “I hear you.”

  Draco didn’t give him time to think any further. He fucked Sawyer with a passion he’d never felt before, drove into him time and time again, all the fear and anger of the last few days exorcised into this reconnection.

  It didn’t last long. It couldn’t. Draco’s rhythm began to falter, the heat of the moment driving him to the edge. Sawyer held on by a thread, waiting for that first hard stuttering thrust, that first feel of Draco’s release inside him, before he let go of the tenuous hold he had on his own orgasm. It struck hard and fast, spurting between them repeatedly, echoing each final thrust Draco gave him.

  He shouted his release, his body tight and drawn as it overtook him. Draco held him hard and fast until he finished, then made sure to give him one final smirk for good measure. Sawyer gave him one back, because he could.

  Draco fell to the side and half covered Sawyer with his body. “Mine,” Draco said, tugging Sawyer closer and arranging him in the position he wanted. Sawyer wrapped his arm over Draco’s wide back.

  “Yours,” he agreed.

  Draco huffed and began to relax. Days of tension and the lack of sleep finally caught up with him. When Draco’s breath deepened and his body finally went lax with sleep, Sawyer stilled his hand from its soothing glide up and down Draco’s back. He stared at the ceiling and tried to hold back the tears he could feel forming at the corners of his eyes.

  “I have to tell you something,” Sawyer whispered, so low he could barely hear his own voice. Draco didn’t stir, and his breathing continued to be deep and even. Exhaustion had definitely taken its hold. When he was sure he hadn’t woken him, Sawyer continued.

  “I figured it out. I know what I have to do now. And I don’t want to. That’s so wrong of me, and I know it. But how do I give you up? How do I leave you all behind? I can’t. But I have to. I can make him powerless again, absorb the powers of air and take his place. Run both sets of powers until the next generation of gods take over. Our powers are intertwined now, you see. After all these years, they’re mingled together. But once I’m back, once I do it, I can’t stay in this realm. I can pop in and out, just like my mother and my sisters do, but I can’t stay here. With you. With my mates. I have to give you up. That’s the price I have to pay. And Draco, it’s too much. The cost is too high. Why did I do this to myself? I think…I think it’s part of me as the god of mates. I think I was selfish. I think I wanted my mates, and this was how I got them. I think that’s why I don’t remember. Because I cheated. I wanted mates of my own, and I knew I could get them if I was human. But once my powers were back, I’d have to go back to the god realm.”

  Draco moved a little and held Sawyer tighter, as if, even in his sleep, his dragon knew Sawyer was in distress. Goddess, he loved this man so much. He couldn’t think of a day passing when he didn’t have Draco beside him. His other mates as well. They would leave gaping wounds in his soul where he’d once had peace and the happiest days of his life. And what about Pip? Just arrived, newly mated, and they barely had a bond to speak of. And Dakota? Finally tearing down the wall around his heart. Finally looking Sawyer in the eye with something other than anger and distrust.

  Saeward. His sweet heart and gentle soul. How could he do without his favorite cuddle buddy? The person he drew such deep and sincere comfort from their mere presence.

  Henry. His smart and sexy mage whose thirst for knowledge matched Sawyer’s own. Their study sessions and debates filled Sawyer with so much joy. And seeing Henry’s magic at work thrilled him. He loved his powerful mate’s mind and his abilities.

  Eduard. His griffin who made him step up into his role and perform his duties as a leader. Even the ones involving spreadsheets. The one who spoiled him and cherished him. Made sure he knew his value.

  Loch. His broken fae who’d healed and become so enchanted with the idea of mates and family. He loved seeing Loch discover more about their world, loved playing with him and, yes, sleeping with him. He loved it all, as Loch opened himself up to having others in his life, to accepting what having mates meant and thriving in the results.

  Andvari. What could he say about his vampire mate? His vigilance to Sawyer’s safety, the diligence he showed to making Sawyer know how to take care of himself, all of it a mere drop to the deep level of faith and support his mate gave to him.

  Together they completed him. And not just magically, which Sawyer now understood had been the point of it all. Of course, he would only trust his mates t
o keep his magic safe for him. But that Sawyer, the one before, had clearly never found his mates. It couldn’t be more obvious because he’d never have set himself up to leave them behind if he had.

  And yet, he wouldn’t give this brief period of time up for the world. He knew now with a certainty he couldn’t possibly have known before that his magic, the magic of mates, was something this realm and so many others desperately needed. Nothing compared to this feeling, to knowing without doubt, without hesitation, that you were loved beyond measure.

  So Sawyer would give them up to right the wrongs he’d made. He’d make it so everyone else had the power to find their mates, even if it meant he had to leave his behind. But he planned on cherishing every small moment he could gather until then.

  Henry

  Henry gasped awake, whatever had captured his mind finally freeing him and allowing consciousness to return. He jerked into a sitting position. It only took a few seconds to recognize where he was. Home. In the clinic.

  “Henry!”

  Papa jerked into action, jumping out of the chair by Henry’s bed and tugging Henry into his arms. Henry clung to him, his chest seizing with fear.

  “Papa—“

  “They’re fine, honey. All of them are fine. They’re all here, recovering just like you are. Draco and Sawyer are down in one of the guest cabins sleeping. Everyone is just fine. Breathe for me, love.”

  Henry breathed, forgetting for a moment that he wasn’t grown up and doing what his father said on instinct. The door to his room burst open and Vaughn, his alpha and dad walked into the room, his white coat gleaming and his stethoscope draped around his neck.

  “About time. Your Nana’s been worried sick about you.”

  Sam smacked Vaughn in the arm. “Stop it. We were all worried about you, Henry.”

  “I didn’t say I wasn’t worried.”

  “My mates,” Henry said again, drawing the focus of both of his fathers.

  “Some sort of magical recoil from what I understand,” Vaughn explained. “Sawyer can give you the details when he wakes up. Go on and check your magic, Henry. You’ll see.”