Bound by Thorns (The Dragon Soul Series)

by Sean Michael

  “Luke? Everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine. Someone wanted to meet you. And your soul mate—we’ve not been introduced.”

  Greyson unclenched one hand from around his mug to wave, and cleared his throat. “Hi. I’m Greyson, Luke’s—” Oh God, what did he call himself? Maybe he should have let Luke introduce them. “—lover.” The word shot out of his mouth as his brain dithered on what to say.

  “Hi, Greyson. I’m Jake—Luke’s older, better-looking brother.”

  “Fuck off.” There was no heat behind Luke’s words.

  A guy with tattoos and fascinating silver-shot hair appeared on screen with Jake, grinning wide. “Hey! Another brother. I’m going to meet you all one day.” The guy waved. “I’m Shae.”

  Greyson waved back, trying not to feel inferior. This guy was practically glowing.

  You glow, too, Pet.

  He did?

  Yes. Jake’s guy is cute, but he’s got nothing on you.

  It wasn’t like it was a contest or anything, but Shae looked so happy and fulfilled. The guy leaned against Jake, smile dreamy.

  “I’m Greyson. Luke’s lover.” It was easier this time as he knew what to say.

  “Welcome to the family.” Shae rolled his eyes and there was a slapping noise. “Five minutes. You can wait that long.”

  Jake looked sheepish but unrepentant. It made Greyson feel good actually, knowing that Jake and Shae were that into each other, too. This fucking-every-two-seconds thing was normal. Or as normal as it got for dragon mates, anyway.

  The picture blanked out for a second before coming back.

  “I think we’re going to lose the satellite connection to wind and snow soon,” Luke said.

  “Sure, sure. You just want to take Greyson back to the bedroom,” teased Jake.

  “Like Shae hasn’t been fending you off this entire conversation,” Luke shot back.

  Shae went a lovely shade of red, proving Luke’s guess to be accurate.

  Greyson buried his face in his hands, but he was laughing.

  “We should have a call just the two of us next time,” Shae suggested. “I’ll try and get Bryan here, too. We can dish on the dragons in our lives.”

  “That sounds great.” Greyson liked the idea of having a new squad, even if it was loosely connected and separated by many miles of ground.

  “Awesome. Talk to you later!” Shae called, the last word cut off as the call was ended.

  Greyson blushed, knowing exactly why Jake had cut the call.

  “You see? It’s not just us.” Luke nibbled at his neck.

  No, it wasn’t just them. It was kind of crazy.

  “So how does it feel?” Luke asked.

  “It tickles a little,” Greyson told Luke. But he liked the nibbles and didn’t mind the tickling.

  Luke rolled his eyes. “Not that. I mean meeting my brother and his soul mate. Having someone other than you and me know you’re gay.”

  “Oh. Right.” Greyson gave it some thought, but felt no panic that it was out there in the world beyond their house. In fact, it didn’t feel bad at all. “It feels okay. I’m glad they know about us.”

  “I’m so proud of you.” Luke did look proud, pleased.

  Greyson didn’t know what to say. That he wished he’d been able to tell people sooner? In the end it hadn’t really mattered until he met Luke anyway. He kissed the corner of Luke’s mouth and asked, “Is it really beginning to storm?”

  “It is. It’s going to be a doozy, too.” Luke was looking at him, heat in his eyes.

  “Good thing we have lots of marshmallows,” Greyson teased.

  “Among other things.”

  Any answer Greyson might have given was swallowed by Luke’s kiss.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Storms continued unabated for days, each one slipping into the other until it was hard to know—or care—if it was day or night. It made it easy for them to focus on each other, though, because they were entirely in their own little world.

  Luke thought a shared bath might make a nice change, so he ran the hot water into the tub, and added some oil. Grey dipped one hand in the hot water and sighed. More and more, he was discovering the hedonist that lived deep inside his pet.

  He turned off the tap, then eased Grey into the tub, smiling as another sound echoed around the tile. Kneeling next to the tub, Luke grabbed the soap and began to wash the lovely skin, making sure to touch Grey everywhere, whether under or above the water.

  Grey stretched out for him, a look of pure happiness on his face. The beard was coming back, and Luke needed to clean Grey up.

  “I’m going to touch up your beard and your pubes, shave everything nice and smooth again.” He grabbed the liquid soap and the knife. He’d start with Grey’s face.

  “You’re obsessed.” He knew Grey didn’t mind, that the objection was a tease. He could feel the humor dancing along their bond.

  “With you? Absolutely one hundred percent I am.” He rubbed soap onto Grey’s face and grabbed the sharp little knife. Tilting Grey’s face to the side, he murmured, “Hold still,” as he began.

  Grey never tensed. The trust buzzed through their bond like electricity. He loved that, craved it even. It settled deep inside him, in his soul. Rumbling happily, he carefully shaved every bit of Grey’s face—cheeks, chin, throat—making it all smooth as well-worked leather. When he was done, he rinsed the residue of soap and hair away before bending to kiss the newly bared skin. It felt like silk beneath his lips.

  Hedonist. Grey’s soul was laughing.

  Yes. He felt no compunction to deny it; it was the truth, after all. You need to be, too. Because he would spend the rest of time making Grey feel, pushing one sensation after another onto him. It was what he was made to do. It was what Grey was made for as well.

  He placed a few more sucking kisses on Grey’s skin, then pulled the plug on the water. He’d get it low enough to shave Grey’s pubes, then rinse him and let it empty before refilling it with clean, hot water.

  “Gonna get cold, Dragon.”

  “We can’t have that.” Luke grabbed a thick towel and put it around Grey’s shoulders. “Spread your legs for me.”

  Grey chuckled, but spread them, letting him in.

  “So lovely.” He petted Grey’s inner thighs, the skin around his cock, his balls, and his hole. The stubble there was rough. “This can’t be comfortable. You’ll be happy to have me shaving down here.”

  “I will. It itches.”

  “You know, you could ask me to do it next time, instead of waiting for me to go ahead. It doesn’t fall under the perverse umbrella.” Well, maybe it could but it didn’t need to—it was just shaving until afterward, when he began teasing the newly bared flesh.

  “I was busy trying to figure things out, Dragon. Sometimes this is hard.”

  “I know. I want to make everything right for you. Fix everything that isn’t. It’s in my nature.” He got the area nice and soapy, then grabbed the knife and scraped off the first line of stubble.

  “It’s still weird to think that fantasies like being tied up can not only come true, but that it’s okay if they do.”

  “That thought excites you, though,” Luke pointed out as he continued to shave.

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “That’s good. We’re going to explore everything, and I’m going to push you sometimes. Do things you might say you don’t like.”

  “Why?” The question didn’t sound whiny. Just curious.

  “I think maybe that’s a part of the appeal for you, being able to get mad at me and yell at me to stop and know that I’m going to keep doing whatever unless I hear you really meaning it through the bond.”

  He knew Grey’s thoughts, would know if his b
oy truly needed him to stop. So if Grey needed to lash out, to lose control, he could.

  “I mean, why should I want to be angry at you?”

  “Because sometimes you need to yell and scream and fight and I’m a safe target. You can lose control and I won’t let you get hurt.” He thought someone who’d seen the things Grey had seen occasionally needed an outlet like he was offering.

  “If you lose control, that’s when people get hurt, Dragon.”

  “You can’t hurt me, Grey, and there are no other people around to be hurt. Sometimes you need to lose control to work through the things that are hurting you.” He rinsed Grey off and let all the water out of the tub, then replugged it and turned the water on to refill the bath.

  “I don’t have the nightmares so much anymore.”

  “No, I noticed they’ve definitely gotten better since we’ve been together.” He wasn’t saying it was because of him, but he knew the bond was helping, healing Grey’s jagged edges.

  “Come into the tub with me?”

  “Yeah, that’s the plan. I wanted to get you shaved, first.” He climbed into the tub, and leaned over to turn the tap off before sitting behind Grey, his legs on either side of his pet. He groaned as Grey settled against his chest. Between the hot water and Grey’s proximity, he was in heaven.

  “Better.” Grey floated against him, quiet and happy, solid.

  “Yep. Everything is better together.”

  “Mmm...” Grey was singing, deep in his thoughts.

  Luke closed his eyes and let his own song join with Grey’s. He touched Grey in all the places he’d shaved, enjoying the smooth flesh beneath his fingers.

  Grey enjoyed that, the slick touches. Him. Grey loved him. That knowledge filled the holes inside him. Hell, the biggest hole had been Grey-shaped and now it was gone.

  “Do I fill the empty spaces inside you, Pet?” He had to—they were each other’s and that was how it worked.

  “I wasn’t anything but empty spaces when you found me.”

  His heart broke for Grey, for what he’d gone through and what it had done to him. Luke wrapped his arms around Grey’s torso and held him tight. “I’m so sorry you went through all of that.” Maybe it was his fault—if he’d gone looking for Grey, maybe he would have found him earlier, before all the pain and nightmares.

  “It happens.” Grey sighed, fingers teasing his thigh. “Do you think those things, the sand monsters, will look for me? No one else saw them. I mean, they saw something, but said it was the sand drifting. They were all too far away to see what I did. But what if they come after me because I saw them?”

  “I don’t think they will. But even if they do, they won’t get you. I’m not going to let anything get you.” He’d like to see them try. They’d soon learn dragons were not mythical creatures. They were at the top of the food chain.

  “My fierce beast,” Grey whispered.

  “I am.” He growled for Grey, knowing his pet liked that, that it turned him on.

  The little rush of arousal made Luke smile. He nuzzled Grey’s neck, licked the water and salt from it. Grey let his chin rest down on his chest, offering Luke more. He hummed happily, sliding his lips along Grey’s skin, touching off the many nerves there. He breathed in deeply, loving the way Grey smelled.

  “I like this—you and me together in the water, floating.”

  “Wait until the summer. We can lie together in the grass and look up at the trees, at the sky, feel the ground beneath us, solid, unchanging.” Luke loved to feel the dirt beneath his feet.

  “That sounds like heaven.”

  “It’s good. It’ll be even better with you by my side.” He licked a line from the base of Grey’s neck down a few inches.

  “I used to do that, lie in the grass and hold out my hands and pretend I could feel everything.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He liked imagining that there were times they’d lain on the ground at the same time without even knowing it.

  “Yeah, when I was a kid. I would imagine that there were other people feeling me.”

  “Maybe I was those other people?” He wondered if this soul had felt that in other bodies, too, over the centuries, searching for him.

  “Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

  “It’s possible. We’ve been trying to connect for a long time.”

  “I think that’s why I’m here.”

  “I know it is. We were made to be together. Your soul has been reborn and reborn until we finally connected. And now we’ll be together forever.” It made him sad, thinking of Grey living life after life without him.

  “You almost missed me this time.”

  “Yeah.” Everything in him clenched and he squeezed harder, keeping Grey close.

  “I have you. I mean, you have me...” Grey chuckled.

  “Yeah. Yeah. We do. We have each other. Now that I have you in my life it doesn’t bear thinking about not having you. You know?”

  “I know. I wish you could have met my brother.” Grey sighed, the sound bittersweet. “He was a good man.”

  “You said it was cancer, right?”

  “Lymphoma, yes.”

  “That sucks.” It might have made this awkward, though. With Grey not growing older while his brother did. Not that he was happy that Grey had lost his brother.

  “Shh. That was out of your control, Dragon.”

  “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to make your life better, even before I was in it.”

  “Thank you.” Grey lifted Luke’s hand and kissed his knuckles.

  He hummed. “I believe they call this basking.” He kind of liked it.

  “Dragons are like big lizards. They bask,” Grey informed him.

  He wasn’t sure he liked the comparison. Lizards were...lizards. “Are you sure dragons are like lizards? I don’t feel like a lizard.”

  “Totally a lizard. I don’t remember if your tongue is forked, though...”

  He gave Grey a glare and stuck his tongue out at the man. “Not even when I’m in my dragon form.” Then he brought their mouths together and pushed his tongue into Grey’s mouth, proving his lack of forked tongue a different way.

  Grey laughed for him, tongue playing with his, teasing. God, he loved this man, more deeply than he’d thought possible. He’d never dreamed a soul mate would be as good as this was.

  Luke reached down, tracing the image of Grey’s tattoo, both of them gasping. It tingled beneath his fingertips, the feeling almost electric. “You feel it, too?”

  “Uh-huh. Uh-huh.”

  “Damn. That’s some magic there. Like when you traced those sigils on me.” He shifted Grey slightly so he could look at it properly. The tattoo was completely healed now, and he traced his name where it sat beneath the Beteferoce crest. It looked good on Grey’s thigh. Right.

  “It aches. It’s alive.”

  “Was it like this when you got it?” He removed his hand, the tingling fading away. “Or is it because of us?”

  “It burned when we did it. That’s all.”

  Luke touched it again, those same tingles returned. He and nuzzled Grey’s cheek as he continued to trace the tattoo. “I like it.”

  “I thought it was ruined. This was for my brother, you know? I didn’t even know about you.”

  “It’s ironic that the tattoo you got for your brother has your soul mate’s name on it. Maybe his soul guided Corryn’s hand.”

  “Maybe. I believe in fate.” Grey inhaled, stretched, body rubbing against him.

  “I’m your fate, so I can get behind that.” He moved his hand from the tattoo up along Grey’s body, following the strong lines. He loved touching Grey. The newly bared sac was so velvety. He rumbled happily. Grey’s balls were loose with the heat, and he rolled them.

  “Do it again.�
�

  “This?” He rolled Grey’s balls. “Or this?” He growled.

  “Yes. God yes. Please.”

  He loved that. He kept rumbling, kept fondling Grey’s balls. Grey spread, pleading for more and more.

  “Put your feet up on the edges of the tub.” He helped and it opened Grey up completely for him. He ran his fingers along Grey’s hole.

  “Luke. Oh please. That’s good.”

  “That’s the idea, Pet.” He continued to play, pushing the very tip of his finger into Luke’s hole before rubbing it.

  “Uh-huh.” Grey was so very focused.

  Focused on him and that tiny, wrinkled hole. He continued to play with it, opening it and stretching it, rubbing, barely touching. Grey whimpered as the water lapped against him. He reached for Grey’s cock with his other hand, wrapping his fingers around it and stroking slowly.

  “Feels like heaven,” Grey whispered, head falling back against him.

  “I want to be inside you.” He pushed his finger into Grey’s hole as he said it.

  “You’re always inside me.”

  “I’m not inside you nearly often enough,” he countered.

  Grey laughed for him. “That’s not what I mean. You’re here.” Grey pressed one hand to his chest.

  “Oh.” Luke chuckled, then hugged Grey again. “That’s sweet.”

  “Shut up.” The words were pure laughter.

  “Hey, I was nice!” He had to laugh, too, and he pressed his finger deep, enjoying the sensation of Grey’s laughter all around his finger.

  “My nice dragon with his sweet mate.”

  He chortled. “Okay, I heard it that time. I take it back.”

  “Sweetie McSweeterson.” Gray was on a roll.

  “No, there’s nothing sweet about you. Nothing nice about me, either. I’m a curmudgeon and you’re... Well, I can’t say anything bad about you.” He loved Grey the way he was.

  “I’m a... I can be a coward.”

  “What are you talking about?” His soul mate was not a coward. He was the lover of a dragon, after all.