No Such Thing as Dragons : Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 5)

by Lauren Lively

  In all the times we'd been together, we'd never actually had sex in my bedroom. To me, my bedroom was my personal space. It was my safe space. The one place I could retreat to and be alone. It was sacrosanct to me. Which was why I'd never allowed Deyro into my room before.

  But there was something different about him. I saw something changing in him. I noticed it when he'd come by earlier to make sure I knew he respected me. It was silly and awkward, of course, but he was earnest about it. He wanted to make sure I knew he was being sincere and that he respected me. For whatever reason, it had been important to him.

  And in that moment, the way he was looking at me – I saw something in his eyes that I'd never seen before. I wouldn't call it love, but there was definitely something there. Something that went well beyond the battle-buddy relationship we'd had to that point. And it was something that stoked the fires in me even higher. My mind and my body were responding to what I saw in his face – not that I even truly understood what I was seeing.

  Deyro looked at me and ran a fingertip along my jawline, caressed my cheek with it, and smiled down at me. He got down onto his knees before me and pushed me back on the bed. My breath caught in my throat as he ran his hands up my thighs, pushing my skirt up along with them. He slid my panties down slowly, gently – almost reverently. When he had them off, he dropped them on the floor and looked me in the eye with a deep, abiding hunger.

  He parted my thighs and leaned forward, slipping his tongue inside of me. Never before had I let him go down on me. It was too personal – and I always avoided anything too personal with him. But in that moment, it felt right, so I let him. I gasped as he licked and sucked at the hot, wet center of me. I moaned when he slid his tongue deep inside of me, licked me with fire and passion.

  The sensations spreading through my body as he used his tongue on me were intense. I felt like I was holding on to a live electrical wire and was having trouble catching my breath. But he kept going, working his magic with his tongue and fingers working in unison so deep inside of me.

  It didn't take long for me to start feeling that familiar pressure building up within me. It came on quickly and when the dam broke, it was intense. I arched my back and my body spasmed as my orgasm tore through me like a hurricane. I cried out his name and grabbed his hair, pulling it and then pushing his head down harder.

  My orgasm felt like it would last forever, but it eventually subsided. Sadly. It had been intense and amazing and left me wanting more. I pushed Deyro away and he got to his feet as I sat up. Biting my bottom lip, I grabbed his belt and quickly unfastened it as I pushed his pants down.

  Giving him a salacious smile, I leaned forward and ran the tip of my tongue across his flat, toned stomach. I trailed my tongue down as I took him in my hand and gave him a hard squeeze. He gasped when I circled my tongue around the head of his cock as I began to move my hand up and down his shaft.

  I'd never gone down on Deyro before – just as I hadn't let him go down on me. It was one of those things I deemed too personal. Too intimate. And I had to guess it had something to do with the fact that we were facing death that made me blow through those barriers. To allow and do things I never would have allowed or done before. But looking at the expression of pure rapture on his face as I moved him in and out of my mouth, stroking him with one hand and cupping his balls with my other, I was glad I did.

  If we were going to die, at least we could go out knowing we enjoyed one night of intense pleasure with each other.

  I moved my hand and slid him all the way into my mouth, taking him as deep as I could get him. Deyro gasped and as I slid my mouth back up his shaft, teasing him with my tongue as I went, I felt his body stiffen. He tangled his hands in my hair and whispered my name as I moved my mouth up and down on him, squeezing him nice and tight at the base of his cock.

  I heard his breath catch in his throat and then Deyro was stepping back and pulling himself out of my mouth. The smile on his face and the look in his eye conveyed his hunger. His need. His desire. He needed to be inside of me every bit as much as I wanted him to be.

  I crawled back on the bed and he followed me. Parting my thighs, I allowed him to climb on top of me, kissing him deeply as he braced himself on his arms above me. Slowly and gently, Deyro slid himself inside of me, sheathing himself completely in my warm, wet center. And it immediately felt like fireworks were going off in my head as he began to move his hips, sliding himself in and out of me in a slow, steady rhythm.

  I grabbed hold of his arms, squeezing my eyes shut and gritting my teeth as my body exploded in sensation. I dug my fingers into his strong, thick arms as he continued to slide himself deep into me. His moans mixed with mine, filling the air around us with our sweet song.

  Everything about being with Deyro this time was different. Every time we'd been together before, it had been about raw lust. Desire. Need. We'd both needed to get off. It was almost business-like in a strange way. We got together. We screwed. And then we went our separate ways.

  The times we'd slept together before always had a frenetic energy. It was as if our sex was simply an extension of our anger with one another. It was fast. Hard. Rough. It wasn't so much about ensuring each other's pleasure. It was about getting off, plain and simple.

  But this time, as Deyro moved inside of me and I received him, it was slow. Patient. Tender. Our bodies fell into an easy, gentle rhythm that seemed to heighten the pleasure rippling through our bodies. There was a patience and a care we took with each other this time. An intimacy and closeness that we hadn't had before. It seemed more like making love than having sex.

  Deyro kissed me as he thrust himself deep inside of me. Even with his tongue in my mouth, I moaned as he filled me up completely. Everything felt so intense. It felt so amazing. I thought I might burst from it.

  I felt his body tensing as he moved, sliding himself into me, his rhythm picking up a little more speed – a little more urgency. His breathing was becoming a little shallower and a little more ragged and I knew he was close. I arched my back, trying to take him even deeper, tightening my muscles around his cock to encourage him.

  “Alex,” he whispered my name over and over again.

  As he moved inside of me, his motion growing more frantic, it felt like my body caught fire. I bit his shoulder and dug my nails into his back, crying out with pleasure. I could tell he was trying to hold off, trying to make it last, but I knew he was just about to break.

  “Let go, Deyro,” I moaned softly. “Come for me.”

  Deyro's body stiffened and he let out an animalistic growl as his body obeyed my command. I felt his hot, wet seed shooting deep inside of me and it touched off my own orgasm. I cried out, my scream echoing around the room as my body toppled over that edge of pleasure along with him. I writhed beneath him, my body flooded by a torrent of sensation.

  Eventually, our orgasms subsided and Deyro rolled over, flopping on his back next to me. I turned onto my side and laid my head on his chest, tracing his torso with my fingertips. We lay together in silence for several long moments, simply soaking in what we'd just shared.

  “That was incredible,” he said.

  I nodded but said nothing. There really was nothing to say.

  “Alex, I want you to –”

  It was my turn to put my finger to his lips to silence him. I didn't want him reading to much into what we'd just done. I still wasn't sure what to think of it. It had felt intense and emotional. It felt like we'd established some sort of connection between us.

  But it may have just been the fact that we were leaving on a mission in the morning – a mission we likely weren't coming back from. Looking at certain death had a way of making things feel more urgent and perhaps, even a little more intense and emotional than they really were.

  If – and it was a big if – we made it back alive from this suicide mission, we'd figure out what it all meant. If anything. Until then though, I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

  “Rest,” I whis
pered. “We leave for Chondelai tomorrow and we need to be sharp.”

  I knew he wanted to speak, to say something more – to address the elephant in the room between us. But, to his credit, he held it in and simply allowed us to enjoy our time together.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The moon was just crawling over the horizon when we found our way down to the basement of an apartment building owned by the Dragonborn. In that basement was the Dragon Door that would take us to Chondelai.

  I had to admit, I was curious about seeing the home world of the Dragonborn. But at the same time, I was terrified. Terrified to enter another world and terrified that their world was filled with monsters –not just dragons who might want to kill me, but dark creatures who definitely wanted to kill me.

  “Are you ready?” Deyro asked.

  I gave him a small, nervous smile. “As ready as I'm going to be, I guess.”

  “Let me ask you one last time,” Quint said. “Are you certain you want to do this?”

  “As certain as we can be,” I said.

  Quint looked at us with sadness in his eyes. He didn't think we were coming back anymore than we did. The grim look on his face threatened to overwhelm me, consume me, drive me to a dark place of fear. But I resisted. Fought back. Pushed it away.

  “How about a little positivity?” I asked, giving him a smile. “We could make it out of there, you know.”

  He nodded. “I know,” he said. “If anybody could, I would put my money on you two.”

  “Okay, it's time,” Deyro said. “Let's do this.”

  I looked from Quint to Deyro and back again. I stepped forward and threw my arms around the big Warden's neck. He was a little stiff and awkward at first, but then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

  “Thank you,” I said. “For everything you've done for me. For the life you gave me. Make sure you tell Ella that as well.”

  He nodded and released me. “I will.”

  Deyro stepped forward and put his hand out. “Warden,” he said. “It's been a privilege and an honor to serve you. Thank you for the opportunity.”

  Quint pulled him into a tight, manly hug, giving him a few good slaps on the back. The way men hugged always amused me, but it wasn't the right time to mock them for it. After a moment, they stepped back from one another and Quint gave us both a meaningful look.

  “I will see you both back here soon,” he said.

  I nodded and snapped him a small salute. “Yes, sir,” I said. “Soon enough.”

  Without another word, I turned and looked at the Dragon Door, marveled at it for a moment. It hung suspended in the air a few inches off the ground, a myriad of colors swirling, pulsing, and writhing within the frame. It was strange and yet – beautiful.

  I took a step forward and into the pulsing riot of lights. And when my vision cleared, I found myself not in a basement, but in an open field of tall grass. Twin moons – one red, one white – hung high in the darkened sky overhead, and the silhouettes of rocky, craggy mountains in the distance lined the horizon. It was strange and felt alien – and yet, it had a cold, stark beauty all its own.

  Deyro stepped through the Door and was standing beside me a moment later. The Door pulsed brightly one last time before it compressed itself into a tight line and then disappeared entirely. A jolt of fear ripped through me as I watched our only way of getting back to LA blink out of existence.

  “Don't worry,” Deyro said, a smile touching his lips as he intuited my thoughts. “I know where the Door home is.”

  “You better.”

  “Trust me,” he grinned.

  I turned around and looked at the landscape around me. There were definitely many similarities to the landscape of home, but it just felt – different. I couldn't articulate how, I just knew I wasn't in my home world anymore.

  “So,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”

  “We need to make our way to the castle of the River Clan.”

  “I certainly hope you know the way,” I said. “Because I doubt my phone's GPS is going to be much use here.”

  Deyro laughed and nodded. “I know the way,” he said. “Don't worry.”

  “Trust me and don't worry,” I said and gave him a grin. “Those are phrases that among humans, will always make them distrust you and worry. You might want to find a way to be a little more reassuring.”

  He laughed. “I'll do my best.”

  “So, how do we get there?” I asked. “How long of a walk is it exactly?”

  “Walking?” he said, cocking his head as if he were pondering the question. “Probably about a week.”

  My jaw fell open. “A week?” I almost shouted. “Why in the hell did we go through that door then? Isn't there one that's closer?”

  “Yeah,” Deyro replied, clearly amused. “There's plenty that are closer. But Quint wanted to go through this one so we weren't accidentally seen. The element of surprise is the only thing we really have going for us right now and we want to preserve that.”

  I nodded but dreaded the task before us. What he said made perfect sense, I just wasn't looking forward to a week-long trek through an alien – and very hostile – world.

  “Good thing we're not going to walk though,” Deyro said.

  “What do you mean?”

  He cocked his head and looked at me. “Are you really that thick?”

  “Apparently.”

  He shook his head but grinned at me. He didn't say a word as he began to strip down. First his shirt – which he folded up carefully and handed to me.

  “Hold on to this, please,” he said.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “If you really think this is the right time for that, then you –”

  My words died on my lips as he kicked off his boots with his pants quickly following. When he stood before me naked, he gave me a smile and then bent down to retrieve his clothes, meticulously folding everything and handing it to me.

  “Just put these in that bag I was carrying,” he said. “Please.”

  I knelt down and put his clothes into the bag, still too stunned to speak. Deyro stood in the field completely naked, seeming to relish the cool breeze upon his skin. I couldn't help but look. The light of the twin moons cast his creamy white skin in a silvery light, almost making him seem to glow and his eyes sparkle. He was a beautiful man – there was no questioning or denying that.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Ready for what?” I replied. “I'm certainly hoping you don't expect me to –”

  For the second time, my words failed me when he started to change. I watched as his skin bulged and fell away, revealing armored, red scales. He grew in size and a pair of long black wings erupted from his back. I had to bite back a scream at what I was witnessing.

  Yes, I knew they were Dragonborn. I knew they possessed the ability to transform themselves form human to dragon. Intellectually, I knew it. I'd never actually witnessed it before though. And while on some levels it was fascinating, on others, it was terrifying.

  When Deyro had completed his transformation, the beautiful naked man standing before me a moment ago was gone. In his place was a large red dragon. It looked down at me from its elongated neck, its red and black eyes burning with an internal light. He flapped wings that were as black as pitch once, sending a gust of wind that ruffled my hair and blew my cloak back.

  Numb with shock, I stepped forward and put my hand on what used to be Deyro's chest. Gone was the smooth skin I'd felt pressed to mine so often. It had become a hardened plate of scales, rough to the touch.

  Impressive, huh?

  Deyro's voice was in my head – much like Quint's had been the other day in the training house. Apparently, telepathic communication was one of the Dragonborn's many abilities. Deyro was eight feet tall with wing span and a long tail. He had a mouth full of what looked like razor-sharp teeth, and two black, curved horns on the side of his head.

  “I don't know if impressive is the
right word,” I said. “But, I'll go with that for lack of a better one.”

  Deyro's laughter filled my head and I couldn't help but smile. He lowered himself to all fours and looked over at me.

  Get on.

  I looked at him, not comprehending what he meant. This was all so surreal to me that I was apparently having trouble understanding even the most basic of concepts.

  My back. Get on and hold on to the horns on my shoulders.

  “Why would I do that?”

  Because you don't want to spend a week walking to the River Clan's castle.

  Oh, right. That. Except that meant –

  “You don't really think I'm going to get on your back and fly, do you?”

  Unless you have another better idea for quick transportation? In case you hadn't noticed, Chondelai lacks things like buses, trains, and Uber.

  I shook my head, a wry laugh escaping my lips. He had me there. But the idea of climbing onto the back of a dragon and flying – thousands of feet above the earth – it filled me with a fear I don't think I'd ever known before.

  “Isn't there another way?”

  Let me think – ummmm – no. Not really. Not if you want to get there anytime soon.

  “Great,” I said. “If you let me fall –”

  I won't. Have a little faith in me.

  I slung his pack over my shoulder and looked at him for a long moment. It wasn't necessarily him that I didn't have faith in. I was having a little bit of trouble with the idea of gravity in that moment. Frankly, the idea of falling thousands of feet and splattering upon the ground was a more terrifying death than facing down a dozen dragons with nothing but a stick in my hand.

  I know you hate the phrase, but trust me, Alex. Everything will be fine. I will not let you fall.

  Taking a deep breath, I nodded and stepped over to him. He held out one of his hands – hands that were tipped with wicked looking long, black claws, and helped hoist me up to his back. I settled down with a leg on either side of his neck, adjusted the packs and my weapons and then took another long, deep breath, trying to settle the swarm of butterflies that were battering at my insides.