The Rookie

by Abigail Owen

  “It’s me,” he soothed. “What is that?”

  Still shaking, she held it out.

  The note was written in a masculine scrawl. “Fuck,” Aidan spat as he read it. Three words only.

  You are mine.

  He jerked his gaze to her face to find Sera had turned a sickly shade of green.

  “Isn’t that what the note said about Delaney?” she asked through pinched lips.

  “That was Graff,” Aidan insisted.

  Last year, Delaney’s stalker had pinned a note with similar wording on the door to their headquarters. Except Graff was dead. Finn had taken him out. Aidan had seen the shifter’s bones turn to ash himself. This couldn’t be him. Only now he was questioning if Graff was the one who wrote it in the first place. The handwriting was similar, but generic enough that it didn’t prove anything.

  On visibly wobbly legs, she made it all the way to the door before he stopped her. “Sera…”

  She paused, her hand on the doorframe, then glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows raised.

  Aidan crossed the room and stared down into her face, the small flare of her eyes shooting satisfaction through him. She wasn’t as indifferent as she acted. “Do you hate us?”

  Her earlier resentment had been too obvious to ignore, itching at him like a bad rash. Had she been carrying that around inside her this entire time without them knowing? What else was she hiding from him?

  “I should.” She shook her head. “Lord knows I should, given what you’ve brought into our lives when we’ve already been through too much. But, no, I don’t hate you.” Her gaze fell past him to the picture she’d replaced on the table.

  Aidan couldn’t stop himself from framing her face with his hands, determined to bring her focus back to him. At the same time, he registered the softness of her skin, and the tiny freckles over her nose, just like Blake’s. Her lips trembled—barely, but he caught it.

  “I’ll keep you safe. Both of you,” he promised.

  A frown pleated her brow. “I know you’ll try. It’s odd, but I feel…safer with you than with anyone else.”

  Those words pierced his heart, and the protectiveness he already resisted when it came to this woman surged in through the holes.

  “But Blake and I…” Sera gave a defeated shrug. “We’re only human.”

  With that, she pulled away from his touch and went into her bathroom, leaving him standing there, absorbed in the pain of not being able to do what he’d promised.

  Protect her.

  …

  He watched Sera’s house from the shadows of the small apple orchard across the gravel drive. Scents he associated with the woman inside the house swirled around him—the lingering sun-warmed soil, the fresh-cut grass, and the grapes growing on their vines all over the rolling mountain hillsides around them.

  Sera’s light went off followed shortly by the light in Blake’s room. Good. Aidan had the sense to stay out of her room. He would have had to kill the rookie if he’d tried anything, and he liked the guy.

  Sera had been smart to choose Aidan who had no interest in her. When they’d filled him in on that part of the plan, she’d given him a significant look. As though to let him know he had nothing to fear. She’d never acknowledged in words, but he knew she had to sense the connection between them. The way she teased him, made him smile, trusted him with her child, like tonight, that was all for him.

  Why wouldn’t she show her dragon sign? The time had come for him to claim his mate, but he’d do it right this time. Not like with Delaney. She hadn’t been his anyway, her successful mating with Finn a definitive sign. That was why his efforts hadn’t worked. Sera wouldn’t end the way the other women who’d died in his fire had, either. Three unworthy women. The team didn’t know, but they didn’t need to know. They said you lost part of your soul with each woman you killed in a failed mating, but they were wrong. He was proof.

  But Sera…she was so obviously his.

  He’d seen her eyes shift once before. He knew she was a dragon mate. Hell, he’d set the fire in her home on purpose tonight, to draw her into the open.

  That fire should have forced her to show dragon sign so that they all could see, and he could finally claim her. He’d do it the right way this time, through the mating process. Otherwise, he’d risk her child’s life having to live on the run, and he wouldn’t do that to the child. Damn Aidan, catching her before she’d run into the building to rescue Blake. It wasn’t like he was going to let anything happen to the boy. He’d just needed a trigger. A mother’s instincts should’ve done it, but he was finding that his Sera had almost inhuman reserves of self-control.

  Of course, she wasn’t human. She was meant to be dragon, her ability lying dormant. Waiting for me to awaken her.

  He couldn’t wait to see her in that form. When he mated her, would her turquoise eyes turn his color? Or would they retain some of the original color? He hoped for the latter.

  As he watched the house, the lights slowly going out one at a time, he suddenly spotted her. Dressed in all black, she left through the front door, floating across the yard directly to him. This had happened before…seeing things that weren’t actually there. He didn’t stop it. In the dark, it was easy to pretend, and he could keep fantasy and reality compartmentalized.

  Pale blond hair giving her an ethereal glow in the moonlight, she prowled over to him. Sera didn’t speak. She didn’t need to, because they didn’t need words to communicate. His angel understood him.

  With soft, sweet lips, she stole kisses he was more than willing to give. He groaned, needing more but knowing that if he tried to touch her back, to hold her, she’d disappear. Abandon him to the agony of loneliness that consumed his days, and even more so his nights. His team the only family he had left. But he wanted more.

  She feathered her lips down his neck and his cock hardened painfully, his balls aching with his need for her. He groaned again, and she pulled back with a small sigh. Slowly she opened those incredible eyes, her beauty otherworldly, and her love for him shining from her, calling to him.

  “When can we be together?” she begged.

  “Soon. You have to show yourself to the others first. Do you understand?”

  Sera nodded, her trusting gaze never leaving his. “I want to be yours.”

  He reached out to run the back of his hand down the soft skin of her cheek, but the second he touched her, the vision of Sera faded. Darkness, usually a fond friend, closed in on him, the ache in his body turning bitter.

  “You will be mine,” he whispered to the woman sleeping in the house across the way.

  Chapter Six

  Aidan turned into the hot spray of the shower, having to duck his head to get under it. He’d stayed up later than usual. A quick call to confirm the kid in their dungeons was still okay hadn’t taken up much time, and there’d been nothing on the TV. After a restless night, he’d woken early, not having slept more than minutes at a time anyway, and dragged Drake down here so he could go on a run.

  Sera this close had his entire body on edge in a way he wasn’t sure he could handle. He wrapped a hand around his straining cock. Squeezing hard, he gave himself several rough tugs.

  “Those short shorts…” he groaned.

  Sera’s pajamas had left little to his imagination last night, showing off surprisingly long legs for such a small woman, tanned and trim. The thin material outlined her breasts, her nipples straining toward him. The top had lace at the bottom and didn’t meet the top of the shorts, leaving a swath of her belly exposed—the soft, smooth skin begging him to cross that fucking room and touch, to sink into her.

  Especially with those dreams that stole his wits and left him…craving.

  Walking away from her had been damn near impossible. Not only because of the need for her body, but because of the growing need to be near her.

  All the damn time.

  Aidan increased his pace, holding an image of her in his mind. Then jerked when Sera pulled back th
e curtain. He watched with a fevered gaze as she touched herself, staring right back. Sera slid her hands over her breasts, pausing to pinch her nipples—dark pink, engorged just for him. Then she dropped her hands lower, feathering her touch over her belly before dipping lower, fucking herself with her fingers.

  Wait…

  Sera would never do this in real life. The vague mist of the dream made itself felt, fuzzing the light coming in through the small window in the room.

  This wasn’t real. He wasn’t awake. He hadn’t taken a run. And Sera wasn’t in the shower with him.

  But she was so damn beautiful, Aidan refused to let go of the fantasy, holding on to it.

  Her stormy eyes reflected back his own stark need and something else…not fear, but maybe a different need.

  “You’re leaving,” he managed to croak, accusing. Then grimaced. Why let his feelings out there get in the way of pleasure in here?

  “I don’t want to talk about that. I need…release.” She eyed him boldly. “I need you to make me forget my life.”

  Fuck.

  He should stop this. Force himself out of this waking dream he’d slipped into. He’d done it the first few times she’d come to him in dreams and they’d bled into reality. Only he couldn’t make himself.

  With a slight tremble to her hands, Sera pushed the curtain farther back. Gods above, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Small and pink and heavens help him, he didn’t want to stop this.

  What if this is all I ever get of her?

  Her eyes went wide as he leaned over and scooped her up, bringing her into the shower and cradling her against him. Her breasts pushed against his chest as her breathing sped up. The feel of her so real—warm and soft and slick with water—he groaned.

  “Damn, you’re tiny,” he said.

  “How romantic.” Her lips tipped up, drawing his attention. “Is tiny a turn-on?”

  “Tiny makes me…” Protective. Possessive. A total fucking moron led by my dick. Aidan shook his head. “This.”

  He captured her lips and swallowed her whimper, her obvious need driving his higher. So sweet, she tasted like the subtle wines she made—fruit, sun, and earth.

  Addictive.

  Sera wrapped her arms around his neck and wriggled in his hold, her slick body rubbing tantalizingly against him making his cock ache. She adjusted her position so that she could wrap her legs around his waist; the hot, wet center of her pressed against his erection and only made him harder. Then she brushed her fingers against the brand at the back of his neck—the mark of his family. A mark every dragon shifter bore, much like the king’s brand on their hands. But the symbol on his neck his mate would one day bear, too, once he found her and claimed her.

  A spot guaranteed to skyrocket his need when Sera touched it.

  Already, he balanced precariously on the brink, but he couldn’t keep his hands off. He needed to get her up to his speed.

  Fucking fast.

  Still possessing her lips, he ran a hand from her shoulder over the water-slicked breast to cup her. She fit neatly into his hand, but her nipples about killed him. Protruding into his palm, they were thick and round and hard.

  He dropped his head and sucked one into his mouth, reveling in the shudder that made her entire body shake. Aidan swirled his tongue over and around the engorged tip.

  “Harder,” she ordered.

  He grinned against her, loving how she wasn’t afraid to speak up. Happy to give her what she asked for, he dragged on her nipple with a hard suck he knew from previous dreams that she loved, and she speared her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. When she started to pump her hips, he knew she was getting close. He lowered her feet to the ground and released her nipple only to drop to his knees.

  She went to cover her belly with her hands. “Don’t—”

  He grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the white tiles of the shower wall. “Don’t move,” he growled.

  When he was sure she’d obey, he let her go only to lean in and place a soft kiss against the slight mound of her belly.

  Sera moved restlessly against him, though she didn’t move her hands. “I’m a mother—”

  “You’re gorgeous.”

  To prove that he meant it, he worshipped her, drawing his tongue across the small white marks etched into her skin, bearing testimony to her carrying a child. With a sigh, she relaxed, her body going languorously limp. Aidan moved lower, blowing against her pale curls, nipping at the inside of her thighs as he used his hands to force her stance wider.

  Then, with one long stroke, he licked through her folds, her honeyed flavor a rush against his tongue. Moans tumbled from her lips as he swirled his tongue around her clit before stabbing into her tight channel.

  Over and over again, he tortured a fevered response from her until she was mewling mindlessly, and his cock was painfully rock hard. Aidan lifted his head, drinking in the sight of her—head tipped back, mouth open, breasts heaving as she panted.

  “Don’t stop,” she moaned, dropping her head to watch him.

  He could see in her eyes a wild desperation, as though she was terrified he’d walk away from her.

  Not this time, babygirl. Not in here.

  Aidan pinned her with a look, letting her see what she did to him, not holding back from her. “I won’t stop.”

  Sera swallowed. “Good,” she whispered.

  Not pulling his gaze from hers, Aidan rose to his feet and slowly slid both hands under her, lifting until she wrapped her legs around him. Deliberately, he reached around and teased the crease between her thighs and ass with feathery strokes of his fingers.

  Sera sucked in a sharp breath, but didn’t look away, the combination of trust and lust in her eyes heady like the oxygen got sucked from the room.

  Something primal inside him responded, the dragon part of him urging him to claim, possess.

  “Fuck,” Aidan groaned.

  Sera gave him a slow smile that rattled his heart in its cage. “Not yet, but I sure hope so.”

  Aidan drew his fingers across her skin to her slick core. He slid one finger deep and grunted as she clamped down around him.

  “More,” she demanded.

  Gripping her tight, he levered back and lined his cock up at her entrance, then lifted his head. “You’re sure?”

  She gave a frantic little nod. “I need you to make it all better. Just for a minute. Even if it can’t last.”

  The weight of those words dropped onto his shoulders, but Aidan had been hefting responsibility his entire life. He could do this for her. He’d fuck her so hard she’d forget all her worries.

  Holding her gaze, not releasing her from his need to see her expression, he slid home inside her until he was balls deep.

  “Aidan,” she moaned, closing her eyes.

  He closed one hand around her throat, not squeezing hard. Just enough to force her to open her eyes. “Don’t look away, babygirl.”

  Those stunning eyes widened, then lit with mischief. “Don’t be gentle.”

  Aidan grinned. “I won’t.”

  With that, he reared back until only the tip of his cock remained inside her, then he slammed into her.

  “Yes,” she hissed.

  That tossed Aidan’s control right over the edge into an abyss. Using the speed that only shifters could lay claim to, he hammered into Sera, her body squeezing him like a vice, hard and soft at the same time, and so fucking amazing.

  He watched as her gaze went all hazy and knew she was close. Damn close.

  He canted his hips, driving into her at an angle guaranteed to rub against her clit. Three strokes like that and Sera tensed in his arms before bearing down on him, her mouth opening wide in a long series of shuddering moans as her orgasm broke over her.

  A zing gathered in his balls then shoved outward. Aidan bit down on a long, low groan as he filled her. She couldn’t get pregnant unless he willed it, and a small part of him debated doing so for a nanosecond, only to
be shut down by the logical side that hadn’t entirely abandoned him. This was just a dream.

  He watched her face, her expression of wonder and fulfillment—still with the trust—tugging at something deep inside him. His movement slowed as the rush receded.

  And reality intruded, rudely shoving its way in.

  The wisps of haze that seemed to linger at the edges of every one of these dreams faded, sunlight streaming in through a bedroom window dragging him away from her body and the feeling of utter completeness and back into his bed. Alone.

  “Damn.”

  “No,” a low, feminine groan echoed down the hallway and through the door he’d left open; his enhanced hearing told him Sera was in distress.

  In less than a second, Aidan was out of bed and down the hall.

  …

  The familiar sweet ache of fulfillment filled Sera’s body, warmth spreading out from her core. She wanted to revel in it, lie replete in her lover’s arms. Except Aidan had already faded from the unfocused mist of another realm.

  “No,” she called after him. Don’t go. Don’t leave me.

  The mist faded more. I’m dreaming.

  The sting of disappointment wasn’t enough to lance the bubble surrounding her. She didn’t want to leave, or for the dream to end. Even as she tried to draw him back to her, to keep him with her, the dream slowly being replaced by cold, stark reality.

  “No,” she moaned.

  Strong hands at her shoulders, even more solid than in her dreams, yanked her the rest of the way into the real world. Her dream world faded, and she opened her eyes to collide with intense sky-blue eyes. Concerned eyes. Searching eyes.

  His name punched from her lips. “Aidan.”

  The residual sensations from her dream, still buffeting her body, didn’t fade nearly as fast, leaving her both keyed up and needy. She never woke to the man leaning over her.

  Just a taste.

  Not thinking it through, Sera pushed up with one elbow and pressed her lips to his, needing that contact more than she could say. Aidan stiffened, but didn’t pull back. So she kissed him again, lingering over the touch, savoring the taste of him, the citrus and smoke scent of him all around her. Strangely familiar, but she didn’t linger over that thought, too focused on the man.