The Dragon's Lover

by Emilia Hartley

  She reached out, letting her hand graze over the raised scars and past them to tangle in his curls. She pulled his face in so that their lips met. When they crashed together the dam inside of her broke. Her body burst with new sensations. It rocketed from her core and out in every direction. Her fingers tightened on him. Her toes curled in the air.

  Her scream was lost in her mouth as he eagerly devoured her. Her pleasure radiated from her core like ripples in rough water, filling her with tingling sensations. Then, Isaac thrust deep. His body spasmed above her and the sensation triggered another wave deep inside her.

  Together they moaned and fell into a happy heap of limbs. They both twitched with the aftermath of their lovemaking before Isaac jerked upright. His eyes were suddenly wide and his stomach tight.

  “Are you… are you on birth control?”

  Quinn pressed her lips together. She didn’t see the need back when Kenji claimed to be her mate because she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping with him anytime soon. She should have been on birth control the whole time, but moving around with the family had made it difficult to get anything other than the implant. She hadn’t trusted the small device meant to go under her skin so she chose to go without.

  She watched the moment Isaac realized what her silence meant. His face twisted in an expression of a handful of emotions. There was apprehension, excitement, fear, and so many other things there. Quinn reached up and grabbed his face one either side, her thumbs rubbing away the tension in his Nordic cheeks.

  “If we conceive this time, I’ll say it’s meant to be,” she reasoned. “But, I’ll go out and get a contraceptive so that we have something until we figure out what we want.”

  The tension in his shoulders eased. He slowly pulled himself free of her opening and dipped low to lay small kisses along the skin of her stomach, down to her belly button. She smiled wide.

  This. She wanted this every day. She wanted Isaac’s arms around her, wanted his voice around her, wanted him around her. If they, by chance, did conceive, she would work through her own issues. Quinn never before considered being a mother, but the prospect of carrying Isaac’s child had sent a small thrill through her that she hadn’t expected.

  Quinn wasn’t her own mother; that was apparent. So, why should she be afraid of raising her own child? She would not leave it behind in search of the next thrill. If anything, having a dragon child might be a thrill and a frightening experience all of its own.

  Quinn rolled over and snuggled into the warmth of Isaac’s body. Tomorrow, they would go back to the settlement and corroborate with the story Kenji gave the council. She hoped they would listen to her voice her opinions. Quinn wanted to start the article on GOE’s actions as soon as possible.

  This needed to end, for Isaac, for her family, for her future children. Her hands tightened on Isaac. He felt her fear and the tension in her muscles and snuggled deeper into her embrace, clutching her tight in return.

  They would face the world together, one step at a time. The first step would be the council.

  Chapter Eleven

  The nomadic family was staying on the American Territory until they got their lives together and figured out how to keep their people safe. They were also nearby if Liana needed their testimonials about their time at the GOE facilities. The interviews Liana and Anya were conducting at the Embassy would be great resources for Quinn’s article exposing GOE.

  Yet, Lucia was still in GOE’s hands.

  It was tearing Hector apart as he stood before his children. Luc looked lost. Marc looked ready to tear the world apart, brick by brick. Anya stepped up to her mate and grabbed his hand, hooking her pinky in his to show her support. Marc closed the space between him and Hector until he was in the man’s face.

  This was the father he hadn’t seen in decades, Isaac thought. This was the man who’d been free for at least some time, but never tried to connect with his children even though he knew where they were. Isaac and the twins were Dane King’s hands and the world knew it. There was no way Hector could have not known.

  Isaac stepped forward, ready to grab Marc if need be. But the man’s son only shook his head and marched past him. Isaac let go of the breath he’d been holding and followed Marc out the door. He’d been prepared to comfort the man he saw as a brother when he paused. Marc marched out and straight to the small, caravan looking home, before slamming his fist on the door.

  The door whipped open to reveal a snarling female face. The corners of Noelle’s eyes softened ever so slightly when she saw Marc before her. Marc dropped to his knees. He set his head against her stomach before wrapping his arms around her middle.

  “My brother said he knew who his mate was,” Luc said from beside Isaac.

  “Did you expect that?” Isaac pointed toward where Marc held Noelle and her fingers threaded through his hair.

  “That was the very last thing I expected. Then again, they both burn hot enough to destroy the world.”

  Marc used to be the centered brother. He was calm, cool and collected at every turn. Recently, with the revelation of GOE’s experiments and their family’s exposure, Marc had been burning hotter and hotter. He was no longer a cool breeze, but a hot wind that threatened to melt everything in its path.

  The two of them, Marc and Noelle, sat like that for a long time. Neither of them seemed to want to move. Isaac wondered why Noelle had fought to be Dane’s woman for so long when Marc knew they were mates. Their relationship was clearly a complicated one.

  Across the way, Isaac caught sight of a bobbing, blond ponytail streaked with blue and green coming his way. He felt his heart lighten like a weather balloon. Soon, the hair was going to have to go. Isaac was going to be sad to see the funky colors and waves leave, but he knew why she had to do it. If she was going to go undercover and get some answers, Quinn couldn’t look like Quinn. She had to become someone else.

  He had no idea how he was going to handle her job, but he would soon have to find out. They’d agreed that Isaac would travel with her for a little while, but when she had to go undercover, he would have to leave. It wouldn’t do to have storms bearing down on the city the whole time she was there. If anyone knew who Isaac was, what it meant to be him, then there was a chance they’d get found out and he wouldn’t risk his mate.

  She’d proven capable of taking care of herself several times over the past few days. As badly as Isaac wanted to protect her, he had to step back sometimes and let her tackle the world on her own.

  “By the way,” Luc said as he jabbed an elbow at Isaac. “I don’t know if anyone told you, but your scars look pretty awesome. You look like a video game villain now.”

  Isaac laughed, a burst of emotion he hadn’t felt all day. It didn’t matter if there was no blood between the Avila twins and Isaac, they would always be brothers. Isaac only hoped that their mates wouldn’t drag them too far from one another.

  Quinn appeared beside him, bursting with energy. The council had listened to her pleas and gave in to her request to begin her work. It helped that Luc and Anya had already uncovered a wealth of files from the old facility. Even if they’d been planted as bait the files were helpful. It also helped that her uncle, one of the dragons that been searching for them after they left the bar, had stood solidly on Quinn’s side of the argument.

  Too many of the dragons in the once-nomadic family were too comfortable with hiding. None of them wanted to step away from that kind of comfort, and Isaac couldn’t blame them, but nothing would ever get done that way. He’d seen what GOE did to dragon children, what kind of monsters they became. The family had seen, first hand, what GOE did to the adults.

  The time for hiding was over.

  Now was the time for action.

  Chapter Twelve

  The sound of the needle humming filled the air. It rattled along Isaac’s skin the entire time they sat in the waiting chairs. There was a small amount of nervous anticipation dancing in his stomach and it made him reach for Quinn’s hand. She l
aughed and squeezed his fingers. She’d been through this a number of times already. It was never something he’d thought of for himself before, but here he was.

  The artist behind the counter looked up at them. The woman’s ears were stretched to reveal holes the size of Isaac’s thumb and ink was crawling out of the neck of her shirt and creeping toward those ears. She smiled at them and told them they were next.

  “Are you sure?” Quinn asked as he stood.

  Isaac wasn’t even sure it would stick. He knew nothing about his magic and how it reacted to human things, such as tattoos. He could go through this process and the next time he changed shapes, it could be gone. That was what worried him, not the pain.

  They walked toward the two, leather covered chairs. Quinn sank into hers like a woman who’d been here before. Which, she had. This was the same artist that had given her many of the tattoos already gracing her skin. It was a bond of trust, Quinn paid for the social interaction as much as she did the art, it seemed as the women launched into conversation.

  The female tattoo artist kept glancing sidelong at Isaac, but there was none of the scared apprehension like he’d seen in the motel receptionist. This woman looked at him with a sly smile on her lips, like she was happy for Quinn and the love she’d found.

  Isaac was happy, too, so when his mate brought up the subject of matching tattoos instead of rings, he’d conceded. Now, sitting in the chair and watching the needle begin to dance over his mate’s skin, he worried that it would all be for nothing.

  His mate cringed.

  “What’s wrong?” Panic was sharp as he leaned forward to touch her knee, a gesture that probably soothed him more than it soothed her.

  She gave him a weak smile while her other hand gripped the arm of the chair. “The spot we chose isn’t exactly a fun place to get tattooed.” Her voice was laced with pain, but there was also humor in her eyes as she watched him and a smile on her tight lips.

  He leaned forward and laid a soft kiss on her mouth, careful not to disturb the woman with a needle over Quinn’s inner arm. They’d chosen a specific image, perhaps out of Quinn’s sense of irony. It was of two dragons, each chasing the tail of the other, in simple black lines. Quinn added a splash of color to hers, much like her own personality.

  When they were done and it was time to switch chairs, Isaac’s stomach churned. He hoped this wouldn’t be all for nothing. He wanted this to stick, to show the woman he would be with her wherever they went. She could travel far and wide and he would follow as long as she asked.

  After tense moments of preparation, watching the artist unpack and load a fresh needle and spread a new ointment across his tender skin, the needle touched his skin. He sucked in a breath through his teeth. He’d expected pain, but this was just annoying. The needle bit, like the stings of a million little bees that he couldn’t swat away.

  He turned his gaze back to his mate, still admiring the new ink in her skin. When she looked up, her eyes were alight with joy and love. How had she gone through this process so many times? It was more irritating than painful, Isaac thought.

  But, the woman was quick. Her hand skated over his skin with another layer of ointment before she slapped his chest and told him he could get up. The artist wore a confident smile as he moved to stand beside Quinn. They held their arms up together and looked in the mirror.

  Isaac could see now that it was worth it. They were bound. Not by the laws of a human marriage or lawful nuptial contract, but by their own wills. It made him sweep her into his arms, careful of the new ink they both bore. He gently raised her chin with his fingertips and brought her mouth to his.

  When he pulled back, both of them were breathless. Her hands were fisted in his shirt.

  “Perhaps the two of you should get a room?” the artist asked with amused sarcasm.

  Quinn smiled wide, one eyebrow raising in quiet suggestion. They were on vacation, here not only to get the tattoos, but to seek adventure a city Isaac had never seen prior to Quinn starting her undercover work with GOE. It was starting to look like they’d see more of the hotel room than the landmarks and Isaac was okay with that.

  ***

  Quinn pulled Isaac to her the moment they were alone. Screw getting all the way back to the hotel room. It was too far away for her. She needed to feel her mate beneath her fingers right then and there. He protested, barely a word before her mouth captured his and they staggered into a dark corner together.

  It reminded her a little of the night she realized he was her mate. They’d been hiding from her family in the darkness beside a bar. Now, they fell together, unaware of the world around them.

  The ink on her arm was fresh and still tingled from the needle. She loved it. Quinn could now see the bonds that tied them together. It allowed a feeling of satisfaction to settle inside of her, especially when other women dared to look in Isaac’s direction. He claimed not to notice them, claimed that they were only looking at his scars, but Quinn knew better.

  She needed to mark her territory and the tattoo was a good way of doing so because she knew fate bound them together forever. There was no letting their relationship fall apart. There was no letting this fail. They would work on happiness every day, work on communication most weeks, and work on balance all the time.

  Isaac’s hands explored her body and they both smiled as they kissed. Quinn wasn’t going anywhere.

  Thank you!

  I really hope you enjoyed reading book 2 of the Elemental Dragons series! If you enjoyed the characters in this book, I’ve got great news for you! I’ve included books 1 – 3 of my Fated Dragons series for you to enjoy! The Fated Dragons series will introduce you to all the characters and events leading up to the Elemental Dragons series! You don’t want to miss them. Flip to the next page to begin book 1 of the Fated Dragons Series.

  Also! If you haven’t already, sign up for my email list and receive access to an exclusive wolf shifter eBook! You’ll also be first to know when I’ve released a new book!

  >> Get your free book here <<

  I’ve filled up this book with a BUNCH of my best selling paranormal romance stories for you to enjoy! Please use the Table of Contents to navigate to whichever book you want to read, or simply continue on to the next page where you’ll find a sample of the Fated Dragons series books 1 – 3. Enjoy!

  Mated to the Dragon

  Emilia Hartley

  Chapter One

  Dakota flipped through the school’s flyer more times than she could count on the ten hour flight. There were only so many clouds she could bear to look at beyond the window. After browsing the highlights of the Art History program of Bangor’s University for the millionth time, she sighed and tossed it to the empty seat beside her. At least she’d gotten lucky in that regard.

  The person beside her had gotten a free upgrade to first class. She didn’t complain. As a college student, just having the extra bit of space to spread out felt luxurious. She hadn’t been raised with much. Both of her parents worked overtime through her childhood to put clothes on her back and food on the table. College had been a distant dream for her as a child, a thing that even in youth she knew that her family could not afford.

  Then, in high school, she got her very first job. Every penny she earned while serving pizza to the kids in her class went into savings. She was determined to reach her dream, to go to school, and escape the grind that her parents seemed doomed to endure. She began with community college. Then, with scholarships and loans that made her cringe when she signed, Dakota took the plunge and applied to universities.

  When the grant to study Welsh art and architecture abroad nearly fell into her lap, she took it without a second thought. She’d worked so hard through her childhood and teen years that she wanted to do something that she desperately loved for the rest of her life and during a school field trip, Dakota realized that meant curating art for museums. She loved the almost religious air that filled museums, the wonder and awe as she moved from collection to c
ollection. The study abroad program was a huge step in that direction for her, a new adventure that would look beautiful on her resume. She hadn’t been thinking about what else the world had to offer, what she should have been afraid of.

  Her eyes fell on the book thrown atop her backpack. She frowned. Her mother bought it for her when Dakota announced that she’d been accepted for the study program in Wales. She knew what lived in the Snowdonia territories, as did the rest of the world after the Occurrence.

  Dragons.

  The massive beasts that resided in Wales were masters of fire. They had born more than a few legends in Welsh myth, ones that Dakota had familiarized herself with only so that she’d have a leg up in her studies. Not because she was curious about the beasts that could take the form of humans, mostly men with violence in their eyes and tension in the muscles that could easily crush her thin frame.

  The day before she boarded the plane, Dakota’s mother had gifted her with the book. Dakota had felt a lump grow in her throat as she looked at it. Dragon Men and Their Urges was written across the cover. Bea, Dakota’s mother, had opened it right to the chapter on self-defense and escape should she run into one of the dragons.

  “Mom.” She’d snapped the book shut. “The school has a policy to protect the students from abroad. If a student should come across a dragon at all they’re forced to pack up and are sent on next plane home so that they aren’t in any danger. Besides, I did my research. There hasn’t been a reported dragon shifter sighting in Bangor in years. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Her mother hadn’t looked convinced at all, shaking her hands with worry. Dakota assured her that it was the very last thing she wanted, reminding her mother that she would likely be spending all her time sequestered in museums and crumbling castles. That had been the thing that convinced her mother to let her go. She did know her own daughter after all. Or, at least that’s what she told herself.