by Leilani Love
Kati would be home in an hour and the guys would help the girls with their homework. Eva would be staying at her place with Eryk tonight. Eva had been working hard at trying to drown out the thoughts of others. Their friend Brandon had been trying to help her over the phone while he worked on a serial killer case. The serial killer seemed to be toying with Brandon, and Violca hoped the case would soon be over. The longer this case lasted, the more she worried that Brandon might get hurt. He was like a brother to her and she worried about him often.
Going through the fridge, she found everything she was looking for. Violca grabbed all the items she needed to get started. She took a deep breath and opened the old cookbook she had found in the attic when they packed up to move. The recipes were all handwritten and Violca had been having fun trying them. She had started with the cookie recipes and had just started working on the dinner recipes. In a small way, it made her feel closer to her mother.
Chapter 3
Violca stretched, smiling to herself when she felt Chase tighten his arms around her in his sleep. Wanting to surprise him with breakfast in bed, she slowly untangled herself from his arms and grabbed the robe draped over her dresser. Since it was the weekend, the girls would be sleeping in, and the idea of a lazy morning in bed with Chase sounded like heaven to her.
The personal cooks that Viktor had, always made breakfast early and set up the meal on food warmers so everyone could eat whenever they awoke. Quietly walking from their wing down the stairs to the dining room, Violca jumped when she saw Aithne. Surprised at finding anyone in the room, Violca smiled when she saw the corner of Aithne’s lips curve in a small smile.
Aithne, wearing Viktor’s shirt from the night before, was sipping from a cup of coffee, her long red hair flowing down her back.
“I thought you were coming home today,” Violca asked, knowing Viktor must have been pleasantly surprised when Aithne showed up early.
“That was the original plan. Kassandra pointed out that we weren’t learning anything new and that she was tired of Viktor’s constant text messages, asking how much longer until I’d be home.”
Violca laughed because she knew it was hard for Viktor to let Aithne go and help. The dragon males she met so far were pure alphas and were overly protective. “Has he tried to talk you out of us meeting with Lazzaro?”
With a small smile and a blush on her pretty cheeks, she shook her head. “He was so surprised to see me. We didn’t get that far.”
Laughing harder and noticing Aithne’s cheeks were almost as red as her hair, she started to make two plates with French toast, sausage, bacon, and some fruit. She made the plates, putting them both on a tray before pouring the coffee. “I found something in my mom’s book I want to talk to you about later.”
Aithne shot her a curious glance, raising an eyebrow as she glanced at the tray of food in her hand. Violca shrugged before picking up the tray. “I thought we would enjoy a rare morning in bed.”
Violca heard Aithne chuckle as she walked out of the room, carefully balancing the tray. The halls were quiet and she blushed when she ran into Viktor coming down the hall heading toward the dining room. It was rare to see him in a pair of jeans and no shirt. It was hard not trace the muscles of his chest with her eyes so she instead looked at the fresh bite mark at the base of his neck. She bit her lip to keep from smiling when he blushed. “If you are looking for your mate, she’s in the dining room drinking coffee.”
“Good morning,” Viktor said as he smiled at her before continuing on his way.
When she got back to her room, she managed to balance the tray and open the door, pleased she hadn’t dropped anything. Closing the door behind her, she smiled when she saw Chase still asleep in their bed.
Placing the tray on the nightstand next to him, she crawled into the bed next to him. Pushing him onto his back, she saw his lips curve in a small smile and knew he was awake. Nibbling on his lips she smiled. “I thought you might enjoy breakfast in bed this morning.”
Chase grinned, rolling her to her back, his hips settling between her thighs as he brushed the hair back from her face. Her stomach let out a low rumble, announcing very loudly that she was hungry. Chase laughed, kissing her on the nose. “Breakfast first.” He growled as he nibbled on her lips, “Then I plan on having an early dessert.”
With that announcement, Chase rolled off her, propping the pillows so they were against the headboard. Sitting up next to him, Violca thanked him when he handed her the cup of coffee to put on her side of the bed. Settling in, they both started to eat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the time alone. Chase was excellent with helping her raise her younger sisters, and that made these rare moments of being alone that much sweeter.
“Aithne came home last night,” Violca announced after taking a sip of her coffee.
Chase chuckled. “Kassandra must have gotten tired of Viktor bugging her.”
Smiling at Chase’s words, she knew he was right. Chase had a hard time letting Violca out of the house without guards. They had fought about her picking up the girls on her own from the school. Viktor had talked the schools into having two security guards. The schools were surprised by his request, but since his family had basically supported the town and the schools during rough times, they quickly agreed.
When her plate was clean, Chase took it from her and put it on the tray on their nightstand. With a grin he pulled her close to him, and Violca laughed as she turned and straddled his lap. She was still wearing the robe that she put on earlier and he was naked beneath her. Pulling on the ties of the robe his eyes lit up as he pushed it open. His golden brown eyes were more gold than brown as they focused on her chest. Violca felt her nipples harden, tightening in anticipation as he pushed the robe from her shoulders.
“You’re so beautiful,” Chase said, and Violca felt a shiver run down her spine at the huskiness of his voice.
Rolling her hips gently against him, she felt his hard cock pressing against her. Violca couldn’t help but moan in pleasure. With a wicked grin, Chase slid his hand around her back, pulling her closer to him as his hands gripped her ass, forcing her to rock against him. A giggle escaped her as he let out a growl. Her body responded as he touched her every muscle, each tight with anticipation.
Her hands rested on his shoulders as she looked down at him, her hips rocking against his. She leaned down and kissed him deeply, moaning as his tongue eagerly began to duel with hers. Chase’s hands continued to massage her ass, encouraging her to rock against him harder.
Sucking on his tongue, she sat up, reaching between their bodies and guiding his cock into her. Violca moaned into his mouth as she lowered herself, taking him deep inside her, keeping her pace slow as she began to ride him.
Chase broke the kiss and Violca tilted her head back, giving him access to her neck. He began to kiss and lick down her neck, causing her to lean back more. Her hands slid into his hair and she held him tightly as his teeth scraped her nipple before he sucked the hard sensitive bud into his mouth. Gasping, she tightened her hold on his hair; each suck on her hard nipple caused her core to tighten around his cock.
He released her breast and she whimpered until she felt him lick and bite his way across to her other breast, greedily sucking it between his lips. One of his hands left her ass to massage the breast he released, as his other hand encouraged her to ride him faster.
“Chase,” she whimpered pulling his hair as her core tightened, her pleasure building with each tug and every suck on her sensitive breast.
Her pleasure building quickly, Violca bit her lip as she tugged on his sandy blond hair, forcing him to release her breast. Chase looked up at her, his eyes almost completely golden. She was aware of both Chase and his dragon’s desire for her. Violca kissed him roughly as her movements became less controlled. With a growl, Chase placed a hand on her hips, holding her still as he began to thrust hard into her. Breaking the kiss, she buried her head in his neck, her fingers curling on his shoulder as she held h
im tightly.
The connection let her feel his pleasure building as fast as hers. Each thrust caused her pleasure to build until she could no longer hold back. She screamed into his shoulder, “Chase!” as the first wave of pleasure rolled through her. Her core tightened hard around him, pulling him deeper into her. She felt his hands on her hips holding her still as his hips thrust up. She heard him call out her name as he found his release.
Chase held her close to him as they both started to come down. Smiling, her head in the crook of his neck, she kissed the side of his neck before nuzzling him. Violca felt a faint rumbling in his chest and grinned. His dragon was so content it almost sounded like a purr. A giggle escaped her and she laughed when he started to tickle her sides. “I love when your dragon purrs.”
“Dragons don’t purr,” Chase replied, and she bit her lip to keep from giggling.
“No, of course not. Their chest just rumbles in a show of affection.”
Violca gasped as he managed to roll her onto her back, their bodies still connected as he began to tickle her sides. Wiggling and laughing loudly, she squirmed under him as he continued to tickle her relentlessly.
Whispering in her ear, he said, “Kittens purr. Dragons dominate.”
Chapter 4
Violca had fallen back to sleep after their morning together. Chase kissed her gently before getting up and carefully tucking her in. He knew he was still smiling as he walked downstairs to check on the girls. Not hearing the girls upstairs, he headed downstairs to see what they had gotten into.
A high-pitched squeal followed by the sound of little footsteps had him walking toward the other side of the house, toward Viktor’s wing. Stopping in his tracks, he laughed when he saw Aithne holding a wooden sword and fending off Sari and Angyalka as they attacked her with their own swords. Chase had always thought it was interesting that Violca dark hair and violet eyes resembled their mother, Angyalka whose hair was so blonde it was practically white and blue eyes resembled her father. The middle three, Eva, Kati, and Sari with black hair and blue eyes was the perfect pairing of the two.
Angyalka charged at her and Aithne quickly blocked her with a gentle tap on her side, showing her where she had left herself open. He saw Kati sitting on the top of the stairs, so he went up to join her. Kati smiled at him when he sat next to her. Since taking her out of her previous school and moving to Colorado, Kati had started to gain her self-confidence.
“Those two really seem to enjoy their fencing lessons,” Chase said, smiling as he watched Sari start to attack Aithne.
Kati watched her sister, nodding. “Angel gets a little impatient at times, but she really wants to be as good as Sari.”
Chase chuckled thinking about it. Aithne had suggested teaching the girls fencing. The goal was to teach them how to think, to be defensive and light on their feet. Aithne turned out to be a great teacher and the girls loved it.
“So how’s school going?” Chase asked.
Kati shrugged and he noticed her smiling. It was good to see her happy. The school here was smaller, and a large portion of the students were supernaturals who chose to live in the area because of how isolated it was. The town became known as a safe haven for them. The school didn’t bat an eye when Viktor increased security or when he did background checks. In fact, they embraced Kati with open arms, unlike her old school, where a few of the students tormented her.
“Good. I am going to a dance next month,” Kati said. Chase noticed a small blush on her cheek.
“Does that mean there’s going to be a guy coming to pick you up that I get to interrogate and intimidate? I was practicing, but Eva moved out and I’ve been dying to use it.”
Kati giggled before shaking her head. “No, no date. A group of us are going together. It should be fun.”
Chase laughed, “Damn! I was really looking forward to giving the ‘hurt her and I’ll teach you the meaning of pain speech.’ I even had some dramatic pauses complete with popping my knuckles and some fierce fist-shaking.”
Kati laughed, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement. Watching her come out of her shell these last several months had been interesting. He debated with Violca once about telling Kati about Scott imprinting on her. He disagreed with her at first, but now understood what she was saying. Kati would have to come into her own before she could be equals with Scott. Kati needed to be able to stand up to Scott and he needed to know she could fight by his side. Violca knew her sister, and the more time he spent with Kati, the more he found himself agreeing with Violca. It was driving his friend crazy, but the wait would be worth it.
“Fist-shaking, huh?” He heard Viktor’s deep voice behind him and turned to see his King behind them, coming from his room.
Kati laughed harder and he grinned. “Fierce fist-shaking, Viktor. The kind that would put the fear into the heart of some kid who would dare try anything.”
Viktor’s dark hair still wet from a recent shower, his dark blue eyes twinkled with laughter as he looked in Kati’s direction, giving her a smile. “You haven’t been paying attention. Kati here can take care of any guy stupid enough to try anything.”
He noticed Kati blush at his words, but he also noticed a look of pride as well. She had been training very hard and Viktor was right.
“Thank you, Viktor,” Kati said, giving him a bright smile.
Viktor sat on the opposite side of Kati, and Chase noticed Viktor watching Aithne below with the girls. Aithne signaled for both the girls to attack her, and when they did, she quickly blocked them, which caused them both to drop their wooden swords. Grinning, she poked Sari in the side and then twirled in a circle, gently smacking Angyalka on her backside while laughing.
“All right, girls. I think we have practiced enough.” Aithne smiled and bowed to each girl. The girls bowed in turn. Gathering their wooden swords, they took Aithne’s as well. Aithne had instilled in them early on that the girls have to put away their equipment as soon as they finished or they wouldn’t have any more lessons.
Chase smiled at Aithne when she turned and headed up the stairs to them. Her green eyes only for Viktor, she kissed him before looking at him and Kati. “Those girls are getting better every day. I can’t believe how quickly Sari is learning. She almost had me twice this morning.”
“Sari loves it,” Kati said with a grin while getting up. “I’ve got to get ready to go. Eryk was nice enough to agree to take me to the mall today so I wouldn’t have to bring a guard with me.”
She smiled at him before heading down the stairs and Chase sighed. It was hard on the girls having to take the guards with them pretty much everywhere they went. It being Kati’s senior year in high school, she was looking into colleges. The local college didn’t have an arts program and Chase knew that they would need to come up with a plan to keep her safe when she finally decided where she wanted to go. Kati was gifted and deserved to go to a school that would help nurture her artistic talent.
He and Viktor both stood up and walked downstairs. “So Aithne, were you able to learn anything while you were out?”
In silent mutual agreement the three of them headed down the hall, toward Viktor’s office. “Dmitri was there but there were also a large number of Orion’s in the area.”
Chase went over what he knew. Over the last several years, the hunters had gotten more aggressive. This was not the first time the hunters, who called themselves Orion’s, and Dmitri had been at the same location. He wondered how it was that Dmitri and the hunters kept showing up at the same places. Were they working together or both looking for the same thing?
“Do you know what they were looking for?” Viktor asked, leading them into his office.
Viktor sat in one of the chairs, pulling Aithne onto his lap as she twirled a strand of red hair around her fingers. Chase watched Viktor as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “The family said one of their old books had been stolen.”
“So my brother and the Orions broke into this family’s house to steal an old book
?” Viktor asked her, looking at Chase.
“Yeah, but I don’t think they came together. From what the neighbors saw, Dmitri was there first and the hunters showed up when he was leaving and tried to steal the book,” she replied, looking back and forth between the two.
“What book could the family have owned that both your brother and the hunters wanted?” Chase asked, tapping the arm of his chair.
“The book was pretty old, a family heirloom. When their grandmother gave it to them, she had told them it was a diary from one of the original dragons, created by the gods.”
Chase saw Viktor frowning. The stories over the years had changed slightly, but it was believed there were fifteen total original dragons sent down to fight the titans. When the gods listened to the plea of the little shepherd girl who loved the dragon, they became the first king and queen of his people. Viktor was a direct descendant of them. Every dragon alive today was born of one of the original fifteen.
“What do you think could be in this book that was worth them fighting over and nearly destroying a town for?” Chase asked Viktor, who had been quiet for several moments.
“Could be almost anything. What we think of as legend now came from the stories of our ancestors. A diary could answer a lot of questions and fill in the blanks to some of the legends.”
Aithne nodded. “So the question is how did they both find out about this book and what makes it so valuable?”
Chapter 5
Violca looked up to find Aithne standing in the doorway of the living room. Aithne’s long red hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail. She looked comfortable in skinny jeans, a smile her only accessory. She walked happily into the living room, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.
