“We can, Your Highness. Or if you prefer, we could stop home to change first and let Carl have his break as well.” That. That sounded like a far superior plan.
“Carl, I think we’ll go home first. Devlin can drive us after I get out of this.”
“Are you sure, Your Highness?” Carl verified, as this was hardly the norm, and technically not following standard protocol, but we were only going to town and my family wasn’t the most stringent on rules. At least, they weren’t when I was refraining from being a spoiled brat.
“Absolutely. We won’t be gone long and I’d prefer to be unnoticed.” I’d been Prince Chance all morning. Just being Chance was going to be nice.
“Very well, sir.”
We were home in only a few minutes, and both of us were dressed and ready to go quickly. Devlin might look hotter than my fire in his formal uniform, but if it was half as uncomfortable as mine, he was going to be much happier in his pair of jeans.
“Completely informal. Okay?” I stood in the doorway that separated our spaces. “I’ve been Prince Chance a lot today.” And at school I loved it. Grabbing food out... not so much, and generally, even if I was recognized, people let me just be when I was dressed like a commoner. Gah, I hated that term. There was nothing common about them—they were the reason for everything.
“Sure. Or if you want, we can ask the kitchen for something, or I could cook?” He already had his shirt partially unbuttoned. Licking his chest where it peeked through would be bad.
Probably.
No. No. It would.
“Did you want to stay in?” Because I would, but the thought of going out just Devlin and me sounded so much better, even if it wasn’t a date. Because it couldn’t be. Right?
Why hadn’t I managed to gather the courage to bring up our conversation. Because he would’ve if he wanted to finish it. Unless—unless he was waiting for me.
“If you’re wanting to not be out, that’s fine. But I was sort of wanting to go to the village.”
“You want to stop at the bakery to see why this palace is suddenly muffin central,” he teased.
“Maybe.” I half shrugged. I hadn’t thought about that, but now that he mentioned it, I was on board with operation See what Brenton is up to. There had been a muffin explosion, and it couldn’t be that they were just that yummy. “But also... I really want a burger... a greasy juicy burger from the diner.”
“Sold.” He winked and was out of sight, the door closed within a couple of seconds.
We drove up to the village square shortly after lunchtime, which was perfect. No lines. No waiting.
We got out and my hand started to reach for his. Ridiculous. He wasn’t mine, and even if he was, not here—not like this. The rumors would travel far and wide, even with me dressed in my jeans and tee. I slammed my hand into my pocket.
“Burgers first?” he asked, the scent of the diner’s grease tickling my nose. Technically, it was not “on the square” but rather one street over, but its scent wafted through the air for blocks around. I loved it.
“Let’s grab some things from the bakery before they close and then head in.”
“Muffins?” he sassed.
“No. Trust me. These will be better—possibly the best thing you’ve put in your mouth.” I couldn’t help but infuse the innuendo. He just rolled his eyes, pretending to ignore it.
We walked side by side until we reached the entrance and Devlin held the door open for me. I brushed past him wanting more of his touch than he could give in public, if he was even interested.
The bakery was owned by a family new to the island, and by new, I meant they’d only been here twenty years. I wondered if Devlin knew he was going to grow old being new to Montipan. It was just how things were.
“Have you had a chance to decide?” a teenage girl asked at the counter. “We are sold out of a lot. Sorry.”
That had my eyes to the cases. Sure enough. They were depleted, which made me very happy; it meant business was thriving.
“I imagine with how good things are, that happens often.” I bent over to make sure they had what I’d come for.
“Just recently.” She put on some gloves, her hand now hovering between the bags and boxes, ready to spring into action and fill our order. “People heard the royal family has taken a liking to our muff—” She was cut off by a man not much younger than me, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
“We are not to use the prince buying our muffins as a marketing ploy. That’s just rude.”
She huffed as he gave her side-eye and took off her gloves, dropping them in the waste bin. “Whatever. You think just because you’re my big brother that you know everything. It helps business.” She stomped off past him.
The joy of teen angst.
“Sorry about that. What can I get you—on the house, of course. She’s just…”
“A teenager.” And sadly, very reminiscent of the brat I’d once been.
“Yeah. Couldn’t pay me to go through those years again.” He grabbed some gloves, holding the same stance his baby sister recently had.
“I came here for your monster cookies, but I don’t see them, so maybe just a dozen assorted?” He picked up a box and started to fill it.
“We will have more tomorrow if you’re local.” Did he not recognize me? “One of the high school coaches came in and cleared me out for an end-of-season party they’re having.”
“I’ll have to come back another day. They’re my favorite.” I took out my cash and laid it on the counter.
“It’s on me,” he insisted, sliding it back.
“To take advantage in such a way would do my character more harm than your generosity would increase my happiness.” I parroted the words Aiden said every time someone tried to comp us things just because we were royal.
“You sound like someone else I know.” He took the cash, his face blushing. “Have a nice day, and apologies again for my sister.”
“No apologies needed,” I reassured him and grabbed the box.
“And you, sir?” He looked past me to Devlin. “What may I get you?”
“I’d like to place an order for a dozen monster cookies for tomorrow, please.” He stepped up to the counter, and I stepped back, not at all ogling his ass in his low-hung jeans.
“You want monster cookies too?” I asked as we brought the baked goods back to the car.
“No. I wanted to see your face lit up the way it did when you told me they might be the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.” He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “I have a feeling they aren’t.”
“When you talk like that, I think that maybe—”
“That maybe I want way more from you than I should? Because I do. I can’t help it. You’ve wormed your way in and there’s no ignoring it.” He opened the car door and took the cookies from me to set inside.
“You’ve wormed your way in too,” I admitted. “We’ll figure something out.” We had to. It was too important.
He closed the car door and clicked the lock on his fob. “Burgers?”
“And milkshakes.” A Nutella banana one with whipped cream on top.
“Sounds like a date,” he noted.
“I’m okay with that.” And before he could reply back, I quickly asked, “Do you think it’s that the business needed a boost or one of my brothers has a crush on the hottie baker?”
“I think it’s none of our business.”
“Which means you think it’s the hottie.” Now to figure out which brother. My gut said Aiden, but Brenton could easily be using the slow-business angle to get Aiden to buy into the muffin accumulation game.
“I think I don’t like you thinking another alpha is a hottie.” The raw honesty in his words had me stopping dead in my tracks.
“Trust me, there is no hottie on my radar other than you, and if we weren’t in public while you were on duty, I’d show you just how true that was.”
And when we got home, I did.
20<
br />
Devlin
Knowing that Chance’s feelings matched my own soothed my troubled soul and pacified my dragon somewhat. But in a “normal” relationship between two commoners, us being honest with each other would have removed hurdles that stood in the way of happiness.
But he was royalty, a prince of the Montipan Dynasty, and that complicated everything. To say nothing of the extra layer of difficulty with me being an employee at the palace. And not just any member of staff. The one tasked with making sure Chance was safe and performed his duties.
There were days when a cloud hovered over me and I was convinced we’d be outed. I’d lose my job and with it any opportunity to have Chance in my life. The palace was one seething pit of gossip. Most rumors were just that: idle chatter which everyone swatted away as they would an annoying fly. But any whisper of a prince’s fling with the one overseeing his safety would have the king himself paying attention.
I tried my best to ignore thinking about the obstacles in our way and focused on Chance and me. We slept in one another’s arms, shared food, and studied the stars late at night. And we relished our togetherness.
One afternoon when my sweet boy had no scheduled engagements, we set out on the picnic he’d been harping on about. Jack drove us. That was palace protocol. So, sex was off the menu, even though Jack stayed near the car.
Chance had arranged for us to eat—food, not each other, sadly—by a stream surrounded by fields of wildflowers. Competing floral scents washed over us while the water bubbled and flowed in the background on its way to the ocean.
“This is our land,” Chance told me as he took a bite of a deviled egg and I grabbed a slice of quiche. “Beyond the fruit trees used to belong to us too, but Father insisted on giving it to the Montipan citizens.” He paused and then mumbled, “Mmmm. This is so good.”
I glanced at him and there was a sharp intake of breath—from me—as I studied the egg, mayo, and mustard concoction smeared over his lips. His eyes glittered with mischief as he poked out his tongue and licked around his mouth.
“Oh no.” The remainder of the deviled egg fell from his fingers onto his tee. Those long dark eyelashes of his fluttered and his mouth formed an O. My brat. Was he daring me to punish him? I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, and honestly, I didn’t give a damn about him making a mess.
While I hadn’t yet spanked him, it hadn’t stopped him begging for it, and as I eyed his gorgeous ass, I was tempted to shove my tongue in his hole. But we’d never discussed if he’d be comfortable with that. Finger and cock in his tight slick channel were enough for now. Tongue, maybe later.
“Daddy?” Chance’s voice brought me back to the here and now.
“Mmmm?”
“Do I have anything in the corner of my mouth?” He was taunting me, and while I wanted nothing more than to pull down his pants and plow into him, it was too dangerous.
“Here.” I handed him a napkin.
He harrumphed when his little plan came to nothing. And I took a sip of Cook’s lime-and-ginger punch and ignored him.
The distinctive sound of bread being cut broke the silence. Cook was a master baker and her bread was to die for. I guessed without looking that Chance was spreading butter from the palace’s dairy on a slice. Certain of what was coming, I shoved a cushion in my lap and adjusted my engorged cock as my body heated up.
I didn’t want to peek at him. Look! Look! my dragon begged me. I swallowed, pleading with him to stay where he was. This was not the time. It might never be. My fingers dug into and clawed at the soil: thick, rich, dark, and fertile.
But for one second, my dragon wrested control from me and my head swung toward my prince. He’d stuck a whole hand in the jar of honey and was swirling his fingers in it. The palace’s apiary produced award-winning honey with a woodsy aroma. Chance jammed fingers in his mouth, dribbling the delectable, thick, syrupy goodness over his lips and in his beard.
It took all my strength not to leap over the food and make him mine. As well as imploring my dragon to play it cool. Chance’s body beckoned me as sirens had once enticed sailors to their death. “That’s it!” I said, a little too loudly.
His eyes grew wide and kinda wary, as if realizing he’d pushed me too far. “Pack up, Chance. We’re going back to the palace. Now!” I couldn’t fuck him in the open. I picked up the cushions, and as I strode through the flowers, they released more perfume.
“Devlin?”
Jack leaped to his feet and quickly snuffed out his cigarette as I stalked around the corner. I shoved a cushion over my throbbing cock which was so hard, it was almost painful. “His Highness has an engagement and we need to get home.”
“Oh, right.” Jack raced to help Chance as he trudged along with the blanket and picnic basket. I avoided looking at him and pretended to make a call.
We were silent on the way home. Chance pouted and stared out the window, but once we’d made our way back to our rooms, I closed the door and pushed him against it, my forehead resting against his as I caught a whiff of the woodsy aroma of honey and counted to ten.
There was honey smeared over his face, in his hair, and on his fingers. “You do need to be punished. Your teasing had me forgetting about where we were—out in the open...” I took a breath. “But you’re so dirty. Filthy, even. We need to get you clean first.” He trembled and his eyes were filled with longing. Using my tongue, I flicked off a dollop of food from the corner of his mouth. The sweetness combined with a tanginess had me wanting to devour him.
We were fully clothed when I dragged him into the shower, our tees stuck to our chests, and I shoved my tongue down his throat while my fingers yanked his shorts just low enough for me to grab his cock. I pumped it and he moaned. The steam from the shower billowed around us like a fine mist. I inhaled my prince, but a new scent wormed its way in between the other fragrances. Hard. Musky. Ancient. No!
I pulled away and Chance’s eyes snapped open. “Daddy?” His uncertain voice had me wanting to reassure him. But I had to put distance between us. My back hit the wet tiles and I gulped, begging my dragon to stay silent, willing myself to be strong to resist Chance’s aroma.
“Chance, you’re coming into heat!”
“What?” He was more fearful than peeved. “It can’t be. No! That will ruin everything.” He tugged his dripping hair, and his face crumpled as water streamed over it.
“I’ll protect you from any alpha who threatens to mate with you.” I didn’t say out loud that being near me was also a risk.
“You don’t understand. My family… the kingdom… the dynasty… the line of succession… our future.” His words ran together, and by the end, he was babbling and I didn’t grasp the meaning. But I had to look after him.
He grabbed my damp shoulders, his eyes blazing. “Mate with me.”
“What? No. I get that coming into heat affects omegas’ emotions, so let’s get you out…”
His mouth twisted in a grimace. “You don’t understand.” His nails dug into my skin, coming close to tearing it. “Daddy, I know I’m a brat, but I’m your brat, and I gave you a piece of my heart that night at the bar. And when you took me to your bed, you gave it back to me. And made me whole. I… I...” Water was pounding on both of us as he choked out the words. And he shouted over the teeming shower. “I love you. Take me. Make me yours.”
His honesty clawed its way inside me, entwining with my dragon’s tail. I had to admit my own truth. “I love you too, my dear sweet boy. With everything I have. You exhaust me. You drive me crazy. You stir emotions in me I didn’t know existed. And I want to protect you, love you, give you my body and my affection. I’m yours and…” This was the right time. “You’re mine.”
“Please, now,” his muffled voice went straight to my dick. “Knot me.” We shrugged off our soaked clothes and I picked him up. He wrapped his legs around my hips and guided me into his hole.
Panting, gasping, and moaning as I burrowed into him. Wet, squishing, slippery sounds
as I filled him, and each thrust brought us closer to the end. And a new beginning. My head fell back, and with his name on my lips, I came, and his cum splattered over our chests.
My knot expanded, filling the space inside him, and I readied myself. My dragon reached out, while I was still me… in human form, but instead of smooth skin, my arms were corrugated with scales and my fingers became talons. Chance did the same with his dragon. With his hand on my shoulder and mine on his, the claws dug into our flesh, and we bled.
21
Chance
“It’s so purrrty,” I cooed as I looked in the mirror where Devlin had marked me. “Everyone will know I’m yours.”
Yesterday had been everything, from confessing our love, to being marked, to making love all night long. It was so perfect, I half expected to wake up to discover it was a dream. Instead, I woke up blissfully in Devlin’s arms, our scents blended together. Perfection.
He slid up behind me, his arms wrapping around my middle, his lips brushing a sweet kiss where he’d marked me, and I turned in his arms to be face-to-face with my mate.
Mate.
“About that.” He pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “We should probably tell your parents about this so they don’t find out from the gossip mill.”
“That was the plan for this morning.” I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed Devlin. “But now with you here, so close... I was thinking maybe we could wait until this afternoon.” I winked as I pressed my body close to his, already sporting a semi.
“Behave, my boy.” He patted my ass—too gently.
“And if I don’t?” I ground into him.
“Then you’ll be walking in to meet your fathers with an erection.” He took a step back. “I hate to say this, but you need to put on some clothes.”
I rolled my eyes, wishing he was wrong. He wasn’t. My fathers were headed to the mainland later in the day for a dinner with one of the local politicians there. It was either go now or have it weighing heavily on me until their return.
The Dragon Prince’s Daddy: An M/M MPreg Shifter Romance (Royal Heat Book 1) Page 9
