Nathaniel (Dragon Hearts 1)

by Carole Mortimer

  She was too excited about the future, the future with Nathaniel, and couldn’t wait to tell him the real reason she had come to London.

  It was after one o’clock in the morning when she finally switched off the television, with no phone call from Nathaniel.

  She went to bed and read a book until three o’clock in the morning, still with no call from Nathaniel.

  Which was when she started to worry.

  It could just be the meeting with the Russian dragons had ended late, and Nathaniel hadn’t liked to phone and disturb her if she was sleeping.

  Or maybe the evening had gone badly, the meeting merely a ruse the Russians had used to eliminate the Welsh dragons, and now Nathaniel couldn’t call her?

  Once that thought popped into her head, Chloe couldn’t think of anything else.

  If anything had happened to Nathaniel—

  She told herself not to be silly. That the Russian dragons had known about the Pendragon brothers for eighteen months and not attacked, so why would they do so under the guise of an amicable meeting?

  Maybe because dragons were territorial, and who knew what the Russians considered was their territory?

  Chloe got out of bed, pacing the room as she put a call through to Nathaniel’s cell phone, only for it to be picked up by voice mail.

  She left the message: “Where are you? Why haven’t you called me?” and then immediately felt silly for panicking and sounding needy all in the same breath.

  The only reason she was here was to ensure Nathaniel had a mate that he deserved and was equal to him. She had nullified that independence with just eight words.

  She should have driven back to Wales this evening. There was no reason for her to have continued to stay here now that her meeting had been successful. She—

  Oh shit, someone had just stealthily opened the door to her apartment.

  She had been away for almost three weeks, and someone decided to rob her apartment on the one night she intended spending here?

  She needed a weapon of some kind before confronting them. Except she couldn’t see anything in her bedroom that remotely resembled a weapon. Ah. She had matching lit lamps on the bedside cabinets either side of the bed, and the bases were made out of wood. One of those would have to do, once she’d removed the bulb and shade. Although she still felt pretty stupid standing behind the door of her bedroom waiting to hit someone over the head with a lampstand.

  Stupid or not, she wasn’t about to let someone rob her apartment without putting up a fight.

  Her heart was beating so fast, she was in danger of having a heart attack, her breathing so shallow and choppy, she would start hyperventilating any second and pass out before the robber got as far as her bedroom—

  Her gaze widened and remained transfixed on the door handle as it began to turn, her palms slightly damp with sweat as she tightly gripped the lamp, ready to raise it above her head the moment the door started to slowly open.

  “Whoa!” Nathaniel put up an arm to fend off the wooden truncheon Chloe was about to bring down on his head.

  “What— You— Nathaniel!” She finally settled on almost shouting his name. “What the hell are you doing here? More to the point, how did you get in?” She lowered the weapon to glare at him.

  He decided to answer those questions one at a time. “I’m here because you’re here. I let myself in with the spare key, given to me by the building supervisor when he fitted the new lock two weeks ago.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Did you compel him to give you the spare key to my apartment?”

  He winced. “I may have done.”

  “That is so wrong, Nathaniel.” She gave a disgusted shake of her head.

  Nathaniel hadn’t known how Chloe would react to him coming here when he left Wales three hours ago to join her in London. He should have called her first, at least, and told her what his plans were. But he hadn’t wanted her to say no to him again. He hated being apart from her, couldn’t stand it another moment longer, which was why, as soon as the Russian dragons had left, he’d gone up to the roof and shifted into dragon before flying here. At four o’clock in the morning, it was mainly the druggies still on the streets, and if any of them saw his dragon land before shifting back to human form, he’d hoped they would put it down to the effect of their addiction.

  Either way, he hadn’t been able to remain in Wales any longer without Chloe.

  Her absence caused an ache in his chest that wouldn’t ease. An ache that had nothing to do with dragon mating and everything to do with Nathaniel missing Chloe.

  The castle felt fucking empty without her in it. His bed felt empty without her in it. His life felt empty without her in it.

  “Why are you here, Nathaniel?” Chloe repeated softly.

  He swallowed before answering. “Because I love you. Me. Not my dragon, although I’m sure he loves you too,” he assured her. “Not because of the mating either. Or the amazing sex. But because I love you,” he continued at her silence. “I don’t care if you won’t mate with me. I just want you, in my life, for as long we have together. Days, maybe a week if we’re lucky.”

  “Without the mating, you’ll die after my human body dies…”

  “And you think I’ll want to live when you’re no longer on this earth?” He gave a shake of his head. “Because I don’t. I won’t. I love you, Chloe,” he repeated firmly. “And I will love you for however long you live, and feel nothing but relief when I follow you three weeks later.”

  Chloe had never dared hope, to dream, of a love like this ever being hers one day. It was…overwhelming to know Nathaniel loved her in such a deep and abiding way he would be happy go with her when the time came for her human body to die.

  But she would rather he lived for her, not died for her.

  She dropped the lampstand to the floor before stepping close to him and putting her arms about his waist. She rested her head against his chest and heard the reassuring sound of his heart beating. For her.

  As always, she reveled in the clean and musky male smell of him as his arms came about her waist and he held her tightly. “I love you too, Nathaniel.” She felt the sting of happy tears as she lifted her head to gaze up at him.

  He blinked before kissing her, long and hard. “You left me…” he finally groaned.

  “Only so that I could come back to you, stronger than ever.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  Chloe gave a tearful smile. “You and your brothers are…magnificent is too small a word.” She had watched all the brothers go off on missions the past two weeks, including Nathaniel. They had all carried their sense of chivalry with them all these years and now ran a security company in which they only ever took the side of the weak and those most in need. “I can’t be a part of that, nor can I continue to be a journalist if I’m living permanently in Wales.”

  “You can.” Nathaniel’s arms tightened about her. “I can move here and live with you while you pursue your career. I never want you to be less than who and what you are because of me.”

  “You would hate it.” She gave a choked laugh.

  “Well. Yes. But I would do it for you.”

  “I’m so much more already because of you, Nathaniel,” she assured him emotionally. “But now I also have a career I can still do while living in Wales.”

  His expression became wary. “What career?”

  She grinned. “Did I tell you that my degree is in English, mainly literature, and that my master’s is in journalism and publishing?”

  He still looked guarded. “I don’t believe so.”

  “Well, it is, because I originally wanted to be a writer. The journalism was only supposed to be a way of earning money so that I could use the rest of my time to write a novel.” She smiled ruefully. “It didn’t work out that way, of course. The journalism pays well and became bigger than it should have, and my novel was put permanently on the back burner. You’ve probably wondered what I’ve been doing the past
two weeks shut away in my office for hours every day.” She smiled self-derisively. “Well, I finally got around to writing a synopsis for a novel and passed it along to my friend Tegan, who’s an editor. The synopsis was approved ten days ago, based on me submitting the first three chapters, which I did two days ago. Today, I met with Tegan and her immediate boss to discuss a contract for that book and the rest of the series. It isn’t a literary masterpiece, but—”

  “You’re going to be an author?”

  “I am,” she confirmed proudly. “Because of you.”

  He looked puzzled. “Me?”

  She chuckled ruefully. “I wrote our story, Nathaniel, with the names changed, of course. It seems dragon shifter romances are really popular right now, enough that I’ve been contracted to write eight books in a series.”

  “Eight?”

  She grinned widely. “Eight brothers, eight dragons, eight books, with an option to write seven more on a clan of Russian dragons. Of course, Deryk and co need to get their act in gear regarding their own mates for me to be able to write the rest of the series, but I’m sure even Grigor will get there one day.”

  Nathaniel was completely bemused by both Chloe’s ingenuity in using him and his brothers as a basis to write a series of books, and the fact that she was willing to change her life completely in order to be with him.

  She dropped her arms to her sides as she stepped back. “I’m ready, Nathaniel.”

  He stared at her blankly. “Ready for what?”

  “I love you, and I’m more than ready to be your mate,” she assured him with tears of happiness in her eyes.

  His breath was trapped in his lungs, his heart beating double time.

  Chloe was ready.

  To become his immortal mate.

  He had hardly dared to hope these past two weeks. Knew exactly what Chloe would be giving up if she decided to be with him forever. He wanted her so badly, needed her in a way he had never needed anyone else, but his conscience said he had to make one last effort to make sure she knew what her life would be as his mate.

  “Immortality is a double-edged sword, Chloe.” He reached out to grasp the tops of her arms to stop himself from simply grabbing her and taking what he wanted. “Yes, we’re immortal, but the people we care about and love, they all die.”

  She nodded. “Like Arthur and his Knights of the Rectangular Table?”

  “Yes.”

  Chloe gave a shake of her head. “I don’t have anyone like that. No family, only a few close friends I meet occasionally for coffee or lunch. I’m giving up very little, Nathaniel, and I’m gaining so much more. You,” she teased as he looked puzzled. “But if you’d rather not—”

  “Don’t even think it, let alone say it!” Nathaniel muttered fiercely as he gathered her up in his arms and carried her over to lay her down on the bed before lying down beside her. He leaned on one of his elbows as he looked down at her, his hands moving up to frame either side of her face. “I love you, Chloe, and I promise you will never, ever have reason to doubt that love, or me.”

  Her fingers shook slightly as she cradled the side of his face. “I love you, Nathaniel, and I promise you will never ever have reason to doubt that love, or me.”

  They were their dragon vows.

  Nathaniel kissed her long and lingeringly. “Will you marry me, Chloe Evans?”

  “I will, Nathaniel Pendragon.”

  “Stay with me and love me, as long as we both shall live?”

  Chloe nodded. “As long as you stay with me and love me as long as we both shall live.”

  “I will.”

  These were their human vows.

  As was traditional, they sealed them with a kiss

  “So,” Chloe murmured several minutes later. “Are we going to mate or not?”

  Nathaniel chuckled. This was the Chloe he knew and loved. Straightforward. Unafraid of anything, including him and his dragon. “Are you okay with waiting a few hours longer?” He looked about the modern apartment and dismissed it as the place for them to complete their mating. He had already considered his bedroom at Pendragon Castle and dismissed that too. “I’d like our mating to be in Iceland,” he explained at her puzzled look.

  “Perfect,” she agreed without the slightest hesitation.

  He grinned. “Okay, let’s go to the top of the building and do this.”

  Chloe wondered if flying with a dragon would ever grow old. Somehow she doubted it. It was even more wondrous the second time, because the dragon holding her so securely in his arms was her dragon, one she loved with every fiber of her being, and who loved her in the same way.

  She felt a little shy once they reached the complete privacy of Nathaniel’s cave. “How do we do this?”

  “The same way we usually do it.” The smile could be heard in Nathaniel’s voice. “Except this time, you’ll be on your hands and knees facing away from me.”

  Chloe felt the heat coloring her cheeks. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I thought that sounded a little yuck the first time you said it, but now it sounds…erotic,” she acknowledged huskily.

  “Oh, it will be,” he promised. “Chloe…” He hesitated. “This may be…wilder than our usual lovemaking.”

  “I’m not made of glass,” she assured him. “I’m your mate.”

  “That you are,” he stated with satisfaction. “We’re going in the hot spring first.” He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the water’s edge before placing her on her feet again to start undressing her. “You are so beautiful, my Chloe,” he murmured appreciatively when she stood before him completely naked.

  “Your turn.” The difference in their height made it a little more difficult for Chloe to undress him. Nathaniel removed his boots and remained slightly bent down so that she could slip his T-shirt over his head before moving down onto her knees to unfasten and remove his jeans and boxers.

  She looked up at him as her hand stroked along the silky length of his bared cock, reveling in the wild and fiery glitter that ignited in his eyes, unsure if he was man or dragon at that moment. It didn’t matter; she loved them both.

  Her pussy clenched with her own need as she took his cock into her mouth and the sweet taste of his pre-cum exploded on her tongue. She licked and laved along that length before dipping her tongue in the slit at the top of the bulbous tip.

  Nathaniel groaned, and his hands moved to grasp her shoulders as he pulled her away from him. “No more, love,” he pleaded. “I’m not going to last.” His hands on her arms drew her to her feet. “I’m going to be inside you when I come. So deep inside you, I’ll never find my way out again.”

  Chloe shivered at the dark promise in his voice. “That’s what I want too.”

  Nathaniel lifted her up in his arms before wading into the hot water and carrying her over to sit her on the ledge. “I’m going under the water.”

  “What—” Chloe broke off with a groan the moment Nathaniel pushed his shoulders between her thighs and she felt the long length of his tongue against her swollen folds.

  She barely had time to draw a breath before she felt his hands spreading her pussy lips farther apart and his tongue thrust deep inside her. That roughness became a pleasurable and remorseless rasp against the knot of nerves inside her, sending Chloe gasping over the edge within seconds as she shuddered and convulsed in the throes of her release.

  Nathaniel’s head broke the surface of the water as he rose up to take possession of her lips with his, and Chloe realized, no matter how wild their lovemaking might have been in the past, Nathaniel had been gentle with her up to this point.

  His lips ravaged and claimed hers, and all she could do was cling to his shoulders and allow herself to be swept along and revel in that dominance.

  He was still kissing her when he lifted her up and carried her out of the water to follow her down as he laid her on the bed of furs. His cheeks were flushed, eyes glowing a brilliant green when he finally raised his head. “I can’t wai
t any longer, love. Are you ready for me?”

  Chloe pulled out of his arms to move up onto her elbows and knees before looking at him over her shoulder. “Does that answer your question?”

  He moved onto his knees behind her.

  Mine.

  Nathaniel’s dragon screamed the word inside his head at Chloe’s show of submission, the heady perfume of her arousal invading his senses.

  Her back was long and slender, with those two endearing dimples at the top of the twin globes of her bottom jutting higher than the rest of her body. His gaze was heated as he watched his fingers stroke along the cleft between those globes, reveling in Chloe’s shudder of pleasure. Not tonight. But soon, he promised himself as his fingers went lower to stroke along her swollen pussy lips. She was so wet, his fingers slid easily inside her, readying her for what was to come.

  Nathaniel removed his fingers and moved forward until the bulbous top of his cock was nestling against those slick pussy lips, bending forward so his chest was stretched along the length of her back. “The bite might hurt at first, but then the aphrodisiac will enter straight into your bloodstream and—”

  “Nathaniel, how many times do I have to tell you I’m ready?” Her voice was laced with impatience.

  Nathaniel felt his control slip completely as his hips thrust forward. He groaned as his cock entered her slick heat. “Always so tight,” he growled as he gripped her hips and pushed in farther, inch by inch, until Chloe was completely impaled on his hard length.

  Chloe had never felt so full, tightening her inner muscles, wanting more as Nathaniel kept his thrusts slow and measured. She didn’t want slow and measured; she wanted his loss of control, for him to take her in the way he needed to. In the way his dragon needed to.

  “Harder,” she encouraged breathlessly. “Do it, Nathaniel.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond as she pushed back onto that hard cock and felt him shudder against her, a tremor shaking his body. “Give me all of you,” she begged. “Now.”

  She cried out as he slammed into her hard, the heat of his thighs briefly against her bottom before he withdrew and did it again. Again, and then again, his breath hot against the back of her neck.