by Jaymin Eve
What did this mean? A deep wish I’d held in my heart for a very long time – but had refused to ever seriously consider – flittered through me.
Could Braxton be my mate?
What were the odds that he’d been under my nose the entire time, with me too afraid to risk the friendship.
“I’m not torturing you,” he said, leaning in. My eyelids fluttered closed in anticipation of his lips on mine. “I’m prolonging the moment, I’m giving you a chance to run.” My eyes opened again. Braxton grinned lazily. “You always run.”
He had a point, but that urge was nowhere now. He must have read that in my expression, because his hesitation was replaced with a determination that I was all too familiar with. The moment for doubt was gone and it was time to see what was between us. If we both survived.
His lips hit mine, so full and soft that I sank into him. I’d kissed Braxton a million times before, but nothing like this. This was everything.
The kiss started slow, tantalizingly slow, as his tongue parted my lips and swept inside. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and I groaned deep from my throat, almost a purr. As the kiss deepened, so did the wild arc of want between us, and just like that … it was no longer slow.
I slammed myself into his body and he caught me with both hands beneath my ass, drawing me into his long length. I could feel his desire pressed against my thigh, resulting in harder, frenzied kisses.
I tore my lips free. “Braxton!” It was a growling warning, he’d better stop teasing and start pleasing or I was going to rip his face off.
He grinned right before he lifted me with one hand – how freaking strong was this guy – and suddenly I was back against the headboard. He settled between my legs, both hands sliding up to cup my breasts. I arched again, and in one smooth movement he tore my tank from my body. As the cool air hit my swollen and sensitive skin, I hissed, before moaning as hot hands replaced the material.
“This is the sexiest thing I have ever seen.” His voice was vibrating as he traced the dragon mark on my side. I realized he’d never seen the entire image, and right now it was dancing in red and black for him, shifting and moving in the dragon visage.
We clashed eyes. “You are the sexiest thing I have ever seen,” he said.
I reached forward and laced both of my hands through the dark hair at the nape of his neck, before tightening my grip and yanking his head to me. I needed more kisses, I had to taste him again.
The gentleness from earlier was lost in the wake of the primal need that had our mouths clashing together and bodies straining for each other. My body knew what it wanted and there was no stopping it now. Thankfully my brain was clouded enough that not a single doubt was present.
Braxton’s right hand slid down again, scraping over the front of my panties. I moaned, “Goddamn it, Braxton Compass.”
He laughed, he knew exactly what my problem was, but decided to torture me anyway.
“What do you want, Jess? You’re going to have to spell it out for me.” His low voice was in my ear. I barely even registered what he was saying.
“Touch me,” I growled again. “Touch. Me.” My sex-deprived-growly voice acted on Braxton the same way as if I’d been on my knees begging for him. Begging wasn’t my style, but for Braxton … nah, not even for him.
My underwear disappeared so fast I wasn’t sure if they’d magically vanished or if Braxton was moving with super speed. Long fingers slid along into my wetness. I almost freaking came right then. Why the hell had I waited so long to do this? My body was wound up tighter than hell, and as Braxton continued to stroke, my lower half moved with him. Our mouths found each other again, and I moaned against his lips as he brought me closer and closer to the screaming orgasm that was in my immediate future.
I wrenched my lips free, gasping to fill my lungs. “I need to touch you.”
If I was doing this, I was doing it the whole way, and I’d wanted to touch Braxton like this for a long time.
His hooded blue eyes caressed my body. “Your pleasure first.”
Damn, this male was going to be testing my alpha all night. I wanted to wrest control from him. I needed to dominate, bite, mark and claim. The only thing saving us was that Braxton and I had established equal dominance a long time ago … but still.
His hands increased their motion, his thumb stroking the most pleasurable of spots. Pressed firmly against him, I was on fire. He applied the perfect pressure, gliding across every smoldering nerve ending.
In a surge of burning need, the intensity which had been building inside exploded. I tilted my head back, nails biting into Braxton’s shoulders as the force of my orgasm ripped through me. It felt as if it started at my toes and built until it ended with my screams of overwhelming pleasure. I forced myself to breathe, more moans emerging as the sensations throbbed. It was the longest, multiple, toe-curling orgasm of my life.
Braxton was growling now, and as I returned to myself and met his gaze, I stilled. The blue of his eyes were threaded with gold, like someone had melted metal through the sky. They were heavy and hypnotic. Braxton’s dragon was right there with us, and it seemed as if he was about to lose control. He almost never lost control. And yes, I did totally love that I affected him like that. It was my turn to play now.
I leaned forward as if I was about to kiss him, but right before our lips touched I pounced into the large body and slammed him onto his back. I practically purred as I climbed over and onto him. His fingers still rested against my center, and I was enjoying that sensation.
My black hair fanned out as I leaned down and placed my mouth onto his neck. I bit into him, gentle at first, and then harder as my wolf and dragon rose to the surface. My dragon, especially, had been with me the entire time, so in-tune to Braxton.
My teeth stopped short of breaking his skin, just short. And he let me … no battle or fighting.
It was his allowance of my control which tamed the tumult of my animals inside. Braxton, the most dominant supernatural I knew, was giving some of that up for me. I’d never seen him give an inch with anyone else, not even his brothers, but he was different with me.
Mate-like.
Once I’d finished my first bite and mark of territory, I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in and wrapping my arms around him. His chest was simply the most alluring thing in the world and I just had to touch it. I felt the smooth texture of his mouth as it landed on my shoulder, followed by a tantalizing scrape of stubble as he started kissing along my nape.
I arched back as he moved across my neck, sending the most delicious tingles through to my core. He was kissing everywhere, branding the shit out of me too, so slowly did he claim. God, I wanted him so badly. When his mouth reached my nipples he finally withdrew his fingers from me. I didn’t protest, I was wanting those fingers replaced with something else very soon.
Impatient as always, I reached both hands down and managed to tug free his shorts. I slowly lowered them and Braxton shucked them the rest of the way. I eye-screwed the hell out of him, following his long, thick length. I’d seen him naked before, but never aroused to this state. He was … enormous.
I let out a huff of air. “Always were the overachiever, weren’t you?”
A bright grin flashed and I found myself caught in the amused gaze of my dragon shifter.
With a growl I dived onto him. My wolf and dragon with me again, I was feeling a little act-on-base-instinct. My hand encircled him and I couldn’t close it all the way around. I stroked him once, watching his face, and his lids fluttered, his full lips parting. He hadn’t stopped staring at me the last few minutes … we locked gazes.
I really hoped there was no one else in the apartment, because something told me if they were, we weren’t keeping these afternoon activities a secret.
I loved running my fingers over the velvet smooth and hardness of him. I loved bringing him pleasure. It had me wetter than I’d ever been before; we were going to have to move the foreplay along very soon.
As if he’d had the very same thought, Braxton reached down and stilled my hand. In seconds he had flipped us over, reversing positions so I was back on the bottom. He laced our fingers together, and raised both of my hands above my head. Our faces were even with each other. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I know you don’t think you’re going to be the dominant one here, Brax.” My bared teeth indicated my thoughts on this. I lunged back at him, battling for the top. I might have bitten him a few times, but in the end I was the one on top.
He laughed, flashing all those white teeth and dimples at me. For the first time something calmed the alpha in me. Don’t get me wrong, I knew my place in the pack, and Braxton and I would be fighting for control until the day we died. But my wolf and dragon were strangely content. Which gave me a rest in the dominance game. For the moment anyway.
Unable to help myself, I leaned forward and ran my tongue along the indent of his left dimple. His laughter stilled, and I smiled against his face. Men: you just have to know the right buttons. I tilted my head down to see him again, and became ensnared in the blue blaze of his eyes. The gold had faded out, which I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad about.
We stared for endless moments, me sitting on him cowboy style with his arousal pressed intimately against me. Usually I was impatient in sex; I don’t waste time, I get in there and go for it. But for some reason I wanted to draw out this first time with Braxton, wanted it to last days and weeks and months. I had this terrible feeling deep down that this might be the only time we had with each other. I didn’t need a big revelation to know I loved Braxton, I’d loved him longer than I could remember. But in this emotionally charged moment I was hit hard. I didn’t just love Braxton, I loved him. I had no idea if we were true mates, but really … fuck true mates and all that fate crap.
I reached forward and pressed my hand to his chest. “I choose you.” He knew what I meant. And I had just made myself more vulnerable than I’d ever been. But if there was any supernatural in the world I trusted with my heart, it was Braxton.
He growled from the back of his throat, low and hypnotic, before reaching out a long arm and threading a hand through the hair at the nape of my neck. Damn, even on the bottom, he out-dominated me every day of the week. Luckily I could pretend I was the one in charge.
He pulled my head down to his and kissed me, the gentlest of caresses. “You are mine,” he whispered as he pulled away. “Always have been.” His eyes darkened; they almost looked black. “We belong together, Jessa Lebron.”
He was so right. I leaned down and smashed my lips against his. I couldn’t stop myself, my need was taking me over again. He was feeling it too. He met my bruising force, our kisses long, hard. There would be no more pauses this time, nothing short of the end of the world was going to stop us now.
Our kisses continued, and I slid one of my hands down his body to reach between us. I took the length of him into my hand and guided him toward me. There was no need for protection, we didn’t carry sexually transmitted diseases and I was still outside my fertile time.
My wetness eased the entrance, but still it was a tight fit. My breath caught as I slid down his massive length. It seemed to go on forever, filling me, touching everything inside. It took my body a few seconds to adjust to the fullness. Braxton growled again, his lashes fluttered closed.
“You are so tight. Feels fucking amazing, Jessa.”
I loved that from this position I could see every expression which crossed his face and while it was clear parts of him fought against the lack of control, he allowed it. I rose slowly, before slamming myself down onto his length, pleasure crashing into me, starting low and spreading everywhere. It was like wildfire, burning through me at a rapid rate, as if I could feel every second of pleasure, every receptor inside responding. My pace increased. Braxton had both hands on my hips as he drove up into me. He watched me intently, his focus so strong that nothing would break it.
With a growl, he flipped our positions, his length and heaviness settling deliciously onto me.
His grin was rakish. “Hold tight, Jessa, it’s my turn.”
I scraped my nails along his shoulders. “You better make it good then, Braxton Compass.” There was still some alpha hidden inside of me.
He leaned down to capture my lips. “You have all the control, you know your power.”
It was true. I did, and since my animals were content, we didn’t have to battle Braxton.
I reached forward and trailed my hands over his broad shoulders, as far as I could reach. He was moving inside of me, fast, hard, and with a skill that was probably going to kill me. I clawed at him again, urging him closer, urging him faster, urging him to go harder with me. I could sense that he was worried about hurting me, but I was a shifter, we were built tough.
I don’t really know what changed, but something pushed him over the edge of his control. Braxton placed a hand under my ass and lifted me up off the mattress, which allowed him full access as he slammed into me. I cried out, his strength like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I was in ecstasy.
I wanted to close my eyes, to feel everything that was crashing inside of me without the distraction of Braxton’s beautiful face. But I couldn’t tear my gaze from him, he had me locked in and there was no escaping. Our pace increased and that low aching buildup was starting from my toes again. My previous orgasm had almost destroyed me with its intensity. I already knew I was not surviving this one.
Braxton lifted me higher, and suddenly we were against the wall. The hard pressure against my back only increased the hard pressure inside of me. He held me without effort, and at this angle opened up an entirely new can of pleasure.
“Brax. Holy fuck!” I was gasping and cursing and trying to sort out what the hell was happening to me. I was unwinding, coming apart, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
He captured my lips, before pulling back to speak. “I have you, baby, I won’t let you fall.”
I screamed his name as the world exploded around me. I had no choice but to close my eyes and ride out every second of a pleasure so intense I wasn’t sure it was survivable. He continued moving, and the orgasms were unrelenting, ripping through me. I forced my lids up, even though my head was slammed back against the wall. I really wanted to see Braxton’s face when he finished.
The eyes I met were melted gold. I could feel stirrings inside of me, the wolf and dragon rising from their cages, their energies intermingling.
I threaded my hands through his hair, moans still falling from my lips. I felt him swell even more inside. He leaned his head forward and our lips met in another scorching kiss. Tasting him was like tasting home. His pace increased and then I watched as he lost all control. When Braxton came, everything stilled, as if time actually halted. We were cocooned in a bubble. I remembered his groaning cry. I remembered him leaning into me, his large frame strong but with the slightest tremble. Then everything went dark.
Chapter 11
The first thing I registered were swirls of light dancing behind my eyelids. I swallowed. My throat felt rough and scratchy, but my insides were warm and content. I rubbed at my face before finally I felt ready to open my eyes. The first few rapid blinks told me that it was much too bright and I went slow, allowing my eyes to adjust. I stared up into a sky of blue, there was not a single cloud marring the perfection.
Questions barraged through my head, and with a gasp I sat up. The last thing I remembered was Braxton, in my bedroom, the best sex of my life. So what the hell happened between then and now? I pulled myself to my feet. I was still naked, as if I’d been transported straight to this place.
I was getting a tad sick of magical assfucks scooting me around the universe like their own personal puppet.
I tried to determine where I was, but I was surrounded by mists or clouds or something. And yet … there were no clouds in the sky, it was warm and sunny.
“You’ve arrived at an in-between place, and you have a
choice to make.”
The orchestra of voices echoed all around me. I didn’t bother to turn and look because I could sense that whatever was speaking was everywhere.
“What choice?”
I didn’t yell, I didn’t think there was a need. I’d be heard even if I whispered.
Swirls of wind preluded speech this time. “You have been chosen, Jessa, to take a burden and to save a race. Chosen often equals sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice to save the supernatural people? Would you sacrifice a mate bond with your one true?”
I dropped my gaze to try to gather my thoughts. “Yes, I am pretty sure I would sacrifice my mate bond for the entire supernatural race.”
Even I wasn’t selfish enough to place myself above hundreds of thousands of lives.
“Would you form a mate bond with someone not of your choosing, if it meant saving the supernatural race?”
I sighed. This was some bullshit magic mumbo jumbo. But just in case I was in the presence of a god or something, I’d try not curse them out. “If you put that kind of magical gun to my head and tell me I have to get freaky with some stranger for eternity or we all die, then the answer is ‘yes, I would.’”
“The choice will be soon.”
I growled. “Wait, tell me more of what you speak.”
The voice faded out, and the mists swirled around me. The howling winds forced my eyes to shut. I raised both hands and held them over my face to stop my hair from whipping me. Thankfully, the wind finally died out, and I was able to remove my hands to see what was about to ambush me next.
I was standing at the base of two beds. Back in my room. I scented Braxton and I all over the space, not to mention the visible signs – torn covers and askew beds. Had Braxton and I destroyed the room during sex? Seems I might have missed some of our last few moments.
Movement caught my eye and I realized I wasn’t alone. Braxton was there. He stood near the door to the bathroom. He had his shorts back on, but was still bare-chested.
