Their Runaway Mate

by Lori Whyte

  Inside, the place was like a castle. Jasmine stared at a suit of armor while her mother went to talk to a man at the desk. Then they were walking down a long hallway. Her mother tugged her forward every time she slowed to look at a tapestry.

  When they went as far as they could along the corridor, the man guiding them knocked on the wall. A moment later, the wall moved, opening like a door.

  This was the coolest place ever. Aunty was going to be so impressed when Jasmine told her about the hidden room. They entered and the man who brought them there left them alone with two other men. One was seated on the far side of a desk that was bigger than Jasmine's bed at home. He had dark hair and a mean-looking face. The closer man was standing beside a chair. He smiled. He was taller than her gym teacher, Mr. Evert, but she wasn't sure if Mr. Evert was a good indication of what a man should look like since he was also shorter than her art teacher, Mrs. Chester.

  "My name is Donna, and this is my daughter," her mother had said. "We know you are dragons."

  Jasmine blinked up at her mother. These people were not dragons. Anybody could see they were just men. What was wrong with Mama?

  The smiling man raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, ma'am?"

  "See here? This is my daughter. She's a treasure fit for a dragon." She yanked off Jasmine's knitted cap, causing her bright orange hair to fly up with static.

  "Ma'am?" The mean man leaned forward. There was a hint of warning in his voice.

  "Mama? I want to go…" Jasmine tugged on her mother's hand.

  "She's a treasure. Don't you like treasure?" Her mother pushed her closer to the strange men. "She's very precious. Just like Dragon's Tears."

  The men scowled. They didn't seem to like her mother and her. She wasn't going to get to ride through the clouds today.

  "I want to go skiing," Jasmine said to her mother.

  The nicer man stepped forward, and Jasmine shrank back. "What's your name?"

  She wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. Jasmine glanced up at her mother, who gave her an encouraging smile.

  "Jasmine."

  "Well, Jasmine, why don't we go and get some hot cocoa while your mom talks to August?"

  Her mother's smile broadened and she nodded vigorously. "Yes, go with the man, honey."

  The man extended his hand to Jasmine. She stepped closer to her mother, leaning in to her leg.

  "Don't be scared, Jasmine. This man is a dragon, remember?"

  She said that like it would make everything okay, but it wasn't okay. Jasmine didn't want to go with the man, but she didn't want her mother angry with her either. When her mother lost her temper, scary things happened.

  The man smiled at her again. She agreed only because of the look on her mother's face. They stepped into the hallway. As soon as the hidden door was shut, Jasmine could hear the others speaking but couldn't make out the words.

  "Do you want to come to the kitchen for a cocoa?"

  Jasmine shook her head. If she left here, she might not be able to figure out where the door to the room was again. She wasn't leaving without her mama. "I want to stay here."

  "Okay. You stay put, and I'll go get a treat for us."

  After Jasmine sat on the carpeted floor beside the door, the man left her. The hallway was quiet, but she still couldn't make out what they were saying. She leaned in closer to the door. Oh, there was a little hole, like for a key. Jasmine pressed her ear to the hole.

  "I know dragons need human blood from a female. I'm offering myself."

  "Your blood is worthless. You are an addict," the man said.

  "Then what about my daughter? She's never taken Dragon's Tears. I told you she's a treasure. You could raise her as you like and she could become part of your clan."

  "She's a child. What would we want with a child?"

  "Her blood is pure. I told you—"

  "No, there is no deal. We don't barter children for drugs."

  "I could still—" Her mother sounded desperate.

  "The only reason I'm talking with you right now is so that my primary can figure out a way to deliver the child to a responsible family member."

  "But I want us to stay with you…"

  "Didn't you hear me? You are worthless to us."

  "But my daughter isn't. She—"

  "You would give your daughter to strange men, dragon shifters even, just to secure your supply of Dragon's Tears. What kind of mother are you?"

  "If you don't want her, there are other ways we can be of use…"

  Jasmine's heart pounded so hard it hurt her chest. Her mother wanted to give her away. She was begging these men to take her blood. No, Jasmine wouldn't do it. She was going home. Aunty Trixy had told her she could live with her. That's where she was going.

  She ran down the long hallway and plunged into the outdoors. Snow had started to fall. Her mother still had her cap, but that was okay. It wasn't this cold where Aunty Trixy lived.

  Jasmine ran and ran and ran…

  Jasmine gasped. "Oh, God. I remember…"

  Laughlin grimaced. "When I went to get your drink, I was interrupted by an emergency, so it was hours before I realized you were missing."

  What else had she forgotten? Had she seen her mother again before her death? If she recalled that much from just once glimpse of his dragon eyes… "Where is it? Where is the hotel?"

  Laughlin frowned. "It burned in the Anti-Dragon Riot of ’95."

  "I came as soon as Laughlin called. He said you'd told him you were coming to live with me, and I said damned right you were. And I’ve raised you as my own ever since."

  "What happened with my mother, then?" Jasmine asked. "Was her death connected to all of this? What other lies have you told me?"

  Hurt flashed over Trixy's eyes. "She died that weekend. She was driving back down the mountain in the snowstorm. They think she lost control of her car on the icy roads and ended up going down a steep embankment. She didn't survive the fall."

  Jasmine nodded. She looked up at her dragons. "I've heard enough. I want to go upstairs now."

  As soon as she was standing, Dillon swept her into his arms and carried her from the room.

  "We aren't done with this conversation yet," Kylan said behind her to Trixy and Laughlin, "but that is enough for tonight. And, Garryck, double the guards. I don't think we've seen the end of Gabby and Maryk. If you find them, secure them until I can speak with them."

  Chapter 18

  Dillon set his precious mate down on the bed in their room.

  "It's been a hell of a night, hey?" Jasmine, clearly exhausted, smiled wearily up at him as her shoulders slumped.

  She was right. It had been a hell of a night… and they hadn't even talked about why she had tried to run away. Thinking that they'd lost her had almost been too much for him. He wanted to shake some sense into her, demand an explanation, do something, anything, to make her understand the risk…

  But not tonight. Tonight their Jasmine needed to rest.

  He knelt in front of her. "Are you okay?"

  She nodded. Then she studied him. "Will you tell me the truth?"

  "Always."

  "Were all of those women at dinner tonight addicts like my mother?"

  He picked up her hand and cradled it in his. "In the early days, before our existence was common knowledge, we would turn the women away and encourage them to find treatment. It was hard to locate dragon clans then, so we had to hope that they would accept defeat and look for help. But after our secret was out, we started to see more and more women like your mother show up on our steps." He took a deep breath. "Because finding unscrupulous clans was as easy as pulling out a phone book by then, the clan decided we couldn't send them away anymore."

  "What do they do here? Why would they stay? Are they sex slaves?"

  "In some clans, they probably would be enslaved, but we don't do that. A few years ago the Dragon Council made it illegal, but some clans still live by the old ways." Dillon didn't see the point in sugar-c
oating the realities of his world. Jasmine would learn this soon enough anyway. "The women who approach the Mannix clan often enter into relationships with our dragons, but they can't be mated."

  "Because of the drug?"

  "Right," Dillon said. "Dragon's blood is a major ingredient in it and usually the drugs are manufactured using blood from many different dragons. This alters the woman's own chemical makeup in some way. Doc Korwyn would be better able to explain it to you. The gist is that those women can't mate and their energy is whacked-out and can't provide a symbiotic balance to ours."

  "Like Gabby." She smothered a yawn with her hand.

  "Like Gabby," he agreed.

  He could tell she had more questions, but that was enough for one night. She needed to rest and all he wanted to do was hold her until she fell asleep. In the morning, they could figure out what to do next. It'd be pretty damned bold if Maryk was behind the Dragon's Tears in the cake. It felt more like something Gabby might do on her own. Poisoning a chief's food was punishable by death. The Dragon Council would not take her actions lightly, but Dillon didn't want to think about that right now.

  "Let's get you ready for bed, okay?"

  She grinned weakly at him. "I know what you are thinking about…"

  "Not tonight, babe." He lifted her feet, one and then the other, removing her sandals. Her feet were so dainty and small in his hands. She wiggled her toes and he bent forward and kissed the warm arch of her foot.

  She let him continue to undress her. It wasn't that long ago that he'd pushed deep inside her and made her quiver against his hand. He wanted to feel that again. He wanted to hear her soft gasping moans.

  But more than anything he wanted to see her smiling and rested.

  Still, he couldn't help that his fingers itched to slip along the silky smoothness of her skin when he pulled her T-shirt over her head. But he didn't touch. His tongue curled in his mouth as his eyes traveled down the slope of her shoulder. But he didn't taste. His arms ached to pull her close enough to feel his erection. But he didn't.

  He did embrace her loosely though, once she was down to her underwear. That was as far as he was going. He smoothed his hand over her long auburn tresses until her body relaxed against his and a little sigh escaped her lips.

  "You can wear one of Kylan's T-shirts tonight," he murmured. He didn't want to go downstairs to retrieve her bag. "Did you want a bath? I can—"

  "I just want to crawl into bed."

  "Of course, of course…" he said as he reached down to tug back the tangled covers.

  She slipped into the middle of the bed and he straightened the covers over her. She was so fragile. He vowed to take care of her forever. He and Kylan couldn't risk another episode like today. The best way to protect her was to mate her, mark her… the sooner the better.

  Whether she wanted it or not.

  ***

  Kylan had refused to turn in for the night until he'd conducted a personal examination of his home. Dillon was guarding their mate, but he needed to ascertain if any other unexpected threats lurked under their roof. They'd inspected the food stores and thrown away anything that had Gabby's lingering scent on the container. Since she'd often assisted Laughlin in the kitchens before clan meals, they'd thrown away more than they'd kept, but at least they'd found the source of the Dragon's Tears in Jasmine's baking. The crystalized drug had been ground up and mixed into the raw sugar. He didn't know what raw sugar was, but they weren't going to have any in his house again.

  Garryck and his team had followed Gabby and Maryk's scents to the courtyard, but then lost them. The only conclusion was that Maryk had transformed and taken Gabby with him. They could only hope they'd returned to Kelvin territory.

  He doubted he could count on them to stay away.

  When he finally stepped into the bedroom, he was greeted by steady, easy breathing sounds, indicating that Jasmine was sleeping. Worry had clamped over his chest when Garryck and Ryder had barged into his office earlier. Seeing her cradled in Dillon's arms, the tightness eased. Dillon met his gaze, but they didn't speak in case they woke her.

  He didn't need words to know Dillon's thoughts anyway. It was etched over his face. He'd been just as panicked over Jasmine's vulnerability as Kylan was. They would safeguard her. At all costs.

  When he slipped into the bed, he brushed a light kiss over her forehead. She sighed and relaxed into Dillon's embrace even more. Even in her sleep, it appeared that she worried over them as much as they worried over her. They were already connected on so many levels.

  He shut off the light, plunging the room into comfortable darkness. For tonight, at least, they were safe. And at the next available moment, they would ensure Jasmine's safety for more than just this one night. Even if she didn't want to stay with them, that was okay. They'd deal with it.

  It also didn't matter what would happen to them without her to balance them. After the mating, their energies would be so deeply entwined it was likely one of them would die due to the imbalance if she left, but that was an acceptable risk to keep her safe.

  ***

  Jasmine pushed at the blankets. Why was she so hot? Good grief, it was like an oven…

  The bed shifted. On both sides.

  Then it came back to her.

  She was wedged between her two masterful dragons. Kylan was pressed to her back, and Dillon was tight against her front. Why did dragons have to be both literally and figuratively hot?

  She squirmed, trying not to wake them, as she pulled the blanket down with her toes. A sweet brush of cool air fell over her. Thank God. She sighed and settled back down into their arms, but now that she was awake her newly discovered memories about her mother poured over her.

  How could those moments have been trapped inside her for all those years?

  Her legs jerked. She couldn't just lie here. She had to pace, to move, to do something.

  Kylan's hand fell to her twitching leg and he brushed it softly.

  "Hush, sweetheart. Go to sleep."

  "I can't," she whispered. Her body ached for movement now. Maybe they could go downstairs for a hot drink… Or maybe a shot of something stronger. She shifted, then she felt it. Kylan wasn't all that sleepy either, apparently. She wiggled against him.

  He groaned. His hand slid up her leg, over the rise of her hip, and down over the roundness of her belly. He pulled her tight against his muscular, hard body… right against the hardening length of his erection.

  "You are dangerous," he murmured in her ear.

  She wasn't the only one. Now that she'd felt his arousal, her mind had switched gears entirely.

  Dillon stirred. His eyes glowed in the shadows. In the dim moonlight coming in through the window, she caught the possessive look on his face just before his lips claimed hers. His tongue plunged into the recesses of her mouth and she trembled.

  She needed this. She needed them.

  Kylan's hand slid over the mound of her tummy to the waistband of her underwear. He dove under the fabric. His fingers tangled in the soft hairs, but he didn't pause until his long middle finger sank between the folds of her sex.

  She gasped at feel of his hand wedged tightly over her throbbing core.

  "Do you like that?" Kylan said into her ear.

  Dillon's tongue filled her, so she couldn't answer with words. She opened her legs, encouraging him to explore more.

  "I'm going to keep my finger right here until it is covered with your cream." He clenched his hand over her, rubbing his palm deliciously against her clit.

  She moaned and dug her fingernails into Dillon's arms.

  "That's it. Tell me how much you want us."

  Dillon pulled his mouth from hers and stared into her eyes. "What do you want, Jasmine?"

  Words escaped her, but she could show him. She slipped her hands over his muscular chest, loving the pattern of his dragon skin as she followed the trail of coarse curls down to his boxers. Without waiting for permission, she yanked the clothing out of her way a
nd captured Dillon's rigid length.

  He grunted and bucked into her hold.

  New heat surged through her, spiraling down to the place where Kylan held her. His hand would be drenched. She stroked the velvety smoothness of Dillon's hardness, up and down, as she rubbed against her other dragon with the same rhythm.

  Dillon's hips rocked into her grasp. His short hot breaths fanned over her face. A garbled sound erupted from his throat. She had to taste him. She bent forward and Kylan slid back to give her room, but still held her tight. She traced her tongue along Dillon's lower belly. He trembled. The scent of his body was stronger here, more enticing. Her mouth grew moist. Hell, her whole body was wet and ready now.

  "That's it," Kylan said as he bucked against her. "You know what to do."

  Hungry to feel Dillon against her mouth and hear his groans, she slid her mouth over the crown of his erection. He grabbed her hair and let loose a deep moan of pleasure. The sound danced over her, urging her on. She swirled her tongue over him. Again. She slipped her hand between his legs. The hot weight of his balls filled her palm. He grunted as he jerked away from her. She reached for him again, but he angled his hips away.

  "I'm too close," he said hoarsely.

  He pulled her up again, then lowered his head to her chest. He pulled her bra out of the way. The first hard suction of his mouth on her nipple made her arch. She grabbed his hair and held him close to her breast. Tingling need zinged over her and landed between her legs. She quivered.

  "Oh, God," she said.

  "That's it," Kylan said. "Nice and wet."

  Then he shifted his hand. She was slick with her desire. He rubbed her sex, smearing her wetness over her folds. Each time he passed over her aching clit, she tensed. His hand moved in agonizingly unhurried circles.

  "Please," she said. "More."

  Dillon's tongue flicked over her tautened tip, just as Kylan's finger nudged her clit.

  "Yes, that. Do that," she said on panting breaths.