“I’m confused. If he has a good voice, what was scary about it?” Brogan was completely charmed by the story and the exchanges between the two friends.
“Nothing. She exaggerates,” Ayden stated quickly with another menacing look in Blodwen’s direction.
“Nope. Definitely wasn’t the singing that was the problem. It was the striptease that went along with it that frightened the hell out of me,” she said in between giggles.
“Now that I would pay to see.” And Brogan meant every word. Ayden had a sweet little ass he would dearly love to see naked.
“Well apparently Blodwen felt the same way because I woke up with a whole game’s worth of play money shoved in my underwear,” Ayden countered and the three of them shared a laugh.
“You did a good job,” Blodwen praised through her laughter.
Ayden left his stool to offer her a courtly bow, “My thanks.”
“Remind me to spike your glass at dinner tonight,” Brogan told his mate with a wink.
“Yeah, not happening.”
“Wanna go out and grab some lunch with me today? We could do a bit of shopping after.”
His mate cocked his head to the side as he considered Brogan’s invitation. Brogan held his breath until Ayden replied, “Food. Shopping. Sounds good.” Letting out the breath he had been holding, Brogan offered Ayden a smile. While he doubted he would get a striptease anytime soon, he was not going to waste a single opportunity to spend as much time as possible with his mate.
Ayden couldn’t believe how great the last couple of days had been. After all, most of it had been spent with Brogan. They had gone out to eat a few times, shopped, and hung around the house with their family, and it had been very enjoyable. Every morning Ayden and Blodwen still went out with exquisite flowers cut by Dravyn to remember his first mate, but his second mate was turning out to be surprisingly fun to be around. Brogan could be quite charming as well. And while Ayden was not shocked that Brogan flirted with him, he was pretty astonished to find himself flirting right back.
When Ayden had decided to play nice with Brogan to appease both Blodwen and Aleksander he had figured he would rely on the same acting skills that had aided him in playing the mouse-like creature Latarian had wanted for a familiar. Instead, he found himself with no reason to play act at all. He found himself getting along well with Brogan. They did not speak of anything of consequence, although Ayden had offered up his life story. Considering the majority of his life had taken place in a one-room cottage, his biography was short and boring and if you asked him best forgotten. Brogan had somehow managed not to slip into a coma while learning of it, which had impressed Ayden. The D’Evaires had spent a great deal of time isolated, but in recent decades Brogan had traveled much of the world. Ayden envied him that freedom and was looking forward to hearing about his adventures, and hopefully the dragon had taken some pictures along the way.
The one thing that they had certainly not discussed were the other men in both their lives. Ayden kept his fallen mate to himself and Brogan had not brought up his boyfriend, Paul. As peaceful and fun as the last days had been, Ayden had no desire to bring up either man. He did wonder, however, what Paul would think about the way his boyfriend was flirting with Ayden. Brogan was in constant contact with Paul; they texted often, and their calls seemed frequent. It did not seem to bother Brogan at all to flirt with one man while in a relationship with another, and it was starting to really vex Ayden.
It was becoming easier to reconcile his feelings about his own other relationship. His mate was long dead, and Fate seemed to feel Ayden deserved another chance. Perhaps his mate would also wish to see him happy. Maybe it had been his own mate that had prompted Fate to match him up with Brogan. It was not as if he had anyone to ask, and since he had never met his first mate he did not know his mind, so he was left with nothing but guesswork. For the first time in his life, he did not feel quite so alone, and he had actually gotten through the entire day without once thinking about how to break his mating with Brogan.
Were it not for Paul, Ayden could honestly say he would be willing to see if they could make this work out between them. Thinking about it now Ayden felt himself getting pissed off. For whatever reason, Fate had offered him a second chance. Brogan was his mate. Ayden had yet to discover if he could be happy with Brogan, but now he was starting to feel as if he deserved to know if happiness could be within their reach. It was unfair that he had to compete with someone else for his opportunity to find someone to love him back. Ayden had loved his first mate unconditionally, but Eoghan’s familiar had not been given a chance to return any of that affection. Brogan was of flesh and bone and if he were not involved with this Paul person he just might be capable of giving Ayden the love he had never known.
Aleksander had made it clear that it was forbidden for anyone to come between mates. Maybe it was time to step up his efforts and fight Paul for what could be his man. Spending his entire life with no sexual desires until Brogan had shown up, Ayden was ready to find out what chemistry felt like between two people. He had educated himself on what goes where and was practicing nightly alone in his room by jerking off, but he was ready to feel another person’s hands on his skin. It was time to give this mating its first real chance.
Brogan felt like smiling all of the time. The last couple of days had been terrific. Ayden was fun, sexy and, as he had been warned by Aleksander, a bit of a brat. Being around his mate, Brogan felt more alive than he had in all of his long life. He no longer cared that Ayden was magical; it even ceased to matter that he was a familiar. He was just Ayden. They talked for hours, and no subject seemed taboo, except Brogan still had no clue who this Eoghan person was and what he meant to his mate. Ayden himself had not mentioned him again, and Brogan did not want to bring up anything that could put distance between them while things were going so damn well.
Oddly enough, the other topic that was never discussed was Paul. Ayden did not object when Brogan took his calls or responded to his numerous texts, so maybe Aleksander had let Ayden know that he certainly was not Brogan’s boyfriend. Brogan was not going to dwell on it; he enjoyed his friendship with Paul, although the guy certainly liked to keep in constant contact. Paul seemed to take a genuine interest in Ayden and Brogan was more than happy to discuss anything and everything about his mate; Ayden was his new favorite subject.
Tonight the two of them had plans to watch movies together after dinner. Brogan could not wait to finally get Ayden alone. The flirting between them was great, but if Brogan did not get his hands on Ayden soon his dragon was going to seriously rebel. His dragon wanted nothing more than to claim Ayden and Brogan would be more than happy to oblige his beast.
Ayden walked into the living room and dropped down onto the floor next to Blodwen, who was watching television from the floor. The expansive room was empty save for the two of them.
“Hey you. How goes things with your big dragon?” Blodwen made it no secret that she was pleased that they were getting to know each other better.
“Surprisingly well considering he has a habit of saying dumb shit,” Ayden said with a laugh.
“Oh, you mean like referring to you as a sidekick?” It still tickled Blodwen, and she brought that incident up at every opportunity.
“Exactly.”
“If he knew anything about you, he’d know that you’d make a shitty sidekick.”
“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?” After all, Ayden had spent centuries bowing down to a certain cranky witch.
“Seriously, you are a total princess.”
Ayden had no clue what had gotten into this crazy necromancer’s head, “Princess?”
“Yep. Princess. You cried last week when I wouldn’t let you change the TV channel.”
“I was left with little choice. You always make us watch those horrible crime stories,” Ayden shuddered. She loved murder, mayhem, and mystery. It was ironic since she held such fear of her own soul bound assassin.
“Afr
aid of a little blood?”
Ayden wanted to throw up just remembering that particular show, “They were talking about mutilating a vagina, Blodwen.”
“You say vagina like it’s a dirty word,” Blodwen said through her laughter.
“Shut it. Those shows are nasty.”
“Anywho, princess. I am glad you and your mate are getting along.”
“I guess. He is fun to be around, but I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel totally right.”
“Is he still talking to that Paul guy?”
“Yeah, how fucked up is that?”
“It’s so weird. If I found my mate I’d be all over him, and I really don’t think I’d even want to talk to anyone else. The mate pull is supposed to be really strong, right?” She looked to him for confirmation.
“It is insane. I want to run to his side all the time, and I am so damned horny,” Ayden complained, and Blodwen once again was lost in a fit of laughter.
“He hasn’t even kissed me, the fucker. I cannot believe I even want him to bother with this Paul person in the picture. Well, my mind does not want him as long as he has a boyfriend, but my hormones could not give a shit about Paul. They want me to strip naked and present him my ass on a platter.” Blodwen fell over in hysterics, and Ayden could not help but laugh with her at his own predicament.
“Well, honey, he is your mate not Paul’s, so I say jump him,” she urged, after composing herself.
“Do you know if magickind feel the pull stronger than shifters? Maybe he is just not as into this whole thing as my hormones are.”
“From what I have heard, everyone feels the pull the same way.”
“Maybe it is because he is not my real mate.”
“Ayden, I’m sure that second matings are just as strong,” Blodwen replied, not unkindly.
“Maybe it is not an exact match.”
“It would help explain the boyfriend thing if you were right, but I don’t think Fate makes mistakes when pairing people. You just have to make decisions that allow you to grow together instead of apart.”
“I believe I need more information before I can make a proper decision.”
“Hell yes. Get you some of that hot, sexy dragon.”
“This princess is going to do her best,” Ayden retorted as he got to his feet.
“You go girl.” Letting loose a sigh at his best friend’s behavior, Ayden headed to the dining room so they could get dinner over with. He had a date with Brogan tonight.
Chapter 8
“Ready for a super fun movie night?” Brogan asked his mate with a grin.
“You are such a dork. Did you get snacks?” Ayden wasn’t going anywhere without snacks.
“Of course, I have yet to see you go without food for more than fifteen minutes.”
Sometimes Ayden went a whole thirty minutes without wanting to shove something in his face, “You are a filthy liar.”
“First a dork, then a liar. Am I blushing from your praise?” the dragon asked, as they walked to the kitchen to pick up their supplies.
“No, but your arm is going to be sore from my punch in a second.” He was pretty sure he wouldn’t actually strike his mate, but he did enjoy their banter.
“Really? Because I don’t see a ladder anywhere around here,” Brogan teased as he grabbed some popcorn, chips, and sodas for them.
“Oh, short jokes now? Just for that I am not sharing my popcorn.”
“How are you going to stop me?”
All this talk of food was making Ayden ravenous, despite the fact that dinner had been less than an hour before. “I see we have completely forgotten that I have the ability to use your pants to roast marshmallows.”
“You set me on fire again and I might have to spank you.” Ayden had absolutely no idea why Brogan’s threat turned him on, but he could not deny the fact that his cock was hardening in his jeans. It flustered him; he did not want Brogan to see his rapidly growing erection. Time to get to the den and get a movie started.
“Yeah right. I thought we were watching movies?” Ayden asked, as he quickly left the kitchen and headed down the hall.
“Changing the subject. Interesting. By all means, lead the way,” Brogan replied as he trailed behind his mate. Ayden felt his cheeks heat at Brogan’s words, but he let it go. He wasn’t ready to figure out why the idea of Brogan smacking his ass turned him on. They finally made it to the den and settled down next to each other on one of the black couches in the room. Across their laps, they balanced the popcorn and Brogan hit the remote to start the first movie.
Ayden watched the movie without seeing a single thing. All he could concentrate on was Brogan. They had never before sat this close. Their thighs were pressed together, and Brogan’s delicious scent had filled Ayden’s nostrils. After Ayden had finished the last of the popcorn, Brogan had lifted the bowl out of the way and set it down on a nearby table. Brogan made no move to put any distance between them now that they had finished their snack, and Ayden stayed put. Ayden admitted to himself that he was loving every second of being this close to his dragon mate.
The first movie ended and Ayden watched as Brogan stood and replaced the DVD with their second film of the night. Instead of returning to Ayden’s side Brogan walked back and began fluffing the two throw pillows that had been resting against the arm of the sofa.
“Want to get a bit more comfortable?”
Hell yes! Ayden wanted to get more comfortable if it meant getting closer to Brogan, “Sure,” Ayden replied, and Brogan gestured at him to stand up.
After Ayden stood, Brogan laid down on the couch and beckoned Ayden over to do the same. Ayden lowered himself down onto the sofa and Brogan pulled him close to lay flush against the front of his body. They were spooned together, and Ayden thought their bodies fit perfectly despite the height difference. Brogan draped his arm over Ayden’s middle and hit the remote to start the movie. Ayden could not have cared less about whatever was playing on the television, he was surrounded by six feet five inches of delicious male. His jeans began to grow uncomfortably tight as his cock filled. Brogan did not help matters when he began rubbing his hand over Ayden’s belly through the thin cotton of his T-shirt. He then felt Brogan shift slightly behind him and felt his lips land ever so softly on his neck. Ayden arched his neck to the side to give Brogan better access and bit his lip to stop his moan from escaping.
“No baby, I want to hear every little sound you make,” Brogan whispered hotly in his ear. His hand slipped under the hem of Ayden’s T-shirt, and he continued the slow circles of his hand only they felt ridiculously more intense on Ayden’s bare skin. He placed kiss after kiss on Ayden’s neck, and there was no stopping the moans those kisses created. Ayden desperately wanted more from his dragon.
“Roll onto your back.” Apparently Ayden was not the only one not satisfied with what little they were doing. Complying with Brogan’s orders, Ayden did as he was told and was rewarded with his very first kiss. Brogan’s lips brushed his a second time and then a third. On the fourth kiss, he slid his tongue seductively first over Ayden’s top lip and then the bottom. He allowed his lips to fall open, and Brogan’s tongue met his. Their tongues danced as they explored each other’s mouths. Ayden loved the feel of his tongue sliding across his dragon mate’s tongue. Brogan’s taste. The texture. He loved all of it.
So absorbed with mouth on mouth Ayden didn’t immediately realize that Brogan’s hand had moved from his midsection to his chest, until he felt his nipple being grazed by his mate’s clever fingers. It sent little shocks all through his body and down to his rigid cock. Gasping with pleasure, Ayden curved his body closer to Brogan, and his mate responded by using his fingers to toy with his now hard nipple. He would have never guessed that that part of his body could cause such an erotic sensation coursing through him. Brogan was driving him crazy, and Ayden’s entire body felt electrified.
After what seemed like forever, but could not have been more than a minute or two, Brogan ceased tormenting his
nipples and his hand once again began exploring. Leisurely, his palm roamed over the entire expanse of Ayden’s torso and chest. Brogan pushed Ayden’s T-shirt towards his chin and Ayden broke another seemingly endless kiss to get the damn thing out of the way. Brogan helped him tug the shirt over his head, and together they tossed it to the floor. Instead of immediately returning to his mouth, Brogan leaned down and buried his face in Ayden’s armpit and gave it a lick before reuniting their lips and tongues.
“You smell so good,” Brogan whispered against his lips, before he once again ravished Ayden’s very willing mouth. Ayden felt Brogan’s hand return to his body, but this time his journey took him south to the waistband of Ayden’s jeans. After sucking Ayden’s bottom lip into his mouth, Brogan released it and began kissing down his mate’s chin and over his jaw as he slid his fingertips under the denim at his waist. Returning his mouth to Ayden’s he reunited their tongues as Brogan popped open the button of his jeans. Knuckles brushed over Ayden’s hard shaft as Brogan lowered his zipper. Ayden was grateful to finally have some relief for his aching shaft. Brogan was making it difficult for Ayden to string two thoughts together, as his body was bombarded with sensation after sensation.
Brogan laid his palm back over Ayden’s torso, and Ayden broke their kiss with a groan of protest. His dragon found this amusing and chuckled as he slid his hand into Ayden’s briefs and ran his palm over the hard shaft inside. Arching his back Ayden’s breath left his mouth in a rush. One more smooth stroke of Brogan’s hand and Ayden felt a series of sparks shiver down his spine. Before Brogan could deliver another touch, Ayden exploded. He filled his briefs with cum as he shouted out his release.
Too soon sanity returned and Ayden was lying there with Brogan’s hand still in his now wet underwear and his mouth nibbling at his neck. Ayden was mortified. He hadn’t even lasted long enough to get out of his pants. Never mind the fact that his mate was still virtually untouched, and Ayden could feel Brogan’s hardness against his own thigh. Needing to redeem himself, Ayden thought if he could cause Brogan to lose his own mind he might forget his ridiculously early release.
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