“Get your ass in bed so we can go to sleep. I’m tired.” At Ayden’s command, Brogan tossed his towel into the bathroom and climbed into bed gloriously naked. After laying down on his back, Ayden sprawled himself over his mate’s chest. His dragon was warm and those strong arms of his enveloped him almost instantly. Ayden decided he was going to get used to this; there were going to be no more nights alone for either of them. His dick would be happy and so would he.
“Turn out the damn light already,” Ayden ordered and his mate complied.
“Good night, baby. Thank you for tonight, you really were amazing,” Brogan whispered to him.
“So were you. Night,” Ayden said back to him, just as softly.
Waking up in the morning with your large mate lying beneath you and sharing his immense body heat was fantastic, Ayden thought. He was beginning to believe this mating thing was working out pretty damn good.
“You drool in your sleep,” the big dragon underneath him stated in a sleep roughened voice. Okay, so their relationship was never going to be perfect.
“I do not,” Ayden denied, as he lifted his head from Brogan’s chest to look him in the eye.
“Then explain the wet spot on my chest.”
“Maybe you have a sweating problem.”
“In one spot?” Brogan’s eyebrow quirked.
“A few overactive pores? Maybe you should see a doctor about it. No. Wait. You’re a shifter, do you go to a vet?” Ayden teased with a smile.
“Ha ha,” Brogan replied dryly, while palming the back of Ayden’s head to drag him forward for a kiss.
“I like waking up with you,” he said against Ayden’s mouth.
“I was thinking the same thing until you accused me of having overactive salivary glands,” Ayden complained, as he pulled his mouth from that of his mate.
“At least I didn’t make fun of your stanky morning breath.”
Ayden refused to be charmed by the grin his mate was wearing. “Whatever, I’m starving.”
“Nothing new there. Let me grab a shower and grab some clothes from my room, then we can work on getting you fed.”
“You should just bring your shit in here.”
“Are you inviting me to move into your room?” Brogan looked genuinely surprised by the offer.
“Well we are sure as hell not moving into yours, it’s ugly.”
“It’s not ugly.” Brogan looked affronted by Ayden’s accusation.
“The hell it’s not, what do you even call that color on the walls? It looks like someone painted it with ear wax and then smeared Nutella all over it.”
“I was experimenting with sponge painting,” his big mate replied indignantly.
“It fucking failed.” Ayden stated and grabbed Brogan’s hand to drag him down Brogan’s bedroom. It was a short walk down the wide hall and Brogan dropped back a step to allow Ayden to enter the space.
Once inside, Brogan took a look around the room with Ayden standing at his side glaring at what he felt was the failure of his sponge painting art on the walls. Brogan couldn’t refute the fact that the walls of his bedroom were not that attractive, but he wasn’t one to give up an opportunity to spar with his mate. It was his favorite thing to do when they weren’t focused on how to channel their horniness.
What truly had stunned him was Ayden’s insistence that they share his room, but he was not stupid enough to deny them both the opportunity to get closer. Of course Ayden already had his heart, he was absolutely crazy about the little familiar. Unfortunately, it was going to take more than the two of them to move all the crap he had accumulated since the house had been built a few decades before.
“I cannot believe how hideous this room is and just how much shit you have shoved in this closet?” his adorable mate bitched as they stood and waited for their family to join them. Brogan didn’t bother to reply, as luckily the cavalry arrived. The truth was he had just been shoving junk in there forever, and it was going to be a real pain in the ass to move it all. Brogan figured Ayden was entitled to complain. Besides, Brogan was in much too good of a mood to deny his mate anything.
Chapter 15
Sitting on the floor in Brogan’s room, going through yet another box, Ayden was delighted when Blodwen sat down next to him. Finally someone was going to help him; Brogan obviously needed to be cured of his hoarding tendencies. From the sheer volume of junk in the room, the man must throw nothing away.
“Want some help?” Blodwen asked.
“Actually I am really considering ‘accidentally’ setting this room on fire.”
“I doubt Brogan will believe any fire around you is an accident.”
“Maybe I can distract him with my cuteness.”
“Since when are you cute?” Blodwen teased him with a smile.
“He’s my mate. He is supposed to be in constant awe of my Aydenness.”
“Right. So seriously, how are things going?”
“It was my idea to share a room. I don’t have any remaining doubts about him being my mate.”
“So, you are happy?” Ayden paused at his friend’s question; he knew they had the whole room as an audience, and he needed to answer as honestly as possible. The answer was that despite their atrocious beginning and his ongoing fear of Brogan tiring of him, he was happy. His dragon made him happy, happy enough to fall in love with him. Brogan hadn’t taken his heart so much as stolen it. Ayden was still afraid of not being loved back, but his heart had taken the plunge without his permission. The truth was that Brogan was irresistible, he made him laugh, he made him yell, and last night they had finally gotten naked. Hell yeah, he was happy.
“I’m very happy, but to be completely truthful I’d be happier if Brogan wasn’t such a damn packrat. Mate, I found a fucking stack of paper napkins in this box. Really?” Brogan just laughed and shrugged off his many complaints during the afternoon. It took hours to get all his crap into what was now their room and Brogan had worn a smile that had not faltered once. Obviously his dragon was very happy too.
Two weeks had passed since the duo took up residence in Ayden’s room. Brogan’s many belongings had found a home in various drawers and on a few shelves. Happily for both men, they had several fights over Ayden’s desire to stuff most of it in one of the two large closets the room boasted. The fourteen days had found them spending most of their time in their bedroom, either organizing or making up after a fight. They were not intentionally ignoring the other inhabitants of the house, but they saw little of them just the same.
It gave them little clue how the others truly felt about their union. Blodwen and Aleksander had made it clear they both wanted them to work out their problems. Undoubtedly the two of them were pleased with the progression of their relationship. Latarian, of course, had been enraged by the very idea that Brogan was fated to be with Ayden. The fact that Brogan was now immersed in Ayden’s life could not be going over well. She was not usually the type of person to keep her thoughts to herself, but perhaps the fact that the only time they saw her was at meals made her hold her tongue. After all, Aleksander presided over mealtimes and he had made it perfectly clear that he was not going to tolerate her meddling in their matebond.
They had developed a pattern of sorts and tonight was no different. Both men were lying on the couch in their bedroom idly watching television when Brogan announced to his mate, “I want to suck your cock.” Each night they had gone to sleep after using the delicious friction of their bodies to slake their hunger for each other, but obviously Brogan wanted something different tonight.
“Now?” Ayden asked as he cocked an eyebrow. His eyes were widened slightly in shock.
“Yeah. Now.”
“On the couch?”
“Exactly,” Brogan affirmed and then slid out from behind Ayden, where he had been lounging, and lowered himself to the floor on his knees. “Baby, get that shirt off.”
Ayden pulled his T-shirt over his head at his mate’s request, and Brogan began working on his pants. Lifti
ng his hips to help Brogan remove them, Ayden realized that his mate hadn’t started on his own clothing. No way was that going to work, Ayden preferred that his mate wear as little as possible, as often as possible. “You aren’t naked,” he informed Brogan.
“Sorry, I got distracted by the view,” Brogan ran a finger down Ayden’s already hard cock as he spoke.
“There you go with another cheesy line,” Ayden said, as Brogan stood and tugged off his own clothing. His dragon was fucking hot and just as hard as Ayden.
“Deal with it. I like looking at my sexy mate,” Brogan demanded and then captured Ayden’s mouth with his own, leaving him unable to reply. He kissed Ayden until Ayden nearly came from that alone, before leaving his lips to slowly kiss a line of open mouth kisses first down the side of his throat before giving the same treatment to his chest.
When he reached Ayden’s belly he added little flicks of his tongue between the hot kisses and Ayden could do nothing but lay his head back against the couch, pillow cushioning his head, and close his eyes in mindless pleasure. He arched his back to get closer to Brogan’s delicious lips and tongue, while his cock begged for attention. It was leaving a puddle of wetness on his belly which Brogan lapped up, but Brogan bypassed Ayden’s dick itself completely. He continued working those devastating kisses down his body. Down one hip, his lips went before Brogan lifted one of Ayden’s legs and spread him wide open while he kissed the length of one thigh. When he got to Ayden’s knee the kisses stopped, and Brogan laid his palms near the base of each thigh and slowly slid his hands up to Ayden’s waist.
Then he just stopped, and Ayden lifted his head to look down at his mate who was currently staring at his cock, where it continued to leak onto Ayden’s stomach.
“You are the fucking sexiest man I have ever seen, my dick is about to explode just from looking at you like this,” sincerity rang in the husky words and Ayden was glad Brogan was just as enthralled as he was.
“Baby, feed me your cock,” Brogan ordered after they continued to stare at one another for several seemingly endless minutes. Reaching down to grab his dick, Ayden did as he was told. Eagerly opening his mouth, Brogan swallowed him all the way down without any warning. Arching his back once again, Ayden’s head fell back to the pillow as he shouted out his mate’s name. It was the most intense pleasure he had ever known. Soon Brogan’s head was bobbing over him, and the warm, wet mouth down the length of his shaft was making his hips rock of their own accord. His mate didn’t seem to mind, Brogan’s hands slid from his waist down to his hips which Ayden took as encouragement to continue to fuck his face as his body screamed for release. Ayden’s hips began snapping even faster as Brogan hollowed his cheeks to apply more suction on his cock. That shattered any control Ayden thought he had, and his mind shut down. Brogan deep throated him again, and Ayden actually screamed as his cum filled his mate’s mouth. It didn’t seem to faze him; he just kept swallowing him down as they both rode out his orgasm.
When he finally began to soften in his mate’s mouth, Brogan let Ayden’s cock slide out before he stood and knelt on the edge of the sofa. With one hand balanced next to Ayden’s head, Brogan used the other to grab his own dick. Giving the top of his engorged cock a few furious tugs, he came all over Ayden’s belly and chest. Lowering himself back to the floor, he leaned his head on Ayden’s thigh while he tried to recover. Minutes later and still breathing heavily, he once again got to his feet and plucked Ayden off the couch and walked them both straight into the shower to get cleaned up.
Ayden hoped that when he regained the use of speech that he would remember to thank his mate for almost draining his brain through his dick. He couldn’t wait for Brogan to do it again.
The next morning Brogan woke up to find himself alone in their big bed. He frowned; Brogan relished the feel of Ayden’s body close to his and he did not appreciate his mate souring his day by not being where he was supposed to be. Brogan had also woken up hard as hell, and he wondered where Ayden was hiding. As if he had somehow conjured him up, the bathroom door opened to reveal his freshly showered mate clothed in nothing, but a loose towel draped around his trim waist.
“Why the hell are you up and showered already?” Brogan asked tersely, as he half sat up in bed. His mate didn’t even turn his head or slow down his progress towards his dresser at Brogan’s rude question.
“We overslept. I have to get dressed,” Ayden replied as he pulled out a pair of navy briefs and put them on.
“No, you need to get back in this bed. I’m horny,” he demanded. Ayden seemed unimpressed by this announcement as he calmly shimmied into his jeans.
“I’m sorry, but you know I have to go meet Blodwen, our project is almost finished,” Ayden explained as he pulled his T-shirt over his head.
“Can’t she wait just a little while? I want you,” Brogan whined and tried to look pitiful.
“I can make it up to you later, but she is expecting me soon and I want to grab some breakfast before I meet her.”
The explanation made sense, but Brogan still didn’t even know what their big project was. “Baby, what are you guys working on?”
“I’m sure Aleksander told you about the sanctuary idea we had to help outcasts like Blodwen and I. We volunteered to put together the proposal for the council. Their guidelines are really lengthy and annoying, and that is why it has taken us so long, but we should be able to finish today.”
Brogan wanted to smack himself in the head when Ayden enlightened him about their project. He could not believe he had completely forgotten about this crazy ass sanctuary idea. Bring in outsiders that could endanger his mate? Oh hell no, not happening. Obviously he needed to talk to Aleksander and stop this madness immediately, but there was no way in hell he was going to say anything about his opposition to the idea to Ayden now.
“I see. Well, you better get going then,” Brogan said to his mate with a shooing motion of his hands. Grinning at his antics, Ayden climbed on the bed and gave him a smacking kiss before practically running from the room. Tossing back the sheets Brogan hauled his ass into the bathroom to grab a shower, the sooner he talked to Aleksander the better.
Ayden was overjoyed that since the idea was first born and after all this time, that they were finally nearly finished with the sanctuary proposal. In fact, he was pretty much overjoyed with life, in general. He had a mate that drove him crazy in and out of bed, and he had looked pretty cute that morning when he had practically begged Ayden to stay. That dragon of his made him happy.
“You are smiling like a goofball,” Blodwen informed him. Ayden just kept right on smiling.
“We are almost done. One last proofread and then it’s time to let the family approve it. Why wouldn’t I be smiling?”
“I think your mate has something to do with that grin, you wear it a lot these days.”
“I like him.”
Blodwen bumped him with her shoulder as she gave him a big smile of her own. “Just like?”
“Okay, probably more than like, but it’s scary to think of more than like. I am a pain, and a brat and he might not want a mate who spends more time fighting with him than saying nice lovey-dovey crap. It makes me feel weird to say all this stuff inside me out loud, but at the same time I want him to know how I feel. He is driving me crazy and why hasn’t he asked to mate bond with me? We live together for crying out loud!” Ayden’s voice rose as he got to the end of his rant.
“Has he told you how he feels?”
“He has not used the ‘L’ word.”
“Maybe he’s afraid like you.”
“Maybe. I feel like I want our mating ceremony, but he hasn’t even mentioned it.”
“Have you?” she asked pointedly.
“No, I think about it, but then I chicken out. I don’t know if he’s ready or if he wants to.”
Blodwen seemed genuinely perplexed at the idea. “Who wouldn’t want to bond with their mate?”
“We had a really bad start; maybe he doesn’t want to
endure shit like that with me forever.”
“I think you two need to talk about it,” she advised.
“I am the one who moved him into our room; it is his turn to make a move,” Ayden pointed out.
“Ayden, it’s not a competition. Isn’t it weird how quiet Latarian has been lately?” Blodwen asked, changing the subject.
Until Blodwen pointed it out, Ayden had not realized it had been weeks since he had talked to his witch. “Yeah, I haven’t talked to her once since she saw my little dragon. It’s been really nice.”
“I bet Aleksander told her to butt the hell out,” his friend concluded. Before Ayden could reply there was a knock on Blodwen’s bedroom door. She rose to answer and opened it to find Aleksander standing there.
“Hey you two, come on into the living room, I want to have a quick family meeting,” their king announced and they followed him down to the living room to find the entire household waiting there. Ayden took a seat next to Noirin, since his mate was standing at the front of the room with Aleksander and Dravyn.
“Guys, thanks for dropping everything for this, we need to discuss our sanctuary plan. As with all decisions, we do not move forward unless everyone is on board.”
Ayden was thoroughly confused; they had all agreed weeks ago. “Aleksander, we already agreed to it. Blodwen and I were going to give everyone copies of the proposal this afternoon.”
“I’m afraid not every member of the family was present at that meeting. Brogan is opposed to the idea.”
Stunned, Ayden turned to look at his mate. “Why? We worked really hard, and we can help people. How can you be against that?”
“I’m sorry you put so much time and effort into it. I meant to get into this sooner, but honestly with our mating it slipped right out of my mind. But I cannot agree to open our home to strangers. You want to help people who have been rejected by their own kind, and many of them will be just like Blodwen, yearning for somewhere to fit in and would probably love it here. The sanctuary is a very noble idea, but unfortunately not all the people that live on the fringes of their race are shunned because they simply don’t fit in. Some of them are on the outside because they are unpredictable and dangerous. We could endanger the lives of our family by welcoming them into our home,” Brogan explained, his tone neutral.
Grand Redemption (D'Vaire Book 1) Page 16
