Enchanted By Fire (Dragons Of The Darkblood Secret Society Book 3)

by Meg Ripley

  Four years ago was around the same time he sort of just disappeared; since then, Natalia hasn’t really stopped searching. Brad helped her check in with the concierge, giving the woman a nasty look when she tried to make Natalia wait at the back of the line. Paying for the next few nights, Natalia received her room key and prepared to walk off.

  “Hold on,” Brad called with a wave. Natalia felt a touch of disdain when he jogged up to catch up to her. “Our rooms are pretty close together. I’ll walk you there.”

  Shrugging, Natalia tuned Brad out as he continued to speak about his life since he left Riverdale, focusing more on the path to her room and finding a good point in the conversation to brush him off. Eventually, they arrived at their rooms and when she began to slide her card into the slot, she noticed he was hovering.

  “Bye, Brad,” Natalia said, fixing him a certain glare that he had responded to well enough in the past. He didn’t leave, though. Brad gave her a soft smile, leaning against the door frame with a confidence she hadn’t expected.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to keep you company, Natalia?” Brad asked suggestively. “I’m actually rather good in bed.”

  Snorting with disgust and some surprise, Natalia slipped her door open. “No, thanks. Bye, Brad.”

  “Oh, come on, give me a chance!”

  She didn’t spare him another glance before she pushed inside her room, slamming the door right in his face with finality. Brad may have been a bumbling giant back in high school, and while he had been pretty happy to jump into crueler plans, he lacked nerve when he didn’t have someone to shove him around. Natalia wasn’t interested in filling the role Nathan had had back in high school.

  She remained holed up in her bedroom for a few hours, focusing on completing a few spreadsheets for work and ordering room service for dinner. She wasn’t interested in meeting up with anyone anytime soon. Of course, staying holed up in an unfamiliar space for any period of time was enough to make anyone claustrophobic. So, after changing her wardrobe and tying her long, dark hair into a low ponytail, Natalia snuck out of her room and headed out of the hotel. The last thing she needed was to bump into another familiar face, but she needed a drink.

  ****

  There was only one good watering hole in the town—a rickety pub named Arty’s that was well known to harbor the town’s unfavorable idiots and village drunkards. She was pretty sure whoever was there would be too drunk to notice her and so she made her way there. Of course, it took her some time to reach the damn place. Without a car--and the streets bare of taxis--Natalia was forced to follow the sidewalk with downcast eyes and an easy gait.

  It only took about fifteen minutes until she found herself staring up at that silly red neon sign over the pub. Natalia had spent a few evenings in this place’s parking lot, attempting to study in the back of her brother’s pick-up while they passed around beers, jeering at incoming pub-goers. She had better luck studying with Nathan nearby and had grown tired of staying around their house whenever their parents had an argument.

  She was such an apathetic person back then, and following this town’s doomed capacity to never change, Natalia seemed to be caught in the same loop. With a grunt, she headed inside the pub, grimacing at the stench of alcohol and foul body odor. Yep. Hasn’t changed a bit.

  As she approached the bar, she casually shrugged off the curious stares before taking a seat in one of the tall stools, tapping a finger against the top of the counter to wait for the bartender to show up. Sure enough, he appeared.

  “Great mother of God. If it isn’t Natalia Hyde, herself!” Natalia turned toward the voice and felt a small smile peek at the corner of her lips.

  “You’re still alive, old man?” she asked and the bartender let out a loud guffaw. Arty’s very own Arty Tibbleton; he had been the owner of the pub since Natalia had learned to walk and had been around more than her own father had. In a sense, Arty had taken a sort of paternal figure in Natalia’s life, offering more than enough advice to help her when she had been young. He was probably the only thing in her life that had remained a faithful constant, and it filled her with some contentment that he was still around and well. Arty was a large and buff man, with a large red beard he liked to keep bushy around his face. Having worked years carrying immense boxes of liquor, his body was strong and broad and his connection to her family had spared her a lot of unwanted advances by some of Nathan’s less honorable acquaintances.

  “Alive and kicking,” Arty chuckled, swiping a rag along the counter before bracing himself on the wood. “How’s your family, you seen them already?”

  “No, I’m keeping my distance for as long as possible,” Natalia admitted, picking at a ridge in the old counter. “I’m staying at the Hilton.”

  “Ah, so you’re here for the reunion, then.” Arty said, grabbing a glass and filling it with liquor. “Would you like to try a cocktail? I’ve created a new drink; it should put some hair on that flat chest of yours.”

  “As much as I’d love that, I’ll stay clean.” Natalia said, chuckling along. “Just whiskey for now.”

  Arty gave her a warm wink before heading toward the requested bottle of whiskey. In no time at all, Natalia was downing the liquor with a sigh, relishing the burn in her throat and belly. She settled on musing on the counter, chatting here and there with Arty, and after her third glass, Natalia felt something—or rather someone—brush against her arm.

  “Well, well,” she heard, and when she turned, she was being stared at by a pair of deep green eyes and a strong jaw line. “Haven’t seen you around here before.”

  “And you might not ever again,” Natalia replied swiftly, motioning to Arty to top her off. The bartender filled her glass, sending a frown to the man now occupying the space next to the woman.

  “I’ll have what she’s having,” Green Eyes said, and when Arty sent her a glance, Natalia gave him a wave. I’m good. With a nod, the broad man slid a glass of whiskey to the man next to her before returning to his patrons.

  “You know, you look weirdly familiar to me,” Green Eyes said after a moment of silence. Natalia rolled her eyes.

  “If this is your best shot at a pick-up line, you might want to try the redhead giving head to muscles over there.” Natalia stated, flicking her finger in the direction of said patrons. Green Eyes shook his head, chuckling to himself.

  “Nah, you don’t seem like the kind to be into pick-up lines.”

  “Oh, what tipped you off?” she asked, but couldn’t help but feel a tingle of recognition in the back of her mind. She was certain the alcohol now running in her system was the main cause for her inability to remember.

  “Whiskey,” he said, taking a swig of his own drink. She had to admit, he wasn’t bad-looking. “Not exactly a fruity drink meant to entice strangers to get into your pants.”

  “Joke’s on you because I’m not exactly new around here,” Natalia shrugged, and that’s when a flash of realization dawned over this man’s eyes.

  “That’s how I know you,” he said, snapping his fingers. “You’re Natalia Hyde. My God, look at you. You really grew up.” Natalia frowned at him, not exactly thrilled he knew her when she couldn’t fish a memory of his face from her mind.

  “A symptom that comes with the passage of time,” she replied flippantly. “But, I have no idea who you are.”

  He raised a brow, and the expression was almost charming. The tickle in the back of her mind began to burn more insistently. “You wound me, and here I thought my reputation preceded me.”

  “Apparently not,” Natalia said and he gave her a sudden grin before inching closer; there was a strange thrill that began in her skin when she felt his hand land over her thigh. She was tempted to punch him in the face, but it had been far too long since she had felt anything close to this.

  “Would you like to find out?” The memory came all too swiftly the deeper Natalia stared into this man’s eyes.

  “Dillinger…?” The name passed through her lips and
she saw him flash her a brighter grin.

  “Jace Dillinger,” he said, his thumb leisurely tracing a circle against her knee. The shiver in her body increased and she knew that her lowered inhibitions were only tricking her to fall into his touch. “Pleasure to meet you. I take it you’re here for the big alumni reunion?”

  “I’m beyond excited,” Natalia hummed back with an apathetic curl of her lips. Jace chuckled into his glass, settling the crystal down as he turned right toward her.

  “You still following that brother of yours like a shadow?”

  The words filled Natalia with a dip of bitterness, making her wish she hadn’t entertained him for a conversation. It had been a bad idea talking to someone who was familiar with her brother. “Nathan’s gone,” she muttered. “As in, he’s sort of disappeared.”

  “Well, I hope nothing bad’s happened to him,” said Jace. She wasn’t sure if that was genuine concern or a mocking tone in his voice, but she was suddenly very interested in the shape of his lips.

  “You and I both,” Natalia said, taking another sip of the bitter drink. His lips gave a simple quirk.

  “Feel free to say no, but would you like to get out of here?” The thrill returned with a sultry vengeance, filling her up with familiar tingles of desire and black amusement. When she realized that what remained in her hotel room was the hovering figure of Brad, Natalia couldn’t help but want to follow this guy somewhere dangerous.

  “Yeah,” she said, half-sighing with a shrug. Yet despite the disinterested tone in her voice, there was a fire in her blood that flared into fierce sparks when Jace took her hand in his and led her out of the pub. She couldn’t help but feel something like excitement in her chest, nerves writhing with giddiness and anticipation. But that was probably just the booze in her system.

  ****

  Colliding with someone had never felt as good as it did now. Sure, there had been times when she had allowed herself a night where she would take a guy, lead him to her bed and then watch him leave moments later. Her skin would always feel dirty despite how satiated she felt. When she watched those men walk out of her room just as easily as they had entered it, she tried to shake off the drag of loneliness that followed. Natalia hadn’t always been like this--she had been stronger. Once upon a time, she had even been unbelievably naïve, expecting to meet someone special and form a powerful connection with them shortly afterward. She had even gotten close…

  But life, as it would have it, had different plans for her and she found herself picking up the pieces of her heart when one of them, a man with soft blue eyes named Drake, had walked out saying he “just couldn’t keep pretending anymore.”

  Ten years since the last day she had walked out the double doors of that damn high school, and Natalia was suddenly back in the same little town she had sworn to never return to. Now, here she was, intoxication running sweet inhibitions through her bloodstream as she let this newer notch on her metaphorical bedpost kiss her with wild abandon.

  “Jace,” the name escaped past her lips in a wanton moan. A flash of humorous irony passed over her mind in a moment of short-lived sobriety. Ten years ago, she had turned her nose up at this man because he was nothing short of a juvenile delinquent. She had primed herself for success while he had been busy punching people out. Sure, Nathan probably wasn’t any better, but her brother never bothered staining his hands like Jace did. He was notorious, with his black hair mussed around and leather jackets far too big for him then. Girls swooned when he walked down the hallways with his devil-may-care attitude and his penchant for easy pleasures. Not Natalia.

  No, she had seen him. Heard of him. Sure, he was good-looking, but he was an idiot, and she had a future to prepare for and a brother to watch out for. Ironically, now he was the only one who could make her feel anything.

  “Listen to you,” he spoke against the crook of her neck, tongue flicking over a sweet spot near her throat, making her shiver as he pressed her against the wall of his apartment. “It’s like you’ve never had a guy between your legs or something.”

  The alcohol in her system did nothing to hold her back from letting go in this moment where his fingers trailed fire down her skin, rubbing against the slickness between her legs. She wanted him inside her—now. With a surge of violence—inhibition also made it easy for her to react so brashly—Natalia met his lips with a vicious bite of teeth against teeth.

  “You wanna talk, or do you want to fuck me--which is it going to be?” She snarled against his mouth and she felt him smirk widely, felt him buck his hips a little harder against hers.

  “Ice Queen’s got a bite,” Jace chuckled, digging his fingers hard into the curve of her rear. They both let out a hiss at the friction; he began to pull her away from the wall and deeper into his apartment. Each step left them both more naked than the last, and when she felt Jace’s fingers reach up her shirt to grab her breasts, a sharp noise of pleasure escaped her, making him meet her whiskey-stained mouth with his own.

  Suddenly, the world was spinning and Natalia felt something rough but soft meet her back, her pants sliding off her legs and making her shiver. When she looked back up, she saw Jace kneeling behind her legs, his hands caressing the skin of her hips as he pumped a fist rapidly over himself. “Do…you have a condom?”

  “Already on, doll,” he replied, and in the dark it was hard to see, but Natalia wasn’t exactly too mindful of the details. She just wanted him in, right now.

  “Then hurry it up,” she snapped, pushing herself up to reach over to his neck and yank him forward. He met her kisses eagerly, tongues lashing together and making bitter tasting bows with every connection and tremble of flesh. She felt his fingers trace away from her hip to plunge into the depths of her entrance, making her gasp at the intrusion, but moan when he began to shift.

  “Holy shit,” she heard him gasp, “You’re so tight.”

  She could only whimper in response, bucking her hips to match the thrust of his fingers, but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. She had been wanting for much more since she was a student in a sad little high school. With a growl, Natalia pushed him off of her before nearly tackling him to the bed. Jace gave her a look of surprise, watching her with wide green eyes as she settled on his lap. She had never been on top before, but she hardly cared. Alcohol was something else.

  “Never would’ve pegged you for a dom,” Jace said, his voice coming out half-groaning half-chuckling as she rubbed herself against his hardness. He felt large, he felt thick, and she just wanted him to make the drag of loneliness fade away. Natalia reached down and grasped him in her hands just as she felt him reach up to fiddle electric touches over her hardened nipples.

  “Shut up,” she muttered before lifting herself up and sinking back down. The head of his cock met her entrance and with a swift drop, Natalia let Jace’s erection pierce her hard. The hasty connection made him arch his back and let out a slew of profanity that sounded like music to her ears.

  “Shit—you feel—you’re so tight—” Jace said, but Natalia was already grinding, forcing moans of pleasure out of their lips before she felt his hands reach around her hips. His hips rose to meet her undulations with powerful thrusts, making Natalia feel her body respond with heightened whimpers and harder grinds. Her kiss-stung lips parted, dropping to expose a pink tongue and white teeth that clattered gently with every shove. It was amazing.

  “So good,” she moaned, repeating the words over and over again in a mantra as she shifted her hips harder and harder against his pubic bone. “Just like that...oh—oh, so good!”

  Before she knew it, the tables turned and she was flipped over on her back as Jace worked his hips against hers in ways that made her moans rise to high pitched keens and wails. She could feel it, the beginnings of a climax that threatened to shoot her off an edge and leave her screaming. Then he hooked one of her legs over his shoulder; the new angle precipitating an orgasm that slammed into her with the force of a freight train. He moved harder, faster,
and deeper, making her writhe and twitch viciously against the bed. Her lips could hardly wrap around the words “So good” and “faster,” so she clung to a single syllable that made him buck against her like an animal.

  “Yes—YES! YES!!”

  And then he was groaning; twitching before she felt the heat between their legs erupt, sending them into a bliss she had been aching for—a bliss she never believed in her entire life that she could attain with Jace fucking Dillinger.

  ****

  Natalia woke up to a shifting between her legs that nearly made her shoot off the bed. The alarm only succeeded in jamming a violent headache right between her eyes. With a groan, she collapsed back onto a floppy pillow. “Ugh, what the hell…?” she began, but stopped when she heard a soft chuckle. “What time is it?” she muttered, gasping when she felt that shift rub nicely against her folds, making her sigh out gently.

  “Five AM,” she heard, and when she peeked out from under her arm, she noticed that the daylight entering the dank and unfamiliar room was dim and soft. Her eyes landed on a single hand, tracing around between her legs and working her up. “Relax, Nat. Just helping you with that hangover.”

  “What a gentleman,” she murmured, but found that he had a point. Orgasms supposedly were a pretty sweet cure for nasty headaches. She blinked once before dropping a hand to stop his ministrations. “Did you just call me Nat?” she asked, and when she turned around, she was faced by curious green eyes.

  And it all hit her like a ton of bricks.

  She had slept with a guy not twenty-four hours since her arrival, and now she was in the idiot’s bed. When the hell did she get so careless? Thoroughly put off, she shoved him off of her, turning her body away from his gaze as she stood in search of her clothes.