She stood and came right for the shifter. She hugged him and then stepped back. “Irish, you look like shit.”
“Aye,” said the shifter. “I feel like it, too.”
She smiled, but Ezra could tell she was fighting tears.
“He’ll be fine, Sweet Pea,” he said. “I promise to look after him.”
She lifted a brow.
“Holland, are you aware that your man has had more medical training than I can even begin to think to add up?” asked Russell. “Donnan is in good hands.”
She snorted. “No offense, Russell, but I didn’t know you counted anything more than your sexual conquests.”
He laughed. “I try not to.”
Holland focused on the shifter. “Donnan, huh? You look more like a Donnan than a Donnie, Irish.”
Donnan grunted. “And you look like you’re still up to no good.”
“Story of her life,” said Ezra as they carried the man from the factory.
Chapter Fourteen
Ezra watched Holland as she slept. She looked so peaceful in the safe house bed that he didn’t want to wake her. They’d left the factory with the rest of Russell’s team, and they’d decided it was for the best to use one of Ezra’s safe houses in the area.
They’d gotten in late and Ezra had worked for a few hours, stabilizing Donnan and making sure the shifter would be able to then heal on his own. Holland had barely been standing by that point, she was so tired.
He’d insisted on hooking an IV to her and giving her fluids, despite her protests. He didn’t care how fine she thought she was, he was going to take care of her.
Period.
Though he couldn’t get the dirty thoughts of wanting to bed her from his head. She was so close, lying next to him in the bed where she’d spent the remainder of the night resting, that he wanted to touch her. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to sink into her depths. She needed rest. His mate needed to be cared for, not fucked.
Not yet, anyway.
His mate.
The words rolled around in his head and he savored them, liking the way they sounded. The odds had been stacked against him ever finding the one person who had been created for him. With as long as he’d been alive, he would have thought he wasn’t going to be blessed.
He was so very wrong.
As soon as she was fully rested he planned to seal the deal and claim her proper.
Unable to control the need to make some form of contact with Holland, he lifted a portion of her damp hair. The entire time she’d showered, he’d imagined what it would look like to see her naked body under the stream of water. His cock hardened at the thought once more. With a groan, he tried to get comfortable on the bed as he lay next to her, committing every inch of her he could to memory.
She was so fucking beautiful that simply looking at her made his insides feel like a fish was flopping around in him. He wrapped her hair around his finger and drew in her scent. He loved the way she smelled.
You love her.
He would have questioned the emotion, but he knew better. She was his mate—born for him to love and cherish. The people in charge had a plan and they apparently didn’t want alpha males thinking too hard, or the men would risk the chance of fucking it up.
Ezra leaned and took another deep breath. He closed his eyes, savoring her scent. His cock ached for release, but he didn’t dare wake her.
When her fingers skimmed his bare chest, his gaze snapped open. She was grinning seductively at him as he smelled her and toyed with her hair.
“Having fun?” she asked.
He made a move to release her hair, but his fingers got caught in it. “Uh, I swear this is less creepy than it probably looks. At least I think it is, anyway.”
“Well, Newt, you would, since you’re the one currently trying to braid my hair,” she said with a grin.
“I’m not trying to…” He stopped and realized she was kidding. Leaning, he kissed the tip of her nose. “You didn’t sleep for very long. Get some rest, Sweet Pea.”
She watched him quietly for a bit and then snorted. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you at the club. I mean, on some level I think I did, but I thought you’d be older—you know, that you’d have aged. And when I first met you, your head was shaved and you didn’t have facial hair.”
“Prefer that look?” he asked, ready and willing to cut his hair all off again. Screw his preferences. If she liked him better with short hair, it was gone.
Holland smiled. “I like your hair like this. I really like the beard on you, and the long hair. But I liked you without it all, too. Pretty much, I think you’re sexy no matter what you’re rocking there, stud.”
Ezra touched her temple. He could see evidence of an injury, though it was faded. “Which one of them hurt you?”
“That would be Donnie, but it wasn’t his fault,” she added quickly. “He passed out from blood loss while driving fast. The car flipped a few times. I banged my head a good one.”
Ezra sucked in a deep breath. “You were in a car that flipped several times?”
Nodding, she ran her fingers over his chest once more. “Uh-huh, and before that, two bombs went off and I was pretty much on top of those. Then I got shot at. Then I was thrown in a padded room.” She went quiet, her gaze moving downward. “The padded cell wasn’t something I wanted to have happen again. I kind of hate being put in those. I don’t like small spaces.”
His dragon wanted to break free and kill something. Anything. It wanted to avenge his mate’s pain. In an attempt to lighten the mood and keep his dragon in check, Ezra made a joke. “Been in a lot of those, have you?”
Holland stopped touching him and made a move to get off the bed.
“Baby, no,” he said, catching her arm lightly and holding her in place. “What’s wrong? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
A fake, thin smile pressed across her face. “No. You’re fine. Are you hungry? I’m starving.”
“I had food brought up. It’s on the table,” he said, still holding her in place. “Holland, talk to me. Please.”
She ran her hand down his arm and then laced her fingers through his. “It wasn’t my first time in a padded cell.”
Not following, Ezra lifted her hand and kissed the back of it gently. He didn’t speak and he didn’t question her. He waited for her to offer more.
She did. “Remember when you told me not to talk about you turning into a lizard? And not to talk about how I didn’t burn, or to discuss demons?”
A sinking feeling washed over him. “Holland.”
“I talked about it all.” A lone tear fell down her cheek. “And I refused to listen to them when they told me it was my imagination and shock.”
Ezra understood what she was saying. She’d been locked away because of what he’d shown her he could do. Because of him, she’d suffered. He bent and kissed the tear away before drawing her tight against his chest. He held her to him and ran his hands through her long hair. “I’m so sorry. I should have never left you at that hospital. You begged me to stay. I should have.”
“I made it out the other side stronger for it all,” she said against his chest. She lifted her head, her gaze meeting his. “And really, in the end, I was right. You totally are real and a lizard man.”
Ezra kissed her forehead. “Sweet Pea, I’m not a lizard-shifter.”
“I saw scales on you, didn’t I?” The waver in her voice stabbed him in the gut.
He hated that she was second-guessing herself. “You did. But not lizard scales.”
Her eyes widened. “Ohmygod, you’re a fish-shifter? Cool and gross.”
Ezra snorted. “I’m not a fish-shifter.”
She lifted a brow. “You’re not an armadillo-shifter, are you?”
“Painfully clear that I’m going to have to keep sugar away from you, aren’t I? And no. I don’t know anyone who shifts into…wait, scratch that. I actually did know a guy once who was one. He only came out at night, ha
d serious issues keeping a garden, and couldn’t drive a car because oncoming headlights made him jumpy.”
Holland grinned. “I give up. What are you?”
“A dragon.”
Her mouth popped open. “Shut the front door!”
“It’s true.”
“Badass, Newt. Totally badass.”
Laughing, Ezra rolled over on top of his mate. He liked the feel of her under him. He was careful not to put too much pressure on her. He wasn’t a small guy. He didn’t want to break her. He waggled his brows, and then he shifted partially, scales forming over his upper arms and chest.
Holland’s eyes widened as she touched the scales. She gasped. “You did this at the nightclub, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “I tried to fight the urge that night, but it was too strong. I ended up fully shifting forms the second I hit the alley.”
She touched his chin. “I thought you just ran out on me. That you didn’t want me. That you regretted what happened between us.”
He wished he could go back and do it again. That he could be the man she wanted. But he couldn’t erase history. “I’m so fucking sorry, Holland.”
She smiled up at him. “Don’t be.”
“I wanted to claim you. Do you understand what that means?” he asked, guessing she didn’t.
She shook her head.
He settled his body between her legs, and she opened them wider for him. He was thankful he’d put his jeans on after his shower or he’d already be in her. Already, his cock was hard and pressing against her. He’d have never refrained himself if he was skin-to-skin with her. “We’re not human. You know that. Claiming for us is something that is like marriage, but you can’t take it back. You can’t undo it. Once I claim you, you’re mine forever.”
“Like a sex slave or something?” she asked, her smile wavering.
Ezra sighed. “Well, I’m not going to complain any if you want to make me your sex slave, but no, you wouldn’t be that to me. We’d be husband and wife. A couple. A pair. We more than likely won’t be blessed with children—something that is hard for our kind to have—but we’d be happy, we’d be a mated pair. Not everyone gets a mate.”
Holland slid her hands over his shoulders. “How do we know we’re mates?”
He gave her a knowing look. “Remember how I was buried in you within twenty minutes of meeting you again the night at the club? When you were of an age to be claimed?”
Her cheeks and upper chest stained with pink. It was too adorable for him to pass up, so he bent and showered her cheeks with kisses before talking more. “And remember how you’d been holding onto your virginity until me? How you gave it to me without reservation?”
“Yes.”
“And do you remember me telling you how I wanted to fill you with my seed? That I wanted to mark you as mine? I wanted you to carry my child?”
She nodded.
“Sweet Pea, that wasn’t some sort of fucked-up pillow talk. That was my shifter side making its intentions known. That was your supernatural side dropping your inhibitions and accepting what was fated.”
Her eyes widened. “I begged you not to do it. Begged you not to claim me, didn’t I? I somehow stopped what you’d started back then.”
“You did,” he said, loving being on top of her. “Deep down, you knew that you still needed time to grow as a person—to get to know yourself, and that you weren’t ready for all that being my mate would entail.”
“If you think I’m staying home and making casseroles, you’ve got another think coming,” she said with a wink.
He grinned. “You knew you weren’t ready to be a wife and a mother. That my dragon and the alpha side of me would do anything to have you—anything but go against your express wishes. You asked, it answered, barely giving me time to get away from you. Had I shifted then and there, I’d have scared the hell out of you, and then I would have probably lost control and taken you while I was in shifted form. Holland, that could have seriously hurt you. I’m sure you’ve figured out over the years with the men who came after me that sex can be wild enough without one of the participants being a fully-formed dragon.”
He hated thinking about her with other men, but he’d walked out on her. Granted, it was only to keep from hurting her, and only long enough to gain his composure, but it had looked like he’d abandoned her—again.
First, he’d left her at a hospital as a child, and then when she was an adult, he’d left her naked, alone, covered in his semen, in a nightclub.
He was a real fucking winner.
“Ezra,” she said softly.
He stared down at her and prepared to hear about all the other men who had stepped up to take his place. The men who’d treated her like she should have been treated.
“You’re it.”
He stilled. “I’m what?”
She grinned sheepishly. “You’re the only man I’ve been with.”
She hadn’t made him hold off on claiming her so she could be with other men?
Laughter spilled from her. “Newt, the look on your face is priceless. Be a bit happier. You’re the only dick who’s been in me. And yes, that was a double meaning.”
Unable to hide his joy, even though his mate had just called him a dick, Ezra showered her in kisses. When he got to her mouth, he cupped her face with one hand. “Holland, are you ready for me now? For all of me? For what it will be to join fully with me? I can promise to try to give you more time, but I won’t lie. It will be hard for me. I love you, and I don’t want to spend another minute without you in my life. Too much time has been wasted as it is, but I get that you’re a hell of a lot younger than I am. And from the sounds of it, you’re doing well with the career you’ve picked. I won’t take that from you if you don’t want me to.”
“Newt, you talk a lot,” she said. “Shut up and do me.”
He sighed. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
“Me, too. That was my way of saying I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
She was ready?
He froze above her, and she burst into a fit of giggles.
Ezra lifted his brows. “Sweet Pea?”
“I say do me and you freak out.”
His lips twitched. “I’m a total badass, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Total.”
Kissing her, some of his worry and fear over being rejected by his mate began to fade away. She ran her hands through his hair, and Ezra cranked up their kiss a notch, his cock hardening as he began to move his hips against her.
Holland bit his lower lip and tugged on it, moaning as she did. She then managed to wiggle her way out from under him on the bed.
Ezra reached for her, and she gave a tiny shove to his shoulder. He leaned back, allowing her to do what she wanted. She moved up and over him, her long dark hair falling forward, encasing them in what felt like an intimate wall of privacy. Their gazes locked and she grinned mischievously.
“There is something I want to try first,” she said, dipping her head, nearly kissing his lips.
Ezra stiffened as she slid down him slowly, sprinkling kisses and tiny bites over his chest. As he realized that she was kissing every one of his lash marks, whatever small portion of his heart he’d kept guarded from her melted. Acutely aware that she’d not once told him she loved him, Ezra didn’t care. Her actions showed him how she felt.
She stared up at him, her gaze moist. “Someday, I want to hear the story behind each of these. And someday, I want to kill the person who did this to you.”
He went to speak, but she reached up, putting her fingers to his lips.
“Shh, no. You killed the person who hurt me most in this world.” She winked. “Or, as you like to say, you made him go to sleep.”
Ezra choked back emotions as he watched his woman, above him, so beautiful, so fierce, and yet so full of compassion for him. She’d been worth the long wait—worth the hundreds of years of feeling all alone.
Holland dipped her head, her tongue darting
out and over his lower torso. His breath caught as she slinked her way lower, to the tops of his jeans. With a sexy smile, she sat up more, undoing his jeans and then tugging them down. He wasn’t the type of guy to bother with underwear and had never been a fan of wearing them. His erection sprang forth, brushing her cheek.
He reached for it, trying to tame it while giving his mate what she wanted at the moment—control.
It was something his dragon wasn’t so keen on relinquishing under normal circumstances, but seeing as how her face was near his dick, it was willing to make an exception.
She worked his jeans the rest of the way from him and let them fall to the floor beside the bed. Holland then stood, and pulled off the T-shirt he’d given her to wear. Her breasts bounced as she moved, making him even hornier.
Ezra had to fight to remain in place. He wanted to go to her, lift her, and drive himself into her.
He held back.
It was hard.
Holland gave one tiny tug to the sweatpants he’d given her to wear—that were his, and far too big for her as it was. They fell to the floor, leaving her totally naked before him.
Grabbing his cock once more, Ezra pumped it, his gaze never leaving his mate’s glorious body as she stared at him. “I’m barely hanging on here.”
“Good,” she said with a mischievous grin before sashaying toward him. She climbed onto the bed and then slinked up and over him, far too low for him to drive into her.
He reached for her, his intent to draw her up his body.
Holland took hold of his cock and halted his movements instantly. As she positioned her head above his shaft, his eyes widened. He’d never last if she sucked him off.
She slipped the head of his cock into her mouth, and Ezra closed his eyes tight, needing to concentrate to keep from exploding then and there. He wasn’t proud of his lack of control. He’d always been better than this, but then again, this woman was different—a cut above all the rest.
In a league of her own.
She took him into her mouth more, inch by slow inch, driving him mad with lust in the process. When he dared to open his eyes and look at her there, just over half of his cock in her mouth, the tip going deep into her throat, his balls tightened, and he nearly came.
The Dragon Shifter’s Duty Page 13
