by Marcy Jacks
His dick was still hard, and he could have gone for another round, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything since Marxus was awesome and he always had great stamina.
He’d felt a thumping in his heart, but that could also be explained away by the fact that the sex had been good, and the way Zane moaned his name had been positively awesome.
The pull he’d felt toward Zane, on the other hand…
That one was a little harder to explain away.
Marxus sighed, heading for the door. Whatever. There was no point in dwelling too much on this anyway. Zane was gone, and it was clear something had spooked him.
Maybe he just hadn’t expected to have his world rocked quite that much. That could be a strain on anyone who was new to the art of dragon lovemaking.
Marxus would give it a couple of days. If Zane came to him, like Marxus expected he would, then it would only prove what Marxus already thought.
He just didn’t know whether or not he wanted to be proven right on this one.
Fuck, now he had to get the pool cleaned up. How did people clean pools?
* * * *
Zane didn’t want to say he freaked out, but it was kind of possible that maybe that was exactly what happened. He sure as hell ran back to his room fast enough. The house was already starting to wake up. Omegas walked around, chatting in groups as they set about getting their breakfasts and drinking their morning coffees.
All things they never would have been doing had Varrick still been in the house.
Some of them looked at Zane as he ran, shock in their eyes, as if they hadn’t expected to see him flying like a bat out of hell through the halls.
Those were the omegas who clearly recognized him, who were unsure about him, and he needed to get away from them. Their stares didn’t help, didn’t alleviate the strange situation he’d found himself in as one of the guys who used to have to rat them out to the big vampire boss if they were ever caught slacking off.
He hadn’t wanted to ever do it, and he’d tried to only do it if they’d been caught stealing food or napping whenever there were other vampires in the area with him.
Otherwise, he let it slide and told them to get back to work. He hadn’t wanted anyone to be punished.
Though he supposed that, no matter how nice he tried to be about it, it didn’t make much of a difference for the people who were only now learning how to read and write, who were starting to dream about going to school, and maybe, one day, leaving this house and entering the real world.
If there was a hell, Zane was probably going to go to it, but right now, as he locked his door behind him and immediately hopped back into bed, throwing the covers over his body as if he were a child hiding from the monsters under the bed, he was pretty much already there.
A hell of his own making. It was kind of fitting if he really stopped to think about it.
The worst part about it was he couldn’t stop thinking about what Marxus’s skin felt like. Flesh and dragons scales, all of it wrapped tightly around powerful muscle that had held him tightly. Chest to chest, inside him, moving, thrusting.
Zane rubbed his hands down his face. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. What the man had smelled like. What he’d sounded like, what his tongue had tasted like in Zane’s mouth.
The worst part about it all was Zane was still hard. His cock pulsed between his legs. He spread his thighs a little to ease the ache but then immediately after wished he hadn’t done that at all. It just made it worse. So much worse.
“Fuck,” he huffed.
Zane’s heart was still pounding. He couldn’t seem to make it stop. He wanted to stop thinking about the feel and smell of the man who had just been inside him, but it was difficult to not think about how that had felt when he was still burning from the sex.
Burning in the best possible way.
Even when he didn’t think about him, Zane was thinking about him. If he somehow managed to get Marxus out of his head, then it didn’t matter because his cock and balls were already so…
Sensitive.
Zane gritted his teeth. He reached down and pushed his shorts back over his hips. He’d already soaked his bed by being enough of a dumbass to jump in when his clothes were still sopping wet, so it might not be all that obvious when he had to get the sheets immediately washed after this.
It had to be a dragon thing. Josh had mentioned something about this after he’d mated with Dimitri. It was weird to think about since Josh was his brother, but the other man had basically admitted that he’d wanted sex all day, every day, and it had been a need his body had been unable to easily give up.
Zane wrapped his fingers around his cock. He didn’t want to do too much, but he soon found his grip intensifying. He couldn’t remember exactly when the last time had been that he’d needed to get off more than one time in a single day, but this was definitely going to be one of those days.
And if this was something Marxus was doing to him to force a mating, then the man had another thing coming. The need to fuck didn’t mean there was anything there, and Zane was going to power through this if it was the last thing he did.
* * * *
Two days. Wow, that little shithead of a human knew how to hang on for as long as possible.
Marxus had started to get a little antsy yesterday at just after noon. More than antsy. Three cold showers weren’t enough to make his dick settle down, and this was getting painful.
Okay, so this wasn’t just lust. This was something more, something deeper, something important, and Marxus was starting to regret ever looking at the human in the first place.
Especially if it meant he had to deal with this.
Marxus kept the collar of his shirt open. Not too deep where it became obvious what he was doing but just enough so that he could breathe a little easier. He wasn’t going to let himself fly apart because of this, and he didn’t want the heat of the air around him to make him start sweating through his clothes.
That was too gross. Didn’t help that the air conditioner had broken down yesterday and no one noticed until late last night when everyone started to wonder why in the hell it was so damned hot.
He made it to the dining room where Seth liked to host his meetings.
Made sense. Combine food with a long table where all the warriors could sit around and make plans and that was the only thing Marxus needed.
What he didn’t expect was to get there and see Josh and Zane both standing near Seth. They were clearly discussing something, and Dimitri held a drink as he leaned along the side wall, glaring at his mate in a way that was very unlike him.
Marxus walked over to the man. “What’s going on?”
He needed to talk to someone if he wanted to keep his eyes off of Zane. Even looking at the human right now was sending all kinds of signals to his brain that were kind of inconvenient in that moment.
Dimitri took a swig from his glass. Some deep-colored wine, no doubt from one of Varrick’s storage units in the basement. He nodded toward his mate. “Those two have been plotting and planning some shit that I’m not too happy with.”
The immediate rise inside himself to defend Zane from accusations sprang up, and Marxus quickly squashed it down.
“Oh yeah? Planning what?”
Might as well find out what Zane was up to if he was going to have to suffer the man’s neglect.
“They want to join us in the field.” Dimitri took another drink from his glass then set it down hard enough on one of the side tables that it was a small miracle the glass didn’t smash in his hand.
“The field, huh?” Marxus glanced over to the three men. He strained his ears, but it was difficult to hear what Seth was saying to them since the other dragons in the room wouldn’t shut the hell up.
They were all off in their own little groups, chatting it up as if this was a social and not the sort of meeting required to figure out the best ways of taking care of the house, the omegas inside, and moving forward with their lives.<
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Not everyone would be living in this house for the rest of their lives, after all.
Marxus always liked living with his friends. They were more like his brothers, his family. His clan.
Now that he had a mate, it was time for him to figure out what the correct path would be for both himself and for Zane.
Assuming Zane stopped being a stubborn little fool and finally gave in. When he admitted that he needed Marxus, that would be the sign he needed. That would be all Marxus required to spring on the man, proof that his stubborn human was just as much taken by the mating heat as Marxus was.
From where he stood, it looked like the asshole was cool as a cucumber in a bucket of ice.
He didn’t appear to be struggling with anything, the mating heat, the pull, and he certainly wasn’t stealing glances over here, checking on what Marxus was doing.
Marxus wasn’t sure what annoyed him more. The fact that he was going through the mating heat or that his supposed mate wasn’t being bothered by it at all.
He growled low in his throat.
“You okay? Hey, Marxus?” Dimitri elbowed him in the ribs, snapping Marxus out of it.
Marxus blinked, a stupid feeling washing over him as he realized he’d hadn’t been paying attention to a damned word Dimitri had been saying after their conversation ended.
“Uh, sorry.”
“A little distracted or what?” Dimitri suddenly looked a lot less pissed off than he had a minute ago as he turned his attention over to where the two humans and one dragon stood.
He raised his brows and then glanced knowingly back at Marxus. “See something you like or what?”
Marxus looked away from the man, feigning annoyance. “It’s nothing like that. Don’t get any ideas.”
“Better not be anything like that,” Dimitri said, a low, dangerous growl suddenly taking over the tone of his voice. “Because if you even think about getting any feelings for my mate, I might have to kick your ass.”
Marxus’s eyes popped wide. He sputtered. “Josh?”
Dimitri kept glaring at him for what had to be at least another half a minute before he suddenly burst out laughing then reached out and slapped Marxus on the shoulder. “Relax, relax. I know you’re not looking at him.”
Marxus breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t do that to me.”
“Do what? Unless you think Josh isn’t a catch?”
Marxus glared harder at the man. “Now I know you’re being an idiot.”
Josh was clearly a good-looking man, and it was easy for Marxus to admit to that since Josh was Zane’s younger brother. They looked alike.
They’d both also had hard lives growing up. Marxus didn’t know the details, but Dimitri had let a couple of things slip over drinks. Every man needed to get some things off his chest from time to time, but then it got Marxus really thinking about this and what it could all mean.
Maybe Zane was keeping his distance because there was something about this, other than the fact that Marxus was a dragon, that freaked him out?
Marxus never knew his parents. They’d been killed when he’d just been in his egg, so he didn’t know what it was like to lose them.
Maybe something about his upbringing made him want to fight against this. Maybe it made him want to ignore what was so clearly right there in front of their faces.
Fuck. This might be something Marxus was going to have to work around.
“Did Zane do something to piss you off?” Dimitri asked, sounding suddenly serious.
Marxus clenched his hands into fists. “A little.”
“Want me to kick his ass?”
“What? No!”
Dimitri raised his hands, as though surrendering the idea. “All right, all right. I was just offering.”
“He’s your mate’s brother. Why would you offer something like that?”
Dimitri shrugged. “Dunno, in case he was hurting you, but I would also hope that if I had to beat the hell out of someone close to my mate that you wouldn’t tell Josh about it either.”
Marxus narrowed his eyes at Dimitri, really looking at him and searching the words he’d just said for anything out of the ordinary.
Nope. He’d sounded perfectly serious, which was how Marxus knew he was completely full of shit.
He snorted, shaking his head. “Okay, whatever. Just don’t go saying stuff like that out loud. Joke or no joke, your mate will put you on the couch.”
“Nah, I make jokes like that all the time around Josh.”
“You do?”
“Of course, he’s my best friend.”
Marxus nearly opened his mouth to make a bit of a joke of his own, mainly about how he’d thought he was Dimitri’s best friend.
He wasn’t. He didn’t know who Dimitri’s best friend had been before Josh, and Marxus’s best friend had been Al. He was dead now. Still, it was interesting to hear Dimitri speak so openly about his mate, to be so comfortable.
“Must be nice,” he said, leaning along the wall next to him, crossing his arms, and glancing up at the other dragons around the room.
Lucian had his arm around Sorin’s shoulder. Both men looked content, more as if they’d just gone through a heavy battle and survived, rather than the honeymooning Seth usually bestowed upon his own mate, Miles.
Miles was currently putting out platters of food with Micah. And Stefan held the heaviest trays, though it was clear he was hovering over Micah. The man was a heavily pregnant omega, due any day now, and even Marxus was getting anxious for when it would happen.
He’d had to ask the other omegas how they gave birth when it came out that Micah was expecting.
For dragons, whether it was male or female, there were eggs involved. The eggs started off small, small enough for both male and female dragons to spit up through their throats.
The eggs got progressively bigger as time went on before the hatching happened and a brand spanking new baby dragon was born.
Omegas weren’t dragons. They were animals. More warm-blooded.
It gave Marxus all kinds of gross ideas about where the kid was supposed to come from.
Then he found out. When Micah knew it was time to give birth, he would shift into his wolf shape. It would be a female wolf. He would give birth like that, nurse, and after a few days, turn back into a human. His wolf and human form would be male again, and his child, or children, would also become human when their bearer turned.
Then they'd have to whip out the baby formula.
Stefan was probably going to have to be taken out of the birthing room to boil water or some shit. Marxus could already tell he was going to be one of those sorts of fathers who would just get in the way if he weren’t taken out of the equation. He might even pass out.
Actually, that was a great reason to keep the other man as close as possible to Micah when the time came. Watching the second-in-command of the dragons pass out while his mate gave birth would be hilarious and definitely funny enough to record on his phone.
He looked to Zane and was stunned when the human quickly glanced away from him.
Marxus blinked. Had he really just caught his mate stealing a glance at him?
Holy God, that was awesome. Better than awesome. He’d been waiting for that sign to come and now it was there.
Better than that, it appeared as if both humans weren’t about to get what they wanted out of Seth. The man shook his head, looking very much fed up with the questions that were being hoisted onto him, and he stepped away from both Josh and Zane to join Miles.
“Looks like you just dodged a bullet there,” Marxus said to Dimitri.
“Yeah, you, too.”
Marxus tensed. Dimitri grinned at him then pushed himself off the wall to go and see to his mate, probably to comfort him for not getting what he’d wanted.
Marxus glared the entire time at the back of the idiot’s head.
He didn’t need Dimitri’s shit. Marxus just had to wait his mate out, and eventually Zane would come to him.
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That simple. There was no need for either of them to be going through this kind of suffering.
He stayed right where he was. Much as Marxus wanted to go over to his mate and casually ask what had been going on, tell him it was all right, and maybe invite the man back up to Marxus’s room, where they could have a repeat of what they’d done in the pool, he stayed absolutely still.
Marxus was the alpha in this relationship. He was the one who was going to get the better of Zane. Zane would come to him, and when he did, he would be begging for Marxus to put him out of his misery.
That was going to be a great damned day when it happened.
Until then, Marxus needed a drink. He grabbed a free glass on the side table and went to the metal tub of ice containing the wine bottles. He wished there was a proper brandy here, but he was going to take what he could get while he could get it. At least for now.
“All right, guys, the food’s here. Everyone take a seat,” Seth said.
“Should we leave?” Miles asked, standing next to Micah, neither man appearing to know what to do.
Sometimes Seth had them stay. Other times he had them go.
No one really knew yet what the proper protocol was for the omega mate of the alpha. Or any of the mates, for that matter.
Josh and Zane might be human, and they might not have the strength that Marxus or any of the other dragons had, but they were still warriors in their own right, and they could be deadly with the right kinds of weapons in their hands.
It was obvious that kicking either of those two out might be an insult now that they were being more accepted into the clan.
“No, stay,” Seth said finally. “I’ve had a good think about this, and you’re my mate. I need you by my side. The other omegas in the house will also have an easier time listening to you, Micah, Jesse, and pretty much anyone mated to one of us. It’ll be better for people we trust to pass this information along to the rest of the house.”
Seth accented this point by pulling out a chair for his mate. One on his left. Stefan sat on Seth’s right, as the second-in-command, but before he did, he pulled out the seat to the right of him for his mate, gently tucking him into the table.
