Marked at Midnight--Mark of the Dragon, Book 1

by Claire Conrad

  “Yes.”

  I kissed him again. “Forever?”

  “If you’ll forgive us. We should have been there. Should have protected you.” He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine, just as Iavo had done. But this was Zach, and where Iavo was power and dominance, Zach was gentle and made me feel safe.

  “There’s nothing to forgive.”

  His eyes closed, as if my words hurt him. “We will kill the one who hurt you, love. I swear it. No one will ever hurt you again.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” The voice barked at Zach like a drill sergeant, but my man didn’t even flinch.

  “I am caring for my wife.”

  “I just took you to the waiting room. Again.” I peeked around Zach’s shoulder to see a very frazzled young man in nurse’s scrubs glaring at both of us. “How did you get back in here?” The nurse’s gaze dropped to Zach’s shirt, and the confusion in his eyes intensified. “And weren’t you wearing a t-shirt a minute ago? Dark blue?”

  Zach’s gaze met mine and I burst into laughter. “You better go,” I whispered.

  Zach kissed me gently on the lips. “Iavo will be able to hear you now, if you need him. We will be close.”

  “Okay.” I nodded and kissed him one more time before he got up and walked past the stunned nurse with a grin on his face nearly identical to Iavo’s.

  No wonder the poor man was so confused.

  Stifling a smile, I finished unwrapping the bandage around the splint and the thing fell to the floor with a loud thud.

  The nurse swung back around. “No! You shouldn’t—”

  He stopped mid-sentence as I flexed and straightened my arm, testing it out.

  No pain. Nothing. Even the skin was perfect.

  I was so going to make this up to Iavo. Maybe with my mouth around his cock. Or giving him total access to my body for hours. Days. Whatever he wanted. I was getting wet and achy just thinking about it.

  “Doctor Wethers? I think you need to come back in here.” The nurse turned and left as I reached up to take the annoying neck stabilizer off. I felt like my neck was on stilts.

  I had the thing in my lap and was working on my thigh when the doctor, whose voice I recognized as the kind man who’d helped me when I first arrived, walked into the room with the nurse right behind him.

  “Brittany? What is going on here? What are doing? Radiology is on the way. You shouldn’t be moving.”

  I smiled. “I’m fine, Doctor. Really. I think I was just in shock and overreacting to everything. Everything hurt when I came in, but I think it was more mental than anything. You know?” Lifting my healed leg, I pulled the hard board-like splint from beneath it and held it out for the nurse.

  He looked at the doctor who stepped forward, took the splint, handed it off to the nurse, and proceeded to examine me all over again.

  “I don’t understand.” He turned to the nurse. “Do we have any x-rays we can look at? Anything?”

  The nurse looked down at the computer tablet in his hand. “No. Just the lab, and that was mostly normal.”

  I didn’t want more needles. More tests. I wanted to go home and be with my men, make sure Iavo was all right. “I’d like to go now. Can you get this IV out of me?” I held my good arm out to the nurse. He looked to the doctor for permission. The doctor nodded with a shrug.

  “All right. I can’t explain what just happened, but I did a full examination and you appear to be perfectly healthy.”

  I winced as the plastic thing came out of my vein and the nurse put cotton over it for me to hold in place as he grabbed the tape. “So, I can go?”

  “I’ll have then get the discharge paperwork started.”

  “Thanks, Doctor. I really just want to go home and sleep.”

  He raised a brow and I could see a dozen questions in his intelligent gaze, so I pasted on my dumb-blonde smile and blinked like there wasn’t a thought in my silly, little head.

  He wasn’t buying it, but he did leave me alone. As soon as the nurse was done with IV torture, I looked around. “Where are my clothes?”

  The nurse brought them to me and placed them in my lap. They’d been cut off my body. But in addition to that, they were ripped and torn, covered in blood. God, how the hell had I survived that?

  I must have paled because the nurse put his hand on my back and leaned in to make sure I didn’t topple over. “You sure you feel all right? We can run more tests.”

  “I’m fine.” I was, but there was no way in hell I was going home in these. “Are there some surgical scrubs or something I can borrow to wear home? I really don’t want to put those back on.”

  He smiled. He was young, handsome, and had kind eyes. But he watched me like he expected answers, and I wasn’t about to give them to him. “Can you tell me what really happened here?”

  “Just a mix-up. I must have panicked. I’m sorry to be a bother.”

  “Panic, huh?”

  When I remained silent, he sighed.

  “I’m not supposed to do this, but I don’t blame you. I’d burn them, if I were you. You should be dead right now.”

  And that was the understatement of the year.

  We were back at the cabin. We’d called a taxi at the hospital and it took me and Zach working together to get Iavo into bed. Turned out a dragon was damn heavy in his human form.

  That was twenty-four hours ago and he hadn’t moved.

  Zach and I were both showered, rested, well fed…and worried.

  “How long is he going to be like this?” I asked. I was lying next to Iavo in bed, my leg thrown over his, my arm around his waist. I wanted him to know I was there.

  “I don’t know. He’s never been this close to the edge before.”

  “The edge?” I’d heard the odd note in Zach’s voice. The worry. “What edge? Dying? You mean he could die because he healed me?” That was not acceptable. No.

  Rather than lie to me, Zach turned away, which made me want to scream at both of them.

  “Why? Why would he do that?” I buried my face in his shoulder, trying to get closer. “That’s stupid. You don’t even know me.”

  “You are our mate, Brittany. Without you, we would not survive. You are our life now. Our beating heart. We are yours.”

  I shook my head and glared at him. “I don’t understand. We just met. This is stupid.”

  It is our way, mate. You were mine the moment I saw you.

  “Iavo!” I leapt up so that I was on my knees, looking down at him. “You’re awake? Can you hear me? Talk to me.”

  Zach came to sit on his other side on the bed and my mate, my dragon, opened his golden eyes to stare at me. They were glowing, like they were on fire from the inside. Zach grinned. “The queen decide to take mercy on you?”

  Finally. Yes. She does not appreciate when her sons borrow power without permission.

  “Borrow power? Like magic?”

  The queen helped heal you, Brittany. I could not have done it alone. Your wounds were extensive and I was weak from our battle.

  “You could have died, you stubborn fool.” Zach’s voice was gruff and I understood the sentiment very well.

  “Don’t do that again, Iavo. I mean it. Let the doctors take care of me next time. I would have been just fine.”

  There will be no next time, mate. The Riven dies today. His voice was fierce. Protective. And I loved him all the more for it.

  Leaning over, I kissed him. Hard. Deep. With all the longing I felt. I needed them to make me forget the last two days of hell. Of pain. Of worry. I needed to feel alive.

  When Iavo was panting for breath, his hand on my hip, exploring the curve of my ass, I lifted my head and reached for Zach, pulling him toward me so I could kiss him as well. They were both mine. I understood that now in a way I hadn’t before. Two halves of a whole. That’s how I’d begun thinking of them, and now I knew it to be true.

  “Hmm…” Zach moaned, his deep voice reverberating in my ears. His eyes narrowed again. “Be c
areful. You’re still very weak.”

  Smiling, I stood next to the bed and quickly stripped naked. “I’ll show you weak, dragon rider.”

  Before I could even process what was happening, Zach was on top of me on the bed, his legs on either side of my waist as he straddled me. He was bent at the waist, his hands now wrapped around my wrists. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine before pulling away without a kiss.

  “Oh, no,” Zach said. “I don’t think so. Not yet.”

  He leaned forward and then lightly kissed my cheeks, and then my forehead. With Zach occupying my attention span, I hadn’t had time to wonder what had happened to Iavo. I gasped when Iavo’s hands wrapped around my ankles as he pulled my legs apart.

  Zach raised my hands up over my head and lowered his lips so they brushed over mine. “I want you to stay right there, just like this. You’re not allowed to move your hands from that spot. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  Zach moved to sit at the foot of the bed next to Iavo. I watched as Zach took hold of my other leg, massaging it. They both stared into my eyes and studied me as they slowly moved their way up my legs. When they reached my thighs, they leaned over and began placing kisses on them. With as synchronized as their mouths were, I knew they were communicating with telepathy. It was cheating, but I loved it. That was the kind of teamwork I could get used to.

  The guys moved my legs up and out so they bent at the knees, spreading me open wider, my wet core on display. They took turns, placing open-mouthed kisses on my knees before slowly licking me all the way to the top, carefully missing what I needed most and stopping in the sensitive juncture between hip and thigh. I was caught between painful need and glorious pleasure.

  I fought the urge to beg them for what I really wanted with every teasing kiss. I forced my hands to still by my head as I watched them move across my stomach and up to my breasts. I felt like screaming, but didn’t want to risk them stopping.

  Instead, I did my best to relax, watching their every move, biting my lip when the urge to beg became too much. My body flushed as my temperature rose with every lick, every kiss.

  Zach pulled my right nipple into his mouth, earning a loud moan from me while Iavo positioned himself between my legs. Zach nibbled and played with it while my mind raced, thinking of what was about to happen.

  “Please!” I said. The word bubbled out. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

  “Please what, gorgeous?” Zach asked.

  “Please don’t stop. I need you. Both of you. Please… Just—don’t stop.”

  At that moment, Iavo shoved my legs apart once again before leaning in and taking a long, slow lick of me. I nearly growled, my head falling back as I lifted my hips to meet his gifted mouth while Zach continued massaging and tasting my breasts.

  “Is that what you wanted?” Zach asked.

  “Yes!” I cried out.

  Iavo pulled away long enough to slide a finger deep inside of me, earning another growl from me, his toy.

  “Please, let me use my hands,” I pleaded. “I want to touch you.”

  Zach smiled and pulled off his shirt. My hand was immediately on his hot skin, touching every curve of his hard chest and tight stomach. I focused on the way Iavo’s tongue felt with its every flick against me. Iavo slid a second finger inside me, stretching me open, fucking me slowly as he sucked and flicked at the sensitive nub. You’re mine. This pussy is mine.

  “Yes.” There was no denying it, not with both of them surrounding me, touching me, making me forget anything else existed.

  The pleasure was too much. I tugged at Zach’s pants, trying to get them undone. He laughed at my enthusiasm and helped me.

  In moments, his cock was freed from his jeans and in my hand. Iavo’s fingers pressed hard against my g-spot as his lips encircled my clit and he sucked me into his mouth, flicking his tongue over my clit like it was ice cream.

  My hand tightened into a hard fist around Zach’s length and my breath caught in my throat.

  I cried out as Iavo played me like an instrument and my body arched off the bed as my orgasm rushed through me. Zach moved closer and my mouth closed over him, a growl of his own escaping his throat.

  My pussy still in spasm, Iavo lifted my hips from the bed and filled me with his cock in one hard, deep stroke. I whimpered with need as he worked his huge cock in and out, pounding into my body, prolonging my orgasm until it seemed to go on and on.

  The vibrations coming from my throat, the hard suction I had on Zach’s cock made him arch his back and press deeper, hitting the back of my throat as I swallowed him down, rubbed the sensitive bundle of nerves under his length as hard and fast as I could. His pleasure-induced sounds only pushed me on, driving me wild. I tightened my lips around him and moved my tongue against his solid shaft as I sucked.

  The wilder Iavo became, the more I lost my mind, my focus, pouring my energy into making Zach as mindless with pleasure as I.

  Unable to maintain his position, he collapsed over me on all fours while I moaned both from the need to taste more of him and from Iavo’s skill. Though Zach’s arms were shaking, he put all of his weight on one while the other hand moved to massage my breasts. He plucked and rolled my nipples, timing the movements to Iavo’s thrusting.

  Zach pulled away from me with a shout, taking his cock from my mouth as I gasped. Iavo thrust deep. Hard.

  His cock pulsed inside me like a wild thing and my pussy walls were so swollen and achy I could feel the slightest shift, the bucking of his shaft as he filled me with heat. His eyes glowed so brightly the room was lit with a golden glow.

  “You’re so beautiful.” The words burst out of me, but Zach groaned and dropped down for a kiss, claiming my mouth with his, exploring me with his tongue. Branding me as Iavo filled me with a fire that had my back arching off the bed.

  My orgasm started in my toes, building, filling me up until I screamed as Iavo pumped in and out of my pussy, his cries mingled with mine.

  I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. I was surrounded my men and heat and pleasure.

  Zach had barely taken his mouth away when I was flipped over onto my stomach and pulled up on all fours. Iavo moved to the head of the bed and laid on his side, lounging like a lazy cat. He looked well pleased. Very satisfied.

  Happy.

  I crawled forward so I could kiss him. I wanted his mouth. But as I moved to touch him, Iavo buried his fingers in my hair and held me still, so close the heat of his breath fanned my lips. He held me, his grip unforgiving, and his silent command to hold still, to wait, was so hot I had to close my eyes to hold back a cry of pleasure. My eyes popped open as Zach entered me from behind, slowly. His hands were on my ass, pulling my pussy open for his invading cock, holding me open for his pleasure.

  They had gotten very good at keeping me distracted enough to surprise me—and it only added to the intensity. I cried out as he pulled back and filled me with a fast, unexpected thrust.

  It took a lot of work to steady myself on my arms while Zach filled me from behind, his hips slamming hard into me with every thrust. His large size coupled with the strength he used to fuck me, I knew that it wouldn’t take long to send me over again.

  I pulled against the fingers tangled in my hair. I wanted Iavo’s mouth. Hungered to taste his chest. The heated skin of his neck. His mouth.

  My dragon shook his head and held my gaze. I want to watch you fuck him.

  Iavo watched. He noticed the way my breasts swayed beneath me as Zach’s hard thrusts rocked me forward. He watched my eyes glaze with lust when Zach lifted his hands to my shoulders and used them for momentum to fuck me even harder. I would have fallen forward, my body suddenly weak from how good he felt, but Iavo held me up, one hand in my hair, the other on my chest to steady me.

  Iavo wrapped his fingers in my hair and pulled me up far enough that he could kiss me. Finally. I moaned into his mouth as Zach fucked me relentlessly, his heavy breathing matching mine.
My entire body began to shudder as another orgasm began to take me.

  Come for him. Iavo ordered. Come now, but look at me. I want to see your eyes when you come all over his cock.

  I could only respond with a nod as I felt my release building to something so monstrous I was afraid I’d lost control of my body. Collapse. Scream. Faint.

  “Oh my god.”

  Iavo held my stare as Zach shocked me. One hand disappeared from my shoulder and landed with a sharp slap on my clit.

  I screamed, my body lost. I didn’t exist anymore, not alone. They were part of me and I was part of them. Mine.

  I didn’t fight the spasms that shook me, or the intense aftershocks that I felt with every fast thrust of Zach’s bucking cock as he filled me with his seed.

  The slight sting of Iavo’s hand in my hair held me steady, kept me from disappearing into a million shiny stars in the cosmos. Without him, I would have disappeared.

  When it was over, Iavo finally released me, pulling me forward so that Zach’s cock slipped free of my wet heat and my head rested on his chest. His heart beat at an odd pace, too slow and too loud to be human.

  When he shifted onto his side and Zach slid into place behind me, I knew I was in love. I had no idea what was going to happen to the three of us, but at the moment, I didn’t care.

  Sleep, love. I will keep you safe.

  Iavo’s deep voice slipped inside my head as if he’d been speaking to me this way my entire life. It was intimate, and odd, and I loved the way he felt inside me. Like he belonged.

  Zach shifted behind me, his arm wrapping around my waist from behind to cup my breast. He was mine, too, and his touch felt as perfect as Iavo’s words had. “Sleep, mate, Iavo will take first watch.” He lifted his head for a second to look at his dragon. “Wake me up in four hours.”

  Sleep.

  I laughed. “He’s going to ignore you, Zach.”

  Zach chuckled and kissed me on the back of the neck. “What else is new?”

  I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

  Chapter 10

  Brittany