Burn: Dragon Shifter Romance

by Ava Frost

  “You have that big fancy office and you choose to work in the kitchen?” I asked.

  He startled at the sound of my voice then laughed with a little shrug. “A change of scenery helps sometimes.” He tilted the laptop screen towards me in invitation and I sat down. We spent the rest of the night going over the plans he had made for how to slowly and gradually awaken me to my powers, without overdoing it. He promise not to force me to shift again. I promised to do my best.

  Chapter 4

  Weeks passed and I eventually drew the line about having to drive the hour and a half back and forth every day. I would just have to live at the mansion. Orso never invited me, but I was past the point of being polite. There was obviously room for me. I got settled in, more or less, and met a few of the ever revolving group of shifters who belonged to the clan and came and went as they pleased. It didn’t seem like any of them lived at the mansion long term, but it was always available for them if they needed a place to stay.

  “You are one of us.” Orso had said, giving me two keys, the first for the front door and the second for the door to my own room.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I’d never been part of a real family. My adoptive parents were well meaning, but it never felt like they loved me like a daughter. Like a charity case, sure. They were never cruel. But not kin. Not blood. I tried not to get my hopes up that the clan would become my real family, but I couldn’t help but hope a little.

  *******

  “This is taking forever.” I said, exasperated after an hour long meditation where I spent most of the time fidgeting and twitching in my seat.

  “Shhh.” Orso shushed me. “You are making progress.”

  “Am I? What progress? I haven’t shifted again since that first day, so how can I know I will have more control when I do?”

  “You just have to trust the process.” He said with a little smile.

  I sighed. I knew he was right, but it was starting to drive me crazy, all these meditations and mindfulness exercises, and the carefully prepared diet, and the physical training. All day every day. I knew I was basically in boot camp, to catch me up to where I should have been had I grown up with my own kind. But still. It was exhausting. And boring.

  “Can we do the workout now? My butt hurts.” I said, shifting from my cross legged position on the floor.

  He quirked a brow at me but agreed. He coached me through my normal workout. Jogging around the mansion, then weights and jump roping in the basement gym. I was never particularly sporty, but this portion of my training was at least interesting. The endorphin high was nice too, and I always felt good when we were done, even if I could barely walk. When we were done I looked over my shoulder at my butt in the mirror.

  “Things are shaping up. I should thank you.” I said

  “This isn’t a weight loss routine.” He said, plainly checking out my ass as well, with an appreciative glint in his eye.

  “You might consider it. Not that you need the extra income. Maybe as a public service. ‘From Bear to Bare: get the ass of your dreams.’ People would line up for it.”

  “Maybe if you modeled for the ads.” He said, coming to stand behind me.

  I turned to him and grinned. I’d gotten used to his flirtatious talk. It seemed to be in his nature, and I was under no illusions that he flirted with me exclusively. But it had gone from annoying to kind of nice. A good ego trip to boost the self-esteem. And anyway, I was feeling great after the workout I’d had, my body still slick with sweat and my skin still flushed.

  “Only if you took the pictures.” I countered.

  He bared his teeth at me and growled. I loved to hate it when he did that. His voice was so deep it rumbled in my chest and made my knees weak. In a moment of recklessness I bridged the space between us and kissed him. For a split second I regretted it, thinking he’d rebuff me and I’d sit through an awkward explanation as to why he couldn’t make out with his trainee. But he didn’t do any of that. He didn’t hesitate at all to wrap those muscular arms around me and pull my body flush against his, tilting his head to the side and deepening the kiss. His tongue searched my mouth and his hand drifted down to squeeze my ass. I grinned against his lips in encouragement.

  “Finally.” He groaned, pushing me up against the mirrored wall, his hands now going to my shirt that he peeled it off deftly, tossing it and my bra aside before groping my breasts with what can only be described as hunger.

  I laughed, giddy, and tipped my head back to enjoy the feeling of his thumb running over my nipple while his hips ground against mine. I slid my hands up his back, removing his shirt so that when he crushed me against the wall his skin against mine lit a fire in my belly. I dragged my hands over his shoulders and biceps, reveling in the lean, hard muscle.

  He dipped a hand between my legs, stroking the growing heat that pooled there while he nipped and kissed my neck.

  “Orso..” I whispered breathily. He groaned against my neck. Not the reaction I was going for at the moment, actually. “Orso.” I repeated more firmly.

  He pulled back and looked me in the eyes. His eye color looked like it had changed, a fact that I would have found extraordinary a few weeks ago, but now seemed to be expected. They were a shimmering gold, more beautiful than I could have imagined. I wondered if my eyes were still the same.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked. His hand was still between my legs. He only smirked again and continued to stroke me teasingly.

  “It’s a perfect idea. Don’t overthink it now.”

  “A sound argument.” I said. His smirk turned to a more genuine smile and he went back to kissing me.

  With little further ado we were out of our clothes and he was fucking me upright against the mirrored wall of the gym. It smelled like sweaty gym equipment and soap but, honestly, in the moment I couldn’t think of a better place. His lovemaking, if you could call it that, was fierce and untheatrical. It was, at least, honest in it’s perfunctory character. He knew what he was doing, though. In fact he seemed like something of an expert in where and how to touch a woman in order to bring her to orgasm in the shortest amount of time. Something he’d learned from experience, I had no doubt. It could only have been about 15 minutes before I was shuddering and he had to support all of my weight in his arms and only a few moments after that before he pulled out of me swiftly and finished. I kissed him tenderly, gently nipping at his bottom lip as he came, thoroughly enjoying the almost anguished look on his face.

  Afterwards, he smacked my ass playfully. “Get your clothes back on, we’ve got more work to do upstairs.”

  “Work? What kind of work?” I asked with a glint in my eye, assuming he meant round two in a proper bed.

  “Actual work. Until you learn to control yourself when you shift you are a danger to everyone around you.” He pulled his t-shirt back on over his head and headed up the stairs. I stood, staring at him agape. That was it, huh? No kiss? No “It was good for me, was it good for you?”

  “Are you serious?” I asked, following behind him.

  “Yeah. We can’t get distracted.” He didn’t look back at me. He just kept walking up to his office, expecting me to follow him. Which I did.

  “As I recall, you were the one doing the distracting.”

  He didn’t answer. And just like that we were back in the office doing meditations and focus enhancing exercises again. Along with some long lessons on the history of the clan and the science behind shifting.

  Chapter 5

  I tried to be as cavalier as he was. We were just letting off steam, that was all. It was foolish of me to think that he was actually attracted to me on more than just a surface level. I was basically his student. Basically a kid compared to him, mister important clan alpha. I was doing my best not to have hurt feelings over it, but I couldn’t help but have this sinking feeling as I sat there reading an ancient looking book about the history of bear shifters. I glanced up at him, half expecting to see him staring at me from acr
oss the room at his desk. But he wasn’t. His head was bent over his work, a forelock of his dark hair falling over his eyes. His face was stern. He looked like he was doing something important. Suddenly, that joking demeanor he had had in the gym was gone. Vanished. Like it had never been there in the first place.

  I stood up, closing the heavy, leather bound book and dropping it on his desk.

  “I’m tired. I’m going to eat dinner and go to bed.”

  “Goodnight.”

  He didn’t even look up at me.

  Things went on like this for several days. I kept expecting him to bring up the fact that he regretted his in-the-moment decision to fuck me in the gym. Or at the very least I expected him to go back to the way things were before and pretend it never happened, never speaking of it again. Any of those would be preferable to his suddenly very professional attitude. Where once he had been all smirks and teasing remarks, now it was nothing but curt instructions and lack of eye contact.

  *******

  “Orso. This is ridiculous. And unfair.” I finally said one day. He still wasn’t looking at me so I reached up to him and grasped his chin, forcing him to look down into my eyes. Even then he seemed reluctant.

  “What are you talking about?” He asked.

  “We had sex. I kissed you and we had sex. Do you remember that?”

  He jerked his chin away and strode away from me. I followed.

  “I remember. I shouldn’t have done that. I wish I could blame the bear in me but, unlike you, I generally have impeccable control. It won’t happen again. Get back to work.”

  I raised my nose into the air. “So you fuck me against the wall then expect me to just be happy with a promise that it won’t happen again? Do you even like me?”

  “Like you? This isn’t middle school.”

  I didn’t have a retort for that. I wished I did. But I just stood there, dumbfounded, and every bit as immature as he was accusing me of being. I felt tears welling up in my eyes but I refused to let them fall down my cheeks. That would only prove him right. I had never been so obviously used before. He took me like some kind of stress relief toy then threw me away like a used up tissue. I’d had awkward, regrettable hookups before, but I’d never been treated like this.

  I would not let him win.

  “Fine.” I said. I sat back down and continued my studying. My eyes raked over the pages but my mind was miles away. More accurately, my mind was about five feet away, where Orso stood, looking out a window on the cold landscape outside.

  What was he thinking?

  Why did I care?

  *******

  Later that night I lay awake in my bed. The mansion was silent. I’d only seen Greg and Orso for the past few days, and people never seemed to stay very long when they did come. Orso had told me that was a good sign. The mansion was there for protection, a safe haven for the clan. It was good if they didn’t need it. But it made for very quiet, lonely nights.

  I lay in my bed fuming, still angry about how I was being treated by the Alpha. I hadn’t expected roses or confessions of undying love. But he was acting like he hated me now and there was no good reason for it. As I lay there alone I thought of how childish and immature he was acting, which only made me all the more angry when I realized that, as true as that was, he was the one who made ME feel childish and immature when we were together.

  I couldn’t bear to be in that house with him anymore. Besides, I figured that I had learned enough to get by on my own. He was banking on the fact that I couldn’t leave, and that’s why he thought he could get away with treating me so poorly. Well, he was wrong.

  I bolted upright in the bed and quickly gathered the few things of my own that were scattered around the room. In a fit of pettiness I also stole a silver handheld mirror. He wouldn’t know it was missing. Fuck him, anyway.

  I snuck out the back door that night. Anger and hurt drove me all the way back to my adoptive parents’ house. I’d told them that I was staying with a boyfriend, and it was easy enough to make up a story about a sudden breakup and be welcomed back into my old room.

  My mom and dad were welcoming, at least. My brother...not so much. He had never liked me, and it was obvious that he thought I was leeching affection from his parents that he thought belonged rightfully only to him. He’d always made sure I knew that he didn’t consider me his sister. And he was all too happy to see me back at the house, defeated.

  He came down the stairs the next morning and, seeing me eating cereal at the table in my pajamas, he broke out in a stupid, loud laugh.

  “That was quick! Mom and dad were saying you’d likely get married soon, with how quickly you’d moved in with that dude…” He laughed. “But I knew you’d be back.”

  “Shut it, David.” I sneered. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Did he cheat on you? Isn’t that what most of your boyfriends do? Can’t say I blame them.”

  “Shut. Up.” I growled. My lack of sleep and emotional fragility after what happened at the mansion was beginning to show and I could feel my anger beginning to spiral. I tried to calm myself down using the techniques I’d practiced at the mansion but it wasn’t working. His taunts still found their way through the bubble of peace I was trying to keep around me.

  I stood up, determined to retreat to the privacy of my room, but David blocked my way.

  “Hold up. I just want to know the story. Tell me how you failed this time. When did he notice that he’s shacked up with a psycho bitch with anger issues? Or did he just get tired of you after the chase was over?”

  I saw red. It was too close to home. He’d guessed right, and I hated it most when he was right.

  A moment later, David was looking at me wide-eyed with shock, clutching four bloody gashes in his cheek. The sight of blood shocked me enough to bring me mostly back to my senses. Looking down at my hand I just caught sight of claws working their way back into my skin.

  “What the fuck….” David finally croaked. He was looking at me like I was a monster.

  In a panic, I fled. Running back out to my car I peeled out of the driveway. I caught my reflection in the rearview mirror and saw that my eyes were a bright honey yellow, not their normal dark blue. And I was crying. I hadn’t noticed until I saw it in the mirror, but the tears had started flowing the moment that I realized that my worst nightmare had come to pass. I’d always feared actually hurting someone. David would need stitches. He would tell everyone that I was some kind of monstrous creature. Dangerous. Animalistic. He would probably send the cops after me.

  I needed Orso, whether I liked him or not. I needed the protection of the clan.

  Chapter 6

  When I arrived back at the mansion, I had barely made it through the door when Greg scooped me up into a tight hug. My feet left the ground and he shook me back and forth. “Thank God you’re back. Orso’s been a mess. I was about to go looking for you myself just to get away from his moping and raging.”

  “Moping and raging?” I asked when he set me back down on my feet.

  “When he wasn’t out driving around aimlessly, hoping to find you. Where were you?”

  I didn’t have time to answer because Orso was flying around the corner at the top of the stairs. For a moment I thought he was going to run down and pick me up like Greg had done, but he seemed to reign in his relief and his face turned calmly angry. I shuddered.

  “Do you realize that you are a danger to people when you haven’t mastered your abilities?” He asked calmly.

  “Give her a break, Orso. She hasn’t even told us what happened.”

  Orso ignored Greg and took me by the wrist, pulling me up the stairs to his office where he shut the door behind us. He never let go of my wrist and, once we were alone, he whipped me around, holding me close to him.

  He lowered his voice and brought his eyes down to meet mine. His bright blue eyes were cold and intense.

  “Do you know how dangerous you are?” He asked again. I would hav
e been angry about being spoken to like a child if he wasn’t right.

  “I do now.” I said, my voice sounding small. Tears sprung up in my eyes again, clouding my vision of him and his unsettling glare. “I hurt my brother. I didn’t mean to.”