Bree knelt and told the little girl that she’d come to help. It took little convincing to earn the girl’s trust. With her mother unconscious for reasons Bree couldn’t discern, the child probably needed someone to tell her what to do.
“I’m going to hold you in one arm and your mom in the other, okay?” Bree asked.
Testing her new strength and endurance under extreme situations wasn’t how she would have liked to have done things, but Bree had no other option.
* * *
Erik called after Bree, but his words never reached her. Perhaps it was the rush of adrenaline in her veins or the urge to be a hero that carried her forward without hesitation. He moved to follow but stopped when he caught a familiar scent.
The shifter that’d been around the cabin was still around somewhere. The scent wasn’t coming from the house. As badly as Erik wanted to help Bree, he needed to find the slippery shifter. His beasts told him that this shifter was responsible for the fire.
Why? Erik wouldn’t know until he could beat the answers out of the man. Some bystanders had gathered. A fire truck rushed toward the scene, lights and sirens coming closer. Erik had to find the culprit and drag him away before the authorities made the situation harder to navigate.
He paused and glanced back at the house. Bree was still inside. Torn between two responsibilities, his green dragon gave him the answer he needed.
She’s strong and capable. Trust her. Do your own job.
Erik swallowed and followed the scent. The visitor wasn’t either of the dragons the clan had sent back to Zander. It wasn’t even one Erik recognized from his days living among Zander’s clan. Erik would have thought this was a dragon looking to push them off the territory so he could start his own clan if it hadn’t been for Zander’s stupid war.
Either Zander had accepted new applicants, or he’d paid someone to cause trouble for them.
The scent led Erik down the street and between a few houses. He stepped into a residential area. People gathered on their lawns or peered out their windows because of the fire in town. Erik didn’t want to start a fight with so many people watching. That had to be what the uninvited visitor hoped, too. Why else would he cut through such a populated area?
Erik made sure his sunglasses were covering his eyes. He then shoved his hands in his pockets and meandered down the street, following the scent. It grew stronger and stronger, like he would find the visitor any second.
Then, the scent vanished.
Erik staggered. Someone reached out and asked if he was okay. Erik muttered a quick reassurance before turning around and marching back the way he’d come. He thought he’d lost the trail and had maybe missed a turn, but no matter how hard he searched, the scent just…ended.
He cursed under his breath. A nearby kid on a bike smirked, like he’d been let in on a naughty joke. Erik would have laughed at the kid if he wasn’t perturbed by what had happened.
Gavin would have wanted Erik to scour the town to pick up the scent again, but Erik had other matters to get back to. He’d left Bree alone for far too long. His beasts poured power into him and drove him back to her.
Relief eased the strain around his ribs when he saw her standing beside a firefighter until the firefighter pushed her hair away from her face. The small touch brought Erik’s green dragon stampeding toward the surface. Erik clenched his jaw and forced the dragon back before it could break out of him while he was in public.
Erik had to agree with his beast, though. He wanted to rip the firefighter, who was clearly flirting with Bree, limb from limb. He’d never wanted to hurt another man more than when he touched her. She didn’t belong to Erik. He didn’t even know if she could love him the way he’d begun to love her.
Earlier, in her apartment, Erik had come close to biting her and leaving a claiming mark. The fire had interrupted him and stopped him from doing something against her will. A claiming mark should be discussed. While she wore it, no other man could court her. She’d be trapped with him until the mark healed at a normal human rate.
He watched her smile and laugh at whatever the firefighter had just said. The firefighter wiped away a smudge of soot from her cheek. Erik wondered if she would be happier with the man who’d chosen to be a hero for his people. No one chose this line of work because it paid well.
Then, her gaze moved along the crowd until she found Erik. Silver swirled in her eyes as her smile widened even further. She touched the firefighter’s arm and said something that Erik couldn’t hear over the din around him. The firefighter’s smile slipped when she turned her back on him and made for Erik.
His heart swelled. He held out his arms, unsure if she would walk into them. But she did, and she pressed her face to his chest as she hugged him back. His beasts calmed and soaked in her presence.
She peeled away from him. “I saved two people from the fire.”
Pride filled her voice. Erik ran a thumb along her cheek. Bree had been forged in fire and made into the person she always should have been. Empowered by her beast, she didn’t hesitate to do what was right.
She deserved a mate who could be a hero, and nothing less, really.
“We should go back to your place and get your stuff. Something doesn’t feel right out here.” Erik avoided telling her that he would never be good enough for her.
He couldn’t stomach the truth right now. If he brought it into reality and she realized that she didn’t need him, his world would crumble. He’d thought he could let her go, but he wanted to hold onto her and keep her all to himself.
Her smile faltered. “You’re not going to tell me you’re proud of me? That I did a good job?”
He opened his mouth to reply, but quickly muttered an apology. His heart ached too much. He tried to shove the pain away and move forward, but it refused to let go of him. Wasn’t it bad enough that he had to live with his brother’s rabid beast? Couldn’t Erik catch a break, or would he always fumble every good thing in his life?
“I didn’t want an apology,” Bree said. “I just want to be told that I’m doing all of this right.”
She wrapped her arms around her middle and marched ahead of him. He let her go, knowing that if either of them tried to approach what they were feeling, then disaster would strike.
They didn’t take the elevator this time. Bree turned toward the stairs, instead. Erik suspected that she didn’t want to be alone with him like that again. So, he let her go into the apartment alone. Women liked space, right?
He leaned against the wall in the hall and kept an eye out for anything suspicious. He listened to her shuffling inside the apartment and jumped into action when he heard a shattering crash. Bree quickly shouted that she was fine.
His stomach sank. He suspected that she’d broken something on purpose. He would have to tell her that if she wanted to punch him, she could. He and the others fought to let off steam. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to throw a punch or two at him.
Finally, the door swung open. He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Neither said anything until they were back on the road. Erik couldn’t stand the silence. He needed to break it and whatever tether she felt she needed to honor.
“You looked happy with that firefighter back there,” he said.
“I don’t want Carter,” she growled. “He’s a dick when he comes into the bar. I was playing nice while I waited for you to show up.”
“How’d you know I’d come back?”
He felt her staring at him, but he didn’t dare check the expression she wore. He kept his eyes trained on the curving road climbing up the mountainside.
“Park the truck,” Bree commanded.
Her words stunned him. He didn’t know what to do and could only scowl when his beasts laughed at him.
44
To fight the urge to drag Erik out of the car, Bree counted down from five to one.
Five.
Four.
Three…
A snarl ripped out of her. She kicked her door open the moment the truck stopped. Clenching her empty hands, she paced circles while waiting for Erik to join her. The truck groaned as he put it into park. It creaked when he opened his own door.
Finally, he stepped around the truck and faced her. She didn’t waste a moment. She grabbed him by his shirt, spun him around, and pressed him to the nearest tree. If he thought she would want anyone other than him, she had to set him straight.
With one arm behind his neck, she pulled him into a kiss. Immediately, his hands found her waist. She wanted them other places and didn’t hesitate to move them there. She devoured his moan after she put his hand on her crotch.
Like they’d kicked open a door to an all new world, they eagerly explored it. She swept her tongue across his sharp teeth. He massaged her through her jeans. She gasped, marveling at the sensation he could conjure with two layers of fabric between them.
Pulling back, she slid a hand up his throat and held him at bay. Her core throbbed at the sight of him under her control. He wore a sloppy grin like he enjoyed it, too.
“I want you, damn it.”
His grin widened. He swept her up and carried her deeper into the woods. She’d never had sex out in the open like this. It’d always been in a bed, usually a shitty bed at that. Erik gently laid her on a patch of grass in a clearing. He kissed her nose, her cheek, her jaw, her neck. All while his fingers worked their way into the waistband of her jeans.
“Off, I need them off,” she breathed.
Erik seemed all too happy to oblige her when he popped the button on them and leaned back to help her out of them. He looked her up and down like she was a popsicle he couldn’t wait to lick all over. She spread her legs wide in an open invitation.
A husky laugh left him before he lowered himself. She didn’t expect him to take her up on it so quickly. She thought he would want more for himself, but the little bites on the inside of her thighs told her this was exactly what he wanted. He cupped her sex before letting his thumb trail down the part in her folds, the thinnest fabric between them.
Sensation washed through her, there and then gone like a wave. She needed it back. Every time he touched her, he made her feel something new and she craved each experience like an adrenaline junky searching for the next high.
This had to be what the mate bond felt like. Why else would she be so wet when he’d barely touched her? She wanted to know what he would feel like inside her, if they would feel like one person, until his head descended.
He pushed aside her panties. She gasped when his tongue entered her folds. Sensation rocketed from her core to her toes and back to her fingertips. Nothing compared to this moment, with Erik on his knees for her
Just when her desire for more became too much, he entered her, one finger at a time. She gasped and arched into his touch. He didn’t let up. He coaxed her pleasure higher and higher with his tongue. The sky above blurred into blue and green while she drowned in her first orgasm.
She thought he would get up and unbuckle his own jeans, but his tongue only slowed. She dragged in ragged breaths, unsure if she could take another round of this. She tried to tell him, but his tongue found her most sensitive part and all she could do was moan. Falling back onto the grass, she gripped it and held on to keep from floating away.
Erik caressed her thighs, the backs of her knees, and the curves of her hips while he pleased her. No part of her within his reach was left unloved. Yet, she craved more. She wanted his hands on her breasts, his cock inside her, his lips on hers.
Nothing made sense while he pleasured her. She became pure primal need.
The beast in her savored his touch. The creature filled Bree with power and told her that she knew what to do with it.
Erik rose slowly. She put a hand to his shoulder and pushed until he hit the ground. She made quick work of his jeans by pushing them down to his thighs. They didn’t need to be off completely for what she wanted to do.
His cock had already enlarged while he’d been pleasing her. She took it in her hand and rubbed her thumb over the bead of moisture on the head. Erik groaned and arched into her touch much like she had with him. She liked the power flip, liked knowing she could make him feel the same.
Straddling him, she lowered herself over his cock until he was fully inside her. She stole a moment to savor the feeling of being stretched. Her body contorted around him until he fit just right. A small spasm pulsed through her core and gave her a small orgasm.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Erik took control of her hips and rocked her back and forth. Once her aftershocks had waned, she picked up the rhythm and used it to tease him. His lip curled in a snarl, but she didn’t let him take control.
She wasn’t just some weak girl who needed help at work. She didn’t need anyone to do anything for her. The dragon in her made her strong and independent. No one had to come save her anymore. She’d been so in love with Erik because she thought he would whisk her away from her boredom.
Instead, she felt reborn. While she couldn’t imagine a life without Erik now, she knew that this power flowing through her was all hers. She didn’t need someone to save her. She could do the saving now.
Erik plunged inside her, as deep as he could go. She rose as he arched beneath her and reached just a little deeper. Pleasure radiated out from every inch of contact. The flames of their lovemaking threatened to consume her, but she was a dragon now. Fire could not kill her. The heat of their attraction wouldn’t kill her, either.
She braced her hands on his chest when he sank back down to the ground and picked her rhythm up again. Only this time, a frantic desire overrode her control. She needed release, needed to feel his release.
Her wish was not far away. Erik bucked once again. She cried out as the motion broke the dam of pleasure in her core. Her orgasm spilled out in every direction and tried to drag her under. The sound of Erik’s climax kept her anchored. She met his gaze and felt the world stop, if only for a moment.
The corners of her mouth curled into a wide smile before she bit her lower lip. He cradled the back of her head and brought her down for a kiss. His cock slipped out of her while his tongue pushed into her mouth. A shudder rippled through her and left her with only euphoria.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting for that all my life,” she said once they broke apart.
She expected to see her joy mirrored on his face, but Erik pulled away with his head bent. Her heart stuttered as it dropped to her feet.
“I’m going to get something from the truck so you can clean yourself.” He vanished into the woods.
Bree fell back on the grass and pressed her fist to her mouth. While she’d had the time of her life, she wondered if it hadn’t compared to any of the women Erik had slept with in the past. She’d thought a connection had formed between her and Erik. The thought that she’d imagined everything crept in and shattered the last of her happiness.
People didn’t normally cry after sex, but Bree felt close.
A crack in the brush warned her of Erik’s approach. She stole a glance at him and the napkins he’s brought for her. The walk must have given him time to school his expression because it’d become an unreadable mask.
She took the napkins and stood to clean herself up. Erik had half turned away from her when Bree finally realized what was wrong.
“You still don’t think you deserve me. Do you?” She’d never had someone work so hard for her before. “I made you pull onto the side of the road so I could ride you like a pony. How is that not proof enough that I want you?”
Erik paused, his back turned to her. She stifled the urge to grab him and spin him around so that he had to face her. Somehow, she managed to give him the space he needed to figure this out.
“I don’t know who told you that you aren’t good enough for anyone, but they were a massive fucking liar,” Bree said to his back. “You’re so much more than I ever expected to find in this life. You make me smi
le and help me be strong. We have our whole lives ahead of us and the only person I want to spend it with is you, dummy.”
She got a laugh out of him. His shoulders barely rose, the laugh only a huff of air, but it was a laugh all the same. She caught up to him and took his hand in hers. When she met his gaze, she suspected the pain she saw there was of his own doing. It kept him from seeing how the people around him felt.
Then his whole being seemed to deflate with a sigh. “I can’t help but wonder if you were never meant for me. You see, I was supposed to have a twin. I killed him in the womb. That’s how I ended up with his beast. The damn thing hates me for it. What if my brother was supposed to be your mate?”
There it was, the reason Erik carried shame and guilt everywhere he went.
Bree raised a brow. “I don’t have feelings for an embryo that never reached adulthood.” She ran her hands along the flat planes of his stomach. “I have feelings for a flesh and blood man with the biggest dick I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding in my life.”
She grinned when a wave of red colored his cheeks.
“Your brother isn’t a ghost hanging over your shoulder. He was a possibility that never came into being. Your beasts are your own, not his.”
Erik’s eyes drifted closed as he pressed his forehead to hers. The touch filled her with relief. She leaned into him and savored every small way their bodies came together. Her hunger for him never waned, not ever after what they’d done in the woods. If anything, she felt it even more now. She knew what it was like to be with him, and she would always want him.
Erik groaned. “As much as I’d liked to live in this moment forever, we need to get back to the cabin to let everyone know what happened.”
Bree agreed, but she wasn’t going to be the first to move. Apparently, Erik thought the same because they lingered a few minutes longer, savoring the fact that they were alone. The moment they approached the cabin, they would be bombarded by others.
Rogue Dragons Series: Box Set Books 1-5 Page 37
