Paranormal Friends with Benefits

by Jasmine Wylder

  “It’s none of your business,” Jonathon snarled. “If you have to know, it wasn’t her choice. And that is all you’re going to get. Now back off before I rip your wings off.”

  The dragon snarled, the rest of them closing in closer while several of the ones still near the bikes started forward.

  “Jonathon.” Maggie put her hand on his arm. “Come on. The kids don’t need to see this.”

  Anxiety washed through him as he turned his attention to the children in the van. Summer and Ned were watching with big eyes while Ronnie hid her face. He could hear the soft sounds of her crying. Instantly he opened the door and climbed in, reaching for his children to reassure them.

  “Bringing a vampire through dragon territory requires a toll,” the same dragon as before said.

  Jonathon whipped back with a snarl on his lips, but Maggie was already covering it. “We didn’t see any signs that this was dragon territory and besides that, we don’t have any extra money. Everything is tightly budgeted. Or are you saying that you’d rather these kids, future dragons, to grow up without life experiences because of something that happened to me against my will? I thought dragons were supposed to stick together, not punish children for something out of their control.”

  The leader looked on in surprise while Jonathon reassured his children in low tones. Ronnie clung to him, her face buried in his arm. Summer’s lip trembled as she tried to keep it stiff, and Ned had crumpled into quiet sobs as well. Jonathon watched, worried, wondering how he could protect them all if these dragons decided to go at it.

  “You have a clever tongue there, Miss…?”

  “Roxton. Maggie Roxton.”

  “Miss Roxton.” The leader ran a hand through his hair—which suddenly looked very luscious and thick as he gave Maggie a winning smile—and stepped a little closer. “You must have a lot of experience dealing with dragons.”

  Maggie jerked her thumb toward Jonathon. “Only this one.”

  “All the same. It’s getting dark,” he glanced up at the sky. “You and your dragon companions should stick with us for the night. If any of the others come across you alone, you might not be so lucky.”

  “We have reservations—”

  “Forget them.” The leader grinned and took her hand in his. Jonathon bit back a snarl. How dare he touch her like that? Moments ago, he was threatening her and now he was acting like… well. Jonathon didn’t want to think about what he was acting like. “You’ll be our guest down at the Dirty Dog. As soon as Alex has your van going, we’ll take you there.”

  ***

  The Dirty Dog was a biker bar. Jonathon bristled at bringing his children into it, as dank and dirty and loud as it was. The smell of alcohol was overpowering, but at least there was no scent of cigarette smoke in the air. He and Maggie held Ned’s hands, while Ronnie was in his arms and Summer pressed against Maggie’s other side.

  They got a little booth to sit in and ordered food. Many of the dragons, and they were all dragons, gave Maggie hostile looks, but when they saw the children they backed off and didn’t approach. Although that might be partly due to the bikers that had ‘escorted’ them here, too. The leader, Mike, slid into the booth beside Maggie, earning him a glare from Jonathon that he ignored.

  “You’re not eating,” Mike noted once the food arrived.

  Jonathon looked up from where he was scarfing down his burger to see Summer, Ned, and Ronnie all eating hungrily. Maggie, on the other hand, stared at her plate with a slightly sick expression on her face.

  “I’m not feeling very hungry,” Maggie replied.

  “Ah, I see. Got a blood store in the van?” Mike put a hand on her shoulder and Jonathon stiffened. “Or are you getting close to needing to drink straight from the vein?”

  Maggie cast a terrified look at Jonathon. He knew why. Since she had become a vampire, he was the only one that had allowed her to drink straight from the vein. Bagged blood was good for sustaining a vampire, but every once in a while, they needed it fresh. Otherwise, their heart would slow and eventually stop, and sunlight became deadly.

  Maggie hated drinking straight from the vein. Jonathon wished he could hate it more. Whenever her fangs pierced his neck, everything inside of him tightened up. His cock hardened and it took a lot of effort not to grind against her or search her body with his hands. Just thinking about it was enough to arouse him at times.

  “That’s none of your concern,” Jonathon snapped at the dragon. “And if you’re just going to sit around and harass us then—”

  “Whoa. Harass?” Mike arched a brow at him. “What am I doing that could be qualified as harassment? Asking your friend here if she needs any special considerations? I didn’t see you asking her. I didn’t see you even noticing she wasn’t eating.”

  Heat flared to Jonathon’s cheeks and his fires burned. He growled low, but before he could speak, Maggie had reached across the table to steal one of his fries. That brought his gaze to her and she cast him a warning look and nodded slightly toward the children. Ronnie was busy playing with her food, Ned drinking his soda quickly, but Summer had a chicken nugget halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide.

  “Tell you what,” Mike continued, a sly look coming across his face. “How about you and I have a little competition? It’s clear that you’re very protective of Maggie here,” he nodded toward her. “Can’t say I blame you, either.”

  He gave her a suggestive look that made her blush. Jonathon’s hand clenched hard enough that he felt his knuckles crack. He’d have liked nothing more than to beat that grin off Mike’s face. Yeah, Maggie was drop-dead gorgeous. She might think she had too much meat on her bones, but every curve on her body was pure perfection. She was soft and round and beautiful and if it wouldn’t have completely ruined their friendship, he’d have taken her to bed already.

  “What are you getting at?” Maggie asked coldly.

  “I was just going to challenge your friend here to a friendly little fight with a sweet prize—”

  “If you think that you’re going to fight Jonathon to win me or some sexist drivel like that, you’re out of your mind,” Maggie snarled. Her eyes flashed, and Jonathon tensed for another reason altogether.

  Mike stared at her in shock for a moment before he recovered himself. “Well, I wouldn’t have put it quite that way, but I see where you’re coming from. Very well. How about this, then. You and I have a friendly competition. If you win, I pay for your food here and the toll for bringing a vampire into our territory. I win… we’ll come up with another payment plan.”

  “No,” Jonathon said at once, but Maggie had already stretched out her hand.

  “Deal,” she declared.

  Jonathon made a noise of protest, but she ignored it as she scooted the dragon out of the booth. He laughed, seeming to be greatly enjoying this. Jonathon put his burger on his plate and glared at Maggie. Why had she gone and done that? Didn’t she know he wouldn’t be able to help her if this fight turned out to be more violent than she was expecting?

  “Of course,” she said coolly, “Jonathon and the children have to finish their meals first.”

  Even though Jonathon slowed his eating as much as was dragonly possible, it was all too soon that his plate was empty, and the children were yawning and getting rather cranky. He managed to convince Mike to let him and Maggie put them down to sleep in the van before the fight. There, he tried to get Maggie to pull out of the fight entirely, but she was being ridiculously stubborn about it.

  A dragon woman sauntered from the bar and climbed into the passenger seat of the van. She gave Jonathon a toothsome smile. It did not escape his notice that the cut of her top revealed quite a bit of bosom.

  “Mike told me to come out here and look after the kiddies,” she said, “so that you can be there while he fights the vampire. Seems to think you’d freak out if you didn’t see everything that happened.”

  Jonathon had to admit that was probably what would happen indeed. He didn’t like the reminder, though
, and glared at the woman. “Why should I trust you to look after my children?”

  “I’ve got a baby at home myself.” She shrugged. “Well, not a baby anymore. My sister’s watching him while I’m out. Gotta work, right?”

  Jonathon eyed her neckline and wondered what sort of work she did.

  Maggie slugged his arm. She didn't speak as she stalked back to the bar. Jonathon kissed his children goodnight, then whispered to Summer to come get him if she felt uncomfortable with the woman there and hurried after Maggie. Dragons were fiercely protective of their children. He didn’t think that this woman would try to kidnap them or anything like that, but after living so long among humans without much contact with other dragons, it was a fear that lingered at the back of his mind.

  By the time he got into the bar, the fight was already going. Jonathon quickly found a spot to look over the heads of the dragons, cheering and heckling the contestants. Maggie moved like a snake through the circle of bodies, striking out at Mike as he twisted this way and that trying to avoid her. His expression was comically surprised, and Jonathon let out a relieved laugh.

  Guess he didn’t expect Maggie to have taken martial art lessons.

  Maggie ducked under a half-hearted punch at her face and kicked the dragon square in the chest. He flew several feet backward, cracking into the bar. The bikers exploded in laughter, jostling each other and heckling him.

  “Is that all you got?” Maggie taunted, her fists raised.

  Mike lifted his hands, laughing and wheezing as he got to his feet. “Alright, alright. I concede. God. You’re quick.”

  Maggie moved out of her fighting stance and smirked. “People underestimate me because I’m short and fat, but I know how to take down big-talking men. Been doing it all my life.”

  “Well. I suppose we could fight a little longer… I’d much rather buy you a drink, though.” Mike gave her a flirtatious smile.

  Jonathon’s nostrils flared and smoke billowed from them. He jumped down from the chair he was on and started to push through the crowd, which was going back to their previous activities now that the fun had been cut short. They grumbled about the shortness of the fight, but Jonathon didn’t care about that.

  He was almost to where Maggie and Mike were when her laughter rang out. Her cheeks flushed red and a smile wider than any he’d seen lately stretched across her face. Jonathon stopped where he was, his eyes widening as she gripped Mike’s arm. Surely she wasn’t flirting back?

  Then she laughed again.

  And Jonathon slid back a step. It had been a long time since he’d heard her laugh like that. So bright and carefree. All her laughter lately had a tension at its edges, a tiredness. Now, though, the stiffness to her shoulders was gone and all her attention was focused on Mike. Jonathon wanted to go in there and yell that she was not for him, but what right did he have to do that?

  “Hello, there,” a sweet seductive voice whispered in his ear.

  He turned to see another female dragon. This one was dressed even more scantily than the other, with ruby-red lips and a seductive gleam in her eye.

  “I’m looking for a dragon to give me a night I won’t forget,” she said, cocking her head to one side. “How about it? Unless you’re waiting for someone else…?”

  Jonathon glanced back at Maggie. She was now at the bar with Mike, drinking something that looked fruity. He shrugged and turned away. It wasn’t his job to dictate who did and did not buy her drinks. The kids were sleeping, and he wouldn’t be long… and if he stayed, he was only going to rush over there and ruin Maggie’s night.

  He couldn’t hold her down the way he had in the past. That wasn’t his job. So, he let the woman loop her arm around his and pull him toward a back door, putting Maggie from his mind and trying only to think about the pleasure that awaited him.

  Chapter Three

  Maggie rubbed her eyes as the children started to stir. After a long, uncomfortable night trying to sleep in the passenger seat of the minivan, there was still no sign of Jonathon.

  If she hadn’t seen him slip out with that dragon woman moments before the ‘babysitter’ had come into the bar with all three children in tow, looking for her, she would have been worried. As it was, all she could feel was disappointment and fury. She never liked it when he went off with a one-night stand, but she didn’t say anything. They weren’t a couple. She had no business trying to dictate his love life. But in this case? When he was the one who made a big deal about leaving the kids? When he didn’t even tell her?

  The irresponsibility of it made her blood boil. It didn’t help that she couldn’t leave the bar to try to find a motel or something because she couldn’t leave him behind. And so, she’d spent the whole night with the doors locked, reassuring the children when the loud music woke them up and trying to remain calm herself. Bikers came and went and several times there had been threatening looks or nasty leers cast her direction. It made her feel so small and frightened… but she couldn’t risk taking the kids out of the van and wasn’t about to leave them alone to go looking for Jonathon.

  All in all, when morning finally broke and the children were waking up, looking for food and to stretch their legs, Maggie’s nerves were already worn to a frazzle. Fury pounded at her temples, though she successfully kept her tone upbeat and positive when getting the kids their breakfast.

  Mike came out of the bar shortly after and swaggered over. He leaned against the door and grinned at her. “Coming back in for round two of our little competition?”

  “No. We’re on a strict schedule. I need to find Jonathon so we can head out again. We’ll be getting into DC today and I don’t want to end up driving in the city at night. Would you happen to know where he is?”

  Mike shrugged. “Last I saw him, he was going off with Clarissa somewhere. I tell you, I haven’t ever seen that girl get turned down.”

  Maggie’s face fell into a fierce scowl. She opened the side door and gestured for the kids to get out. “Okay, we’re all going to use the potty and find Daddy.”

  “I’ll buy you breakfast,” Mike quickly said. “Tight schedule or not, you need to eat. Who wants waffles?”

  Maggie doubted that a bar would serve waffles, but as the children all responded happily, she swallowed her doubts. A normal bar would have shut down at some point during the night, rather than continuing to party until the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps serving breakfast wasn’t so out of the realm of possibility.

  Summer skipped happily toward the entrance of the bar, though she stopped and ran back to Maggie when a huge, tattooed dragon came out of it. He grunted at them, but when he saw Mike didn’t say anything. Mike held the door open—such a perfect gentleman this morning—and Maggie ushered the children inside.

  The place was a lot more subdued than it had been the previous night. Maggie found a booth and collapsed into it. She asked the kids what they wanted, and Mike went to the bar to order. She was too tired to ask why he was being so helpful today. He’d gotten very charming the previous night, too. She had an inkling as to what he was after, but at this moment in time, she didn’t care.

  “If I had known you were outside,” he said when he returned with their orders, “I’d have invited you in. There are rooms upstairs that you and the kids could have taken.”

  “It was loud enough in the parking lot,” Maggie shot back.

  “Floor’s soundproof for that reason. Lots of our guys are more or less homeless. We let them stay, rest up, shower, have a filling meal. Like you said, dragons stick together. When they’re back on their feet they always come back and pay off what they feel they owe us. It works.”

  Maggie was intrigued by what he meant. “So you own this bar?”

  “Yup.” Mike gave her a dazzling smile. “Impressed yet?”

  Maggie laughed. It felt very good to have full-on male attention again, from someone who didn’t run as soon as they saw her fangs. Of course, now wasn’t the time to be flirting. She turned to busy herself making s
ure the kids were eating, aware of Mike’s eyes still on her. She had just started on her own breakfast when Jonathon came in through the front door, frowning. The frown turned to a scowl, and he made a beeline for them.

  “Thought we wanted to leave early,” he said when he arrived.

  “I didn’t know how long you’d be,” Maggie replied coolly.

  “Why don’t you join us?” Mike gave him a grin that was all too provocative. What sort of provocative, though, Maggie wasn’t entirely certain. He stood, letting Jonathon take his spot—then slid into the booth next to Maggie.

  Jonathon’s expression turned into a full-on scowl. Maggie glared back at him but luckily at that moment Summer decided to speak, “Where were you, Daddy? I was worried?”

  Maggie couldn’t help but smirk as Jonathon stumbled through an explanation as to his absence. Good for Summer. Maybe now Jonathon would understand what effect his actions had and actually apologize for them. She didn’t want to feel this angry at him but until she got a good sleep, she knew she was going to keep being resentful since he had just disappeared like that. Not to mention the fact that she was craving blood, bad, and the bagged blood they’d brought in the cooler hadn’t sated her thirst at all.

  A brush of fingertips on her hand brought her attention to Mike. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “I meant to tell you yesterday, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been hit as hard as you got me last night. It was… very impressive. I’m not usually a guy who likes to get beat around, but I guess it just depends on the person doing the beating.”

  The seductive tone was unmistakable. Maggie flushed as she bent her head. He’d been flirting like this the previous night, too. She was wary, of course, since he was a strange man and had been aggressive toward them at first. It was nice, though, for him to be so flirtatious with her. Maggie leaned on her elbow, her gaze toward him as she smiled.

  “Well, I can dish out a better beating than that, if you must know. My heart wasn’t really in it yesterday. I just wanted to stop this one,” she jerked her thumb at Jonathon, “from getting himself hurt. He can get really worked up when he thinks somebody is threatening his kids.”