To be closer.
No matter the risk.
He flicked out a talon and cut down his briefs so he could pull them off easily without getting off of her. When his member sprang free, her eyes went wide and luminous, then hungry as she slowly spread her legs, inviting him closer.
He grabbed a condom off the bedside table and slid it on, tugging it over his hard length. With a growl, he came down over her, his hands on either side of her head, his hips between her open legs. His cock at her soft, warm entrance, which was soaking wet from everything he’d done.
The way he always wanted his woman.
Her arms came up to wrap around his neck, stroking lightly over his skin, and he could suddenly feel his own tension. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the utter beauty of his mate a little longer so he could give her what she wanted and not ruin it like some teenage boy.
But it was difficult.
He pushed into her velvet sheath just an inch and had to stop himself from cursing at how amazing it felt. She was so tight, so warm, so welcoming. He was concerned about her taking his length, but she was taking deep breaths, trying to relax, and her hands were still playing in his hair, not tensed in pain at all.
“You’re huge,” she said, her voice tight. “Oh my God, I feel like I can come just from you pushing into me.”
He moved a bit farther, feeling her stretch around him as her nails dug lightly into his back. “Good. Come as many times as you want.”
She gasped as he pushed in a little farther, and her nails dug in hard. Chad loved it.
She was wriggling now, desperate, pushing against him for more, and with one smooth motion, he seated himself inside her, letting out a hiss at how intense the feeling was.
She gasped, adjusting to the pressure as she rocked side to side. “So… so tight.” She closed her eyes and then slowly began to relax, making the hold on him less extreme. “So good.” Her eyes burned up at him, liquid emerald, melting just for him. “Keep going. Give me everything.”
He wanted to. He began to move very slowly at first, but then she let out a breathy moan and dug in her fingers. He moved almost all the way out, then slowly in, and her gasps nearly undid him.
He kept moving, loving the way her hands tangled in his hair and clawed his neck, the way her hips cradled him, the way they were joined so completely every time he came fully inside her that he had never felt more right.
Something in him was warm, glowing. Like she was the center of his world and all he wanted was to be close to her. Closer and closer. Joined so no one could separate them.
She was close now, holding on to him as she thrust up to meet him, her wet heat sliding beautifully along his skin, sending lightning through his nerve endings.
“Chadwick,” she gasped out as her orgasm took over, forcing her whole body to freeze and then collapse, wracked by pleasure.
The hot waves inside her drew his release from him, and with a choked, hoarse cry of her name, he came, jerking while encased in her heat.
She was everything. She was made for him. He was made for her. He was born to protect her. He—
“Be my mate,” he said in her ear when he finally fell over her, both of them heavy and sated in the aftershocks of their orgasm.
Her hand, which had been stroking his hair, stopped. He didn’t raise his head to look up at her because he knew he’d just crossed a line somehow, and he didn’t want to see her face.
His heart pounded because he knew anything she said other than, “Yes, Chadwick, I’d love to,” would kill him.
And he was the one being stupid here. She’d been giving him a gift, just being with him with no promises or commitment. But he wanted more. He couldn’t help it. He felt drawn to her in a way that he didn’t think would ever stop.
But if he wanted her, he’d clearly have to be careful about it. Go a little slower. Figure out both of their feelings.
He rose on one arm to look down at her. “It’s okay, Bella.”
Her green eyes looked misty but instantly relieved when he said that. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him back down so she could kiss him.
“That was amazing,” she said against his lips. She nipped the bottom one, then pulled back. “God, I’m exhausted, or I could do that all over again. I can’t get enough of you.”
The dragon in him wanted to push it. Tell her why he was the only one who could make her feel that way.
But she clearly didn’t want that. And besides, he was supposed to be with a dragon heart. Form a triad.
Perhaps it was better that one of them could resist.
Because he had no idea what these new feelings were. The urge to protect. To love. To be with her forever.
It was something other than mate but close enough.
Chadwick kissed her forehead, then got up to pull off the condom and clean up quickly in the bathroom.
When he was done, he saw her grabbing her clothes, pulling them back onto the bed.
Like she thought she was going back to her room after all they’d done together.
Chadwick leaned against the doorway, folding his arms, not caring at all that he was still naked, especially as Isabella raked her eyes over him.
“Stay with me,” he said. “Just for tonight.”
She nodded, looking surprised as she dropped her clothing and sank back into the covers, flushing.
Chad suppressed a small grin as he got onto the bed and pulled her into his arms where she relaxed with a happy sigh.
He had no idea what this was between them, but he knew that part of his heart seemed to almost glow when he had her close.
So he’d keep her close as long as he could.
Chapter 12
“Let me go!”
It was Isabella’s voice.
Chadwick could tell he was having something between a dream and a vision and that he was definitely asleep.
As purple dragon, it was hard to tell sometimes but important that he tried to get the right information.
Looking around him, he saw gray smoke. Definitely a dream. During his visions, he tended to see his office or whatever his surroundings were.
“Please, just let me go. I’m not what you think I am.”
“Manifest!” the angry voice, which didn’t belong to Isabella, boomed. “You stubborn little bitch, manifest!”
Chadwick’s whole body felt set on fire by his rage at someone talking to his mate like that, but as he moved forward, a scene came into view, brought toward him in the smoke like it was on a conveyor belt.
Isabella in a fucking cell. Strapped to a chair, struggling while someone came toward her with something long and pointed.
Chad couldn’t make it out. If this was the future, he desperately needed to. But clouds kept floating by, blocking his view of her.
When he saw her again, she was in a smaller cage, outside this time, something bright overhead.
Then more clouds.
Then he saw her one more time, fighting off a man who was pressing her down against a hard slab of something, threatening her.
Chadwick charged at the shadows, but they turned to mist, evaporating in front of him as he let out a scream of rage.
The mist slowly dissipated, but Chadwick didn’t want it to. He felt himself pulled backward like something was sucking him out of the dream, and he panicked, wanting to stay and see more.
He needed info on who was going to do this to Isabella. Where it was going to happen… Who…
He sat up, his world spinning as he gripped the covers and tried to get his bearings.
He glanced at the bed next to him and saw Bella was gone. His heart began pounding so hard he thought it might damage itself against his ribcage as he threw off his covers and hurried to get out of bed.
He threw on pajamas and a robe and ran into the hall, looking for where she might have gone.
“I’m the purple dragon,” he said quietly, focusing his mind. He was one of the strongest in
a long time. Half of them were practically insane from handling the visions. Not Chadwick. “I can see past, present, and future. I want to see Bella.”
He didn’t often use this power, but it did come in handy when locating someone in a huge mansion.
Especially because he had to know she was safe right now.
An image of her came to mind, and he freaked out for a second when he saw her pushing on some kind of bar that was lying over her.
Then he realized she was at the gym and sighed with visceral relief.
Goddammit, he didn’t understand anything that was happening lately. First, she’d driven him crazy, and now he was obsessed.
He never should have touched her in that pool.
And what was that odd glowing feeling last night? Was that really what the mate bond felt like?
He stormed over to the door that led to the stairs down to the gym and took them two at a time as he raced to reach Isabella.
When he pushed open the door, he was relieved to see she was fine, just as he’d seen in his mind.
She was on the bench press, currently beneath a bar that seemed surprisingly loaded for someone of her size and strength. It was resting against her chest, not moving, and she looked over at him with a beaming smile.
The drop of sweat trickling down her temple belied her relaxed bearing. “Chadwick!” She pushed at the bar again. “Did you feel like working out?”
He folded his arms, leaning against the door as he closed it behind him. “No, I felt like figuring out where my bed partner went so early in the morning.”
“Couldn’t sleep in,” she said, grunting as she made an attempt at pushing the bar up again.
She must have gone back to her room to change, because she was wearing fitted black yoga pants and a green tank top that matched her eyes. Her hair was pulled back.
Chadwick just leaned against the door and waited for his heart and breathing to go back to normal. The dream was still in the back of his mind, pulsing and poisonous.
He watched Bella as she turned her focus back to pushing the bar up, squeezing her eyes together as her hips wiggled and her feet pushed against the ground, but the bar didn’t move.
She looked over at him with an apologetic expression. “A little help?”
He sighed, striding over to easily lift the bar off her with one hand. Normally, he might have teased her, made her ask more than once just to teach her a lesson about doing dangerous exercises without someone to spot her.
Right now, he was just glad she was okay, unlike in his dream.
He set aside the weights and sat down on a nearby bench, processing his thoughts.
She sat up, stretching her arms. “Whew. Glad you came down here. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”
He shot her a sharp glare. “What would you have done?”
“I mean, probably push it onto the ground,” she said. “Well, I didn’t want to drop it and damage the flooring. But also, it couldn’t just roll because of my boobs, which it was squishing.” She rubbed at her chest, and Chad quickly averted his eyes from the motion.
“Well, I’m glad I came down, then,” Chadwick said quietly. “Why did you leave?”
She sighed, squeezing her hands into fists and then flexing them outward since they seemed tired from holding the bar. “I didn’t know why I should stay. I mean, what we did was fun, but—”
“But you could have woken me,” Chadwick said. “Not snuck off in the morning like a thief.”
“I didn’t take anything.” She put her hands up innocently. “Honestly, last night was amazing but a little confusing.” Her cheeks turned bright red, and she moved over to another machine, testing it.
He watched her adjust the weight load on a quad machine and then sit down on it. He walked over and lowered it to the correct position, then pulled the pin to lock it down.
“There you go,” he said.
“Always so helpful,” she quipped, starting her exercises. She pressed upward, but the machine didn’t move. “Damn, I can do this weight sometimes.”
“You did tire yourself out probably,” Chadwick said lazily, eyeing the barbells and wondering how long it had been since he came to work out.
It might not be a bad idea, given the stress he was under.
“Um, yeah,” she said. “So should we talk about it?”
He nodded. “There’s just one thing that’s bothering me.”
“What’s that?”
“Why did you seem scared when I asked you to be my mate?” Chadwick asked.
Her wide green eyes made her look like a cat that had just been dropped in water. She made a visible effort to calm down, breathing in and out slowly. “I just didn’t know why you would ask that when you clearly didn’t want me from the start.”
“I never said that,” he retorted.
“You have to mate a dragon heart,” she said, trying again to move the machine.
“I know,” he said. “But even if I was just caught up in the moment, why were you scared?”
“Not scared,” she said, shaking her head. “Just nervous.”
He took a step forward. “Why nervous?” Another step. “What would be so bad about it? You seem to want me a great deal.”
She bit her lower lip, and her eyes roamed over his body again. “God, yes,” she murmured.
Chadwick grinned in triumph. “Then I don’t understand the problem.”
She blinked up at him. “So you can have a mate that isn’t a dragon heart?”
That made him pause for a moment. Truthfully, his mind had changed in an instant. He’d been trying ever since he met her to keep telling himself that he would do his duty.
Then he’d held her, felt that undeniable pull, and—
“Did you feel anything?” He sat down on a weight bench again, this time closer to the machine she was on. “Something… different?”
Her cheeks went bright red, and she no longer even made an effort to pretend she was using the machine. “No.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Then just forget it.” He tilted his head to look at her. “Like you want to forget everything, I guess.”
She hesitated and there was sadness in her eyes as she appraised him, but then she nodded. “The truth is even if you meant it, Chad, I just couldn’t. I’m going back to my world. It’s safer for me there.”
“You’re safe with me,” he bit out, forcing his hands not to tighten into fists. “Where else are you safer? What could I not protect you from?”
There was a hollow look in her eyes as she made a small move to work the machine again. He didn’t like her defeat when she gave up.
“Chadwick, I can’t tell you more. I—”
“What happened to you? In the fae world?” Chadwick wasn’t going to let this go. Not now that he knew he wanted this incredible woman. “They said you were trafficked but not sold. Did one of the wolves hurt you?”
She looked away. “No.”
“Did they put you in cages?”
“No.”
He sighed. “Then who did?”
She shook her head. “I told you. No one. It’s nothing.” She pushed at the machine, but because Chadwick had locked it, it didn’t budge.
He hadn’t meant to get her stuck in there, but she did look a bit cute and it did mean she would answer his questions.
Because he’d be damned if he sent her back to her world and then she was unsafe afterward because he didn’t ask enough questions.
“Let me go,” she said softly. “It’s stuck.”
He exhaled. “Answer my questions.”
She snorted. “You aren’t seriously going to trap me here.”
“You trapped yourself there by putting way too much weight on that thing. Again.”
“I used to be able to—”
“There is no way you ever lifted that much,” he retorted. “Now answer my question, and I’ll undo the lock, which had to be set in place to hold the weight, by the way.”
/> She flushed. “Fine. Leave me here all day. I don’t have to answer you.”
He walked forward until he was directly in front of the machine and leaned down, enjoying the way her blush deepened and her eyes widened as she watched him.
Then he flicked the latch open and pulled the weight off her legs, because above all, he didn’t want to be like whoever put the fear in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she said, pushing out of the machine as she stepped back. “Phew.” She put her hands on her hips. “Guess I really owe you at this point.”
Chadwick let out a snort. “I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll need me to save you again soon. You seem to enjoy getting into trouble.”
She laughed. “Well, you show up often enough. It’s almost like you enjoy saving me a little too much.”
He shrugged in agreement. “Dragon.”
Her jaw dropped. “Seriously? That’s a dragon thing, then?”
He sent her a glare, unsure if she was being serious. “Well, if I didn’t enjoy saving people, I’d be miserable since it’s my job.” He cocked his head. “But I have to admit it’s more than a little enjoyable saving you. Particularly since you give such interesting reactions.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You…”
He turned to head for the door. “But in the meantime, can you please try not to get trapped under any heavy objects? I have work to do.”
Then he left the gym, letting the door swing shut behind him.
There were so many things he still wanted to ask her.
About the dream. About the cages. He still didn’t know if what he’d seen was past or future.
But one thing was for certain. He had to give her space and let her come to him when she was ready.
Besides, with how she’d been chasing him lately, he doubted it would be long before she was back again, trying to get in his pants when she’d already gotten in his heart.
Chapter 13
“Are you sure this is the best way to try the new suppressors?” Chadwick asked, walking beside Isabella as they watched the fae up ahead.
“Ivar said Taylor had the oracle calibrate them,” Isabella replied, trying not to think about Chad’s nearness.
Dragon in Love Page 8
