My Dragon Lover

by Alisa Woods

  I hold out my hand to Jayda while avoiding her eyes. She’s got her stuff—the computer bag over her shoulder and her duffle in hand.

  “Ready,” I say to Niko.

  He’s giving me an odd look, eyebrow arched like he wonders what the fuck I’m doing. As if I know. But he says nothing, just teleports us to Jayda’s apartment. I’ve been here before, of course, when I was gathering up her things. Poked through a lot of her stuff, like an asshole. She’s got a decent apartment in Midtown, which is no small feat—she must make enough on her high-flying corporate salary to support the quality, understated furnishings. There’s even a small view. If I thought material things mattered to her, I could maybe offer her that—dragons are good with money, and I’ve steered clear of the lairs for most of my life, which means I’m financially independent. The Euro lair is ostensibly my base, my connection to the dragon world, but I have apartments all over the globe. I could keep Jayda in style. She’d never have to work again.

  But her work is important to her—and she’s damn good at it.

  There’s nothing I can offer that she would want.

  “You okay?” Niko asks again, this time in front of Jayda, who’s putting her things down by the couch.

  Fuck. I’ve been staring out the window. “Yeah. We’re good. Thanks for the transport.” I lift my chin, letting him know he can go.

  He takes the hint. “All right. Call me if you need anything.” He flicks a look at Jayda, who’s busy with something in her computer bag. Then Niko teleports away.

  Jayda turns once he’s gone. “I know you’ve probably got places to go and things to do.” She dips her head and gives me a serious look. “But before you run off, I’ve got a few questions.”

  “Questions?” I have no idea what she’s after.

  “About this dragon business.”

  “Oh.” I blink then glance at the couch. “Do you want to sit down?”

  “I was thinking the bedroom,” she says with a straight face.

  My eyebrows lift, and my heart lurches. One more fuck? I can’t… no, I know I can… I just don’t think I’ll survive one last goodbye fuck with Jayda. And there’s the remote chance that somehow we could mate. I can’t take the chance of trapping her into that. She has a right to know the risks. “Bedroom, it is.” Feels like accepting an execution order.

  Jayda takes my hand then tows me toward the hall that leads to her bedroom. It’s well-kept, sparsely furnished, just the bed, a dresser, and a desk that’s obviously where she works at home. She leads me to the bed, perches on the edge, then pats the white comforter next to her.

  I slowly ease down to sit.

  She turns to face me more fully. “You’ve lived a long time, so I figure you know how all this works. And now that I’ve come to fully accept this magic business, I need to know a few facts.”

  “Fair enough.” The sudden possibility of being friends looms over me. I’m not sure if my heart could take that either.

  “First of all, this mating business.” Her gaze is focused on me with that intensity she has.

  I swallow. “Yes?”

  “Grace mated with Theo, and now she can teleport. Said she could shift into a dragon as well. Is that true? And what else comes with that deal?”

  “Yes, it’s true. Also venom, super-healing, and longevity. Mated dragons live a long time.”

  Her eyebrows lift. “How long? You’re already pretty long in years, old man.”

  A smile bursts on my face, then quickly fades. “A mated pair dies together—when one goes, the other passes. Their souls are joined, so that’s just how it works. When they mate, the male’s lifespan matches the female’s, which is now enhanced with that super-healing magic. There’s no set rule, but it’s usually an extra hundred years longer than the normal human lifespan.” I smile a little. “An old dragon like me gets the most out of the deal. I’d keep going as long as my mate.” The smile dies with that. Because that’s the fairy tale—the one I’m not going to have.

  She frowns. “That’s a pretty solid offer for both parties.”

  I shrug. “It only works if it works.”

  “What do you mean?” Her dark eyes are on fire in the way that always stirs me around.

  I sigh, but she deserves to know all of it. “You can only mate with your soul mate. There’s literally only one person on the planet this will work with. And just being soul mates isn’t sufficient—you have to be in love and then you have to make love. There’s a specific order to things. Once that’s done, there’s no undoing it. Your souls literally fuse. The transformation occurs, each of them coming into their dragon powers. There’s no going back from that.”

  Her frown has deepened into a scowl. “And what happens if you don’t?”

  “Don’t what?” I narrow my eyes. What is she getting at?

  “You said if a dragon didn’t mate, he would wither away and die. What about the female?”

  Ah. “She just lives a normal life. When she dies, her dragon spirit will be reborn elsewhere. Her soul mate will have another chance to find her and win her heart.” The last of that trails off. My heart’s hammering again.

  Jayda presses her lips together then drops her gaze to the bed between us. “But he might not make it that long. He might wither away before that happens.”

  “He might.” A lump is gathering in my throat.

  She shakes her head a little like there’s some debate raging inside, and she’s unwilling to back down. Then she lifts her gaze to meet mine again. “You should go after her. That’s what’s best for you, and for her, and well… I won’t stand in the way of fate. But I want you to know, Mr. Personal Protection Detail, that I don’t give a damn about any of that. I think you should be free to love who you love, and if it were up to me, I’d tie you up in my bed and keep you right here. Just so I could ride that fine-ass body of yours any time I liked.”

  My mouth is hanging open. I couldn’t be more stunned if she’d literally reached out and slapped me. “You… you’d like me to stay,” I manage to get out.

  She levels a dead-serious stare at me. “I’m contemplating throwing you down on my bed and having my way with you one last time, regardless. Probably will regret it, if I don’t.”

  A jittery feeling has started up, deep in my chest. “And after that?”

  “I’d let you go after her.” She gives a solemn nod. “Your soul mate’s one lucky woman. She damn well better appreciate you, or I’ll come kick her ass.”

  A weak laugh escapes me. But the jitter has seized hold of my heart. Here’s my chance. I can walk away. She’ll never know. She’ll think I’m off living my life with someone else. She’ll go on and find someone else, having a normal human life…

  And that’s as far as I get. Because the idea of Jayda with someone else short-circuits my brain. Not when there’s a chance—literally any chance at all—that she might want me.

  I reach for her hand and draw it up to my face. Turning her wrist up, I hold her gaze while I taste her, running my tongue on the delicate skin there and finishing with a kiss. “What if I told you I don’t want to leave?”

  Torment plays across her face. It makes my heart skip.

  “You can’t give up your life, Ree.” She seems angry about this—not at me, but at a magical system she thinks will rob me of a long and happy life. “Besides, the fates think you should be with her, whoever she is.”

  I pull her closer and run my hand into her hair. Gripping there, I bring her in for a kiss. The kind I’ve wanted all along but never dared to take. It’s just as hot as the first True Kiss, but half as long—because I need to speak. “What if I told you the fates think I should be with you?”

  “I’d say the hot sex has fried your brain.” But she’s breathing hard, lips parted, as affected by our kiss as I am. She cups my cheek with her hand. “Ree, dammit, I’m in love with you. Don’t make this harder on me than it has to be.”

  A thrill shoots through me like nothing I’ve ever felt. I p
ull her hand from my face and gently push her onto the bed, on her back while I cover her luscious body with mine. My cock is already sprung. “Oh, I’m definitely going to make this hard on you.” I grind into her, holding her arm above her head while I kiss her deeply. The connection is so pure, so tight, I already have a hard time telling where my body ends and hers begins, even though we’re fully clothed.

  When I finally break the kiss for air, her eyes are half-mast with lust. “Oh, Lord, I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” she breathes. But she’s bucking into my rod-of-iron cock.

  She still hasn’t figured it out.

  “Jayda, ma moitié,” I say, softly. “You’re my soul mate.”

  She frowns up at me like I’m playing a terrible game with her.

  I just laugh, hardly able to contain my smile. “You are. Why do you think I’m here?”

  “Because you’re my security… oh.” She blinks a couple times as it settles in. “But…” She scowls and struggles to prop up on her elbows, forcing me to lean back and not crowd her so much. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  I prop up beside her then run my hand over my face. “Because I’m a fucking mess? Because I couldn’t bear to…” I struggle to say it out loud. “I don’t believe in happy endings, remember?”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” She’s spooling up to angry at me now. Which is probably fair—I haven’t been straight with her about this. Anything but this. I’ve got guardrails and minefields set up around this topic for a reason.

  I just have to tell her. “I was ten when the Vardigah came.”

  Her anger dissipates, and her eyes go wide. “Did they kidnap you?”

  “They murdered my family. And everyone I knew.”

  She’s aghast, of course, because it’s not the kind of thing you tell people. Pretty much, ever. It’s not something I have to explain to any dragon—most know that if you’re from that time period, no one escaped unscathed. Humans, of course, know nothing about it. And I never got close enough to any of them for it to make a difference.

  I take a deep breath and start. “My lair was in France. Not the estate where I brought you—that was a summer home—but not far from there. I had three brothers, my mother and father, five uncles—and that was just our family. It was a prosperous lair with large families and fairy-tale pairings where everyone was madly in love and had babies and more babies. Family was everything, ma chérie. I lost all of it when the Vardigah burned it to the ground. I was playing in the caves below the lair when they struck. I was buried down there for a week before it cooled enough to…” My voice catches. I work to clear it. “Before I could climb out over the ashes of my people.”

  “Oh, my God, Ree.” She’s turned on her side, too, peering earnestly into my eyes.

  I have to look away. “I was a child. And being an orphan at that time… the world was not a kind place. Of course, I was dragon, so I could defend myself, but that didn’t matter when all you really wanted was a home.” I bring my gaze back to her. “As I grew up, I realized I would die an old and pathetic dragon because there was no way to find my soul mate. The fairy tales I lived with were destroyed in the fire. I made my peace with that long ago.”

  “Oh, baby.” She places her hand over mine between us. “You could have loved anyone.”

  My smile feels like pain. “Ah, but it wouldn’t have been this.” I lift her hand to my lips and kiss the back. “I’d already seen the happy ending. I knew I wouldn’t have that. Or a family. Human women cannot carry a dragon child unless they’ve been transformed, ma moitié. It would kill them. And I would outlive her by a hundred years. So, you see? Falling in love was never a very appetizing option.” I take a deep breath. “And then suddenly, there was you. And you wanted nothing to do with my kind.” I shrug one shoulder. “Understandable. But there was no happy ending for me there, either.”

  She’s scouring my face, looking for more than I’m telling her. “But you took care of me.”

  I bite my lip. “You might not realize this, but you’re pretty damn hot.”

  She gives me a look. “You did more than take me to bed.”

  The tightness in my chest returns. “Yes, I did. Despite my best efforts not to.”

  She frowns like she doesn’t quite take my meaning.

  “I didn’t think the fairy tale could come true.” The smile-of-pain is back. “Not for me. It never has, and I was convinced that, somehow…”

  Her eyes go wide. “I’d send you away.”

  “Why would you want to bind yourself to a dragon for life?” It’s hard to get the words out. “Being a soul mate got you kidnapped and tortured. Why would you ever love one of us?”

  Her fingertips touch my cheek—I’ve never felt something so sweet. “Because you’re fucking hot in bed.”

  I laugh, but it comes out tortured.

  “And because you’re the most decent man I’ve ever met.” She leans forward and kisses me soft, on the lips.

  I pull away, even though it’s killing me. “I can’t make love to you now.” My heart’s stuttering. “If there’s any chance you actually love me, we might mate. And that bond is forever.”

  “I got that the first time you said it.” She reaches for me again.

  I stop her. “I don’t think you understand. And you barely know me.”

  “Ree.” She scowls at me. “I want a grown man who won’t screw my best friend. I want a man who knows how to take care of me. I want someone who will stick around for life. Am I mistaken, or is that not exactly, precisely, what it means to be a dragon’s mate?”

  The high-flying feeling of hope is clashing with the raw terror in my chest. “Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”

  “Then make love to me.”

  Nine

  Jayda

  Ree’s kiss pushes me back hard into the bed.

  It’s like something is unlocked inside of him, and he’s hungry for me in a way he hasn’t been until now. And I thought I knew desire before. Ree’s consuming my mouth while literally ripping the clothes from my body. Once he’s yanked my yoga pants down and popped half the buttons off my blouse, he releases me from the torrent of kissing to stand up and fling off his own clothes.

  “Side table,” I pant, watching him undress with greedy eyes. The idea of having this gorgeous hunk of a man in my bed forever—faithful, bonded, mine for all time—is making me dizzy. “Condom.”

  He shoves down his pants and lurches to the side table, nearly ripping the drawer out completely. I hustle to get my blouse and bra off before he can get the condom on. I barely make it. He’s on me again, pushing me down on the bed while spreading my legs and positioning his cock at my entrance. We’re both naked now, and the feel of his iron-clad muscles under my hands, his chest brushing my belly as he kisses his way up my neck, is the most delicious thing I can imagine.

  In one swift stroke, he fills me.

  If I weren’t used to Ree’s cock, I’d be crying out. Instead, I put my legs in the air and open up to take him, all while wrapping my arms around his head and whispering, “Fuck me, baby. So hard.”

  He groans, pulls back, and slams into me. I can’t help the gasp then. He stays deep and bends to my ear. “You complete me, Jayda Williams.” He pulls back and thrusts in. “Your soul is my soul.” Another thrust. “Your heart beats with mine.” Then he lifts up to look me in the eyes. “You are the greatest treasure I will ever have.” He holds still now to kiss me, so sweet and tender, I want to cry. But even more, I want him to move. Because this wide-open spread has him so deep inside me, I feel like he’s filling up my soul, not just my body. I reach down to that fine ass of his and urge him on. He pulls back and strokes in, smooth as silk, no rush, just the long slide of his cock into my body. Like he’s built just for me. The perfect man, the perfect cock—even the doubts that brought him nearly to tears are perfect. Because I know how to give a man all the love he can handle—I just need one I know can handle it. And who will love the hell out of me e
very which way in return.

  Ree is that and so much more.

  “I want this to last forever,” he whispers, voice strained as he methodically strokes into me.

  “That’s what this is, baby. Forever.”

  “I mean this.” He peers down between our bodies and thrusts a little harder.

  “If you want to fuck me endlessly, you’ll get no argument from me.”

  But he’s all sweetness and light. “I want this moment to last forever,” he whispers as he dips his head down by mine. He grabs my ass and tilts me up, just enough to somehow go deeper.

  “Baby, I am not going to last forever if you keep doing that.”

  But he keeps going, slow and steady. “I want this moment to stay, right here, before you’re mine for all time.” His voice is shaking. “Just in case.”

  The darkness is still there for him. And as much as I wish my words would banish it, I know he won’t believe it until it’s done. Hell, I won’t believe half of it even after it’s done. The whole thing is insane. But I want him to hurry up and get to that other side.

  So I dig my fingers into his shoulders and say, “Fuck me like you mean it, Ree. Like you want to give everything to me.”

  He makes a small noise, something like a whimper, but then he’s hooking his arms under my legs and pulling them up to my shoulders and slamming his cock so hard, I yelp. He’s pistoning into me now, making all those manly groans, as if he’s made of sex energy, and he wants to bang it into me by sheer force. We’re bouncing the bed, and each thrust is climbing me higher. “Yes, baby! Just like that!” I cry. “Give me all of it.”

  He groans and thrusts twice more then grinds into me. He’s coming—I can tell by the way he writhes, and it rubs me just the right way, shoving me over the edge with him. I convulse, sweet pleasure rocketing through me. I buck up into him. “Oh, fuck, baby, fuck!” I cry out, the hot fullness of him inside me, the waves of orgasm all through me, it’s heating me from the inside out. And this orgasm lasts and lasts. He’s still twitching inside me, and mine keeps rolling on, wave after wave. He finally settles, but I’m burning up.