by Katie Reus
Her breasts pressed against his chest as he slid his hands into her hair, cupping her head. The need to hold her, to dominate her, it was so fucking overwhelming he could barely breathe. He’d never understood the mating frenzy before, could barely understand it now. All he knew was he needed this female more than he needed his next breath. And he wanted her to need him the same way.
He reached between their bodies and tweaked her clit. She pulled her mouth back from his, her expression pure bliss as he felt her begin to tighten around him once again. Because of pleasure he was giving her with his body.
Bran lost it. Tingles raced up his spine and his balls pulled up tight as he buried his face against her neck. He desperately wanted to bite her, but held back. Barely. He inhaled that dark winter scent, knowing it would be imprinted on him forever. This female, their first and definitely not last time together, would always be with him.
His canines extended, the urge to bite, to mark, intense. When his climax punched into him, he grabbed her hips, knowing he’d bruise her and not caring. He wanted her to carry his mark and if she wouldn’t carry it on her neck, in her scent. At least for now. The scent was only temporary, but soon she’d accept him. He’d just have to convince her.
The pleasure seared all his nerve endings as he cried out her name. It was too much and not enough. It would never be enough. Inhaling her scent, he nuzzled against her as his orgasm began to fade and as she slowly stroked her fingers down his back.
“That was amazing,” she murmured. “I never really imagined…” she trailed off and though he wanted to hear the rest of her thought, he didn’t have the energy to ask.
He wasn’t sure how long they lay there intertwined, with him just breathing in her sweetness, but eventually he realized he likely weighed a ton. Rolling off her, he fell onto his back next to her and before he could pull her to him she was cuddling against him, running her fingers over his chest as if she couldn’t get enough. His fire and her glow had dimmed now that they’d finished making love, but he knew it would be back, probably as soon as they started up again. He didn’t plan to wait long.
“That was amazing.” Her voice was a whisper against his skin. “Is it…always like that?” Her hesitation slayed him and when she looked up at him he saw how vulnerable she was making herself.
It humbled him that she trusted him enough to open herself up. He cupped her cheek, stroking his thumb against that satiny skin as he shook his head. “It’s never been like that for me. You’re fucking perfect.”
She smiled at his words and lay her head back against his chest, her body molded right against his. Right where she should always be.
“I’m just sorry your dragon is so hell bent on mating with someone as fucked up looking as me,” he murmured, keeping his voice light even though he wasn’t joking at all. God, everything about her was perfect. It was no surprise she was so resistant to mating with him. He couldn’t blame her, even if it sliced him up inside. Dragons were such a beautiful species but he’d gotten screwed in that department. Not that he’d ever cared before. All that shit was superficial. In his former job he’d seen ugly deeds committed by such beautiful people.
To his surprise, she snorted and smacked his stomach. “Bran Devlin, you’re the sexiest male I’ve ever met. If you want me to stroke your ego you’re out of luck.” Then, to his utter fucking surprise, she slid her hand lower and grasped his already hardening cock before looking up at him. Her smile was an erotic mix of uncertainty and wickedness. “But I don’t mind stroking this.”
Her sincere words rolled through him, flooring him. But he lost all thought as she stroked once, twice—He pinned her flat on her back again, pushing his cock into her tight grip. Tonight wasn’t over by a long shot.
And this thing between them wasn’t ever going to be over. No way in hell. He wasn’t letting her go.
* * *
Bo pulled the last of the cash from the biggest bar’s cash register and shut the drawer. Everyone, except security, his employees and those still behind the red door, had left.
Even if he hadn’t heard Nyx’s heels clicking along the floor, he would have been aware of her approaching before he saw her. He was just that attuned to her or something. Whatever it was, when she sat at the bar, her arms crossed over her chest, he was surprised she seemed more confused than fearful. All the vamps in the club were leaving in droves and he’d decided to close up early.
“Okay, so be honest, what the hell is going on because that’s not a light show. Is it?” she asked, looking up at the ceiling where a pale gold flame coated every inch of it and the walls. When she met his gaze she simply looked perplexed.
It wasn’t burning anyone and it wasn’t hot, but the vamps had decided not to take a chance. And Bo had sent Cynara home just in case the fire turned real. She was half-vamp, half-demon so he didn’t think she’d be affected because of her demon side, but he hadn’t wanted to take a chance with his sister. Fire was incredibly deadly to vamps. He’d told everyone it was just magic, but no one had really believed him. Which was fine with him. Even though he’d never closed early before he didn’t mind doing it now. It meant he could spend more time with Nyx.
“I honestly don’t know.”
Her blue eyes narrowed. “You have an idea though.”
He wasn’t sure how she always seemed to know when he was holding something back. A grin tugged against his lips. He glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot before looking at her again. “This is a guess only, but I think it has something to do with Keelin and Bran. Dragons mate differently than any other shifter on the planet.”
“You think they’re mating?” she whispered, eyes wide.
He shrugged. “They’re fucking at least.” Although there was no way Bran didn’t want more. There was no doubt after his display earlier.
To his delight, Nyx’s cheeks flushed pink. The female was so innocent sometimes it killed him. “Oh. Well I guess that’s not surprising. I can’t believe he carried her off like that. It was so, so…caveman.”
Bo snorted and started dividing up the bills in front of him. He’d have done the same damn thing in Bran’s situation. Hell, he might not have been as civilized. Bo was just glad the male hadn’t burned the place down. When they were hunting a mate, shifters usually didn’t care who got in their way.
Right about now, he understood that attitude. Though he didn’t plan on taking Nyx behind the red door. He wanted her in his home, in his bed where he’d never taken another female. And they’d have days and days of privacy because he wanted her all to himself, wanted to show her so much pleasure that she’d be exhausted with it.
“You’re not surprised?”
“No.” He thought about just leaving it at that, but looked up at her, pinning her with his gaze. “If my female was grinding on some other male I would have done worse.”
Nyx’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Against his better judgment, his gaze dipped to her mouth, his thoughts straying to an image of Nyx spread out and naked on his bed, looking up at him with those wide, beautiful eyes. “Yep. Provoking some types of males, shifter or not, can be dangerous.”
“You would never hurt a female.” Her words were soft, but he heard the unspoken question there.
He didn’t like that she even needed to ask. He might be half-demon but he’d been raised by a human mother. “Never. But that male wouldn’t have been so lucky if he’d had his hands on…” Bo wanted to say ‘you’ so fucking badly, but he held back. He had to play things right with Nyx. She was too damn sweet. “My female,” he finished before returning his attention to the money.
Nyx didn’t say anything after that and that was fine with him. Some days he thought she might understand what he wanted from her, but others she seemed so oblivious. He was starting to get edgy. Males and females had been flirting with her all night. That wasn’t exactly new, but it didn’t mean he liked it. All his protective instincts had flared to life. Instincts he’d
never had until now. And feeling protective of his sister was way different than how he felt about Nyx. “How were your tips?”
“Fantastic.” He glanced up to find a big grin on her face. “Those snow leopards were incredibly generous. And a little scary.”
He stilled at her words, his body growing taut. “Did they threaten you?”
She blinked in surprise, then grinned, shaking her head. “No, I don’t mean scary like that. I just mean, out of my league, uh, sexually.” Nyx broke his gaze, looking at the bar behind him. “They wanted to take me to one of the rooms and were pretty explicit with what they wanted to do to me,” she said in a rush, meeting his eyes again, her embarrassment clear.
He dropped his hands behind the bar so she wouldn’t see him clench them into tight fists. “Were you interested?” He knew she wasn’t, but the thought of anyone embarrassing her infuriated him.
She shook her head immediately. “It was flattering, but no way. Even if I was interested in females, three at once? I can’t even imagine.” There went that blush again, making his cock harden immediately.
He had no doubt what those shifters had wanted to do to her because they probably wanted the same thing as he did. Except he’d never share. That was something he had in common with the majority of shifters. At least when it came to Nyx. He would never share her with anyone.
He was almost certain she was a virgin too. Something that had never appealed to him before. But the thought of being Nyx’s first? He rolled his shoulders, easing his demon back down. Yeah, that thought got him way too excited.
Chapter 14
“What if they don’t like me?” Victoria shifted nervously against the passenger seat next to Drake. Their private jet had arrived early and instead of bothering anyone in the Petronilla clan they’d just rented a vehicle.
It was five in the morning and even though Victoria knew Drake’s recently awakened parents would have been more than happy to pick them up, she also knew that they couldn’t drive. That had been Drake’s excuse for not alerting them or anyone else, but she knew the real reason was that he was nervous to see them. He’d been kidnapped from his clan and sacrificed to open a Hell Gate at the age of twelve almost fifteen hundred years ago. His entire clan thought he’d been killed and had mourned him. Only recently had he been released back into the world and his parents had been in Protective Hibernation. To say they were dying to see their child was an understatement. But Victoria knew her mate was incredibly nervous about the meeting. He was still adjusting to this new world and for so long he’d thought his parents had abandoned him. He hadn’t actually said but she wondered if he was still trying to come to terms that they hadn’t.
“They will love you. Everyone loves you,” he growled, as if he thought that was a bad thing.
She laughed lightly. “Well that’s not true, but you’re biased.” For the past week they’d been visiting the Devlin clan to spend time with one of his oldest childhood friends and Drake had been acting like a rabid dragon to any male who looked at her. He’d always been protective, but his behavior had been extreme, especially for him. She finally realized that he wasn’t on his home turf and surrounded by way too many of his own kind that he didn’t know. His dragon side hadn’t been able to let his guard down. She’d been extra affectionate and they’d had a ridiculous amount of sex but even that hadn’t soothed him. Not that it was a jealousy thing, it was a protective thing because Drake knew she was his.
So when they’d gotten the news that his parents had woken up, she’d been doubly thrilled to return to their new home in Montana with his clan.
“It’s okay to be scared,” she finally said into the quiet of the vehicle. They were so close to his clan’s gated land. They owned a huge ski lodge in Montana but the clan members all lived in their own little village. It reminded her of a winter wonderland and she absolutely loved running around in her wolf form in the snow. The change was huge from living on the Gulf Coast.
Drake glanced at her, his gray eyes flashing silver for a moment. “I am not scared.”
Snickering, she reached out and grabbed his large hand. “I didn’t mean to offend your big, bad alpha self.”
At her words, he smiled, his expression relaxing. “I’m just ready to get home. And…yes, I’m nervous. What if…they don’t like me?”
The question coming from him seemed ludicrous. From all accounts his parents had mourned his loss greatly, his mother starting a war with another clan when he’d gone missing. But his kind of fear was normal. She squeezed his hand and brought it up to her lips. “They’re going to love you. In fact, I guarantee they never stopped.”
Drake just grunted and turned his attention back to the road. The rest of the trip was in silence. Once they reached the gates Victoria called Conall even though Drake didn’t want her to. Sweet Lord, he really was nervous.
Her new brother-in-law answered on the first ring. Not surprising since he was the Alpha and always seemed to be on call. “Hey, V. Everything okay?”
“We’re just pulling up to the gates.”
“Your flight wasn’t supposed to arrive for a couple hours.” She could hear the frown in his voice.
“Yeah, well, we’re early.”
“You should have called, I would have picked you up.” He actually sounded hurt, which made her feel bad.
“Blame your brother.” She looked at Drake, who frowned. “Yeah, I’m throwing you under the bus for this one,” she murmured.
“Come to my house. My parents are here. I will wake them at once.” Conall disconnected before she could respond.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
Drake’s knuckles were clasped around the steering wheel so tight they’d turned white. “Yes.”
“It’s going to be okay, I promise.” Victoria hated seeing Drake upset, especially after everything he’d been through. Thrown into Hell so young, betrayed by someone he loved and trusted, only to escape fifteen hundred years later into a world so much different than the one he’d lived in before.
“I know. Thank you.” He reached for her hand now, linking his fingers through hers as they drove down one of the quiet streets.
Huge homes dotted up the side of the snow-covered mountainside and not for the first time had she thought that it looked like something out of a postcard. She’d never need to go to Switzerland because their clan’s land was the picture of it.
The energy humming through both of them was almost palpable as Drake parked in front of Conall’s home. Similar to the high iron gate at the front of the property, there was also one around Conall’s two-story place.
Victoria jumped out before Drake could round the vehicle and open her door. He wrapped his heavy arm around her shoulders when he reached her, pulling her tight against him before he pushed open the gate. It fell quietly back into place as they strode up the long, stone walkway. She couldn’t be sure, but she was almost positive they were being watched. Drake must have sensed it too because he stiffened and looked to the left. She followed his gaze to the oversized windows of one of the sitting rooms.
She couldn’t see inside because of the reflective material on the glass but she would bet money his parents were in there waiting. Watching.
The door opened before they’d reached the top step and a tall, blonde woman who was a taller, slightly older looking version of Keelin stood there, her dark, penetrating eyes filled with tears and a fierce maternal love.
Victoria hoped Drake would understand as she smoothly slid out of his embrace, knowing his parents would want to hug him. The other woman didn’t even glance at her, just rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Drake, full-on sobbing. Drake murmured something Victoria couldn’t understand and rubbed the woman’s back. No longer awkward or stiff, his voice was rough. Not wanting to intrude on such a private moment, Victoria hurried through the door to be faced with Conall and a male who was definitely Drake’s father; Dragos senior.
The three males all looked so much alike
it was stunning. Drake’s father was probably six feet five, just like Drake. With dark hair, and gray eyes gone silver in that moment, he was a slightly older version of Victoria’s mate. And just as fierce.
Conall wrapped his arm around her shoulders, tugging her close and kissed the top of her head. “Can’t believe you didn’t call,” he muttered.
She nudged him in the side. “You try saying no to him.” Because Victoria found it pretty much impossible. Drake had her wrapped around his finger.
Chuckling, he held out a hand and said, “Victoria, this is my father, Dragos. Father, your oldest son’s mate.”
Victoria loved the formal way the Petronilla clan members sometimes spoke. They were all centuries or in some cases, millennia, older than her so it made sense. Her palms were actually damp as she stepped away from Conall and held a hand out to the huge male.
To her surprise, he scooped her up into a giant hug and squeezed tight. “My son told me how you saved Drake. My mate and I are forever in your debt.”
Well, she hadn’t actually saved him. She’d killed his bastard of a cousin who’d betrayed and sent him to Hell but Drake had saved all of them by destroying all those demons escaping from that Hell Gate. Her mate was truly amazing. She didn’t think now was the time to explain that though. She tried to answer but Drake’s father was squeezing her so hard she couldn’t get any words out.
“Dragos, let the poor girl go. She’s so small you will hurt her.” At the sound of an admonishing female voice the grip around Victoria loosened immediately.
At five feet ten, she’d never been called small before, but compared to most dragons she guessed she was. Victoria landed on her feet only to be pulled into another hug by the blur of motion that was Drake’s mother. Luckily the female didn’t squeeze her too hard. “We are so pleased to meet you. So, so pleased that our son has found such happiness after such tragedy.” Her words were muffled against the top of Victoria’s head but they were going to make her cry.
