His Devoted Dragon (Divine Dragons Book 4)

by Jill Haven

  “I need to not think,” Beau said finally, pulling back just enough that I could see how desperate he was. “Please—”

  I cut him off with a kiss, settling him on my lap so our cocks slid together, friction making me hiss. “I’ll take care of you,” I promised, meaning the words to the depth of my heart. The way Beau looked at me and held my gaze made my nerves sizzle and my shaft throb. Maybe he didn’t believe me completely, not yet, but he was getting there.

  Reaching for my pants on the floor, I gave distant thanks to my playboy past that led me to keep a packet of lube around, just in case. Once I was settled back in the bathtub, I slid my hand down Beau’s back toward his hole, enjoying the way his body shivered against mine.

  “You’re so beautiful,” I murmured, not able to take my eyes off of him. My fingertip slid across his pucker, making his back arch beautifully, a whimper slipping from his lips like an accident.

  “Please,” Beau said quietly, gripping onto my shoulders like I was the only thing keeping him up.

  “I’ve got you.” I ripped open the lube and spread it on my fingers, sliding my hand back down to his hole and slowly, gently inserting a finger. He was so tight, the heat made my head spin even in the warm tub.

  Beau let out a moan, the sound encouraging. “More.”

  I kissed him as I stroked my finger in and out, carefully adding a second one. Beau’s forehead was on my shoulder now, his body rocking into my movements. When I slid my fingers across his prostate, he groaned low in his throat, his grip becoming tighter. It was like he desperately wanted to touch himself, but he didn’t.

  “So good,” I praised, kissing the side of his head and then adding a third finger. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but I wasn’t going to risk entering him without enough prep. He was fucking gorgeous, and he was mine. His body was lithe and muscled, his cock long but not as thick as mine, with a hint of a curve at the tip. I wanted it in my hands, my mouth. But it wasn’t about me at the moment.

  Before long he was grinding shamelessly back against my hand, his voice reduced to guttural noises and no actual words. Quickly I removed my fingers and squirted some more lube into my palm, slicking it over my hard shaft before turning my attention back to him.

  “Ease up, love,” I murmured, moving so that the head of my cock was at his entrance. Beau tensed, so I rubbed my hands up and down his back, soothing. “It’s okay.”

  Once he settled, I guided him down, groaning at the tight heat of his body, how it perfectly fit my cock like a glove. Like Beau was made for me, and me only. He shivered against me, although this time it wasn’t because he was cold. He lifted his head to look at me, pupils blown and eyes half-lidded, lost to his lust.

  I slowly pulled out and then thrust back in, drawing a low moan from Beau. It was an addicting sound, and already I was thinking of ways to make him do it again. I kept the rhythm slow and steady, drawing it out to drive him crazy. If he remembered his name by the time he came, I was doing it wrong.

  “Ace,” Beau managed, his voice breathy like it was all he had energy for.

  I kept my hold gentle but secure, feeling him start to move into my thrusts, the moaning and whimpering starting to slide into one smooth noise, the feel of my cock moving inside him, in and out providing pleasure that shocked me to my very core. Time seemed to freeze, every push of my hips drawing both of us closer to ecstasy.

  “Oh, fuck,” I whimpered, feeling the base of my cock start to swell. Guilt flashed in my middle, but the impending orgasm shoved everything but the here and now from my mind. Had anyone explicitly told Beau he could become pregnant? But it was just one time. Surely it couldn’t hurt.

  My knot started catching on his rim, and I thrust once, twice, before I pushed all the way in and it ballooned, leaving me helpless in the throes of my passion. I gripped Beau’s hips tighter—leaving bruises behind, I was sure—and with a loud moan, he started coming. White stripes of cum hit my skin, his beautiful body clinging to me tighter while he climaxed, like I was the only thing keeping him grounded. My dragon growled in my mind, pleased that my mate was marking me as his, and I was marking him. It went both ways.

  “What the—” Beau’s startled voice tried to drag me back to reality. I didn’t want to go.

  15

  Beau

  At first, I thought I was imagining it, thought that maybe Ace had simply changed his angle and grazed my prostate just right. Then his hips stuttered, his breath caught, and he surged inside me, the swelling becoming more obvious. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t something I was expecting.

  “What the—”

  “It’s my knot,” Ace said calmly, his teeth gritted as his cock swelled inside me and he shot another jet of heat into my body. “Just stay calm.”

  Almost delirious with pleasure, I laughed, letting my pleasure-sated body relax against him, aftershocks still making me shiver. “It’s like in the books,” I murmured, tucking my head into the crook of his neck. I felt safe and secure there, like nothing could harm me.

  “Books?” Ace sounded strange.

  “Shifter novels, where the wolves knot omegas and—” I cut myself off, shock rooting me to the spot. I pulled back as best I could with him still trapped inside me and stared at him, starting to shake. This time it wasn’t out of pleasure. “Please tell me it’s not like that. Please tell me a guy like me can’t get pregnant.”

  Ace groaned as another orgasm pulsed through him, and I wanted to snap my fingers at him to get his attention back to the topic at hand. All my post-orgasm fuzziness had disappeared, replaced with anxiety instead. “Ace,” I said quietly, searching his face desperately.

  Ace’s face turned bright red, and he wasn’t looking at me. “I wish I could,” he said quietly, groaning as his hands flexed on my hips. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Adrenaline flooded me, my heart racing a mile a minute, wanting to be anywhere but in his lap. “Let me go,” I demanded, not sure how to get rid of his knot. “Get out of me.”

  “I can’t.” Ace sounded a mixture of agonized and patient, but I didn’t care. “I’m stuck until it fades. My dragon wants to knock you up. It’s instinct for me.”

  “Well that’s all nice and good for you,” I muttered, my Southern accent thicker in my ire. “The one who’s doing the knockin’ up.” My head spun, dizziness threatening to knock me on my ass. Pregnant. I could be pregnant.

  “Wait. I’ve had sex before.” I stared frantically at him. “Only once unprotected. Could I have gotten pregnant then?” I wasn’t sure what I wanted the answer to be.

  Ace shook his head, his hands soothing up and down my sides like it could take away the disaster that was that moment. “You can only become pregnant by a dragon.”

  “By a—” I yelped, wincing as his knot pulled at my rim when I tried to move. Getting him out of me now wasn’t going to be pleasant for either of us, so all I really could do was wait. “Like you, you mean…” I rubbed a hand across my forehead, my breathing starting to come faster. When had my life come to this?

  “It’ll be okay,” Ace soothed, or attempted to, anyway.

  I faced him down with a stare that had often worked on business executives who thought they knew more about my farm than I did. He winced.

  “No matter what happens, you still have me,” he said quietly, although that wasn’t nearly as reassuring as he probably thought it would have been. “We’re fated mates, so a baby was probably in our future anyway.”

  I contemplated smacking him, but decided it wasn’t the right time for that. “Still don’t make me feel no better.”

  Distress flashed across Ace’s face, starting to weaken my resolve. “I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”

  “Then you should have told me sooner,” I muttered, my words acerbic. I wasn’t certain if I was more angry or terrified. A strange mix of both?

  The moment Ace’s knot deflated, I kicked him out of the bathtub, drained it, and showered quickly, washi
ng the bits of me that hadn’t gotten addressed by Ace prior to the distraction. The distraction I had asked for, I’d admit. But it had ended up being a whole different thing.

  Once I was clean, I shoved the curtain aside and stepped out, going straight for a towel. “The shower’s yours if you want it,” I said to the floor, not willing to look Ace in the face. I wanted to throw up and cry at the same time. Was that normal? Who the hell knew?

  I lived in a world where I, a 100 percent male, could become pregnant. Because I had sex with a dragon.

  I wasn’t certain ‘normal’ existed even in the same orbit.

  Surprised to find Ace past the doorframe and in the hallway, I pushed forward, trying to dodge him. Ace grabbed my arm, his touch gentle. He was talking to someone on his phone, and even when I was this angry at him, the touch crashed over me like a wave, soothing.

  I sort of hated him for it.

  “It’s for you,” Ace said, his face serious. “His name is Haiden. He’s like you.”

  I stared at him.

  Ace’s steady mask cracked a little, the worry and guilt slipping into his eyes. “Just talk to him, okay?”

  I hated that it hurt me to see that expression on his face, to know that I was the one causing him pain, so I grabbed the phone and tucked it to my ear. “Hello?” I was skeptical.

  “Is this Beau?” The voice on the other end was soft and friendly, almost light sounding. “My name is Haiden. I’m Carlisle’s mate, and I’m a divine omega… like you.”

  I took a second to process that. I remembered Carlisle’s name from the phone call, but I hadn’t met the man. He was the one who suggested taking me there in the first place. “Did you know?”

  “No,” Haiden answered honestly, although there was some amusement to his tone. “I didn’t even know I was different at all.” He let out a breath, some satisfaction there. “I wouldn’t change a thing, though.” The affection in his words was palpable.

  I held Ace’s phone to my ear, not sure what to say. I’d seen him dart into the shower, presumably doing what I had done and quickly cleaning himself off. Part of me hoped I was imagining the whole thing, that if I pinched my arm, I would wake up and be back on my farm. The rest of me knew there was no way that was the case.

  “Come see me,” Haiden encouraged. “I’d love to meet you, and we can talk more then.”

  I hesitated.

  “I’ve been where you are,” Haiden said softly. “I really needed a friend, but I was the first one they found and it was just me. I want to help you, Beau.”

  I swallowed thickly. I hadn’t wanted any of this. I hadn’t wanted to be special, to be an omega, divine or not. All I had wanted was to farm. Except now I’d been landed with a too-hot dragon who even now was staring anxiously at me from the bathroom, who I couldn’t seem to stay away from, and all of that had led me into chaos.

  Go figure.

  “Okay,” I said finally. “Ace can drive me.”

  Emotions flickered over Ace’s face faster than I could read them, guilt and worry the predominant ones. “Of course,” Ace said simply. “I’ll always take care of you.”

  I held his gaze, not sure what to make of that. Instead of answering, I just nodded.

  “Great!” Haiden sounded excited and warm on his side of the phone. “We’ll be waiting for you, then.”

  The call hung up before I could say anything else, leaving me standing there, still in just a towel, staring at Ace.

  “I really am sorry,” Ace said, the devastation clear on his face. He looked so pathetic that I couldn’t even be that angry at him. There was some anger, but really, Ace already looked like a kicked puppy and I didn’t want to make it worse.

  “Just take me to Haiden,” I said quietly, holding his eyes. “I need answers, and he’s the one who can give them to me.”

  Ace nodded, so subdued that I wanted to shake him until he smiled, until he cheered up. As annoyed as I was at him, seeing him like that was worse than anything.

  Both of us were silent as we got dressed and headed outside, Ace leading me to a car that was silver and sleek. I looked at him in surprise, and he shrugged but didn’t speak.

  There wasn’t any talking during the drive, although I wouldn’t have been able to say who wanted that. My mind took the time to wander, trying to process everything I had learned. Each time I shifted in my seat, my ass twinged, reminding me of Ace pushing into me, the way he held me, cared for me. Maybe he hadn’t told me about the whole pregnant thing, but he still treated me well. Playboy or not, the way he looked at me was different than the way he looked at anyone else.

  I jumped when his hand touched mine, and when I snapped my head to look at him, he was shooting cautious glances my way, asking the question with his eyes. Instead of shoving him away, I held his hand in mine, twining our fingers together and letting them rest on my thigh. It wasn’t sexual, just comforting, something both of us could draw from. Even though we were in a mess, it was a mess we were in together.

  If Ace thought he was getting out of this if he knocked me up—the thought made me snicker inside, because really, that wasn’t something I had ever thought before—he had another thing coming for him.

  By the time Ace turned into a long driveway, my foot was bouncing, nerves settling just enough to make me twitchy.

  “They’re good people,” Ace said, obviously trying to reassure me. He squeezed my hand before letting go, and while I missed the contact, it reminded me that I was important on my own, not just in how I related to him. I could stand on my own two feet.

  As we parked, the front door opened, two people coming out and stopping before the porch steps. One man was significantly taller than the other, but the way they moved was synchronized, like they knew what the other one was doing without even having to look. I knew without having to ask that one of the pair had to be Haiden.

  I pushed open my door, staring at them, my mind crashing and burning. The shorter man was holding a baby, and he was absently rubbing the infant’s back even as he continued looking at me. The child was dressed in a white onesie with pink flowers. I wasn’t close enough to see to be sure, but something told me that I was looking at Haiden’s child. His biological child, with his mate, presumably. I tried to get my jaw to work, but no words came out.

  “I’m Haiden.” The smaller one stepped forward, a smile on his kind face. “And this is my mate, Carlisle.”

  I felt Ace stand behind me, his hand gentle on the small of my back. I could be pregnant. The shock was finally easing, leaving reality in its place. I swallowed a gulp of air, trying to breathe. I couldn’t stop staring at the child—their child. Then my eyes rolled back in my head and that was the last thing I remembered.

  16

  Ace

  “You idiotic, blond, inconsiderate, irresponsible, reckless—”

  It was almost impressive how Carlisle didn’t have to breathe as he continued describing how bad exactly what I’d done was. I deserved it; I knew that. Although it was my sanity that stopped me from pointing out he’d made the same mistake with his partner at one point in time.

  “You forgot stupid,” Ten pointed out helpfully.

  Letting their lectures blend into the background, I strained my ears, trying to hear what Beau was talking about, what Haiden was saying to him. The moment Beau had regained consciousness, he’d told me to leave him the fuck alone until he’d sorted his head out. Then Haiden had tsked at me, picked up his daughter, and dragged Beau upstairs, leaving me with a ragingly angry Carlisle. Mason, Carlisle’s best friend, and Seth, Mason’s mate, had showed up not long after, Seth giving me a dirty look before heading upstairs. Mason had blended into the background, leaning against the wall and looking pleased that he wasn’t the one Carlisle was shouting at.

  Ten had come out from wherever he’d been, a combination of amused and annoyed. He looked like he had known this was going to happen. Given he was him, and my track record, he probably had.

  “Are you even li
stening to me?” Carlisle sounded exasperated now.

  “I stopped listening six insults ago,” I admitted with a shrug. “Besides, my hair color has nothing to do with my inability to keep it in my pants.” I tried a wink, although the joke didn’t make it all the way to my eyes. I did feel guilty. It was threatening to swallow me up inside. While I wasn’t perfect, this just happened to be a fuck-up of epic proportions, and not just for me. It was Beau’s life, too.

  Carlisle sighed. “We can worry about your indiscretion later,” he said finally. “Bishop’s supposed to be here with Evan and Stormy soon.”

  The corner of my lips twitched in amusement, the memory of Evan and the cows and Beau’s reaction coming to the forefront of my mind. I assumed Evan would be joining the conversation upstairs, and I was curious how that would go. I doubted Evan had lost much of his happy-go-lucky personality, and it seemed perpetually at odds with Beau’s more guarded stoicism.

  Stoicism that I had wreaked havoc on.

  The knock on the door hid my sigh, and by the time Carlisle had shot me another glance, I had guarded my expression. A long time ago I had perfected the ability to look casual and unbothered at a moment’s notice, because it went a long way with certain stressful situations. But this? There was nothing I could do that would make any of this better.

  “You’re a dumb-ass,” Bishop said flatly, his rumbling voice making me jerk out of my thoughts. I’d really been out of it if I had been staring at nothing long enough for Bishop to sneak up on me.

  And by sneak up on, I meant walk in the front door and walk the ten feet to stand next to me.

  “I know,” I answered, trying not to sound weary, even though I was. How many times did they have to scold me before they realized I got it? Plus, no matter what they said, it wasn’t going to change the past. That was impossible.