Finn: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance (Xavier's Hatchlings Book 1)
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“I guess you’ll be getting nowhere then. As far as you getting money? I don’t see any mention of it here either. There is a restraining order against you, and nonpayment of fines. Those are about six grand, give or take a few bucks.” Sandra asked her why they were so high. “I haven’t any idea, ma’am. I’m the officer, not the judge.”
Being taken to a different cell didn’t go unnoticed. Sandra now had one all of her own, and there was a new jumper as well as different sheets and a blanket on the bed. Screaming for the officer to come back and answer her got her nowhere, either. This was going to be costing the city money if they didn’t get their shit together soon.
As she laid on the cot an hour later, Sandra let the day’s events roll around in her head. Some of the things that went on she supposed were all right. Like, why did she care if Rachel was married or not? Or why did it matter that she be a witness to it? Whatever their reasons for it, they were lost on her. But there were nagging thoughts she did have to think about.
What did Chad mean when he told her she could have the house? She knew what she’d hoped it meant, but the fact he’d pointed out she would have to find a job bothered her. Even divorced, he’d have to pay her something, she thought.
Why had they lived as paupers for all the time they’d been married? Millions of dollars were right there, according to Chad and Rachel. If they’d made her aware of it right away, she might not have had to steal from the restaurant to have spending money. Which reminded her, she would have to get her stash out of the house before she sold it. Sandra wondered if the house she was going to take from Rachel had a large safe in it as well.
Millions of dollars wasn’t a lot, she knew it. Not when it would be split in half. She supposed Chad would make her share with him. It was his parents who had made them wealthy. There had to be a way for her to take more of it, or at least get a larger share of the money. Sandra wondered if there had been any insurance when his parents died. She’d have to have a chunk of that as well.
Sandra had learned a great deal from when her own parents had died. There hadn’t been any kind of policies to come to her. There wasn’t a home—her mom and dad had rented their place. Nor were there any businesses to sue to collect from a negligent company. Her parents had gotten into a car one night and killed themselves. To this day, she was happy she’d been saved from death. Sandra had been in the back seat, snuggled up in a blanket, while the motor ran carbon monoxide into the taped up windows. If she had to do any part of her life over, Sandra would gladly have killed them herself. Then she wouldn’t have had to answer any stupid questions about why they’d done it. She knew why. Everyone in their little town knew it too. She’d embarrassed them somehow.
Spending a month in the hospital had been difficult for her. If there weren’t reporters there asking her questions, there were nurses and doctors in her room having her perform all kinds of tests. They’d been fearful she had too much of the poisoning to function well in society. Well, she’d proven them wrong, hadn’t she?
As the breakfast trays were being brought around, Sandra tried to get someone to tell her when she was going home. No one, of course, had an answer for her. If they thought she was staying here until the judge saw her again, they were out of their ever loving minds.
Chapter 6
Finn sat at the table, using it for an office. He had a lot of paperwork to catch up on, and this was the best place he could find to be able to spread out everything. Every time his wedding ring, all shiny and new, flashed in the sunlight from the window, he’d feel himself smile.
“You’re looking sappy again.” He kissed Rachel when she walked by him. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I should have taken into account the paperwork I needed to sign in order to get things rolling in the correct direction.”
“We both have a lot of sticks in the flame right now. I know we’re going to have a very long and fulfilling life ahead of us, and having to work on our wedding night is just one more memory we have to talk about when we’re old.” Rachel asked him if they’d get old. “Yes. I’m older than you by a great deal. My dad is ancient. I believe he’s been around for two or three thousand years. My mom is older than me, but not by much. She was in her twenties when she got pregnant with myself and my brothers.”
“How old are you?” He smiled at her. “I’m assuming from your look, I’m going to be unhappy with the age. I can take it. Tell me.”
“I’m young in comparison. I’ll be three hundred on my next birthday. At Christmas time, as a matter of fact. Theo and I were born on the twentieth, and Dover and Hadley the next day.” Rachel asked if they were all born in the same year. “Yes. It’s freakishly unusual for a dragon to have four eggs at one time. Mom did it, staying in a cave until we were hatched long enough to care for ourselves. Mostly we spent those two years eating a great deal and learning to fly. We, like our father, were born dragons. It wasn’t until later we could become humans too.”
“You have two brothers who aren’t dragons. How did them being with a bunch of dragons happen?” He told her about the adoption of the two of them. “So George was born in a hospital and left behind. Then Milo, who was older by a year, was brought to your family when his parents were killed in an accident. I bet you guys have seen a great deal being around for that long.”
“Not really. Dad has seen a lot. He has fought in wars. Worn armor. Flew the skies when there were others like him around. Dad doesn’t remember much about his parents, as he was the youngest of all the Mannings. However, he does remember some things. Computers, cars, and traveling through the sky in a plane were just a few of the things he had to deal with when the world was racing to change. By the time I was born, the world was only changing by degrees with technology. Houses are much the same as before I was born. Cars, too, for the most part, but there are more electrical ones. Food sources still come from grocery stores. Things like you see now were about the same when I was born.” Rachel asked him another question, and he had to laugh. “Yes, dragons can cry tears of gems. However, what most people don’t realize is they are different for each emotion. When a dragon cries, it depends on the reason for the tears as to what they might shed. Like the tears of grief, they become the darkest of diamonds, hard as the stone here, and unbreakable for any human jeweler to be able to cut. The tears of anger are red rubies. The purest of their kind darken with the hatred they were born from. The clearest stones are from the heart—not love, but something akin to the feeling. They’re beautiful and the most common. Those stones could be dropped because of a beautiful sunset or the first blooms of spring.”
“You named all but one gem, my favorite. There has to be some kind of emerald in this story.” He told her he wasn’t lying to her. “I know that. I honestly do. It was my poor attempt at a joke. I’m sorry. Do dragons cry emeralds? If so, what are they derived from?”
“They do, as a matter of fact. The emerald is from love. For the dragon that has found his other half, love will make the dragon so happy that tears of joy, emeralds, will be produced. They are planted then, by the dragon and his other half. Once the tree from the gem is sturdy and tall, the dragon will come back to it and give a bit of himself to it. The emeralds of the tree will be inside the fruit.” She stared at him. “I have something for you. I know you have a ring, but this one means so much more to me. I’d like for you to wear it.”
The emerald was huge. It had been cut in a way that showed off the flaw in the middle of it. Finn explained to her how the flaw was put there, and why it was now in the shape of a dragon, a red dragon.
“My dad cried this emerald, on the day Theo and I were hatched. Mom wears the one from the day they were wed around her neck. The flaw, the tiny dragon, came about because my mom’s tears mingled with his in a way to contaminate it, what it’s called when there is a flaw like this.” He asked her if she thought it had been contaminated or made more beautiful. Rachel only nodded her head, he
r own eyes full of tears. “I didn’t think so either. Having it mounted for you was a simple thing to do. My dad, in some of his jobs waiting for my mom to come to him, was a jeweler. He did this for me to give to you.”
“Oh, Finn, that is the most beautiful story I’ve ever heard. It means so much more to me than I could express in simple words.” She cried more when he slipped it onto her finger. “I came in here to tell you how much I love you. Then you do this. Finn Manning, I love you so very much.”
Standing up, Finn pulled her into his arms, kissing her, giving all the passion and love he had in his heart to her. When she pulled her head back from his, he could see he’d bruised her lips. They were swollen a little and pink. Kissing her again, he smiled at her.
“What I wouldn’t give to have the house to ourselves right now.” He asked her what she meant. “My brother is on his way home. Your parents are flying around. By the way, can you take me—?”
Finn picked her up by putting his shoulder into her belly. Throwing her over his shoulder, he made his way through the house and out the back door. Once they were on the deck, he kissed her again. Finn was in the yard before he allowed her to say a word.
“Don’t be afraid of him.” Shaking her head, Rachel told him she was excited to see his dragon. “He’s warm. He won’t burn you, never you. But he will kill another being who tries to mount him. Understand? My dragon will never harm you, not if he can help it. But I can never give a ride to anyone but you. Or any children we might have.”
“When you say kill someone, are you telling me they’d be burnt, or they’d be gone?” Finn told her there wouldn’t even be dust from their contact with him. “I see. Good to know. Also, I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but I’ve never been afraid of you. Pissy? Yes. But never have I been afraid of you.”
Letting his dragon go was a wonderful feeling whenever he did it. But today, doing this for her, it was something special. He and his dragon had a mate. He wanted to show off for her.
“Oh, Finn. You’re beautiful. Or whatever a beautiful dragon can be. You’re a great deal bigger than I thought you’d be too.” She came off the deck and put her hand out to touch him. “May I? I don’t want to startle him into hurting either of us.”
You can touch him. He would love it. As soon as her fingers touched his front leg, his dragon purred for her. It was a sound he’d never heard coming from him before. He loves you too.
Lying down on the grass, he watched as she walked around him. Keeping himself still, his tail, especially so it wouldn’t cut her, Finn loved the fact she didn’t seem to be the least bit nervous about being around him. When she made her way to his face again, he stared at her.
“Your eye is bigger than I am. I thought you said you weren’t as large as other dragons.” He promised her he was smaller. “Then remind me never to look this close up at the rest of your family. I think it would give me a massive stroke.”
Would you like a ride? If you call for Joey, he’ll make sure you have a safe place to sit while I take you to the skies. Joey was there even before he finished speaking. As the harness was put around him to hold onto the seat Joey had fashioned for her, Finn kept an eye on the things around him. She asked him what he was doing. I can knock down a tree in seconds. Burn a forest down in less time than you could blink a dozen times.
“I guess I never thought of the things someone so large would have to take care of. Of course, you’ve been a dragon longer than I’ve been alive, which is more than likely why you know to be careful.” When she was making her way to his back, she cut her finger on one of the hundreds of scales along his wings. “Damn it. And you told me several times to be careful. I don’t want to go in for something to put over it either. Do you think it will be all right?”
Let me lick it closed for you. I can figure out what you are while I’m at it. She nodded and was helped down off the harness. It’s much larger than I thought, Rachel. I’m so very sorry.
“It wasn’t your fault. I’m the one who wasn’t being careful getting up there.” As soon as his tongue closed the wound, taking her blood into his mouth, he had a moment of uncertainty, a feeling he’d not had in such a long time. “What is it? Do you taste something I don’t want to know about? Don’t tell me, not until we get back. Unless it’s vital you tell me now. Either way, I don’t want to know right now. No. When we return is going to be much better.”
She didn’t mention it again as he took off skyward. Her laughter made him smile and feel wonderful. Even as he did some moves with her back there, never once did she tell him to stop or to not flip again. Nearly an hour later, his parents joined them. It was the first time in a very long time he’d been able to fly with them without the restrictions of other dragons flying into their space.
When his parents left them again, he knew they understood they wanted to be alone. There weren’t as many mountains here, not like there were at home, so he flew them to a place he knew would be private. A place the two of them could be alone.
Landing near the small stream where it trickled down from the mountain, he told her where they were. “Are you serious? You flew us all the way here?” He told her he was larger than a car and could travel great distances without much trouble. “But it’s so far away. I mean, it seems far to me.”
It’s not. When she climbed down from his back, he laid down on the grassy area and watched her explore. There was much to see from here. The views were outstanding, and so much nicer than anything he’d ever seen before. When I was a child, a dragon child, I remember my parents taking us to all sorts of mountain tops. I learned the names of trees. The way the earth interacts with all the things upon it. Even the smallest stone has a function in the way the earth evolves into what you see now. The earth and all its glory is something so few people care about anymore.
“I guess it’s the phone world now. I’ve noticed you don’t even carry your cell around with you unless you’re out and about. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you can mentally speak with most anyone you want to.”
You can do it as well. Finn let his dragon go and stayed where he was as his other half. The human side of himself still watched as she leaned in to smell the late blooming flowers and touched the trees, careful where she walked. “I brought you here to make love to you. But I’m enjoying watching you just being yourself.”
She turned to him and smiled. He’d never noticed before how much a smile could warm a person’s heart. Walking to him, Rachel spoke to him about the things she wanted to do to him. Finn was hard as stone then, and ready for anything she wanted to do to him.
“I’d like to explore every inch of your body. Touch your skin. The thought of your body inside of mine is more than I think I can bear. But I’m willing to give you my all if you are willing to take it.” He told her that he loved her. “I love you as well, Finn. It sort of evolved, much like the earth did. My love for you is eternal.”
“Come to me, Rachel.”
She moved toward him, taking off a bit of clothing with each step she took. By the time she reached him, she was gloriously naked, and the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
When she sat down on her knees between his outstretched legs, he reached out to touch her. At her request, however, he put his hands behind him to hold him upright. As soon as she touched her fingers to his lips, Finn knew he was going to be in real trouble. It was all he could do to hold onto his climax until he could be inside of her.
“You’re always warm. I can understand, but do you ever cool down?” He told her she was the one making him hot right now. “Ah, I guess I am. I want to make you hotter, but all I can think about is having you make love to me right out here in the open. Would you like it as well?”
“More than anything.” Pulling her to him, he was glad when she put her legs around his hips. “I can take you like this and explore the parts of you calling to me.”
Kissing her, really devouring all of her mouth, Finn removed his clothing. With the magic that comes with all dragons to shift in and out of clothing, he thought this was the best thing he’d ever used it for.
Picking her up, he held his cock as she lowered herself over him. Christ, Finn thought, she was hotter than he would ever be and cried out the moment she adjusted herself.
“Finn, make love to me. Please?” He rolled her over to her back, never leaving her warmth. “Yes, please. I need to come so badly.”
Wanting to make it last, he felt sweat run down the length of his back. Rachel’s nails dug deep into his back, and his dragon roared at him to mark her. When she wrapped her ankles around his hips, Finn cried out. It was too much right then. It was just enough to take him over the edge of sanity.
~~~
Rachel had never felt this way about sex before. It really wasn’t sex, she realized, but making love. Even discounting that it was outside, they were both needy, and Finn was making love to her in a way she’d never experienced.
Holding him tighter to her, she knew the exact moment when her body was ready to come. It was like everything in her had shut down for just a second too long. When she released, Rachel released every part of her body.
Screaming out, crying loudly so something within her could come as well, Rachel felt lifted up by it. Her body seemed to be renewed, energized, and ready for more. Finn seemed to understand she needed more and doubled his pounding of her. His hands were all over her, just long enough for him to warm her skin then move on. When he cried out that he was coming, Rachel looked at his face and knew there would never be another man who would love her like this. Nor make her feel like she was the most precious person or being in the world.