by Roxie Ray
I wondered how many other baby items she had tucked away. We’d planned on waiting and buying the bulk of it after we knew the sexes. I imagined there wasn’t much we’d need to shop for, knowing my mother.
I didn’t know how life could’ve gotten any sweeter, but two months later, it did. I came home from work to an empty house. “Hello?” I called as quietly as I could.
The babies were usually up around the time I came home and Skye either would have her hands full or one of the grandparents would be here helping out. Once my father had gotten a load of his grandkids, it had been difficult to keep him away. But no one was there.
I bounded up the stairs. Maybe everyone was asleep.
But no. Skye was waiting for me in our bedroom. “Hello there,” I said. It was hard not to realize the reason the house was empty but for me and Skye. Candles lined every surface, and the bed was covered in rose petals. “Hey,” I said. “No more babies. Not anytime soon.”
Skye gave me a knowing smile. “I’m tired of waiting, Anthony.” We hadn’t had any time alone since the babies were born. She’d had more than enough time to heal up.
She stepped closer, pressing her hands to my chest. Her vibrant green eyes peered up at me through her long lashes. “I want you.”
A hungry growl ripped through my chest as I pressed her flush against me, claiming her soft, pliant lips. I’d done the responsible thing by not pressuring her for sex while she healed, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been impatiently waiting for that day. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I scooped her legs up around me.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” I asked. “I don’t want to—”
“Yes, Anthony. I’m more than ready.” Her reply was a breathy whisper. “Make love to me.”
I wasn’t about to argue that. However, I knew I’d need to be gentle. She was the mother of my children, the love of my life, and even if she was fully healed, I wanted to be careful. I set her down lightly on the rose petals she’d scattered across the bedspread. Between that and the candlelight, she looked almost ethereal.
The silk robe slipped from her shoulders, exposing her bare form. Her breasts were fuller, her stomach still receding from the ordeal of having carried not one, but two babies, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. I clenched my jaw down on the urge to mar the perfect flesh of her shoulder and neck.
Instead, I took a fistful of silky brown hair and gently tilted her head back. The skin of her throat tasted of my citrus body wash and, combined with the vanilla of her shampoo, made for an alluring blend. I ran my hands across her heavy breasts, kneading them lightly. They would likely be sore for a while yet, but I wouldn’t dare complain about our limitations.
Trailing my fingertips lightly across her skin and down her belly, I was met with wetness. She was more than ready for me. She gasped as I brushed over the sensitive nub, back arching toward me instinctively. Her legs spread wider, giving me easier access, and I took it.
My fingers slid along her slick folds and she leaned back on her hands. I followed, lavishing the column of her throat with my attention. Her hips moved in time with my fingers and her breaths became rapid and uneven. I nipped lightly at the delicate flesh where her throat met her shoulder, even that little bit proving to be almost too much for me to hold back. She whimpered, pulling me closer.
“Do it, please.”
Pulling back, I studied her face for a moment. I wanted to, more than anything. The need to bite and claim her was overwhelming. But there were risks.
“Sammy came to me earlier,” she confessed. She ran her thumb across my cheek with the hand that wasn’t holding her up. “She said she saw it, and it’s time. Everything is going to be okay.”
If there was anyone I would trust with Skye’s life, it was Sammy. The two of them had grown really close. If Sammy saw our mating and knew everything would turn out fine, then I would trust that.
“Okay,” I whispered.
She tugged my shirt off and tossed it over her shoulder. I pressed her back onto the petal-covered bed, then slid off the edge to the floor. Knowing that I was going to do it settled the intense need I had to get it over with. First, I’d need to bring her close. Not that I hadn’t dreamed of tasting her womanhood again for weeks already.
Skye’s hips jerked at first contact. I applied pressure to her clit, then slid my tongue back to her opening. She groaned and gasped, muscles tightening. Her fingers found my hair and I skimmed mine along her slickness before easing them inside her.
Her back arched up off the bed and she clenched tight around my fingers. I needed to make sure she was prepared to take me again, so I kept pumping them in and out leisurely while my mouth worked the rest of her. Watching her writhe under my loving attention had me loosening my pants and pulling them down as far as I could from my position on my knees.
“Please, Anthony.” She tugged on my hair impatiently. “I need you in me.”
Ignoring her pleading, I sucked her clit into my mouth. She cried out, hips bucking against me. Damn, I’d missed that. When her tugging became painful, I relented and backed off with one last stroke. I stood and kicked my pants away, crawling up beside her on the bed, leaving a trail of kisses all the way up, especially on the fading stretch marks.
“Okay, love,” I said. “Just tell me if it hurts too much.”
She nodded, running her fingernails through my hair. That feeling sent a chill down my spine every time, it felt so nice, and my cock twitched in response. I pressed my forehead to hers as I rubbed it against her, coating it in her fluids. The friction was torturous but so good. Finally, I positioned myself at her entrance and eased inside her.
I watched her expression carefully for any signs of pain but found only love and lust in her eyes. Slowly at first, I started moving, her hips trying to keep time with mine. The feel of her around me brought back the temptation to sink my teeth into her. Her breathy moans urged me on, and I picked up the pace just a bit.
“Faster, please.”
Who was I to deny this woman anything? She knew her body, knew what it could handle. I could give her what she wanted, at least.
My speed increased again, and I kept a tight lid on the part that enjoyed the brutal, unyielding pace she’d so enjoyed in the beginning. It wasn’t the time for that. Her core muscles tightened, her breath coming in pants, and I knew she was close. Judging by the heat building low in my stomach, I was nearly there as well.
Instinct took over then. My nose grazed over the tender spot around her collarbone. Fangs extending, I bit into her flesh. Magic exploded over us, through us, exponentially increasing our pleasure long enough to crash through orgasm together before it all finally settled. I could feel the moment our bond snapped in place between us.
I drew back, pleased to see how little blood there was. Licking over the wound, I watched as it healed before my eyes. As soon as the last mark sealed, my clan tattoo materialized across her shoulder as my tattoo burned again for the first time since we’d decided to be mates. It flared for a second, then faded away.
Skye gazed up at me adoringly, and I leaned down to kiss her.
My mate.
25
Jace
“Have a good night!” I called to my last customer, a regular. He stumbled out the door. I knew he lived in the small apartment complex down the road and that he’d drive home. I’d also been careful to serve him no more than he could handle. I didn’t want to deal with a passed-out dude on the sidewalk. The cops would bring that shit back to me, for sure.
I grabbed up a full bag of trash and walked it out the back door, slinging it over the top of the dumpster. As I was about to shut the back door, I heard a muffled cry. It was definitely female and in distress.
I stopped and listened, tuning in to my preternatural hearing. The sound came from way back in the alley, nearly behind the building. I crept forward and after a few more seconds, heard more.
The stench of fear hit
me hard, though. “Leave me the fuck alone.” The voice was feminine, small, and absolutely terrified. Even if I couldn’t smell it, I heard it loud and clear.
“Did you think you could run away from me forever? I will always find you, bitch. Who do you think you are, taking my daughter away from me? Did you think I’d just let that go?”
“No, but you can’t do this. I have a restraining order against you.” She cried out, and that was all I could take.
I rushed down the alley. I couldn’t stand by and let this guy hurt this poor woman. I burst out and found them around the back of the building, just outside the rear entrance for the small nightclub next door. They must’ve exited from there.
I shoved the guy away and turned to the woman, and as soon as I touched her, a searing pain shot across my arm. “Shit,” I whispered. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. The pain was both intense and manageable. I looked down at my arm to see faint lines of a tattoo begin to appear. Son of a bitch.
“Get your hands off of her!” the guy yelled. He was clearly drunk and belligerent. As he came at me again, swinging at me wildly, I easily ducked him.
Shit. I hated dealing with cops, but if anybody needed to be arrested, it was this douchebag. I shoved him hard, so he went down on his butt. “Stay there, asshole!”
I kept my phone in my back pocket and pulled it out to call the police. I kept my arm around the shaking woman and finally got a good look at her. She looked familiar. “Here,” I said. “I called the Bluewater PD. Tell them what’s going on.”
She nodded and took the phone I’d held out to her. “Thank you.”
The drunk tried to get up again, but I snarled at him. He stayed on the ground.
The good news was that she didn’t try to protect her apparent abuser. She told the cops everything. “My ex-boyfriend found me. I’ve been hiding from him. I’ve got a restraining order against him, and he just tried to hurt me.”
She rattled off where we were and handed me back my phone.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I nodded absently, looking at her, then my arm.
The cops got there quickly, one of them being my buddy, Ian, who was another dragon in our clan. I gave my statement, as did the woman, who I learned was Briana Wallace, age thirty, one daughter, a local teacher. She didn’t know how the asshole found her and was terrified that he’d find her daughter, who was safe at the house of her friend, Skylar.
That explained why she looked so familiar. She always came in with Skye and their tattooed friend. Her other friend, the one with all the piercings, she was more my speed. This woman, Briana, would’ve been the last person I expected to be my fated mate. And a human, too…Come on.
I was raised by a single mother. Dragons didn’t often have broken families, but they did exist, and I came from one. I knew too easily what this woman was feeling. It was one of the reasons I’d chosen not to take on a mate. I didn’t want to end up being like my asshole father. But it didn’t stop me from wrapping an arm around the shaking woman as she cried and gave her statement. Ian asked her what she was doing out so late. “I had a girls’ night out with my friend Kaylee.”
Kaylee, that was the name of the other friend.
“I was headed to my car after getting some coffee from the diner. I hadn’t drunk anything, but I was really tired, so I wanted a little caffeine for the drive home. Kaylee went home with her current boyfriend and I found my ex waiting at my car. I ran from him, which was stupid because he cornered me back here.”
Ian closed his notebook. “Okay, you don’t have any visible injuries, but you can file a private suit against him for breaking the restraining order. We’ll take him in for a drunk and disorderly for tonight. You can pick up your report tomorrow.”
He gave me a sympathetic look and glanced at my arm. When he saw the tattoo there, his eyes widened, and he turned to Bri again. “Do you have someone you can stay with?”
She nodded. “My best friend has two houses. She’ll let me stay at her spare.”
She meant Skye and Anthony’s beach house; I was sure. She stepped away as Ian left and sucked in a deep breath.
“Thank you so much for stepping in and helping me,” she said. “I don’t know what he would’ve done.” She picked up her purse from the ground. “I’ve gotta go get my daughter and leave. I guess we can’t stay in one place for too long.”
My arm burned hotter. Son of a bitch! Skye and Anthony opened the damn floodgates with dragon and human mating in our clan and now I couldn’t stand the thought of this woman leaving alone. But she was a human. How was this possible? I mean, I knew it was possible, but the likelihood of it happening to two of us in one clan was unheard of.
“Are you leaving?” I asked. “Like, leaving town?”
She gave me big eyes that made me want to rip the drunk’s head from his shoulders. “I don’t see what choice I have.”
Motherfucker. I tried so hard to mind my own damn business, but this time I couldn’t. This slip of a woman, this teacher was my fated mate. And I couldn’t let her leave Bluewater.
What in the fuck was I going to do now?
Get Ready for Book 2 in the Bluewater Dragons Series, The Dragon’s Fate.
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Bri
My stomach heaved before I even opened my eyes. The dream stuck to me, propelling me out of bed and toward the bathroom. I managed to keep the contents of my stomach intact, but I had to stand in front of the bathroom mirror for a while and focus on being calm.
Damn it. I wiped my face down with a cool washcloth and reminded myself that nobody could hurt me or my daughter here. Dad would kill anyone who stepped through the doors that he hadn’t invited.
These nightmares were exhausting me, night after night. They were always the same. My ex-husband chasing me through an endless hallway with no help in sight. He was furious and screaming and I knew I was about to get my ass beat, but I couldn’t run faster than him and none of the doors in the hallway opened. Sometimes, the dream would progress to a second part where I hid, and he found me every damn time. Tonight, I’d woken up before it got to that. That was always worse, him finding me.
It would take me hours to fall back asleep, then I’d be crabby in the morning. I hated feeling grumpy around my daughter. She deserved sunshine as often as I could give it to her.
When my heart calmed down to its normal pattern, I climbed back in the bed and tried to think of anything but my ex-husband. Of course, that didn’t work. I’d thought about him every day for years. Even though I’d escaped him, there was no escaping him in my mind, no matter how hard I tried. He was always there.
Lately, things had been going well. I’d gotten settled in a new town, teaching at a new school. I’d made friends, even. And then, Damon had cornered me outside of my new favorite spot for girls’ night. I wasn’t sure how he’d found me, but he’d scared the shit out of me, and I hadn’t been able to shake it even though we’d been staying with my parents since then.
But staying here forever wasn’t an option. I wanted to get back to my life. With a sigh, I covered up, then had to kick the blankets off. The nightmare had put me into a sweat and the blankets were too much. March was still pretty cold in Maine, so my parents had the heat on. Restless, I grabbed my phone to play a mindless game for a little while. Maybe it would help my eyes get sleepy and I could drop off.
I’d give it another few days here before going back to my place. If I hadn’t heard from Damon by midweek, I’d go back home with Hayden. She was almost seven, and I didn’t want her to start questioning why our lives were being uprooted again. If possible, I hoped to resolve this without it disrupting her life any more than this little bit from staying here.
I was just lucky my parents had been able to buy a house with extra rooms. I didn’t like to think that they’d expected this to happen, and my daughter and I would move back in with them, but they liked to think
ahead. They’d probably anticipated it, or the possibility of it, anyway.
Whatever I decided to do, I wouldn’t let Damon interfere in our lives again. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. No matter what it took, I wouldn’t give Hayden the childhood I’d had before Mom got remarried to my stepdad. My mind raced with possible scenarios and what I’d do about them when they happened.
As I expected, it took me hours to get to sleep. When I woke again, the alarm was on its third round of snoozing. I’d turned it off in my sleep.
Also again.
I slipped my arms into my robe as I shuffled downstairs to find Hayden at the stove, standing on a stool as she assisted her grandmother with making pancakes. In two months, Hayden would be seven, but she had her father’s height and looked closer to eight or nine.
I smiled to myself as I watched them stir the batter and carefully spoon it onto the griddle. Knowing that Hayden’s Nana and Papa’s house would always be a happy place for her gave me a great amount of joy. It made me think of my childhood. Part of my early years had been pretty rough. My biological father had treated my mother pretty badly. I didn’t have a happy space like this until my stepfather came along.
Speaking of the man, he cleared his throat behind me. Dad was good like that. He knew that I was sensitive and easily startled, so he always announced himself gently with a heavy step or cleared throat. He wrapped an arm around me as if he knew I was thinking of him. “How’re you doing?”
This man was the only man who I considered to be my father. He’d been in my life since I was eleven. He was more of my dad than my biological father ever was. Good riddance to that man. It hurt me more than I cared to admit that I’d done the same thing to my daughter, chosen a shitty sperm donor for her.