Dragon in Denial: Bad Alpha Dads (Taming the Dragon Book 3)

by Tami Lund

  “How do you know?”

  He believed that she was selling the drug, but not that she took it herself? “Eulalie.”

  “Oh, right.” The tap squeaked as he turned it off. A blast of warm, moist air hit her as he opened the glass door and then closed it again. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noted he’d snagged a towel and was vigorously rubbing it against his skin.

  She jumped to her feet. “You okay while I go grab you some clothes?”

  “Yeah.” His voice sounded so defeated. She had no idea if it was from the ride down from the high that he was obviously starting or from whatever horrible living nightmare the drug had induced in his head. Maybe both.

  She scooted from the room and dug a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt out of his luggage. “I’m going to be right out here,” she said, pointing at the open door after handing him his clothes.

  He nodded and she partially closed the door behind her, and leaned against the wall, hovering, in case he called out to her.

  He didn’t. A few minutes later, he exited the bathroom wearing the shorts but apparently forgetting the T-shirt. His hair was damp, his hazel eyes no less bloodshot, although the dilation was starting to recede. The scrapes and cuts already were looking better. The swelling around the one eye was even more pronounced though.

  “I’m going to grab some ice from the ice machine for that swelling.”

  Ketu shook his head and snagged her arm. “I didn’t do this. Darius did.”

  She stared at him. “He hit you?”

  “Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. He force-fed me the drug. I didn’t take it willingly.”

  Antoinette was pretty sure her jaw dropped to her chest. “How?”

  He clutched his head with both hands and squeezed his eyes shut. “This sucks. I must be coming down right now because everything feels duller, yet I’m feeling more focused. And so fucking tired.”

  “Hopefully, that’s a good sign. Maybe you won’t get the shakes and the puking like Eulalie always did.” Antoinette pulled another bottle of water from the mini fridge. “Drink this. You need to stay hydrated.”

  He did as she commanded and then shook his head. “I don’t get why she went back for more. Seriously, this sucks.”

  Eulalie had said the same thing after her first go-round with dragon’s blood. And yet, a week later, she’d taken another hit. And after that one she said she never wanted to do it again. But a few days later, she was high again.

  The cycle went on for weeks, months, until she was almost never sober—she said the comedown was too damn difficult to deal with.

  Antoinette pulled back the sheet and comforter. “The best thing you can do right now is sleep.”

  He stumbled toward the bed. “Will you stay with me?”

  She wanted to, and yet she didn’t. Now that she knew he hadn’t taken the drug of his own free will, she wanted nothing more than to comfort him, help him through this.

  Which wasn’t good. She didn’t need to get any more attached to him. She didn’t need to feel for him. She didn’t need to want to take care of him.

  Yes, they were mates, and sure, all that stuff was supposed to be part and parcel of the union. But discovering they were mates meant nothing if they didn’t want it to. Since they hadn’t yet talked about it, she didn’t know what Ketu wanted.

  Wait, yes, she did. He wanted to leave New Orleans as soon as he could finish whatever task his reeve had sent him here to complete. He’d made it perfectly clear he had no interest in staying.

  Which meant if she were truly willing to make a go at this mating, she’d have to leave her home. Her son would have to leave Ketu’s parents, the only grandparents he knew;.

  That was a lot to take in, a big decision to make.

  And that was all on top of the fact that her fated mate didn’t even trust her enough to believe she wouldn’t actually deal the drug that killed her best friend.

  “Don’t stress out,” Ketu said. “Trust me, there’s nothing sexual going on in my head right now. I just want a friend. I just need you to be with me. Nothing more.”

  Oh sure, like that was any better. That was exactly the way she’d felt when Eulalie died, except Ketu had run instead of staying and comforting her. She didn’t blame him anymore, but she sure as hell couldn’t do the same thing to him.

  “Okay, fine. I need to text your mom and let her know what’s going on.” After she saw to that task, she pulled her sweatshirt over her head. “I’m taking off my jeans, but only because I want to be comfortable.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing you don’t go commando too.”

  “I see your smartass sense of humor is returning.”

  He chuckled and then groaned and massaged his temple. “Darius laughed after he’d given me the drug. It sounded like he was laughing into a megaphone pressed against my ear.”

  Antoinette grimaced. “That sucks. His laugh is annoying without any sort of amplification.”

  Ketu smiled when she sat on the edge of the bed. “Thanks, Antoinette. This really means a lot to me.”

  She lifted her feet onto the bed and tugged the covers up to her waist. “Trust me, I’m keeping tabs. You’re going to owe me big time for this.”

  He relaxed against the pillows and closed his eyes. “Anything you want. It’s yours.”

  You. We want you.

  Antoinette gave her dragon a solid glare. No, we don’t.

  Oh, yes, we do.

  I’m not having this argument with you.

  That’s because I’m right.

  Annoying dragon.

  Chapter 9

  The chills woke him. Ketu’s entire body shook while his teeth clacked together like a nutcracker with nothing to bite down on.

  Damn, he was freezing, despite being covered with warm, soft bedding. Why the hell…oh, yeah, that’s right.

  Darius. And that fucking dragon’s blood. The scuffle, and then Darius had poured that shit down Ketu’s throat.

  Reeve’s son or not, Darius needed to be dealt with. Ketu was going to kill him.

  Just as soon as he could get this damn shaking under control.

  The bed shifted and something warm pressed against his side as arms wrapped around his middle. A body. A feminine one. “Shh,” someone whispered near his ear. “I got you. It’s going to be okay.”

  Antoinette.

  He sank into her warmth, sighing as the shivering slowly subsided. Turning toward her, he nuzzled against her cheek then buried his face in the crook of her neck and drifted off to sleep again.

  ***

  The next time he surfaced, it was to a loud growling sound. He pressed a hand to his abdomen. Holy hell, had his stomach made that obnoxious noise?

  He was on his back, one arm trapped under the body sleeping next to him. He glanced over at Antoinette, whose head was on his chest, her body curled up and pressed against his.

  His dick started swelling.

  Ignoring it, he took stock of everything else. His head was clear, no images of his dead sister that had felt far too real. There were no overexaggerated noises. The room was dark, with a frame of dull gray light around the curtains covering the window. It was pre-dawn, maybe.

  All of this was completely and blessedly normal.

  The drug was apparently out of his system. Thank the gods.

  His stomach rumbled again, and Antoinette’s hand slid across his quivering muscles, her fingers splayed. He sucked in a breath and held it.

  She lifted her leg, draping it across his thighs. And then she rolled her hips.

  Ketu squeezed his eyes shut and willed her to go back to sleep. Or to wake up and hop out of bed. Anything, anything other than continuing the sweet torture of her hand stroking the peaks and valleys his tense muscles created.

  Her hand drifted lower until her fingers found that narrow muscle over his hip bone. They teased along the ridge, heading south, and, fuck, he needed to stop this before lust overrode sense and they did
something they might not regret on the surface—but honestly, they needed to talk first. Acknowledge the mating before they solidified it made it permanent.

  And he couldn’t mate himself to a dragon’s blood dealer.

  He started to edge away from Antoinette, but her fingers dug into his flesh. He turned his head to the side. She lay there, eyes open, watching him.

  “Morning,” he said, clearing the frog from his throat.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Starved, but otherwise, I think it’s run its course. Thanks for staying with me. I shouldn’t have asked you to.”

  “I’m glad I could be here for you.”

  She kept staring at him, hardly even blinking.

  “Um, we should probably get up, get something to eat, and then head over to my parents’ house.”

  She hooked her leg more firmly around his thighs while her fingers danced along the elastic band on his shorts. “It’s not even dawn yet. There’s no hurry.”

  “Antoinette, what are you doing?”

  “Honestly? I’m hoping you’re as horny as I am.”

  He groaned. The tips of her fingers slipped under the waistband of his shorts.

  “I’m not thinking about anything else,” she whispered. “I won’t have any regrets.”

  Wouldn’t she? And what about him? Would he regret it if he gave in to his dragon’s demands and had sex with her, knowing it would bind them forever? Knowing he’d attach himself to a dragon’s blood dealer? “You don’t—”

  She leaned forward and kissed him. A simple press of flesh to flesh.

  And then she nipped at his bottom lip.

  He snaked his arm around her waist and deftly flipped her onto her back. He hovered over her with his hands pressed against the sheets on either side of her head. “We need to talk first.”

  She gave him a push, sending him rolling onto his back, and then she straddled him, situating herself so that her most sensitive area nestled against his swollen cock. He groaned and closed his eyes. She rotated her hips; he popped them back open again. “Antoinette…”

  She grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and flipped it over her head. Her bra was white satin, nothing frilly, and yet her breasts spilling out of the top of that bit of material was the sexiest thing Ketu had ever witnessed in his life. He smoothed his hand along the top swell of each breast. She arched, pressed into his touch, and he dropped his hands to cup those puppies. He wanted to touch them without the impediment of her bra.

  He closed his eyes again. His rational mind was fast losing a battle against his physical desires. And his dragon wasn’t helping matters.

  If we do this and bind her to us, we can help her work through whatever reasons she has for dealing the drug, his dragon suggested.

  It sounded like a solid plan, although Ketu had enough wits still about him to suspect his dragon was saying whatever he needed to in order to convince Ketu to have sex with Antoinette.

  Still, the idea had merit. Because, honestly, he wanted to be Antoinette’s mate. He wanted them to create a new life—together. As a unit. As partners. As lovers.

  And he wanted to be Henri’s dad. He wanted to give Henri a few siblings.

  He didn’t want to run away anymore.

  Lifting his gaze to her face, he said, “Antoinette, I need to tell—”

  She snagged his hands, laced her fingers with his own, and pressed them against the bedding. “I need you to stop talking and just enjoy this.”

  Still holding his hands hostage, she leaned forward and kissed his neck, then made her way down to one of his nipples, where she teased it into a tiny, stiff point, and then nipped at it. He hissed and arched his back, gritting his teeth.

  Oh, he was definitely enjoying this. “Fine,” he ground out. “Take off your bra.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “That’s better.”

  When she released his hands to do as he commanded, he grabbed her hips and switched their positions again. She let out a little yelp and then lay beneath him, watching him, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession, her bare breasts all but begging for his attention.

  “You won’t regret this,” he vowed before dropping his head to focus on her quivering tits.

  “I know.” She cupped his head, holding him there, and he chuckled against her smooth skin before suckling a nipple into his mouth.

  “Ketu,” she cried out, and it was enough to make him want to mount her right then and there, take her, claim her, make her his.

  But no, that would be too quick, the moment, their first time together, over too soon. He wanted to drag this out, give her so much pleasure she’d be mindless with it. He wanted her to cry out his name again and again, until she was wrung out and exhausted and yet still wanting more.

  He pried her hands off his head and pressed them against the top ridge of the headboard. “Hold on, sweetheart. Don’t let go.”

  She clutched at the smooth wood, her dark eyes wide in her flushed face. He dropped a quick kiss on her lips and then shimmied down her body, trailing nips and licks along her skin until she was panting. “Please, Ketu,” she begged.

  “I like the way you say that.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and threw her head back as he slid her panties down her legs.

  He cupped her inner thighs, lifting her knees and then gently pushing until she let her legs fall apart. She kept the dark, coarse hairs trimmed so close she was practically bald, and it was sexy as fuck. Her folds glistened with arousal. She wanted this, possibly as much as he did.

  He stroked a finger through the wetness. “Antoinette, I need to—”

  “Do you always talk so much during sex?”

  He chuckled. “Not usually.”

  “Then stop talking and put those lips to better use.” She groaned. “Please.”

  Pleasure her, pleasure her, pleasure her, his dragon chanted.

  He bent his head and gave her a lick. She called out his name again. He spread her lips and gave all his attention to making her feel as though she were flying without even shifting into dragon form. And when he came up for air, she was splayed on the bed, one arm hanging listlessly over the side, the other curled into the sheet. Her legs were still shaking from the aftershocks. He kissed the inside of her thigh and rolled off the bed.

  “Where are you going?” she asked without lifting her head or opening her eyes.

  “Condoms are in my toiletry bag. I’m coming right back.” When he returned, he lay down next to her and waved the little square packet in her face. “Unless you’re too spent for more.”

  She snatched the bit of foil out of his hand. “I can handle more. I definitely want more.” And then she scrambled to her knees, slid her fingers into the waistband of his shorts, and pulled them down his legs. His cock sprang free, bouncing like it wanted to prove how eager it was to be in this situation.

  She straddled his thighs and tore open the condom wrapper. The way she looked at his dick, like she couldn’t wait to ride it, was all the foreplay he needed.

  “Antoinette, baby. Please.” Apparently it was his turn to beg.

  She wrapped one hand around him and stroked, up and down, gently and yet with just the right amount of pressure. He lifted his hips, pushing his cock through the circle she’d formed with her fingers, while she watched the action, seemingly fascinated by his movements.

  Gritting his teeth, he said, “If you keep this up, you aren’t going to get to ride.”

  Slowing her hand to a stop, she paused to let him catch his breath before sheathing him with latex. “I definitely want a ride.” Grabbing his covered cock, she positioned herself over him and then trailed the tip through her drenched folds. He was seeing stars before she even sank down onto him, wrapping around him like a freaking glove. Her inner muscles flexed, and he damn near came on the spot.

  His groan was long and drawn out as she began to move, slowly, searching for her rhythm. It was the sweetest torture he’d ever experienced. Thi
s was it, that euphoria mated dragons talked about. The greatest pleasure in the world.

  It was only like this when a dragon found his fated mate. That’s what they said, and gods above, they were right.

  He cupped her waist, helping to guide her, and she flattened her palms on his chest, watching him while he stared up at her. He wanted this moment to last forever, but there was no way in hell. Not with how beautiful she looked, how well they fit together, how her body took his, sucked him in and then squeezed, milking him. He couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Digging his fingers into her skin, he bounced her on his cock, a crazy, frenzied pace, until she flung her head back and cried out, and his orgasm swamped him, drowning out the rest of the world, narrowing his focus to only the two of them and the connection they shared.

  No going back now.

  Chapter 10

  That certainly didn’t suck, Antoinette said to her dragon, who lolled about in her mind, punch-drunk on sex.

  We should do it again!

  Inwardly, Antoinette chuckled. We have work to do. She rolled out of bed and said, “Shower.”

  “Good idea,” Ketu said, and he followed her into the bathroom.

  She arched her brow. “Are you joining me?”

  “Hell yeah. Look what the idea of you, naked, with water pouring all over you, is doing to me.” He motioned at his swelling cock.

  Her dragon was bouncing up and down and clapping. She shook her head as she reached into the stall to twist on the water. Ketu’s hand smoothed over the curve of her ass then trailed around her waist until he cupped one of her breasts.

  Oh yes, showering together sounded like a fabulous idea.

  As soon as they stepped under the steaming spray, Ketu hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. His erection was a hardened rod between them. She shifted her hips, trying to adjust her stance so that it rubbed against her clit instead of her stomach.

  “Uh-uh,” Ketu said, and he turned her around until she faced the wall, her hands pressed against the cool, wet tiles. “I’ve been fantasizing about this.”