Aurum Court Dragons: Boxset Books 1-5

by Emilia Hartley

  Dragons were hoarders by nature. Gold spoke to all of them. Perhaps it was the longevity of their lives and the desire for monetary stability. Or, more accurately, it was simply the desire to have it all.

  Wyatt’s version of having it all had been vastly different than his cousins’. Ashton had gone for the fortune, working in the bank. Jasper seemed to want more than just his mountains. Wyatt, on the other hand, had only wanted a family. His parents had never mated. He was the product of an affair, of parents who barely liked one another.

  It left him with a craving he did his best to fulfill. He thought he’d found it with Nicole. She’d given him everything he could have wanted, but then she left. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong. The way she looked at him after he’d asked her to marry him…she thought he was crazy. As if she’d never planned on marrying him at all.

  He’d only been a placeholder.

  “My name is Kennedy Mortenson.” Her voice snapped him from his memories.

  They burst like a bubble and disappeared altogether. He found himself in the vibrating air of the karaoke bar, staring at this woman. His gaze dropped to her lips. His beast growled hungrily.

  One night would never be enough, he told himself. One night was how he’d happened, and he didn’t want the cycle to continue. Though it pained him, Wyatt chugged the rest of his beer and slid off his stool.

  Kennedy said something, but he didn’t listen. He feared that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to leave her. Something about her drew him in. He could blame his loneliness and the gaping hole in his heart, but he wasn’t about to investigate either. He wished her a good night and pushed through the crowd.

  His cousins had reappeared, apparently having taken care of the surly king of the mountain. Ashton caught his eye and mouthed a question, asking if he was okay. Griffin glowered at him. The silver dragon looked between Wyatt and Kennedy with open jealousy. When his gaze lingered on Kennedy, rage boiled in Wyatt’s gut. Sucking in a breath through his nose, he managed to ignore it and push through the door.

  Kennedy wasn’t his to claim.

  Yet, the beast refused to let Griffin touch her. It nearly turned him back inside. He dug his heels into the ground and jammed his hands into the pockets of his leather bomber jacket. When he tilted his head back and the winter wind caressed his throat, it cooled him. His beast slowly slunk back into the dark depths of his soul.

  Just when he thought memories of Nicole would surface, he found himself thinking of Kennedy. Instead of bleached blond hair, he thought of her soft curls. He thought of the way that black dress had bared her shoulders. There had been freckles on them, too.

  His frustration had him twisted from the inside out. He knew his thoughts were nothing more than a distraction from the pain of rejection, but he still couldn’t shake her from his mind. She lingered inside him. He wanted to hear her voice again. He wanted to see her smile, see her lips part and eyes crinkle with true joy.

  Wyatt was a fool. Everyone had always told him as much. Especially his father. He was a bronze dragon. His scales were made of cold metal. He shouldn’t expose his heart the way he did, over and over. Lovers always found a place of permanence in him, and when they left, he felt the loss like a wound. It bled and scabbed over.

  His father thought that made him weak. Even his mother had questioned the way Wyatt threw all of himself into someone. This time, he would close off his heart. He would lock it in a box of bronze to keep himself from having to suffer.

  “Aren’t you cold out here?” Kennedy’s voice drifted toward him.

  He gritted his teeth, thinking he was only imagining her voice. Then, someone touched his arm. When he looked down, he found her delicate hand there. Her thin rings glinted in the parking lot light. She used her other hand to pull her fur coat tighter around her. She moved from foot to foot, as if trying to keep the blood flowing in her legs.

  “Why did you follow me out here? You’re going to catch a cold.”

  “You took off in such a hurry. I had to make sure you were alright.” She raised her chin in defiance, like a challenge.

  Wyatt shook his head. He wanted to tell her to find someone else in the bar. He didn’t know what brought her to town, but it certainly wasn’t him. He wasn’t going to be a fool and let a passer-by into his life.

  “Look, I was only trying to help. If you don’t want it, all you need to do is say thanks but no thanks. It’s that simple.” She was on the offensive now, her words barbed.

  His shoulders sank as he turned toward her. Words were lined up on his tongue, but they disappeared when he took her in. The night made her skin glow. When their eyes met, she didn’t flinch. Most everyone could tell there was a monster beneath his skin. They could with all the Drakes, but she didn’t seem to recognize it.

  Chapter Four

  Kennedy wanted to step closer to him. Not only for warmth, but because there was this overwhelming pull that dragged her closer and closer to him. Never before had she felt anything so strongly. She imagined that was what people meant when they found the place their soul called home. Yet, this was not a place but a person.

  And one she barely knew.

  How her soul reacted to him this way, she barely understood. All she knew was the need to get to know him. It didn’t seem like he was going to let her, though. He kept his distance, always a step or two away from her. She swallowed and tried to tell herself that was alright. Just because she felt something didn’t mean he would feel it, too.

  “You’re shaking,” he said, taking her trembling hand and tugging her toward him. He folded her into his arms, holding her close.

  She stilled. Then sank into him. His warmth bled through her jacket and caressed her legs. She didn’t realize how bad she’d been shivering until it stopped.

  “You should go back inside,” he repeated.

  She gripped the front of his jacket, not yet ready to let him go. There was an open door before her. All she needed to do was make a step. She leaned her head back to look up at him. She wasn’t prepared for the look of hunger in his eyes. The intensity of it made her mouth dry. She tugged him closer to her by the front of his jacket.

  A growl slipped from his lips. It tightened things deep inside her and made her heart thump. Together, they stumbled back. He pressed her to the outside of the bar, both of them tucked into a dark shadow. When he took her hands from his jacket and pushed them against the wall, excitement tumbled through her.

  “You should be more careful,” he growled in her ear.

  The hum of his breath against her skin almost made her moan. She swallowed the sound.

  “The men in this town are dangerous.”

  “Are you?” She knew the answer before he could respond.

  He wasn’t. Not to her, at least. He would never hurt her.

  How she knew this while held captive, she didn’t know. Wyatt could break her wrists. He could do all sorts of awful things in the alcove, and she wouldn’t be able to stop him. Yet, she felt safe in his arms. She remembered how he’d come to her rescue earlier. She was nothing to him. He hadn’t needed to help her, but he did.

  He didn’t answer. His hands opened, palms pressing flat against hers. Lower, she could feel the press of his cock against her leg. It betrayed all the things he said.

  “Wyatt,” she whimpered, more of a plea for more than a plea to be free. “Are you dangerous?”

  His lips descended upon hers. She opened to him, greedily taking whatever she could. Once more, she was reminded of whiskey. He burned her throat and warmed her from the inside out. When he pulled away, she was left wanting more. She thought he would run, then his lips found the soft skin of her neck.

  This time, she couldn’t bite back her moan. It pierced the night, nearly drowned out by the thumping music inside the bar. His teeth grazed her collar bone and she shuddered. Then, Wyatt paused. His breath was ragged, echoing her own.

  More. Kennedy wanted more.

&n
bsp; The layers of their clothes scratched her skin. They were too warm while he was this close. She wanted to throw them off and press her body against his. She reminded herself that while they were alone in the shadow, they were still in public. It would do her no good to get caught with her skirt over her hips.

  No matter how badly she wanted it.

  “Let me make you dinner,” she breathed, still holding him tight.

  Her words broke the spell over him. He froze. His whole body stiffened. Kennedy scrambled to capture his lips again. She thought that if she could kiss him, the spell would return, and he would sink into her once more.

  He moved back when she leaned forward.

  “You should be more careful,” was all he said before he disappeared.

  One moment, he was there. The next, he was gone.

  Kennedy knew she didn’t have that much to drink. Perhaps she blinked. Perhaps he knew a quick way to exit. This was his town, after all.

  The only thing Kennedy knew for sure was that she ached from the inside out. Now that he was gone and the cold had returned, she felt empty. She could try to force the feeling back, but it was stubborn and clung to her the whole way back to her hotel.

  When her cab driver tried to talk her up, his words fell on deaf ears.

  Chapter Five

  Her head throbbed. Belatedly, Kennedy realized she hadn’t eaten dinner. Her body raged against her, angry for the betrayal. She’d been too caught up in Wyatt Drake to remember to feed herself. Then, when he promptly disappeared, she’d stormed back to her hotel room, body still a bucket of fireworks near an open flame.

  It was a new day, she told herself. Later, she had a reservation at a two-star restaurant, but she couldn’t wait that long for food. She set out in search of breakfast and the biggest cup of coffee she could manage. Because she wanted to feel pretty, she wore her faux-fur coat over her leggings and sweater. A thin line of dried salt was forming on her black boots. She scowled at them and at the snow on the sidewalks.

  Her head hurt too much to think about it.

  The world around her rumbled. She grasped the sides of her head and groaned. The pain doubled. At first, Kennedy thought it was just part of the migraine. Weird things happened when she didn’t eat. Then, when she cracked open an eye, a flash of gold covered the sky.

  Her jaw dropped, pain forgotten. Over the town flew what looked to be a…dragon. Its wings spread wide and blotted out the sun. Then, it passed over. The winter sun glittered against the dragon. It made her think of gold coins, tumbling through the sky.

  This was impossible.

  It was a blimp. Or maybe the world’s biggest kite. That could be it, though she saw no strings binding it to the ground. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Kennedy did her best to figure out a logical explanation, but nothing came.

  Wyatt’s voice drifted toward her. “Oh, fuck.”

  Her attention snapped back to the street. Across from her stood Wyatt, glaring at the thing in the sky. He seemed to notice her, the barest of an acknowledgement as their gazes connected, before he took off. He ran past her.

  Despite her hunger and the way it twisted her stomach, she spun on her heel. Snow made her run slow and slippery, but she chased after Wyatt. He was much faster than any human had the right to be. Before she could catch up, he disappeared into the shadow of the massive evergreen trees.

  Common sense told her to stop. It told her to stay in town. Her soul, though, didn’t listen. She followed him into the woods. At first, she thought she’d lost him. Worry pinched her stomach even tighter. If she went too much deeper, she could walk herself in circles and never find her way back to Grove.

  Kennedy was not the adventurous type. She knew nothing about surviving in the woods. Thankfully, she came to the edge of a clearing. Wyatt stood with his back to her. He uttered one more curse word before his form changed.

  At first, she couldn’t believe it. Her eyes had to be wrong. His shoulders widened. Great wings burst from his back. Where there had once been a man now stood a dragon as large as a house. Her lungs shrank, breath leaving her as she watched the great beast beat its wings and launch into the air above.

  That was Wyatt, she thought. The bronze colored beast in the sky was Wyatt.

  She held her fingers to her lips. All this while, she’d been flirting with a monster. There was no simple way to describe what Wyatt had become. Monster was only fitting because she had no other words. Above, he was beautiful. His dark form raced toward the larger gold dragon. Kennedy guessed it was another man, though which one she did not know.

  Wyatt slammed into the gold dragon and they tumbled through the sky. She let out a cry and ran. She didn’t know what she would do when she got there. Either dragon could easily crush her if they landed on her. But she could not stop. Fear drove her. Not of the dragons, but for the dragons.

  Kennedy felt like she’d been inducted into some sort of secret society. She would have been happy with an invitation to a secret supper club, but this felt strangely right. The tug in her stomach was as strong as ever. It led her toward Wyatt.

  He roared. The sound shook her bones. Not because it frightened her, but because it was a sound of pain. She looked up, fighting to get a glimpse of the sky between the evergreen canopy. In a small grove, she saw the gold dragon bearing down on Wyatt. It gripped him and sank its teeth into Wyatt’s neck.

  She never felt so helpless in her life. She didn’t know what she, a human girl, could do. The fight was happening far above her head, out of reach for anyone like her. And still she felt the need to reach him. His pain hurt her. It bent her until desperation was all she felt.

  Two more dragons soared above her. One was copper while the other was almost invisible against the blue sky. Slowly, she realized the beast was silver. It reflected the blue skies in a way that nearly made it disappear.

  The gold dragon saw the two others coming for it. Wyatt used the moment of distraction to swing his tail around. The thick muscle collided with the gold dragon’s head. The gold dragon snarled. It raked its claws through Wyatt’s wings and flung him toward the ground.

  Kennedy screamed.

  The ground beneath her feet quaked. She closed her eyes tight, knowing an impact like that was deadly. Thoughts of their kiss brought a ghostly sensation to her lips. She wanted more, wanted to get to know the man who turned her insides to fire, but now she feared she would never get the chance.

  She let out a breath when she found him, human and unmoving, bronze hair haloed around his head like something out of a renaissance painting. At first, she hesitated at the edge of the small crater. She thought of the massive, bronze beast that had shot into the sky. That beast was Wyatt. They were one and the same. She shook her head and forced one foot in front of the other.

  Once she was closer, she saw that he wasn’t unconscious. In fact, Wyatt was staring into the sky with a scowl. When she stepped near, his eyes darted to her. She paused. His lips tightened before he blew out a sigh of resignation.

  “You’re alive,” she breathed.

  Wyatt grunted. He moved to push himself up then let out a groan. He hissed and clutched his ribs. Immediately, Kennedy sank to her knees, hands out to help him. That was when she realized he was very naked. His bomber jacket and jeans were gone. Now, she could see the stylized dragon tattoo on his chest and the scars that raked over his ribs, perhaps decades old at this point.

  Her eyes slipped a bit lower. She sucked on her lower lip, taking in the full girth of his cock. If this was what he looked like now, she wondered what excitement would do to him.

  “What are you doing out here?” he snapped at her.

  She jerked back, like his words were flames that burned her hands. Kennedy didn’t really know why she’d followed him. It had been all instinct and concern, but how did she tell him that? It didn’t even make sense to her. Surely, he would think she was crazy.

  Then again, what was crazy compared to the scen
e she’d just witnessed? For a moment, Kennedy leaned her head back and peered at the sky above. All three dragons were long gone.

  “Oh,” she said, an epiphany striking her. “That explains why a local broke some tourist’s camera.”

  Wyatt’s brows furrowed.

  “I’m guessing you weren’t here for that particular event.”

  “You’re taking this all surprisingly well,” he said, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.

  “Don’t get me wrong. At first, I thought I was hallucinating because of my hunger. This is all a bucket of crazy, but considering that you’re lying in a crater the size of the beast you turned into, I don’t think we can brush this off.”

  She couldn’t find any way to excuse what she’d seen. With no room for logic, all that was left was the illogical. The men of this town could turn into dragons. No wonder Wyatt warned her they were all dangerous. He wasn’t, though. Not for her.

  Together, they got him back onto his feet. He was heavier than she expected, like all the muscle of that massive beast was compacted inside this man. It also could be that she was weaker than she thought, and he weighed as much as any normal man. When he leaned against her, she wound her arm around his back.

  Her hand touched something sticky. A glance back told her it was blood. It coated her hand and his back from jagged wounds that ran from shoulder to his waist.

  “You need to get that cleaned!” The wounds were studded with dirt and stones. Even pine needles had pressed themselves into the blood and flesh.

  Wyatt shook his head. “I heal fast. They’ll be closed before we make it out of the woods.”

  Well, Kennedy thought, that’s nifty. With her arm around his back, mindful of the wounds, they hobbled out of the woods together. When she took a wrong turn, Wyatt gently guided her in the right direction. Kennedy didn’t lie to herself and think that Wyatt was lucky she’d followed him. If anything, his wounds would have healed, and he would have been able to pick himself up from the ground.