by Lola Gabriel
She moved closer to Draven, pressing her body against his as her hands roamed over his skin. He pushed her onto her back and moved on top of her, still kissing her. He moved his lips from hers, kissing her neck, and then he moved back from her. She sat up long enough to pull her t-shirt over her head and then she lay back down and Draven came back down to her, licking his way down her body until his tongue found her clit.
Morgan gasped as Draven’s tongue worked her swollen pink pearl, sparks flying through her body. She felt her dragon stirring inside of her, filling her with lust and need. She writhed beneath Draven’s expert tongue as he worked her into a frenzy, and when her orgasm washed over her, she dug her nails into the mattress as she gasped and moaned Draven’s name.
He came up from between her legs, kissing her stomach, her breasts, her neck. His lips found hers again and he kissed her, his kiss hard and passionate. She could taste her juices on his tongue and she could feel his hard cock pressing against her through his boxer shorts.
She reached down and pushed the shorts down his legs and Draven kicked them away. Morgan wrapped her fist around Draven’s cock, smiling with delight at the hugeness of it. She was so ready for Draven, her center aching for him to fill her up. She moved her fist up and down his length until he pulled his mouth from hers, his breath coming in a series of ragged pants.
She pulled him closer to her, wrapping her legs around him and pressing his cock against her dripping wet opening. Draven knew exactly what she wanted and as she took her hand away, he thrust into her, filling her in one delicious movement. She felt herself opening up for him, stretching, taking his length inside of herself.
Her pulse was racing as Draven began to thrust inside of her. Morgan’s hips moved with Draven’s seemingly of their own accord, her rhythm matching his without her even having to think about it. Their bodies were perfectly synchronized as their pleasure became one.
Morgan felt like she was floating on a wave of intense pleasure as Draven kept moving inside of her. She moaned his name as another orgasm washed over her. She felt herself clench around Draven’s cock and then his face was pressed against her neck and he was whispering her name as he climaxed.
Draven stayed in place, moaning as his climax went on. Morgan held him, coming down from her own orgasm, sated and happier than she could ever remember being. Draven finally slipped out of her and rolled over onto his side. Morgan rolled to face him and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.
They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. Their bodies had done the talking. And Morgan knew now that the attraction she felt for Draven wasn’t one-sided. And she thought that their act would no longer have to be an act at all.
She fell asleep feeling content and safe and happy, with a half-smile still playing over her lips.
Morgan woke up and found she was alone in the bed. She looked at the time. It wasn’t even seven a.m. yet, but she could hear the shower running from the bathroom next door. Although they’d had a late night last night, Morgan felt well rested and she found she was looking forward to going out and exploring the area with Draven today.
She sat up and stretched and then she fished her t-shirt she had worn last night up off the floor and put it back on. She got up and began looking through her wardrobe, deciding what to wear for the day. She settled on a pair of jeans, a dark blue shirt, and a pair of black slip-on shoes. Once Draven came back in from the shower, she would go and take one. Or maybe, instead, they could dive back into bed for an hour or two.
She smiled at the thought of them doing that, and she was still smiling when Draven came back into the room.
“Morning,” she said.
“You’re up early,” Draven commented.
“Not as early as you, it seems,” Morgan smiled.
Draven was already dressed, wearing jeans and a t-shirt that was tight enough to show off his amazing pecs. The clothes didn’t mean anything, though. Morgan knew she could take them off easily enough if the opportunity arose.
“Morgan, can we talk for a moment?” Draven asked.
“Sure. Just let me go and get ready first,” Morgan said.
She left the room and quickly showered, washed her hair, and brushed her teeth. She put her makeup on and towel-dried her hair. She combed it through and scrunched it up, deciding to let it dry the rest of the way naturally. She didn’t want to make Draven wait for her for too long. It sounded like he wanted to talk to her about something serious. She thought maybe he was going to tell her he wanted them to make a real go of being together.
She put her clothes on and went back through to the bedroom. Draven was sitting on the couch and she perched on the end of the bed.
“So, what’s up?” she asked.
“I just wanted to talk to you about last night,” Draven said. “Make sure you’re okay about what happened between us.”
“Of course I’m okay,” Morgan said.
“Good,” Draven replied. “I’m really sorry, Morgan. I never should have let it happen and I’m glad you’re okay about it all.”
Morgan felt as though her heart was breaking. She had gotten it all wrong. Draven didn’t want to ask her if they could make this thing between them work. He was telling her what they’d done had been a mistake. It sure hadn’t felt that way to Morgan.
“So, let me get this straight,” Morgan said. “You drag me out here and pretend you like me to get me into bed and then tell me it was all a mistake?”
“What? No,” Draven said. “We were both acting, Morgan. And last night, we just got a bit carried away, that’s all. I thought you said you were okay about it.”
“I was until you made me feel like booty call you just used,” Morgan snapped.
“I’m sorry, Morgan. I never meant to make you feel that way. I thought…” Draven trailed off.
“You thought what?” Morgan demanded.
“I thought you enjoyed it,” he said.
“That’s hardly the fucking point, is it, Draven? You know what? You were right. Last night was a mistake. This whole weekend is a mistake and this whole fake relationship is a mistake. I’m leaving,” Morgan said.
Draven got to his feet as she did. He moved closer to her and touched her arm. She shrugged him off and he sighed.
“Morgan, please don’t do this. Look, I’ve said I’m sorry. I never meant for that to happen last night and if I could go back and change it, I would, I swear,” Draven said.
Morgan felt tears clogging her throat and she swallowed them back angrily. There was no way she was going to let Draven see her crying. Every time he tried to make her feel better, he only made her feel worse. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him she wasn’t upset because they had had sex, she was upset because it had meant a lot to her and for a time there, she had allowed herself to believe that it meant something to him too.
“Say something, Morgan,” Draven said. “Please.”
“There’s nothing left to say,” she sighed.
She began to collect her things and started putting them in her suitcase, dumping them in any old way.
“You’re really leaving?” Draven said.
Morgan nodded.
“Yes. You said when I agreed to this that if it got too much, we would end the charade. Well, it’s gotten to be too much, Draven.”
“Okay,” Draven said. “I’m so sorry, Morgan. I really didn’t want you to get hurt in all of this.”
Morgan made a grunting sound, not trusting herself to reply to him.
“I…I guess I’ll call you a cab?” Draven said. “I’ll tell my parents about this after you’ve gone.”
“Thanks,” Morgan said stiffly.
She exhaled loudly, a shaky sigh rather than a normal breath, as Draven left the room to go and call her a cab. She went back to the bathroom and collected the rest of her things and then she finished packing. Sitting down on the end of the bed for a moment, she ran her fingers over the duvet, wondering how things had gone so wrong. How h
ad she allowed herself to believe that Draven actually wanted her?
She shook her head and stood up and went down the stairs. Draven was waiting in the hallway for her.
“They said it shouldn’t be too long,” he said. “Do you want some coffee or something to eat?”
“No, thank you,” Morgan said.
She pulled the front door open and stood on the step. Draven came to stand beside her and they stood that way in an awkward silence, something that had never fallen between them before. Even now, hurt and humiliated, Morgan’s dragon responded to the closeness of Draven’s body to hers. She stepped away from him, moving to stand outside, not wanting to feel anything anymore.
After what felt like an age, but couldn’t have been more than about ten minutes, a yellow cab appeared along the road. It pulled up at the gate.
“I’m sorry, Morgan,” Draven said again.
“It’s okay,” Morgan lied.
“Look, I’ll call you on Monday once we get back, okay?”
“Whatever,” Morgan said.
She hurried to get into the cab, throwing her suitcase into the back seat, not wanting to hang around there a minute longer than she had to.
“To the nearest train station, please,” she said to the driver.
He met her eye in the rearview mirror and nodded to her before pulling away. Morgan kept her eyes glued to the seat back in front of her, refusing to allow herself to turn around and catch one last glance of Draven. She managed to hold the tears in until the cab turned a corner and she was certain Draven wouldn’t be able to see her any longer, and then she finally let them come in a hot flood of pain.
6
Draven watched as the cab drove away. Morgan didn’t even so much as glance back and Draven knew then how much he had hurt her. He felt like his world was falling apart and he didn’t even know how they had ended up here. He had really thought Morgan was into it last night. No, he hadn’t just thought she was into it; he knew she was. So why was she so pissed off with him now? It just didn’t make any sense to him.
He couldn’t work it out. He had no idea what had gone wrong. He did know that he couldn’t face his parents right now, though. He went into the house and found a notebook and pen on the little table at the bottom of the stairs. He scrawled out a quick note—gone for a walk, catch up later—and went into the kitchen and left it beside the coffee machine where he knew they would see it. He knew that they would assume he meant both he and Morgan had gone off together somewhere and the thought of their happiness at him finding love, smiling at the thought of him and Morgan walking through the countryside hand in hand, giggling and sneaking kisses, made him feel sick for a moment.
He shook off the feeling and ran back upstairs. He pushed his feet into his sneakers and grabbed his cell phone and then he went back downstairs and let himself out of the front door. As he made his way down the path, he was almost waiting for the door to open behind him and one of his parents to appear, demanding to know where Morgan was. It didn’t happen and Draven started to relax as he walked along a winding path through the fields opposite the house.
He walked for a good hour and then he came across a small stream. He sat down beside the stream and took his shoes and socks off, rolled his jeans up to his knees, and put his feet in the water. He gasped when they made contact with the icy cold water, but he forced himself to leave them in the stream and after a few minutes, it didn’t feel so cold anymore. He lay back on the grass and closed his eyes.
All he could see when he closed them was Morgan. He missed her already and he cursed himself once more for upsetting her this way. He never should have asked her to act as his pretend mate-to-be. He should have just refused the stupid enchantment and let himself be banished, let his parents argue their way out of losing control of the pack. At least then Morgan wouldn’t hate him.
Sighing, he sat back up and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He unlocked the screen and scrolled through his recent call list until he found Morgan’s name. He hit call and brought his cell phone up to his ear, listening to it ring on Morgan’s end. The call went to voicemail, unanswered, ignored on purpose most likely, and Draven cut it off. He opened his text messages and typed out a message to Morgan.
“I really am so sorry, Morgan. I don’t know what else to say. Please talk to me. D x”
He hit send and waited. No message came back. He told himself he would just have to talk to his parents and then go back to the city immediately afterwards and see if he could get Morgan to forgive him. He didn’t want to wait until Monday to sort this out. She was his best friend and he needed her in his life.
Draven’s dragon began to stir inside of him as his insides churned and he sighed again. He couldn’t believe how quickly things had fallen apart. Last night had been one of the best nights of his life, and now this, the worst day of his life by far. And he was still no further forward with breaking the enchantment, and his parents were going to be on his case even more once he told them that he and Morgan were over before they had really begun.
“Yup. You made a fucking mess of all of this, Draven,” he said to himself. “A fucking mess indeed.”
7
Morgan was still sitting in the cab. She was starting to get restless now, feeling like she had been in it for far too long, and still they were driving through the countryside. How much longer before we even hit civilization? Morgan wondered.
“Excuse me?” Morgan said to the cab driver. “Where exactly are you taking me?”
“To the train station, ma’am,” the cab driver said, glancing over his shoulder at her. “That’s what you asked for, right?”
“Right,” Morgan said. “I didn’t realize it would be so far away. We went to a restaurant last night and it was only about a ten-minute drive.”
“Yeah, that was likely in the village I came out from to collect you. There’s no station there. We’re about half an hour away from the next big town and then we’ll hit the station in another ten minutes or so once we’re in town. Depending on the traffic, of course. What time is your train?”
“I don’t have a specific one booked. I’ll just catch the next one,” Morgan said.
The cab driver nodded.
“They run pretty much every half hour in both directions so you shouldn’t have too long of a wait,” the cab driver said.
Morgan fell quiet again, watching the countryside pass by. A few cars passed them in the opposite direction but they were few and far between. Had it really taken this long driving through the countryside on the way here? Morgan couldn’t remember. She had been less interested in the scenery on the way out here and more interested in acting her role.
She felt a spear of pain in her stomach as she thought of the journey to the cottage, sitting beside Draven and chatting away about their plans for the weekend. It felt like a lifetime ago now, but at the same time, it felt all too fresh and painful.
“Oh, fucking hell!” the cab driver exclaimed. He caught himself and glanced back at Morgan, blushing slightly. “Sorry for the language there, ma’am.”
Morgan waved his apology away as he applied the brakes and she peered between the seats to see what was going on. Her heart sank when she saw it. A car was stretched across both lanes of the road, blocking it completely, smoke pouring out from beneath the hood.
“Looks like there’s been an accident or something,” the cab driver said. He pulled to the side of the road in front of the car. “I’ll go and see what’s going on.”
He got out of the car and Morgan sighed again. It was like she was fated not to get back home any time soon. She could feel herself getting angry, but she swallowed it down. Her frustration wasn’t going to get her home any sooner. If anything, it would just make it feel as though the time was passing by even more slowly.
She watched as the cab driver approached the car and spoke to the man who was leaning into the hood of the car, peering at the engine. Morgan thought maybe they hadn’t had an accident but rath
er had broken down, maybe skidding as the engine failed. She thought that was actually worse. It would take much longer to get a recovery service out here than it would have taken to get the police out here if there had been an accident.
Morgan watched as the man straightened up, pulling himself out from beneath the hood. The passenger door of the car opened and another man stepped out. Morgan frowned, her instincts telling her something was off about this, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. The two men stood on either side of the cab driver.
As Morgan watched, one of them turned and started to run toward the cab. At the same time, the other one swung out with his fist, smacking the cab driver in the temple. The cab driver went down. Morgan jumped from the cab, her dragon stirring inside of her.
“What the hell is going on here?” she demanded.
The man who was running toward the cab reached her and grabbed her by the top of her arm. She tried to pull her arm away, but his grip was too strong. Morgan told herself to relax. If things got too far out of hand, she would simply turn into a dragon and then the men would regret choosing this course of action.
“Come quietly and no one gets hurt,” the man hissed in Morgan’s ear.
“I don’t fucking think so,” Morgan snapped, standing her ground. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” the man said. “Either you come quietly or I make a phone call, and the men I have surrounding Creely Cottage burn the place to the ground. With your precious boyfriend and the ruling couple inside. Which is it to be? I’m easy either way.”
Morgan’s mind was working overtime. This man knew exactly where to find Draven, Joy, and Miller. And he knew who they were. That could only mean he was a dragon himself, and that he had been watching them for some reason. Waiting for this chance maybe.