by Marcy Jacks
Maybe he could leave. He could get out into the woods and try tracking his way back home.
Except…Taylor didn’t have much experience tracking. He hadn’t been a hunting slave. Omegas usually weren’t used for that. His sense of smell was decent, but when he was all the way out in the middle of nowhere…he had no idea where he was or where he’d be going.
And he was hungry.
Taylor looked back down at James, shocked the man hadn’t woken up like a total ninja after Taylor did and grabbed him.
Taylor sighed.
Even if he couldn’t leave, he should at least get outside and attempt to find out where he was. There was a chance he could make it to a road, and he might get lucky and hitch a ride to civilization. He could get to a phone and call home.
Would they want him back? Had they bothered to look for him after he’d been taken? He was just an omega, so the chances were that they hadn’t. Fuck, and if he did get into town, he’d had to find a way of hiding his fox ears and tail. He needed a hat for that and some baggy pants.
James continued to not move. Taylor glared at him. Would he be able to smother the man with a pillow before he woke up?
Tempting. It was so tempting he didn’t even have the words to describe it.
Except…something was off.
Taylor leaned in close, frowning as he observed James’ flushed complexion, the way he breathed through his slightly parted lips, as if he were having trouble…
Taylor’s eyes flew wide. He reached out, briefly hesitated, and then placed his palm against James’ forehead.
The man barely stirred. He definitely didn’t wake, which Taylor would have expected for a big and bad alpha assassin.
He was hot. A lot hot, and not just because Taylor had been sucking up his body heat.
In fact, Taylor’s body was damn near cold in comparison. It made sense why the assassin would pull Taylor on top of him.
Shifters, especially alphas, already tended to be warm, but when they were sick, they were positively boiling.
He must have been trying to use Taylor to offset that heat.
Now that Taylor wasn’t lying against James’ body, sucking up that heat, the man began to sweat, his face turning more and more red as the heat got to him.
Taylor really didn’t know what he was supposed to do.
He didn’t owe the man anything. Not really. The only reason why Taylor had helped the man against those friends of his was because they would have killed Taylor as well when they were done.
Taylor touched his arm, where the bandage was.
Why did James bandage his arm? He didn’t have to do that, and Taylor kind of wished he hadn’t bothered because now it put him in this uncomfortable moral dilemma.
Taylor sighed, and as hungry as he was, as much as he didn’t like being out here, away from his friends, with that spider in the corner, he stretched himself back out beside James’ body.
He didn’t put himself on top of the man’s chest this time. He was too worried something would happen to stop his breathing, but he did curl his arms around the man’s waist.
The heat rushed through Taylor’s body immediately, and not just because he was hugging the man who had kidnapped him.
No. This was different. He was hugging someone who was built like a divine work of art. A statue. A living, breathing statue.
Not that he hadn’t felt how nice James’ body was when James had carried him, but God, this couldn’t get anymore embarrassing. The man had kidnapped him, and now Taylor was cuddling him, trying to keep his fever down.
The heat went right to his cheeks. He couldn’t help it.
Somehow, he got the feeling he wouldn’t be going home for a long time.
* * * *
A week after Stefan had given Micah his blood and made love to him, Micah experienced two things.
The first, he was put into a room with Seth, his mate, a few of the other dragon warriors in the clan, and Van.
A man he’d once respected, and then pitied, and now he couldn’t stand.
But it had to be done. Micah understood why, even though he thought it made the dragons a lot more strange than any other shifter out there.
Seth wanted a trial, of sorts. It obviously couldn’t be anything official. That was impossible, but Seth did want to write down everything Micah had said and experienced, as well as what Stefan saw and did as well.
Micah didn’t know which was more unpleasant, having to relive what happened to him—the kissing, the touching, the blood drinking, the fact that Stefan had seen some of that—or the anger he sensed in his mate when Stefan spoke of beating the hell out of Van.
Micah had to remind himself that Stefan did not blame him for what happened. He blamed Van, and Micah needed to blame Van as well.
The problem came when Micah looked up and saw the betrayal in Van’s eyes when Micah explained everything that had happened, being grabbed, being kissed when he didn’t want to be kissed, and his fear that came when Van began insisting that Micah must have been lying to him about being in love with Stefan.
He honestly looked as if his heart was being broken, and not because he realized what he was doing was wrong. No, it was almost as if he was still holding out some kind of hope.
Micah couldn’t look at him anymore. He tried not to listen when Van made his case, when the man frantically tried to get Seth to see his version of reason.
The false reality where Micah was in love with Van and was simply saying these things because he was an omega, he didn’t know better, and he was feeling pressured by his new mate.
Van seemed to have an excuse for absolutely everything. Any reason or hint that Micah might have a mind of his own and an opinion for himself about who he wanted to be with and Van had a reason why that was false and not what Micah really wanted.
It was frustrating to say the least.
Van tried to fight when Seth announced his banishment.
Micah pushed himself against Stefan’s side, searching for the comfort and protection of his mate when Van tried to jump at him, but luckily, the other dragon shifters were faster, and they had their hands on Van before he could get close enough to Micah.
Van was to be banished, beginning almost immediately. He would have an hour to pack up anything he wanted to take from his room, and he would be under constant supervision until then, but if he tried to come back, Seth would have him killed.
Micah tensed at that last part.
He supposed he should have known that a banishment would be so harsh. Otherwise, what was the point?
Micah still didn’t relax himself until at least a few hours after Van was escorted out of the house. Dimitri and Marxus were apparently going to drive him well away from the territory and then leave him at a gas station a couple of hours away with enough money for him to hitchhike or take a bus to wherever he needed to go.
It all seemed so…final.
“Don’t worry about him,” Stefan said that night. He comforted Micah that night with his body, and as Micah and his mate were in bed, Micah on Stefan’s lap, the man’s cock inside him, the alpha spoke softly to Micah as they had a gentle kind of sex.
“He made his bed, and he can lie in it.”
Micah nodded. “R-right.”
The soft, forward-and-back motions of his hips felt good but only enough to keep him flustered. Stefan was being cruel and refusing to allow Micah to move as he wanted, but Micah supposed that was to keep his attention on Stefan, right where his mate wanted it.
Their orgasms were gentle, and again Stefan gave Micah more of his blood, and though he didn’t need it any more for the mating, Micah enjoyed taking it, reaffirming that his mate loved and wanted him.
He slept for a few hours after they finished, but when he woke up, desperate to get to the bathroom, he realized the second piece of information that night.
He was pregnant with his dragon mate’s child.
He took no test to prove it, and it had only been a shor
t time since they’d started sleeping together, yet somehow, Micah knew it to be true. Internally, he felt the change in his body, the cramping in his stomach as his insides shifted to accommodate something that would not be there in any other male, the nausea, and a few other unpleasant symptoms he didn’t want to name.
He was pregnant.
When he told this to Stefan that night, he swore the man needed to bow down to the toilet king himself for a time as he began heaving as well.
Micah wet his lips, his hands over his stomach, watching as his mate struggled to keep the contents of his stomach down.
Micah could have possibly ruined the small happiness they had carefully built together by letting this happen.
Well, he hadn’t known it would happen, but it didn’t matter. It was happening, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it.
Their mating was so new. They’d hardly had a chance to enjoy each other, and now there was a child coming into this.
Even as Stefan looked pale, trembling, and sick on his knees in front of the toilet, the one thing that passed through Micah’s brain was how glad he was that this would be Stefan’s child.
Even though Micah wasn’t remotely ready to have children, he was glad it was Stefan’s, glad Stefan had saved him before Van could do anything more and call into question the paternity.
Micah could carve out some extra room in his heart for one more person. A baby was a small person anyway. It should fit.
Micah got down onto his knees beside the man he loved. He put his arms around Stefan’s wait and leaned his head against the man’s shoulder.
“I love you,” he said. “And even if you’re not happy, I am happy, and I’ll do my best to make you happy with this, one day.”
“What?”
Stefan turned his gaze to Micah, his eyes wide.
Micah smiled softly. “You’re shocked. So am I. I think we should confirm it, but I am sure this is right.”
Stefan grabbed Micah by his shoulders suddenly, gripping hard enough that it slightly pained him. “I am happy right now! Trust me! This is…oh Christ, I don’t even know how I’m supposed to describe this, but I am happy! I just feel like my guts are going to spill out. We’re going to have a family!”
Micah’s heart slammed the more he heard his mate speak of these things. “You’re really happy? You’re not upset?”
“Well, I’m barely keeping my stomach from hurling everything it has into the toilet, but trust me, the last thing I am is upset! God!” Stefan suddenly laughed. He grabbed Micah and pulled him up into his arms.
Micah cried out from suddenly being lifted up and carried out of the bathroom. He couldn’t look away from that smiling face, either.
“I love you. We’re going to be parents!” Stefan wouldn’t stop smiling. “I thought Seth and Miles would be the first to get pregnant. This is amazing!”
Micah nodded eagerly, curling his legs around Stefan’s waist, feeling the heat of his cock when he did that. “It is. You’re going to be a great father.”
Why was the idea of Stefan being a father suddenly the world’s greatest turn-on? He didn’t understand that at all, but there it was. He supposed there wasn’t much he could do about it, so he might as well go with it.
“So are you. You’re going to be the best damned dad in the world,” Stefan replied, staring into Micah’s eyes as if he were a jewel.
Micah wasn’t sure about that. His past likely made him the sort of person who shouldn’t be shaping a young mind toward independence, but he knew he would have a lot of help with that from Stefan.
It was Stefan who Micah wanted their child to learn from, to follow in Stefan’s footsteps.
“I hope he’s a dragon. It doesn’t have to be an alpha, boy or girl, I don’t care. I just want a dragon baby inside me.”
Stefan grinned down at him, putting Micah’s back onto the bed, their bodies coming together easily after the last sex they’d had. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what I want, too.”
Stefan pressed multiple kisses against Micah’s mouth, his cheeks, jaw, and throat. He seemed determined to kiss Micah everywhere he could.
Micah’s body responded. How could it not when Stefan’s lips were all over him like this? He needed to be kissed. He needed to be touched, and Stefan’s hands moved so beautifully over his body that how could he not respond?
His cock hardened. They were both wearing only bathrobes. It was the first thing Micah had reached out to grab and wear when he’d left bed to go to the bathroom. The same was clearly true for Stefan, and luckily for him, it was easy enough to open. They didn’t have to completely take the robes off in order to get to each other’s bodies, after all.
Chapter Ten
Stefan sucked on the warm flesh of his mate’s throat. Before, when they had been calmly making love, he had been slow and steady, taking his time.
There was nothing to be calm about now. He was excited, his body was excited, and his cock throbbed as if they hadn’t had an orgasm together a mere couple of hours prior.
“I want inside you.”
Micah’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red. They always did that whenever Stefan kissed him, touched him, gave any indication that he wanted the man.
Stefan thought Micah would get over his shyness, but now he found himself hoping that never happened. He wanted his mate to always look so cute whenever he was about to make love to him.
Micah swallowed, and he nodded. “I want you.”
That was all Stefan needed to hear. He lifted Micah’s hips, pulling the man’s knees up onto his shoulders before Micah had the chance to say anything.
Looking down at his mate, he could only think of the life they were creating together, not just for themselves but for the child Micah had inside him.
Stefan had lived a long time. He never thought he would live to see the day when he would become a father, not when he was still carrying around the pain of losing his own parents the day the vampires took everything from him.
He wouldn’t let history repeat itself. He would protect his mate. He would protect their child.
They would create a whole new story for themselves.
Stefan stroked Micah’s dick, barely giving the shaft the pressure it deserved. He just wanted to watch Micah suck back a hard breath right before Stefan pushed the head of his cock against Micah’s tight hole.
Micah groaned, and Stefan grunted as the head of his cock popped through.
“Shit, need more lube,” Stefan said.
“No.” Micah grabbed him by his forearms, halting him before he could go anywhere. “Stay there. Just like that.”
Stefan shook his head. “It’s going to be hard. I won’t be able to hold back.”
Stefan thought the fact that they had sex immediately before dozing off a couple of hours prior would have meant he had enough slick to make this work, but now that he was inside, he wasn’t so sure.
Micah, however, seemed to have made up his mind. “That’s fine. Do it. I want it.”
“But—”
“No.”
Stefan blinked at the tone in Micah’s voice. Those sweet, mismatched eyes glared at him, and for the first time, Stefan got the impression that if he didn’t give his beloved mate what he wanted, then Micah might just hurt him.
And it made Stefan smile.
“Look at you,” Stefan said, canting his hips forward. “Taking charge. Will you bite me if I don’t give you what you want?”
Micah nodded, his breath coming out in soft puffs as Stefan moved inside him. “And I’ll scratch you.”
Stefan didn’t know how to tell his mate that these things sounded on the better side of rewards, so he decided not to say anything at all.
He just gave his mate all the love he deserved.
“God, you’re tight,” Stefan groaned, his hips moving faster, punching forward harder, even though he was putting in a genuine effort to hold back just enough to let Micah get used to it.
“Fuck,” Stefan moaned, his pelvis moving harder and faster. He fucked into Micah with a force and pressure he couldn’t hold back.
His mate. His and not Van’s. Van could fuck off because Micah was Stefan’s family, and so was the cub, or hatchling, that was inside him.
Stefan couldn’t stop. The build of heat and pleasure was already too much. Everything was coming to a head, and he was going to come.
“Micah, I’m going to come inside you.”
Micah nodded, his cheeks flushed, kiss-swollen lips parted as he panted for breath.
“You’re mine, understand?”
Micah nodded again, his tiny claws digging into Stefan’s arms, his wolf ears in sharp points, and his tail banging against the sheets of the bed with each forward thrust.
“No one else can touch you. I don’t care what anyone ever does, I don’t care if someone makes you drink a gallon of their blood, you and our child are mine and no one else’s.”
Micah managed to smile through the blushing pink all over his face. “Yes, exactly that. That’s what I want.”
“Touch yourself. I want to watch you come.”
Micah, still smiling, did as he was told. His fingers curled around his erect cock. He stroked himself as Stefan continued to fuck into him.
Stefan watched that hand work, and soon they found a rhythm.
Micah squeezed his hole around Stefan’s prick again and again as his hand continued to move, and Stefan fucked into him in time with every motion of Micah’s hand, and he did this until he could take no more and he came inside of his mate with a shiver and a groan.
Micah’s eyes lit up when that happened. His entire body glowed with lust and pleasure as Stefan finished inside of him, as if the man was eager for it, encouraging it to happen.