But he didn’t say it, just took in every second of her coming like it was something he could relive if he just watched close enough.
When she finally stopped writhing and leaned forward, her head falling against her chest, she looked at him with glazed, relieved eyes.
For a second, she was as lost as he was. But it was a good kind of lost. Like being found had never been a good thing, and rejecting that meant you were in foreign territory, unsure where to go.
But he knew he was glad they were going there together, at least for now.
He was fine being lost if it was with her. She rolled off him and lay on the bed next to him, letting out a long, heavy breath and pulling the sheets up around her.
He looked over at her, unable to stop staring. Her pretty features lit by the flush of her afterglow. Her soft curves. Her hands trembling on the sheets as she tried to calm down.
The smile she gave him, radiant and beatific.
A smile he’d never seen from her. He reached out a hand, and she took it, and he felt something crack inside him, releasing all his hopes and dreams. A life with her. A life with meaning. Someone he could share all his secrets with.
But as she rolled on her back, letting out a sigh of relief and staring up at the ceiling, still glowing, he reminded himself to wait. They weren’t there yet. She hadn’t promised anything. She still hadn’t said she would be a shifter’s mate.
Which was frightening, because at this moment, after what they’d just had, he didn’t know what he’d do if she didn’t.
Chapter 10
Lana could feel Dom watching her and had no idea what to say to him after the most incredible orgasm of her life.
She’d been so wanton, so unleashed, just hungry for his cock, for his body, for his touch.
She’d actually sucked him off, making him sit there and watch while she did what she wanted.
And then she’d sat on his face! She let out a little squeak as she thought of it and then covered her mouth with her hands, fighting back a giggle at the thought.
Things were moving so fast now. She really should have faced her shit sooner.
And now she knew a little more about Dom.
And how good he was during sex. Well, they hadn’t gone all the way yet; that kind of vulnerability still scared her. But after Galen, she’d wondered if she could enjoy this kind of thing at all. And now she knew.
With Dom, she could even enjoy it more than she ever had.
She slipped her hand into his, enjoying the warm embrace of his fingers, the safety of his firm grip. Was he right when he’d been pursuing her before? Was there something fated between them?
He’d said his dragon wanted more. But he hadn’t said the dreaded word “mate.”
But was that just because he knew she hated the word? She had no idea.
He squeezed her hand. “That was amazing.”
“I know,” she said. “Holy crap.”
They were still lying there, hearts pounding, when the doorbell rang in a long, elegant melody that was somehow only obnoxious right at this moment. It had felt good to be in their own little world.
Now someone was interrupting.
“I’ll go see who it is,” he said.
“Wait,” she said. “If they need us, they’ll come get us, right?”
“Who would ring the doorbell, though?” He sat up. “I need to go check on it.”
“Overprotective much?” she asked.
He gave her a frank look. “I don’t know any other way.”
“Even for just a friend?” she asked.
He bit his lip, dark hair falling over his face, and she knew he didn’t have any good way to respond to that. What did she want him to say? That she was more? That she was his mate? Wouldn’t she hate him for that? Wouldn’t it remind her of Galen?
“Even just for a friend,” he said, apparently deciding that was the best option.
“Fine,” she said sharply. “Go check.”
He gave her an odd look and then stood, pulling on his shirt and his sweater. Zipping up his jeans. Covering every tantalizing piece of skin, every bulging, luscious muscle.
She tried not to drool. She’d just come, and she already wanted more of him.
He gave her a grin. “There’s always time for more later.”
“Stop reading my mind.”
“I only heard that last part,” he said. Then he ducked out of the room. Voices downstairs were talking, growing louder, and she heard other dragons or mates leaving their rooms as the conversation continued.
Whatever was happening was a big deal, and she should probably get in on it. She heard Zach raising his voice and knew there was trouble.
She threw on her rumpled clothes, tried to look as presentable as possible, and opened the door to peek out of Dom’s room. Sure enough, Zach, Alistair, and Dom were downstairs, along with Bridget and Erin standing behind them in concern.
The men were acting protective, which Lana didn’t really understand, seeing as whoever they were facing had been let in by their own choice.
She crept out onto the landing and looked over the stairway and immediately caught sight of an older woman with dark-purple hair and a red robe over a black dress. The woman’s eyes were a misty gray, and the air seemed to shimmer around her. Everything about her seemed mystical. Ancient.
Was that the oracle they’d all been talking so much about?
The woman turned back to the dragons, a slight smile on her face. “As I said, we’ve come to visit.”
“No,” Zach said. “Oracle, if you want to meet with us, we can come to your island, but we can’t take any more dragons here. We’re full up on dragons.”
“I’m afraid I have nowhere else to put them,” the oracle said. “The lab is no longer safe. It’s under constant attack from wyverns. Even though I planned to awaken only one dragon at a time, that is no longer an option. I need them all awake and ready to fight back if someone comes to take them.”
“Our mates are here,” Alistair grated out, stepping forward.
The small, curvy, elderly woman raised an eyebrow at him. “You going to challenge me, Alistair?” She held a staff and pointed it at him. “I can do much worse things than collar you.”
Alistair frowned, folding his arms. “You expect us to take in rogue dragons that we have no knowledge of, with our vulnerable human mates in the house?”
“They have rings, don’t they?” the oracle said. “They’re protected. After all, they’re mated, aren’t they?”
“One isn’t,” Dom said in a firm voice. “Lana, the one we rescued.”
“I thought it was your intention to mate her,” the oracle said calmly. “I suggest you get to it.”
“Yeah, Dom. Why don’t you just ‘get to it?’” Alistair joked, earning a solid punch to the stomach from Dom.
“Stop!” the oracle said. “Such violence! And here I thought you all were doing so well.”
Zach shook his head. “No, we’re a freaking mess. One dragon after another added to the pile, and you want us to take on two more?”
He looked over her shoulder at something Lana couldn’t see from her angle.
“Just two little dragons,” she said. “I’ve collared them. They won’t bother you.”
Dom folded his arms, stepping forward. “Lana is my friend. I’m not pushing her into anything. No one ever gets to push her again. How do you think she’s going to feel with two unknown shifters in the house?”
The oracle gave him a bored glare. “You think I care when I have the weight of the entire shifter world on my shoulders? If you can’t claim your mate, that’s your problem, Dominic. Maybe she isn’t meant to be yours. But I can’t let dragons fall into the hands of my sister simply because a human has unreasonable fears of shifters.”
Dom let out a snarl, but Zach yanked him back. “They aren’t unreasonable. They fucking—”
“Careful, Dom,” the oracle warned in an ominous voice. “I can still collar you
if I want to. If I feel it’s… necessary.”
Dom huffed and stepped back, jerking out of Zach’s hold. “You going to just sit there and let her threaten me?” He pointed at the oracle. “You and your kind may be powerful, but we aren’t your slaves.”
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I never said you were. But I will do what it takes to protect this world and my people. Humans. Shifters. They are all my people.”
Dom let out a harsh breath. “We want to protect them, too.”
“And that’s why you don’t have a collar,” she said, stepping forward and patting his cheek like a doting grandmother.
She walked forward, toward the dining room, and Zach stepped in front of her.
“Wait, what do you mean your sister?”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her misty eyes. If anything, even at this distance, Lana saw sadness there.
“Why don’t we talk about it over dinner?” She looked up to where Lana was hiding. “Why don’t you come down, dear?”
Lana’s heart thudded as she slowly stood so the others could see her. She looked to Dom for help. He nodded, so she started down the steps.
The oracle met her at the bottom, and Lana didn’t know how to react. But the oracle took her hands in her firm but wrinkly ones.
Her misty eyes stared for a long moment. Then she squeezed her hands. “I’m sorry, my dear, but you understand, don’t you?” She looked over at Dom. “Why don’t you just take a handsome dragon for yourself and make it easier on everyone?”
Lana shook her head. “That’s not a reason to be with someone. I’m sorry.”
The oracle shrugged and released her, but there was a twinkle in her eyes. “I like this one. Now let’s have dinner. Someone show me to the dining room and get me a seat.”
The dragons murmured to each other but dutifully followed.
This was the woman who had woken them all up, collared them, and led them to their eventual mates.
They all owed a huge debt to her, and Lana was afraid, no matter what, they’d repay it.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” the oracle said. “Let me get my dragons.” She snapped her fingers, and the doors opened again, and two men walked in the front door. One with short, spiky blond hair and dark eyes, one with long, dark hair and bright-yellow eyes.
Both tall, beautiful, muscled, and inescapably dragons.
As they walked forward along the marble, Dom moved in front of Lana, shielding her from their gaze. But as they passed her, one looked at the other, inhaled the air, and smiled. The other grinned back.
There was something feral about them. Ruthless. Powerful. Nothing like Dom.
He stayed in front of her protectively, and she knew no matter what, he wouldn’t let anything happen.
“Now you know why I’m the only un-collared dragon,” he said quietly, watching the others walk into the dining room. He turned to face her, trapping her against the railing. “Listen to me, Lana. Newly awakened dragons are just like they were when they went to sleep. Most of them, including the ones you have met, like Zach, were selfish, egotistical brutes when they woke. Used to having all the power. Being at the top of the food chain. They’d think nothing of using a human.”
Lana blinked. “Then why were they woken up?”
“Because dragons have powers we need right now.”
“But why weren’t you like that?” she asked.
“I guess because I was raised with humans,” he said. “I never saw myself as better, but most dragons do.” He took her hand. “Just promise me you’ll be safe. Don’t go anywhere without me, okay?”
She jerked her hand back, heart pounding. “Listen, Dom. I like you. And I’m nervous about the other dragons… but…”
“But what?” he asked, cocking his head.
“I can’t just be your property. I can’t have you being possessive, acting like I’m yours. I just… It’s too much.”
He hung his head with a sigh. “Yeah, I figured.” His ice-blue eyes glowed as he glanced at the dining room where they were about to go. “I just want to protect you. I can’t help that.”
“So protect me as a friend,” she said, touching his shoulder.
He shook his head. “That’s not how the shifter world works. We claim what we want. We respect mate claims and nothing else. I do promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. But it’s going to be a lot harder if you won’t even pretend to be mine.”
She raised her eyes to his, taking his hands. “When I do decide to be yours, I want it to be for no other reason than because I love you. Don’t you?”
He growled. “I just want you to be safe.”
“Then keep me that way,” she said, releasing his hand and walking forward, swinging her hips. “I’m not worried about any dragon when you’re around.”
He grinned but hesitated. “Seriously, Lana. I’m not saying they’re bad guys, but you didn’t meet Zach or Alistair when they first awakened. I worry that—”
She put up a hand. “I have to learn to deal with shifters without fearing them at some point.”
“Yeah, well, there are shifters, and then there are dragons,” he muttered, putting an arm out. “But I’ll be here for you, so you don’t have to worry.” He shook his head. “Just please don’t judge me on whatever they do.”
She nodded. “I won’t. I promise.”
“All right, let’s go in.”
Chapter 11
Dom had never sat down to a more awkward dinner in his life.
He didn’t hate the oracle. She generally did what she had to and expected everyone else to get out of the way. To be fair, she knew more about what was important than anyone else.
But she’d seriously brought dragons into his house and interrupted him just as he’d made progress with Lana. All he’d wanted to do was hold on to his mate, talk to her, build their friendship in the wake of incredible pleasure and oneness.
But now there were rival dragons in the house, and as much as he tried to keep it down, his jealousy and possessiveness was bound to come out. After all, his mate was here, and he hadn’t been able to claim her yet.
Might not be able to for a long time.
He didn’t know much about the two dragons across from him, but he didn’t trust them one bit. Topaz, the one with the bright-blond hair and dark-brown eyes, seemed perpetually smiling and pleasant, whereas Citrine was sullen and quiet, watching them all with those unnerving light-yellow eyes like molten gold. They were polar opposites. Topaz seemed slightly more trustworthy, with his constant, charming smile, but Dom knew appearances could be deceiving. They were both wearing simple black robes and had the typical tall, muscular builds of dragons.
Topaz was classically handsome, wide, friendly eyes, slightly upturned nose, high cheekbones, and strong jaw. Dimple on one side of that charming mouth.
Citrine was harder to make out, his face partially hidden behind his long, straight, dark hair. His eyes were almond shaped, tilting up at the corners. His lips were thin, his chin sharp. His face was heart shaped, and he had a distinctive little dot above one cheek. Long lashes.
He avoided all their eyes, poking at the soup in front of him, while Topaz babbled eagerly, asking all kinds of questions. The oracle had put them through some kind of short crash course, but this was clearly going to be an awkward learning curve.
Worst of all, he caught both of them looking at Lana, who was laughing along with the conversation, trying to make things less awkward as Alastair and Zach just glared across the table with narrowed eyes.
Dom sighed and sat back in his chair, done with his dinner, ready to keep an eye on the strangers.
Lana looked over at him, almost as if to reassure him, and he repressed a smile. Her reassuring him. She was the one facing rogue dragons. She had no idea what she was dealing with.
She didn’t need to. He’d protect her. He didn’t know these dragons’ powers, but no dragon was as powerful as one protecting a mate.
“So no collar?” Topaz
asked, frowning at Dom’s neck. “Why doesn’t he have to have one?”
“Because I trust him,” the oracle said, lifting her china teacup to her lips for a ginger sip.
Topaz grinned. “So how do we make you trust us?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Time.”
Topaz slumped back slightly. “So, Lana. What’s a human like you doing here with all these monsters?”
Lana’s face paled slightly, and she sent a glance to Dom. Then she turned back to Topaz. “I don’t think they’re monsters. They rescued me from bad shifters.”
“Ah, so there really are bad and good shifters now,” he said, putting his arms behind his head.
“There always were, dumbass,” Citrine muttered, drawing attention his way. He quickly took a sip of soup, looking away. He seemed to hate attention on him.
“Look at Citrine,” Topaz said. “Already using swears.”
“They’ve been watching a lot of TV,” the oracle said apologetically.
Lana snorted, and Dom looked over at her. She was actually smiling, looking a little nervous, but not nearly as much as he would have thought.
“So for human research, can we come to you?” Topaz asked Lana, leaning forward with warm, dark-brown eyes that sparkled with mirth. “I promise to be respectful.”
Dom glanced at Citrine, who didn’t say anything, just kept forward over his bowl, hair shading his face. If the two had been spending time together, maybe he could give him the lowdown on how much Topaz should be trusted.
But it wouldn’t matter. They were shifters. Lana would never say yes to such a request—
“Sure,” she said. “That would be fine.”
Dom sat straight up. “Excuse me?”
Lana gave him a stubborn look. “I’m the most human one here, right? The others are mated and have rings and dragon powers. I don’t.”
He bit back the fact that if he’d had his way, she’d have his ring, too, and some of his powers.
He looked at the other dragons and his mate and wanted to forbid it. Wanted to lock her in the basement where she’d be safe. But if he did that, he’d be like her kidnappers. Like Galen.
Amethyst Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 5) Page 8