A Mate the Dragon Does Not Deserve [A Dragon's Growl 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Marcy Jacks

  He just smiled at Taylor instead. “I’ll make this up to you later. I promise,” he said.

  Taylor grinned broadly. “Your share of dessert after supper for the next week should do it.”

  Jesse knew Taylor had a sweet tooth, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to give up a whole week’s worth of desserts.

  “We can discuss that later. Bye!”

  “Let me know how it goes!” Taylor called as Jesse ran down the hall.

  He rushed into the nearest bathroom before continuing on. He yanked off the orange gloves he’d been using to clean with and then washed his hands before splashing cold water on his face.

  He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he just wanted to look nice whenever he was around Andrei.

  Even though Andrei didn’t seem to want to be around him. Ever.

  Maybe that was part of the reason why Jesse wanted to look presentable around him.

  Even when Andrei had scared him, the ice dragon being as cold to everyone as his dragon’s namesake.

  His eyes were just as cold. Whenever those blues happened to land on Jesse, he felt his inside frost up.

  Though it was Andrei’s pitch-black hair that made him want to fall at the man’s feet. He wanted to touch that black hair, run his fingers through it, and even smell it, though that seemed kind of like a strange thing for anyone to ever want, and so he never brought it up to the man.

  He never even brought it up to Taylor or Miles or any of the other omegas in the house.

  It was too embarrassing.

  Jesse left the bathroom. He wasn’t feeling all that great about his chances for a nice talk, and he still smelled a little like cleaner, but he had to go see Andrei.

  Something was wrong. Something had the dragon glaring at Jesse in a way he hadn’t since he’d first moved into the mansion.

  Whatever it was, Jesse wanted to help. He walked with a straight back to Andrei’s room. He was an omega, but he could still smell that this was where Andrei had gone. Probably to get some rest before he had to do his work protecting the property from a vampire attack.

  Jesse stopped in front of the alpha’s door. He was always shocked that dragons could have more than one alpha in a pack, or a clan for them, he supposed, and not have any conflict.

  For wolves, it was different. There was usually only one, maybe two, and Jesse only knew that because he’d heard it from other omegas, older men and women who had lived in packs, who hadn’t been brought up as slaves.

  He sucked back a deep breath then rapped his knuckles on the door.

  “Andrei? Are you there?” he asked, knowing the man was inside.

  No answer. Jesse’s heart pounded hard and fast. His stomach twisted. He was nervous, but it wasn’t like he was terrified. He didn’t know what this was.

  “If something happened to you, something that upset you in the meeting you just had, if you want, you can talk to me about it. I might be able to help you.”

  He heard the soft rumble coming from the other side of the door, a growl so close it meant Andrei stood right there, less than two feet away from him. He might even be leaning on the other side of the door, right where Jesse couldn’t see him.

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  Jesse swallowed over a painful lump in his throat. “I don’t…I don’t know. You saved all of us. I just want to make everything good for you.”

  Another hard growl. “I didn’t save you on purpose, and I didn’t even really save you. I took back the house for my alpha, for Seth. The fact that you happened to come with the house was just a side effect.”

  That lump in Jesse’s throat swelled out even more, and his heart beat painfully this time.

  “I know that, but you still saved me.”

  “The others saved you, too. Go hero worship them. I don’t need it.”

  Jesse rubbed the spot on his chest just over his heart. It hurt there. It usually did whenever he spoke to Andrei. It was just another one of those things he couldn’t really understand.

  It should have been enough to make him want to turn around and leave Andrei alone. The man seemed to want his privacy more than anything, and it was Jesse’s own fault for being unable to give it to him.

  “I’m sorry for bothering you. I know you don’t like it.”

  Andrei snorted on the other end of the door, a noise that was like another small knife wound in his heart.

  “But…I just want to be…useful to you, I suppose.”

  Andrei sighed this time. He didn’t growl. Jesse supposed that was something. That was a good thing, right?

  “Jesse, you don’t know what you want, and you don’t know why you’re doing this.”

  “Because I want to help you.”

  “Jesus, no, that’s not why. Can’t you go and talk to your elders? There have to be some omegas who can spell this out for you.” Andrei cursed. “For fuck’s sakes, do you have any idea what would happen to you if you continually did this shit in a proper pack with an alpha of your own kind?”

  “Well, no. But I don’t get it. What does it matter what an alpha wolf would do?”

  “You’re sending out all kinds of signals.”

  Jesse blinked at the door. “Isn’t that a good thing, that I want to help you?”

  The growling came back this time, and when Andrei yanked the door open, his normally blue eyes blazing a bright red, Jesse flinched and backed up a step.

  There was no way in hell he was going to let himself get anywhere near that.

  He had no choice. Andrei’s hands reached out. They were big, powerful, and when he gripped Jesse by the forearms and yanked him forward, there was nothing Jesse could do to stop it.

  “You little fucking pest,” Andrei growled, and some of that fear that Jesse used to feel for this man came shivering back up his spine. “You do these things, you come around, follow me all the time, and you’re honestly going to tell me that you don’t know what you’re doing?”

  Jesse tried to speak. He couldn’t speak. All he could feel, all his body could take in, was the heat and strength of the man in front of him, his scent, and it did something to Jesse’s brain that he couldn’t explain.

  It made his head foggy, made his body warm.

  Andrei’s nostrils flared.

  “Fuck it,” he said, his eyes turning blue once more, but there was still a heat to them as he yanked Jesse into his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Jesse hadn’t been in this room since the vampires had been killed or captured. He used to clean it, but he hadn’t even been doing that. Andrei never seemed to want him around, and the fact that he was in a space where he didn’t belong made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

  “I’m not allowed to be in here.”

  “Yeah? Well, you should have thought of that before.” Andrei threw Jesse to the bed. Jesse bounced a little, and then he could do nothing, his body refusing to move for him as Andrei crawled up his body, climbing on top of him, straddling him.

  And Jesse was still scared. Scared, but his body was excited. He felt as if he could jump up and run laps around the house, if only his body would cooperate.

  “What are you doing?”

  Andrei gripped him harshly by the chin, his face coming in close, their noses almost touching, and it was only obvious to him then where this was going, what was about to happen.

  He probably should have put it together before, but now he knew, and now he understood why Andrei never wanted him around.

  “This isn’t a mating claim,” Andrei growled. “I am not taking you for my mate because I don’t want you. Understand?”

  More heart-pounding hurt in his chest, even though Jesse didn’t understand where words like that would come from.

  “I never said we should mate.”

  Though now that he was hearing the word, and that Andrei was making it clear he didn’t think Jesse was worthy of it, it made the pain intensify.

  “No, but you stink of it, all the time.
” Andrei’s eyes turned red again. He growled, showing off his teeth, and the fear intensified, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the heat in Jesse’s body, the lust that came to him only when he touched himself in the shower.

  “You want me to mate with you,” Andrei growled. “You think I’m some kind of hero to you just because I came here with Seth and the others. That’s the furthest thing from the truth. I don’t love you, and I never will. Do you understand?”

  A burning in Jesse’s eyes. He couldn’t stop it, and he glared back at Andrei. “Yes. I understand.”

  “Good.” Andrei kissed him, hard enough to hurt him, hard enough that Jesse moaned from the discomfort and pain.

  And yet, at the same time, despite that, despite knowing he was about to be used, he came to a realization.

  Andrei was right. Jesse just hadn’t realized what he was doing, why he was following Andrei around all this time because no one had ever taught him what it meant.

  He did want this alpha dragon to be his mate. He did want to love and care for him.

  But Andrei didn’t want to love or care for him back.

  It hurt. It hurt so damned much, and it made his heart swell painfully with every hard beat in his chest.

  And yet he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about how nice it was to be kissed by Andrei.

  Even though Andrei was trying to hurt him, trying to scare him, Jesse was willing to take it.

  Andrei pulled back suddenly, his cold blue eyes putting that frosty feeling back into Jesse’s blood as he stared down at him.

  “Well, you think this is still something you want?”

  Jesse blinked. He was offering him an out?

  “Wh-what?”

  Andrei glared down at him, his hand coming lower, cupping Jesse between his legs, through his pants where his cock was shamelessly hard.

  Jesse’s eyes bulged, and he could hardly contain a choked moan as his mouth fell open.

  “You want this,” Andrei said. “But there’s no way you want it on these terms, but these are the only terms I’ll give you. No mating bite. No happily ever after. Just this. A meaningless nothing. You could get this from literally anyone else in the house, so make up your mind now.”

  Andrei’s hand stroked harder, his voice lowering into a cruel purr.

  He was trying to scare Jesse away, and it was almost working. Almost, except for the fact that Jesse still wanted this more than anything else, even if it was by someone who cared nothing for him.

  He’d heard of the omegas occasionally falling in love with their vampire masters. Jesse had seen what they turned into. Pathetic creatures who saw love and affection where there was none, only to later be sold off by their masters when the vampires finished with them.

  Jesse had pitied them, but he’d also been angry with them for not understanding what had been happening to them in the first place.

  How could they be so stupid? How could they let their guard down? How could they trust that a vampire would ever love a slave omega?

  Yes, he’d pitied them, but he’d also thought they’d brought their misery onto themselves.

  At least Andrei was being honest with what he was offering Jesse, but Jesse was still just as much of a pathetic creature as those omegas.

  He was in love with Andrei, a dragon warrior who didn’t want him and would never love him back, and despite that, Jesse still wanted to throw himself at the man’s feet.

  He reached up. Andrei’s eyes briefly widened when Jesse put his hands to the back of the alpha’s head, pulling him down so their mouths could meet again.

  It was only the second kiss he’d ever had in his life, so he wanted it to be somewhat softer and gentler than the first one that Andrei had stolen just a minute ago.

  He got his wish. It just didn’t last as long as he would have liked it to.

  Chapter Three

  This…was somewhat shocking. Andrei could admit to himself that he honestly hadn’t seen this coming. He’d thought the omega would be disgusted, frightened even, and that he would be desperate to get out of Andrei’s bed and out of his room.

  No, instead of fleeing for his safety, the smaller man grabbed him and yanked him back down for another kiss, putting their mouths sweetly together.

  And it was warm, smoother than the crushing thing Andrei had tried to do.

  It made his body bubble with pleasure and his cock stiffen between his legs, which was uncomfortable as fuck considering how confining his jeans suddenly felt.

  He wanted, no, needed to get out of them.

  Jesse moaned into Andrei’s mouth, sending warm vibrations through his lips and down his body. His dick pulsed, and that was the end of that. There was going to be no more holding himself back. He couldn’t do it. It was impossible.

  Andrei pulled his mouth away from Jesse’s lips with a hard gasp. Pushing himself to his knees, he quickly undid his belt, shoving down his jeans and catching his hip with his claw.

  He hissed a little, glancing down at the blood welling there.

  “You’re hurt,” Jesse said, gasping his words.

  Andrei pulled at the man’s pants. They were simple enough, probably because he had been doing his cleaning chores in them, and Andrei didn’t even have to rip them to get them down Jesse’s hips.

  “Andrei?”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s not bad,” he said, desperate to see Jesse’s skin as more and more of it was revealed to him. A crazed sort of influence took over him that he couldn’t ignore. It was just there. Part of him, and it seemed the only solution was to expose as much of Jesse’s skin as he humanly possibly could.

  He needed to smell him. He needed to taste him. Fuck, it was so stupid because before meeting Jesse he never would have thought he would feel an attraction to another man.

  And yet here he was, desperate to see this one naked. The sight of Jesse’s cock as it sprang free from his pants was a sight that made moisture fill his mouth. Andrei couldn’t look away, and he was compelled to lean down and put his wet lips around the head.

  He couldn’t see Jesse’s face from this position, but he felt the jump of his hips, heard the sound of his gasp, and that was the sound of pleasure that he could understand no matter who he was in bed with.

  It was so comforting and familiar to hear that it allowed him to sink his lips deeper around the head of Jesse’s cock until he had almost the entire shaft in his mouth.

  He stopped just after the halfway point, feeling his throat resist.

  Andre pulled back just then, not feeling up to testing his luck.

  And Jesse moaned as though Andrei’s mouth was still around his cock. He thrust his hips forward, his dick searching for more friction. When he didn’t get it, he moaned. “No, please. Don’t stop. I want that. More of that.”

  “Well, that’s just too damned bad for you, isn’t it?” Andrei pushed himself to his knees. “This is a mistake.”

  Jesse’s eyes flew wide. He reached out, grabbing onto Andrei’s shoulders. “No, no. It’s not a mistake.”

  Andrei growled. “What do you know about it?”

  Jesse blinked at him as if he didn’t know how to answer that but then said the first thing that popped into his head. “I know that I need you. Please, you can’t just do what you did and kick me out.”

  “Why not?”

  It was cruel to ask, but at the same time, he was curious. He wanted to know how much Jesse actually wanted this, and he wanted to know why.

  And it seemed the younger man couldn’t exactly think of what he wanted to say without stuttering about it, making a fool of himself. “I don’t…I don’t know, just, for the love of God, fuck me, please.”

  It was the begging that did it. For anyone else, it would have been a turn-off. It should have been a turn-off right here.

  But with Jesse…something just clicked.

  If Jesse wanted it so badly, then who was he to deny the man?

  Seth was right. Jesse was no child, and it didn’t m
atter what his past was. He was a free adult with agency over his own actions. If he regretted this later, then that would be of no concern of Andrei’s.

  Jesse moaned, his wolf ears stiffening and flicking as Andrei attacked his neck with his lips and tongue. Sucking on the spot where Jesse’s pulse throbbed along his throat. His tail thumped against the bed beneath him, and his hips thrust forward, tentatively at first, but then his courage seemed to finally show itself as he humped wildly against Andrei’s body, his cock desperately searching for fiction.

  And Andrei fucking loved it. He loved it more than he thought he should.

  Andrei grabbed Jesse by his hips, yanking him up and pulling his ass into his lap.

  Andrei moaned. The touch of naked flesh against his hard cock…the shaft throbbed painfully. The pleasure that came after was even better, too much for him to simply ignore. Andrei gritted his teeth, canting his hips and thrusting his cock between Jesse’s cheeks.

  The pleasure…oh God, it was too good for it to be right. This had to be wrong on some level, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care so long as he got more of it.

  Jesse’s hand came down to his hard, curved erection. He curled his fingers around his dick and closed his eyes as he stroked.

  Andrei couldn’t look away from such an amazing sight. Once again, something that should not have called to him on such a primal level did. Watching Jesse pleasure himself, watching his wolf ears twitch, his cheeks turn a dark shade of pink, and his mouth fall open, revealing his tiny wolf fangs…it did something to him. Andrei’s gut clenched.

  This wasn’t going to end like this. He needed more. He needed so much more than this, than dry humping each other until they came.

  Andrei needed to be inside Jesse, to fuck him, to make it so that Jesse never forgot this moment for as long as he lived.

  “Turn around,” Andrei growled. “Get on your hands and knees.”

  God, he’d been with others since Mandy’s death, but never with another man and never with this level of desperation and want.

  Thank God that Jesse did as he was told in short order, not hesitating for too long. Otherwise, Andrei didn’t know what he would have done to get the man to cooperate.