“Obeying you?” she said on a long breath. “This is getting beyond ridiculous.” She hefted herself into a sitting position and, then, glaring at him, demanded, “What the hell are you talking about?”
His grin was irritating enough to make her wish he wasn’t her favorite—she’d have loved to smear that slightly warm chocolate all over it.
The stain, he’d forgive. Chocolate all over his face would call for out and out war, and replacing pillows, after their legendary pillow fights, was far too damn costly.
“Thought that might make you sit up,” he retorted smugly.
She glowered at him. “Christoff isn’t really frightened of you?”
He snorted. “Oh, that bit’s true. Just not in the way you think. He thinks I want Arabella.”
“His nightwalker?”
Brady nodded.
“And do you?”
Brady nodded again. His smug smile twisting into a gleeful one. “Now he knows you’re mated, he’s even more cautious around me.”
“I need to have a long conversation with the daywalkers in this coven if they think being edgy around someone is going to get them what they want.” She hissed. “We’re Vampires, we take what we want. We don’t play a game of chess around it.”
He pouted. “But this way is far more fun.”
“Leaving him dangling like a carrot,” she chided. “Anyway, Arabella might not want you. I hope she damn well doesn’t.”
“That’s rather cruel of you,” he retorted. “Is it because you’re jealous?”
His mock-sympathetic tone had her slamming her hands on the mattress. “Oh, yes, because I need more than one male pain in my ass bugging me at all hours, don’t I?”
His brows rose. “Are you ready to tell Uncle Brady what’s going on? Or are we just going to keep on having temper tantrums?”
“Temper tantrums,” she said snidely. “They’re far more fun.”
He huffed out an irritated breath. “Come on, Mia. It’s not like you to be a brat.”
“No? Well, it’s not every day you turn into a lizard, is it?” And with that, she swept the cover away from her leg and bared her calf.
Thank God, it was no bigger than it had been two hours ago when Remy had stormed off.
Feeling sick, she peered down at it and felt even sicker when Brady gawked at it with intrigued disgust.
“What the fuck is it?” he asked slowly, bending over and studying it like he was a scientist or something.
She managed to contain another wail. “It’s my mating mark.”
“Your mating mark?” he repeated dumbfoundedly. “You say that like I should know what it is.”
Mia sucked in air and wished she could suck in patience instead. “We don’t get them. Shifters do.”
“I’d never have fucking guessed that,” he retorted, rolling his eyes at her. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
She pursed her lips in instant irritation then snarled, “It’s what happens when a Shifter claims their mate, apparently. Either that or it’s just Dragons. I don’t know. We don’t exactly go around asking Shifters a lot of questions, do we?”
“What does it mean?”
“You see the diamonds? They’re on Remy’s chest when he’s in his other form.”
“So, it’s like his stamp on you?”
“Yeah,” she gritted out. “Except, it wasn’t supposed to manifest like this. It was supposed to look like a tattoo. Instead, I’ve got fucking scales.”
Brady’s eyes widened. “You really do have fucking scales,” he said on a long breath. If his gawking was any measure, he was intrigued as hell by the notion. “This is too fucking weird. I need to get the National Enquirer in on this. Lizard Women Really Exist. I can see the headline now.”
“Haha. Very funny,” she retorted then snapped the covers back over her leg.
“So, what’s the problem, then? I assume Lizard Boy has gone to find out why his claiming of you has turned you into an alligator.”
“You’re really helping,” she spat at him. “And no, I don’t know where he’s gone. The bastard went from saying he wasn’t going to leave me to leaving me,” she ended on a wail, which, this time, she couldn’t contain.
“And I’m sure you had nothing to do with that, did you?”
She pouted. “No. Not a thing.”
He grunted. “Yeah, right. Pull the other one, Mia. You say I’m a brat, well, if I am, I learned it from the Master.”
“Mistress,” she immediately corrected.
He pointed his finger at her. “Case in point. Jesus, you can’t stop proving I’m right tonight, can you?”
“Well, you’re wrong. He didn’t go to find out why this has happened, because it’s never happened before, so not only am I half-alligator, I’m also the first freak of nature to develop scales.”
“Wow, that’s creepy.”
“Tell me about it.” She scratched her head then smoothed down the kinks she made in her locks. “This sucks. I thought he’d be screwing my brains out once my legs were working again, not storming off to only God knows where.” She grimaced. “Well, I don’t know exactly where he’s gone, but I think it’s the other realm. I told him I wouldn’t go back there until I knew this fucking thing wasn’t going to spread.”
Brady’s look of disgust was the funniest thing she’d seen all night. “You think it might be contagious?”
When he leapt back, falling off the bed and flat on his ass on the floor, she hooted out a laugh and scrambled to the foot of the mattress to point at him. “Yes, Brady. It’s contagious. That’s why I didn’t want Christoff to let anyone in.”
His eyes flared wide and his mouth moved in revulsion. “I can’t believe you just infected me!” He spluttered, “And you’re laughing about it!”
“You idiot. She can’t infect you.”
The cool tone of her mate’s voice jerked her attention from the aforementioned idiot on the ground to his bulky form standing in the doorway.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, tilting her chin up.
“This is my bedroom too, isn’t it?” came the cool retort. “I should take offense that there’s another male in it, but considering the fool is on the floor, I can assume no honor has been breached.”
She pondered that a second, and when Brady saw she was about to pay him back for his mischief, yelled, “Don’t you dare, Mia. I will so get you with the pillows next time, if you do.”
She grinned. “Nah, he breached no honor. But that pillow fight is on, bitch,” she retorted. “You hear me?”
Brady flipped her the bird and scrambled to his feet. When he did, Remy was immediately there, and the height difference between the two males was more than apparent.
Hell, there was no ignoring the fourteen-inch difference between them.
Brady gulped. “Is she really not contagious?”
“Unless you’d like me to mark you too, I highly doubt it.”
“Um, I’m not gay.”
“And I don’t share,” Mia snapped. “Fuck off, Brady.”
“I’ll fuck off, but remember, the game is on.”
She snorted. “You’re buying the pillows.”
“Don’t think I’ll be kinder to you because you’ve been a cripple for the past month,” he snarled, peering around Remy to hurl the words at her.
Her mate immediately growled, and the sound was so otherworldly, even Mia froze in place.
“I think you might have just pushed your luck, Brady,” Mia said on a chuckle, but he was already darting out of the bedroom, slamming the door closed behind him.
Remy stood there, arms folded on his chest, as he stared at her.
It pissed her off that she had to look so high up at him, so she slumped back against her pillows and stared down at her feet.
When he said nothing, she retaliated.
Then, when he carried on saying nothing, she huffed. “Aren’t you going to apologize?”
“Apologize? What for?”
His tone could have cut steel.
“You left me when you said you wouldn’t.”
“I left to attend to your whim, Mia,” he retorted. “I look a fool in the Queen’s court thanks to you. Which means our House looks foolish too.”
She shot him a look. “You told her I refused to come?”
He clenched his teeth, but shook his head. “Nay. I explained the situation. I’m not certain she believes me though. Hence my fear that I appear foolish. Or worse, pussywhipped.”
She gawked at him. “How is it you don’t know what Netflix is but know what pussywhipped means?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “A man picks things up here and there.”
“That means you’ve been listening in on too much of the shit Sebastian and Brady talk about in their down time.” She grunted in annoyance. “Look, she might not believe you now, but she will when I turn into a fucking lizard. Will that make you happy? When you take a gecko back to meet your Queen?”
“Mother, you’ve really worked yourself up into a state over this, haven’t you?”
“Does it look like I’ve been having a barrel of laughs?” she demanded, pointing to the floor strewn with more Kleenex than a paper factory. “I didn’t even know I could cry until I had to get Christoff to buy out the local drugstore for tissues!”
He let out a long sigh, relenting enough to unfold his arms. “There is no need to fear, Mia. Honestly, how can you turn into a gecko? Do I turn into a gecko?”
Her eyes flared wide. “You think I might be turning into a Dragon?” she shrieked.
He grimaced. “It is a possibility.”
“No fucking way.” She stared at him in horror, and scampering onto her knees, declared rawly, “I’m a Vampire! I sup blood! I don’t turn into a big snake!”
“I will forgive the slur this once, mate, but cease comparing me to the vermin that roam this world. Gecko, snake, alligator... I’ll hear no more of them!”
At that moment, he looked so gruff and braw, she couldn’t help herself. She leapt at him.
Of course, he caught her.
She pinned her knees to his hips, holding him tight. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she arched up, not stopping until their lips were a hair's breadth away from one another.
“You want me to kiss you now?” he demanded, and she wasn’t sure who was more shocked, Remy or herself.
“If I’m going to turn into a lump of scales in the morning, I want you to claim me now. Properly.”
He grimaced. “It is undoubtedly a good thing my ego can take all these compliments.”
“Shut up and kiss me,” she commanded then bound their lips together.
This, like the other few times they’d shared a kiss, was like a lightning bolt.
It hit her, right out of nowhere, and managed to score a direct flare into her core.
She moaned into his mouth and loved that he immediately opened his lips. Her tongue slipped between them and started to dance.
She curled her arms tighter around his head, dragging him closer to her. She couldn’t stop until the minute space between them was even smaller, until every part of her was brushing against him.
He groaned around her tongue, and the noise stirred her even higher. She felt like she was on fire. Like the heat was burning her from the inside out.
Maybe it was.
Maybe, if she was turning into some weird Vampire-Dragon hybrid, the flames were starting to be drawn in her belly. But at that moment, she couldn’t even think about that.
This was more than just sex; this was her claiming. And even though she was in charge of the kiss, he was in charge of her.
She felt it. It stunned her.
After so many years of being Sanguenna, of being the leader, she knew in this, she would never be. He was dominant. She knew that, and she could match him—never would she submit to him—but like she did her Emperor, she knew he was the leader here.
It was an odd moment to come to terms with that, and more than anything, it stirred the heat inside her, stoked those flames until she truly was on fire.
She didn’t want a male she could lead around.
She wanted Remy. Strong and sure, brash and hard. Soft with her, only with her, but commanding and fierce. Everything she needed him to be.
She shuddered against him, and this time, he thrust his tongue into her mouth. And she let him.
He moved around the bed, not stopping the tangling of their tongues as he bent down, Mia still in his arms, and rested her against the sheets.
The pressure changed, shifted, and she felt his cock suddenly pressing hard between her legs.
She writhed against him. Wriggling, fidgeting. Adoring the pressure. Loving it. Needing more. Needing him inside her.
Now they were as close as could be, she lifted her hands from their clasp around his neck and began pulling at the shirt he was wearing.
He’d stormed off naked, and she had no idea where he’d changed or whose clothes he was wearing, and at that moment, she couldn’t give a damn.
Her hands pulled at his shirt, and then, when he arched his stomach, they delved between them until she could tug at the buttons.
They pinged between their bodies, some landing on the bed, some digging into her stomach, but she didn’t care. With brute strength, she tore at the fabric, not stopping until his chest was bare to her.
She wore a silk negligee, and within seconds, that was in shreds too. She worked at the buckle on his belt, groaning into his mouth with celebration when it parted, and she could finally tug at his zipper.
Her fingers delved into the gap she made, and at last, she held him in her grasp.
He was hot and heavy, hard and thick in her clasp. Long, and threaded with veins that would feel like heaven deep inside her, just holding him made her feel like she was about to combust with excitement.
He roared into her mouth as she began to awkwardly caress him, and she knew he was as crazed at that moment as she was because she could hardly touch him, yet his reaction was so powerful, she felt it deep inside her own body.
“Inside me, inside,” she begged against his lips, pulling away from his kiss to plead with him.
He nodded then pressed his forehead to hers. “Put me inside you,” he ordered her, and her eyes flared wide with excitement.
He shifted his hips, moving further down so that his cock could align with her pussy. She held him steady, loving the throbbing pulse between her fingers as she found her slit and pressed the tip of him to her.
Her fingers, when she pulled away, were wet. With his pre-cum, and her own juices too. She felt aflame with need for him. And when he slowly began to thrust inside her, she felt all the more insane with what he was making her feel.
Mia had crossed her calves over his back, and now, she used her heels to bury them into his butt and to force him to move deeper, harder, quicker.
She didn’t need tenderness, at that moment, she needed her mate. She needed him to claim her. To make her his.
That was all that counted.
His seed... It was a desperate longing inside her. Like nothing else she’d ever known, and knew she’d never know again.
This was her body readying itself for him in a way that could happen with no other male.
She’d get pregnant this time. She knew it like she didn’t know her face in the mirror—being a Vampire sucked sometimes—but it was a bone-deep knowledge. This was her quickening. The stirring he’d spoken of had been leading up to this.
She moaned into his mouth as he began to pump his hips. The sounds they made as he took her added to the lightning bolts snarling around her insides.
Everywhere the bolt landed, it set her afire with a desperation she knew only he could quench.
Every time he thrust into her, she forced him harder inside her, needing every inch of him to claim every inch of her. It was a battle of wills, and one she desperately required him to win.
He had to conquer her.
/> He had to make her his.
A shudder wracked her, and she pulled her mouth from his as a welter of pleasure lashed against her senses like a whip. She cried out, a long, hoarse cry of delirious joy as he began to thrust harder, faster. He fucked her. Giving her what she’d been demanding. He’d held back, she’d sensed it. He’d tried to be careful, to be gentle with her. Had mistaken her smaller stature for a weaker one. But anything he had to give, she could take.
Always.
Another hoarse scream escaped her when he touched somewhere, deep in her pussy, that had never been touched before. Save for her dreams. Dreams in which he’d been the star.
It set her eyes flaring wide in reaction and charged the air around her. He brushed it once, twice, three times more, and like that, she exploded.
The fireworks that ignited inside her soul were like no other display on this earth. They were a cascade of impossible colors, colors she only knew because he’d taken her to the other realm.
They blasted the backs of her eyes, simultaneously illuminating the world and blinding her. She clung to him, every part of her tightening about him as he rode out his own orgasm.
She felt his seed inside her. Knew the exact moment when he came. She didn’t know how, she just sensed it. His heat overtook her womb, branding her from deep within until no part of her was safe from his claim.
She reveled in that, though. Rather than rake at his binding of her with feminist disapproval, it was something she desperately needed.
Because for the first time in her life, Mia Dreconis knew what it felt to be whole.
Thirteen
He panted. It was the only way to describe it. He could fly across the globe without working up a fatigue, could run in this form for dozens of miles without burning up a sweat, and yet here, in his mate’s arms, he panted like an overheated dog.
It was almost embarrassing, but he didn’t have it within him to be embarrassed.
She’d taken all of him. Snatched it from his grasp, stolen it almost and claimed it as hers.
The feelings flooding him were enough to drive a lesser man insane. She was there, in his soul now.
Coven: (A Steamy Dragon Shifter/Vampire Romance) (Dragon Bound Book 1) Page 15