Jasper Drake

by Emilia Hartley

  This was not the kind of man she’d thought he’d be. The demon that scoured the mountains for her and filled her mind at night was another creature altogether. They were only alike in the fact that they shared the same soul.

  It wasn’t until they’d set aside their plates and consumed a couple glasses of prosecco that Cora realized just how close they’d become. The heat of the beast living inside him washed over her side. Unfortunately, it left her other side shivering. She no longer had warm food to abate the chill air coming in through the fireplace.

  Jasper noticed, too. He set aside his glass and leaned forward, facing the hearth. His eyes danced when he looked back at her. Cora watched, transfixed by the mystery of his display. He didn’t reach for a lighter or any kindling for the tinder already stacked before him. Before her eyes, his chest swelled. The muscles of his back worked, and she thought she saw a hot glow blossom inside his chest.

  Flames erupted from his pursed lips to consume the dark heart. It was like a carnival trick, but this involved no liquor or kerosene. This was the pure force of his beast.

  It was a wonder to behold. There was something primal and magical about it, watching the muscles dance beneath his shirt as they tried to contain the pure force of his heat. His shoulders constricted and he sat back beside her, warmer than he had been before. In the fireplace was a steady burning fire that cast warmth in every direction.

  In the small space between the couch and coffee table, with snow falling outside and a fire in the hearth, Cora felt safe. It was an unusual feeling. She was no longer used to the idea of feeling safe, so when it washed over her and relaxed her tight muscles, she found herself releasing a deep sigh of contentment.

  Jasper’s shoulder pressed against hers, a small bit of physical contact. Though he was her mate and she knew he must have craved more, he didn’t act on it. If he struggled with the urge to touch her, he didn’t show it.

  “Tell me,” he asked. “What is a dragon wife?”

  Cora swallowed. “It’s a tradition among my clan…one I’m assuming your clan doesn’t have.”

  He shook his head, still waiting for her to explain. Cora didn’t know why this was so hard. It had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. There had not been a day she could remember where she didn’t think she would become a dragon wife.

  Except for today.

  Jasper already told her he wasn’t looking for someone to cook for him. Looking around the room, she didn’t think he needed a housemaid, either. The living room and what she could see of the kitchen were spotless. The furniture looked new, even, and well cared for. He wasn’t some unruly bachelor that needed a woman to mold him into the image of an upright man.

  He was already all the man he was meant to be.

  And she felt the heat of that manhood while under his gaze. She looked away, though she already missed the spray of freckles that lined his delicate cheekbones.

  “I guess you would say a dragon wife is everything expected of a wife in the fifties, plus a dragon shifter.” She pushed her hair behind her ear, thinking back. “My mother was human. It took dad a long time to change her because he didn’t like the idea of hurting her, but Mom wanted to be his dragon wife.”

  Cora had been young when it happened. She remembered her mother’s forehead beaded with sweat, lips twisted in pain as the change remade her body. Cora had been glad she was already a dragon. She never had to live through the pain her mother had just to be a dragon wife.

  Though, Cora had been born with her own curse.

  “That’s definitely not a thing here,” Jasper agreed. “Human mates are left human. The only time that changes is through accident, such as Lilah’s case. There was a dragon in the early nineteen-hundreds, a metallic relative of mine, who lost control of his beast and changed his wife, but it has not happened that way since.”

  She nodded. There was a feeling stirring in her chest, but she wasn’t sure what it was. No amount of turning it over could tell her what she was experiencing, not until she looked to Jasper and the feeling exhaled through her lips.

  It was relief.

  The things she’d been told, the part of her life she’d rebelled against, was not a part of her mate bond. Jasper was clearly competent enough that he didn’t need a woman to take care of him. As she sat beside him, she wondered what it was he did need.

  Companionship?

  Cora didn’t know anything anymore. Her view of the world had been shaken and her knowledge had come loose, falling between her fingers. She didn’t fight it, grateful to be released from those specific shackles, even if a few others remained.

  Like the truth of her scales. Even if Jasper didn’t want a wife, he would covet her scales. There was no way around it.

  “You look like you’re thinking awfully hard. Have I not poured enough wine?” Jasper twisted to grab the bottle on the other side of him and refilled her insulated cup.

  Cora wanted to tell him that wasn’t it, but she bit her tongue. She couldn’t let him know about her scales. This was going to be a difficult relationship if she had to hide her true self from him…for the rest of her life. As much as she was learning to like Jasper, it wasn’t going to work. She couldn’t stay with him, couldn’t stay in Grove.

  She needed to peel away from this town soon. If she didn’t, the roots growing at her feet would hinge her to the earth and she would never leave. He would find out about her rare scales and force her to stay. Any happiness she might have had, any friendships she could have forged, would all rot.

  “Are you worrying that I’ll try to keep you against your will?”

  Jasper’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She found him watching her with a gentle intensity. He looked as though he wanted to touch her, but his fingers curled into a fist atop his knee instead.

  “I know your secret, if that’s what you’re afraid of. If you think I’m going to cage you because you’re a pretty dragon, then you have me all wrong.”

  Cold sliced through her veins. Each beat of her heart sent small daggers through her body. Suddenly poised to run, halfway to standing, Cora stopped herself. She turned back to Jasper.

  “What is it that you think you know?” He could be bluffing, trying to draw the truth from her. It would have been a smart tactic, but she feared that wasn’t it.

  He touched the side of her face. “I’ve been in your head. Remember? The dreams might seem strange and surreal, but it was there I learned about your beast. You haven’t shifted in months because you’re afraid I’ll see your crystal scales and want to keep you like a pet.”

  The daggers of ice in her veins sharpened.

  “I don’t give a flying fuck about that.”

  Cora’s knees gave out and dropped her back to the floor beside him. His thumb traced the line of her jaw, touched the corner of her lips. His eyes were entranced by them, following the line of heat his touch left behind. Cora leaned into him. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t stop herself.

  She reached and grasped Jasper’s arm. Everything about their relationship broke the neat pattern that had been laid out before her. He was nothing like she thought he would be. Instead of locking her away, he let her hide behind walls of her own choosing. He left her gifts, fed her, and made sure she was safe.

  All the while, he knew.

  Jasper knew about her scales, the reason Cal hunted her so doggedly, and he didn’t lock her away. He didn’t force her into marriage. He didn’t demand she give him heirs.

  “Your demon said something of the sort,” she said out loud as she recalled the dream. “It asked me why it should care about my scales when it had its own. The demon already has a legacy.”

  Jasper nodded, lips slightly parted. Cora realized just how close he was now. All she had to do was lean in, close the gap, and her lips would be on his. She realized in that moment that she wasn’t ready.

  She jumped back. His disappointment was obvious, but he schooled it well. Until The demon inv
aded. His eyes turned molten gold. His hands shook as he raised the bottle of wine to his lips, as he wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

  Fear returned, cold and biting, but she didn’t run. Jasper’s beast hadn’t hurt her. It’d never made a move to hurt her. So, she stayed and waited to see what it wanted. When it turned its liquid gold gaze on her, the cold melted away to be replaced by an intense heat. The way those eyes washed over her made her feel like she stood too close to a bonfire.

  Any closer and she would ignite.

  “What do you want?” she whispered.

  “You.”

  The one word, growled so possessively, danced over her skin like greedy fingers. Cora’s lips parted. She could have sworn steam left her mouth. It was so hot in there. The room was almost unbearable. And yet, she couldn’t leave. She couldn’t bear to part with the hunger of Jasper’s demon. She wanted to give in to it.

  The thought startled her enough to bring her back to her senses.

  “Well, you’ll have to keep working to get me,” she told the beast.

  It grinned with Jasper’s face. She found that the sight wasn’t as alarming as she thought it might be. Jasper and the beast were one creature. Their many faces belonged to both of them. Just like how both of them belonged to her.

  The thought of loving his demon seemed impossible, but she knew she was nearing some sort of affection for Jasper. Cora didn’t know if that was enough. Could she love Jasper and not the beast? To separate them seemed difficult, but the demon still left her shaken most of the time.

  It was too intense. Too hungry. Too everything.

  “Give me Jasper. He is a better man than you.”

  The demon growled at the offense. She held her ground. Finally, the beast acquiesced, and the liquid gold of Jasper’s eyes softened to a bright amber. Surprise raised his brows.

  ***

  “You convinced him to give me control,” Jasper realized. He felt like an impossible weight had been taken off his chest.

  He stared at the woman beside him. With her long, blond hair braided over her shoulder and her head raised in defiant strength, she looked like a Viking queen. He never would have thought his mate would allow him such a simple relief and yet he was still shaken by it.

  “I reasoned with it’s base needs,” she said, toying with the tip of her braid.

  Jasper wanted to touch her hair, to feel the soft strands between his fingers before he pulled her onto his lap. He’d always been apart. The only time he ever got to touch someone was during a fight. It was like his knuckles were made to be bruised, not to brush the cheek of a lover.

  With Cora, even though she remained at a distance, he ached to know her body, to have his be known by her.

  “Your demon wants me to…want you, so I told it you were doing an okay job of courting me.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. Jasper wondered how hot they would be if he reached out and touched her again. He kept his fingers to himself instead. He didn’t want to scare her away. If this was how their night was to play out, he would do everything in his power to make it last as long as he could. Though he wanted to take her to bed with him, he didn’t dare ask.

  This was good enough for now.

  Just the two of them, on the floor like heathens.

  She reached for the insulated cup on the coffee table, toying with the top of it while silence folded around them. Jasper could not see into her mind. Not while they were awake. What he did know about her had been stealthily gleaned while they were bound by dreams. He wanted to know the rest of her story, but from her own mouth.

  Cora would tell him when she trusted him.

  That day felt so far away.

  There were pains she hid, scars from the life she’d left, that he needed to understand. Only then could he be the man she deserved. His mate. His future. The woman who could stand face to face with his beast and win.

  “So, you know my secret.”

  Jasper said nothing, only waiting for Cora to go on.

  She rolled her shoulders, eyes flicking to the sliding glass door that showed the dark snow-scape. A longing overcame her features. It drew them tight and turned her bright eyes glassy.

  “You want to shift,” he filled in.

  “So. Badly.”

  He stood and held out his hand. There was a second where she hesitated, only staring at his offered hand, before she took it. He pulled her to his feet and held her elbows while she steadied herself. She looked past him, at the great outdoors.

  “If you’re worried about the weather, I can assure you I know the mountains very intimately. We won’t get lost.”

  She pressed her lips together and shook her head. There was pain in the gesture, and it killed him. Jasper didn’t know how to smooth it away. He had no balm for the aches she was enduring.

  “Talk to me,” he asked her.

  When she finally met his gaze, there was a depth of fear in her eyes that sent him tumbling. His beast rose again even if it could not see the threat that haunted her.

  “What if Cal finds me?”

  “If he takes one step toward you, I will not rest until he has no feet to walk with. If he looks at you, I will make sure he can never see again.”

  Cora let out a nervous laugh. He knew he’d taken it too far, but he wasn’t going to lie to her. Cal needed to be stopped. If the determined dragon came close to Cora ever again, Jasper would do everything in his power to stop him.

  He’d held back. The clan needed a leader, and it was not Jasper’s place to steal that from the other clan. Yet, Cal refused to give up on the war. He threatened Jasper’s court and Cora at every turn. Jasper would not let this go on any longer.

  Cora’s grip on his arms tightened and she held her breath. He wanted to tell her that wasn’t healthy, but before he could say anything, she released it and nodded.

  “Let’s go. I haven’t…I need to…”

  Shift. Fly.

  Jasper led her to the sliding glass door. The air outside was sharp but not too cold. If it had been too cold, it wouldn’t have snowed. As it was, the snow was light. Their vision would not be too obscured. The flakes would not be too bad as they flew overhead.

  “If anything, the snow offers us a bit of obscurity, too.” He looked to his mate. “We could fly right over top of them and they wouldn’t notice us.”

  She gave him a queasy smile.

  “Not that we will go anywhere near them. We can fly over town if you want. Grove is probably half asleep right now. No one will ever know we were there.”

  His words were enough to convince her because she stepped further out and raised her arms to the sky. It was the most relaxed he’d ever seen her. He’d shown her that she had freedom and she embraced it. His heart swelled.

  Then she pulled her shirt over her head and his breath caught. Her skin was pale in the night. She wore no bra, revealing her taut breasts to him before she put her back to him. His beast rose, along with his cock.

  Now was not the time for the second. He gave himself over to his beast, though. He walked past her, where had had enough space to let the creature out, and let his beast surge forward. His beast was pleased and eager to turn back to Cora.

  Once again, the sight of her stole his breath. He was not sure he would ever get used to it.

  Jasper saw why Cal wanted her back, why the man would start a war over Cora. Even in the dim light emanating from the sliding glass door he could see the way her scales changed color. They were mercurial, shifting from pale pink to sunny yellow to the palest lavender. It was unlike any dragon he’d ever seen before.

  Riker and Griffin had beautiful dragon mates. If Mina was the night sky and Lilah was the moon, then Cora could only be described as heaven.

  Her beast shook its shoulders and flexed its wings, tossing its head as it stretched. Jasper knew she’d denied herself for too long. How many months had she fought against the urge? She’d kept herself neatly contained while his beast had broken free time and ti
me again.

  While he admired her strength, he knew it came at a cost. Her wings were rumpled. Her first steps were clumsy. The woman and the beast did not remember how to work together. Jasper slid up beside her and offered a body to lean against while she figured herself out again.

  A half hour later, Cora leapt ahead of him. She jumped off the small hill in his backyard and took to the air. Her first flight was short, claws grazing the ground every few feet or so. It was more of a glide than a full flight, but he realized she needed the small test run to make sure everything was in working order.

  After that, they took to the skies. Jasper never thought he would find so much joy flying beside his mate. Cora no longer looked at him like he would betray her. There was no suspicion in her gaze, only the unadulterated happiness that had overtaken her.

  It was a sight he would hold in his mind forever. He filed it away for the darker times to come. This war was not over, but for now he could have this.

  They flew over Grove like he’d suggested. The street lights below were tiny stars that created a map. Jasper could see the old theater, the glow of the Aurum bank ATMs, and the lights strung over the short bridge in the center of town.

  This was what he ruled over. Not a group of delinquent shifters reveling in war. Not a territory to be controlled. He ruled over lives, over dreams, over people who had fates of their own. He wanted to make sure each got to live to experience what life held for them.

  Chapter Eight

  Cora couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so thoroughly exhausted and yet so wonderfully pleased. Not even her prom night had been so fulfilling.

  She stretched across the bed, rumpling her sheets, testing every muscle. Knots that she’d learned to live with had melted away after shifting. She had more energy than she’d felt in months. And her head…it felt clear. Her anxiety had dwindled to only minor concerns.

  She hadn’t realized just how bad staving off shifting was. It’d affected every part of her life, from her body to her mind. Letting her beast out and flying with Jasper, just knowing he was by her side should anything go wrong, had opened doors she’d long closed.