Destined for the Dragon (Lost Dragons Book 3)

by Zoe Chant

  Gasping, Alanna sat bolt upright on the bed, scratching a hand through her hair.

  I can’t sleep like this!

  She said it aloud, for emphasis: “I can’t sleep like this!”

  As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, Alanna wondered if she was doing the right thing.

  But as she stood, she quickly dismissed her doubts. She didn’t want to fight the mated bond between her and Magnus. As much as a shock as it had been, and as many difficulties as there were between them, in this, she was sure.

  She had led a life that was dedicated to duty, to honor, to the legacy of her family and her coven.

  Now, just for once, she was going to do something that was her choice.

  And it is my choice, Alanna realized as she padded to the bedroom door, opening it and going out into the dark hallway beyond.

  Despite the mated bond, she was choosing to do this.

  Magnus was strong and brave and he had saved her life. He hadn’t turned away from her even after knowing who and what she was.

  If she had ever been allowed to dream of a man she might one day spend her life with, he was exactly the kind of man she would choose.

  Determined. Kind. Compassionate.

  And the sexiest thing I have ever seen.

  Taking a breath, Alanna knocked softly on the door to Magnus’s room. He answered it immediately – almost as if he had sensed her coming, and was waiting for her just inside.

  He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of light track pants, and Alanna couldn’t hold back her gasp at the sight of him. The moonlight bathed him, highlighting the sharp angles of his muscles and the flat, broad planes of his pecs. His biceps and shoulders were massive, and just one of his hands could easily envelop both of hers.

  Even in this low light, she could see the piercing pale blue of his eyes as he looked at her, his lips slightly parted, his hair falling over his forehead in waves.

  He was stunning.

  There was no need for words between them in that moment – she fell forward against him, seeking his lips with hers, her arms winding around his broad shoulders and pulling him close.

  Together, they stumbled back into the room, and she somehow had the presence of mind to kick the door shut behind her. Their legs tangled as they landed on the bed together, lips locked, his hands in her hair, hers at his waist.

  He gasped against her as she arched her back, her hips straining forward. She groaned as she felt the hardness at the apex of his thighs and realized that he must already have been like this before she got here, suffering the same torments as she was, alone in her room.

  His hand came up to cup her jaw as he kissed her, and she parted her lips to his tongue. Kissing him was everything she had dreamed it would be – she felt overtaken by him, her senses full of his taste, his scent, his sound.

  Alanna slid her hand over his skin, feeling the warmth and hardness of his body. She felt as if they had been made for each other. She fit perfectly against him, everything fit perfectly...

  And then he pulled back.

  “Alanna,” he muttered, his voice husky with lust. “Alanna, I – we—”

  Half-drunk with lust as she was, it took a moment for his words to filter to her brain. She blinked in the pale blue of the moonlight, propping herself up on her elbows.

  “Is everything okay?”

  He swallowed, his jaw clenching slightly. “Alanna, I need you to be sure of what you’re doing. I don’t want you to do this on an impulse, or because it’s hard to resist. I can’t offer you the things a dragon would ordinarily offer his mate.”

  He looked down, as if unable to meet her eyes.

  Alanna bit her lips, sitting up on the bed. “I don’t know what a dragon would usually offer his mate,” she said softly, wanting to reach out to him but not sure if her touch would be welcome. “I just know I want you. No matter what. I don’t care about anything else.”

  Magnus closed his eyes. “Alanna... I want you too. You’re my mate. But I’ve already told you I don’t know how many more times I’ll be able to shift in my life. I have no hoard. No lands. I can’t crown you and claim you the way dragon tradition says I should.”

  “I don’t need any of that,” Alanna said, at last no longer able to stop herself from reaching out to touch his face. “Maybe tradition is good for some things. But it’s not always right. I’ve learned that today. Maybe I was already having doubts before... in fact, I know I was. I refused to drink dragon’s blood, because it just didn’t seem right. When other traditions didn’t seem right, my father changed them. Hunting dragons that weren’t dangerous to humans was wrong, so we changed.”

  Magnus still didn’t raise his head. His eyes remained closed.

  “It’s the ones who refuse to change who are hurting others now,” Alanna whispered, her conviction growing as she spoke. “They want things to go back to the way they were, with hunters and dragons implacable enemies. But things don’t have to be that way. Traditions are fine. But they’re not the most important things.”

  Slowly, Magnus raised his eyes to hers.

  “If tradition means we can’t be together, then I don’t care about it,” Alanna whispered fiercely. “And I promise you, once this is over, we will find your clan and your lands. I promise.”

  She could see the pain in his eyes. She only hoped he could see – sense – how much she meant every word she said. He might have more physical strength than she could comprehend, but she could feel how achingly vulnerable he was beneath the hardness of his muscles, how fragile his heart was.

  Alanna was desperate to comfort him. She needed to show him she meant every word she said. That she truly didn’t care that they were supposed to be enemies, or that he had no hoard to offer her.

  The only thing she wanted was him.

  She wanted all of him – not just his strength and his powerful dragon attributes: she wanted his pain, his fear, his loneliness. By sharing them she hoped she could lift the burden from his shoulders and show him that he wasn’t alone after all.

  “Magnus.” She breathed his name without thinking, before leaning forward and capturing his lips in a kiss.

  He responded instantly, groaning into her mouth. His hand came up to her face, this thumb stroking gently over her jaw.

  “I do want you,” he whispered when they broke apart. “I want to be your mate. But I had to be sure...”

  “I’m sure if you are,” Alanna told him, resting her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding beneath her palm.

  He didn’t answer her in words. Instead, he simply captured her mouth in a searing kiss, rolling her down onto the bed.

  Alanna gave herself over to him, groaning as she felt his weight above her. She had always been the best in her class at everything – no one had ever been able to take her down. Men twice her size had left their sparring sessions black and blue with bruises. Giving in – either in a fight or in the bedroom – had always felt like a weakness. But with Magnus, it wasn’t a defeat. It was a willingness to go with him where he wanted to take her, the sweetest surrender she had ever known.

  Alanna groaned as his hands dipped to her waist, his calloused fingers stroking over her sensitive skin. She wound her arms around his shoulders, her hands desperate to hold him. When his mouth left hers to kiss down her throat and shoulder, his lips left a trail of fire over her skin.

  She arched her back, sucking in a soft breath of pleasure when he nibbled gently on her neck. Sparks of electricity flowed through her, lighting up her nerves with white-hot flames.

  Never before in her life had she felt anything as intense as this. Right now, there was nothing else in the world but the two of them – and nothing else mattered but the way Magnus was making her feel.

  But she wanted more.

  She wanted to feel his skin against hers, with nothing at all between them.

  Alanna tugged at the borrowed singlet she was wearing – it was loose on her, and it slipped over her head
easily, leaving her breasts exposed to him.

  For a moment, Magnus leaned back, his eyes drinking in the sight of her. The heat in his gaze was intense – so intense that she could barely stand it.

  “Please, Magnus,” she whispered as he still didn’t move. If she didn’t feel his hands on her again soon, she was sure she would go crazy.

  He understood her at once, dipping his head down to her breasts. Alanna cried out as he took her nipple in his mouth, his tongue teasing over the sensitive bud. Her fingers wound around the back of his head, twining through his hair.

  Her head grew cloudy with desire as he slowly moved his way down her body, kissing her breasts, her ribcage, her stomach. He paused briefly when he came to the waistband of her light cotton pajamas, glancing up at her, his blue eyes almost luminous in the moonlight.

  “Alanna...” His voice was a low rumble, straining with lust.

  Unable to speak, Alanna could only raise her head from the pillow to gaze down upon him, hoping he could understand her thoughts.

  Please, Magnus. Please...

  He nodded as if he had read her mind perfectly, his big hands slowly pulling her pajama pants down her hips and over her thighs.

  She gasped as the warm night air caressed her skin. Magnus’s mouth was warm against her inner thigh, gently lapping at her with his tongue, sending shivers of pleasure throughout her body.

  “Oh God,” she whispered as he slowly rose over her again, his big body totally covering hers, the hardness between his legs pressing urgently against her thighs.

  Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his hips, drawing him down against her. She was desperate for him – desperate to feel every inch of him against her.

  Inside her.

  “God, I want you so badly,” he murmured in between kisses, as she tugged at the waistband of his sweats.

  “I’m yours,” she whispered. “All yours.”

  And I’m yours.

  His answering thought was in her head as if it was her own.

  She kissed him as she finally managed to shove his sweats down his muscular thighs, freeing his cock. She could feel it, hard and heavy against her, and urgency surged through her.

  Now, Magnus. Please! I can’t wait any longer...

  Alanna dug her fingers into the muscle of his back, arching up against him. She wanted him – now!

  She cried out softly as he nudged against her entrance, the heat of him almost unbearable. When he finally entered her, Alanna closed her eyes, savoring the sensation of him as he slid inside her, inch by glorious inch. She felt almost overwhelmed by sensation, her need for him like a fire in her belly.

  “Alanna, Alanna...” He spoke her name like a chant, before his lips met hers again, and he made his first thrust within her.

  He felt perfect inside her, stretching her just right. Bliss spiraled through her veins as he moved, every muscle in her body clenched tight in ecstasy.

  She had never known a feeling like this – never known she could feel like this. She could already feel her climax building inside her, every stoke of his body driving her higher and higher into perfect pleasure.

  The movement of his hips as he drove into her again and again was fast but controlled, his lips tracing their way across her cheeks, his breath hot against her skin. Alanna closed her eyes, her head thrown back against the pillow in total abandon. She could barely tell where her body ended and his began; she only knew that somehow, together, they were perfect, their minds joined just as surely as their bodies.

  Yes, she thought, yes, Magnus, oh God...

  It was as if the echo of his own pleasure washed from his body and into hers, doubling it, tripling it...

  Alanna cried out as her climax at last overcame her, shaking her down to her bones. Magnus was there with her, following her over the edge of bliss. He thrust into her once more, groaning as their pleasure reached its peak.

  It was several long moments before Alanna came back to herself, her breath heaving in her chest. White-hot sparks of ecstasy still chased themselves over her skin. Magnus still rested inside her, huge and heavy, his sweat-drenched skin hot against hers.

  Alanna slowly ran her hands down the full length of his back, glorying in the feel of him.

  No one had ever made her feel that way before. She had had sex before – but that was all it had been. A quick, physical release, with no sense of love or commitment behind it. That was just how things were. Emotional attachments were complicated, and complication was something a dragon hunter didn’t need.

  And this is about the most complicated thing I could have gotten involved with, Alanna thought.

  Quickly, she put the thought from her mind. She didn’t want to think about that now – she just wanted to enjoy the warm pleasure that rolled through every part of her body, soft and relaxing.

  Finally, Magnus groaned as he rolled away from her, as if he regretted that he ever had to leave her body.

  Alanna knew how he felt – she missed the feel of him as soon as he was gone. Turning to lie on her side, she rested her hand on the sweat-soaked plane of his pec, feeling his heartbeat.

  “That was... I mean... wow,” she whispered, after a moment of silence.

  “I know,” Magnus replied. “I didn’t... I mean, I’ve never...”

  Blinking in surprise, Alanna propped herself up on her elbow. “Do you mean... that was your first time?”

  Magnus’s smile was brief, like the smallest shaft of sunlight breaking through the clouds. “No. I’ve had... encounters. But they were one-time things. I didn’t think I should be making any promises to anyone, given the circumstances.”

  She understood what he meant. “Was there never anyone you cared about?”

  Magnus was silent for a long moment. She could see him searching through his mind for memories that just weren’t there.

  “If I did, I don’t remember them,” Magnus said. “But somehow, I think I always knew I would find my mate. I don’t know how I know. It’s just a feeling.”

  “We were always discouraged from relationships,” Alanna said, settling back down beside him on the bed. “They were a distraction. Apprentices have such regimented lives. Anything that’s not training, or studying, or sparring...” She trailed off. It was only now that she saw how empty her life had been then.

  Magnus’s hand came up to rest on her shoulder, warm and comforting. He turned his head to kiss her brow as she snuggled in beside him.

  Never before had she known such peace and comfort. Such safety.

  I will protect you. I swear it, Alanna.

  She smiled, her eyelids dropping, sleep at last coming to her.

  And I will protect you.

  She felt his deep inhalation of breath. “Thank you,” he murmured.

  It was the last thing she heard before she finally drifted into a deep, satisfied sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  Magnus

  Where am I? Am I dreaming?

  Magnus turned his head, trying to get his bearings. He was somewhere high up, that much was obvious – looking around he could see a vast and treacherous mountain range spread out below him, spikes of gray rock rising into the sky, surrounded by pale mist. Below that was a patchwork of forest and fields.

  Looking down, Magnus realized he had shifted into his dragon form – his talons gripped the rock of the mountainside, his wings catching the strong gusts of wind with ease. The wind seemed to call to him, insisting that he spread his wings and soar through the sky.

  How is this possible? This can’t really be happening, Magnus thought – but then an especially strong gust blew past him, and he couldn’t resist any longer. It had been so long since he had flown properly, since he had opened his wings and lost himself in the dragon’s instincts, forgetting all his cares...

  Leaping upwards, Magnus left the mountainside far below him as he unfurled his mighty wings, catching an updraft and sailing into the sky. He could feel the sun on his scales as the clouds whipped past him,
the endless blue of the sky all around.

  Descending slightly below the clouds, Magnus scanned the horizon. The mountain range was vast and seemed to go forever, but amongst its foreboding spikes he detected a sudden flash of gold. Folding his wings slightly, he dove toward it as if on instinct.

  Home.

  The word was in his head immediately.

  Confused, Magnus tried to bank slightly and slow himself, but his dragon brain, dominant in this form, was having no such thoughts.

  Home – we’re going home!

  But I – what is – where—

  Magnus felt his wings stretching wide as he rounded the side of a vast mountain, the golden splendor of the sun’s rays momentarily dazzling him.

  A moment later, however, he realized that he was not alone – he could see three flying shapes, dark against the illuminated mountainside.

  Dragons.

  Dragons who had the same black-blue scales as he did, the same white spines along their necks.

  My clan, Magnus realized with a sudden powerful shock. They must be—

  Magnus awoke with a jerk, his chest heaving, his skin bathed in sweat.

  For a moment, he could only stare around the room in confusion, before gazing down at his human hands.

  I was... but I was...

  “Magnus? Magnus, what’s wrong?”

  A warm hand on his shoulder brought him fully back into the real world, and he remembered where he was, and what had happened. The forest. The fight. Alanna.

  “I must have been dreaming,” he murmured, shaking his head.

  Beside him on the bed, Alanna leaned forward, her fingers tightening on his shoulder.

  “A bad dream?”

  Magnus paused before answering. How could he describe it? It wasn’t the first time he had dreamed of flying since he had been freed from Bain’s control. Why had this dream been so different?

  “No. The opposite, in fact,” he said, covering Alanna’s hand with his and turning to look into her beautiful gray eyes. “But it was very vivid. It was more like a memory than a dream. I’m not sure I can explain it.”

  Alanna’s eyes widened slightly. “A memory? Didn’t you say you’d lost yours?”