Unwilling Dragon Love [Dragon Hearts 5] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Marcy Jacks

  Fucking. Not making love. There was a difference, and this was it.

  Kraigan groaned as he pushed forward, hard, making Jason slam forward, struggling to stay on his hands and knees. There would have to be a different position next time. Next time, Kraigan would put the man’s legs over his shoulders so that he could keep a better hold on him and he wouldn’t end up fucking him all the way across his bed.

  Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Kraigan enjoyed a little variety from time to time.

  Jason seemed to have no complaints as he moaned and keened as though he was experiencing the first bout of pleasure he was to receive this night. The man pushed back against Kraigan’s surging cock with all the eagerness of someone still horny and desperate.

  Kraigan groaned, the flesh of his skin slapping at Jason’s ass, his testicles bouncing back and forth on the man’s skin, and he was close.

  This was not going to be long and drawn-out. Again. If he was not careful, Jason would leave his bed thinking that Kraigan couldn’t go on for very long.

  Thankfully, Kraigan was so focused on holding back his orgasm, biting down on his bottom lip, that he didn’t realize it right away when Jason came again. In fact, he might have missed it had it not been for the loud yell that roared through Jason’s mouth or the way his asshole clenched around Kraigan’s cock in an almost painfully tight grip.

  Kraigan grunted, his eyes slamming shut just before the pressure on his dick lessened enough that his semen emptied inside of Jason’s body, right where it was meant to.

  He collapsed on the smaller man, panting for breath and allowing his hands to roam over slick and warm skin.

  His weight seemed to be too much because then Jason grunted and landed flat on his chest and stomach, Kraigan’s cock still buried deep inside of him.

  Jason groaned. “Elgh, gross.”

  “Mmm?” Kraigan asked, though, in truth, he wasn’t all that interested. He was too comfortable and too close to sleep to care about anything other than the delectable feel of Jason’s body and the thump of a heartbeat that he could feel just beneath the surface.

  “I’m lying down in my own cum, and it’s all wet and cold now,” Jason said, wiggling a little.

  Kraigan figured it was because Jason wanted to get up, to move away from the mess, or away from Kraigan’s bed, but Kraigan had no intention of letting Jason go anywhere. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. It was more of a tired mumble.

  “To get my clothes,” Jason said, though his words sounded more like a question to Kraigan’s ears. That would not do.

  “You’re not leaving,” he said, already with an excellent idea why before Jason could ask. “You’re already being targeted by other dragons for abuse. They think you’re a favorite. Best you spend the night here instead of walking back to the servants’ rooms.”

  “Can’t you just walk me back to be safe?”

  “No,” Kraigan said, though, in truth, he could, but he wasn’t going to.

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because I’m tired.” That was also a reason, but he just didn’t want Jason to leave.

  He would suffer the loss of one of his fingers before he let the loud-mouthed little human know about that, however.

  Jason let out a sigh, seemingly content, but of course, Kraigan should have known that wouldn’t last. “Can I at least get up and clean myself off? Seriously, I don’t like lying on this.”

  Kraigan grumbled, letting the noise resonate in his chest just to make certain that Jason would be able to hear it and know Kraigan’s irritation when he lifted off of him.

  His cock, still slick, and now soft and small, slid easily from Jason’s body.

  Jason moved slowly as he got to his knees and then to his feet, clearly worried about any lingering pain that he might feel if he moved around too much and too fast.

  “I will prepare a bath,” Kraigan said. Might as well since the little shit had gotten him up.

  “You don’t have to insult me,” Jason muttered.

  Had Kraigan said that out loud? Oh well.

  The familiar irritation in Jason’s voice, and the banter they fell into, was both welcome and familiar. It was a distraction, though from what Kraigan couldn’t entirely be certain, but he enjoyed it anyway.

  “I can heat up the water you know. I’m not an invalid. I actually work in this nest as a servant.”

  “And I’ve lived here long enough to know how to boil water. Now get away from there before I put you over my knee and spank you!”

  Kraigan didn’t realize the sexual innuendo to his words until after they’d left his throat, and he wanted to groan when Jason grinned at him.

  “Already into giving me that kinky shit, are you?”

  “Jason—”

  “Do you have any silk ties in your drawers? I wouldn’t mind being tied up for the next time.”

  Jason said it with a teasing and catty smile on his face, clearly intending to rile Kraigan up. Kraigan, however, was intrigued.

  “You enjoy that, do you?”

  “Maybe. Do you?”

  “I enjoy being the one who binds and ties my partners, yes,” Kraigan said, mentioning nothing of whether or not he enjoyed being tied down.

  Which he absolutely did not and would never allow from anyone. Not even Jason.

  Jason’s little smile fled from his face when he realized his mistake, that Kraigan might perhaps be more interested in what he’d inadvertently offered than he’d thought he would.

  Jason cleared his throat and looked away. “Okay, yeah, sure,” he said.

  His voice seemed quite small compared to just a second ago. Had that all really been a game? Had Jason never been tied before, presenting himself to a lover in such a way?

  “I will enjoy initiating you into the pleasures of bondage,” Kraigan said, unable to hold back an eager grin. His cock twitched, but he knew they would have to wait now before testing out this new, unchartered land.

  They were both tired.

  Jason’s shoulders bunched up. “I told you I’ve done it before.”

  “I’m certain that you have,” Kraigan said, making absolutely sure that Jason knew he was being sarcastic with the tone of his voice.

  Jason growled and grumbled at him, and when Kraigan deemed the water to be hot enough, he took it off of the fire and set the pot near his bathtub.

  He did not have plumbing in his chambers, and not enough water on hand to create a true bath, but he knew this was all they needed. Jason certainly did not complain, unlike some of Kraigan’s previous lovers, who had been stunned to learn that one of the dragon warriors did not have access to the riches required for instant hot water and plumbing. Only the king had such luxuries as far as Kraigan knew, and servants would need to be called for him.

  Jason, however, had been a poor human from his village. Until coming to live in the nest where there were public hot springs, he’d probably been used to bathing in such a fashion, and he worked diligently and quickly, wiping off his face first before working on his chest and stomach. Then he raised his rag and moved down to his arms and legs.

  Kraigan did the same.

  And then he suddenly turned into a coward, hardly able to get the words that he wanted out of his mouth, and he could not understand what he was so fearful of.

  “Tomorrow I will call for the servants to bring in a full bath for us. I do not enjoy cleaning up like this.”

  Jason agreed, thankfully. “Yeah, I guess I got used to the hot springs and showers. Did you know they put showers in the servants’ bathing area?”

  Kraigan nodded. “There’s one where the warriors bathe after a shift as well.”

  “You all share a hot spring?” Jason’s eyes widened at this.

  Kraigan shrugged. “Sometimes.”

  Jason stared at him, as though the idea that Kraigan would ever share a hot spring with any of his comrades had never before occurred to him.

  “What?” Kraigan grunted,
crossing his arms, not at all enjoying the way he was being studied.

  Jason shook his head, and then a slow smile spread across his mouth. “I was just kind of wishing I could see you naked with a bunch of other really gorgeous guys.”

  A choked noise escaped Kraigan’s throat. Whether it was meant to be a laugh of disbelief or a noise of refusal, he wasn’t certain. Perhaps it was a little of both because there was one thing he knew for certain. “You will not be looking at other nude men while you are with me.”

  Jason continued to smile at him, always wanting to tease and play. Usually this irritated Kraigan, a lot. To some extent, it did, but mostly Kraigan found himself enjoying this banter.

  “You know, eventually I’m going to want to take a proper bath in the hot springs,” Jason said. “Or the shower room. There’s naked guys in there all the time.”

  “You will call for a servant to fill you a bath in here,” Kraigan said. “That will be enough.”

  He tossed the rag into the bowl of water they’d been using. It had cooled anyway, and he wanted to return to his bed. Preferably with Jason in it. It was just a matter of seeing if the other man was going to follow him or not.

  Eventually, he did.

  “You want me to just start letting myself into your bedchamber and calling for servants to fill a bath for me?” Jason asked. “I think I’ll have more dragons wanting to lash out at me if the nest finds out a human is doing that.”

  Kraigan crawled into bed and turned onto his back. He curled his hands behind his head and stared at Jason, still delectably naked in the doorway leading to his water room.

  “I will just have to kill anyone who lays a finger on you.”

  Jason squinted at him with distrust. “What’s going on here?”

  “What?” Kraigan didn’t understand.

  Jason waved at the space between them. “This. I thought you just wanted sex, but now you’re acting like you want me to come and start living in here with you. What’s going on?”

  Jason was becoming suspicious, and the posture of his body reminded Kraigan of a frightened rabbit or a deer, a creature getting ready to flee in the face of some imagined, or imminent, threat.

  And Kraigan realized that he did not want the man to flee.

  He sat up. “I thought it was obvious what was going on.”

  Jason let out a sound that was a half-laugh, a nervous noise that told Kraigan it most certainly was not obvious. “Is this…is this because of Tatsu? He kissed you, and you said there was nothing going on between you. Is this so that you can bring me here, make sure he sees me so he knows that you’re not interested? That’s the meanest thing I’ve ever heard if it’s true. Even for you.”

  “That is not what this was about,” Kraigan said, snapping his words and clenching his fists as he sat up. He thought of Tatsu, who had seen him bring Jason here. The look on his face had not been what Kraigan would have called ideal, but there had been no helping that. “I told Tatsu my feelings were not the same. He understood. I’m not using you to be cruel to him.”

  “So then, what is this? If you’re not using me for sex, then what’s going on?”

  Jason really didn’t get it, and it grated on Kraigan’s nerves that he would be forced to spell it out for the man because he was apparently choosing to be that dense. “I asked you here because I thought you would want that.”

  Jason looked around. “It’s nice in here and everything, but you know I can’t stay here, right?”

  Kraigan frowned, his heart thumping from the sucker-punch pain of a rejection he should have seen coming but hadn’t.

  He’d thought he could convince Jason to simply go along with this until the man wanted nothing more than to be by Kraigan’s side. He’d foolishly half expected Jason to want to stay with only him right now, without any question or complaint.

  That wasn’t how it worked. They’d been at each other’s throats for too long. Kraigan had thought things had changed enough for them to try…something. After what they’d both been through getting back up to the nest, risking their lives for each other, the fact that nothing at all had changed hurt his chest and stomach, as though someone had punched him in the gut. And he had heartburn at the same time.

  Kraigan got to his feet and walked to his chest of clothes. He opened it and pulled out a clean pair of leggings for himself and a robe that Jason could wear on his way back.

  “What are you doing?” Jason asked.

  Kraigan didn’t look at him. He tossed the robe over his shoulder, assuming Jason caught it when the man squawked at him.

  “Put that on. It’s something for you to wear on your way back.”

  “Way back?”

  Kraigan put his legs into his pants and fastened them as he turned and finally looked down at the smaller man. “You don’t want to stay, so I will take you back. You need an escort.”

  Jason’s face colored, and he stared down at the robe in his hand. “Oh, but I thought…”

  A swell of hope ignited itself in Kraigan’s chest without him meaning for it to happen. “You thought…?”

  Jason shook his head and pulled the robe around his shoulders. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

  The hope died as easily as though Jason had blown out a match.

  Chapter Eight

  Jason didn’t get it, and he didn’t know what it was that he’d done wrong, but clearly Kraigan was pissed off with him. The man had been silent and even more imposing than he normally was on the walk back to the servants’ quarters on the other side of the nest.

  And that had been without the man staring at him and getting all up into Jason’s personal space.

  Kraigan had just given off an air of irritation, sending shivery feelings through Jason’s spine, making him feel as if he so much as said one wrong word to the man then Kraigan would round on him and let him have it.

  Weirdly enough, he was pretty sure the man wasn’t going to hit him. Not that Kraigan had given Jason anything harsher than a slap upside the head, but something was definitely different between them, and Jason was fairly sure he’d ruined that by telling the man he couldn’t stay in his room.

  Well, he couldn’t! It wasn’t his fault the entire nest was angry at the humans lately. If it got around that Jason was spending his nights in the bedchamber of one of the dragon warriors, never mind the sex, then he’d get jumped just like Aaron had been. He’d get beaten up or worse. People had already tried to hurt him back when he thought he’d been in a relationship with Kevan, and that had been just a trick to get the stupid little human alone so they could gang up on him.

  Kraigan had saved Jason that day, too.

  “Here you are. Sleep well,” Kraigan said, stopping in front of the door that led into the large room for the male servants. Jason’s bed would be inside, lined up with the others.

  “How will I explain the robe?” Jason asked, holding out some of the material while still clutching his wet clothes in his other hand.

  Kraigan grunted and seemed to think about that. “They’re humans. They shouldn’t mind too much if a dragon gave you a clean robe. Just make certain you return it.” Kraigan stared down at Jason, as though contemplating doing something else, but then he abruptly turned and started walking in the opposite direction.

  “Thank you,” Jason called after him, feeling as though that was the weakest thing he could have said.

  Kraigan didn’t stop walking. He didn’t even slow down, and Jason’s heart fell.

  Right before he rolled his eyes at himself and felt like kicking himself in the head. If that could ever be done.

  Thank you? What a stupid thing to say. Thank you for what? For saving him? For the awesome sex? Or for giving Jason a robe to wear when his clothes were still wet and soapy, and then walking him back to the room he shared with the other men when Kraigan clearly wanted to be nowhere near him?

  Ducking his head, not wanting to be seen by dozens of judging, invisible eyes, Jason turned and let himself into the servants�
� rooms.

  Many of the men stood around their beds or off in groups chatting.

  Some were telling stories, and others played card games for money while one or two practiced their reading and writing.

  Jason needed to practice. He was falling behind Adam, and the man was clearly becoming agitated with him for that.

  He was too tired. Tomorrow, perhaps.

  Some of the men did notice that he’d entered when Jason went over to his laundry basket and stuck his wet clothing inside. He’d reached into his chest to pull out something else to wear other than the thing that smelled like Kraigan when the questions started coming.

  “Where were you?”

  “What are you wearing?”

  “Tom had to take over your halls, you know.”

  “Sorry, sorry,” Jason said, though in truth he didn’t much care. “I had an accident.”

  And now his pulse was racing, and his heart felt as if it was swelling in his chest. Why? Because Kraigan was angry and walking away? That wasn’t his fault. He just needed to stay here and get some sleep, and everything would be fine in the morning.

  “I heard,” said Tom. “One of the warriors had me come and finish your floor. What happened to your eye?”

  Fuck. Jason had almost forgotten about that, and it reminded him that he needed to go back and get his cream.

  His eye was already feeling hot now that he’d gone more than an hour without applying it, and the healer had told him to apply as much as he could at regular intervals.

  “Shit, sorry, but I have to go,” Jason said, in a sudden hurry as he grabbed a clean pair of socks for his cold feet and his spare shoes.

  He didn’t bother dressing in anything else as he hopped from foot to foot, getting his shoes on and then rushing back out the door.

  If he was lucky, then he was going to catch Kraigan before the man made it very far, hopefully before he got to the bazaar. Jason didn’t feel like walking through that, naked under a robe without the protection of a dragon with him.

  He ran quickly, heart pounding.

  For the cream. He was eager to get back and get his cream. This wasn’t about Kraigan.