Nathaniel (Dragon Hearts 1)

by Carole Mortimer

  All he had to do now was explain to her what was happening, and the way to stop her feeling like this.

  All?

  Telling Chloe the only thing that might make her feel better was having sex with him sounded suspicious to Nathaniel. He could only guess how it was going to sound to Chloe.

  “Which reminds me.” She roused slightly. “You owe me a new pair of jeans and panties as well as a new lock on my apartment door.”

  Because she now knew he had sliced through the pair of jeans and panties she was wearing in Wales.

  “Did you put something in the bottle of water you gave me?” Chloe sounded as miserable as she’d said she was.

  “No.” His arms tightened about her. “Chloe, I’m not sure if you can remember the things I told you in Wales.” She’d broken his compulsion on Watson, so there really was a good chance Nathaniel hadn’t managed to use compulsion on her either.

  Yet another sign she was his fated mate?

  “Chloe?”

  “Arthur and dragons,” she mumbled tiredly, leaning heavily against his chest.

  “Arthur and dragons,” he said ruefully, his suspicion confirmed. “And fated mates,” he reminded her softly.

  “And fated mates.” Her words were becoming slurred.

  “I… Dylan and I… He’s my brother, remember?”

  She gave a studied nod. “One of the seven you still have, yes.”

  “Yes.” He smiled. She remembered every bloody thing he’d said to her. “We both believe you’re my fated mate, Chloe.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Is it?” he prompted warily.

  “I don’t know, is it?” she mumbled.

  “Chloe—” He stopped speaking as she slumped completely in his arms and he heard the soft snuffling of her breathing.

  A glance down showed him she had fallen into an exhausted asleep.

  Chloe had no idea what time it was when she woke up or how long she’d been asleep. The bedside lamp was on, throwing a warm glow over her bedroom, so it was probably late evening.

  The important thing was she felt more refreshed and was no longer burning up with a fever.

  She also wasn’t alone in her bed.

  A warm—and very male—body, was curled against her, spoon fashion. There was a strong arm draped about her waist, a hard and muscular chest against her back, and a definitely bigger than average bulge nestling against her bottom.

  Nathaniel.

  Chloe was starting to remember now. She had been burning up with fever and desire—again. Feeling those ants on and under her skin—again. Nathaniel had come bursting into her apartment, breaking the lock and chain on her door in the process, and appeared in her bedroom doorway seconds later.

  Things became a bit hazy after that. Chloe remembered him taking her into his arms. How the feeling of ants beneath her skin had seemed to ease a little. How tired she had suddenly felt.

  She also remembered him saying something about Arthur and the dragons and fated mates. Again.

  If Deryk had told Nathaniel he had no choice but to kill her, to silence her, then he really needed to get on with it and stop with the fairy tales.

  “I know you’re awake,” Nathaniel murmured close to her ear. “You’re thinking so loud, I can hear you.”

  “What am I thinking, then?”

  “What’s this man doing in my bed?”

  Chloe chuckled tiredly. “That was too easy.”

  “It was,” he conceded softly. “Feeling any better?”

  “A little.” She rolled over in his arms so she was facing him, the palms of her hands flat against his bare chest, her own naked thighs telling her he was still wearing his jeans. “What’s wrong with me, Nathaniel?” She looked at him searchingly, easily noting the way his gaze suddenly refused to meet hers. “Why did I start to feel better the moment you held me in your arms?”

  He winced. “I’m not sure.”

  “Then what are you sure of?”

  “Do you want an honest answer or one that means you aren’t going to get pissed at me?”

  “What makes you think I’m not already pissed at you?” she derided. “You did break down my door, and now you’re in bed with me,” she reminded him.

  He nodded. “Good point.”

  “So?” She looked at him expectantly.

  “Before the ten of us left Annwn—”

  “Not again.” Chloe pushed against his chest to free herself before sliding to the side of the bed and standing, her sleep T-shirt ending mid-thigh. “You’re like a broken record, you know that?” She glared down at him, clenched fists resting on her hips. “I’m not in the mood to listen to any more of your fairy tales, so just kill me now— Whoa,” she murmured as her vision blurred and she swayed on her feet, the room tilting sideways.

  Nathaniel was out of bed and had moved round to where Chloe stood almost before she’d had chance to grab hold of the bedside cabinet to stop herself from falling.

  The moment Nathaniel’s hands grasped hold of Chloe’s arms, her vision cleared and the light-headed feeling passed. To her embarrassment, her nipples had also hardened and were clearly visible beneath her T-shirt. “What the hell is going on?” Her voice rose angrily.

  Again, Nathaniel couldn’t be certain, but he believed Chloe’s dizziness had started the moment her body was no longer in contact with his. Her nipples had also hardened, and every time he drew in a breath, he inhaled the scent of her rapidly increasing arousal.

  He eased his grip slightly but maintained a hold of the tops of her arms. “Before I can explain any of this, and hopefully have you believe me, I need to show you something. But I need your promise you aren’t going to faint again.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you going to do something weird?”

  “Such as?”

  “Drug me again and then convince me I can see a claw instead of your hand.”

  “I didn’t drug you, Chloe.”

  “Then why am I like this?”

  Nathaniel lowered his gaze. “I’m guessing it’s from my saliva.”

  “Ew.” Her nose wrinkled with distaste.

  He drew in a deep breath. “When a dragon meets his fated mate, he secretes an aphrodisiac in his saliva that’s transferred into her bloodstream when he bites her to complete the mating. I haven’t bitten you, but I have kissed you, so there’s a possibility—more than a possibility—”

  “Biting me?” She suddenly seemed to realize what he’d said. “Bite me where?”

  “On the back of the neck.”

  She heaved an obvious sigh of relief that it wasn’t somewhere more intimate. “On the back of the neck?” Her expression had sharpened. “Does that mean…?”

  “That I mount you from behind and then—”

  “Stop!” she cried. “Just stop this now. You did not infect me with a dragon aphrodisiac and now intend to mount me like an animal.”

  He winced. “I prefer not to think of it as infecting you. It will be me that…makes love to you, not my dragon, but the bite that completes the mating has to be while I’m inside you and on the back of the neck, which means—”

  “No.” She gave a firm shake of her head. “This is not happening. None of what you’ve told me is true. Nor did I see some big-ass claw!”

  Nathaniel sighed. “Yeah, you did. The aphrodisiac exists. My dragon exists. You did see my claw. And I’m going to show it to you again if I can’t convince you any other way I’ve been telling you the truth all along.”

  All the color drained from her cheeks, but she didn’t pull away from him. “It was real?”

  His expression softened. “I think you already know that it was.” He knew a part of Chloe was too logical and focused to truly believe she had imagined his partial shift, as much as she might wish to.

  She swallowed. “King Arthur and the Knights of the Rectangular Table?”

  He held back his smile with effort at her fixation on the shape of that table. “Also real.”

>   “Annwn, Welsh goddess for a mother, Uther Pendragon for a father, ten brothers including you, two of whom have died, all of whom can also shift into dragons?”

  “Yes.”

  Her breathing had become very shallow. “No helicopters bringing in illegal drugs, but dragons flying at night so they aren’t seen by the humans?”

  “Yep.” She had remembered it all.

  “Fated mates?”

  “Oh yes.” Nathaniel nodded, keeping a close eye on her in case she freaked out on him again.

  “This is… That is so…” Her gaze sharpened. “It’s this aphrodisiac you infected me with that’s responsible for how I’ve been feeling the past three days?”

  He winced. “How have you been feeling?”

  “Like a nymphomaniac on speed! Did your saliva do this to me?” she accused.

  “If it’s any consolation, it did the same to me.”

  Her eyes widened. “You’ve been aroused for the past three days too, but can’t find any relief?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” she said vehemently.

  Nathaniel bit his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing. Again. The situation wasn’t in the least funny, and yet Chloe’s vengeful pleasure in knowing he had also been suffering somehow made it so.

  “Well, whatever you did to cause…this…aphrodisiac in your saliva. Whatever. You can damn well undo it. Right now.”

  He sobered. “I think it’s already gone too far.”

  “What has?” Chloe’s impatience was barely contained.

  “Our mating.”

  “You haven’t bitten me yet.”

  “No,” he acknowledged softly. “But the fact you’re in this condition shows the mating has already begun.”

  Her chest expanded as she drew in a deep and angry breath. “You mated me without so much as consulting me?”

  “To be fair, you mated me without consulting me either.” The bite on the back of her neck during sex would seal the deal.

  “I did no such thing!”

  “Not intentionally, no. I didn’t think it was possible to mate with a human woman. Which means…”

  “Yes?”

  “You must have some dragon DNA in your blood—”

  “Enough,” she stopped him. “I’ll have you know I come from good Welsh stock originally, not dragons.”

  Nathaniel held up calming hands, only to put them back on Chloe’s arms as her face once again lost all color and she swayed on her feet. The aroma of her arousal instantly deepened too.

  “What is that?” she demanded.

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

  “And how do you intend to do that?”

  “You have to come back to Wales with me so that my brother Dylan can do some blood tests on both of us,” he stated calmly.

  “And I suppose you’re going to fly me there on your dragon back?” she taunted.

  “Well, I could, yes,” he answered dryly. “But I actually drove here, so it’s probably better to go back that way too.”

  “Of course you drove here.” She snorted. “Well, I have no intention of going anywhere with you, let alone giving any of my blood to another one of your no-doubt strange brothers.”

  Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “The last woman who suffered the same fever as you’re going through now died within three weeks of being parted from her mate,” he told her grimly.

  “You are not my mate!”

  “So how do you explain this?” He released her, and she instantly paled and swayed on her feet. “Well?” It was killing him to let her suffer, even a little bit, but he had to make his point. This was too important not to. Chloe’s life was too important.

  “I can’t,” she acknowledged miserably.

  Nathanial took a light grasp of her arm, instantly steadying her. “You’re coming back to Wales with me, whether you want to or not. Make sure you pack warm clothing. And once we’re there, you’re also going to agree to whatever tests my brother says you are.”

  “You can’t make me do anything—”

  “Watch me,” he bit out grimly. “And don’t think for one moment I’ve forgotten what I promised would be your punishment if you accused me again of wanting to kill you.”

  Chloe’s eyes widened as she remembered exactly what Nathaniel had promised to do to her if she made that accusation again. Which she had, almost as soon as she woke up.

  The cheeks of her bottom tensed at the thought of that punishment.

  And the arousal deepened between her thighs, her labia swelling and becoming slick with her juices.

  She really was totally screwed.

  Chloe hadn’t thought she would ever return to Pendragon Castle. But then, she’d never thought she would see Nathaniel again either, and she had been wrong about that too. Very much so. Because if Nathaniel wasn’t touching her in some way, then that feeling of ants crawling beneath and across her skin became utterly unbearable.

  It was the only reason she’d agreed to return to Wales with him, to be honest. She still thought the rest of his story was questionable.

  But there was no denying her lust fever only became bearable if Nathaniel was touching her. After three days of that torment, Chloe was too relieved at its cessation to care what she had to do to stop it, as long as it stopped.

  Nathaniel had the supervisor of her apartment building fit a new lock on her door before they left London, and then drove the two of them back to Wales in his black SUV. He kept his hand on her thigh during the long drive and held her hand in his once they reached the castle and she was introduced to Dylan. The Pendragon men were certainly a handsome lot. Maybe Chloe was biased, but she still thought Nathaniel was the most handsome of the three brothers she’d met so far.

  So far?

  Oh yes, because Nathaniel had told her she was going to meet all the brothers later tonight when they flew back from Colombia. Not by public plane or private jet, but using their own wings. Although Nathaniel informed her they weren’t technically wings, like a bird has wings, but leathery membranes attached to their strong shoulder muscles so that they could lift and fly their own weight.

  Chloe still felt as if she was trapped in an alternate universe.

  Oh, she couldn’t deny her reaction if Nathaniel wasn’t touching her in some way, but all this other stuff was still a lot to take in. Or believe.

  “I’ll need both of you to come back for fresh tests once the two of you have had sex,” Dylan spoke distractedly as he wrote their names on the two vials of blood he had taken from each of them.

  “Excuse me?” Chloe eyed him incredulously. She had been willing to go along with this delusion in order to find out what was wrong with her—especially as the whole family seemed to be in on it—but Dylan was getting way too personal.

  “I’ll need to monitor any changes in the blood after—”

  “I heard you the first time,” she snapped. “It’s the casual way you’re talking about Nathaniel and me having sex that I’m objecting to.”

  “You need to complete the mating,” Dylan insisted.

  “No, I really don’t.” Chloe shook her head. “We can have sex without completing the mating, right?”

  “Well, yes…”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. If we have sex,” she added uncomfortably.

  “But why would you want to?”

  Chloe eyed him incredulously. “You’ve been spending too much time bent over your microscope if you think I’m going to let anyone have sex with me and bite me on the back of my neck hard enough to draw blood.”

  Dylan gave her a skeptical glance. “And you really think Nathaniel is going to be able to have sex with you without biting you?”

  “If he wants to have sex with me, then I really think he’d better damn well try.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  Her hands clenched at her sides. “Listen here, you smug bastard, I’ve gone along with this damned delusion quite long enough. No one is biting me any
where—”

  “I want you to come up onto the roof with me. Now.” Nathaniel took a firm hold of her hand and dragged her out of Dylan’s laboratory.

  Chloe scowled at him, still annoyed with his equally as delusional brother. “I’m really not in the mood to gaze up at the stars.”

  “That wasn’t my intention either.”

  Chloe felt a lurch to her stomach as she recalled what Nathaniel had told her happened on the roof once it was dark. “You’re going up there to change into a dragon?”

  “Yes.” Nathaniel wasn’t sure if it was a male—or dragon—thing, but he wanted the first dragon Chloe saw to be his own rather than his brothers’ when they returned later tonight.

  The pupils in Chloe’s eyes had dilated so that there was only that ring of sky blue. Revealing her fear? Possibly. But if it was, he knew the fiercely brave Chloe was never going to admit to the emotion. Or it could just be that she still didn’t believe him.

  “I’ll still be me in dragon form,” he continued briskly. “I can hear you and talk to you as I do now.”

  “A talking dragon?” she said doubtfully.

  He shrugged. “I’m dragon, the dragon is me.”

  She didn’t look reassured. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “No,” Nathaniel conceded dryly, having no idea what Chloe’s reaction was going to be when confronted by his twenty-foot-high dragon. “But I do think it’s the only way to convince you I’m telling you the truth.”

  “And what am I supposed to do when you go psycho on me because your delusion has been broken?”

  She really didn’t believe him!

  After all that had happened, along with her own unexplained burning fever and constant arousal, she still thought he was delusional? Un-fucking-believable.

  “Just come with me.” Nathaniel’s impatience was barely held in check, and he kept a firm hold of her hand as they took the staircase up onto the roof area.

  “Wow,” Chloe murmured as she looked around the massive space on top of the castle lit by a dozen or more strategically placed lights aimed at a round circle with a big H in the middle of it. It certainly looked like other helicopter pads she seen.