by Milly Taiden
Ker and Hannah came into the room. “Those were the bad guys I mentioned yesterday,” Hannah said. “Your head hurts still, doesn’t it?” She placed her hands over Avery’s ears. Instantly, her headache was gone and her mind became focused. Avery felt sharp as a tack, ready to tackle the hardest math problem in the world. Hannah laughed and pulled back. “Whoa, there. Dopamine was pouring out for a second. You must feel really good right now.”
“I do,” Avery said with a giggle. “Thanks.” She sat up and planted a big one on her love. Jae was surprised by her forwardness, but caught up quickly.
“And with that,” Ker said, “Hannah and I are going back to finish dinner.” Ker closed the door behind them. Jae pulled away and looked into her eyes.
“Do you really feel better or are you just saying that to shut me up?” he asked.
She laughed. “I feel wonderful. Better than I have in a long time.” She flipped the covers off, saw she was partially dressed, and flipped them back on her. Jae’s deep growl shot a hot line of desire straight to her core. “Oops.” She laughed at her tease to him. “Guess I shouldn’t have done that.” She laughed at his goofy expression then playfully shoved him.
She didn’t realize how close to the edge he was sitting and her push sent him sliding down the slick comforter to the floor. She gasped. She hadn’t meant for that to happen, but seeing big-bad Jae sprawled out on the ground sent her into more laughter. Her headache was all but forgotten at this point.
When he looked at her with feigned anger, she squealed and crawled out on the other side of the bed. He was on his feet in a blink.
Avery scooted to the other side of the bed. When she got on her feet, there was no dizziness or anything. She really was doing great. She darted around the bed, as Jae leapt over it. She barely missed escaping his grabbing hands.
Her lover’s eyes ignited, making her wet for him. He sprang forward and there was no getting away this time. He cornered her by the door.
“You smell wonderful,” Jae growled. His animal was close to the surface, wanting to feel her close. “We almost lost you, Avery. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
She comforted him, sharing his grief at the thought of her dying. “It’s okay, now. I’m here. We’re together. Now make me feel alive, Jae.” She kissed him. “Make me feel how much you love me.”
“Ah, hell. You already know I love you.”
“Then show me how much you want me. Do you want me, Jae? Want to drive deep into me and feel my channel contract around your big dick as you spill your cum inside me?” She bit his lip. “Don’t you want to make me pregnant?”
“Fuck!” he growled. She knew she’d pushed him over the edge. “Don’t say shit like that. It makes it harder for me to do things nicely, without hurting you,” he muttered, yanking off her undies, leaving her bare for his touch. The rest of their clothes were off in a flash.
“Fuck nicely.”
He growled and cupped her breasts, pinching at her hard points.
“I want you,” she whispered, kissing his chest again and pressing her breasts into his hand. “Do that again.”
“What?”
“Pinch my nipples,” she groaned, her breath tight in her lungs. “I like it when you do that. My pussy gets really wet.”
He cursed under his breath and kissed her hard, bruising her lips with the harshness of their kiss. Then he lowered his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth while pinching the other with his hand. She groaned and wiggled her hips on his digits. He fondled her clit, doing some amazing things to her tight little nub. Sparks blasted in her blood.
She clawed at his arms, not thinking about how hard she dug her nails into him. All she knew was that she wanted more. Needed more.
“Please, Jae. Fuck me. Come inside me.”
He let go of her aching nipple and pulled her forward, pressing her body flush on his. He was a man on a mission He lifted her up by her ass, squeezing her cheeks and turned her to the bed.
“Come inside me again, Jae. Slide into me and make me yours.”
He dropped her on the bed. She scooted back just as he got on the bed, crawling his way to her.
He stopped once he was holding himself above her with one hand.
“Want me to fuck you, baby?”
“Yes. Please.” She widened her thighs, welcoming him to her. He rubbed his cock between her slick folds. Up and down. Mini explosions went off inside her. Fire burned in her blood and her muscles ached from waiting. She dug her nails into his shoulder, raking them up to the back of his neck. Then he was there, with a hard thrust he was inside her, balls deep.
They both groaned at the feeling of his body invading hers. Her pussy clamped tight around his dick. She gasped and pulled his head down to press her lips to his. They kissed and he drove in and out of her. Her back arched and wind gusted around them.
He pulled back, fucking her harder, deeper with each thrust. “Fuck!”
She glanced up at him. Perspiration coated his skin. Her gaze became stuck on his eyes and the way they glowed with his dragon. It was fucking hot. Her gaze shot down to where he was invading her body with his hardness.
“Do you like that, baby?” he asked, his voice a low rumble. “Like watching my dick slide in to you and come out slick with your delectable essence?”
“Yes. You feel so good inside me, Jae,” she groaned. “I love this. You. Us. I’ve never known an emotion this intense.”
He plunged deep and licked her earlobe. “I like watching my cock fuck your sweet little pussy. You’re so pink and slick. I want to rub my fucking face all over you when you come.”
She gasped, her pussy fluttering as the beginning of her orgasm took hold. “I know.”
He thumbed her clit, thrumming the little nerve bundle with quick strokes. “I give up on this mark, Avery. I don’t want it. I want you. I’m keeping you. I’m going to make love to you for as long as I live.”
God, yes! She wanted that more than her next breath. “Jae, I’m so close!”
“That’s it, baby. I want to feel you come, lose my fucking mind when your pussy grabs my dick so tight I can’t breathe.”
“Oh, Jae...”
“Christ!” He growled. “Yeah, baby. Just like that. Make that hot little hole of yours suck my dick in deep. It feels fucking amazing.”
“Please,” she choked out.
He slipped a hand between them, thumbing her clit. Their gazes met and held. The link between them grew with each thrust, with each sigh, with each moan. “I’m going to come inside you again. I’m going to fill your sexy little pussy with my heat. Then I’m going to watch my cum slide out of you, dripping down your thighs. You’re mine.”
“Oh, oh, oh, Jae!” She groaned, clinging to him, digging her nails deep into the back of his neck.
The tension inside her unraveled so fast she choked, struggling to catch her breath. A loud scream tore from her throat as her body shook with the strength of her climax. His cock pulsed inside her. His thrusts slowed down until he held stiff between her legs. He roared her name loud and came, filling her with his seed.
They stared at each other for long moment, panting in unison, the connection between them growing with every second that passed. Then he lowered, his lips brushing over hers, lightly at first. The kiss grew in depth and passion and she soon realized this was what she’d been missing her whole life. In every single relationship and even when she’d been single. She’d been missing someone to live with. She had that now. She had Jae.
TWENTY-SIX
Cuddled in a warm blanket in front of the bedroom fireplace, Avery breathed out a contented sigh. Jae had brought in finger-sized chunks of steak and some other dishes from dinner and they ate together on the white fuzzy rug. Stuffed, she wiggled against him to get as close as she could.
“Tell me something about yourself, Jae,” she said. “Something cool.”
He laughed. “If you want something cool, you’re outta luck. I’ve had a rath
er boring life. I’ve always been a workaholic, seldom taking any time off.”
“Have you met any famous people?” she asked.
“Now that, I have,” he said. “Ever hear the name Tesla?”
“You mean the electric car company?” she said. “I love their new model out. It looks hot.”
Jae laughed. “Well, I guess Nikola did give his name to the company. But I’m talking about the man, himself.”
She shook her head. “Never heard of him. What did he do?”
“He is the forerunner to all the wireless gadgets we have today. He did extensive research in energy and frequency. He was a genius. Blew my mind several times. I thought he was a quack at some of his ideas. But just about every one of them has been brought to life, years later.”
“Wow,” she said. “In the library, I saw one of those old timey photos of you and a group of people dressed in clothes from the 1800s and stuff. Where did you have that taken? I have one with my friends we took in Gatlinburg when sightseeing Blue Ridge.”
He was quiet for a minute. She asked, “Don’t you remember? It couldn’t have been that long ago. You look exactly like you do now.”
At that, he laughed. “Oh, I remember having it taken. I was just thinking how to tell you about it.”
She rolled to face him. “What do you mean? Where was it taken?”
“On the deck of the Titanic.”
Whoa, she heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, where?”
Jae laughed. “The Titanic.”
“But it, it—a long time ago—” she stuttered out. How old was this guy? He was a dragon, but how long did they live?
He snuggled tightly around her. “Just so you know, I’m really, really old. We live thousands of years. Some of the elders were literally older than dirt.”
“How many of you were on board the Titanic? It sank on its first run, didn’t it?” she asked.
“It did, unfortunately. I’d invested a lot of money in the project. We dragons wanted a better option to get between Europe and the States without having to fly the whole way. This ship was the perfect solution.”
“Until it sank,” she added. “Was it just like in the movie with DiCaprio?”
“I never watched it. I’ve discovered Hollywood cares little about how events actually took place and more about how dramatic they can make it seem to sell tickets.”
“Oh,” she said with a teasing smile, “so the Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace wasn’t on board and lost to the seas forever?”
He chuckled. “No, but the Love of the Sea diamond necklace was on board.”
Her breath caught. “Are you teasing me? Was there really something that precious on the ship?”
“Indeed, there was,” Jae said. “An older English gentleman by the name of Henry Morley purchased it from me. When I sold it to him, I had no idea he would be on the ship’s maiden voyage with me. You can imagine my amazement when I saw the necklace around the neck of a twenty-year-old in the dining hall.”
“He married someone half his age?” Avery asked.
Jae shrugged. “Who are we to put an age on love, my dear? Should I remind you that you are a really small fraction of my age?”
“Wow,” she exclaimed. “I knew you were a lot older than me, you just don’t seem like it. You look my age.” A thought dawned on her. If Jae was virtually immortal, then what would happen when she died in fifty or sixty years? He’d go on and eventually forget about her.
He pulled her chin around to face him. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re almost…heartbroken.”
She tried to hide her face, but he wouldn’t let her. “I was just thinking, when I die, will you eventually forget about me?” Tears filled her eyes. God, she hated being emotional and sounding whiny, but her heart hurt at the thought of not being with him.
Jae seemed to have frozen in his spot. She felt him trying to shut down his feelings so she wouldn’t be able to tell what the answer would be with her abilities.
“I don’t want to talk about me any longer,” he stated. “Let’s talk about you.” That was all the answer she needed. Being human, she would die and he would go on to find someone else to love. He hugged her tightly. “I get to ask questions of you now.”
She gave him a partial smile. “Okay, ask away. What do you want to know?” He could smell her despair. She needed to get over it and live in the here and now and love him with all she had in this lifetime.
“Let’s see,” he started, “I want to know normal guy things. Like what’s your favorite position? Do you like to be on top? Have you read the Kama Sutra? I read the cliff notes and have the illustrated version.” His brows raised and his smile turned hungry.
Avery’s face heated and she laughed. “Oh my god. I’m not answering that.” She wiggled her ass against his pelvis. “You have to find out on your own.”
Jae threw the blanket over their heads. “Gladly.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
The next morning, Avery kicked Jae out of bed to help make breakfast for the group. Or he wasn’t getting anything to eat. He whined and complained, but Avery felt he was just playing with her.
She cracked the first egg on the skillet when Ker came into the kitchen.
“Just got off the phone with Tor,” he said.
“Tor?” Jae sounded worried to her.
“Yeah,” Ker continued. “He went down to check out the UFO sighting and just got back to the castle. He’s on his way here now.”
“Here?” Avery asked. “Tor is your oldest brother, right? Why’s he coming here?”
“I guess he has some news to tell us. Hopefully some of our kind have found their way here,” Ker said.
“It’d be nice if a female elder was one of them,” Jae commented.
“Why’s that?” Ker asked.
Jae kissed Avery on the head then said, “Because elder females have the ability to remove a mark.”
Ker sucked in a breath. “You wouldn’t—” His eyes darted to her and back to Jae. She saw Jae flash Ker a sharp look.
“Why?” she asked. “What does that mean?” She looked at Ker. His eyes were as round as the oranges on the counter, but his mouth remained tightly closed. She turned to Jae. “What happens when a mark is removed? Tell me.” The agitation of being kept in the dark was starting to come through in her voice.
Jae kissed her on the head again. “It doesn’t mean anything except you and I will be together until we both reach the ripe old age of…one hundred or whatever.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, nor the vibes she was getting from the brothers. “Nice answer, Jae,” she said, “but try again. The truth this time.”
He set toast on a plate and buttered it. “It just means I become human. And only love you. There’ll be no mark to make me love anyone else.”
That didn’t sound that bad. She looked at Ker. Anger radiated from him.
“Tell her the rest,” his brother demanded.
Jae huffed and frowned at Ker. “Yes,” she said, “tell me the rest.” Jae didn’t respond, but stared down at the bread on the plate.
“The rest,” Ker said, “is that his dragon would die, making him completely human which means he’ll die in fifty years or so.”
“What?!” Avery about came unglued. “No way in hell am I letting you kill your dragon. Are you crazy?”
“Avery, love, we’ll always be together then. You asked last night about me going on after you. This is the answer.”
“It ain’t no answer for me,” she hollered. “I will not be the reason your brothers lose you. Your species is too precious to do something like that.” She shook her head vehemently. “You guys are the last of your kind as far as you know. That’s like killing off an endangered species on purpose!”
Jae put his hands on her arms. “But, Avery, it’s the only way to make sure Hannah goes to Ker.”
His sibling raised his hands and backed away from the counter. “Don’t drag me into this. Hannah’s nice and all, but I don
’t want her. And probably never will.”
Another gasp from the kitchen entrance snagged all their attention. Hannah stood there, tears in her eyes. Avery felt her friend’s heart being crushed. Without a word, Hannah hurried to the front door and ran outside.
Avery dropped the spatula on a spoon rest. “Way to go, guys. Can you be anymore assholes than that?” She slipped her boots on and grabbed her and Hannah’s coats. Outside, she followed the tracks in the snow. Good thing for the easy trail, she was not an outdoor survival person at all. She was city girl, through and through.
“Hannah!” she called. “Wait up. You need your coat.” Currently, the wind wasn’t blowing and the sun was bright, so it didn’t feel that bad out. But she knew that was one perception that killed. The body could only be in subfreezing weather for so long. “Hannah!”
Avery heard crying and followed the sound. Her heart was breaking for her friend. Avery wanted Jae and maybe Hannah did, too. Both girls had marks, so each belonged to one brother.
Hannah sat on a downed log, her face in her hands. Avery draped the woman’s coat over her shoulders to keep her warm.
“I’m sorry you heard Ker’s words. He didn’t mean it as it sounded.” Avery didn’t know what else to say. They were in a holding pattern until more information became available—namely two dragon tattoos.
“Yes, he did,” Hannah said. “But it’s okay. I don’t want him either, I don’t think.” She sniffled. “He’s cute and nice, but not the man of my dreams, by any means.” Avery remembered Hannah saying she dreamed of Jae. “And neither is Jae, for that matter.”
“What do you mean? Jae isn’t everything you want?” Avery asked, confused. He was damn ideal to her.
Hannah shook her head. “No. I want someone who shares my passion with healing children and finding cures for diseases. I want someone who will go with me around the world to make things better for those in dire medical need.”