The Dragon's Choice (Tahoe Dragon Mates Book 1)

by Jessie Donovan

  Wild and wicked were never words used to describe Victoria before.

  Yet, as she leaned back against the tall, strong man at her back, she wanted to be both those things. "So now it means I can compare the two of you?"

  He twirled her around and clutched her against his front, taking her chin between thumb and forefinger. "Don't make this into a contest unless you're ready for the consequences."

  She raised her brows, caution long thrown to the wind. "Maybe I am?"

  With a growl, he took her lips, nibbling, licking, and eventually moving between them to lap and devour her mouth. Victoria gripped his shoulders, unafraid to dig in her nails, and kissed him back, moving her tongue against his, and even pressing her lower body against his already hardening cock.

  He growled again into her mouth, the vibrations shooting down her body, ending between her thighs. Even though she'd just had him, not to mention two orgasms, she ached. Ached to have him inside her, feeling her, claiming her in the way only he could.

  One of his hands moved down her side slowly, to her thigh, before lifting her leg and hitching it at his hip. He held it there as he moved his hips forward, the base of his shaft hitting her clit, making her cry out.

  He broke the kiss and murmured, "Time for the other half of me to claim you, Tori. And when I'm done, you're going to have trouble standing."

  Before she could taunt him, he lifted her ass and brought her up his body, until her legs wrapped around his waist. He distracted her with more kisses, devouring her mouth as if she was the most delicious, delectable taste in the world.

  Between his tongue and his teeth, she barely registered her back coming against the wall. But as he pulled away a fraction only to return to slam close inside her, his cock filling her, she moaned.

  He nipped her jaw. "That's right, my human, feel me inside you." He moved back and slammed in again. "You're about to learn just how a dragonman claims his female, his mate, his future."

  Digging her heels into his back, she whispered, "Then stop talking."

  His eyes flashed, but he took her lips again, swiping, licking, nibbling as he continued to thrust into her heat. She didn't even care about the wall at her back, loving how he kept her hips in place as he moved, to reposition her slightly with each movement, to reach deeper inside her.

  Damn, she might truly walk funny after this. But Victoria didn't care. He was claiming her, branding her, letting her know that he wanted her.

  And she loved it.

  Not wanting to be only on the receiving end, she scraped her nails down his back. He growled, "More. Mark me. I want to feel it in the morning."

  His naughty words snapped something inside her. She dug harder into his skin, this time also taking his bottom lip between her teeth and biting. Hard.

  He retaliated by moving a hand between them and flicking her clit.

  Victoria sucked in a breath, so sensitive from his movement and her previous orgasms that she nearly came right then and there.

  Jose did it again, and she decided to make him feel some delicious torture, too, by tightening her inner muscles.

  He groaned. "You drive me so fucking crazy, Tori. Don't stop."

  She didn't, loving how much closer she felt to him like this, holding him as he continued to stroke deep inside her.

  His fingers started pinching, swiping and rubbing her clit. Within seconds she moaned, "I'm going to come."

  "Then come, love. I'm here to hold you up as you do."

  She let go, embracing the blinding pleasure, barely noting how Jose swallowed her cries with his mouth.

  Between the attention of his tongue and his dick, she lingered in that plane of pleasure so close to pain for longer than she thought was possible.

  And then he stilled, shouting into her mouth, and she could feel him coming, another orgasm washing over her.

  Her entire body spasmed, the pleasure nearly too much for her to bear, making her cry out.

  Just when she thought she'd break, bliss flooded her body and she slowly came down from the brink.

  Jose placed gentle kisses on her lips, taking his time to savor her, as if it were the first and only time he'd have her.

  When he finally pulled away, he moved to her ear and asked, "Ready to go again? My dragon wants another turn."

  Even though she'd be beyond sore, and she was already overwhelmed with all the orgasms, she knew this was important to him, to both man and dragon.

  And besides, Victoria was afraid that if she said no, she might wake up from her delicious dream and be faced with reality again.

  So she held onto him tighter and murmured, "Can he top that?"

  Jose's voice dropped a fraction, to the tone she'd come to recognize as his inner beast. "This time, I won't hold back. You're mine, human. Mine."

  And he somehow proved to be correct, the first of many, many attempts throughout the night and days to come, both sides of her dragonman forever trying to outdo the other.

  Chapter Six

  Jose woke up nearly two weeks later with the faint sunshine shining through the window and was careful to hold his female close but not too hard. Not only did she need her rest, but he also didn't want to wake his dragon, who would then want more sex to try and impregnate her.

  Not that Jose didn't enjoy every inch of his mate, but he looked forward to when he could talk with her for hours, or even when he could introduce her to his family.

  Because, yes, he wanted his family to like her.

  Putting his nose where her shoulder met her neck, he took a deep inhale. The familiar scent of vanilla and female filled his senses, but there was a different undercurrent today. When he realized what it was—it smelled faintly of him—he froze.

  His dragon stirred sleepily inside his mind. Yes. She finally carries our young.

  Jose took a second to process it all.

  Of course he knew the frenzy would only end when Victoria became pregnant, but it had been a dream—an end goal that was never quite in sight.

  However, when his dragon dropped his head and went back to sleep inside his mind, it truly told him that it was done.

  Jose would be a father in about nine months' time.

  He pulled his female a little closer, closed his eyes, and smiled.

  When he'd begrudgingly agreed to participate in the lottery, he'd known in the end he'd have a child and then be forced to raise it either alone or having his parents' help. He hadn't expected the human female to want him, let alone tempt him.

  But now, with the female of his dreams asleep against him, he imagined being with her, raising their child, and building the future he'd never really thought he'd ever have.

  And fuck, he wanted all of it. Even the late-night feedings, the diaper changes, the barely having enough energy to shower before falling asleep. Because he'd do it all with Victoria at his side. Not only because raising a child with his human was the dream he’d never knew he wanted, but the child would be pieces of her and him together, not to mention a visual reminder of how they were true mates.

  His inner beast mumbled, Maybe. But you still have to convince her to stay on PineRock.

  Jose frowned. That was another thing he hadn't really considered before, when it'd been some faceless female he'd have to fuck.

  And suddenly, his confidence faltered a second. How the hell would he convince her to leave everything she knew, abandon her family and friends, and come live with the dragon-shifters on PineRock? He mostly loved his clan, but it was remote. And humans weren't allowed to visit whenever they felt like it, either.

  But it wasn't like he could live with her in the human world. All dragon-shifters were required to live on a clan somewhere in the US—the government needing to keep track of them. While he didn't always like that, it wasn't as if he would do something stupid, like try to pass as a human to live with Tori in her home.

  Her home. How much did he really know about it? All he could recall was that she lived in North Las Vegas from her contract,
but nothing else about it. Sure, even the dragon-shifters knew about the casinos in Las Vegas proper, but he couldn't imagine his book-carrying female spending most of her time there.

  While sex with his female was amazing, he needed more of her, to find out what she liked and didn't like.

  Damn, he had some wooing to do, sort of like speed dating on crack, to get where he needed to be.

  Victoria arched against him, and he felt the instant she woke up when she melted even further into his side. Despite the fact he'd lost count of how many times he'd had his mate over the last two weeks, her early morning voice stirred his cock from semihard to granite within seconds as she said, "Good morning. Is it Jose-Jose, or Mr. Dragon right now?"

  He kissed her cheek. "Jose. My dragon is sleeping."

  She glanced over at him. "Sleeping? Since when does he do that? Your beast barely allows me to sleep."

  He turned her until Victoria was on her back. Caressing her cheek, he decided to be blunt and see how she reacted. Maybe not the most romantic way to go about it, but it would help him figure out how to move forward. "He's asleep because the frenzy's over." He moved his hand over her lower abdomen. "You’re carrying our baby."

  She blinked the last of sleep from her eyes before they widened. "So I'm pregnant?"

  A smile tugged his lips. "Either that or very, very good at hiding your own scent from a dragon-shifter. Which, I might add, would be something new."

  She lightly hit his chest, and the playful gesture relaxed him a fraction. If she could be playful, she wasn't freaking out.

  Victoria replied, "Aren't you supposed to be super nice to me now?"

  He moved his hand up her body, lazily kneaded her breast, and finally ended by cupping her cheek. "Nice would be boring to a female who likes to mark with her nails."

  She raised her brows. "Hey, I won't apologize for that. You asked for it."

  He nipped her bottom lip. "I did, and don't ever stop doing it."

  He waited to see if his hint of the future would make her nervous, hesitate, or some other negative sign.

  However, she merely rolled into him and hitched her leg over his hip. "Then, Baby Daddy, I want to go back to sleep."

  Jose could leave it at that, but that would be the coward's way out. So he tilted her head until she met his gaze. "Are you okay with it all? And yes, I know it was the whole point of the lottery, but there's a difference between words on a page and the real thing."

  She smiled slowly. "You taught me that, didn't you?"

  She was referring to the summary warning about dragon-shifters. Apparently, they needed to add "wild, growly, and delicious" to the description.

  "I mean it, Tori. I'll have to call ADDA later today, and then reality sets in beyond this cabin."

  Placing a hand on his chest, she lightly stroked her fingers, unaware of how each pass made him want to toss her back and take her all over again.

  Seriously, he would never get enough of his female.

  She finally spoke again. "As long as you don't ditch me as soon as we get to Clan PineRock, then I think I can face reality just fine."

  "Don't even suggest I'd abandon you," he growled.

  Though he wanted to say more—that he wanted her as his mate forever, and that it wouldn't take much more for him to fall in love with her.

  But even Jose knew not to push too much too soon. That was another thing that had caused the other dragonman's mate to run and leave him in misery.

  As if sensing his dragon stirring at her comment, she traced his jaw before leaning up to kiss him briefly. "Of course you won't." She smiled at him, the sight making his heart skip a beat. She added, "Although maybe we could take a shower together before you call ADDA? As much as I enjoyed the frenzy, it'd be nice to explore you slowly. With my tongue."

  His cock let out a drop of moisture at her statement. He'd been the one to win the lottery, not Victoria.

  He kissed her slowly, taking his time to explore her mouth and loving how she melted with each stroke. He finally pulled away. "As my female wishes."

  With that, he pulled her out of bed and guided her toward the bathroom.

  The end of the frenzy hadn't fully sunk in yet, but Victoria wanted to steal whatever time she had left with her dragonman in this cabin, away from everything else.

  The aftermath would come crashing down soon enough—especially the part about her being pregnant and her having to live with a dragon clan for at least nine months.

  But right here, right now, she wanted to spend a little time with her man without the frenzy demanding sex and more sex.

  So she allowed Jose to lead her into the bathroom. She watched his broad shoulders and back as he turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature, and finally turning back toward her with heat in his eyes.

  Even after all the hours and hours of sex they'd had, he still wanted her.

  And that made her belly flip, in a good way.

  She only hoped the feeling stuck around, especially once they got to know each other better. Would the sexy dragonman find her boring outside the bedroom?

  No. She wouldn't allow doubts to invade the moment. Right now, it was just her and Jose, naked and ready to explore one another without some instinctual need driving their actions.

  Jose closed the distance between them and ran a hand down her side, his slightly rough hand making her shiver. He murmured, "Do you want to explore first or should I?"

  The deep huskiness of his voice boosted her confidence and she pushed back her shoulders, loving how his gaze darted to her breasts. She replied, "I'll go first. After all, you've tasted me and I have yet to do the same to you."

  A mate-claim frenzy had been about sex, and more sex, but none of the oral variety. Apparently, Jose's inner dragon had really wanted only one thing—to get her pregnant. And sadly, a tongue and fingers wouldn't do the job.

  Not that she would hold it against the beast. She rather liked his instinctual side at times.

  Taking her hand, Jose moved to the shower. "Then hurry up. The sooner you're done, the sooner I can have my turn. One taste of your sweet honey wasn't nearly enough."

  The promise in his words made wetness rush between her thighs. Yep, she still believed he had some sort of special dragon-shifter pheromone or magical ability to make her want him so damn much.

  Once the hot water hit her body, Victoria let out a moan. She was only human, and therefore very, very sore. Turning this way and then that way, she took a few minutes to soothe every ache.

  Jose growled. "You should be taking a bath and relaxing after the frenzy. You don't have to do this."

  She turned toward him, touched by his concern. He'd tried his best to let her sleep when needed during the frenzy, but it seemed as if his caring would last beyond it, too. Which made her forget a little more about her aching body. "It's not a matter of having to do anything but wanting to do it." Running a hand down his chest, she murmured boldly—something she never would've done a few weeks ago, "I've been dreaming of taking your cock between my lips for days."

  Jose grabbed his erection and stroked once. "You're too good to be true, love. I keep thinking I'll wake up from the best dream of my life."

  There he went, saying sweet things again. Deep down, her growly dragonman was turning out to be so much more.

  Victoria let her hand stray further down his abdomen until she met his fingers on his cock. "Now, let go and let me take control of this."

  Her strong dragonman obeyed, and she smiled. Yes, she liked Jose dominating her for the most part in bed, but there was something about occasionally being in control, too, that simply felt right with her.

  As her hand stroked up and then teased the tip of his shaft with her forefinger, Jose placed a hand on the tile wall and leaned against it for support. "I'm not going to last long if you keep that up, Tori."

  "The dragonman who lasted at least two hours at one point is about to come this easily?" She tsked. "Maybe you're getting old."

 
His pupils flashed. "I'm tempted to show you how well this old man can handle you."

  Since Jose was only in his early thirties, she resisted laughing.

  However, she wasn't going to be distracted from what she'd wanted from the first day when Jose had gone down on her.

  So Victoria kissed his chest, one of his nipples, and continued downward until she reached the trail of hair that led to her final destination.

  She crouched down until she was on her knees, putting his cock right in front of her face. She leaned over and licked the slit on the tip, loving the tang of saltiness there.

  Jose bucked his hips, nearly shoving his shaft into her face.

  With one lick, she had so much power over him.

  And it felt wonderful.

  Gripping the base of his cock, she leaned over and placed light kisses on the tip and then down the side. When she finally rubbed her cheek against the soft-yet-steely length, Jose placed a hand in her hair. "Please, love, suck me deep. I'm dying to know what your mouth feels like."

  Maybe someone else would make him beg, but Victoria was too eager. She'd never wanted to taste a man so much in her life, almost as if she didn't suck him deep, she'd feel empty until she did.

  She finally took him into her mouth, loving how hot he was under her tongue. As if she'd done this a thousand times before, she moved her hand on the bottom half of his dick as she bobbed her head up and down, careful to lave with her tongue as she went.

  Using her other hand, she fondled his balls, which made Jose press her head more against his dick.

  No shy man afraid to tell her what he wanted.

  Maybe he'd be that way in every facet of life.

  As he dug his nails lightly into her scalp, Victoria forgot about everything but moving her head, teasing his shaft, and finally, she stopped fondling his balls to stroke herself. Merely rubbing once made her moan around Jose's cock.

  Her dragonman's gravelly voice filled the shower. "Fuck, yes, make yourself come at the same time, my demanding human. Keep saying—" He groaned. "—and taking what you want."