by Ophelia Bell
“First, that saying is bullshit. If you knew Aella’s mates, you’d know it’s entirely possible for lightning to strike in the same place hundreds of times. And second, once you get to know my world, you’ll understand why I don’t think it’s crazy to want us all, or for all of us to want you. You’re more powerful than you realize.”
He scooted close and pulled me against him, pressing a kiss to my forehead. I sighed and rolled over, letting him spoon close as I stared out the bedroom window to the dawn-lit sound beyond.
Six guys. Six lovers. What had he said? They all wanted mates. Was that what they’d think I was when they arrived? Their mate? Ugh, that sounded like a lot of extra work, trying to satisfy six men, who probably all had their own issues. I was really good at multitasking—you had to be to do what I did. But I wasn’t sure I had the constitution to manage relationships with six men without worrying about leaving someone out in the cold, or even worse, breaking someone’s heart.
On the other hand, Gray was amazing, and I could imagine six of him catering to my every need just the way he’d done so far. That was wishful thinking, but the fantasy entertained me.
The chuckle at my back made my eyes fly open.
“Don’t tell me you heard that thought.”
He nuzzled my neck, his nose brushing my earlobe. “It’s easy to let down your guard when you’re tired. We’re all very different people, though we definitely have plenty in common. You’ll see.”
“Will you tell me about them? Just so I’m prepared, of course.”
His lips curved into a smile against my shoulder. “It would be my pleasure.”
11
Gray
My chest tightened when I started describing Tate and the others to April, but the fact that she’d asked about them gave me hope. Her aura remained vivid the entire time, so I knew she hadn’t fallen asleep despite her stillness.
“Well, there are six of us,” I began, my voice catching. I cleared my throat and settled down in the warmth of April’s bed, my body buzzing with her closeness and the thrum of intense magic she’d filled me with when she’d orgasmed. There was no mistaking the deep, low-frequency throb of earth magic pulsing in my veins, like the steady bass beat of a drum setting the tempo for a song.
The guys would recognize her power when they came, so I had little doubt they’d need a detailed introduction to her, but she was different, so I tightened my hold around her and continued.
“Stuart, Murdoc, and I are all White dragons. Tate, Eddie, and Chayton are Sundance ursa. I grew up with Stuart and Murdoc. We aren’t brothers by blood, but we’re as close as brothers. Stuart is probably the closest we have to a leader. The man straddles the edge of martyr sometimes, and is a hard-headed bastard about taking one for the team. He’s the one who’s most likely to get up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast for us, and the last one to bed at night. He’d kill me if I suggested that he likes to tuck us all in, but that wouldn’t be far from the truth.”
“Sounds like my dad,” April said, her voice husky with fatigue. “He probably overcompensated a little for my mother’s absence, but he was amazing.”
“Yeah, Stu’s definitely a bit of a mama hen,” I said, laughing as I imagined the way the big dragon tended to hover when he sensed we needed him. “Murdoc, on the other hand, is the opposite. He’s more likely to hide and brood. He’s the argumentative type who always has to be right, because he usually is. But he’s got a bit of Gold in him, so he never makes you feel bad about being wrong. It’s kind of infuriating, really. He’s probably lost without Stuart to argue with over whether to answer my call. I have no doubt they’ll come, but I imagine they’ll both be debating whether to investigate the message or just come straight to me. I didn’t exactly give them an abundance of information.”
In an effort to obscure my location against the wrong people finding us, I’d called the dragons’ First Shadow, Kol Magnus, explained the situation, and requested that he put the call out to my team in a way that wouldn’t lead back to me directly, but that they’d know came from me. So we’d come up with a coded message I was sure they would all understand.
I hoped the messengers had reached my team, but I had no idea how long it would take them to get here.
When April turned to face me, I realized I’d gone quiet. “Sorry, I’m evidently terrible at describing people.”
“I like what I’ve heard so far. What about the others? The ursa, right? Tate, Chayton, and Eddie?”
I took a deep breath, an involuntary smile spreading across my face as I pictured the three burly ursa. “Well, while us dragons are all pretty civilized, those three are lacking a bit in refinement.” I kept my tone diplomatic to avoid frightening April away, but the interested tilt of her eyebrows compelled me to risk a bit more raw honesty. “I forgot, you don’t wear underwear. They don’t either. Not a stitch. And us dragons might prefer designer clothes, but those three are all about jeans and flannel shirts.”
“Hey, don’t knock flannel, mister. Do I need to remind you you’re in Seattle? Flannel shirts are how we identify our tribe.”
“I will keep that in mind. They’ll have no trouble fitting in here, at least. As for what they’re like, Tate’s the protective one, like Stuart. The pair of them are peas on a pod, but he’s a bit less helicoptery and more…attack first, ask questions later, if that makes sense.”
April chuckled. “That’s my dad too. It took him a really long time to figure out I don’t need him to protect me. Though now he probably needs protection as much as I do. Vesh was after him. If they find him…”
“Don’t worry, I filled Kol in on the situation. He has a squad of shadow dragons out working on tracking down your father. If they find him, they’ll bring him in and keep him safe.”
She frowned. “Shadow dragons. That sounds ominous.”
“They’re more like soldiers. The six of us are too, but while we’re just infantry, shadow dragons are like special ops, to put it in more familiar terms. We all fought a war together, and that kind of experience tends to show you who your friends really are.”
“Is that why you’re so close?”
“That has a lot to do with it, yeah. We’ve all saved each other’s lives at least once. A bond that tight is hard to let go. I think out of the six of us, Eddie’s the one most suited for the battle though. There’s nobody I’d want on my side in a fight more than him. All of them are amazing, of course, but he’s the true fighter. I guarantee he wouldn’t have let Vesh get the upper hand the way I did.”
“What about Chayton? Is he a badass too? Or is that a stupid question?” She smiled up at me, and hope soared. She sounded like she might actually be interested in getting to know my friends more once they showed up.
“He has his moments. I mean, yeah, he’d fight his heart out, but after Vesh destroyed your work, Chay would have probably sat and cried over the state your sculpture was in when we left. He’s a big softie.”
“So he’s like you,” she said, snuggling close and caressing my cheek. “And I don’t just mean you’re soft on the inside. You’re soft as a baby’s butt all over. Do you even have to shave?”
She kept petting my face with wonder in her eyes. I laughed and grabbed her hand. “For dragons, our human shape is mostly a magical fabrication. We can make it look however we want it to look. That means we can dispense with some of the usual inconveniences, like beards and body hair. Temperature doesn’t affect us the way it does other species.”
“But you could grow a beard if you wanted to, right?”
“Yeah…” I trailed off, giving her a harder look. “Do beards turn you on?”
She sighed. “You turn me on just fine without one, but I’ve kind of always had a thing for bearded guys.”
“Then be patient. Tate, Chay, and Ed are three of the beardiest beards who ever bearded. They make me and Stu and Murdoc look like teenage boys with all their manly fur. Hmm.” For the first time since making the call, it hit me that
we’d see each other again soon and I got a little lost in the prospect. Even though it had only been a few days, I missed those idiots like crazy.
April tickled my chin and smiled up at me. “I’m thinking you have a beard fetish too. If you love them so much, why not grow your own?”
“It’s the man behind the beard that matters. But, yeah, I admit I love beards more than I’d admit in mixed company. I love how Tate’s tickles my balls when he gives me head.”
“Uh. Wow.”
I glanced down at her, amused by the pink flush in her cheeks. Her eyes blazed with an inner light, and her hair had started to dry, the strands springing out in perfect, golden corkscrew curls around her face. Her aura was just as wild with green magic—ursa magic, so strong it practically bled from her pores. My heart thrummed against my ribs. The guys were going to love her.
Cupping her cheek, I leaned down, smiling as I closed the distance between us. In a low voice, I asked, “You like the idea of a big, bearded bear of a man sucking me off for you to watch?”
She lifted up and pressed both hands to my chest, holding my gaze as she slid a leg over my hip to straddle me. My cock perked up underneath her ass.
“I like the idea of all of you doing everything with each other. With me. It feels fucking crazy to admit it though. It’s like something inside me has been waiting for this, and now that it’s almost here, I feel like I might explode if I can’t have it now.”
She covered her lower abdomen with both hands, and a pained look crossed her face. I sat up a little, leaning on one elbow and touching her hands where they rested against her belly. “Are you feeling all right?” The air around her crackled with power even stronger than it had a moment ago. She pressed harder against her belly, then slid her fingers down to her mound and groaned, biting down hard on her lower lip.
“Gray?” she said in a strangled voice. “Something’s wrong. I feel… Oh god.” She rocked her hips against me, and her eyes fell closed, another low moan escaping her lips that was part ecstasy, part agony. My heart rate spiked as it occurred to me what might be happening. But she wasn’t ursa, she was human. Bloodline, but still human. She couldn’t actually be in estrous, could she?
But after all the displays of dragon magic I’d witnessed today, was it that far-fetched for her to display strong ursa magic too? Except this…this wasn’t just strong ursa magic. This was the very core of ursa magic, and if she was indeed in estrous, the guys really couldn’t get here fast enough because I wasn’t sure if I would be enough to help her on my own.
“April, I’m here.” I sat up all the way, slid my hands up her back, and held her close, trying to remember what my ursa squadmates had said about how to service a female through the ordeal of her estrous. Fucking them wasn’t an option if they were unmated, because of how fertile they were. It was too dangerous to risk the female becoming pregnant without permanent mates to help manage the surge of power she’d experience while pregnant.
But I wasn’t an ursa male. I was a dragon, and it was impossible for a dragon to breed with a partner they weren’t mated to, especially if neither partner wanted a child. That made this somewhat easier for me.
She clung to me, her hips rocking needfully against my cock, her breaths coming in quick pants. Her body was flushed and hot to the touch, power throbbing through her aura. It was the power of life, of the earth and the stones and the trees, of fertility. It seeped into my skin even without a proper exchange of Nirvana, as if April was in a constant state of climax but couldn’t quite reach the pinnacle. When a harsh, incoherent plea escaped her throat, I realized how unbearable this had to be for her, but it was as if she was too overwhelmed by the magic to take what she needed. Which meant I would have to take control and give it to her.
“Do you need me to fuck you? Is that it?” I asked, cupping her face and looking deep into her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she whined. “I’m too hot…inside…” She pressed both hands harder between her thighs, fingers squelching into her flooded pussy. The action filled my senses with her potent, fertile scent, and my cock grew as hard as steel.
That scent was one I recognized from the revelries in the Haven and the Sanctuary after we’d finally won the war. Unmated ursa females had been everywhere, and no dragon with any sense would turn down the opportunity to taste that much power. An ursa female’s womb was magically linked to the Source itself, where all the magic that fed the four higher races originated. The other allure was that ursa females were more than capable of taking a dragon in his true form, and being able to fuck unfettered by our human form was one of the most sublime experiences in existence.
I reined in that hope for the time being. If April needed more, I would give it, but for now, I just wanted to help calm the fever that had overtaken her.
I slid her off my lap and laid her down against the pillows again, hovering over her and looking into her fevered eyes. She stared up at me with a pleading look, frightened by this new, overwhelming experience.
“Am I dying? Did you poison me with your dick or something?” she asked.
“You aren’t dying, and no, fucking dragons is not life-threatening by any stretch. I think the stress of last night just awakened another piece of your beautiful magic, that’s all. But if you let me, I can help. I just need you to move your hands.”
I urged her hands away from between her thighs, pressing one of my hands over her pussy to ease some of her discomfort. Her slick heat sank into my fingers immediately, and she gasped, tilting her hips up into my touch.
“What’s happening to me?”
“You have a lot more ursa than I thought. No wonder your little gardens were so lush in those sculptures.” I pushed two fingers into her, and her muscles clamped down hard, practically sucking me in.
“Oh god, yes! I need more!”
I added a third finger, then a fourth, her hips writhing as she fucked herself on my hand. When it became clear she’d easily accept my entire hand, I couldn’t hold back.
“I need to fuck you, baby. And I think you need it too. But this time, I’m going to show you how it feels when I don’t hold back.”
12
April
My body was too far gone with need to object to Gray’s almost-threat. At his words, every part of me rejoiced. At least until he removed his fingers from my pussy, leaving me feeling hollow. I cried out and sat up, grabbing for his hand, his dick, anything to put back inside me. I felt like I had a full-body itch I couldn’t scratch, and the worst of it was concentrated between my thighs. Having his fingers in me helped, but it didn’t come close to easing the need.
Something in his expression changed when I agreed to his offer though. He’d gone from a gentle, yet worried man with tender touches and soft caresses to looking just as hungry with desire as I felt. He smacked my hands away and pushed me back down to the bed, pinning my hands over my head.
“I’m going to help you. Trust me. You need to have about a hundred orgasms, and I’m about to give them to you. All you have to do is let me. Just tell me to stop when you feel normal again, okay?”
His thick cock brushed my hip, and I twisted, nearly got one leg around him before he chuckled and pushed me flat again. “Be still, tesoro. I’ve got you.”
He pressed his entire body over mine, weighing me down, then kissed me hard enough to take my breath away. The weight and heat of him was some comfort, but the kiss was more. He devoured my mouth even more thoroughly than our prelude kiss to our first time fucking before all hell broke loose in my shop. But this time, his tongue felt different, longer, and it tickled my lips when he pulled back.
My chest heaved as I caught my breath, but I was stunned enough from that kiss to keep from fighting him, and when he pulled back to move down my body, I caught a glimpse of the forked tips of his tongue darting out and teasing over my skin.
I’d seen him shift tonight already, but somehow seeing this inhuman part of him attached to his very human-looking body wa
s shocking enough to keep me enthralled. He kept sliding down, pausing at my breasts to tease that wicked, reptilian tongue over my nipples until an involuntary groan of need escaped my throat, and my pelvis rose up seeking relief. With that, he planted his knees between my legs and pushed my thighs up and wide. But rather than line his cock up with my needy core, he bent down and introduced my pussy to that freakish—and amazing—tongue.
I cried out and jacked my hips up the second the twin tips tickled along both sides of my clit. But before he could take me to the edge, he teased lower and plunged his tongue deep into me. I arched my back, but he had too solid a hold on my hips now to let me move much more as he began to slowly fuck me with his tongue. It felt as thick as a cock, and longer, but about a hundred times more agile. When my orgasm finally hit, I rejoiced, grabbing hold of his hair and holding him tight against my pussy while I fucked myself against his mouth.
After what seemed like an eternity of my body’s tremors persisting, Gray made a muffled noise that sounded like a question. I released his head, and my body went limp as he rose up onto his knees. He worked his jaw back and forth and grinned. “Feeling better?”
I blinked up at him, dazed, and was about to say thank you when another wave of heat and overwhelming need coursed through me. I let out an involuntary cry of surprise.
“Why is this happening?” I asked, whimpering when he leaned down and pushed his fingers into me again. The pressure of being filled eased the agony of need, but it still didn’t go away entirely.