by Zoe Chant
“It wasn’t locked!” Cara interrupted.
“It was,” Gus assured her, wriggling his fingers. “There’s gold in the lock—we have a certain affinity for gold. It does what we ask it to. There are no keys for that lock, but I assure you, I unlocked it and locked it again after us.”
“So kids pick the lock—”
“They hear a roaring sound, see some fire,” Gus said, waving a hand. “And I’m alerted, so if they don’t come running out pretty quick they get a roaring sound from me, too, or Ilie. That…solves the problem, generally.”
“People in town know, then,” Cara said, but of course they must.
Had he gone running out of the mayor’s office when he realized Ilie was talking to her? Had he changed right in the middle of Main Street, taken wing in front of Mrs. McCullough and everyone at the electronics store?
“Yes,” Gus said. “My eight times great-grandfather founded the town—financed the first church and school and so on—and the people here have always known what we are. We look after them, they keep our secrets. It works pretty well for everyone, although I really do hope Radu will come back and be mayor soon. Hannah is going to lose her patience with me one of these years.”
“It’ll be easier when you have a mate, won’t it?” Cara asked, squeezing his hand. “Your brothers can be around more?”
Gus nodded, smiling hopefully at her, and tugged her forward. They’d reached the end of the tunnel, where it led around a little curve and into the last—the first—of the caves.
For a moment Cara thought they’d stepped outside. The cave was so dazzlingly bright that it seemed like they were standing in full sunshine. But after a moment her eyes adjusted, and she realized that what she was seeing was the reflection off a mound of gold that half-filled the little cave. It covered the entire floor and heaped up halfway to the ceiling.
She stepped toward it, wanting to touch, trying to see what it was made up of, other than gold. It looked like a jumble of coins and beads, and irregular little shapes like gold-plated gravel that must be gold nuggets. There were squared-off gold bars in a few places, golden jewelry, finer gold chains winding through.
She turned back to stare at Gus, who was smiling contentedly, here in the cave with his dragon hoard heap of gold.
“The light comes down from the surface,” Gus said, like that was the part that required explanation. “There are a couple of shafts up from here, and a system of prisms and mirrors so that it’s all sealed up but the light still gets down here.”
“Gus,” Cara said, looking helplessly back at the huge pile of gold. “Can I…”
“I wish you would,” Gus said.
When Cara looked at him again, she could see his eyes were dark with want, and there was a flush on his cheeks that was spreading downward. The sparkle of gold at his throat and on his wrist seemed brighter here, reflecting back the light of the hoard. It also seemed quite restrained, compared to the incredible profusion piled up.
Cara took a step forward and then, feeling only a little silly, she stopped and took off her shoes and socks. She walked barefoot into the pile of gold as if she were walking into the water on a beach, poking her toes into the surf of coins and beads. She waded in further, feeling the heavy, cool pieces of gold part around her feet and pile around her ankles. Every move set off little cascades as more gold rolled down.
She laughed, feeling like a kid in the shiniest candy store ever. There were piles of gold, just lying there like pebbles, sliding down around her feet. She looked around as Gus stepped in after her.
The golden light made Gus shine.
As amazing as he’d been in his enormous silver-gray dragon form, he looked even more otherworldly now. His eyes glowed with something that Cara knew wasn’t a reflection of the light that shone on them both. It was Gus’s own dragon fire, shining through. Shining at her.
And she had come here to promise herself to him, to receive his promise that he would keep on shining at her that way forever.
“What next?” Cara said, and her voice came out hushed.
Gus leaned in, his hands finding her waist as he kissed her in the warm glow. “I want to see my hoard shining on your skin.”
Cara nodded, raising her arms above her head as Gus peeled her shirt up and off. He ducked his head, kissing the top curves of her breasts as he unfastened her bra, and she was aware of the feeling of the body-warmed gold of his chains resting against her breasts as they were freed.
His hands moved down unhesitatingly, opening her jeans, and he moved slowly down to his knees, kissing his way down the soft curve of her belly. He slid her jeans down over her hips and helped her smoothly out of them. The gold around her feet made a soft musical sound as she shook each foot loose.
Gus ran his hands up her bare legs, his fingers moving reverently over every curve, and then he said, “Lie down with me, darling.”
Cara nodded and let Gus guide her down to lie on a slope of gold—it was cool under her, but not as hard or lumpy as she expected. It slid silkily under her, cradling her like the softest beach.
She gave a startled little laugh as stray coins and beads fell over her shoulders, spilling down over her breasts and sliding on her belly.
Cara looked up at Gus, kneeling beside her, and found she had an excellent view of his cock, pressing hard against the soft pants he was wearing. She looked up at his shining eyes and reached for the waistband of his pants. “What if I want to see your skin, too?”
“Then your wish is my command,” Gus said, grinning brightly.
He slipped somehow gracefully out of his pants, revealing his hard cock to her eager eyes. Cara reached for him, but Gus caught her hand, his hand circling her wrist gently but firmly as he pushed it down.
“Don’t distract me too much, though,” he said.
“Right,” Cara said, anticipation tingling over her skin as she raised her arms above her head again.
She let her legs slide open a little further, setting off more chiming cascades of gold around her.
“There’s a tradition, right?”
“Yes,” Gus said, and there was no ruefulness in his gaze anymore, only heat and desire. “You play the part of the princess. And a princess should be beautifully adorned.”
He rummaged among the gold around him and came up with delicate chains dangling from his fingers. Cara lifted her head to help him lower some around her neck, chains spilling over her breasts.
He picked up more, twining them around her hair to hold it up. He found bracelets for her wrists, kissing her hands and up her arms as he placed them, and more for her ankles, kissing his way up to her thighs. She parted them easily, welcoming him. Draped in gold, bathed in light, she was beginning to feel as if she really was his princess, something nearly as magical as he was.
“Now tell me,” Gus murmured, looking up at her from between her thighs, his breath just touching where she was wet and hot. “How does a princess meet a dragon?”
“She’s given to him,” Cara whispered. She had her hands up over her head again, offering herself.
Gus smiled, nodding.
“Or if the dragon is very, very lucky, maybe she runs away and gives herself. And if the dragon is a wicked dragon, she is a sacrifice, given to appease him. But if the dragon is good, then he won’t devour her. She will become the most precious of all the dragon’s treasures, and all his other riches will belong to her, because he will only care to possess the heart of his hoard—his princess.”
“Yes,” Cara breathed. “Gus, please, yes, make me yours.”
“Just a few more chains,” Gus said, moving up to kneel over her, rummaging again among the gold. “Just to be sure the princess is truly offered up.”
Cara couldn’t even speak, only offered her wrists to Gus’s hands. The bracelets he fastened now were heavy—single shining pieces, smooth and solid. When he stroked his fingers over them they seemed tightened somehow around her wrists so that they couldn’t slip free.
/> When she tugged at them she found them attached to heavy chains that disappeared into the hoard. She was held fast, chained down with a dragon’s gold. She felt molten inside, so hot and wet and ready for this.
“Cara?” Gus said softly, and she looked up and met his eyes. They were plain gray now, questioning. “Is this okay?”
Cara tilted her head back, arching her body up as she struggled to find words that were a little more coherently reassuring than yes, yes, now.
“Gus, yes,” she said, breathlessly. “Make me yours. Make me stay.”
Gus’s eyes lit again, glowing hot. He kissed her deeply, his hands again caressing her like she was more precious than anything else.
The heat of his body made her press up, wanting him inside her, and after a moment his hands pressed her hips down and he broke the kiss, his mouth trailing down her body until he was kneeling between her legs. He found the heavy anklets that matched the bands on her wrists and fastened them in place so that she couldn’t move at all. She could only squirm a little under his gaze.
“Gus, please. I need you.”
“Of course,” Gus whispered, but he pushed his fingers into her dripping wet pussy, still not giving her what she really wanted.
She threw her head back—the gold wound in her hair and under her head chimed softly all around her as Gus’s fingers worked inside her, soon joined by Gus’s mouth. Her cries echoed through the little cave as Gus brought her over the brink.
“Now,” she demanded, as soon as she could speak again. “My dragon, now.”
Gus made a rumbling sound that made her shiver in memory of his great roar, and he moved over her. He kissed her, and she could feel the heat of his cock against her thigh. He was bare, she realized. She hadn’t brought a condom down here, and he certainly hadn't had one in his pocket.
“Yes,” she whispered against his mouth. “Yes, Gus, now, I’m yours.”
He kissed her hard then, driving into her with a long, deep stroke.
She tried to arch up to meet him and only made herself more aware of everywhere she was held fast. She pressed up against her bonds just to know they were there as Gus moved inside her, filling her exquisitely. It wasn’t long before she was coming again.
It was drawn out this time, waves of pleasure making her feel as though she was soaring even as she was held so firmly in place. Gus kept moving in her and over her, dragging it out until he tipped his head back and roared through his own release, filling her completely.
His cheek brushed hers as he let his head drop, breathing as hard as she was. Then he reached up over her head, touching her wrists. Before she could protest she felt some pressure release, and she found she was able to move her hands, but the heavy bracelets stayed in place. He’d only detached them from their chains.
“Yours now,” he murmured, gathering her to him as he turned onto his side, so that she rested on him as much as on the gold. “You’ll wear them?”
“Always,” she whispered. “My dragon.”
“Always,” he murmured back, sounding as perfectly contented as she felt. “Always, my princess. My love.”
A note from Zoe Chant
Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. If you'd like to be alerted by email when I release my next book, please click here to be added to my mailing list. If you'd like to contact me, my email is [email protected]. I love hearing from my readers!
Please consider reviewing The Billionaire Dragon Shifter's Mate, even if you only write a line or two. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.
Cover: Augusta Scarlett | www.scarlettebooks.com
Model: © Andrei Vishnyakov | Dreamstime.com
Background: © Can Stock Photo Inc. / appalachianviews
Dragon: © Can Stock Photo Inc. / Wampa
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