by Julia Mills
“Makes sense,” Tristan agreed, his voice and eyes back to normal. “Until recently, we thought you dragons were extinct.”
Angus chuckled, “And that’s the way we liked it. But someone knew. Someone betrayed us. And that someone made sure to have their evil little elf take out the Enforcers first.”
Olivia placed her right hand over their combined hands, pushing love and strength through the bond she shared with her dragon. She could feel him building to something and wanted him to know she was with him all the way.
“From what Olivia has said,” he looked up at her and winked making the butterflies in her stomach flutter in double time. “My kin still live. The attempt to destroy them failed, but do you happen to know any by name?”
Tristan shook his head, “Only one and he had no family.”
“Well,” Angus took a deep breath. “I await Marrok’s return call. I have tried to contact my brethren through our mind-to-mind communication, but as of yet, have not been able to reach them. I believe it has something to do with my injuries.” He again looked up at Olivia and this time she decided to tell the Wolfe’s everything.
Holding tight to Angus’ hand, she turned towards Barbara, Tristan, and Ellie and with a conviction she couldn’t ever remember feeling before, she said, “Angus is my mate. I knew the moment I scented him in the woods.” Where she had expected skepticism, she saw acceptance in the Wolfe Pack Alphas’ expressions.
“I didn’t know it until that moment. Hell, I was pretty sure I was never gonna find a mate, or if I did he would be a big, burly wolf with a He-Man complex.” She chuckled along with the snickering Wolfe’s. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” Olivia looked at Angus who was smiling from ear-to-ear, shook her head and looking back at her new friends continued, “But I was getting used to the idea myself. I guess I was in a kind of denial. But after talking to my brother, there was no doubt. I hope you understand and that this doesn’t change anything between us or our packs.”
Shaking her head, Ellie rushed forward and swallowed Olivia up in a big hug then leaned back and winked, “You think my mom, the craftiest match-maker in the paranormal world didn’t already know what was going on with you?” She snorted. “And you know she had to tell me. I was just waiting for you to work things out for yourself.”
Hugging Olivia again, the blonde let go and then leaned over and gave Angus a quick kiss on the cheek. “Congrats. You gotta whole lot going on, huh? Back from the dead? New mate? You better rest up.”
The room erupted in laughter as Barbara and Tristan also congratulated them, as well as William when he walked in to see what all the commotion was about. All too soon, the conversation was back to Fiach Dubh and questions were asked about how Angus arrived in Wolfe Pack Territory.
“What I can piece together, mind you my memory is still spotty and I spent much of the time either unconscious from beatings or from the use of black magic, is that every so often I was moved, but I have no idea from where to where. I also have no recollections of time as I was always kept somewhere dark and dank, usually underground and heavily warded.”
“You said something about a ship?” Tristan asked.
“Yes, there were several times I awoke on a ship. I could tell from the sway of the vessel and the smell of the sea. I also believe they kept me over water as much as possible to draw on its natural power and enhance their own evil magic. As for how I got onto your territory, I am sorry but I have no recollection.”
Olivia once again listened as he explained how he escaped and came to be found. She wasn’t surprised when Tristan asked, “When William says you can leave, I’m going to need you to go with us out to the spot where you were found, just to see if it jogs any memories.”
“Absolutely. I am just as anxious as you to not only piece together how I got here, but also find those responsible.” Angus’ gravelly voice was tinged with rage and his pupils glowed in the elliptical shape of his dragon.
Worried for his recovery, Olivia was relieved when William said, “As long as everything keeps going in the right direction tonight, I have every intention of releasing Mr. MacLendon first thing tomorrow.”
“Then plan on staying in one of our cabins and having dinner at our house tomorrow night,” Barbara suggested. Placing her hand in her husband’s she added, “We’ll let you get some rest and see you then.”
After more hugs and goodbyes, Olivia and Angus were finally alone. She chuckled as he tugged on her hand and with a waggle of his eyebrows murmured, “Why don’t we have a nap, mo ghrá?”
“I think you just want me in your bed, sir.” Olivia played coy, pulling back and batting her eyes as her heart began to pound and her body warmed with the idea of once again being wrapped in her dragon’s arms.
A sly grin curved the corners of his lips as he used a bit more strength in his effort to pull her close while saying, “Aye, mo a chéadsearc, were it within my power, I would simply make the world go away so that we might spend every day together in just such a way.”
Unable and unwilling to fight the soul-deep attraction she felt for her mate, Olivia lowered the rail on the side of the bed and climbed in next to her dragon, this time Angus stayed on his side so that they were face-to-face. Once she was settled, Olivia looked up as his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her body flush with his. Lost in the swirling depths of desire in his expressive violet eyes, she was helpless but to close the distance between them and show with her kiss what she couldn’t find the words to convey.
What started as a soft touch of lips, with the whiskers of his mustache and beard tickling her skin, quickly turned passionate as Olivia licked the seam of his mouth, sucked on his bottom lip and thrust her tongue alongside his. In an instant, their kiss turned wild. She could feel her mate to the very depths of her soul. Their tongues mated in a dance of everlasting love and unending desire. Their hands groped, desperate to have and to possess. Their bodies were on fire with flames of desire that threatened the very fabric of her sanity.
Olivia could barely control her need to be one with her mate as his hand slipped under the soft cotton of her blouse renewing the sparks of their connection as he pulled her still closer. The feel of his erection bumping her aroused clit through the denim of her jeans made rational thought impossible.
Throwing her leg over his hip, Olivia rolled her hips in tempo with her dragon’s, hating the material between them but loving the feel of their bodies moving as one. Tearing his lips from hers, Angus panted, “I must have you, mo mac tire beag. I need to feel you wrapped around me, to be buried deep within the one who completes me as no other. My need to be one with you, mo ghrá, is maddening.”
Lost to a passion that can only come from being in the arms of the one the Universe made for her, Olivia gave over to the passion, gasping, “Yes, mo Dragon…yes.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Angus rolled Olivia onto her back, ripped the clothes from her body and with his hands on the mattress next to her head, looked down at her and growled, “Now and forever, Olivia Kilbride, you are mine… mo maité… mo ghrá… mo chroí.”
His lips were immediately on hers. Her hands tangled in his long red hair. His tongue delved into her mouth as she felt the tip of his cock tease the opening of her pussy, already slick with need. Slowly, entering her as if they had all the time in the world, branding her from the inside out, Angus entered Olivia until he could go no farther.
Moaning at the loss of his lips as Angus lifted his head, Olivia’s hand glided to his neck and her nails bit into his skin in an attempt to pull his mouth back to hers. But her dragon held back and looking her right in the eyes, growled, “Love me, mo chroí, and let me love you,” as he slowly pulled his cock out of her until she feared he would leave completely.
“Yes,” was all Olivia could say as he drove back into her with such force she felt as if she would split in two. Repeating the action, over and over, he held her gaze captive as thrust after blessed thrust, he
pushed them higher and higher.
Her nails slid from his neck, across his shoulder, down his chest where she flicked his hard nipples, thrilling at the jump of his cock within her. “You are beautiful,” she purred, wrapping her legs around his waist and digging her heels into the taunt muscles of his ass, lifting her hips from the bed.
“Oh my goddess,” she mewled as the change in position caused the tip of his cock to tease the sensitive bundle of nerves at the top of her channel while the base rubbed her swollen clit with every stroke.
“It is you who are beautiful,” Angus panted in time with his thrusts. “More gorgeous with every passing moment.”
Reaching between their bodies, his thumb and forefinger rubbed the sides of her clit. She tried not to scream, but lost the battle and moaned, “Oh yes! Oh Angus… oh yes… oh m’fhiorghrá ….yes!”
“Come my love, come for me,” he ordered, gently pinching her swollen nubbin.
Olivia’s mouth slammed to his shoulder, her body stiffened and she screamed her release against his skin as her pussy gripped his throbbing cock, pulling it deeper into her body, massaging it until Angus was emptying himself into her with a strangled roar. Time stood still. They were all that mattered. Looking deep into one another’s eyes as they made love for the first time, the she-wolf had no doubt she’d finally found her forever.
Gently pulling himself from her still quivering body, Angus laid down and immediately pulled Olivia over his chest, covering them both with a sheet before exhaling, “I love you, Olivia Kilbride, with all that I am. I now know, beyond all doubt, you are the reason I lived through a century of imprisonment and torture. You have saved not only me, but my dragon and my very soul.”
The tips of his fingers caressed her cheek as he breathed, “I will love you for all eternity and beyond.”
Unable to speak, Olivia let the words she’d never said to another living soul aside from her brother, float from her mind to her mates, “And I love you, Angus MacLendon, more than I ever knew possible.”
Chapter Ten
Olivia woke before Angus, slipped from bed wrapped in one of his blankets. Grabbing the bag of fresh clothes Ellie had brought her the previous day, she scurried to the bathroom and quickly locked the door. Looking in the mirror, she could only smile and whisper, “Oh my goddess. I just had sex with my mate in his hospital bed. I think I’ve lost my mind.”
“Not lost your mind, just in love and for that I am forever grateful,” came Angus’ whispered reply from the other side of the door.
“Oh behave, you bad old dragon,” Olivia teased, amazed by the flush in her cheeks and the twinkle in her eye.
This dragon is turning me inside out…
“It is nothing compared to what you are doing to him,” he answered her thought. “I love you, Olivia. And now, I shall leave you alone…but do hurry. I miss you terribly already.”
Grinning like a fool, Olivia jumped into the shower, was out in record time, dressed and opening the door to rejoin her dragon just as William walked in, smiling and raising the folder he had in his hand. “Look, what I have for you…. release papers.”
From that point, the next twelve hours were a whirlwind. It took a while for Angus to actually be released during which time, Ellie appeared with extra clothes and shoes from her brothers, keys and directions to the cabin where they would be staying and made sure the couple would be at Barbara’s for dinner.
After leaving the hospital, they went to the cabin to drop off Olivia’s clothes and after spending a few hours enjoying one another, Angus suggested they take a walk in the daylight along the ridge where he’d been found. Hand-in hand, she marveled at how much taller his six-foot-five-inch frame looked when he was upright as opposed to lying in the mud or a bed. She also couldn’t help but gawk at how his muscular frame had filled out in just the few days since he’d awakened. Angus was gorgeous. There just wasn’t another word for it and Heaven help her, he was all hers… other women be warned.
The farther into the forest they roamed, the more Olivia’s wolf begged to be free. The she-wolf wanted to scent her mate, get to know him, let him know she existed. Before she could comment, Angus stopped, turned towards her and said, “Let her run free. It’s what she was born to do. I would love to meet the beautiful auburn wolf that also holds my heart.”
Once again overwhelmed by her dragon’s intuitiveness and consideration, Olivia leaned forward, pressed a kiss to his lips then slipped her hands from his and stepped back. Looking into the eyes of her mate, she called forth her wolf. Magic filled the air as bones changed shape, muscles transformed and Olivia’s perspective changed from a five-foot-eight biped to that of her four-pawed alter ego.
Shaking to fluff her rare auburn fur, the she-wolf preened as Angus stood wide-eyed and announced, “You are absolutely gorgeous, mo mac tire álainn.” He bowed and then dropped to one knee as the lupine cocked her head and sniffed his outstretched hand. Licking first the tips of his fingers then across his palm, she then ran the side of her muzzle where she had licked, marking her mate for all to know he was hers.
Walking around him, she marked his shoulder and across his back before putting her nose to his bum and sniffing. Moving to his opposite shoulder and then front to once again look him in the eye, the she-wolf yipped, stepped forward until their noses almost touched then slid her head alongside his neck, taking special care to mark the spot where his pulse beat so strongly against his flesh.
His fingers wound through the soft fur at her neck as the wolf’s eyes slid shut and inhaled the wonderful aroma of their combined scents. Stepping back, she yipped and motioned with her head for him to stand.
“Your wish is my command, mo ghrá.”
As soon as he’d stretched to his full height, Olivia padded forward, sniffing first his feet then up one leg and down the other, carefully avoiding the growing bulge in his pants until she was ready. She heard his exhale and saw his fists tighten at his side as she chuckled in her mind, “A little anticipation never hurt anyone, my love.”
“But it might just kill this old dragon,” came Angus’ strangled reply.
In response, Olivia slowly ran the tip of her nose up the inside of his leg, stopping just short of his denim-covered erection. She heard his rapid intake of breath, waited just a split second and then pressed her muzzle against the bar of his hard cock and rubbed up and down.
Growling low in her throat to voice her approval as his hands once again dove into the fur at her neck, she teased and taunted her mate, reveling in the scent of smoky cedar and male musk.
Pulling his hands from her pelt, Angus stepped back and caught her gaze with his own. At the sight of his now elliptical pupils, Olivia bowed her head and happily whimpered her submission to Angus’ dragon.
“Raise your head, mo maité mac tire, there is no need to submit to either myself or my beast. We are partners, equals in all life has to offer.”
Lifting her muzzle to again meet his eyes, she held her head high and yipped her approval at his words, letting her whispered, “Thank you,” flow from her consciousness to his.
“You are most welcome,” he responded out loud, his voice rough with arousal, making Olivia itchy with the need to return to human form and satiate the desire that was always at the ready for her dragon.
But what he did next had the she-wolf stopping and watching with awe. Magic fell upon her fur like tiny drops of mist in the early morning hours as she watched every inch of Angus’ exposed skin take on an ethereal glow as sparkling red scales became visible as if they had been painted upon his flesh with the most expert of hands. Although maintaining his physical form, Olivia watched with rapt attention as the scales took on a life of their own, morphing and changing, elongating and twisting until there before her stood not only the man she knew but also his dragon.
Bowing his muzzle as the man bowed his head, Angus said, “My beast, one of the original Dragon Kings, is most honored to show you his spirit and looks forward to the day t
hat he can come forward, in full body. He is pleased to meet you and honored to be your mate. He promises to protect both you and your woman with all that he is and in all matters put you first. You own not only his heart but also his soul. We love you both with every fiber of our being and praise the Universe and Her Fates for our perfect mate.”
Unable to stand back, the she-wolf stalked forward, arching her neck to see as she stood next to the life-force of Angus’ dragon. She guessed that the underside of his chin was at least eight-feet off the ground and was unable to even begin to estimate how high the tips of his fierce battle horns were as they raised towards the sky.
He was breath-taking, majestic, and royal in his stance. Needing to see all of him, she stepped back and carefully made her way around, taking in his massive chest, the girth of his torso, the impressive length of his tail that was lined with spikes along with the deadly barbed spade at its end before coming back to stand before him. Growling, low in her throat as he lowered his body to the ground, she yipped in excitement as he blew small bursts of smoke into the air.
“He would like to be marked as well as mark you, if you please,” Angus explained.
Unwilling to deny her mate or his dragon anything, the she-wolf stepped forward and first touched the tip of her cold, wet nose to his warm, dry snout, letting the scent of the dragon fire overwhelm her senses. Then she slid the side of her muzzle along the soft red scales that covered his muzzle, across his impressive jaw and down his neck, licking where she felt his pulse beating the strongest.
The mighty dragon grumbled low in his throat while letting a thin, steady stream of smoke flow from his nostrils. Stepping back, Olivia continued until she could see both man and dragon, purring, “Thank you mo Dragon. Is brae liom tú.”
“And I love you, my little wolf and will until the stars no longer twinkle in the sky.”
Desire boiled in her blood. Olivia needed Angus more than she needed her next breath. Preparing to change back to human form as she watched her dragon pull his life-force back into his soul, the sound of a branch cracking against the forest floor, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps had her standing her ground, hackles raised, growling through bared teeth.