“You’re always looking at me,” he said, pushing forward, getting more aggressive as his hands came up to her hips.
She shoved them off. “I’m your manager. I have to make sure you’re working.”
“That Zach guy, he’s jealous because he can feel something between us. But I have to make the first move, just in case.” He leaned up on his toes, trying to bring his mouth toward hers, and she put both hands up to heave him back, keeping them between his face and hers.
“No!” she squeaked. “Neil, stop it right now!” She had to hope he would, because no one would hear her through the door. And she really didn’t want everything ruined between her and a good employee.
But Neil was weirdly strong for his lankiness and easily pinned her hands down at her sides. “Stop,” he said. “I know you want me. You’re lonely. I get it. I see you go home alone whenever I’m here. You don’t need to. We could have something.”
She spit in his face, and he recoiled. When he came back, there was dark anger where mere amusement and lust had been a minute before.
“Let me go this instant,” she said, struggling.
But his hands merely tightened on hers. “Bitch,” he muttered.
He came forward, and she leaned back, but before his lips could touch hers, the door to the storage room slammed open, and a shadow loomed over them.
“Get off her, wolf,” a deep voice muttered.
6
Neil loosened his grip on her hands and stepped back. “So you know. But I don’t know about you.” He looked over at Zach, who appeared ready to spit fire. “What makes you think you can take me?”
Zach took a step forward, towering over the other man. “Stop touching her.”
Something in his voice was incredibly terrifying, and even Neil seemed to feel it, because he released her instantly.
She sagged back, her wrists throbbing slightly from where Neil had held them.
“I didn’t think you would understand if I stopped it too soon. But I can see I waited too long.” Zach cursed. “Even touching your hands is too much.” He turned to Neil, who was trying to creep out the door. He grabbed him by the shirt collar and yanked him off his feet. “I’m going to kill him.”
She gasped and scooted off the counter, nearly losing her balance but somehow making her way to him to put a hand on his arm. “Stop. Let him go. It’s not worth it.”
Zach’s face tightened in disgust, and she could see just how much rage burned there. “Not worth it?” He scoffed. “He attacked my mate. What is worth it?”
She took a step back. “I’m not your mate.”
“He attacked a human, then.”
“Would you have cared if it wasn’t me?”
That stopped him for a second, and Neil struggled fruitlessly in his grasp, his feet dangling helplessly. Then Zach turned to her frankly. “Yes. Yes, if I saw that happening to anyone, I would stop that.” He shook his head with a dark expression. “Shifter or human, that is plain evil.”
She felt slightly proud of him. Or maybe a bit admiring of the progress he’d made, which was definitely a new sensation. And even with her heart still pounding, she could feel relief flooding her because he’d gotten her out of this situation.
With what had happened yesterday and today, she’d been sort of lucky to have him appear in her life.
Even if he was turning it all upside down.
“Let him go,” she said, seeing that Neil’s face was turning purple. “He’s not worth it.”
Zach took a deep breath and let it out, appearing capable of holding Neil there forever and not being the least bothered by it. “What did he do do you?”
“Nothing,” she said. “He just got close. Sort of pinned me. But he didn’t even get to kiss me.”
Zach’s face twisted in disgust. “Then I’ll show him how it feels to be pinned.”
Then, without warning, he threw the man into the wall and then slammed his whole body against him, knocking him out cold.
She ran forward, looking down. “You could have killed him.”
Zach shook his head. “Takes more than that to kill a wolf,” he said. “But he’ll be out for a while.”
He turned his attention on her, and she fidgeted nervously. Energy still radiated off of him, and she didn’t know what to make of it. “So now, should we talk about why you didn’t listen to me at all?”
She took a step back, biting her lip. “I didn’t have to. It didn’t make any sense.”
Zach backed her up another step, impossibly large, impossibly strong. Very angry. “I read his mind. I saw his thoughts. Do you think I would tell you something like that for nothing?”
“I don’t know you,” she said, wringing her hands. He was getting so close now, but instead of feeling afraid like she’d been with Neil, she could feel her whole body responding to how… alpha he was.
She was getting turned on.
“You’re getting to know me,” he said, bringing a hand up to touch a lock of her hair.
“How was I supposed to know you could read minds?” she snapped. “It’s not normal.”
“For humans, no.”
“What about wolves?” she asked. “You called him wolf.”
“Yeah, because he is one,” he said, tossing a disgusted look at Neil. “Lame ass.”
She laughed nervously. Why did it feel like her body was about to melt into a puddle?
Zach’s arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into him as if she weighed nothing.
“You’re mine,” he declared, holding her tight against his hard, muscled chest. His arm was like a band of iron. “I’m not letting anyone touch you.”
She stared up at him, wetting her lips with her tongue. She wanted to tell him to shut up, that he didn’t own her, that she was just being nice to him.
But she couldn’t fool herself anymore.
She wanted him.
She curled an arm around his hard neck as he looked down at her, dark eyes sparkling. “Fine,” she said. “Don’t let anyone touch me.”
He leaned his head down until they were nearly forehead to forehead. “I want to touch you.”
“Fine, then touch me.” She gasped.
He lowered his head until his lips were just a fraction away from hers, teasing her with the electricity between them for a few tense, erotic seconds. Every breath made her crazy, her whole body straining to be closer to all that muscular strength. She couldn’t get close enough.
And then his lips closed over hers, the feeling of velvet, the scent of cinnamon, the taste of something slightly sweet. The feeling of falling very fast, time rushing all around her.
She moaned and opened for him, and his arms wrapped around her. Dragon or not, he gave her the best kiss of her life.
Zach’s insides twisted as he kissed her. Undeniably pleasurable, holding her close, but also dangerous.
Because he’d never felt anything like this before.
He’d experienced pleasure in his human form, back in the day. Had no shortage of willing admirers.
But this was different. This seared him not just in his body, but straight down to his soul. He pulled back from the kiss to stare at her for a second and then dove back in for another, pinning her back against the wall.
She moaned, the sound sweet music that electrified his body, and he delved farther, stroking inside her sweet, hot, willing mouth as he pressed against her soft, warm body.
So human, so fragile, so his.
Another man had been touching her. A wolf. He couldn’t even blame humans for that one. He’d been so enraged it didn’t matter who was to blame.
From the moment he’d seen them go into the back room together, his nerves had been on high alert. But he couldn’t sense anything wrong at first, and he knew if he just burst in on her when nothing was wrong, she would be even angrier than she’d been before, when he tried to warn her.
He’d hated the wolf the instant he’d smelled him. Wanted him nowhere near his mate.
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Wolves were proliferating faster than any other shifter species, and a lot of them were trouble. The ones who were good were really good, noble and royal even. But the bad ones were depraved. And had family.
He’d have to deal with that later.
Right now, he just wanted to wipe every trace of the other male from her body. Cover her in his scent so everyone would know she belonged to him. Her own sweet scent filled the air, soft wildflowers and fresh morning air.
He breathed it in as he pulled back and rested his lips on her hair for a second, catching his breath.
She looked up at him, and he came in for another kiss, his arms entwining around her as if he could just keep her against him forever. He just had to keep kissing her to make himself believe a simple kiss could really feel that way.
When he finally stepped back, heart pounding, body on fire, still wanting her, he was totally astounded.
Judging by her wide, dilated eyes and slack posture, she was, too.
He frowned. Should he have given her more time to recover from the other male? He’d been too jealous to see straight. The other man had gotten closer than he’d been, and he wanted to fix that. But he knew what had happened might have traumatized her.
She didn’t seem to be thinking of it, her eyes wandering over him as her small, pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
He was instantly hard.
He turned away from her, trying to get his breathing to return to normal. They were in a salon she still needed to close, for heaven’s sake. They shouldn’t be doing this here. “Sorry,” he said gruffly.
He heard a rough sigh from behind him. “Seriously, you’re going to apologize for that?”
He turned back to her. “You just went through something awful.”
She shrugged and walked past him, trying to appear calm, though he could see the slight tremor in her legs. “All the more reason to have something to take my mind off it,” she replied breathlessly. She sat at the counter and exhaled slowly, regaining control. Her blue eyes flashed to him. “What was that?”
He shook his head. His body still didn’t know it was over. “I don’t know.”
“I thought you knew everything,” she said with a grin.
“I usually feel like I do,” he said. “But this is a mystery.”
She gave him another soft smile and started closing out the register. “Man, every day is an adventure with you, isn’t it?”
He walked over to Neil’s prone form and dragged him over to the door, opened it, and dragged him down the sidewalk, depositing him in front of a closed store. Then he walked back to where Erin was waiting.
“When he wakes up, he’ll know not to come back,” he said. He didn’t want to call the enforcers about this. Not unless he had to. And one fresh wolf didn’t really make it necessary.
Inside, he grabbed a broom to sweep up hair the way he’d seen others do when cleaning up. He was surprised at himself for actually wanting to be helpful, but then again, he needed something to take his mind off spreading her on one of the counters and taking her then and there.
“Thanks,” she said. “For rescuing me.”
“That’s twice in two days,” he said. “Do you always get into this much trouble?” he asked. “Do humans just suck that much?”
“I thought you said he wasn’t a human,” she said.
He frowned. “Well, he wasn’t a dragon. I guess I can lump most shifters in with humans regarding my general lack of respect for them.”
She glared at him. “You know, tomorrow’s my day off, so we’re going to go out in the world together and do something good.”
“I’d rather stay home and do something good,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
She stifled a laugh. “No. We’re going out.”
“Fine.” He relented. “Where?”
“The animal shelter.”
“The what?”
“I’ve been wanting to adopt a cat, and since you’re going to be with me on my day off, you’ll get to help.”
“A cat,” he said doubtfully. “Why?”
“Because I like them. And because there are some that need homes.”
He folded his arms. “Why do they need homes?”
She bit her lip. “Um…”
“Because their human owners abandoned them, right?”
“Not always,” she said. “Sometimes their owners were sick. Or died. Or they were bred on the street to feral cats.” She sighed. “It’s not always the worst case scenario, Zach. You need to cut people some slack. And take a look at the people who work at the shelter, too.”
He shrugged. “What about them?”
“For everyone struggling or even doing something bad, there are others trying to help. That’s why you need to get out. You need to see some of the complexity in life.”
He sighed. “I’ll go with you tomorrow. If it’s a date.”
“Okay.” She agreed nervously.
“But I don’t promise I’ll come to love humans.”
She shook her head. “I don’t blame you. Honestly, sometimes you make me question them as well. But I can’t just give up on the world. I live in it.”
That hit him like a ton of bricks.
It was so easy to think the worst of people. But the last thing he wanted to do was chase that hopeful light out of her eyes when that hope was the very thing that attracted him to her.
“I’ll try not to be so negative,” he said, looking over at her.
She smiled. “I appreciate that. I’m sure you have your reasons, but give us a chance. Surely, your oracle must know something about humans is worth saving if she wants you to help us.”
He sighed. “Nah, she’s just an old lady who enjoys controlling things.”
She laughed. “And you’re just a dragon with a bad attitude.”
He set aside the broom and came over to the counter, crowding her, enjoying her nervous look, the twitch of her mouth into a smile, the way her body seemed to writhe minutely. “So you believe I’m a dragon now?”
“I’ve seen your scales. You can read minds. Knives bend off you. At this point, believing you’re a dragon is the easiest part.”
He nodded. “Good. Then we can progress.”
“But I’m still a human,” she said. “And it’s important to me that you start understanding my world.”
“Well, we’re starting tomorrow, right?” he asked, folding his arms and looking around the salon to make sure they were done.
“Yes,” she answered, picking up the keys and walking to the door. “Now let’s head home. I’m going to show you how to make lasagna, and then we’re going to watch some of my favorite shows with good people in them.”
“Oh, joy.” He rolled his eyes.
“Hey, you’ll get to sit on the couch with me.”
His eyes snapped to hers. That had his attention. Maybe understanding humans wouldn’t be so bad.
7
Dragon Journal Entry #1
Dear Stupid Diary,
Yesterday my human was attacked by a wolf. While I can’t blame humanity, I can say it doesn’t make me think much of this world.
Yesterday I was introduced to “snuggling,” an activity where humans combine their bodies on a soft surface and lie together. It was very pleasurable.
Also, kissing my human is unlike anything I have ever felt. Erin is more dangerous than emerald dragon poison, yet I cannot get enough.
Today we are going on a “date.” I am looking forward to being with Erin, protecting her from anything that is around, though I am finding myself more apprehensive every day due to the fact that I don’t have my full powers to protect her.
Good thing nothing on this earth can beat me, as it stands.
All I can think of is her safety. It is most odd.
Also, I attempted to cook something called a “lozzanya” yesterday. A red dish that appears regurgitated. It tasted okay, considering I accidentally blackened it.
I think I wi
ll leave the cooking to Erin. Or, when my treasure is finally unlocked, hire someone else to do it.
It is irritating to think of going on a date without my treasure. Erin has to pay, and I’m beginning to feel unmanned by it. Oh well. Soon I will be able to give her anything her heart desires.
But first, today I have to go out and pretend to be open minded to humans.
Or honestly try, since I do want Erin.
Also, I would like to have sex with her. Soon. But I’m a little nervous about how that would go. If kissing her is electrifying and snuggling is an explosion of warmth, then I worry I would not survive a coital encounter.
But dragons are nothing if not brave.
Sincerely,
Isaac Morningstar III (Zach)
Erin watched Zach’s handsome face crumple in frustration as he tried to push his way through the rotating glass doors that led out of the restaurant where they had just eaten lunch and into the beautiful garden outside.
When he exited, he straightened his clothing and glared at her. “You’re laughing at me,” he said tersely.
His dark hair was tucked behind his ears to keep it out of his face with the wind blowing, and he was wearing his tee beneath a leather jacket with his original dark-wash jeans. It was a good compromise, and she had to admit he looked gorgeous.
“Doors just aren’t the right size for you; that’s all,” she said. She linked an arm through his, wanting to stake some sort of claim on him in front of all the women walking by, some with strollers, some with other men, all giving him appreciative looks.
She looked up to see him surveying the area. Lush greenery surrounded the walkways. On one bench, a woman was cleaning off her children’s hands and offering a snack. Erin had always loved this shopping area because, after eating or shopping, it was beautiful to just walk around and hang out.
Zach walked forward some more, coming to a scene of a man holding a sign, asking for money. They stood off to the side as several people put coins and dollars in his hand.
Zach cocked his head. “I admit it has been different than I thought,” he said. “No attacks. The people at lunch were polite. And I enjoy seeing the way humans interact with their young.” He shook his head. “But I feel like I’m seeing a very specific picture of humanity.”
Onyx Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 1) Page 5