“What…” she moaned. “Oh, no.”
I leaned forward.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re related to Blythe’s dragon rider, aren’t you?” she moaned.
I blinked. “I’m nothing like my brother.”
She snorted, then thought better of it when she raised her hand up to her head.
A phantom pain started to trickle through my own head, but I pushed it away.
I was good at ignoring pain.
I almost had to be to have Keifer as my brother.
Keifer was always bigger and stronger.
So I retaliated by being able to take more.
More punches.
More magic thrown my way.
More emotional trauma.
Although my other brother, Farrow, who was also a dragon rider, didn’t have anything on Keifer.
And I guess, technically, I should be thanking my older brother.
He made me into who I was today.
Although, I would much rather be parking my ass in front of a computer screen or a book, I could hold my own against the King of Dragons.
Which meant I had a pretty solid shot at standing up against almost anybody.
“I knew it!” she crowed.
This time, I didn’t feel any of her pain.
This time, I felt excitement through our bond.
A bond which she didn’t even realize was there.
I’d clamped down on my end of the bond, so the only thing she’d feel from me, if it came to it, was extreme pain.
And hopefully she’d not ever feel that from my end.
Because, if I was in extreme pain, that meant she was fucked right along with me.
“So, what else do you know?” I asked with deceptive calm.
In reality, my heart was speeding up.
I was excited that she was awake.
“I know I need to pee,” she said.
I raised a brow at her.
“You have a catheter in,” I informed her.
She lifted up the covers, spread her legs, and said, “By God, I do.”
I snorted.
“If you’re ready to get up, I’ll help you do that. I can remove the catheter for you…but I want to say that you can accomplish that feat yourself, Ms. Nurse,” I teased.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“How do you know so much about me?” she challenged. “Are you a nurse…or a doctor?”
I shook my head.
“I’ve been at your side for weeks now. My sister and Blythe took turns taking care of you. I’ve just been…observing,” I told her.
I wasn’t sure she was ready to hear anything more, yet.
I’d give her a few days to get used to it…and me…before I broached the topic of our mating and what that meant for the rest of our lives.
She started to shuck her blankets, albeit feebly, and I stood to help her disentangle herself from the covers.
“Go ahead and give me the syringe,” she ordered once I had her sitting up beside the bed.
I went to the far wall and found the syringe she’d need inside a shelf like contraption that held all the medical supplies before I walked back to her.
I handed the syringe to her and helped her stand.
When I bent down and picked up the bag that was holding her urine, she blushed scarlet.
“Give me that,” she hissed, holding out her hand.
She made a feeble attempt to reach for it, but started to fall.
I caught her before her knees could buckle, and picked her up like one would a child, carrying her into the bathroom and setting her down directly on the toilet.
“You’ve been in bed for over two months. I suggest you not try to do too much before you know what you’re capable of,” I recommended.
She narrowed her eyes, and I smiled as I left the bathroom, closing the door softly behind me.
Chapter 3
I will wake up early tomorrow, workout, eat a healthy breakfast, and look presentable.
-Brooklyn, sleeping on a throne of lies
Brooklyn
I felt like a newborn foal trying to find her legs as I fumbled with the huge t-shirt that was covering my body.
I didn’t know what to think.
My head was a huge mess of emotions as well.
And that all centered around the dark stranger with the beautiful brown black hair, sparkling green eyes and a sexy mouth.
He sounded like he spoke in an octave that wasn’t even registered yet.
It was so low that tingles slid down my spine whenever he spoke.
And, my God, like the man needed any help making him sexy.
With the looks, the body and the voice, he was the complete package of alpha male perfection.
And, on top of it all, he was a dragon rider; that left me feeling almost giddy.
I made quick work with the catheter, having taken them out so many times that I could do them in my sleep…or my weakness, in this case.
Of course, I’d never done it on myself before, but there was always a first time for everything.
I made slow, painful work of shuffling to the shower that was in the corner of the room, not even caring about the fact that there weren’t any towels or a shower curtain.
I looked down at my body, kind of excited to see that I had lost a few pounds.
I’d had a good thirty pounds around my hips, belly, and ass that were nearly impossible to lose.
But, apparently, I showed that fat just who was boss, because it was gone.
And I had a new tattoo that went down my side.
When I’d gotten that, I didn’t know.
It could’ve happened at any time.
My mind was so blurry, at the moment, that I just couldn’t quite find the ability to care at this point.
I wondered idly as I turned on the water whether they had many guests in this hospital.
But they did have shampoo and conditioner…the exact ones that I used.
I used the shampoo to soap my body since I didn’t see the soap.
And by the time I was done, I couldn’t even lift my hands anymore.
I was seriously questioning my decision to shower when strong arms reached forward and turned off the water, followed moments later by a warm, fluffy towel wrapped around my body.
He picked me up much the same way as he’d done earlier, and carried me back into the little room where I’d been staying.
But, instead of taking me to the bed that I now saw was stripped bare, he carried me out of the room and into a long hallway.
“Where are we?” I asked him.
“This is our house; it’s the sanctuary for the dragons in the heart of Dallas,” Nikolai explained.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I asked with confusion.
He chuckled as he turned around, pressing his back against a closed door to open it.
Then we were in what appeared to be a large…mansion.
Whatever we were just in wasn’t a hospital, but a medical wing of the main house.
We were in a huge living room about the size of my entire apartment.
Then my stomach plummeted.
“My cat!” I cried.
He put me down on the couch in the middle of the room, held up his finger, then disappeared for a few minutes before he came back with Elbow, my cat, in tow.
Elbow was a big girl.
She was a hefty thirty-five pounds, and probably could’ve survived had she not been fed for over two months, but I would never make my girl suffer.
She and I were like two peas in a pod.
I’d found her when I’d left my parents, and she’d been with me ever since.
“Oh, my baby,” I cooed as Nikolai placed her in my arms.
I wrapped her in tightly and smothered her with kisses all the while she tried valiantly to get away from me.
&nbs
p; “I don’t think she likes that,” Nikolai said dryly.
I raised a brow at him.
“How would you know? Do you speak cat?” I snapped, pulling her pudgy little body into my face while I smothered her with more kisses.
She pushed away from my face, but I held on, much to her consternation.
I’d admit, she probably didn’t like it when I did that.
But I just loved her so much.
“I can’t believe you brought her here around a bunch of dragons. I’m surprised she hasn’t freaked out,” I said, mystified.
The sexy man called Nikolai sat down on the table in front of the couch he’d deposited me on and watched as I scratched Elbow’s happy spot behind her ears.
“I have a tattoo,” I said to him.
Outwardly, he didn’t react.
But I felt a surge of adrenaline in my veins.
Hope…want…need.
Not one of those things did I see on his face, but I knew he felt them.
I didn’t know how…but he was feeling all those emotions wrapped up in a small ball that seemed to simmer underneath his calm outer appearance.
“You didn’t have it before you…got hurt?” Nikolai asked carefully.
I felt like I was missing something, and I narrowed my eyes at the man that I really had no proof was who he said he was.
That’s about when I started to get nervous.
Before I’d realized that I was in a compromising position.
I couldn’t leave…I still couldn’t leave.
I wasn’t strong enough.
And who was to say that this man didn’t know Joseph?
Wasn’t working with Joseph.
My heart started to pound, and adrenaline started to pour through my veins.
But I couldn’t run.
I’d have to play it safe.
I’d have to get more answers.
Find out where I was.
Could I use a phone? Would he let me?
“Can I use your phone?” I asked casually.
He reached into his pocket and immediately withdrew his phone.
“I never found yours when I got you from Joseph’s. I got everything from your apartment, though. It’s in a room on the second floor, which was where I put all of your cat’s belongings as well. The rest of your things, like your pots and pans, as well as the things you wouldn’t be needing here, like your bed and bathroom towels, are in the basement with Blythe’s old things,” Nikolai said, handing me his phone with zero hesitation.
I took the phone, narrowing my eyes at him.
“You gave up my lease?” I gasped in outrage.
He stared at me unblinkingly.
“Your Uncle Joseph was willing to beat you, for God knows how long, and there are others in his organization that would be willing to do the same because they know you are important to us. You’re best friends with Keifer’s mate. And you are family to the man that just went all sacrificial lamb for the greater good of human kind,” Nikolai said dryly. “You’d be like a trophy to them right now. So, yes, I did give up your lease. And before you leave this place, you’re going to be a hundred percent, and able to fight off anything and everything that comes your way.”
My outrage fled just as fast as it was there.
“Shit,” I said, exhaling in defeat. “My family sucks.”
Nikolai snorted. “You don’t get to have a say in who your family is.”
I looked down at the phone in my hands and swiped the screen to open it.
The first thing I saw was a picture of Blythe scrunching Nikolai’s face with her hands while she laughed.
And a jolt of anger and jealousy shot through me, completely surprising the ever loving shit out of me at seeing her hands on my man.
My man?
What the hell?
Where did that come from?
How was spending ten minutes awake in his presence enough to make him my man?
But the more I examined the feelings, the more concrete they became.
He was my man, end of story.
Now I just had to figure out why the hell I felt that way.
Chapter 4
When she says ‘pull out’ the respectable thing to say is ‘yes ma’am.’ Not ‘you’d look good as a single mother.’
-Things to never say to a woman
Nikolai
I woke up the next morning, refreshed and bright eyed.
I hadn’t slept this good since…
I shot up in the bed, tripping over the sheets that were tangled around my legs, and made a mad dash out of the door, completely unaware of my near nakedness until I hit the mouth of my room and ended up in the living space shared by all the quarters.
And there, on the bright red poufy couch that Keifer called an eye sore, sat Brooklyn.
She had a mug of coffee in one hand, and a bag of powdered donuts in the other.
She froze with the mug inches from her mouth, and stared at me.
I stared back, letting my heart rate return to normal as I took her in.
She looked like she was fine.
She didn’t look like she’d spent the past couple of months in a coma.
In fact, she looked almost healthy today.
“You forgot to put pants on when you left your room,” Brooklyn waved a half-eaten donut in my direction.
I blinked, looking down at my boxers, then turned right around and returned to my room.
Guess I was lucky to have anything on. Normally, I slept completely naked.
The first thing I did was take a quick shower, washing as quickly as possible before I got out.
I may or may not have gotten lost in the feel of the towel on my erection while I was drying off; and, before I knew it, I was slowly working my cock up and down until I was ready to blow.
And when I did, it was to images of Brooklyn taking my cock down her pretty throat.
Embarrassed beyond belief that I’d blown my load like some fifteen-year-old boy, I threw the soiled towel into the linen hamper and walked into my room, naked as the day I was born.
Had I known that a certain little brown headed woman was standing in my door, I wouldn’t have.
“Eeek!” Brooklyn squealed, covering her eyes with both hands.
“Shit,” I hissed, walking to my drawers and pulling out a pair of boxer briefs, followed by a pair of soccer shorts.
Once they were on, I turned back to Brooklyn.
“I’m decent,” I cleared my throat, crossing my arms over my chest.
She slowly moved her fingers apart to survey me before she removed them completely.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized.
A beautiful blush stole up the front of her, going all the way up her neck, past her cheeks, to disappear into her hairline.
“For what?” I asked.
I actually kind of liked having her know what I looked like naked.
I scared women when I first presented my cock to them.
It wasn’t freakishly large, like Guinness Book of World Record’s big, but it was on the larger side of large.
With her knowing what I looked like before we ever got started let her have the chance to know what she was getting into.
And from what I could tell, she wasn’t averse to the package.
“I thought you called my name…,” she hesitated, sneaking a peek down at my crotch once more. “No, I swear you called my name. I would’ve never come back here had I known…” She trailed off, and I was left wanting to laugh my ass off.
Tell her, Perdita urged.
No, I snapped. She’s not ready.
Fool boy.
I mentally flipped Perdita off.
And I was sent back a mental picture of me jacking off only moments before.
Don’t you dare, I shot back.
Brooklyn’s eyes went wide and surprised, and I knew seconds later that Perdita felt it her God
given womanly duty to protect all woman kind.
Which was why she’d shared it with Brooklyn.
I sometimes thought that Perdita didn’t really want me as a dragon rider.
Sometimes, I felt that she secretly hated me at times.
I don’t hate you. I just think, sometimes, it’s good for you to come down a few pegs, she said reassuringly.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Brooklyn jumped, then her eyes went back to my dick once more before she turned around.
“Do you want pancakes?” she asked as she walked away.
I followed behind her slowly, studying her gait.
She looked like she hadn’t been lying in bed for days and days upon end.
Her ass was tight, from what little I could see of it.
Her legs trim and toned.
She was wearing my grey shirt that I could’ve sworn I’d thrown in the wash last night, as well as a pair of pants I’d unearthed from a box in her suite where I’d stowed all her belongings.
They were about two inches too long; even the small size seemed to bag on her ass.
Which meant that my t-shirt swamped her.
Later this afternoon, I planned on taking her into the city to find her clothes that fit.
Something that I really, really didn’t want to do.
I didn’t do shopping.
In fact, the last time I’d stepped foot in a mall, willingly, was when I was fourteen and wanted a cookie from The Cookie Factory in the mall’s food court.
I was what one would call a loner.
I didn’t do big events. I didn’t do movies. I didn’t do dates.
I really didn’t do malls.
But I would go for Brooklyn, even if it’d give me hives to do so.
“Yeah,” I said, following closely behind her into the kitchen. “I could go for some pancakes, but how about you let me make them.”
My suggestion was met with a glare from her part.
“I think you’ve done quite enough for me the last couple of days. And I feel fine, so you just sit and watch the master work,” she ordered.
Needless to say, I sat.
Then I watched as she pulled a covered bowl out of the fridge and walked to the skillet that was surprisingly already hot.
Just how long had she been waiting for me to get up?
“There was something crawling along the ledge of my window this morning around five,” she said once she placed the first round circle of batter on the skillet in front of her.
Dragons Need Love, Too (I Like Big Dragons Series Book 2) Page 3