by D T Dyllin
“No. Not yet. I don’t wanna deal with her yet.” Bryn’s grip around my waist tightened as he sleepily protested Jenna’s arrival. “Let’s pretend she’s not here and maybe she’ll just go away.” I harrumphed, knowing that wasn’t likely to happen.
I stood in time to see Jenna and Jeremy running towards me; Bryn remained where he was but with his hands propped under his head. He looked so relaxed and snuggly that I pouted at him, wishing I could just ignore Jenna and remain with him just awhile longer.
Jenna jumped up and threw her arms around me in a much too tight bear hug. “Oh my God! I was so worried! Macon told us what happened!” Her eyes flicked down to Bryn and she tackled him next. “Bryn! I missed you!” A low growl rang out around us and Jenna paused to look at me with horror. “Was that you, P.J.?”
“Just don’t touch him right now, okay?” I didn’t know why I was feeling so possessive and jealous, it really wasn’t like me, and I knew Jenna didn’t mean anything by what she’d just done. Maybe it was the mate thing, or maybe it was my dragon side, or a combination of the two, but regardless Bryn and I were going to have to find out what else being dragon mates was going to mean for us.
Jenna stood and raised her hands into the air in mock surrender. “Touchy, touchy.”
“So you’re Bryn,” Jeremy said with an undercurrent of hostility that made me grimace. Bryn didn’t know yet that I’d been hanging out with him, or that he’d kissed me. Maybe he wouldn’t care now that we were mated—yeah right. He’d probably want to beat Jeremy into a bloody pulp. How could I forget how he’d reacted when Jeremy and I had our first date? He was crazy with jealousy when I’d gone to see him that night, and he had barely begun to come into his dragon powers yet. Or maybe his dragon side is what drove him to be so jealous in the first place? I hadn’t thought about that before.
Bryn stood abruptly, eyes locked onto Jeremy, his nostrils flaring as his eyes lit up again. The blanket that I had thrown over his middle to cover him up fell to the ground as he pulled on his pants.
“Damn,” Jenna breathed as her eyes focused on Bryn’s neither region. “No wonder you’re in love with him. What, Khol didn’t stack up? And he’s part dragon? You are so lucky.”
I elbowed her in the side causing her to grunt. “Keep your eyes to yourself. He’s mine,” I hissed. Yeah, I really had to get my jealously under control or we’d never be able to go into public again. And the problem with that is? A small voice inside me whispered.
“Yeah. I am Bryn. Who are you?” Bryn’s menacing voice brought me back to the bigger problem at hand.
“Jeremy.”
Bryn’s gaze snapped to meet mine. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“I came to help protect P.J. We’ve gotten pretty close since you’ve been gone. Or hasn’t she told you?” Jeremy said with a smile.
“She’s mine,” Bryn growled, and I stepped into his side placing my hands on him. I could sense his dragon moving closer to the surface, and I wasn’t going to let him do something he’d regret, like kill Jeremy. Although with the current look on his face, I wasn’t so sure he would ever come to regret it. Geez—Bryn and I both had gone our entire lives without knowing dragons existed, let alone that we were half bloods, and now we were both acting more dragon than human. What was going on?
“Bryn,” I whispered as I grabbed him by the side of his face and tugged him down so I could capture his mouth with mine. I pushed my tongue forcefully past his full lips and it only took him a second to respond by pulling me into his body and fisting my hair. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped from me as he tugged my neck back by my hair so his mouth could latch onto my throat. He nipped lightly as if to leave his mark, then he lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. His lips reclaimed mine ferociously. I forgot where we were and who we were with as I let my fresh lust for Bryn consume me completely.
I suddenly found myself back on the pallet with Bryn’s body weight pinning me down. I spread my legs for him so he could settle into the cradle of my body I offered. He ground himself against my hot core—jean against bare skin and I moaned at the delicious friction.
“Eh-em,” Jenna said demonstratively. “Don’t mind us or anything.”
Bryn and I both froze, our heads snapping in the direction of Jenna’s voice. “Shit. I forgot they were here. How could I forget they were here?” Bryn’s face flushed with embarrassment, as he sat up slowly, carefully making sure everything of ours that should be covered actually was.
“You guys look seriously freaky with those glowing eyes.” Jenna laughed.
I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. If Jenna wouldn’t have said something would Bryn and I have gotten down to business right in front of them? Well not that they would have stuck around—hopefully—but if they would have, for the sake of argument, would we have? My face heated as I realized the answer. “I’m so sorry,” I stammered, unable to meet Jenna or Jeremy’s eyes. “I just meant to distract him and then—well I guess we got a little carried away.”
“Well, you definitely distracted everyone,” Jeremy muttered bitterly.
“No one asked you,” Bryn growled.
I placed my hand on his arm and met his eyes. “Bryn. I’m yours. Stop.”
He shook his head as if trying to dislodge some random thought. “Yeah, I know, it’s just I feel so possessive. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
“You’re newly mated dragons,” Macon, who appeared from nowhere, causing Jenna’s face to light up, stated dryly. As if that explained everything.
I raised my eyebrows questioningly at him. “And that’s supposed to mean something to us?”
Macon shrugged. “Newly mated dragons act as if crazed for each other. But don’t worry, it doesn’t last forever, just a couple of decades.”
My jaw dropped. “A couple of decades,” I squeaked with alarm. “So what you’re saying is we shouldn’t be allowed in public for a couple of decades, and then what? Do the feelings just go away?” The feelings of jealous possession could go away yesterday as far as I was concerned, but I did feel a little pang of sadness at the thought of losing some of the intensity between Bryn and me.
“No, from what I understand the feelings never go away, you’ll just get better at controlling them,” Macon said with an amused smile. Maybe he could read what I was thinking from my face.
“Oh,” I said as I slipped my hand into Bryn’s large warm one. I sighed in contentment as my body hummed in pleasure at the mere touch of him; it felt like we were completing a circuit.
“Great,” I heard Jeremy mutter under his breath. I glared at him wondering if he was spoiling for a fight. If he kept up with the little jibes, there would be no doubt that a fight between him and Bryn would erupt eventually.
I looked back at Macon, choosing to ignore Jeremy and his annoying comments. “Is there anything else we should know about being new dragon mates?”
Macon’s face turned pensive. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Why can’t there be some kind of introductory manual or something? You know like for expecting mothers—So you’re going to be a newly mated dragon, what to expect the first few decades.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” Macon said as his attention turned to Jenna. “I was looking for you.”
She reached out to touch his arm while biting her bottom lip. “Reeelly?” She practically purred. “And why is that?”
He drew her to him and she molded her body to his, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I think you know.” He said with a lascivious smile.
She giggled. “Oh, you dragons are so naughty.”
“You know it,” he growled low in his throat as they disappeared.
“Hey, get your asses back here!” I called with annoyance. “I wanted to talk to Jenna!” But I got no response except for another snarky remark from Jeremy.
“Could have fooled me. There seemed to be only one thing on your mind that you wanted
to do, and it wasn’t talking, and it definitely wasn’t with Jenna.”
“Alright. That’s about enough out of you,” I snapped as I dropped Bryn’s hand and stalked towards Jeremy. “I told you from the beginning that we were never going to be anything more than friends.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I told you I loved Bryn.”
Jeremy narrowed his deep brown eyes back at me. “But the chemistry we both felt when we kissed; you can’t deny that was there.”
“He kissed you?” Bryn growled from behind me. Damn, I was hoping to get the chance to tell him myself before Jeremy blew me out of the water. This was exactly what I’d hoped wouldn’t happen.
I gulped nervously as I turned around to meet Bryn’s angry face. His eyes were lit up like two flashlights. “I wanted to tell you—I was going to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
Bryn’s chest heaved with barely controlled rage. “Get out of here. Now. Get out of my sight.”
“Me?” I asked as my body started to tremble. I knew it, mated or not, he was pissed.
“No. Him.”
“I’m not leaving you here with him like this.” Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly.
“Now!” Bryn bellowed causing me to grimace.
“I said I wasn’t—,”
“Please, Jeremy. Just leave us to sort this out ourselves; he won’t hurt me if that’s what you’re implying. He would die before he ever hurt me.” Jeremy met my eyes with uncertainty. I could see that he was ready to throw down with Bryn over this, and that was the last thing I wanted. “Please,” I begged.
“Yeah, okay.” Jeremy stalked off with tension emanating from every muscle in his body.
Bryn watched him go, not uttering a word, not moving until he was completely out of sight and then he grabbed me and pulled me into him. “Tell me,” he said.
“There’s not much to tell. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and he kissed me. End of story.” I bit my lip as I studied him, hoping he wouldn’t push the issue any farther.
“And?” Crap. Bryn knew me too well; he knew there was more to the story.
“And what?”
“And did you like it? And how many times did he kiss you? And did you kiss anybody else while I was gone?” Bryn’s voice broke an octave lower than normal.
I flicked my gaze away from him, unable to meet his angry glare anymore. How would I feel if he had kissed other girls while he was away? My gut clenched, what if he had? “I couldn’t help but like it, he used his Gatekeeper power on me, he can manipulate energies…” My voice trailed off hoping I wouldn’t have to say any more.
Bryn’s fingers bit into my lower back and shoulder. “What does that mean exactly?”
“I… umm… you know… when he kissed me the first time. Okay? Is that what you wanna hear?”
I could feel Bryn’s body begin to tremble and his voice came out as a low whisper, if I hadn’t been so close to him I wasn’t sure I would have heard it. “Did you do anything else with him?”
“No,” I squeaked.
He tipped my chin up with his fingers so I could look him in the eyes. He did it so slowly and so carefully that a wave of fear shot up my spine. “Who else?”
I felt my eyes widen as I stared into Bryn’s face. He was so different, he had changed so much and I could feel his dragon side was riding him hard at the moment, pushing to have complete control. I forced myself to remember that despite all that, he was still my Bryn, still the same Bryn that I’d known practically all of my life, and now he was my mate. I had no reason to actually fear him. “Khol,” I finally muttered.
“That’s it, anyone else?”
I started to get angry. “No. I didn’t go around kissing everybody while you were gone, Bryn. I love you. I’m mated to you. I tried to kill myself for you.” I knew the last thing was a low blow and still so fresh, but it was the truth.
He released me and backed up a few steps. “God damn it, Peej. These feelings, I know they’re not right, I’m trying to fight them but—I just wanna throw you down on the ground right here and right now and I wanna just—just—,” He looked away from me as if ashamed of what he was about to say.
“Just what?” I asked softly.
“I wanna take you so long and hard that you won’t ever remember anybody else ever touching you before me. Because there won’t be any after.” He growled the last part.
A thrill ran up my spine at his words. Sick I know; I have issues. Or maybe I should say my dragon side has issues. “Then do it,” I whispered.
Bryn met my eyes with heat. “It won’t be like it’s been between us before.”
I swallowed in anticipation. “I know. I want you to.” And I did, I wanted him to do whatever he needed to do to me to make things right between us.
“You can’t mean that,” Bryn said the words with hope underneath them. He wanted me to mean them, but didn’t quite believe that I did.
I tugged my robe from my body and let it drop to the ground to pool around my feet. “I do.” I trembled slightly in the cool night air as I waited for him to react. “Take me any way you want, I’m yours.”
I realized Bryn’s powers had gotten a major boost because he came to me almost as fast as Khol could move. He pushed me to the ground and flipped me over so I was flat on my stomach. I lay where he had pushed me, my breathing erratic as I listened to him pull off his pants. Then he reached down and pulled my lower half up into the air, sliding into me as he held my neck down with one hand. He took me fast and hard, setting a blistering pace, and honestly, if it had been anyone else, it might have been degrading, to let someone dominate me so much, but it was Bryn—everything with him is different. Always had been and always would be, and maybe that was the one good thing that had come out of being with Khol, I now had a comparison of exactly how different. “Mine,” Bryn grunted from behind me.
“Yes,” I managed to rasp. I wanted to belong to him completely and in every single way possible. Bryn branded me almost brutally and I know most sane people would never label what we were doing as making love, but somehow, to me, it still was. My heart swelled that he loved me so much, that he wanted me so much that he felt the need to take me in such a manner. And maybe I wasn’t a sane person at all but a sane dragon instead.
When we were finally both spent completely, and I was almost hoarse from letting him know just how much I approved of this particular manner of love making, as well as what we’de done before, Bryn pulled me onto his chest and held me there tightly. I didn’t protest and merely fell asleep content with the knowledge that I was exactly where I was always meant to be.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next morning Bryn and I walked happily back to Khol’s castle hand in hand. It seemed as though he was satisfied in the solidarity of our relationship after marking his claim on me again and again late into the night. I wished we could have stayed in that garden for days, if not months, just enjoying each other’s company as if a step removed from all the problems that existed in our real lives. But I knew that was unrealistic, plus I really needed a shower, and I told Bryn there would be no more naked time until I got one. He begrudgingly agreed, and was mollified when I invited him to join me.
I looked over at him and felt my heart speed up at the sight. Bryn was the most beautiful guy I’d ever laid eyes on in my life. The more he touched me, the more I craved him, and not just when we were being intimate, that was still a relatively new addition to our relationship. When I really thought about it, it had always been that way between us since we were kids. There was a comfort in feeling his skin against mine, almost like a security blanket, and until it had been ripped away for a while, I’d never realized just how important it was to me.
I hung back a few steps while our hands remained intertwined, trying to catch a glimpse of my mate mark on the back of his neck. Every time I saw it, a thrill shot through my veins. He was mine, well and truly mine.
“Are you trying to look at it again?”
Bryn looked at me with amusement in his dark blue eyes.
I smiled sheepishly at him. “I can’t help it. Will you let me see it again, please?” I batted my eyelashes at him and bit my lip.
He groaned. “Alright, but this is the last time.” He hunched over and bent his head forward as I released his hand and came to stand behind him.
I reached my right index finger up to trace it. My mate mark on him looked nothing like his on me, it was a deep crimson red, shaped like a lopsided star. “This means you’re mine,” I whispered in awe.
Bryn spun me up in his arms and I laughed. “We never needed those marks to know we belong to each other.”
“And to think you once tried to resist me. Remember back when I first figured out my feelings for you and you tried to shut me down?”
Bryn chuckled. “I was young and stupid. I thought you were too good for me.”
I scrunched my face up at him. “Bryn, it wasn’t that long ago. And what do you think now?”
“It seems like a lifetime ago though, doesn’t it?” He kissed the tip of my nose before grabbing my hand and starting to walk again. “I still think you’re too good for me, but I’m smart enough now to not look a gift horse in the mouth. If you wanna be with me, I’m not going to fight you.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Bryn was so out of my league in so many ways it wasn’t even funny. I still couldn’t figure out what he saw in me.
“You just don’t see yourself very clearly.”
“I see myself fine,” I muttered not wanting to talk about it anymore.
“Come on, seriously, Peej. We were born to be together, can’t you see that? What were the chances of us both being half-blooded dragons and meeting the way we did? It was meant to be and that’s all there is to it. Plus we’re mated now, it puts a whole new meaning to the words till death do us part.” I didn’t say anything else because I couldn’t disagree with him. The oddities surrounding us were too much to not believe that fate had brought us together.