In a Dragon's Mind (Dragons of Mount Teres Book 1)

by Riley Storm

  “Vlad?”

  He straightened in alarm at the worried note in Sache’s voice.

  “Yes, it’s me Sache. I’m here. What is it?”

  “Vlad, I need your help.”

  “Of course,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Whatever you need Sache. I’ve got your back. What is it? Where are you?”

  There was a long pause. “I, I don’t know what to do Vlad.”

  “I’m here to help Sache. I’ve got some news as well. News you’ll want to hear about, things. I—”

  “Can we meet? I know last time I sort of, well, it wasn’t so good. But I want to come back Vlad. I want to come back. I just don’t know how.”

  Vlad’s eyes narrowed. “I can help you Sache. Just come home then Sache. I’ll be there for you, it’ll be okay. Nobody here will hurt you. I promise.”

  “I can’t Vlad. I can’t come back. I’ve…done something. Something bad.”

  “What have you done Sache?” Vlad asked quietly, worry brewing in his stomach. “What are you talking about? Just come home!”

  In the background he heard voices.

  “Shit. I have to go before they hear me talking to you. Meet me at the cave. Tomorrow night at midnight.”

  The line went dead.

  Vlad stood up from the edge of the bed, looking at the phone, then over at Ellyn.

  “What did he say?” she asked.

  “Um.” He took a moment to organize his thoughts, preparing to communicate them without bias to her. “He said he wanted to meet, that he didn’t know what to do. I told him to come home, but he said he couldn’t, because he’s done something. Something bad. Then there were voices in the background, and he said where to meet him. That was it.”

  Ellyn bit her lip. “That smells like—”

  “A trap,” he said. “I know. It is.”

  She leaned over the couch, resting her arms and chest on its back. “How are you so positive?”

  Vlad sighed, going over to sit next to her, putting his cell down on the table next to the forgotten breakfast food so it was readily available should he need it.

  “I told him to come home.”

  Ellyn nodded. “Right. And?”

  “I told him to come home. He said he wanted to come back. Just 'come back’, not 'come home’. Which is what he would say if he truly meant it.” Vlad chewed on his lower lip in thought.

  “What are you going to do?” Ellyn asked, leaning against his side.

  “I’m going to go,” he said bluntly.

  “But you just said yourself it’s a trap,” she said, worried, squeezing his shoulder.

  “I know. But there’s a small chance it’s not,” he told her. “There’s a possibility that Sache really does want to come back, but he’s worried about whatever it is he thinks he did. And I owe it to him, in case that’s the truth.”

  “But it’s a trap,” she repeated, emphasizing the words this time.

  “I know.” Vlad looked up at her. “Which means I’m going to have to organize and spring my own counter-trap.”

  Ellyn looked uncomfortable. “That sounds like you’re going to put yourself in harm’s way on purpose.”

  “I’m not sure I have any other choice,” he said. “I go in preparing for the worst. I’m expecting a trap. I know where he wants me to meet, so I’m going to think in his shoes. How would he do it, and how can I counter it?”

  “I don’t like it,” she said, worried.

  “I’m not overly fond of it myself,” he said dryly. “But I have to do it. It’s Sache. I put him where he is. I need to get him out. Regardless of what I have to go through to do it.”

  “You’re a good man, Vlad Teres,” Ellyn whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek. “A very good man. I just wish there was some way I could help.”

  Vlad shrugged, staring straight forward, keeping his face blank. “You could always help me clear my mind.”

  He almost got it out with a straight face. Almost. But his jaw twitched ever so slightly during the delivery.

  “You pervert!” she exclaimed, slapping his shoulder playfully.

  “And your point is?” he growled, slipping an arm behind her and pulling his mate back into his lap.

  “Um. I’m not sure I have one,” she admitted sheepishly, submitting to a thorough kiss as Vlad bent down to her.

  “Good.”

  “You do have a plan though, right?” she asked.

  Vlad knew that Ellyn was going to worry about every detail, unless he told her what it was he had up his sleeve.

  “I do,” he said. “I’ll tell you while we finish some more of this food. But when we’re done, all of that,” he said, waving his hands at her clothes. “Had better be on the floor.”

  Ellyn grinned mischievously. “Only if you promise to pull it off me.”

  “Now that’s a promise I can keep,” he growled.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Ellyn

  She was chewing idly on her half of the last piece of bacon, pushing a cold piece of toast around her plate when Vlad finally reached over and took it away from her.

  They’d barely touched anything but the bacon—some things just couldn’t be wasted—and the mood had sort of fizzled out.

  “I’m not hungry either,” he rumbled.

  She glanced up, noting the way his eyes were wide, pupils dilated, but focused entirely on her.

  “Yeah, same,” she said, suddenly feeling awkward.

  They had shared a bed for the past several nights. What did she have to feel awkward about? It’s not like they were about to have sex for the first time. Not even the second. So why was she suddenly on the edge, not sure of what to do? What had changed?

  He told you he loves you.

  That was it of course. Vlad had put his heart in her hands. It was a new type of responsibility for Ellyn, and she just didn’t quite know how to respond yet. She was walking on eggshells, not wanting to say or do anything that would invalidate his feelings, would make him feel like she didn’t respect his feelings to the utmost.

  “Come here,” Vlad said, wrapping his fingers round her upper arm.

  Ellyn rose up from her sitting position onto her knees, then fell down onto Vlad as he kept pulling. His arms kept her braced, lowering her softly until she was nose to nose with him.

  “Hi,” she said, taking a moment just to admire him.

  She’d gotten lucky, that was for sure. Somehow Vlad wanted her. Of all people. She could feel it between his legs in the stiffening bulge. Could hear it in the low growl at the back of his throat as she shifted her hips purposefully to rub against him. It was audible, physical and more.

  “Now, I seem to recall that I was supposed to take these off,” Vlad muttered as he pulled her sports bra over her breasts, but no further due to their positioning.

  “Well, then perhaps you had better get to work,” she teased, shuddering as he dragged a finger over one of her nipples, producing an involuntary shock.

  “Yes ma’am,” he joked, taking her by the waist.

  Ellyn yelped as she was suddenly, and easily, picked up, turned over and placed on her back. Vlad used his overwhelming strength to lift her off him, hold her in mid-air while he got up from the couch and then place her back down.

  “I keep forgetting how strong you are,” she said, the display of his power stoking a basic, instinctual response from her body. There was just something hot about being manhandled so casually, as if she was nothing to him.

  It was in direct contrast to the tenderness with which the move had been performed as well, which aided Ellyn in feeling wanted. Needed.

  “Won’t be needing these,” Vlad muttered as he pulled her leggings off in one smooth move, turning them inside out as he went.

  Ellyn just rolled her eyes, but she didn’t fight it. In fact, she helped, tugging her underwear off before Vlad could come back, and throwing it across the room.

  “Yikes!” she cried out as he grabbed her lower legs in hi
s hands and yanked her around so that her hips hung off the edge of the couch, and in one smooth motion ran his tongue across her clit.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, popping up from between her legs with almost comical appearance.

  “Yeah, you stopped!” she said, playfully pushing his head back down.

  Vlad was always one to oblige, and in moments her head was sinking back down onto the cushions, lost in rhythmic ecstasy as he slowly awoke her body to the pleasures yet to come.

  Tongue. Finger. Warm air and a tight grip on her waist. It was the perfect combination, and Ellyn soon realized she had been hungry, but for something else. A different sort of yearning, and Vlad was helping her realize it now as she bucked against his face, lost deep in the throes of yet another climax.

  Never had she been with a partner so intent on pleasuring her before taking anything for himself. He’d told her once, the second night—or maybe it was the morning—that watching her like this turned him on. That he grew harder the louder she moaned, the more she writhed in his grip. That seeing her pleased only brought him closer to the edge.

  An edge only she could push him over. Ellyn loved to give as well, and today she wanted it more than before. Vlad had confessed something near and dear to him, had trusted her with it, and she wanted to show him he hadn’t made a mistake. She might not be able or ready to say the words back to him, but she was going to let him know it was appreciated.

  “Okay, you, on the couch,” she said, pushing his head away as her body returned down from the high, her breathing increased, skin flushed, nipples hard and everything aching for Vlad.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said without a fight.

  He began to lay back, but Ellyn shook her head, indicating he needed to stay sitting.

  “Like this,” she said, moving him how she wanted, legs together, back upright.

  Then she straddled him, taking him in inch by inch, watching his face as she slowly settled down on top of him, her breasts practically in his face.

  He leaned forward and took one into his mouth, grabbing the other with his hand while he cupped her ass with his other hand, covering plenty of territory. That was okay with Ellyn, she longed for his touch wherever she could get it. Her hips ground into him, back and forth in a slow rocking movement while she flexed and unflexed her internal muscles, trying to grip him as tight as possible.

  It felt amazing, and judging by the slow loss of composure as Vlad stared up at her, it was working on him as well. She moved faster, grinding hard against him, capturing as much of his long shaft inside her as she possibly could.

  She took his hands, one at a time and pinned them to the couch close to his head height, pushing her fingers between his and using that as leverage to help her keep moving against him.

  By this point Vlad was breathing hard, groaning loudly every time she dug into him with the press of her body. His hot breath was washing over her skin, bringing goosebumps to the surface as she neared another orgasm, this time from the constant rubbing of his cock against her insides. It was hitting her just right, and the heightened intensity of their lovemaking was pushing her over the top.

  Vlad arched under her without warning, raising Ellyn free of the couch. She bore down on him harder, using her arms as a brace more than before while she stifled a scream. The action resulted in more of his cock penetrating her than before, stretching her that bit more, and it threw her over the edge.

  She cried out and began to shake on top of him, almost uncontrollable. Holding on for dear life she came hard before collapsing onto him in a heap.

  “That had to be the single hottest thing I have ever seen,” Vlad growled.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and got up, carrying her to the bed while he was still inside her. There he lay Ellyn back. Exhausted she sank into the covers gratefully, arms splaying wide, chest heaving.

  Vlad remained standing however, poised at the edge of the bed, with her legs up by his head. Then he simply pulled back, and thrust into her.

  “Oh my god,” she gasped as he went deeper than he ever had. It was gentle, but if she’d thought he’d been fully inside her before, she was wrong. Very wrong.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, pausing to look down at her.

  “Uh huh,” she said, shaking her head rapidly. “Oh yeah.”

  Vlad grinned and repeated the motion. She gasped and cried out.

  He didn’t stop. He kept going, at that slow, deliberate pace. Never faster, never slower. Always the same. At first it was just a tease. She begged for more, ached for him to go harder, to really fuck her.

  But he wouldn’t. He just kept going, watching her face, stroking her legs.

  Slowly Ellyn became less focused on getting him to go fast, and more focused on the growing pressure between her legs. He was taking his time with her now, bringing her back to the peak. Her body was struggling to contain it.

  “Now,” he whispered, breaking the wordless vacuum that had only been filled by their cries, moans and groans.

  At the same moment he slid his thumb between her legs and played it across her clit, while squeezing her legs together around it with his free arm.

  The added pressure on both her clit, and of pushing her legs together was more than she could take.

  Ellyn cried out, and in a matter of seconds her body began to convulse. Vlad groaned and she felt him swell inside her, knowing what was going to happen, what it meant.

  It was too much.

  White lightning sparked across her vision and the world filled with stars for a split second as her orgasm ripped free, pulsating out across her body with brutal spasms as she shrieked with pleasure, the act robbing her lungs of desperately needed air.

  Struggling to breathe, assaulted by a level of pleasure she’d never experienced in her life, Ellyn somehow managed to keep a fraction of her awareness on Vlad. She saw his face tighten and contort, then spread wide.

  At the same time, he filled her with warmth, stream after stream that only served to make her own orgasm all the stronger with the knowledge that she’d caused that. He was coming for her.

  And she liked it.

  He thrust harder as well, shaking her entire body as he emptied himself deep inside her while his cries of her name filled the room.

  “Stop,” she gasped, pushing his thumb away, her body too sensitive for anything more. Even having him inside her was too much, she pushed him away, not caring about the results or the mess. None of that mattered right then. Her brain simply couldn’t function enough to give a shit.

  She bounced wildly as Vlad fell down next to her, the two of them staring at the ceiling, gasping for air, trying to understand what had just happened.

  “That was good for you too huh?” he asked a minute later, still having to pause for air once to get the entire sentence out.

  Ellyn wasn’t sure what it was about it that set her off, but something, the nonchalance of the question, the dramatic understatement, or perhaps just the sheer joy of knowing she was happy, whatever it was, it brought on a fit of the giggles. They started off quiet, but grew louder and louder, shaking her body.

  They must have been contagious too, because it wasn’t long before Vlad was booming with laughter as well, his chest rising and falling as the loud noises filled the room.

  “Holy fuck that was good,” she said with an uncharacteristic outburst.

  “Uh, yeah. Wow,” Vlad agreed, unable to come up with any better words.

  They both lay there in silence for the next few minutes. If he was doing the same as her, Vlad was contemplating everything that had just happened, and what it meant to him.

  Ellyn, meanwhile, was doing the same for herself. She kept asking herself the same question.

  Does this mean I love him? Is that why it was so much better? Or was it just one of those good times?

  She was left with more questions than answers though, unable to come to any sort of decision. Thankfully Vlad didn’t seem to mind.

 
For now.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Ellyn

  “What did he mean by the cave?”

  Ellyn glanced over at Pierce as he interrupted Vlad’s retelling of the phone call. She’d wondered the same thing, before Vlad had told her. It was such a vague reference.

  They were seated at a table in one of the lounge rooms deeper in the compound, the doors locked behind them. Along with Vlad, Pierce and her, there were a handful of other dragon shifters to whom she had been introduced.

  Blede was an extremely tall—even for a dragon shifter—male with copper eyes and a long nose. He acted particularly at ease with Vlad, and Ellyn couldn’t help but wonder if the pair had been friends before Vlad’s self-imposed exile from the mountain.

  Next to him sat Kayb, a quiet, reserved dragon with a stern expression that never seemed to change. He hadn’t yet spoken, but his eyes were alert and focused as he took everything in, even if his thoughts were hidden behind his olive green eyes.

  “Yeah, which cave? There are hundreds, if not thousands in these mountains.”

  That would be Lara. A female dragon shifter with bright pink hair, a nose piercing and a fiery bluster that seemed to keep all the other men on their toes. She was the opposite of Kayb. Outspoken, opinionated and not afraid to say it. Ellyn liked her.

  “There’s only one he could mean,” Vlad answered before any of the others could chime in as well. “On the far side of Mount Verdent, where the Gate itself is. We often explored the area before and after our turns guarding the Gate. One day we found a cave at the end of a logging road, with a perfect ledge high up, giving a beautiful view to the east, where you could watch the sun rise over the horizon. It has to be there.”

  Ellyn watched the four dragons and the way they responded to Vlad. She doubted that he noticed the looks in their eyes, or the way they believed him when he spoke. There was no hatred here, no dissenters who wanted him gone. These dragons were here to help out. To fight alongside him, and they didn’t care where he had been, or what he had done.

  To them, he was family, and that was that. When someone needed help, they answered.