by Sadie Sears
I pushed his jeans from his hips, chasing them quickly down his thighs and followed them with his underwear, and then I gazed at his cock as it stood stiff with need.
He wanted me.
I wrapped my fingers loosely around the shaft and stroked him, and he dropped his head back, sucking in rapid breath after rapid breath. And when he looked back at me, I licked slowly from the base of his dick to the tip, taking my time as he wove his fingers into my hair and pressed his fingertips against my scalp.
His movements spurred me on, and I took the head of his cock fully into my mouth, bobbing lower to take more of him. I cupped his balls and gently rolled them in my hand before stroking where my mouth didn’t reach, and I was rewarded with more of Draven’s gasps as he moved his hips gently against me, his rhythm gentle and restrained.
“Mae.” He spoke my name like a prayer, and tears stung my eyes at the strength of feeling his tone carried. The next sound that emerged was a half chuckle, half-strangled moan. “I’ve got to…got to stop. I can’t… I want…”
I stroked my tongue over him one last time before drawing back and kissing the glistening tip with a tiny touch of my lips. He dropped to his knees in front of me and his fingers began to work my button and my zipper before he pushed my clothes to my mid-thigh.
“Take them off,” he urged.
Wet heat pooled between my thighs as my body responded to the strength of his need. Maybe this was it. Maybe now he knew I could save him. That I wanted to.
When I lay back against one of the torn throws on his floor like I was in my own personal nest, I was naked, and the cool air drew goosebumps across my flesh. Draven fastened a couple of the buttons back across his chest before he joined me and skimmed a hand up my thigh. I shivered under his touch as he delved deeper, drawing his fingertips between my legs and grazing my clit.
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, holding his hand in place, seeking the same sensation, yearning for more. “Do it again.”
He grinned then winced in the familiar pattern he had when he was with me and his demon punished him for it.
I cupped his cheek again to focus his attention on me. “I want to love you,” I said. “I want to be loved by you.”
He nodded and began to stroke me as he leaned over me and took my nipple into his mouth, sucking gently as I arched my back toward him. Our situations were reversed, and I gave in to his soft touches and skillful attention. The press of his skin and lips against me sent wave after wave of heat through my body, and my breathing stuttered as I fought for air as every touch lifted me higher.
“Let go,” he breathed. “Let me give you this.” Sweat beaded on his forehead and pain clouded his eyes, but all too soon my muscled tightened, coiling into familiar knots, and he pushed his lips against mine as my muscles all released at once, tipping me over the edge of a huge orgasm.
I sucked greedily on his tongue, and he slowed his touches but didn’t stop entirely as my body continued to pulse lazily for him.
He lifted himself over me, and his hard-on nudged against my entrance. Then he looked at me for permission, and I nodded.
Of course. Anything. I wanted him this much, too, and I needed him to know. I lifted my hips to meet his body and the tip of him nudged inside me.
Mate. The voice in my head was Aro’s, and my heart soared. Love.
A warm safety of being cared for suffused me, and I surrendered myself to Draven as he thrust inside me faster. I met each of his movements with eagerness and enthusiasm, searching for the connection we needed to make, but he cried out and it was part pleasure, part pain.
“Just focus on me,” I murmured, and he met my gaze. I loved him. I wanted him. I wanted his dragon. I wanted everything he had to give. “You and Aro belong to me.”
He nodded and began to move slowly inside me, each stroke taking him deeper. He held himself taut, like he couldn’t quite let go, the strain showing on his face, giving away his internal battle. Then he began to move faster, and his breathing came in labored spurts until he met my gaze, only his eyes were foreign again, the same being I’d seen at Grandma’s looking back out at me, and I recoiled in shock.
Draven flung his head back on a final yell of pleasure that spiraled into a maniacal chuckle in a voice that wasn’t his, and his arm shot toward me, long, twisted talons on his hand.
They raked down my upper arm, leaving long, ragged gashes in my skin that immediately oozed red blood. I pressed my hand across the sudden pain, and the blood spilled between my fingers and dripped across my skin.
Draven reared back, horror in his eyes. “Fuck,” he bit out. “Fuck… My demon. It hurt you. I couldn’t… I couldn’t control it.”
I shook my head, clenching my teeth against the pain. I knew it hadn’t been him. “You didn’t mean to.” I reached for him, trying to offer him comfort, but he scuttled away from me, finishing in a corner of his room, his eyes wide as he watched me. “You didn’t do it,” I repeated. “I know that.”
“It was because of me. I did this to you. Look at your arm.” He babbled the words and shook his head. Then he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, calming himself before he looked at me again. “You need to go. It’s not safe for you here. I’m not safe for you.”
“But I love you,” I protested, but he behaved like he hadn’t heard me.
“Saul believes you’re dead. You’re safer away from me.”
But I didn’t want to be away from him. I’d come back. Why couldn’t he see?
“But, together, we can—”
He shook his head and spoke across me. “No. You need to be protected and kept safe.”
“But you can do that.” I was growing desperate. “Aro can do that.”
He shook his head again. “Call a taxi, Mae. It’s over.” He stood and walked from the room.
I scrabbled for my clothes as humiliation washed over me. I’d given him everything, offered myself completely. He could have had all of me. I thought he was giving me all of him.
My clothes were cold as I struggled back into them, and I shivered before looking at the blood seeping through my T-shirt sleeve. I didn’t even care about that. I was broken, empty.
When I went out into the hallway, Draven was nowhere to be seen, but there was a pile of small bills—ones, fives, tens. I couldn’t tell. A stack of green, anyway—on the remnants of the console table beside a business card for a taxi firm.
I wanted the pride to at least leave his money—I was no one’s prostitute—but I needed it to pay the driver because I hadn’t anticipated a return taxi ride into town, so I choked down a sob and stepped outside to make my call, taking a last look around as I did so.
I held myself together on the ride back into town, pretending to be absorbed in my phone, even when the words on the news app blurred before my eyes. The driver ignored my appearance, but his curiosity was palpable as his eyes skimmed over me. I could only imagine what I looked like—my arm bleeding, my clothes creased, and my hair was probably a bird’s nest.
But I didn’t care. Grandma. I just needed my grandma. She’d make everything all right again—even if I needed to interrupt her evening of relaxation with my latest drama. I had to tell her this journey had all been for nothing.
Draven didn’t want me.
I threw all of Draven’s money at the driver when he stopped, hoping the tip made his night, and I ran up to the room, the hotel a blur around me as I refused to focus anywhere but directly ahead of me.
When I reached the door of her room, it was partly open, like she’d stepped out to get something and hadn’t pulled it all the way shut behind her, but a cold sensation of dread strangled my thoughts as I tapped quietly against the door.
“Grandma?”
No answer.
“Grandma?” I tried not to let panic show in my voice.
She’d probably just forgotten to latch it before she fell asleep. Maybe she’d been to get some ice.
But I was grasping at straws. There wa
s no reason in the world my grandma wouldn’t lock a hotel room door behind her, especially in a city.
As the dread grew stronger, I nudged the door open and crept into the room, stopping as soon as the bed came into view. A smear of blood was painted across the middle of the rumpled floral bedspread, and my heart hammered at the sight.
The small sofa had been overturned and the desk chair upended. Items from Grandma’s suitcase were strewn over the room, and Grandma wasn’t there.
I took in the curtains, half hanging off the narrow rail, and froze. There’d been a struggle, someone had taken Grandma, and it was all my fault. She wouldn’t even have been here if she hadn’t been helping me.
And now she was missing.
18
Draven
I stalked along the edges of the cliffs by my home, occasionally stopping to bellow my rage out toward the relentless ocean. I’d hurt Mae. During the most loving act imaginable, I’d brought her pain.
My demon had gained the strength to overcome my will, and Mae had paid the price. I couldn’t let that happen again.
Telling her to leave, forcing her from my life, was the only thing I could have done. Every day, my demon took a little bit more of me, dismantling the man piece by piece and smothering my dragon.
Leathery skin appeared on my skin daily, black and tight, and ugly where it oozed as I moved and flexed. My nails didn’t return from being black twisted talons, and sometimes my eyes flashed red as something alien seemed to look out of my face if I caught sight of my reflection.
Any hope that I might have held out that things could go back to normal, that I could have returned to my previous existence without Mae, had been dashed. But Chloe had warned me, and she’d been right. I’d lose my soul if Mae rejected me, but I’d also lose it if I didn’t try to claim her.
A huge sigh rolled out of me as I considered my position. Who would want a man who looked like this? Who could love a monster, and that was surely what I was becoming? I couldn’t ask that of Mae. As my demon grew more desperate to prevent Mae from becoming closer to me, he changed more of me, staking his claim.
My thoughts battled with each other. Wishing I hadn’t met Mae at all but also feeling complete now that I had. She was the part of my life I hadn’t known I needed, and I could never regret her—the softness of her touch, the love in her eyes. She’d been everything. She still was my everything, but I had to push her away. It was to save her. What happened to me wouldn’t matter as long as I protected Mae.
I wandered to the edge of the cliff and sat down, tempting fate as I peered at the waves thrashing against the rocks below. Perhaps my dragon wasn’t even strong enough to catch me if I fell. The only thing that seemed to rouse his interest these days was Mae.
And she was gone. Maybe my dragon was as good as gone, too.
The thing was I’d given my heart to Mae, and she’d given hers to me. I’d felt that before she’d left today. My dragon had felt it, but maybe my dragon was no longer strong enough to protect her. Perhaps we weren’t strong enough together, either. I should have had the claiming discussion with Mae long before now. I should have asked her. But Chloe’s friend had tried to force a claim too soon. I hadn’t wanted to make that same mistake.
She might have wanted me before… Maybe she still wanted me now. She said she did, but I couldn’t ask her to take that risk. My demon was too dangerous and would only grow more so. No, I’d done the right thing, as much as it ripped my heart in two.
I peered at the waves again, at the chaos they created.
Fear wove a tangled web inside my head because my future was mapped out for me. I saw my future every time I saw Saul. Chaos and such a true form of free will that bordered on evil in the wrong hands.
My hands were definitely the wrong ones for such responsibility with my demon in charge. Those hands had wounded Mae. Regret sat heavily in my chest.
Restlessness stirred inside me, and I jumped up, springing away from the edge of the gentle grassy verge that sloped down to the vertical side of the craggy cliffs.
It was the same feeling that I got when my dragon wanted to fly, but flying didn’t feel quite right. There was no desire to shift, just the urge to get on my bike and head into Port Lair, recklessly and fast. Only that also felt wrong because my dragon was never reckless—only measured and deliberate in his decisions.
Nevertheless, I headed for my bike and put my helmet on before climbing astride it. I swung out the kick starter and pushed down until I felt resistance, went through the rest of my start-up procedure on autopilot and then finished my kick in one smooth motion to set my engine roaring underneath me. This would have to be my dragon today, as my actual dragon stayed locked inside me. Defeated.
I skidded deliberately as I swung wide in front of my house, spraying small chips of stone in an act of aggression that pleased my demon. I tightened my muscles against his pleasure and hoped riding wild and free down the highway might distract him at least a little.
But as I reached the end of my driveway, a taxi drew to a stop and Mae pushed her way out of the back door, tear tracks down her face, her hair disheveled, her clothes in disarray.
I killed the engine immediately and left my bike to fall carelessly to the ground as I ran to her in the exact way she was already running to me. I reached for my wallet then dragged bills out to thrust through the window at the driver at the same time as I caught Mae as she hurtled into my arms.
My dragon breathed a long sigh of relief like this was his target all along, like he’d known Mae needed me and we were going to get to her whether I thought it was the best idea or not.
And to be clear, I did not.
But my hand pressed her head against my chest as my body acted on some instinct I hadn’t sanctioned.
“Shh,” I soothed her. “Shh, it’s okay. Everything’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Fear blared an instant alarm through me, and my demon chattered excitedly as something that bordered on premonition created the eerie feeling that all wasn’t okay.
She glanced up at me, her eyes still brimming with tears. “It’s Grandma.”
Premonition gave way to cold dread. “What about your grandma?” I stroked away the damp hair that clung to her cheeks as I gazed down at her.
Even like this, she was perfect.
Help mate. The command rumbled in my mind but was immediately answered by a flash of pain, by the prickle of skin at my left temple as more skin there toughened and pulled.
“What’s happened?” I spoke again when Mae didn’t immediately answer.
“Her room. There were signs of a struggle. Grandma’s gone, maybe hurt. There was blood.” Her face paled as if she was remembering what she’d seen.
“We need to go to the hotel. Get on the bike with me. We’ll go into town together.” I had to see the room for myself to know what had happened. I already suspected, but I needed to be sure.
Urgency flooded my veins. I picked my bike up from the driveway and got the spare helmet from where I’d stowed it before I got on the bike and started it, then waited as Mae readied herself and got on behind me.
“Hold on.”
Her arms wrapped around my waist, and my dragon sighed his pleasure. I relaxed too, but a flash of pain ricocheted through me, and the bike jerked as I lost my concentration for a moment.
Mae gasped and pressed closer. It was tempting to lose control again just to feel her close even more distance between us, but I restrained myself. I had enough to concentrate on with ignoring the pain my demon caused inside me.
I needed to find her grandma, and most important of all was keeping Mae safe.
I loved her.
The pureness and simplicity of the thought drove my demon wild, and I couldn’t hear anything else but the noise of him in my head. I drew my breaths in spurts as I fought the searing heat he built in my chest, and I focused on Mae’s touch as my lifeline, anchoring me to the moment, to our love.
I raced through town a
nd roared to a stop in front of the hotel, leapt off my bike and allowed Mae to tug me by the hand into the building. She ignored the elevator in favor of the stairs, and I took the steps two at a time.
“Which room number?” But I didn’t even need to go there. I only needed to follow the stench of demon and Saul’s cheap cologne.
He’d been there, or he’d sent his ridiculous minions on his behalf.
“Three-nine-nine,” she said behind me. “I have a key card.” She fumbled it into my hand from behind.
I took it from her and strode down the third-floor corridor, following the arrows that pointed the way to the correct room.
“Do not disturb?” I lifted the sign hung over the door handle.
“I put that on there,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want anyone going in before I… Before…” She hesitated. “I hoped you’d come.”
My heart squeezed. Of course I’d come. There was nowhere else I’d rather be than by Mae’s side—especially when she needed me, but I still warred against the need to be with her and the need to keep her safe by staying away.
I winced against another flicker of pain, and she threaded her fingers through mine.
“I’m here,” she murmured.
I almost chuckled. Mae was as much the problem as the solution, but I didn’t want her anywhere but by my side.
I inserted the keycard and pushed the door open when the lights blinked green. As soon as I pushed the door open and walked farther inside the room, I could see Saul’s handiwork. For lack of a better term, he was never tidy when he carried out a mission.
The blood smear left on the bed was testament to that.
I wrinkled my nose as I surveyed the scene. It was reminiscent of what I’d done to my home to remove all traces of Mae. But I had done that, not my demon.
This was the work of demons.
“Saul was here,” I blurted.
Mae gasped and covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “He took my grandma? Did he… Would he…?”