A Dragon's Heart (6 page)

Perry moved faster and stronger inside her, and the faster he went, the more rapidly Lexie stroked Tor’s hardness. All of her senses zeroed in on the feel of one dragon inside her and the other in her hands and the experience of having more pleasure than she could have ever imagined receiving in a thousand years.

The three of them, just them, together sharing this.

Somehow, it all felt too right to possibly comprehend.

Lexie was so close to the edge it felt like a gentle breeze could push her past it. Tor reached his hand to her clit and flicked it once, then twice. Her entire body froze, clenching with impending release as she stroked and squeezed Tor. At the same time, she felt Perry jerk inside her while Tor’s cock tightened in her hand, and both men released in unison with her.

For a moment, Lexie lost all concept of space and time and instead felt nothing but pleasure, an intense release that crashed over her like an ocean wave that carried her into a sea of boundless ecstasy that went on forever.

When she finally came back to reality, Tor and Perry were still there with her, breathing heavily, their muscles tensing from exertion. Perry slid out of her, and both dragons rested next to her, one on each side.

Their heat all around her was satiating and home-like. She reached up to touch each of their chests and felt their hearts hammering hard, just like hers. They were dragons, and she was a human, but inside, they felt so much the same.

Like her, they were speechless, merely keeping their huge bodies curled around her protectively, like they wanted to shut out the entire world.

They probably did.

She’d sensed how they wanted her in every touch, every stroke and kiss. And when they’d gone, it had been more than a fling to her. The men she’d been working with, the men she’d been caring for.

She’d told herself she deserved to have fun, but as she looked from Perry’s sparkling gray eyes to Tor’s blue ones, she knew this was so much more.

T
or gazed
at his mate adoringly. Her body was flushed beautifully, her dark skin glowing, her brown eyes sparkling up at him. He kept his body curled around her. He wanted to keep her safe from the world forever.

He reached up a hand to stroke her cheek, then looked past her to Perry, who was looking pensive and quiet as he stared at their mate, too.

She’s not our mate.

Tor looked up at Perry in shock. Perry was right of course, but it made no sense with how things had just gone together. She couldn’t be their mate. The mating ceremony was complex, and she didn’t even have the qualifications to go through it.

Perry nodded at him slowly as Tor curled an arm around Lexie’s waist and she closed her eyes with a light moan and stretched out on the bed beneath them.

Everything had been just right. Even Perry had been unable to prevent getting involved more than he usually did.

Can I talk to you? Outside?
Perry asked with thought.

Not right now. I don’t want to leave her,
Tor replied.

The dragon inside him was purring. He couldn’t wait to be inside her, the next time they came together. Lexie… quiet, sweet little Lexie, had been a fiery, demanding woman in bed, her plush body welcoming every touch and kiss.

Just the thought of it made him hard again.

Dragon sex could be uncomplicated. They couldn’t impregnate anyone but their mate, and that was rare and only to keep dragons in balance in the universe. And they couldn’t share human diseases.

But something about this wasn’t simple at all. He couldn’t remember ever calling one of the other women they’d been with “mate.” It had never felt like this—like when he looked over to see his partner inside her and felt her hand on him—that everything was completely right with the world and they were meant to be with her and protect her forever.

Then an image of her hiding under a desk, trembling, came to his mind again, haunting him as it often did, and he clenched his free hand into the sheets.

She was a normal person. That was what any normal person would have done. But that was the point of dragon-hearts. They surpassed the usual point of human bravery.

Still, they’d gone so long without one. Couldn’t they do without some more if it were the right person?

Stop thinking that way.
Perry sent him a firm glare.

Tor shook his head.
I haven’t wanted very much. I haven’t asked for very much. But don’t you think maybe we’re strong enough to keep going as we are? To protect her as well?

We have to mate a dragon-heart
, Perry retorted.

I don’t know. We have been fine without one
.

Perry showed him images of the cases they’d worked lately, and Tor wished he could turn away.

We don’t just do this for ourselves
, Perry thought.
There are others that need us. There may even be more in the future. We owe it to them to give them the best chance of survival and protection. That means a dragon-heart and a third dragon power.

Tor touched Lexie’s hair again and realized she had settled into sleep and started snoring.

He’d miss her so much if she left. Miss teasing her, jumping out at her and watching her shriek and then whack him on the arm. Miss how they’d been able to pull her out of her shyness so occasionally she could yell and get mad at them. She didn’t take their crap that much anymore. She gave as good as she got. And all of it had taken time to get from her, so it made it that much more valuable.

I can’t imagine life without her anymore.

Perry put his hand over his forehead and let out a frustrated breath. I
knew this was going to happen. I tried to warn both of you.

It was hopeless to stop it
, Tor retorted.
I think I’ve loved her from the first time I went to her desk.

Stop it
, Perry replied.
You’re only making things worse by allowing yourself to think these thoughts.

What does it matter?
Tor asked.
According to you, either way we’re going to take a dragon-heart and make Lexie forget us. We have no choice.

Tor was bitter at the situation, not his partner. Perry had been with him for so many years he was a part of him now. Whatever he was doing with Lexie, it felt like a part of Tor was doing it as well. There had never been any jealousy between them because they were basically two halves of the same whole.

They would be terribly jealous of anyone else who tried to come near anything that belonged to them, though.

Tor and Perry had always been in agreement for the most part. Always working together without complaint, agreeing to what the other wanted as they could.

But this was a standstill. Tor knew he wasn’t being the mature one. He knew he would regret even pushing Perry this far. He knew he was a victim to his own heart, which wanted Lexie.

Perry, with his logic and his inability to ignore the greater good, would save them from themselves.

Save Lexie from a situation that would only get more dangerous as the years went by.

She would be better off back in the human world. With her beauty and her quiet kindness, she would find someone easily. Tor was as sure of that as he was sure he hated the thought of it so much it made him sick to his stomach.

He curled her closer to him.
Mine
.

Only for now
, Perry thought.
And then you have to give her back.

Tor couldn’t imagine doing it, but he knew he would if it was right. He hated she’d hidden that day when they’d rescued her. He hated she couldn’t be a dragon-heart.

But he felt one thought even more strongly than that.

When this was over, he hated the fact that she had to forget him. He wanted to always be a part of her heart.

Perry’s eyes flashed to his. “Now
that
is a dangerous thought.”

Tor nodded in agreement. Too bad danger seemed to be a part of dragon life.

T
he next day
, Lexie awoke before the dragons and crept down to her room for a shower.

As the water rushed over her, she remembered each touch from the prior night, how together they had felt, how much like one body.

But it was time to get back to work. Nothing had changed in how things had to go, and she needed to focus on helping the dragons find a mate and trying not to be too obviously in love with them.

She was starting to be very grateful for the fact that she wouldn’t remember this. Yet it was a little bittersweet, as she knew her moments here would probably be some of the best of her life.

She dressed in a prim, casual outfit of loose black pants and a gray sweater and pulled her wet hair into a bun, forcefully taming the curls. She swiped on light makeup and took a look in the mirror. She was still her. Still overweight, averagely pretty, and nothing to write home about.

But last night she had felt special, and it seemed her night with the dragons was still emanating from within her, making her feel a little stronger than she had before.

She walked down the main stairs to her office, listening to her flats clatter softly on the marble in the silent, empty house. It was still early, and the dragons seemed exhausted after their night together.

They’d been working a lot lately. She knew that’s why they were desperate to find a mate.

Something about it would help them, so she couldn’t stand in their way.

She grabbed a breakfast shake from her mini fridge and started up her computer so she could read any new emails from Jace. Since there were none, she did her usual routine of listening to any new messages for the dragons and going over their schedule.

She worked for several hours, and when it was nearly lunchtime (though she wasn’t hungry), she heard a knock on her door.

She knew it was Tor before he even swung the door open. She felt blood move into her face at the sight of his huge body. As much as she had loved having Perry inside her, she couldn’t wait to experience Tor as well. She hoped they would have time for that.

“Me, too,” he said, replying to her thoughts with a wink.

Dammit, she would never get used to that. “It’s not fair,” she said, standing and putting something away in a nearby filing cabinet. “It’s so one-sided, you hearing my thoughts when I can’t hear yours.”

With a low growl, he came up behind her, and she felt his huge arms come around her.

It was odd to have him be so openly affectionate, but she guessed it was a little less odd after what had happened last night.

“Tor…” she said. “I have to work.” Not to mention he was completely overwhelming her and making it hard to stand.

“You can take an hour off,” he said. “I want to take you somewhere.”

She turned to face him. He was wearing a leather jacket over a blue, button-up shirt and loose, dark jeans. His dark hair was combed to at least face mostly in one direction, and his usually intense face was relaxed, almost peaceful. “Where?”

“You’ll see,” he said, scooping her up.

She gasped as her feet left the floor, feeling tiny in Tor’s arms. “I can walk.”

“This is faster,” he said. “You’d take all our time with your puny legs.”

She grumbled something unintelligible and then settled in against him, resting one palm on his warm, large chest. Sometimes she could swear she could almost feel the dragon inside him, winking at her with one yellow eye.

But maybe that was just her active imagination.

“Tor?” she asked as he carried her down the front steps and out of the mansion.

“Yes?”

“Are you feeling okay? You seem… different.”

“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe I’m tired of just teasing you and pretending there isn’t more to this. Maybe I don’t want to waste any more time being mean to you when I can be getting to know everything about you. Who knows how much more time we have?”

“Isn’t that all the more reason why you should be protecting yourself?” she asked, looking up at him. “Because I’m going to have to go and forget you, you know.”

He nodded, his face stern once again. “I know. But even if this is only one part of my life and I’ll never have anything like it again and it’ll hurt me to remember it afterward, I want to enjoy it while I can.” He set her down when they were a safe distance from the house. “Can you stay here a moment and put your arms up?”

“Sure…” she said hesitantly, raising them as he walked a few steps away and then disappeared.

And then she heard the unmistakable beating of dragon wings against the air and felt something wrap around her middle and lift her. Tor was holding her.

She watched the grounds and the mansion get smaller as he lifted her in the air and then turned toward the nearest mountain and flew that direction.

She enjoyed the wind against her skin, the secure feeling of Tor holding her, and just the awe she felt in his giant presence. He was a completely different form, one she could feel rather than see, yet she felt completely safe with him.

Dragon or man, he was just Tor to her.

She felt him look back at her and could swear he was smiling.

They flew closer to the mountain, which was covered with greenery and rocks, and Tor landed on a flatter area that had been cleared off naturally by some sort of landslide a long time ago. When he landed, the whooshing noise stopped, and she stumbled on her feet as he let her go.

Then he was there, as a man, holding her close.

“It’s so cool you get to keep your clothes afterward,” she said, letting him help her over to a rock to sit on. “All the wolves and the tiger I saw transforming just tore out of theirs. I guess they had to be naked after.”

Tor gave her a solid glare. “I don’t want you thinking of other men naked. Not right now.” He nodded. “But dragon magic is pretty cool. I’ll give you that. Not that everything about being a dragon is perfect. Some things are kind of fucked up.” He stared at her as he said that, and she wondered if he was talking about the mating requirements and the fact they couldn’t be together.

Then he looked out in front of them and gestured for her to do the same. When she did, she drew in a deep, intentional breath.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“I know,” he said.

In front of them, the land sprawled out in all directions, green and lush. In the distance, clouds floated, low and puffy and tinged with gray, and the little mansion in the distance looked so lonely, so tiny it could have been a doll’s house.

And farther in the distance, she could see the nearest city. And then she knew the world would stretch even farther beyond that.

But right now, sitting next to Tor, instead of feeling small and unimportant, she felt like she was on top of the world.

Then his arm came around her, hugging her close. “I wanted you to see this. I like to come here when I go flying. When I’m stressed or something’s bothering me or I need to think.”

She grinned over at him. “I didn’t take you for the thinking type.”

“Hey,” he growled. “I may be the brute muscle and unable to think like Perry, but I think I do okay. Me not so stupid,” he muttered playfully. Meanwhile, his hand that wasn’t around her reached over to hold hers, intertwining their fingers.

It was odd, after so many weeks of flirtation and back and forth, to finally settle into something genuinely affectionate. But the more it happened, the more it felt okay.

“Oh, don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not done teasing you. I’m just giving you a break for a while.” His tone turned more serious, his blue eyes focusing intently on the view in front of him. “Though, since I don’t know how much longer you’ll be here, I want it to be a good time, not a bad one.”

She nodded, looking out as well. With the cool air around them, she felt like she wanted to stay there forever. Only with Perry as well.

“Perry will never allow us to be together. He’s too much of a good person. Whereas, me…” His hand tightened against her slightly. “I’m selfish.”

“Selfish?” she asked. “Because you want to choose who you’re with?”

He used their hands to point out at the land in front of them. “Way out there, hundreds of miles in every direction, are people and shifters who depend on us. It used to be six dragons per region. Now we’re stretched to only two each. It’s that much more important to take a mate who can gain a dragon power.”

Her heart sank. “So that’s why you need a particular kind of mate?” she asked. “That’s why the disaster thing?”

He nodded. “That’s part of it. But yeah, if we find the right mate, she’s granted one of the powers. That gives us a better chance to survive.”

“What are the other powers?” she asked. “How do you know which she gets?”

“There are six, as I said. Mine is super strength and durability as the red dragon. Perry can read minds, even dragon minds, and communicate telepathically as well as move things with his thoughts. He also is just really freakin’ smart.”

She nodded. Tor ran a hand through his dark, short hair, ruffling it, and she reached up with a grin to push it back into place.

That made his expression soften again. “There you go, making me like you.”

“Sorry,” she said glibly.

“It’s okay,” he said, waving a hand. “It was inevitable.”

“Why?” she asked. “Because you loved teasing me?”

“No,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “Because you’re perfect. You’ve looked at shifter stuff enough to know we like our women curvy.”

“Sure,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you get emotionally involved with them.”

He shrugged. “You just fit well with me and Perry. That’s all.”

“Anyway, the dragon powers?” she asked, wanting to change the subject. There was no point talking about how right she was for them when she was really all wrong. She couldn’t give them a third dragon power, though she didn’t know why. She trusted they knew, however, and that was enough.

“Right, there’s the gold dragon, and he has an invincible shield he can put up over things. He’s usually paired with the purple dragon, who is the leader of the dragons and able to see the future in dreams.” Tor wrinkled his nose. “Kind of a nasty power if you think about it.”

“Yeah,” she said, cocking her head. “Not sure I’d like that one.”

Tor nodded. “Anyway, then there are the last two. The blue dragon can heal others, and the black dragon has a fire that is extremely poisonous and can wipe out large groups of enemies and shifters, things that would normally be nearly impossible to kill.”

“Then why is he usually paired with the blue dragon?” she asked.

“Because the black fire takes a massive toll on the black dragon,” Tor said. “Or so I hear. We don’t interact with any other dragons really. But anyway, yeah. The blue has to heal him.”

“And then you and Perry compliment each other because he has the strategy and you have the strength,” she said.

“Yup.”

“Hm,” she said, sitting back with folded arms. The wind was so nice, and she needed to relax so badly that she reached back and pulled out her bobby pins and her hair band, letting her hair free to whip in the wind.

Tor looked over at her. “You’re beautiful that way. Not that you aren’t pretty with a bun, but I love to see it all wild and free like that.”

“You’ve only seen it like that in bed,” she said.

“Not true,” he said. “Occasionally, when you are around the mansion late at night or early in the morning, I’ve seen it. So curly.”

“It’s natural,” she said. “I’ve just never found time or desire to straighten it.”

“I like it how it is,” he said, twirling a lock around his finger and bringing her closer.

His eyes dipped to her lips, his long lashes lowering and then rising so he could look into her eyes. Then his hand moved down over the back of her neck and pulled her forward, sealing her mouth with his.

The warm heat between them contrasted the harsh wind around them as the breeze picked up on the mountain. His arms closed around her, shielding her from the cold, and she felt warm and safe and, as his tongue melded with hers, very aroused.

But it was a soft, warm kind of arousal, the kind you just want to sit and savor rather than rushing to do anything about it.

She let the pressure between them build slowly, arching against him and tilting back to give him better access to her mouth so he could stroke slowly and more deeply.

She moaned against him and felt his arms tighten. She loved those little hints of his incredible strength and dug her nails into his powerful back.

He pulled back to take a ragged breath, and when she looked up, she saw flashing gold eyes with long slits, just for a moment, before he closed them and came in for another kiss.

His dragon was just beneath the surface. She didn’t know how much was him and how much was it, but she loved both.

She let both hold her.

She loved the dragon that let her fly in the sky and the man who sat here and told her his feelings. And made love to her with his mouth.

She kissed him deeply, trying to drink in everything he was. Trying to save it inside for whenever she would need it. Trying to ignore that the wind was getting colder, angrier around them.

She held on to him tight and let the wild heat build to an inferno inside her.

When he released her, she looked deep into his eyes, then noted each feature. His strong nose, that straight, hard jaw, the stubborn tilt of his curved lips, those frank, pretty eyes. His sheer masculinity.

For a moment, she didn’t want to ever forget.

Tor blinked at her. “I don’t want you to either.”

She nodded and rested against him. The rest didn’t need to be said. Things would go on as usual. Perry would ensure that. By the time it was over, she’d be grateful they had let her go with no knowledge of what had happened.

Until then, she’d try not to think about it.

Right now, she just wanted to enjoy the moment with Tor.