Billionaire Dragons' Fated: BBW Paranormal Dragon Shifter Menage Romance (4 page)

Apollo

The afterparty was by far Apollo’s favorite part of any gig they played. Filling a ridiculously large hotel room with good booze, fantastic musicians and hot women just dying to meet him was just his idea of a good time. So it was somewhat peculiar that he wasn’t enjoying himself after the Albuquerque show as he usually did. Absently, he kept toying with the gold chains around his neck, sipping on a beer that was getting stale from the amount of time he had been nursing it.

He kept looking for
something
, and as much as he tried to convince himself that he didn’t know what that something was, he knew he was just fooling himself. And, apparently, not doing a very good job at it.

The best of Deep Purple blared through the penthouse hotel room and the party was in full swing around Apollo. Every few minutes, someone dropped by to engage him in conversation, and he just kept brushing them off with muttered platitudes and bored looks. Nothing could really excite him at this point… aside from one thing. His heart jumped a little as he caught sight of a familiar pony tail swinging back and forth as its owner wriggled through the crowd towards one of the bars.

In a flash, Apollo had jumped up and strode over to her before he’d really even had time to ask himself what the hell he was doing.

He grabbed Jade gently by the elbow and smiled at her as she looked up at him, her lovely green eyes full of surprise. Hell yes, he wanted to have those eyes stare up at him again – as soon as possible, and preferably Jade with something in her mouth. Apollo grinned wolfishly at her, the throng of people easily parting ahead of him to allow them passage through the previously solid wall of happy partygoers.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said, noting that his voice was just a tiny bit too husky.

“Yeah? Why so?” Jade asked. He could hear the uncertainty in her voice, but she made a good effort of covering it up.

“Oh, you know. Wondering how you enjoyed your first show with the Dragons. Was it all it’s cracked up to be?”

That sounded lame even to him. His whole body tingled where he touched her, the feeling of her soft, silky skin under his fingertips immediately sending him half-hard with excitement. Her sweet smell whisked and wafted in his nostrils, making him think of honey and vanilla, and he wondered if she tasted the same way.

Probably,
he thought with a hint of satisfaction.

“It was great,” Jade said in earnest, giving him a brilliant smile. Damn. The woman looked hot as hell in that casual, off the shoulder tee she was wearing and those jeans that wrapped around her ass like she had them painted on. But when she smiled, all his attention had to focus on her. That pale skin, those luminous eyes and those curves he just couldn’t wait to explore… Could it be that Apollo Goldplains was a little smitten?

Fuck no. He quickly let go of her as they reached the bar, taken aback by his sudden mushiness towards a girl he barely knew, and even worse – worked with!

“Good. What’s your poison?” he asked, trying to regain some composure. Apollo was the kind of man who preferred to keep a new woman within arm’s reach every day. The polar opposite of his brother, who was monogamous to a fault, which usually meant he was the most single guy in a thousand mile radius – apparently no one was good enough for the great Alexander Goldplains. Apollo had never understood that line of thought. To him, there was nothing more beautiful than a woman, and most of the songs he wrote were directly influenced by some gorgeous creature he had spent time with. Looking at Jade, he felt like he could write a lifetime of songs, and he wouldn’t even strictly need to touch her more than he already had.

The hell is wrong with you, Apollo,
he chided himself, grabbing for a clean glass.

“Bourbon. Straight up.”

“My kind of girl,” Apollo said with a grin, pouring out two shots of bourbon. He slid one of the glasses towards Jade and leant on the counter. He eyed her thoughtfully, trying to figure out what was it about her that got his motor revving so hard. The body, certainly. And that smile, no doubt. The way she played wasn’t half bad either – in fact, he was sure she was the best bassist he and Alexander had ever played with.

Something about the way she handled herself and synced with their flow was just so right, like her arrival had introduced a piece of their music to them that they hadn’t known was missing. It had been great during rehearsals, but fucking fantastic during the actual show.

At least one thing was certain – Alexander wasn’t going to get rid of her any time soon. Even if he wanted to, Apollo wouldn’t let him. What was it about this little minx that got him all rearing to go? Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to let her go without figuring it out.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jade asked with a small voice, her fingers clutching the shot glass. There was a sparkle of mischief in her eyes, the kind that told him that she could be a hell of a lot of fun, but also a tiny bit of something vulnerable, something soft and small he wanted to tuck away and keep out of harm’s way to the best of his abilities. Voodoo woman – he liked it.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like
that,
” she said, blushing a little and waving in his general direction. She looked good with a blush. It made him wonder what she would look like if he
really
gave her something to blush about.

“Just appreciating the view,” he bit back, giving her a wink. She grinned and raised her glass.

“So, are we toasting to something?”

Apollo thought about that for a second.

“Sure. To Jade and the Gold Dragons. May the view never change.” He chugged back the shot without another word, knowing that she hesitated for a second before joining him. A girl who could kick back her drink – another thing to like.

Apollo was just about to put on his best Casanova act, throwing caution to the wind, when shouts and surprised yelps caught their attention. He whipped around, his brows furrowing as he saw a commotion at the entrance, black-clad bodies pressing in through the wide, gilded doors of the hotel room. His stomach dropped when he saw one of the unwanted visitors throwing a punch at a Dragons roadie, decking the man smoothly.

Women screamed and men shouted as more of the all-in-black desperados piled in, wildly swinging their fists and looking like they weren’t entirely sure what they were doing, but doing it anyway.

One of them stopped in the middle of the room, beady brown eyes peeking out from underneath his ski mask, locking gazes with Jade.

“She’s there! Get her!” he screamed, and then all hell broke loose.

The man dove for Jade, and Apollo saw red. His nostrils flared and thick white smoke wafted out of them as he met the man halfway, his knuckles connecting with his chin and flooring the twerp with one hit. Like bees to honey, the whole clan suddenly tried to make it to Jade, who was still standing at the bar, holding her shot glass with a surprised look in her eyes. Before two more could make it to Apollo, Alexander was right by his side, as pissed off as he was.

“Who the fuck are these jokers?” Apollo called, grabbing one of them by the front of his shirt and tossing him against a wall, narrowly missing one of his guests. He wasn’t even sure what pissed him off so thoroughly – the fact that these guys were crashing his party or that they were quite obviously trying to make it to Jade. He was veering towards the latter, though the former alone would have been enough to send him on an honest rampage.

The women were angling past the commotion, squealing as they made for the exit along with some of the men, but at least the Dragons crew and roadies were pitching in, making quick work of the haphazard attackers. Apollo made a note to buy his guys a decent night out as soon as possible – finding a loyal crew was fucking impossible these days.

Some of the uninvited guests were already dusting themselves off and scrambling for the door, meeting far more resistance than they were willing to take. Apollo caught another one trying to sneak past him and slammed him down on a table, his strong hands clutching the guy’s shirt and his face so close to the man that he could see the little red blood vessels in his eyes. The man’s gaze was oddly unfocused, a little lost and confused, and Apollo frowned to himself.

“Who the fuck sent you,” he asked, getting no reply whatsoever other than a fearful gasp. He shook the man again, tearing his black hoodie as Apollo threw him off the table. The hoodie caught on the edge of a chair and ripped, revealing a tee underneath. “Death Wings,” Apollo muttered to himself, recognizing the ink black dragon of the Death Wing logo on the man’s shirt. Apollo let the man scuttle across the floor and grabbed Alexander by the shoulder when he noticed him trying to go after the guy.

“No point. Death Wings. I bet the kids don’t know what they’re doing,” he remarked grimly, pulling a hand through his disheveled blonde hair. Alexander stopped dead in his tracks, watching the last of the men either run or get kicked out by the crew.

“What the hell did they want?”

Apollo turned around slowly, eyeing Jade, who still stood at the bar with her glass clutched in her hand like a weapon, looking like a lamb being sent to slaughter. Even through the confusion and aggravation, he couldn’t help but notice just how damn sexy she looked with her lips slightly apart and a ruby blush tinting her pale cheeks.

“I think I know someone who can tell us.”

Jade

Jade felt like she’d got caught by the principal, smoking behind the football field’s bleachers, but instead of the principal, a pair of scorching hot dragons stood before her. Apollo’s lavish suite had been cleared out, the roadies and crew having left after the commotion. The party was ruined, even though Alexander had sent them off with one of his credit cards and told them to paint the town whichever color they wanted.

Apollo seated her on a bar stool and told her to stay. It was only by sheer force of will that she managed to peel her fingers from the glass she had almost broken by clutching it so hard.

The hell am I going to explain this? I didn’t think they’d find me so fast… or that Cameron and Colt knew I’d run at all. Fuck. This is such a disaster.

Jade’s hands were now wrapped around one knee, and she watched Alexander pace back and forth down the length of the wrecked suite, the late-night glow of Albuquerque lighting him in a golden haze. Apollo was leaning against the bar not far from her, and though she didn’t look at him, she could feel his steely blue gaze as if nailed to her. It made her wriggle uncomfortably, and only partially because she knew she was in trouble.

No matter the situation, being around the Goldplains twins still gave her shudders that ran all the way from the top of her head to the very center of her being.

“So, you wanna tell us what’s going on?” Apollo finally asked, cutting through the exasperated silence that had fallen over the room. Alexander stopped and turned to face her. She gulped, her throat suddenly incredibly dry. It was like her vocal chords had just snapped loose and she was unable to speak, knowing that anything she could have said would likely only have made things worse. Alexander must have noticed her despair. He walked closer to her and stopped right before her, towering over her with his hard body. Some of the sternness left his gaze, and Jade noticed that he too had gold flecks in his eyes, just like his brother.

“Come on, Jade. It’s okay. Whatever it was, I’m sure we can work something out.”

She noticed how he avoided any mention of the Death Wings, though he must have noticed the shirt one of the intruders had been wearing.

That’s nice of him,
she thought.
Giving me the benefit of the doubt. I wish I didn’t have to disappoint him.

Somewhere deep within her, she felt a sob rising, and despite her best effort, she couldn’t swallow it down. It came up like a buoy being held under water, spilling over and exploding out in one heart wrenching sound. Just as quickly, Alexander’s arms were around her, pulling her up on her feet and against him, burying her head in his broad chest and mussing his hand into her hair.

“Shh. It’s alright,” he cooed, and she almost believed him. A few more dry heaves wrestled their way out of her, though any following cries succumbed to the feeling of Alexander’s arms tight around her. Every bit of her that was in contact with him felt warm, an intense heat spreading deep within her and relaxing her, sending her despair running, an all-encompassing calm taking its place.

She knew that feeling. She’d felt something like that during their first concert together, like a smooth vibe that took over and made everything better. Only, it was so much better now that she was pushed against him, vaguely aware of his hard lines and firm body.

“We’ll fix it,” Apollo said simply with complete conviction in his voice, even without knowing what she’d dragged herself and them into. Jade pulled away reluctantly, and Alexander let her go, seemingly with mirrored difficulty. Mulling over her words in her head, she was caught by how ridiculous they sounded. How could she look at these men and just assume they were dragons? Worse yet, why had she pulled them down with her, creating an enemy out of their rivals without them having any say in it. Guilt lingered somewhere in the periphery of her mind, but it was kept at bay by the soft, happy glow that still shone within her from Alexander’s touch.

“I used to be a bassist for Death Wing,” she started, catching the look the brothers shared amongst one another. There was understanding there, and something dark and secret she couldn’t make out. “And I left them a few weeks ago, to try and audition for you guys. I guess they must not appreciate me being a turncoat,” Jade explained, the story sounding lame even to her. Almost on cue, Apollo scoffed and grinned mildly, as if reading her mind.

“Sure. Cameron and Colt Blackscale would send countless cronies piling into one of our after parties just to express how pissed off they are at losing a bassist. You’re good, definitely, but I don’t think they’d risk a criminal charge just to make a statement.”

“You sure?” Alexander asked with a smirk, sharing another look with his twin that made Jade wonder just how little they actually needed to use words.

“Pretty sure,” Apollo confirmed with a chuckle. “So, spill it, green-eyes. Tell us the story.”

Jade licked her lips, trying to wish away the mounting worry she felt underneath the safety that Alexander had instilled in her. She noticed both of them watching her as her tongue darted out and across her lips.

“Okay. So, um, this is going to sound a bit ridiculous, but bear with me,” she started, painfully aware of how close Alexander still was and how inviting his forearms looked. What she wouldn’t give to have them around her waist, pulling her to him, his hands going over her ass and squeezing it hard while Apollo dipped her head back and kissed her deeply on the mouth…

Snap out of it!

“Nothing like a bit of ridiculous after a long show,” Apollo said encouragingly, grabbing a beer from behind the bar. He slid it to her across the polished wood, and she accepted it with her heart singing thanks to his forward-thinking mind. Apollo uncorked another for himself and came around to sit nearer to her.

“I played with Death Wing for almost a year, and for the longest time, I thought something had to be a bit off with them. Just the way they played and how their concerts always went… and how I felt when playing a show with them. It just wasn’t right. There was something dark about them.” She tried to ignore the fact that while her words made perfect sense to her own ears, they were likely to sound like gibberish to everyone else’s.  “And then one night, after a show in Phoenix, I couldn’t sleep because I’d watched a kid, not older than sixteen, repeatedly slam his head against the railing in front of the stage until security carted him off. And Cameron and Colt just laughed at it.”

Her face contorted in disgust as she told the story, and to her relief, she saw similar looks on Apollo and Alexander’s faces.

“So I went back to the stage to clear my stuff out for the next day, and that’s when I saw them. Cameron and Colt, um… changing.” The pit of her stomach iced over as she uttered those last words and glanced swiftly from Apollo to Alexander. The only sign of surprise in them was the way Alexander cocked his brow a bit, giving him a look of sophisticated calm.

“What do you mean by ‘change’?” Apollo asked, his voice betraying nothing but iron control, no emotion at all lingering behind the words.

“I mean, shift into two… dragons. Huge-ass dragons with black scales, wings and tails right out of
Jurassic Park.
And probably brains the size of T. rex’s,” Jade blurted out.

Instead of snorts of derision, she was met with a round of laughter from the Goldplains twins. Alexander visibly relaxed, and Apollo kicked back his beer, grinning.

“What’s so damn funny?” Jade asked, bristling a bit. Okay, so she knew it sounded ridiculous, but
come on
.

“Trust me, dragons have far larger brains,” Alexander said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. We
are
dealing with the Blackscales, after all,” Apollo bit back, garnering another set of snorted laughter from the two men.

“So,” Alexander said, turning his laser-focused attention back on her, though a sliver of a smile hung to his lips. It made him even more ridiculously fuckable than before, which Jade thought was a great injustice to her in general. Being cooped up with these absolutely
beautiful
men while making a fool of herself? Torture in its purest form. “You think we’re dragons too, don’t you?” he asked, sending her off-kilter with the way his blue eyes locked on her greens, and his gaze almost implored her to say yes.

“Well, aren’t you?” she asked, taken aback by Alexander’s straightforwardness. She watched Alexander share a look with Apollo, before giving her a wicked grin.

“What if we were?”

“Then I’d say that it’s fucking amazing how you’ve managed to keep it hidden from the public for so long,” she said, relaxing a little and taking a swig from her beer.

“You’d be surprised at what pure bricks of gold can do for anonymity,” Apollo commented wryly, giving her one of those devastating winks of his.

“So it’s true then? You’re dragons?” she asked, trying to keep the stutter of excitement out of her words. Alexander and Apollo shared a long look between themselves, and the anticipation was killing her. Finally, Alexander gave her a short nod, and she let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding in.

“The next question is, why do you care?” Alexander asked, cutting through the niceties and making her cheeks burn again.

“I… I think I’m in trouble.”

“You can say that again,” Apollo murmured.

“Because the Blackscales figured out that you know, right?” Alexander asked. Jade nodded her head meekly, nursing the beer bottle and wishing that the lovely serenity Alexander had planted in her didn’t fade so damn quickly.

“It’s just… I can’t imagine them being okay with me being out there, knowing. Every show, I saw their darkness spread further. They have this black wave, sort of like your gold, that sweeps over the crowd and makes them do things they wouldn’t normally do. It made me do and think things I shouldn’t have either,” she admitted, those dry heaves threatening to come back again.

“So you came to us because you thought we could help?” Apollo asked, no judgment souring his words.

“Yes,” Jade admitted. “I thought, maybe, they wouldn’t come after me if I was with you guys. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal. But I guess I was wrong.” She swept a hand over Apollo’s trashed suite, broken glass and splintered furniture scattered around in unkempt piles. Her chin quivered a little as the magnitude of the destruction dawned on her. All because she had made a dumb assumption and dragged these shifters, who had nothing to do with her into her mess.

Before a tear could roll down her cheek, Apollo was there, pushing one of her jet black locks out of her face with one hand while his other rested on the small of her back, caressing her softly and sending little waves of pleasure wafting through her. She looked up at him and then to Alexander, and to her surprise, both of them looked sternly decided. They stood like watchmen over their mark, as if promising to guard over her.

“No, you were right to come to us, Jade,” Alexander said softly.

“We won’t let anything happen to you,” Apollo agreed. “You are safe, Jade. No matter what.” It sounded like a promise he would die to keep. It scared her a little, but at the same time, it filled her with a sense of ease and hope she’d long given up on.

Maybe it’ll be alright?