Page 23

NINETEEN

DRAX

My mate.

I can’t make myself stop clinging to Mac, even after I’ve pulled us back into the underworld.

I can’t stop breathing in the dizzying, addictive bonfire scent of his skin.

I can’t stop the way my arms and body curl around him, tucking him protectively against my chest where no mage or any other creature will ever be able to take him from me again.

And, for once, I don’t feel any resistance from Mac’s side of the bond.

His dragon comes to the surface and scales ripple across his skin.

“How are you feeling?” I ask, my throat tight with worry, making my voice even gruffer than usual.

I manage to ease my grip on him just enough to hold him at arm’s length so I can look him over, checking for any signs of injury or mistreatment, while I probe our bond at the same time. “Did he hurt you? Are you hungry?”

“Rune was by far the nicest captor I’ve ever had.

He was a vegetarian, but that’s about as much as I can complain about.

” He lets out a huff of a laugh, along with a tendril of smoke from his nostrils.

“Well, that and he did some kind of mage fuckery to keep my dragon on lockdown. I guess I feel kind of weird still.”

He rubs his hands over his face then rolls his shoulders like he’s trying to make his skin feel right on his body.

“You need to stretch your wings. Your dragon needs to reassert himself after being magically sedated for days.”

Mac looks at the wall on our left, then the one on our right.

“Auri’s hallways are ridiculously wide, but they’re not wide enough for a dragon,” he says with another chuckle.

“Then we shouldn’t stay at Auri’s.” I shrug, wrapping my hand around Mac’s wrist and pulling him through the void one more time.

Instead of taking him back to the human realm, I tug us through space to my favorite lake of fire, with a forest of barren trees surrounding it, two volcanoes in the distance, and the sky a deep shade of purple from the mixture of ash and fire in the air. “You can fly here, can’t you?”

He looks back and forth, the same way he did in the hallway, and then a smile curves his lips.

“Yeah, this should work.” He grabs his shirt by the back of the collar and tugs it over his head.

Instead of rippling and disappearing, his shimmering scales cover his chest and slowly creep down his arms. I remember his reaction when I touched them before, the tremble that rocked his body and the moan he swallowed down.

His scales are too tough for most weapons to penetrate, but they’re sensitive.

He sheds his pants next. Like his chest, his thighs are already covered in scales, and so is his cock, swinging soft and thick between his legs.

My mouth waters and heat stirs inside me.

Mac’s eyes wander over my own bare body like a caress, lingering a few extra seconds on my swelling erection.

He arches an eyebrow and gives me a playful smile.

“Was the flying idea just a ploy to get me naked?”

“More like an added benefit,” I answer honestly, curling my hands into fists at my sides to keep from reaching for him.

It feels wrong to resist my mate, especially when I can feel his desire flowing through our bond, but Atlas explained to me that sometimes you have to let them come to you.

“Do you want a ride?” Mac waggles his eyebrows, and my gaze drops to his cock again. He barks out a laugh. “On my dragon,” he clarifies.

I shake my head. “No. You fly, I’ll be here.”

I sit down on the ground, the lush moss making for a nice cushion to spread myself out on.

Mac closes his eyes for a moment, and I watch with awe as his muscles writhe and stretch, his whole body swelling and contorting.

With a satisfied groan, his human form melts away and his dragon towers over me.

“Hello, beautiful,” I purr, reaching out to pat his snout. He blinks slowly and nuzzles into my touch for a moment, our connection swelling with happiness and contentment.

“Let me put on a show for you, mate,” he growls. That word on his dragon tongue sends jolts of pleasure through me.

He crouches, then launches himself into the air.

I lie back, tuck one arm behind my head, and watch him soar across the sky.

He flips in midair and changes direction.

His wings flap and his large body bobs, learning the resistance of the new atmosphere and how the wind behaves.

He barrel rolls and flies in loops, showing off as he repeatedly tucks his wings and dives towards the ground, catching himself at the last moment every time then soaring upward again.

I whistle and cheer, delighting in the lightness and freedom I can feel pouring through our connection.

Mac dive bombs again, heading straight for me this time.

Is he trying to see if I’ll flinch? Is it a playful trust dive?

He extends his wings at the last second, but instead of taking off into the sky again, he collapses into his much smaller human form and falls the last few inches to land on top of me.

I grunt as he collides with me, catching himself with his hands braced on the ground beneath me and his knees on either side of me so he’s straddling me.

Bare skin on bare skin, both of our cocks half-hard, a playful smile on his lips.

My body quakes with need and my cock stiffens rapidly, but I keep my arms tucked behind my head, waiting to see what Mac wants.

He leans closer, bumping his nose against mine, and his expression sobers.

“I don’t know about this mate stuff,” he confesses in a whisper, his lips brushing mine with every word. “Our connection feels real, but we hardly know each other.”

“So, let’s get to know each other.” I know I sound eager and desperate, but there’s no place for shame when it comes to my mate. “Sex is a great way to get to know each other.”

Mac’s breath puffs against my lips as he laughs.

“I don’t want to break your heart, Drax,” he says, his hips twitching involuntarily to drag his aching cock against mine. His eyes flicker to dragon slits briefly, and he gasps, biting his lip as he grinds against me again.

“I’m an ancient demon. You think my heart is that fragile?” I untuck my arms from behind my head and drag a claw gently down the curve of his back, delighting in the shiver I draw from him. “Let me show you what a good mate I can be.”

He trembles again and I hold my breath, waiting for his answer. Truly, I think the only way my dragon could break my heart is if he decides to turn his back on fate altogether without giving us a chance.

He lets out a breath and his weight sags against me a little more, like he’s given up holding himself back.

“Okay,” he murmurs. “Show me what it’s like to have a demon for a mate.”

MAC

Like my words have given it permission, our bond opens like a floodgate. I didn’t realize it was narrow before, but I can feel the difference now. Drax’s emotions feel even more intense as they pour into my chest, full of warmth and desire and lust so desperate it makes it hard to breathe.

“Fuck,” I groan, grinding my cock against his, reveling in the massive girth and solid weight of it as our shafts drag together with every roll of my hips and my cockhead nudges his.

I dig my fingers into the soft moss on either side of his head and finally let myself sink into the kiss I’ve been craving for days.

His lips are hot and demanding when they meet mine.

We’ve only kissed a handful of times, but the taste of his mouth reminds me of home in a way I can’t quite explain.

His limber tongue snakes around mine, and with a wicked grin against his lips, I shift mine to its more dexterous dragon form.

He groans with delight, digging his clawed fingers into my ass cheeks as our tongues dance and tangle together.

Precum pours from me in thick spurts, coating his cock and both our bellies.

Patches of my skin ripple with dragon scales, and every time he brushes against them it makes me quake and moan.

Remembering how sensitive his horns were, I pull my fingers out of the dirt and wrap both hands around them.

Drax roars around my tongue and arches off the ground, drenching my cock with a spurt of his own precum.

My throat burns with the flames rising up from my gut.

We might be bonded the demon way, but my dragon is eager to give him our fire, to bind us the dragon way too.

It’s too soon though. I’m done fighting this, I’m ready to see if we’re actually compatible as mates, but I won’t give him my fire until I’m absolutely sure.

I untangle my tongue from his before my dragon can do something stupid and override my better judgment. Drax doesn’t seem to mind though, kissing and licking down the column of my throat instead, moaning at the taste of my skin and scales under his lips and tongue.

“Fuck me, Mac. Or let me fuck you. I’m not picky,” he begs, nipping at my flesh with the heat of hell, tearing deliciously at my throat, only for it to heal almost instantly.

“I have a knot now.” I smirk. “Want to try it out?”

Drax groans and nods. “Please, mate, knot me.”

My cock twitches eagerly against his, the base already throbbing with the promise of being locked in the tight heat of his ass, pumping my cum deep inside him and trapping it there.

I slither down his body slowly, flicking my tongue over patches of his leathery pink demon skin.

He tastes the same way it feels to step inside my hoard—indulgent and dreamy and addictive.

My dragon purrs at the thought of taking him back there, draping his body in shiny jewels and precious metals, placing demon pendants around his neck, and filling my mouth with his cock while he reads me passages from the demon books I’ve collected over the years.