Page 6

FIVE

MAC

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

I gulp down fresh air, but it’s not helping. The tug in my chest is persistent, needy, pushing me to go back. When I glance at the ring adorning my finger, my skin erupts in a flutter of scales, my dragon purring.

“Oh, now don’t you start too. It’s a mistake.”

My attempt at reason doesn’t do shit as the continuous pull back toward my hoard intensifies. What am I supposed to do now? I stole Drax’s ring and now he thinks we’re mated? Excellent work on “step one: don’t make things worse.” Fuck me, why do I always find a way to ruin my own life?

The memory of his hot tongue snaking around my cum covered fingers, cleaning my flesh, spreads through me. My cock bounces with renewed interest and my dragon rumbles with approval.

No. Just because Drax is the hottest creature I’ve ever laid eyes on, both in human form and demon form, doesn’t mean any of this is a good idea. I tug uselessly at the ring again, whimpering.

I look at the door again. I have to go back in there and face this. I can’t leave a demon locked in my hoard room. There has to be a reasonable way to navigate this. Somehow, I’ll get the ring off, give it back, and he can go on to find his actual mate. That’s a plan.

With shaky legs, I return to the room, carefully pushing the door open and stepping inside.

I find Drax standing over a table of my treasures, his head cocked, and his human appearance faded away.

His skin flickers with inner light, like a fireworks show, his spine is dotted with nodules that look soft and round, and his tail twitches back and forth.

His body is covered with fur, but not entirely, revealing patches of delectable looking flesh.

His ass is a work of art. That thing is tight, round, and furry, bouncing every time his tail moves. My gaze follows the length of his body to the floor to see his feet. We can call them feet. “Hooves” is probably more accurate, but he does seem to have toes with sharp talons on the ends.

“Uh, Drax?”

He swings around, his gaze warming when he sees me. “Mate.”

“Yeah. About that?—”

“Where did you get these things?” He gestures widely, indicating my entire hoard, not any particular item.

Shit, is he pissed I’ve spent a millennium robbing demons? I swallow hard and shrug.

“I’ve collected them.”

“Collected,” he repeats, carefully cradling a chalice I stole ages ago.

I brace for the usual wave of possessive fury to hit me.

No one should be touching my precious hoard.

It’s for me alone… and my mate one day, if I ever get around to having one.

A real one. But surprisingly, my dragon doesn’t react.

No, that’s not true, he does react, but instead of rage, he preens.

“Interesting,” Drax murmurs, unaware of the silent battle going on inside me.

“Is it?” I ask hoarsely.

He nods thoughtfully and sets the chalice back down.

“So, the mating ring… how does it work?” I do my best to sound casual and resist the urge to tug on the damn stuck ring again. Maybe there’s a trick to it, like one of those finger trap things.

Drax tilts his head, his brow deeply creased with confusion. “It seems you know the answer because I’m here.” He smiles, revealing sharp, pointy, but very white teeth.

“Pretend I don’t and explain it to me, please?”

“I was always told as a wee demon that one day I would meet another being and I would know in my deepest truth that they were my mate. I would present my ring, and they would take it, and wear it for eternity, intricately binding our souls together, never to part.” Drax gazes up and my breath catches from the sight of the shimmery swirls of pink on his cheeks.

“I’ve waited a long time to meet you, Mate. ”

“But that’s not how this went.” My voice rises several octaves with panic. How is my dragon still so calm about this? Have I just fucked up so many times that the stupid lizard has ceased to give a shit about it?

Drax gives me a serious look, like he’s preparing to reason with a toddler having a meltdown. “You took my ring and put it on. Why did you want it if not to be my mate?”

I close my eyes for a second and rub my forehead. Me and my sticky fingers and my fetish for demon artifacts. “It’s pretty,” I admit. “I like pretty things. I’m a dragon. It’s kind of what we do.”

Drax grins. “All mating rings are pretty, but you chose my ring. Now I will spend eternity pleasing you.”

He says it so simply, like none of this is even a question. We just met today! You can’t mate with someone you don’t even know. My brother, Lord, and his accidental mating aside.

“Are you sure it’s not my form displeasing you?” he asks again. “I can be anything you like. Watch.”

His body shivers and his features turn from what I would describe as male to distinctly feminine. His cock turns inward, his pec muscles swell, elongating his nipples, and his jaw softens.

“Do you prefer a female demon?”

“Okay, hot, but no. You look good the way you are.”

“Oh.” Drax shivers again, returning to his original form. “I could make anything bigger or smaller.”

His cock grows several inches, taking on a girthier look. My mouth waters and my dragon surges forward again, my eyes shifting to take in the demon. Good to know my demon fetish extends to their physical form and not just their treasures.

“That’s impressive, but it’s not how you look, Drax. You’re gorgeous.”

He preens, dragging a clawed hand through his long locks.

“As you know, I can appear human too for the times when we go out in this realm. We have human behavior books in the underworld I can read. I’ll learn to be your perfect mate.

” He radiates warmth I can feel from across the room.

“I’m not an incubus, but I am, and always will be, available to you.

Your needs, your pleasure, anything you desire, are my soul focus. ”

Oof. That’s a lot. Heady. But there’s just no way I’m ready to be someone’s mate. I’m so young, and I have a lot more to do before I get tied down to just one being for eternity. As sweet as Drax seems, it’s just not gonna work out.

I’ll figure out how to break this bond without hurting his feelings. This isn’t the first mess I’ve gotten myself into. Clearly not even the first one today. I’ll get myself out of it. Somehow.

Drax steps closer, wrapping his tail around my thigh. I sway without meaning to, my eyelids fluttering.

“If I am not all you desire, I will be. You can count on that.”

“It’s not that, Drax. I didn’t mean to?—”

“Didn’t mean what?” He drags his claws softly along my jaw, careful not to slice my skin, even though we both know I would heal instantly.

“You delight me. I’ve always wanted my very own mate, and here you are.

I never thought it would be Auri who introduced me to mine, but what a pleasant surprise.

Would you like to see all I can do to bring you pleasure? ”

Without waiting for my answer, he sinks to his knees.

Oh, he’s even more beautiful from this angle.

He runs his hands up my thighs, his touch hot even through my clothes.

My cock swells and aches, like I didn’t just come jerking myself off ten minutes ago.

He tugs on my pants, and I gasp, fumbling to pull them back up.

Drax nudges my hands away and presses his face into my cock and balls.

“Drax. We should talk more before you?—”

“Do you not desire me, mate?” he asks in a low, rumbling voice.

My vision flickers and becomes clearer and more crystalline, my dragon pushing his way to the surface. “I do,” I purr, dragging my fingers through his hair. “But maybe we should get to know each other more.”

“There is no deeper knowledge than the intimacy bond.” Drax nips at the exposed flesh of my thigh, and I shiver.

“You are very beautiful, Drax.”

“I am yours, mate. Now, may I please you?”

I gasp, tugging a little harder on Drax’s hair as he unfurls his long, forked tongue and coils it around the base of my cock. I think I was trying to tell him no? Maybe? Fuck, his tongue is so wet though, and scorching hot, searing my skin in a way that might be painful if I weren’t a dragon.

I rock my hips involuntarily as more and more of his tongue snakes around the length of my cock, making it swell and throb like I haven’t come in weeks, even though I can smell the remnants of my recent release still clinging to my own skin.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to have any reasonable, rational thoughts with the scent of my hoard so strong in my nose and a demon’s impossibly long tongue pulsating around my shaft.

I groan and wobble towards him, abandoning my grip on his hair to brace my hands on his thick, sturdy horns.

Drax moans, the sound vibrating through me and tightening around my balls.

It’s impossible to miss the way his eyelids droop and his massive cock, swaying between his furry thighs, spasms and dribbles.

Are demon horns an erogenous zone? I test my theory, stroking both hands slowly up the length of his ivory horns, then back down again. Another horny sound rumbles in his throat and his writhing tongue constricts a little tighter around my cock.

“Oh fuck,” I pant, canting my hips again. If his tongue is this hot and wet, I can only imagine how good the inside of his mouth feels. We’re already accidentally mated; how much worse could one blow job actually make this?

“ Is that what you want, Mate? To fuck? ” Drax’s words sound in my head just as clearly as if he spoke them out loud, except this way he didn’t have to uncoil his stroking tongue from around my cock, so that’s handy. Dammit, demons are cool.