Page 40 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Dolyn

L ate morning light flooded through the windows of the main living space. Not a speck of dust lined a single surface, not a streak or smudge on the glass letting in the rising sun.

I stood in the warm beams and sipped the coffee Primrose had left out, my mind full of conflicting emotions.

I was torn, yet happy. In the short time alone with my granddaughter, I’d gotten to know her, and although young, her knowledge and her ability to hear some of my thoughts staggered my reality.

In addition to her, fate had gifted me mates, a dream I’d given up on.

But lingering distaste of being beta to a human male turned my stomach.

I took another sip of coffee regardless of the pit in my gut.

My head insisted neither Vanni nor Ashley were worthy of my blood, but the physical connection, the contact we had shared last night solidified the truth of who they were in the depths of my soul.

I closed my eyes against the sunlight, remembering the exquisite pain Vanni had lavished on me, the bruising that had faded much too quickly because of my dragonblood and its ability to heal faster than a human.

Our mates will have no such benefits.

“Sure they will.”

My eyelids jerked up at Primrose correcting my inner beast.

She meandered to the old-fashioned coffee percolator and poured herself a cup, Tiggy heeling on her left side.

“Explain,” I demanded, wishing the dog had come to me like his swiveling head and needy gaze suggested he wanted to do. I even patted my thigh, causing him to whine, but he stayed by her. Such loyalty—he was an excellent beast, one deserving of much praise.

“An alpha’s cum prolongs his mates’ lives,” Primrose explained as if I were a child.

“Meaning Vanni’s will for Ashley, but what about him? He’s mostly human.”

My beast purred over my inadvertently admitting to Vanni’s position in our trio.

I grimaced, my insides twisting hard enough my chest threatened to cave inward.

“As a royal Blood Born, yours will sustain him, as will the bond once you let go of your stubbornness.”

Eyes closing, I fought to breathe evenly as my cock swelled inside its denim prison. I could see Vanni on his knees for me, drinking me down and begging for more. Not for the first time, I imagined bonding with my mates, and the desire to do so sent warring feelings through my mind and heart.

“Someday, I’m going to find the ones meant for me. I can’t wait to share all I know.”

Her statement ripped my thoughts off my own issues. My jaw clenched at the idea of two human males touching my granddaughter.

“Relax, Grandpapa,” she said, her voice snippy. “While I appreciate your protective instincts, I don’t need you to hold my hand. I’ve done well enough without you since birth.”

Talk about a dagger to the chest.

She shrugged, too damn privy to my emotions. “Go on, Tiggy, you little love bug. I know you want to.”

Tiggy leapt toward me but drew up in front of my legs, tongue lolling as he smiled up at me.

“Good boy,” I murmured, crouching down to scratch behind his ears. He flipped onto his back, big brown eyes begging me for tummy scratches. “I’m going to spoil you rotten, yes I am.” I chuckled as he sneezed, giving him exactly what he wanted.

Primrose snickered. She’d propped herself against the kitchen counter to watch me with her dog— my dog. Another sip of her coffee, and she straightened her old robe that fell to mid-thigh. “I’m leaving today.”

I’d sensed her itchy feet but hadn’t realized the extent of her drive. “Where are you going?” I asked while standing, Tiggy laying his head on my bare foot.

She glanced out the windows, at the snow-covered foothills falling below us. “I’m not sure, but now that you’re here…I feel as though something is calling me out there into the endless world.”

“It’s hardly endless,” I grumbled, trying to swallow down my disappointment she wanted to leave after our just having found each other.

“You need the cavern to yourselves for a while.”

Yessss.

“You have to bond properly, and I have no desire to be around for that .” She shuddered.

“We’ll be discreet, I promise. Please stay.”

Primrose snorted. “Vanni is hardly discreet. He was just lying up there with his penis stiff as a rod, his attempt to cover that monster with a single hand laughable.”

“What?” Anger and instant lust raced through me. My cock went hard in a blink.

“He and your female were kissing.” She waved her hand. “Doing… things .”

“In front of you?” I couldn’t keep the anger from my voice even though the memory of touching and fucking roused me.

“Ashley hopped off him the second I walked in and buried herself under the sheet.”

“Did you knock first?”

She tipped her head to the side as though baffled by my annoyance. “Why would I knock in my own home?”

I heaved a sigh. “You’re not ready to expand your horizons, Primrose. There’s so much you don’t know about people. Privacy.”

“I’m going.” She glanced out the window again.

Feeling her stubbornness, and well aware who she’d inherited that character trait from, I didn’t bother arguing. I pressed against my hard length, wishing the damn thing away, but it was no use. “Where does the pull come from?”

“The south.”

I considered her words while sifting through her excitement, anxiety, and desires.

While I had been certain Elijah and I had been the last dragonblood to roam the earth, I’d found that to be far from the truth.

Perhaps there were two worthy of her blood, an alpha and beta who would match her drive and intelligence.

“There was a Blood Born clan in the Grand Canyon before my birth,” I finally said, expecting the words would send her southward before the sun sank.

Her head jerked toward me, her thoughts without doubt flying as fast as a dragon’s wings would shoot her away from me.

“You’ll shift to make the journey?” I asked, swearing I could feel her desire to leave immediately.

“I can get there faster if I do.”

Rather than lecture her about men, relationships, and taking things slow, I held out my arms.

“No hugs until you put that away,” she said, moving toward me with a smirk, her finger pointing at my bulge.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Heat actually flooded my face—shame over my body’s desires for the first time in my goddamn life.

“Don’t be ashamed, Grandpapa,” Primrose said, reaching up to touch my cheek, and I didn’t argue the name she’d gifted me.

As a beta, papa fit better than father, even if I wasn’t too thrilled with my title—or station.

“You’re blessed to have found your mates.

I only hope I’m able to do the same someday. ”

“You’re always welcome home, Primrose.”

“Thanks, but I’ll definitely wait until you three get your relationship figured out—and can keep sexual actions in the bedroom where they belong.”

Tiggy lopped around us as I clasped Primrose’s upper body tight with my free arm, breathing in and memorizing the scent of rosemary from the soaps and shampoos she made. “A desire to bond with one’s mates oftentimes overrides one’s sense of propriety.”

She stepped back, her eyes gleaming. “I can’t wait to find that out for myself.”

I swallowed my groan along with a mouthful of cooled coffee as she flounced away.

Best she went out on her own, for if I shadowed my granddaughter, I would incinerate the first male to touch her.

She disappeared down the hallway, and I returned my attention to the beautiful creature sitting at my feet.

“You were her faithful companion, but now you’ll be mine. I hope that’s okay with you.”

Tiggy huffed a quiet bark and flopped again, showing me his belly.

“At least you see me as alpha,” I muttered, squatting to give the good boy what he wanted. I ran my fingers through his thick fur, thinking about Primrose and the future she planned to seek out.

No one would truly be worthy of her. A direct descendant of the royal line, more dragonblood than human, she ought to be mated to a prince. She deserved someone like Elijah.

My brow furrowed as I remembered his mates, the female doubtless already bonded to him.

Had she not been destined for him, I never would have found Ashley and Vanni.

For a brief moment, a flash of a heartbeat, I considered sending Primrose to my ex-lover, thinking perhaps if a better option stood before Elijah, a true Blood Born, he might set aside the married couple.

My inner beast huffed an amused snort.

I closed my eyes.

There was no breaking a dragonblood bonding. Once mated, the energy among the three would not be torn apart—even by death.

Mostly human mates wouldn’t live half the years my Primrose would, no matter the sustenance her alpha might provide their beta and vice versa. I had already lived more than three-quarters of my life, and still I wondered if I wouldn’t be alone when death finally arrived to take me to the stars.

At least Dahlia and Joseph hadn’t been by themselves when their end came.

Strangely, my heart no longer ached over the loss of them.

My mates’ energy lingered overhead, reminding me why. I could sense them moving around…fucking without me.

Inner dragon whimpering his need, I hissed as my dick pressed against my jeans’ zipper. But jealousy and hurt flooded through my human half, swarming the tensing of my stomach. Same as back in New York, I wanted to flee. Put distance between what I longed for yet feared.

I knew the truth of what I was—had recognized it decades ago—but acceptance did not come easily.

I pushed to my feet and strode toward the hallway that led into the cavern’s bowels, Tiggy on my heels.

I slipped into the darkness, my dragon sight making it easy to find my way deeper, giving me slight relief from my mates’ energy and the reminder I couldn’t escape my fate even if I wanted to.

Tiggy stayed close, his nails clicking on stone behind me.

A few caves branched off, leading to areas I had yet to revisit since returning home, but I kept to the main dragon-created hallway that led to my favorite place in the caverns.

A room that Primrose claimed she’d spent more time in than anywhere else.

It was also where she’d gained some of her knowledge of the world outside the mountain and that of her Blood Born ancestors.

The library opened before me, the scent of ancient manuscripts and newer paper soothing the tumbling emotions in my heart, returning me to my childhood.

I used to hide in these lower bowels to escape responsibilities and Father’s harshness.

Oftentimes, Papa and I would curl up on a couch, and I would fall asleep to his low voice reading from whatever text had caught his fancy.

I lifted my head and peered around the circular room and its ancient arches and rock-carved shelves lined with books.

Manuscripts in the ancient language I’d learned as a young dragon.

Books of a more modern era I had personally brought back to the cavern while living alone.

Hundreds of years, thousands of books…it was no wonder Primrose knew the things she did.

Most of the ancient writings had been translated into the human language by Papa, and although his grasp on all spoken languages outshone what any mere human could, he’d chosen English due to the continent our family had settled.

It had been the work that had kept him occupied after his female, my mother, had passed. He’d succumbed to old age a mere week before Father, and I had never been so alone in my life.

Glory in what you’ve found.

Teeth clenched against my dragon’s murmur, I moved into the massive cave, lighting a few lanterns to ease the strain on my dragon sight. While travelling through darkness didn’t tire my eyes, attempting to read fine print without real light would give me a headache.

Lantern in hand, I followed the curved wall, my fingertips trailing over dust-free spines and shelves. I didn’t know what I sought—other than escape. Iron stairs led to the balcony overlooking the cavern, that one, too, lined by shelves packed full of books.

Thinking to tire my mind by reading the ancient language would work to distract me, I pulled a tome off the far shelf and made my way back to the floor and old couches arranged in a square below.

Lantern on an end table and massive book spread open on my lap, I forced my eyes to focus as the language of old filtered through my memory.

A history of the dragonblood downfall.

No—choose another.

Lips pursed, I considered returning the book but kept on reading about how mankind had found a means of defeating the dragons long before we learned how to cloak our true forms.

My anger brewed, and while my inner beast begged me to shut the book, I continued on, feeding the racist thoughts inside my head, the ones filled with disdain for those lesser than Blood Born.