Page 41 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Ashley

V anni held me in my arms and fucked me against the shower wall, driving into me with such force I expected my back would bruise from where I pressed against stone.

He had a vise grip on my waist, his fingertips digging into my flesh with a delicious burn, which combined with his deep-seated thrusts into me, sent me over the edge in a matter of seconds.

Although he fucked hard and enjoyed giving me the pain I craved, Vanni was gentle afterward, washing my body and hair with homemade products smelling of herbs.

I wondered over Primrose and her solitary life in the cavern and also what her plans were since the three of us had shown up.

There was no question in my mind that Vanni and I would be staying with Dolyn for however long we needed to finish the bonding process and make a decision of where we would reside together.

Would the three of us being in the space she’d had all to herself for years bother her?

Did our humanness unsettle her as it still seemed to do with Dolyn?

Although he longed for us, his hesitation, his distaste for our lesser blood, festered inside me. I fought to keep my hurt contained, for I didn’t want him to change his mind toward us out of pity.

I knew we weren’t worthy of a full-blooded one such as himself, but I also felt he shouldn’t simply toss aside what fate had destined for him—a life beyond loneliness and longing he’d experienced before meeting us.

We needed to sit and talk things through, the three of us communicating what we felt, what we wanted, and how to create the bond we all longed for.

We also needed to discuss the rental SUV down the mountain, the lack of clothing other than the old T-shirt I wore that fell to my thighs, and the matching one Vanni had pulled on along with an old pair of jeans so outdated I wondered how they didn’t fall apart at the seams.

Squeezing tightly to Vanni’s fingers, I followed him down a hallway, the lantern in his other hand.

Remnants of Dolyn’s energy emanated from the light of the cavern opening ahead, and Primrose hadn’t been joking about his grumpiness I could feel in rolling waves of tumultuous emotions the closer we drew.

My heart fell at the thought of a fight before the calm.

He seemed up in arms, ready to rip into someone—but the sense wasn’t as potent as I’d expected when we walked into the cavernous room. I realized he’d gone deeper, down into the depths of this place rather than outside. Still, the fact he’d chosen to hide away from us caused my eyes to well.

I blinked away tears, and Vanni kissed the back of my hand while setting the lantern down on the counter and extinguishing it as natural light flooding through the many windows set in the far wall illuminated the living area generously.

A gorgeous sight lay beyond the glass, but I was too caught up in my thoughts to appreciate the beauty of a white-covered Wyoming spreading out before us.

“We’ll make this right,” Vanni murmured, the soothing emotion I swore had to be love shimmering through the energy between us.

Nodding my trust in him, I attempted a smile.

He wiped his thumb under my eye, swiping off the droplet of moisture that fell. “None of that, or I’ll have to beat his ass extra hard when I finally get him strung up.”

A shot of lust licked at my clit, and I squeezed my thighs together.

“Hmm.” One of Vanni’s eyebrows rose as he studied my face. “You’d like to watch me punish our beta, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” I dropped my gaze from the heat in his eyes.

“Flogger, whip, or cane?”

I breathed an unsteady breath past my twitching lips. “Yes.”

Vanni chuckled. “Naughty girl. What would Dolyn think, I wonder?”

“He wants the same.”

My head jerked up for the second time that morning at Primrose’s unexpected voice, my face heating. She meandered into the kitchen with a small bag in hand, the same vintage robe wrapped around her body as earlier.

“Does the all-knowing Primrose have any idea how I might sway him into eagerly submitting to his desires?” Vanni questioned, a hint of teasing in his voice as he poured two mugs of coffee from a percolator that looked to have seen better days.

“He needs to realize that you are worthy of him first. Once that’s settled in his arrogant mind, he’ll gladly fall to his knees before you.”

Vanni groaned, sending a similar shiver of excitement through my blood.

“And when you’re finally bonded, you’ll never have to worry about what he’s thinking or feeling ever again. It’ll be as though he’s speaking directly to your mind.”

“You’re serious?” Vanni asked, returning to my side and handing a cup of coffee to me.

She tipped her head to the side. “What reason would I have for lying?”

Vanni didn’t reply, and Primrose turned her focus on me. “You aren’t broken.”

I sputtered the sip I’d taken of the piping hot brew. “I—I know that.”

“Do you?”

I nodded as I considered all of the healing that had taken place in the previous couple of weeks.

“You were formed to match both alpha and beta,” Primrose stated, her tone softer than earlier.

“If changing the past removed your trauma, you wouldn’t have found this love or have empathy in your heart for a certain tortured soul.

You were crafted into the female your mates need, one who understands, a woman who is perfect as-is—scars and all. ”

My eyesight hazed over again, and Vanni wrapped an arm around my waist.

Warmth seeped into me, and I pressed in closer to my alpha and master, my heart…overcome, my mind full of Primrose’s promise. “Thank you,” I whispered.

A soft smile lightened Primrose’s steady gaze.

My focus dropped to the bag in her hand. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“I am.” She moved toward the door and turned to face us. “I wish you the best of luck in getting past Grandpapa’s stubbornness.”

Vanni chuckled, but I found myself saddened she was departing so soon.

“When will you come back?” I asked, suddenly wishing I’d had more time with my beta’s only living relative.

She glanced out one of the windows, blinking as though already long gone. “When I’ve found my mates.”

“You aren’t exactly dressed for the weather.”

I glanced over her thin covering again at Vanni’s statement.

“I don’t need clothing.” She shimmied the material off her body, and instant envy filled me over her lush curves—pert nipples on breasts still unaffected by age, tiny waist Vanni’s hands would easily span, and shapely thighs I expected men would enjoy gripping while fucking into her.

“Calm yourself, baby,” Vanni whispered against my hair, nuzzling against my scalp.

I realized a growl rumbled my chest, and I quieted with a gulp, my face heating as Vanni slid his palm down my back and over my ass cheek to squeeze.

“He doesn’t want me, Ashley,” Primrose stated, and considering she could basically read minds, I had to believe her.

“Your alpha’s desire burns for you and has since the day he first saw you.

” She smiled, and my breath caught at her beauty, the light in her eyes so similar to Dolyn’s that my heart ached.

“ That is what I’m off to find for myself now that I can put Tiggy’s care into Grandpapa’s hands. ”

“Who’s—”

She stepped outside before Vanni finished his question.

As one, he and I moved toward the window to watch her.

Primrose stood on the veranda’s edge, bag in hand, head tipped back, and eyes closed as though breathing in freedom, expecting destiny to drive her forward in the way she ought to go. She bent her knees and leaped into the air, falling from sight.

I screamed, my coffee sloshing onto the stone floor. My heart landed in my throat as a pale, golden dragon shot straight up into the sky, bag clutched in her front claws.

“Holy shit!” Vanni breathed. “Fucking hell! This shit is absolutely one hundred percent truth. Jesus Christ!”

I huffed a shaky laugh. “We didn’t just imagine that, did we?”

“Nope.” Vanni shook his head, staring after the massive beast diminishing in the distance.

“She’s amazing—huge,” I said, squinting to keep her in sight.

“Dolyn is even more impressive than his granddaughter.”

I tore my gaze off Primrose’s shimmering form as it faded in the cold, blue sky to peer up at Vanni. “When did you see him in his dragon form?”

“When he rescued us from the snow last night.”

“He…what?”

“Held us in his claws and took us on the ride of a lifetime.”

“Damn! I missed it!”

Vanni kissed the pout off my lips. “I’m sure he’ll fly with you if you want. That man will do whatever the fuck you tell him to do.” A glint lit his eye.

“What are you thinking? I’m getting something crafty going on in your energy…some manipulative tactic.”

“Beg him to submit to me.”

I pressed my lips together, expecting he would feel my disapproval.

“Fine.” He huffed and sipped his coffee, a twinkle in his eyes as he stared down at me.

“What did he look like?” I asked, still annoyed I’d missed out on seeing our beta in his other form.

“His beast? Beautiful. Massive. Sexy as fuck .” Vanni all but groaned the words, pressing down on his thickening bulge.

His arousal licked at my skin, dampening me between the thighs, and he smirked. “Should we go find our beta and talk him into us?”

“Talk him into me —and you into him ,” I whispered, so turned on by the thoughts of bonding in that way my limbs shook.

Vanni’s gaze narrowed, fire and darkness swirling in his eyes. “A bit of pain for him first, I’m thinking, for leaving us back in New York then not being in our bed when we woke this morning.”

“Mmm.” I squeezed my thighs together. “Can I watch?”

He chuckled and clasped my free hand with his. “If that’s what my female wants, that’s what she’ll get.”

“And if he fights?”

Vanni sobered as we stared at each other. “He could kill me with a mere flick of his fingers. All it would take would be a thin ribbon of the dragon fire I watched him shoot from his lips last night to light the fireplace.”

A shiver covered my skin with goose bumps, and I swallowed, glancing at the massive stone chimney and the pile of blackened bits of wood on the grate. “Perhaps we ought to discuss things through with him before you attempt to dominate.”

“I don’t think he’ll hurt me.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked, studying his eyes, searching for the answer. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing one of my mates, dragon or human. Such an event would leave me devastated, beyond hope of healing from grief no matter which was left by my side.

My inside friend agreed with a pained whimper, causing my throat to tighten.

“Had Dolyn wanted to harm me, he’d have given me more than a bruised cheek that night we first met.”

Vanni had a point.

“He could have burst my body into flames for touching what he saw as his.”

“I am his,” I reminded my alpha.

Vanni’s smirk appeared again, lessening the intensity of his stare. “You’re also mine, and while I’m willing to share, I’m also the only one allowed to dole out punishment and pain. If he ever touches you, causes you pain outside the bedroom in any way…”

“He won’t.”

“How can you be sure?” Vanni echoed my question.

“I can feel it.” I pressed my palm against my chest. “Here.”

Vanni’s gaze dropped to my hand and back to my eyes.

“Seems you’ve bonded more with him than I have. I can’t tell what the fuck he’s gonna do—just get slammed with his emotional reactions.”

I squeezed his fingers and glanced toward the hallway Dolyn must have disappeared into. “Then let’s go lay it all out on the table. Talk it out. Fuck it out. Do whatever it takes to make him fully ours so there won’t be any question about his thoughts or feelings, like Primrose said.”

Vanni dipped his head and started toward the hallway calling out to me, taking a quick sip of his coffee before setting it on the counter. I did the same. “You really believe this isn’t some parallel universe, do you?”

“Yes, and I know you do too, otherwise, you wouldn’t have left your club and building in Manhattan without a backward glance.”

He frowned. “That’s something else we have to figure out.”

“What?”

“Packing up all our shit and getting it over here where it belongs.”

Belongs , the voice in me echoed, and I’d never been surer of anything in my life. If only we could make Dolyn realize the same.