Page 45 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Dolyn

M orning light spilled through my bedroom window, and I considered the days that had passed since I’d rid the earth of that piece-of-shit human being who’d traumatized my female and those other young girls.

After drinking down his screams and reveling in my satisfaction, I’d flown into New York and stayed in my suite.

Being away from my mates had made thinking easier, and even though I expected they mourned my disappearance, I wasn’t yet ready to humble myself and return to take my place as their beta.

My emotions had been roused by reading ancient texts and Father’s word in my memory, and I’d been an absolute asshole to Vanni.

The reactions had been instinctual on my human half’s part, and not for the first time, I cursed Father and the indoctrination—hardly “wisdom”—he’d pounded into my brain until I believed I was superior in every way.

What I wouldn’t have given for another chance to talk to him.

Confront him on his pressuring me into being something I clearly was not.

Even knowing the truth now, I struggled to accept it.

Unable to figure out what held me back from accepting what fate graciously offered, I continued to lag in making any decision regardless of my inner beast’s pleadings to return to our mountain home.

He’d found a massive sense of peace while there, the feeling of being welcomed with open arms. We both adored our granddaughter, yet another situation I continued to consider heavily.

Even though we’d shared our stories, and I’d taught her what I could through our blood bond, I feared for her safety.

And the gift she’d given me…

I smiled at the memory of Tiggy, my heart aching for missing him almost as much as my mates.

Go home.

Unrest should have had me up and moving, but I buried deeper into my silken sheets, wishing to ignore what lay ahead. But there would be no putting off the return for much longer. My chest felt cracked open with no female to soothe, no alpha to quiet my mind?—

Elijah .

Eyes clenched shut, I huffed a heavy exhale. My beast didn’t suggest we beg to submit to Elijah’s hand. He assured me we had someone to talk to, a pure Blood Born who just might know exactly what I faced in my racist thoughts I struggled to heal from.

Had he accepted his mates without concern over their being mostly human? Did Jon, his beta, give him what he needed even though he didn’t have enough dragonblood to shift? Would they be able to procreate even though their blood wasn’t pure enough?

“Fuck.” I scrubbed a hand over my face and growled. Could Ashley accept our seed and have the strength to carry our young? My stomach twisted into knots even though I’d felt sure she would. While we three might have dragonblood, would it be the proper potency to produce offspring?

Primrose existed because of me and my old lovers having created her mother. The Canadian twins who’d fathered her had come from somewhere. Surely, that history of our kind continued to be true.

But what if it wasn’t? What if something had taken place in the twenty-something years since Primrose’s birth? What if the dragonblood energy faded from the earth with every passing year? What if destiny intended our extinction, and no other Blood Born womb would support life?

Was a real bond even possible? I’d never witnessed one, had only read books and learned from secondhand experience through Papa and my mother.

But that had been close to four hundred years ago.

Too many questions and no answers had me climbing from bed, cloaking, and striding straight outside into the cold. I slid the slider shut and launched myself off my balcony. Muscle and bone expanded, skin morphing into scales, and I shot up into the sky, banking to head northeast.

While I trusted Elijah to tell me the truth of how he fared with his lovers, I needed to see with my own eyes that bonding with mostly humans was possible, that they would fit seamlessly as they ought to as fated mates of ones such as us.

With every flap of my sinewy wings, I flew faster, miles skimming past beneath me in a brown and snowy white blur.

At least the sun’s beams caressed my flank, the side of my face, and tucked legs as I travelled.

The warmth seemed promising, an assurance that not just spring lay in wait but answers and confidence as well.

A couple of hours later, I landed on Elijah’s veranda overlooking the White Mountains where his home nestled. Fresh snow covered the stone, the one-way windows only revealed to me because of my dragon sight.

I strode forward but had the decency to knock since I no longer had the right to let myself in unannounced.

The door yanked inward before I could draw breath.

Elijah stood across the threshold, freshly showered and in low-slung lounge pants, eyes an icy pale blue. He’d always been gorgeous to me, but for the first time, arousal didn’t shiver my skin in his intimidating presence. “Dolyn.”

“Can I come in?” I asked, my voice low and calm, my body vibrating over the possibility of him turning me away without the answers I sought.

He glanced down over my nakedness, merely making note of my lack of clothing, but stepped back, motioning me forward.

My inner beast breathed a sigh of relief, but I kept mine from being audible and revealing weakness.

No.

Lips in a thin line, I told myself what my inner beast had: I needed to stop with the shit Father had taught me that had discolored my thoughts toward myself.

A quick scan around the cavern revealed the absence of Elijah’s mates, lowering my hope for good news. “Where are Jon and Dakota?”

“Hurrying to finish in the shower. They feel your presence and will be down shortly.” He motioned toward the couch where a throw blanket draped.

My shoulders relaxed. “The bonding ritual worked, I take it?”

“Indeed, it did.” Pleasure coated his tone, and I breathed a little easier at having one of my questions answered so quickly.

I wrapped the material around my waist, doing what I would have wanted him to do if the roles were reversed.

“Coffee?” he asked, ever the gracious host.

“Please.”

Elijah headed into the kitchen. “You found your mates?”

“I have.”

“And have you bonded with them?”

“Not yet—I wasn’t sure it was possible with how human they are, but you lay that fear to rest.” I settled at the island, watching the pure Blood Born work. Muscle rippled over his wide shoulders and back, but I had no wish to touch him. Kiss him. Bend over for him?—

A snort drew my gaze to the top of the stairs as Elijah set a mug in front of me.

“What the fuck do you want this time?” Jon stood there in a pair of shorts, his longer blond hair dripping water onto his chest and running down into the waistband of his shorts. He had obviously felt my presence in his home and hastened to finish showering.

I grinned, loving how his eyes narrowed into a threatening glare.

As if the man could hurt me. A chuckle rumbled in my chest over the fact he’d rushed to ensure I didn’t make a move on his alpha.

Jealousy was a delicious thing, and even though I would have loved to provoke Elijah’s beta, I hadn’t visited to get into a fight that would end up with Elijah’s hands around my throat.

“I’m here seeking answers,” I assured Elijah’s beta. “Nothing more.”

Jon’s lips pressed tight, eyes wary with mistrust.

Their female, Dakota, arrived on the landing in leggings and one of Elijah’s large button-down shirts that swallowed her up. Her wet hair twisted into a knot atop her head. She slid her hand into her husband’s.

“Keep your eyes to yourself, asshole,” Jon muttered at me.

Elijah stared at them as they descended, love and so much goddamned devotion in his gaze that my chest split in two.

My smile dissolved but not out of disappointment over having lost him to lesser beings. I wanted what the three of them shared, longed for it with every cell in my body.

The nearly-humans sidled up to their alpha, and Elijah kissed them both on the mouth in greeting. Jon shot me a cocky smirk after their quick lip-lock.

I was tempted to roll my eyes but refrained.

Elijah leaned against the counter, his mates bracketing his massive body, Dakota for what appeared to be soothing reasons with how she snuggled into him, and Jon with a satisfied grin. He trailed his hand over Elijah’s pecs, down his washboard abs, his intent clear.

Elijah grasped Jon’s hand before his beta could cup his bulge.

Biting back my snicker over Jon being denied and unable to physically stake his claim in front of me, I decided to address all three of them as equals since they’d been drawn together by fate.

“I’m sorry for disturbing what must still be the honeymoon phase.”

Dakota’s face flushed.

Jon smirked. “Don’t see it ending anytime soon. We can’t stop fucking. Elijah’s massive cock, the delicious sweetness of his cum, how he perfectly fits us in every single way—it’s heaven on earth. Fucking perfection.”

“Enough,” Elijah muttered, swatting Jon’s ass.

It was his beta’s turn to redden even though he gave his alpha a bratty stare that promised his punishment later.

My backside stung for the poor man. Elijah’s arm packed one hell of a swing no matter the toy he wielded.

Deciding to spare Jon from the embarrassment he had brought on himself, I continued. “I’m in need of Elijah’s wisdom as the only alpha royal Blood Born left on earth.”

“You’ve accepted your position.” Elijah didn’t question, but I nodded over him having caught me admitting his position of authority, something we’d constantly fought over in our years together.