Page 49 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Dolyn

I landed near the rented SUV that still sat half-buried in fresh snow, a bag of clothing clutched in my claws. The mountain in front of me called out, urging me to return, submit to my alpha, and accept my place in attempting to repopulate the human world with Blood Born dragon shifters.

But responsibilities needed looking after first.

I’d taken care of Ashley’s abuser, the largest and most important requirement for moving forward, but smaller details needed attending to.

My beastly form snorted at my human half, well aware of why I made him procrastinate.

Fear being the deciding factor, what Father had told me no royal Blood Born ever experienced.

But I’d been hampered by the emotion my entire life, even though I attempted to smother it.

Now, I acknowledged something I’d once seen as an imperfection but realized acted as another instinct to help protect our human half.

I’d always needed to be in control of things around me to be comfortable, and my relationships with Vanni and Ashley were no different. Once I completed the tasks before me and set things in order, I would feel free to take my place as beta.

A steady stream of dragon fire melted the snow around the vehicle Vanni had gotten from the airport and cleared the road they’d taken deeper into the wilderness to find me.

Once shifted into my human form and dressed in the clothing I’d brought along, I pulled the agreement paperwork from the glove compartment and drove toward civilization.

Every mile into Idaho and away from my mates heightened the ache in my chest, but I pressed on.

The cloaked flight back to Jackson Hole from the car rental place eased my breathing, but I wasn’t yet done.

I followed residual hints of Vanni’s musk and Ashley’s sweetness to the tiny hotel they had stayed in while searching for me, melted the lock to gain entry, and crashed on the bed they’d shared.

The scent of cum covered the bedding and made my mouth water.

Need .

I ignored the beast and nuzzled into Vanni’s pillow while clutching Ashley’s tight.

One last night of putting off my destiny, and I would accept my fate.

I dreamed of my mates, of our coming together with the intense fire Dakota’s vision had shown me.

Being surrounded by my two lovers, the bond forging our hearts and minds together, flooded me with desperate need.

I woke hard and aching but saved my release for the only two on earth who deserved my touch and pleasure.

I checked out of the motel room, their two suitcases they’d left behind in their search of me in hand.

Once away from human eyes, I shimmered out of existence and shifted. The flap of my wings blew the snow beneath me out in a swirling eddy, but I didn’t waste longer than necessary watching it spin as though a tornado had rippled over the small stretch of land south of town.

I set my gaze on my mountain, on the cloaked door of my home I could easily make out with my dragon sight. The sense of drawing closer to my mates caused my skin to tingle and insides to quiver.

Would they be too angry with me for abandoning them a second time that they refused our bond? Had I hurt them with my remarks to the point they would deny what had been destined by fate?

My throat tightened, but I didn’t push against the rising fear.

I also refused to berate myself as I once would have done for choosing a wrong decision in my selfishness.

Allowing forgiveness to myself didn’t lessen my anxiety, but I finally felt as though I’d done something right. Self-care, Elijah would have called it.

Shifting back on the veranda, I hastened to press my hand against the front door. Stepping inside soothed like a warm blanket, a mother’s caress to the forehead.

The scent of my mates, one soft and sweet, the other musky and similar to the brimstone far below the living quarters of our cavern, slid over me, tightening my groin and causing my mouth to water.

Yessss .

The clatter of toenails on the stone floor drew my attention to the other side of the kitchen.

“Tiggy,” I murmured, dropping the two suitcases and holding out my arms.

He yipped and leapt toward me, paws on my shoulders, wet tongue from lapping at his water bowl snaking over my cheek with a sloppy kiss.

“Who’s a good boy?” I crooned, scratching behind his ears, snickering when he wagged his tail so hard he almost toppled over. “Did you miss me, boy? Hmm?” Grinning, I gave him a quick pat to his head and stood.

The large living area was tidy, but the scents of my mates and cum lingered on every surface. They had fucked on the couch, against the front door—on the kitchen table.

My gaze slid to the hallway leading deeper into the caverns.

“Stay,” I ordered Tiggy with one last pet to his head.

Whining, he flopped onto the floor, head on his front paws.

Cock swelled and aching, I strode toward the cave that led down into the bowels of the mountain, my inner beast whimpering with the same need driving me forward.

My nose and my mates’ energy led me into the library, and I pulled up short as my gaze landed on the wall to my right.

The door hiding my family’s sacred mausoleum had been pushed inward without permission or authority.

None save a royal Blood Born could open the vault holding my ancestors’ incinerated bones.

Only Elijah and I had the power to do such a thing.

I hadn’t done so, which meant Elijah had somehow located and infiltrated my home.

I scented my mates beyond the threshold but not Elijah.

Was he somehow able to cloak his presence in ways I’d never learned?

Forehead furrowing and shoulders tightening, I hurried forward to find out what his intentions were toward the two who belonged to me.

I pulled up short on the threshold, my breath leaving in a rush.

Completely enthralled, both Vanni’s and Ashley’s palms lay atop my mother’s orb. Her aura rippled up their arms and around their bodies, lovingly embracing them both.

Warmth flooded through me, and heartbeat racing in my chest, I quickly scanned the room.

Elijah was nowhere to be found in the circular cavern.

My alpha— Vanni —was the only living male present. It didn’t matter that lesser dragonblood flowed through his veins. My mother had sensed the beast inside him, the heart of who my alpha was, and had allowed him entry.

My son.

Wetness gathered in my eyes as my mother’s beast whispered in my head.

You have always been worthy, more than enough to carry on our legacy.

Visions of Papa flitted through my head, causing my chest to ache.

Remember how he invested in and played with you. Adored every little part of who you are. Even now, he encourages you to follow your heart.

I wanted to question Father?—

The law isn’t always what one ought to decide their future upon.

My alpha father’s actual voice rumbled through my mind for the first time in centuries, and I closed my eyes, memories flashing through me, bringing a tumble of emotions I allowed in the hopes of healing.

Father showed me visions of discipline, hurtful words, punishments over my rebellion in my earlier years before I’d cowed beneath his authority.

I am sorry.

My muscles weakened as glorious solace swept through me.

I was wrong—and I see that now that I’ve passed beyond the realm of limited knowledge. I have made my peace with your papa, my kindhearted beta whom I adore. He has forgiven me for my mistreatment toward him, and I hope you will one day be able to do the same.

I swallowed hard, yearning to do that very thing, but as with everything when it came to my human half’s stubborn side, I would need time to come to acceptance of his apologies.

Right now, I had more important matters to deal with.

My mother’s light pierced through my mates’ chests in a flash of opal brilliance. Their contentment and joy radiated through the tether among us that would hopefully soon be an unbreakable bond.

Vanni and Ashley were a gift and blessing beyond what I had ever dreamed possible. Deserving beyond measure.

I had been a fool, one poisoned by insecurities, a sense of superiority over their species when all that mattered was their hearts and souls.

Their inner dragons.

The energy rippling off them assured me they wished to be bonded with me—would stand in the way of anyone wanting to do me harm. My mates would remain by my side until we too left this land to reside in the beyond.

A sense of calm settled over me regardless of the fluttering inside the deepest reaches of me.

Mother’s light lessened, but inner warmth radiated from my mates, Vanni’s a vibrant green, Ashley’s a pale gray, exactly as I’d seen in Dakota’s vision all those weeks ago.

Scaled beasts shimmered briefly around them like auras, catching my breath and causing my eyes to well.

Yessss.

Mine .

“Ours,” I whispered, as my mother’s pearlescence ebbed, pulling back into her orb.

My mates’ senses returned with a jolt, and they both spun. Only then did I take note of their nakedness, the scent of their combined cum in the air.

Ashley’s eyes glowed, and the flow of desire for me, beyond the tender release I could offer her, flooded the slight tether between us.

“Ashley.” I breathed her name as a prayer, and she tore from Vanni’s hold on her hand and rushed toward me, throwing herself into my arms. She settled against me, all soft and warm, her legs wrapping around my waist.

Although my cock swelled and nudged against her core, I needed her mind more than her body. “I’m so sorry.” My voice caught on a sob. “So fucking sorry for every goddamn?—”

She took my mouth, and I drank in her sweet breath, the love radiating from her, washing over me, and melting my muscles. “You’re forgiven,” she murmured. “Take me, my love.”

I sank to my knees, laying Ashley on her back beneath me. One shift of my hips led my aching shaft into the sweet haven of her embrace.

Home .

Longing for my alpha flooded my entire being as I buried in our female’s warmth.

A shudder rippled through my body, and I planked on my elbows to meet Vanni’s gaze as he squatted in front of me. “You’re fucking my female, boy.”

“I’m making love to our mate,” I corrected him, pulling out and sliding into her slick heat. Her tight sheath pulsed, trying to suck me deeper.

One of his brows rose, a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth.

My cock bucked in response.

“You think you can just waltz back in like a naked, irresistible Greek god and all will be forgiven and forgotten?” Vanni murmured, his gaze trailing over our bodies, nothing but lust washing through our tether.

“You can punish me for being an asshole later,” I said, holding his gaze, hoping he sensed my submission as I nudged a little deeper into Ashley’s warmth. “Right now, we need you. I need you.”

He smirked, already well aware of his mates’ yearnings. “Say please.”

Pleasssse.

My jaw clenched, a reaction born from years of stubbornness, but I deserved any shit Vanni thought to give me ten times over.

“ Please , my alpha,” I begged, all sense of self-preservation and pride set aside in my desire to mate. “Claim me as you have Ashley. Finish the bond to make the three of us one.”

Vanni grasped my face in his hands, the aura of his beastly form flicking around him in swirls of green. Ancient words poured from his lips in a language he shouldn’t know, the one of my people.

Our people.

Ashley’s core tightened around my still shaft as Vanni’s eyes began to glow, flames flickering to life around the three of us.

Vanni, a mostly-human male, had set our bonding in motion.

My body ached for him, craved him with a madness that hazed my vision, and had I not already been buried inside our female, I would have dropped to my knees in submission at his feet. “Please, Master,” I croaked, my gaze dropping to his dripping cock.

I wanted his shaft buried deep in my ass, coating my insides with his seed, but I needed to taste his sweetness first. “Let me suck you.”

He released his hold on my face and shifted forward on his knees, grabbing the base of his cock. “Show me what a good boy you can be for me, Dolyn.”

“Yes, Master,” I whispered and opened my mouth.