Page 30 of Drawn by Dragonblood (Blood Born #1)

Elijah

B oth Jon’s and Dakota’s actions baffled me. I’d sensed his disappearance from the window earlier that morning as though he’d been angry, jealous perhaps, at finding his wife watching me, and I had expected so much more than a mere question about work over coffee.

But nothing had transpired as I’d been waiting for.

His seeming disinterest in expanding upon what had happened the evening prior sent a lancing through my chest so painful I was reminded of my heartache with my ex.

My inner beast growled his annoyance at me.

“I’m unable to move on as quickly as you,” I reminded him quietly while striding away from the office.

Weak .

I ignored his mutter.

And Dakota…

I’d had a moment of vulnerability earlier in the kitchen and hadn’t been able to contain the truth in my soul about what I longed for.

Her desire for me couldn’t be hidden, yet she’d outright refused me.

While I should have been pleased by her strength and wanting to remain faithful to her husband, I couldn’t help my own jealousy over the emotions she held for him.

I longed for both of my mates to experience the sense of ownership I felt toward them, for their desires to bond to match my own.

Breed .

“That too,” I agreed with a mutter, my heart heavy.

Two hours trapped in the room with Jon, my mind replaying the kiss he and I had shared and the stroking of each other’s bodies, had taken my human side to the breaking point.

My cock swollen and aching from close proximity, I’d needed to distance myself.

Gather my thoughts and rein in the steaming dragon within before I lost the constant battle against his renewed push to claim since being patient didn’t seem to be working in our favor.

I sat on the weight bench, my head in my hands, trying to find the serenity I had while practicing my tai chi but failed. Breathing deeply and flowing through the poses in my mind cleared my head slightly but didn’t lessen my yearning for my mates to love me fully and without manipulation.

At least my dragon half remained quiet rather than pushing against my boundaries like he had in Jon’s presence.

Still, I felt as though a thousand-pound weight lay upon my chest, suffocating the life in my lungs.

I sensed Jon moving up the hallway, and I straightened, arms dropping to my sides.

He appeared in the doorway, his gaze focused on me, a slight frown furrowing his brow. “Break time?”

I shrugged, at a complete loss of words. Would telling him the truth in my heart sway him toward accepting what grew between us? Would doing so plant thoughts in his mind he wouldn’t have considered otherwise, thus taking away his free will?

The beast within me growled over being too careful, but I refused to mess with fate’s intentions and perhaps lose the two people I desired most in life.

Jon sauntered to the pull-up bar and grabbed hold, his T-shirt lifting and revealing a stretch of golden skin.

The V of muscles alongside his hip bones above his low-slung jeans ensnared my focus.

He flexed his arms and hauled himself upward without effort.

Five steady reps, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from that peek of skin, the tease of what lay below.

He lowered his feet and stood but kept his hands clasped around the bar. “See something you like?”

My groin throbbed in response.

The smirk in his tone—on his face when I glanced up—confused me, considering his lack of interaction or words before work when I’d expected some sort of negative outcome.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my tone wary even to my own ears.

“Doing what?”

I ran my hands through my hair, the urge to move toward him, slam him against the wall, and claim what belonged to me wreaking such havoc in my body I shifted on the weight bench.

Take.

“Tell me what you want, Jon,” I demanded, knowing he would obey—but only sharing his thoughts, unswayed by my own.

His smirk faded as he held my stare. “Fuck if I can figure it out. I want to see my wife happy—content.” His jaw ticked to the side as though he considered a deeper truth. “But I yearn for more .”

Yessss .

I was on my feet and approaching him before I realized my inner beast moved my human legs, but I quickly regained control. Heart pounding, I hovered in front of my beta, breathing in his heightened exhales bathing my face.

Arms still overhead, he didn’t shy away or even flinch at my unnatural speed to close the distance between us. Jon held my gaze as though unsurprised, his blue eyes unshuttered and revealing a vulnerability that made me want to weep.

Submission lay in his gaze when it’d been absent the night before while peering up at me from his kneeling position.

He longed to give up control—stood on the brink of doing so.

I lifted one hand and caressed his neck, gently wrapping my fingers around his nape.

“Tell me, Jon,” I repeated with a ragged whisper, begging rather than commanding as my beast demanded of me.

Admission would open doors, break down walls, allow us to move forward in building the right kind of bond I yearned for. Sexual energy rippled in the few inches separating us, radiating outward in an all-consuming vortex of need.

Lips parted, Jon tilted his head back as I fought to keep from tightening my hold on him in a display of dominance as the dragon within me pushed to do.

“Please—” My word cut off and nostrils flared at the sudden energy and sweetness wafting toward us from the doorway.

Pre-cum released from my slit in a throbbing pulse, hard enough I grunted.

My inner beast whimpered. “Your wife is watching,” I growled at Jon, my mouth flooding with drool over the fact she’d taken the initiative to seek us out and let herself be known when she’d hidden the last time she’d stood outside the gym’s door.

Jon’s gaze flitted to my left, but I didn’t need to turn to know she stood in full display on the threshold. I could taste her in the air, the memory of her musky arousal on my tongue causing my mouth to water.

“She wants this as much as you do,” I made the statement without intent to manipulate. Unable to help myself, I leaned forward to nuzzle Jon’s neck and sniff my beta’s scent deep into my lungs alongside our female’s. “Don’t you, Dakota?”

My balls firmed as the desire to breed seared my entire body with flaming heat regardless of the fact she’d denied me mere hours earlier.

“Yes.” She whispered her submission truthfully and without prompting from her husband as I’d hoped for—exactly as Jon needed to hear.

Appreciation of her owning her sexuality and finding the strength to choose her own fate flooded through me, causing a sweet hiss to steam inside me from my beast’s pleasure.

My heart soared, attempting to rip through my breastbone and fly free.

Unknowingly, she’d allowed her longing, her inner dragon, to claim what her codependent human half hadn’t been able to until that moment.

“Good girl,” I murmured to our female.

Dakota moaned at my praise, causing another ooze of wetness to smear inside my slacks.

“If only you could find the courage to be so honest,” I told Jon, pulling back to meet his gaze.

His blue orbs hazed with his wish to do the same, but he remained stubbornly silent.

“Jon.”

He swallowed hard, searching my eyes I fought to keep from swirling with my supernatural half shrieking to be set free. “Why do I want this?”

I slid my other palm down over Jon’s abdomen to the rigid length in his pants. His body had clearly already accepted his fate. He just needed to tap into his own inner beast to understand. “ This or to give into the yearning to submit to me?”

“Fuck.” He cursed through gritted teeth, fighting his body’s need.

Same as Dolyn had done.

My skin threatened to burst—expand and make way for the muscle and bone beneath screaming for release.

We are alpha.

My dragon had stated as such countless times, but the words in that moment hit in a different light.

Clarity radiated through my brain, offering me truth I hadn’t considered in my single-minded determination to dominate without coercion.

The tight restraint I’d kept on my beast eased, and my shoulders relaxed.

I released a slow exhale.

My darker side had been wanting to force my mates to accept their places when I’d been unwilling to do the same with mine.

Owning my position in our triad would not be taking without consent or manipulation. It was my responsibility to lead, and I’d been doing my mates a disservice by refusing what my other half had tried to remind me of.

I could take my place as was intended before time, and in the process, Jon would find peace in his. And willingly accept his fate as his wife had chosen to do without his influence—or mine.

“Touch yourself, Dakota,” I requested of our female, peace settling deep inside my soul in knowing she had gifted me the right to command her actions. “Slide your fingers deep inside your sweet pussy and show your husband how much his submission turns you on.”