Page 52 of Drawn by Dragonblood (Blood Born #1)

Elijah

I despised that Dolyn had arrived at the most inopportune time. My mates and I had been on the cusp of reaching a pinnacle moment of aftercare where I would have been free to unveil my lies no matter the fear they would leave me.

But it had taken Dolyn’s return for me to fully set the past behind, allowing me complete freedom to bond with the two fate had gifted to me.

Being in my ex-lover’s presence had revealed nothing lasting had bonded him and I together.

Our energies didn’t mesh, our thoughts hadn’t ever aligned, nor had our wants been the same.

We’d pushed and striven to create something that could never be.

Jon clutched my left hand with firm assurance as ancient words poured from my lips.

Dakota cradled my right in her soft, nurturing hold.

And my dragon freely spoke power into every syllable beginning the bonding between us, pale fire the color of my eyes gently wrapping around our bodies.

I lifted my head from where our foreheads had pressed together, my heart overflowing with joy and affection.

Dakota’s eyes glowed green, swirling with a fire of her own. Jon’s a blue so vivid, so rich I wanted to weep. Shimmering images rippled over both of their skin, almost as if they did possess scales that wanted to burst forth from within.

Yessss.

Mine—ours.

“You are worthy,” I murmured as the flames receded and their eyes returned to normal. “My mates.”

Dakota gazed up at me, her face radiant with the love she had declared.

“The fuck was that?” Jon asked, peering down at our bare feet, lifting his toes to wiggle them as though checking for burns.

“I set our bonding into motion.”

He jerked his head up, a hint of a dimple denting his cheek. “A bonding like in those novels she reads?” he asked, tipping his head toward Dakota. “The kind where we can feel each other from a different room? Smell the sweetness between her thighs and the pre-cum dripping from our dicks?”

Dakota gulped, and all the blood in my body sped to my groin.

Jon glanced down at the growing bulge in my jeans as I fought for words to answer his question. “Pretty sure that part of the bond started a few days ago,” he said, shaking his head, his grin widening. “Pretty fucking sure I like that part of this bond thing too.”

A groan rumbled in my chest at the blatant lust in my beta’s eyes.

“So now what?” Dakota asked, her voice small yet lust-laden.

Claim.

Own.

I shuddered at the desire rushing through both halves of me, what my beast had been begging for since first scenting our mates on the late summer breeze. “Now we complete our union. If it is indeed what you both are willing to submit yourselves to.”

“Yes.” Again, they spoke as one, their answer like a gentle caress meant to ease the last of my worries.

Elation roared through me, making my soul soar as high as our dragon half had ever taken us into the sapphire sky.

“Come.” I released Jon’s hand but held Dakota’s while heading toward the stairs leading to the second floor. We would need a bed for the requirement to complete our connection as fate intended.

Blood rushed to my groin at the promise of things to come. Fulfillment for what I had longed for my entire life lay within my reach—but only because of mutual desire and love, not because I’d coerced either of my mates into agreeing to become one with me.

“Shit,” Jon muttered from behind us, and I sensed his hesitation.

Stumbling to a stop, I glanced over my shoulder to find him peering outside.

“Can we, uh, see you in all your scaled glory?” he asked before swiping his tongue over his lower lip. “Take a ride through the friendly skies?”

Dakota backhanded him playfully. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“What?” He appeared offended, rubbing his shoulder. “If anyone, you should be asking that question!”

“Yeah, I want to see our alpha’s other half. Trust me, I lust to ride him just like you,” Dakota breathed, “but let’s deal with this bonding business first. Our luck, someone else will show up and try to keep us from tying Elijah to us for life.”

Amusement flooded through me. “Oh, mon coeur ,” I murmured, tracing my thumb over the back of her hand. “Business couldn’t be further from the truth. I promise pleasure like you’ve never tasted before?—”

“Let’s go.” Jon crowded close, slapping my ass as he passed us and bounded up the stairs.

Snickering, I allowed him to lead, actually turned on by his sassy nature.

My beta would prove more than a pleasure to put in his place.

But first.

The lights in my bedroom rose as we entered, and I turned to face my lovers, all silliness taking a back seat to the seriousness of what we were about to partake in.

“The beta is the bridge between an alpha and their female,” I said, my gaze flitting from one hopeful gaze to the other.

“The mating act reflects that, and when we’re connected and spill our seed, the emotional link will settle into place.

There is no breaking of the ancient bond of my people— our people. ”

I found myself smiling, knowing so many more with dragonblood walked the earth than I had ever dreamed possible, but the trust in Dakota’s eyes—the lust in Jon’s—wiped the thought clear from my head.

“You fuck me while I fuck her,” Jon said, grasping the physicality of the required mating without my needing to explain.

“Yes.”

Mischievous interest lit his eyes. “Jesus fucking Christ. I get to be in the middle.”

My attention roaming down over his smooth chest to the hard ridge trapped inside his jeans along his left thigh. “You’re hungry for it.”

“Goddamned right, I am,” Jon rasped, pressing the heel of his hand against his bulge.

Dakota whimpered, her tangy sweetness teasing my nose. She nibbled on her lower lip and glanced between us then at the bed, her nipples hardening beneath my shirt, the pulse in her neck thrumming in time with my own heartbeat.

I released her hand and undid the buttons hiding her milky-white breasts from us.

Large nipples, a dusky red hue, furled tight beneath my gaze as I slid the shirt off her shoulders, and it fell to the floor.

“Will you allow me to love you through our beta?” I murmured, rubbing my thumbs over her budded flesh.

She moaned and licked her lip, her eyelids fluttering shut. “Yes. Please, yes.”

“On the bed, mon coeur .”

Her obedience caused my chest to swell, rousing my dragon’s glee—and our combined desires to fuck. With him backing my body’s natural reaction to Dakota’s submission, I feared keeping hold long enough to complete the bonding.

As though reading my mind, Jon shoved his jeans off and crawled across my bed toward her, his plump peach of an ass in the air drawing a groan from my chest.

My hands shook while pushing down my own half-shredded jeans, and Jon settled between Dakota’s thighs, capturing her mouth, both of them emitting the kind of whimpered moan that made my already leaking cock twitch.

“Hurry the fuck up, alpha,” Jon growled, “or I’m going to blow my load without you stuffing my ass.”

The darkness in me chuckled at his impertinence—his very intentional impertinence. “Speak to me that way again...” I warned, the unspoken threat lingering.

“Can’t fucking wait.” Jon’s declaration sent another dribble of pre-cum oozing down over my length.

Palming myself, I moved to stand beside the bed, readying my cock for his ass with the slickness my body provided. “Wrap your legs around his back, mon coeur . Let him in.”

Her ankles wrapped around his waist, and one flex of Jon’s ass pulled another moan from them both, my skin shivering as they slotted together.

“Slow and easy,” I murmured more to myself than them, climbing onto the bed behind my mates.

Already on his knees, Jon slowly fucked in and out of Dakota, the scent of their combined arousal, the sounds of their feasting on the other’s mouth enough to make my eyes want to roll back into my head.

Nostrils flaring, I breathed them in deeply and crowded in close, using my knees to press Jon’s legs wider.

He stilled as I rubbed my slickened crown over his puckered hole. Pre-cum continued to slip from my dick, and I pressed forward gently into his still-opened hole.

Jon cursed, his face burying in Dakota’s neck.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and she peered up at me with eyes hazed by passion, sucking my soul into hers, moving me forward without thought. Jon’s tight heat clamped down on my cock as I slid in without resistance.

“Oh, fuck ,” Jon groaned, pinned between the two of us. Gaze locked on my female, I pulled out, keeping my crown notched in Jon’s body, and slid back in, the friction of his clasp on my cock making my jaw clench.

“Christ.” He swore a few more times and pushed up onto his hands, planking over Dakota, the muscles along his spine rippling. “Not going to fucking last.” He moved with me as I pulled out again, both of us pressing forward with a grunt.

My dragon clawed at my insides, roaring to be set free. I allowed enough of the wall containing him down so he might share in the taking. The time for our desperate need to claim had arrived.