Page 57 of Drawn by Dragonblood (Blood Born #1)

Chapter One - Dolyn

I shifted into my dragon form, which ripped through flesh and bone without pain.

For the first time in over a decade, pleasure welled inside me as I shot like a golden comet southward through the afternoon sky.

Emotional torment slid from my mind as the brisk wind swept over my heated scales and spines like a lover’s soothing touch.

I’d found out moments earlier that Elijah had replaced me with two other lovers, and I could still feel his female’s hand on my chest like a fiery brand. The visions that had flitted through my mind at her touch remained crisp.

Blindingly brilliant in color.

Vivid images of the two creatures she stated were intended for me remained ingrained in the deepest parts of me.

Elijah’s female, Dakota, had a gift of old due to the ancient dragonblood flowing through her veins.

A minuscule amount, however, not even enough that I had been able to scent it on her.

I’d declared her unworthy of my ex-lover, but he’d been adamant in his claiming of both her and the woman’s husband, Jon.

Fated mates, he’d called them, the ones meant for him—drawn to him by his alpha dragonblood.

With Elijah’s sexual prowess and his beast’s desire to dominate, I didn’t doubt he had bonded with the couple seconds after I’d thrown my human body off the veranda of his home deep in the White Mountains.

I’d done so in order to shift and escape the pain of seeing them complete Elijah in ways I had never been able to but also to seek out my own destiny.

Cloaked from human eyes, I flew toward where I would find the female dragon in the vision Elijah’s mate had shown me.

While I’d seen a pale gray beast, purple-blue eyes were a rarity and ought to make my female easier to identify in human form.

Further description and a name known to Elijah had offered me all the information I needed to locate one of the two who belonged to me.

Ashley O’Connor, according to my ex-lover who employed her as one of his secretaries, was a petite brunette, demure and fragile in her emotions, a woman who would require gentle handling from a traumatic past he wasn’t fully aware of.

Like Father before me, as alpha, it was my responsibility to protect the female fate held in wait for my future.

But un like Father, I would treat the third party in our triad, my beta, differently than he had.

I’d endured watching Father belittle his subservient male mate with unkind words that rang through my mind centuries later.

Unworthy.

Inferior.

Both of which, in my opinion, applied to the two Elijah had chosen.

They were nothing more than mere humans who didn’t have the ability to shift, two beings who would never be a good match other than to make him feel he owned the alpha status he’d always claimed during the years he and I had spent together.

My human flesh and mind refused to bow to another, but my dragon used to purr with delight over every lash of Elijah’s whip, every crack of his cane across my backside, every thrust of his hips that had buried his long length deep inside me.

It had been twenty years into our relationship before I initially submitted my body—never my mind or status—out of desperation to bond with Elijah.

I’d only done so in the hopes that we would find our female and breed her since no other shifters walked the earth.

It took three dragonblood to create life, and I’d instinctively done what was necessary to see our species survive.

But all the sacrifices I had made, the past I’d left behind to be with Elijah, and he’d still chosen Dakota and her husband over me, one of royal blood, their superior in every way.

My alpha father had told me from the time I could remember that I had been born to dominate, and he had raised me to be a protector. An assertive leader. A man who wouldn’t bend the knee to another.

While soiled by Papa, my beta father’s lesser bloodline, the fact Father used to rule the Western world made me his sole heir, the last alpha of our line no matter what others believed.

Elijah had shown no desire or intention to submit to me, and while he could have coerced me into being his mate as Father had claimed dragonblood of old used to do, Elijah hadn’t.

My lover of seventy years had gifted me the right to choose, and our coming together had been a battle from day one, a delicious tug-of-war that had always ended up with our bodies sated and covered in cum, sweat, and once, tears.

The final war between us had left my soul broken and bleeding, and I’d flown from our home in a last attempt to find our fated mate who would recognize me as the alpha and help Elijah see the truth of his station beneath me.

And in my absence, while I’d given up the comfort of our home hidden in the mountains to scour the entire earth for the one who would make us whole, he’d taken up with mere humans .

A wind gust slammed me in the face, causing me to blink and spin toward earth.

Rather than lament being replaced, I allowed myself a moment of freedom from despair while tumbling through the sky, imagining myself grappling midair with the beta I would soon claim if Dakota’s vision held true.

Once I owned my violet-eyed Ashley, fate would no longer hide its gift of a beta from me.

I would locate the bridge between me and my female, and we would finally be brought together in perfect timing to ensure our mating lasted for centuries.

The images Dakota had shown me flashed through my mind, revealing the slender gray beast with light purple eyes, the beat of my heart, one of my reasons for existence. And the other who would bring us together to breed…a lithe, black-scaled creature with brilliant green orbs.

Dakota had claimed him to be my alpha.

A snort erupted from my nostrils, steam rippling through the air behind me as I sped above thickening populated land with a flap of leathery wings.

Beta , I had corrected her immediately because no partially human dragonblood would ever rule over a royal Blood Born.

I’d been raised to be an alpha in our triad, and nothing would convince me otherwise.

I snapped my tail and careened into a gleeful roll, but fate called. Another strong push of my wings rushed me through the cold toward the cityscape on the horizon—New York.

Lower Manhattan and Tolzman Industry’s building specifically.

Five o’clock neared, the time of day when Elijah’s employees spilled onto the streets, bustling to return to their peace. The perfect hour for me to hide myself and watch for the woman I would soon claim as my own.

Towering sky rises above me blocked out the final rays from the sinking sun.

Brisk wind continued to buffet through the streets as I stood in front of Elijah’s building, the main entrance glass doors allowing me a peek into the brightly lit lobby.

Warmth flooded my bloodstream, in contrast to the sinking temperature on my human skin.

Naked and camouflaged, I leaned against a light post, hidden from sight to those scurrying past in their rush to return home after a long workday.

I’d come directly from Elijah’s, not having time to stop by the penthouse suite I owned but rarely utilized.

It was one of many escapes I’d kept from Elijah’s knowledge along with the rest of my physical assets and wealth from having invested in America’s stock market since its inception.

As alpha, I’d never felt the need to include Elijah in the various outlets of my life outside the physical, same as Father had done with Papa.

But there were other secrets I’d hidden from him.

I chose to put the past behind me when I’d finally submitted my body to Elijah that wintery day in 1962, after agreeing to pursue companionship with each other since there were no other of our species that we’d found in our years together prior to that day.

But my heart and head refused to submit fully, thus the constant battle for dominance between us.

Now, a fresh start lay before me where not even the sky was the limit.

Something far greater than a tumultuous relationship with another self-proclaimed alpha awaited me, a gift from fate for having lived too many centuries seeking to bond and breed as a Blood Born’s instincts demanded.

A low whine drew my attention off Elijah’s building. Some sort of raggedy, downtrodden dog peered up at me. Hunger shone in his eyes, bones protruding along his gray-speckled chest, further evidence he hadn’t eaten in a while.

I bent, running my hands over his filthy head. “Who’s a good boy?” I murmured, keeping my voice low so no one became aware of my invisible presence.

A lick over my face made me smile, and I scratched behind his matted ears. “You need someone to take care of you, don’t you, boy? Hmm?”

He rolled onto his back, giving me his belly, and I scratched, glancing over at Elijah’s building.

Employees began their exodus from Tolzman Industries, and I inspected every dark-haired woman for a glimpse of the one Dakota’s vision had revealed as my new friend continued to gladly accept my weighted strokes and murmurs of praise.

Minutes passed without my female’s arrival beneath the evening sky, and the rush of people turned into a trickle, unease prickling the back of my mind.

Had I somehow missed Ashley in the throng?

Was her dragonblood of so little potency that she had escaped without me catching the scent of her? My forehead etched into a deep furrow.

No. I refused to believe she would be unnoticeable, that she could have slipped by me countless times in the final month I’d spent in this very city searching for Elijah’s and my female.

I had admitted defeat and returned to him empty-handed, determined to offer him every part of me in the hopes we might find some sense of contentment together.