Page 18 of Driven by Dragonblood (Blood Born #3)

Jaxon

T he second Primrose had whispered the word alpha , a tingling woke inside me, a thirst deeper than she would ever be able to quench. I felt like a goddamn cheating bitch, unworthy of her perfection?—

Primrose pressed her fingers against my lips even though I hadn’t spoken the thought out loud.

Seemed she could read my mind easier than I could hers.

“Yes, I can, but only because it’s my gift to hear the inner voices of Blood Born.

And you’re beyond worthy, so much more than I had hoped for in a beta. ”

Beta.

Yessss.

My inner voice —my goddamn dragon half—whispered then purred at having finally been recognized and named.

Accepting that part of myself came as easy as his satisfaction since I’d been aware of his presence for as long as I could remember.

He was my other inner half, and Prim…well, she was damned near perfect, but Patrick…

Want .

Yeah—I did. A whole fucking lot. I kissed Prim’s fingertips, pulling her against me as guilt over burning for that sexy man crept into my head.

“It’s not wrong to desire him.” Prim’s voice caught, and I frowned, studying her face.

Pain radiated from her, and my reaction was to feel like an asshole for being so greedy.

“ You’ve done nothing wrong,” she said, her emphasis assuring me.

“What did he do to you?”

“Turned me away,” she whispered, tears once more coating her eyes. The ache in her heart mirrored mine. Or maybe our emotions fed off each other. Whatever it was, I hated that she hurt.

“We are meant to be one with him,” I said, wishing the haze was gone from her golden gaze.

“Yes.” Her pain-filled whisper tightened my chest like a vise.

“Then we’ll go to him together. Tell him the truth—he’ll listen.”

“He won’t.” She shook her head, her eyes closing as though trying to escape the humiliation and pain his rejection had obviously caused.

“His human side is strong, something I’ve never encountered before.

It’s like he’s managed to cage the dragon within, smother its voice, its desires beneath his will. ”

I pressed my lips to her pouted mouth, wishing I could ease her emotional turmoil on my own while wanting to rip Doc a new asshole for hurting my woman.

“Man’s fucking crazy not to want you.” I pulled back and smiled, hoping she could sense my determination to be content with her alone.

“You’re perfect, Prim. All woman, sexy as fuck, empathetic and caring?—”

She snorted. “You don’t even know me.”

I pressed my palm against her chest and found her heart beating in time with mine. “I can feel what’s in here,” I reminded her. “Not words, but a hint of your emotions. Wants.” I studied her face, hoping she understood what I experienced through the energy linking us.

Her smile eventually returned, the sparkle in her light brown eyes making me so damn happy I wanted to leap off a cliff.

“Fuck.” My brow furrowed again as memories flashed through my head at lightning speed. I huffed a laugh even while frowning and shaking my head. “Ever since I was a kid, I always thought I could fly.”

“Really?”

“The voice in my head—I called him my beast—insisted I could take to the sky if only I allowed him the chance.” I laughed again, my face relaxing. “That’s why I ended up in Lockwood.”

Her eyes widened. “Meaning you jumped off a building or something?”

“Twice.”

Dragonblood—we do have wings.

A smirk curled my lips. I knew I wasn’t crazy even though I’d told myself daily I wasn’t right in the head.

Prim smoothed hair off my forehead. “He’s spoken to you since childhood, and everyone thought you were mentally ill.”

“Yep.”

“I can show you how to shift—I think. We can fly the skies together.”

“Holy fuck.” I sat straight up, all trace of a smile gone from my lips as my pulse raced. “You’re fucking with me.”

“No.” She clasped my hands, and the energy between us ebbed and strengthened, her emotions going from joyous to annoyance as she chewed on her lower lip, gaze latched on my eyes. “You can’t hear my dragon, can you? ”

I shook my head.

She exhaled a heavy sigh but perked up a second later, a gleam in her eyes I recognized.

I narrowed my gaze, even though the devil’s glint in hers made my mischievous side giddy as fuck. “What are you thinking?”

A smile toyed with the corner of her lips as her focus roamed over me like she made a calculation in her pretty little head. “Where is the closest bridge?”

We lounged naked in my bed, sharing about our childhoods until full dark, when hardly a soul would be driving around to see us approach the one place high enough she thought she might be able to carry my weight. She’d never held something of my size and leapt from the ground into the sky.

But free-falling, where her wings would be unhindered in catching the air needed to soar us into the sky?

I told myself I was insane as we walked across the lone bridge in our town.

Prim was decked out in my clothes that were slightly too large for her, feet swimming in a pair of my sneakers.

She’d told me about her shift on Lockwood’s front lawn earlier that morning that had left her naked, the reason for her showing up on my porch in nothing but her gorgeous, golden skin I couldn’t keep my hands off.

Even though she and her perfect pussy enticed two more loads out of my balls and my dick still wasn’t sated, worry ate at the back of my head.

Fly.

Yeah, my beast assured me we could, but would Prim’s attempt to carry me end up with me floundering below in the river? Left a cripple from broken legs like I should have been when I’d done the same not that long ago ?

She laughed lightly, shaking her head.

I’d forgotten already that she could hear my inner dragon even though I couldn’t sense hers.

Strong.

“Indeed, I am,” she murmured her agreement, eyeing the drop into the canyon below where we stood.

So goddamned beautiful—she made my entire body ache with unquenchable want.

“Let me guess,” I said, my heart already in my throat. “You have X-ray vision.”

“Hardly, but I can see in the dark and know your cock desires to be inside me again.”

“Damn.” Said cock bucked inside my jeans. “Not that I’m complaining over my sudden super-dick,” I said with a laugh, “but why don’t I have any of these special powers like you do?”

“Because you haven’t shifted and become one with your inner dragon yet.” She stripped down rather than shred my borrowed clothing while shifting, and I stared at her nakedness while she stuffed everything into a bag we’d brought along.

“You’re gorgeous,” I murmured, reaching out to run my fingertips down her neck and over the swell of her breast.

Her nipple hardened as shivers slid over her skin.

“So goddamned luscious.” I dropped my hand to my bulge and squeezed as potent arousal coated the air around us, her sweet scent filling my nose. I worked my jaw, considering bending her over the guardrail?—

“Come, my lover.”

I groaned, head tipping back at Prim’s command she hadn’t meant in a sexual way, but my damned taint spasmed with need to obey. Grabbing hold of my base stifled my balls’ attempt to make a mess in my jeans.

She laughed abruptly, lighting my soul on fire, and climbed the barrier meant to keep people safe. She stood on the other side, one hand holding the railing, feet still planted firmly on concrete and steel.

The sight of her curves bathed in the moonlight made me itch to drag her back to safety and bury myself in her warmth.

“Jaxon—my beta.” Her voice hinted at both admonition and arousal.

“Okay, okay.” Flooding my lungs with oxygen, I released my hold on my junk and climbed over the rail to join her.

She wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned into me, brushing her lips over mine.

“The things you do to me, Prim,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“Do you not like it?”

“You know I do,” I growled, grabbing hold of her backside with a grip that would bruise a normal human, but I’d learned only lasted mere moments on hers. Fucking dragonblood.

“Trust me?” she asked, even though she was already aware of the answer to that question as well.

I offered her a verbal answer anyway. “Yes.”

“Then let go, my beta, and we will fly.”

My hold on the railing released, and we fell back into the air, a double shot of adrenaline crashing through my system. Breath caught, heart in my throat and unable to scream, I clenched my eyes shut as the ground rushed to meet us.

So much for my raging hard-on.

Death or Lockwood, here we come.

The energy linking Prim and me together rippled—muscles far beyond my Prim tightened around my waist—and a rush of flapping, like a thousand birds at once, shot us upward, leaving my heart in my toes.

I swallowed against rising bile as I forced my eyelids open, gasping for oxygen as the wind abused my face.

Shimmering gold scales covered the warm dragon leg I clutched at with a death grip.

Dark talons, sharp as fuck, wrapped around my body in a gentle hold, keeping me from hurtling to my death to the earth far below.

“Goddamn!” I laughed, my heart throbbing inside my chest. “Fucking hell!”

I lifted my head to find the stars overhead blacked out—by a graceful neck.

Every flap of Prim’s wings took us higher beyond where I’d ever gone on foot.

The lights of town twinkled far below, and overwhelming giddiness, fucking delight , had me whooping like a five-year-old on his first roller-coaster ride.

She banked, and I swallowed against the damn bile again.

Would I ever learn to shift and fly?

Did Patrick wonder about the same—did he even know what he was? Even more, would he ever accept what was destined for the three of us?

Forcing aside the sobering thoughts didn’t come easily, but determination to enjoy my first flight, the talons of my fierce female dragon cradling me in safety, eventually lessened my unease.

Fate dictated a polyamorous relationship lay in my future, and even though I’d never been with a guy, the way Patrick turned me on assured me that I would enjoy whatever our physical relationship looked like.

I hoped he could be made to see the truth, or this sense of abandonment in my chest and the same emanating through the energy linking me to Prim would haunt us both until we rested with the stars like she’d promised we would one day do.