Page 45 of Driven by Dragonblood (Blood Born #3)

Jaxon

P rim’s familiar energy rippled over me again, but instead of adoring arousal like earlier, pain tore through my chest.

My breath ripped from my lungs, and I grunted, curling in on myself as the beast inside me whimpered. Grimacing, I glanced outside the store windows at my back.

What the actual fuck ?

I stumbled forward, hands resting on cool glass, eyes quickly scanning the area. The parking lot…sidewalk…cloudless sky—no Prim.

Go.

Comfort.

She was here—I could feel her, but she’d cloaked either her dragon form or nakedness.

I flagged my manager down, and he approached, concern lighting his face as he looked me over.

“You okay?” he asked, frowning. “You’re white as a ghost.”

I clutched my stomach rather than my chest, which ached in agony. “Gotta go,” I rasped. “Gonna be sick.”

He quickly stepped off to the side, motioning me away from him. “Take a break. Come back when you’re feeling better, and if not, just head home and keep in touch, okay?”

Swallowing audibly, I nodded and hurried out the automatic doors, arm still over my torso as though fending off nausea when it felt like my heart ripped in two.

I stepped outside into the sunlight.

There’s another woman in our alpha’s bed.

I stiffened suddenly, my vision blurring, my soul ripping to shreds. What?

We aren’t enough ? —

Invisible talons wrapped around me, winking me from sight.

A blast of wind and sudden change of altitude shot my shattering heart into my toes, and I gasped, surprised by Prim’s strength, her ability to rip me off the earth’s face when she’d been so sure of being unable to do so without a free fall involved.

Her pain owned her. Gave her strength beyond the beast within.

I clutched at her warm leg, the scales golden and glinting in the sun, visible to my eyes since her gift had cloaked me along with her—we were in a world of our own, but I couldn’t dwell on that thought and what it might mean beyond the bond between the two of us.

No fucking way Patrick would replace us so quickly.

Had he been pissed Prim came to see me and that I fucked her in a bathroom stall like she was some whore?

Both of us shivered at my thought, but due to fear over his possible anger, not arousal at the memory of mating in the confined space.

He couldn’t possibly know what we were up to, as we were both unaware of his thoughts or feelings due to the distance between us.

Prim’s attempt to reassure me did little to ease the unrest inside me. I had no answers, no other questions to help make sense of what she had seen and the resulting emotion now rippling through both of us.

“Thank you for not leaving me,” I croaked out what passed through my mind, and her mourning dragon only caused my heart to hurt more.

We landed in the cul-de-sac, and she continued to hold onto me while shifting back to her smaller form.

As one, and still invisible to the human eye, we hurried up the stairs, hand-in-hand to my apartment, needing the physical connection between us.

She fell apart the second the door closed behind us.

The memory of finding another woman in our bed replayed in her head, filling me in. I pulled her into my arms, lips against her hair, heat rising behind my eyelids.

“That woman means nothing to him.” Considering all we had done last night, I refused to believe otherwise. The ancient words and fire. Bonding through blood and mutual pleasure. Gifting each other the life-giving nectar to ensure we lived a full, satisfying existence together.

My declaration I wanted to believe to be true didn’t make a difference to either of our tumbling emotions, so I simply held Prim, powerless to ease her suffering.

She cried while I tried and failed to fight off crushing disappointment in our alpha—and in myself for believing that sexually submitting myself to Patrick would gain his acceptance and undying affection.

While I wanted to give Patrick the chance to answer for what Prim had seen, I couldn’t keep from thinking that he had been trying to fuck us out of his system as his thoughts had betrayed him before getting on with his life with whoever the fuck the woman was between his goddamn sheets.

Fuck, this sucked ass—and not in the good way.

I wanted to curl into a fetal position and cry .

Sock my alpha in the goddamned nose and mar his gorgeous face for the pain he’d caused us both.

“Come on.” I tugged Prim toward the bed, and we lay down together, clinging to each other. Slow kisses and tender caresses eventually calmed her enough to stop the tears, but the hurt remained.

“I love you so fucking much,” I murmured against her lips, breathing her as deep into my lungs as possible. “I’ll move mountains to keep you safe and make you happy, sweetheart.”

But could I?

Alone, would I be enough to satisfy the cravings of her dragonblood?

No.

Nausea stirred in my guts, and it seemed as though I was collapsing in on myself. My throat tightened, and Prim heaved a sigh, wound her arms around me, and pressed her naked chest against mine.

She also felt inadequate.

What a fucking pair we were.

“Too many clothes,” she whispered, tugging on the back of my t-shirt.

I rolled away to rip my clothes off, ready to give my female the world if that was what she requested?—

“Just your skin against me, Jaxon,” she whispered, nuzzling into my neck. “Need to feel your heart beating in time with mine.”

Ignoring both of our arousal from naked close proximity, I tucked her satiny curves against my body and allowed myself to mourn what we had lost.

“Are relationships always like this?” Prim whispered against my neck, her breath warm and sweet. “All this—shit?”

“I’m not any more schooled on relationships than you are, but I’m not so ignorant as to think bad stuff and regrettable days don’t happen.” I pushed strands of hair from her face, needing her eyes on me even though barriers in communication didn’t exist for us.

“I like the good ones better.”

“Did you expect a bed of roses?” I asked, but not with sarcasm or in an attempt to deepen her pain—I honestly wanted to know what dreams she’d had so I would be better equipped to fulfill them on my own.

My inner beast snorted.

Prim sighed heavily, making me thankful she could feel me—hear my intentions without me having to speak them. “Yes, actually. I believed once we bonded that everything would align—the stars, our hearts and minds…I didn’t think there would be any discord or unrest.”

I’d had that hope too.

“You’re so perfect,” she said on a sigh, affection sifting its way through the hurt between us. “Why can’t Patrick be more like you?”

“Patrick is hot as fuck,” I suggested, trying to lighten our mood. “But also a dark, tortured soul who desperately needs your gentleness and my cock.”

A hint of amusement lit in her eyes along with her heart. “You’re one arrogant man.”

“And you love it.” I rested my nose against hers, breathing in her exhales, but the tightness in my chest refused to loosen.