Page 29 of Dragon Exposed

“If that happens, I’ll deal with it then. She’s my mate, Ash. I feel it in my scales.” Even now, my teeth itched to mark her, to make her mine. Would she shift too? I could only imagine how beautiful she would be as an obsidian dragon.

I needed to get her cleared of the thrall though. I couldn’t have my mate scared of what she could become.

“Just be careful, brother.” Ash sighed. “I’m sending Declan up to meet with you, to help plan our counterattack on the vampires. Stay out of the public’s eye until then.”

“I’m not going to do anything stupid. I know how important it is to stay under the radar.” Especially now, with Izobelle. The last thing I needed was angry humans with torches and pitchforks at my doorstep.

Ash hung up with a stilted goodbye, and I turned my phone off. Declan undoubtedly would be coming here, to my cabin, rather than my penthouse in the city, and if he was already on my way, there was no way to warn him to shift and dress before he was close. No way to warn him that my mate wouldn’t want to see his dragon form.

I wasn’t even sure how I would get Izobelle to seawater without flying her there.

This thrall was going to ruin everything.

11

Dragon Distraction

IZOBELLE

Food and coffee were working wonders on my system, but they couldn’t quite chase away the headache.

The only thing that seemed to help at all was being distracted by Levi, and the scowl on his face didn’t bode well for jumping right back into bed.

When he pulled his phone away from his ear, I tentatively stepped up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I snuggled into the firm planes of his back. “Everything okay?”

“Not really.” He sighed and covered my hands with his own, intertwining our fingers and giving my hands a slight squeeze. “My brother’s coming here.”

“Another… dragon?” I tried to fight the anxiety rising low in my gut. One was hard enough to cope with, and I was pretty sure the only reason I had any reprieve was because it was Levi, not just a random flying beast.

“I can meet him, get him to shift far from the house, so that you don’t have to see him as a dragon. He can just be a man, as much as I am.”

He wasn’t just a man, though. In my gut, I knew that. I’d seen him as a dragon. I’d been held in his talons.

“There might be a way to break the thrall on you. But it would mean flying again.” He shifted in my arms, turning so that we were closer to face to face.

Even if my face was more like chest level.

“I don’t want to do that again. I can’t promise that I wouldn’t freak out.” I wanted to figure out a way around it, but even just the mention of another dragon in our space was making my heart race. Being up close and personal with one again might actually cause a coronary.

“I’ll figure something out.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “We should probably get you rested up while we can, before Declan arrives.”

The only problem was, I didn’t want to rest. I wanted answers. I wanted to feel like my mind was my own again. And I wanted to continue what we’d started before I stupidly insisted that he answer his phone.

“Izobelle, if you keep grinding against me like that, I don’t know that I’m going to be able to control what I do.” His hands slid down over my ass, but instead of trying to stop me, he pulled me in closer, groping and grasping in strong fingers.

I wasn’t used to a man touching me like this, like the extra weight covering my ass and my hips was something sexy, something to be groped and grabbed and worshipped. I wasn’t used to a guy looking at me, at all of me, like I was someone worthy of a passionate, needy, rough sex life.

When Levi’s lips met mine again, though, and I could feel his length growing harder and longer against my stomach again, I couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t just some random hook-up, some guy who would get off with the lights off and the covers pulled over us, but like maybe he really was my mate, and he really did want to be with me.

If that was what being a dragon’s mate meant, I was on board.

Levi’s hands gripped a little tighter, and a moment later, I was off my feet, pressed in closer to him. Without missing a beat, I wrapped my arms higher, gripping his shoulders as I pulled my legs up around his waist.

His tongue slicked over mine, filling my mouth like he needed to be closer, needed to be inside me.

I rocked my hips against his, encouraging the idea.

A few steps, and he lowered me down onto the bed, spreading me out over the comforter, pinning me with his body. My heart pounded hard in my chest, my panties were soaked, and all I wanted was more. More of his mouth, more of the feel of his cock against me. The only thing standing in his way were scraps of fabric that I almost wished would just disintegrate.